Minecraft Story Mode: Darkness Rising

Chapter 16

Sure, Lukas wanted to kiss Jesse, but not like this.  Not when she was so weak and afraid.  Not when he was doing it just to prove that he wasn't an imposter.  Not when it was so obvious that she thought he was the fake.

But did he really have any other choice?

He heard a squeak of protest from Aiden's reflection but he didn't move.  Lukas would let Jesse break away first.  He'd let her decide for herself.

But then her lips parted in a breath of pain and Lukas felt wetness seeping beneath his fingers. He pulled away from her. Jesse's eyes glazed over and she slumped forward, an arrow jutting from her back. The fake Lukas stood a short distance away, pulsing with a faint light. He smirked.

"You fell right into my trap," he said. "Just like I told you that you would. You, Lukas, are too predictable."

"You were the fake?" Aiden's reflection demanded.

"You've connected the dots too late," the fake laughed. There was a blinding flash of light and his form morphed into that of Herobrine. He laughed, shaking the hallway. "How does it feel, Lukas, to have destroyed Jesse and freed me to rule your world as I please?"

"You're still here," Lukas growled. "I can still stop you."

Herobrine shook his head. "The only reason I was forced to remain here was because Jesse hadn't been destroyed like Aiden requested when he freed me. But now she has. Her strength has been broken. Her will is gone. Don't you see, Lukas? She thinks she's in love with Herobrine. And now the last thing she will ever remember is that Herobrine killed her."

"Yaaaaaaaa!" Aiden's reflection shouted a battle cry and charged at Herobrine, but he only flared a brilliant white. An explosion of energy threw everybody backwards and away from Herobrine. Lukas held tightly to Jesse's body, knowing that whatever happened she couldn't be dead. He'd protect her.

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Petra shivered awake. She felt hot and cold at the same time, and so wrong. She found herself on the muddy ground, surrounded by people. Sparks and bits of flaming netherack drifted down. They were back in the normal world, far from Herobrine's castle.  What had happened?

"Who's dead?" Petra groaned as she sat up.

"I feel like I am," a voice responded. Petra looked over. Ivor was climbing to his feet and glaring at the ground like it had personally offended him.

"I feel awful . . . where are we?"

Petra spun around, eyes searching for the source of the voice.  It was Jesse.  She slowly pushed herself up from the ground, groaning and rubbing her head.  Lukas was beside her.

"Jesse?  Lukas?" Petra asked.  She couldn't remember rescuing them.  Then again, she couldn't remember much of anything.  Jesse and Lukas looked at each other, at Petra, and then beyond Petra at the world around them.  She noticed that their eyes were red.

"The Other," Jesse whispered.

"He kept his promise," Lukas agreed.

"What happened to your eyes?" Ivor asked.  "They're all evil looking."

"It's a side effect of being in Herobrine's realm for so long," Lukas explained.

"And how did we end up here?" Petra quizzed.

"I found a button," Jesse answered.  "When I pushed it we were all teleported back here and it destroyed the portal.  I don't think Herobrine can come back through, not for a while at least."

"We should really get going.  Who knows what can come through the portal?"

"Let's go find Olivia and Axel," Petra suggested.  "They'll be so happy to see you guys again!"

"Olivia and Axel?" Jesse asked.  Petra gave her a strange look and her expression changed to one of embarrassment.  "Right, my best friends!  I'm so excited to see them right now!  In fact, let's go see everybody!"

"That is everybody."

"You know what I mean.  Lead the way."