Evil Hero (A Skybrine Story)

Chapter 38: A New Beginning

Well, this is it, guys. The last chapter, and everyone's got a POV.

Here we go...

Lilly's POV

I'm going to miss fighting.

Those few days I spent with Sky and his friends - or as they'll be calling themselves now, "Team Crafted," - were the best days of my life.

I had freedom, and that's something I never had while growing up.

I don't know if I'm ready to rule a kingdom, alone. After all, I'm only seventeen. Both of my parents are dead and I don't know if I have any other family; I've got no one to turn to for advice. What am I supposed to do?

On the inside, I'm deathly afraid of becoming the Queen. Are the people going to like me? Will I make the right decisions? Do I look like I'll be a good ruler? And I never wanted to be the Princess in the first place; much less the Queen. But it was something I was born and forced into and grew up doing, and I guess there's really no running away from what you really are.

But I have to smile and act like nothing's wrong; put a mask on and say everything's okay, for the sake of the kingdom.

I haven't seen Lucas since the day of the final battle, and I'm glad of it too. If he comes anywhere near this castle, I'll burn him to a crisp.

Speaking of the final battle, I've been trying to talk to Mitch for the past three days. He's getting better, I guess, well, except for that incident at dinner earlier.

I've started to like him a lot more. But if someone makes a wrong move, he'll shatter like glass. If I were in his position, I'd be in worse shape right now. He's holding on, better than I ever could.

I kind of know how it feels; I just lost my parents and I've been forced into a position that I don't want.

Am I afraid of the future? Yes.

But can I do anything about it? No.

Life is cruel, but we have to keep going forward, not back.

Because if we keep rereading the last chapter of our life, how will we move on to the next one?

Jerome's POV

Hey there.

You probably thought you wouldn't hear any more from me, since I... died, right?

Well, now, I'm living in the Aether. Seto did a pretty good job of describing what this place looks like. A few monsters here and there, but mostly the dead who have done good in their lives.

It's kinda depressing being here alone, knowing that my friends aren't going to be joining me until they've lived a long, happy life, and I'll be stuck here until then.

Well, not exactly stuck.

Notch gave me a message from Lucas - how that traitor got Notch to listen to him, I've got no idea - but this is what it said.

Dear Jerome,

I've known your death was coming all along. At the end of this note, I'm attatching a copy of this Prophecy; the Kings Minecraft Legend that you and Mitch are a part of.

I know you and Mitch are very, very close friends, just like brothers. To lessen the pain for both of you, I've cast a spell on your soul. On the last day of each month (that's the only day the Portal to the Overworld will open in the Aether) you can come to the Overworld and visit Mitch, just for a day. If you don't make it back to the Portal in time, my spell will be broken and you'll be stuck here forever.

So anyways, I'm trying to help both you and Mitch. I know from experience that it's hard to lose loved ones.

~Lucas W.

Underneath that is a copy of the prophecy, just like Lucas promised.

It's kind of eerily creepy how this describes exactly what happened to us.

Two different people, but one and the same,

Come together as children, united under one name.

One is a human, with a black and red hood,

He fights as a hunter on the side of good.

The other is a creature, brown and furry,

He uses an axe, he ran away in a hurry.

Together, the duo fights hand in hand,

Victors of many games; they are the last ones to stand.

On a dark, cold evening, together they will meet

The warrior, the voices, reluctant to greet.

Together they travel to the place one calls home

Fields of ice and snow, and coming back from a long roam.

They've met the Runner, and the Soldier; two of the nine,

And soon, they will meet the Monster, Cursed, and Necromancer; no, everything's not fine.

Three of the Legends will attack; one free, two posessed,

And it's a fight to the death between Defenders; with one important request.

The fight will continue as they journey to the capital city,

To find missing royalty, to kill, not to be looked upon with pity.

One must die, a sacrifice to a god,

The other will fight on, covered in sweat and blood.

"Win this for me," he says as he goes down,

An oath of revenge, his final words, an heir to the crown.

With the others, the survivor will slay

A threat to society; a legend, to this day.

Both become leaders, but one becomes true King,

And together, they rule, letting freedom and justice ring.

(A/N: it's been so long since I wrote one of those prophecies/poems.)

I miss Mitch already, even though it's only been three days. We aren't best friends, we're brothers.

It's tempting to jump off the edge of the islands, even though if I do, there's no way back up here; the Portal from the Aether to the Overworld is only useable by Aether spirits, not ghosts.

But the least I can do is watch over them. And Kermit - who I haven't talked to in forever, is still down there. Maybe there's a way for us to communicate, for him to watch them in the Overworld and tell me that they're okay.

As Mitch and I used to say when we played war games with Rob, Preston, and Mat, "I'm sorry I had to sacrifice you so that our team could win."

My sacrifice helped Mitch win. I couldn't ask for anything more.

And at least they're okay.

For now.

Quentin's POV

I swim around the bottom of the lake in front of the Palace. The water's ice-cold, but the cold doesn't bother me, and I can see perfectly fine underwater. I feel quick and graceful in the water, not like the slow and clumsy idiot that I am on land.

I'm okay with not being able to fight anymore. At least I can still help in a few ways, like being a doctor. I'm really excited for the future.

But I wonder what's happening to Herobrine right now. Seto told us that's there's another world just like ours, called Earth. We don't know much about it, but we know it's somewhat like our world, and nothing is blocky.

I hope there's no such thing as superhuman powers in that world. Otherwise, everyone on Earth is pretty much dead.

But hey, at least we removed him from Minecraftia.

I've also been having random flashes of memories - and they aren't mine, either. Staying at a huge mansion, with a pool, with seven other guys who seem somewhat familiar. Having a Nerf gun war, and someone yelling about being shot in the eye. Walking into a kitchen in the morning, to find that all the food has been scattered on the counters and that someone's been eating it. Someone jumps into the pool at midnight, and I dump sticks of butter on someone's head.

All good memories, I suppose, but ones that never happened to me.

It's been happening more and more over the course of the past few days. I've been scared to ask anyone about it. If I told someone, they'd probably think I'm crazy.

Because even though I don't recognize the times or places in the memories, I recognize the names and voices.

The people in my memory flashes are us. Team Crafted.

[A/N: ^ in the good old days, before they broke up... :( I really miss those times...]

Ian's POV

I watch from a distance as the soldiers in the army camp settle down for the night. Fires are put out, people are shouting goodnight to each other, sentries are standing watch.

It's funny how when my adventure here began, I was running away from an army, one I didn't like. Now here I am, just over two weeks later, one of the Captains of the Royal Army, the most important Army in the Kingdom.

Looking back, I never would've been on this crazy adventure in the first place if I hadn't stumbled upon Mitch and Jerome in the woods.

I used to hate life back then; I thought it would never get better. At the time, I was still mad at myself for killing Quentin's sister - yes, even after all those years. The voices told me that I had nothing to live for anymore, slowly pushing me closer and closer to the edge of insanity.

Thank goodness Derp SSundee's gone. I hope he doesn't come back anytime soon to try to kill me.

I've leaned that even if the future seems uncertain, you have to just keep pushing forward.

Trust me, it'll all get better in the end.

Ryan's POV

I walk through the Palace garden, shivering in the wind and watching as the snow falls. I like it out here. It's quiet; no one else comes out here anymore. And it's a good place for me to be alone and clear my thoughts.

I finally feel at home here, something I haven't felt in a long, long time.

But I miss Jerome. We all do. He and I never even got to talk that much, which sucks because I really wanted to get to know him better.

Mitch was hit the hardest with it, I know. I'm really worried about him too. I hope one of these days, he doesn't just give up and decide to follow Jerome. We need him here.

You can feel Jerome's presence sometimes, haunting all of us like a ghost. Sometimes, when I walk around a corner, I expect Jerome to be waiting there, ready to jump on your back and demand a piggyback ride. That's the kind of silly thing he'd do.

Mitch occasionally calls for me to come into his room, and I let him vent his feelings out to me. About his memories with Jerome, how it's his fault Jerome died, how he wishes he could've done something, anything to save his friend.

We can't change the past, though.

We have to move on, even if we aren't ready.

Jason's POV

I sit on one of the rafters in the main ballroom, swinging my feet back and forth below me like a little kid. It's cold up here, and I occasionally hear the sqeak of a bat as it flies by.

I'm happy that we finally beat Herobrine, and that there's finally time to settle down. For a while.

The threat that Ty told Sky and I about isn't too far away from now. From what Ty told us, his brother is just as strong as Herobrine, maybe even stronger.

But for me, there's another, much more immediate threat.

The Wither's curse is quickly progresssing. And at the rate it's going, I could be dead within six months.

As I said before, there is no cure for this curse. If no one finds it, I'll die sooner or later.

And I could end up taking a few of my friends with me.

Seto's POV

I sit in the library on the second floor, reading a book of combat elemental spells by candlelight.

There's a huge stack of books next to me. I stretch and rub my eyes, which are getting tired of reading words in small print.

I pull a thick, black book off the top of the stack and glance at the cover.

The Book of Minecraftian Legends.

Grinning, I open up the book and flip through the pages.

Everything is written in ancient runes, so it's slightly hard to read. But I understand most of them, and I flip to the section that I'm looking for, the Hero's Battle.

Underneath is the first part of the eight prophecies, which we just completed.

Each of us - the Minecraft Legends - have three parts to our stories.

I flip to the second section, the continuation of the Minecraft Legends, the Monsters' Kingdom. Underneath that is the second part of our prophecies, continued from the Hero's Battle.

The first part - meeting for the first time, and stopping Herobrine from taking over Minecraftia - is only the beginning.

There are two more parts, and the second part should begin in about four months.

And if I remember correctly, the Monster's prophecy begins with a simple mistake.

My magic hasn't gotten much better since I created that Portal. Maybe if I start practicing, I'll be able to regain all my energy and knowledge.

After all, what good is a sorcerer without any magic?

Mitch's POV

Everything has happened so quickly.

I'm sitting in my room, playing with my General's pin in my hand, the one with the sword and the axe.

It's only been three days since my entire family died, and the home I had in Snowpoint City is gone. But the days pass by so slowly, and it feels like much, much longer.

And now Jerome's dead too.

I don't know how much more of this I can take.

At the beginning of January, I'm going back to Snowpoint City to see Rob, Preston, and Mat. It's been too long since I've seen them.

After that? I don't know. This castle has too many bad memories for me; it's the place where Jerome died.

Really, the only people I feel comfortable talking to right now are Ryan, and Lilly.

I've started to like Lilly more and more over the past few days. She's pretty, for one. And she's acting like she really cares about me. I know she's told me she likes me before, back in the cave before we were ambushed by Lucas, but I don't know if she really meant it.

I mean, why the heck would any girl ever like me?

Ryan, too. He's the only one I feel comfortable talking to. And besides, he's saved Jerome's life before, back when he called the hovercraft to take Jerome back to Snowpoint City when he was unconscious. I still owe him for that one.

I've been feeling worse and worse lately. The others keep telling me to get over it, but I don't know if I can.

I try to avoid meetings with all of them, and try to be alone whenever I have the chance. Like at the meeting this morning; I wanted to be alone. Jerome isn't there, why should I be?

Maybe I should just end it all and join Jerome. That would solve everything, right?

Ty's POV

I stand in my bedroom, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

Normal brown eyes, green headphones, clean white t-shirt and gray pants. I look just like any normal seventeen-year old guy.

But if you look past that, you can see the bright green specks in my eyes, the pointed teeth in my mouth where fangs would go.

I feel like at that any time, I'll snap and turn into the monster I truly am.

No one knows except for Sky, Jason, and Seto. The others... well, I don't know how they'd react to me being half Ender Dragon. When I turn into my Ender form, I never lose concentration, or have a "dark side" or anything like that. It's simply me, with more strength than my human form.

I know my brother's going to be keeping a close eye on me, through our Ender Crystals. Just like I can see him through the healing towers' crystals, he can see me through my Crystal.

Hopefully, my friends won't mind.

But then again, most of the world judges you by what you look like on the outside, not by what's on the inside.

Why should it be different for them?

Sky's POV

It was a night like this, just over two weeks ago; snow was falling, the streets were quiet, people were asleep...

And I was looking for someone to kill.

So much has changed in my life over the past few weeks. Back then, I believed I was the son of Herobrine. Now, I'm General of the Royal Army, and Herobrine is in a different dimension.

Thanks to my new friends, my world has changed. And definitely for the better, I might add.

I lay on my bed, playing with the amulet in my hands, and thinking about the last two weeks.

Now that I know the truth, I want to meet my real father, the one who gave me this. It sucks that I never got to know my parents - heck, I can't even remember them at all.

On the first night of December, I was hunting in Sunnyshore, which led me to Seto. That same night - although I didn't know it at the time - I also saw Mitch and Jerome.

Ty, Jason, and Kermit held me captive in the cave; that's also where I met Seto again for the first time in many years.

A while later, I escaped and found my way back to Herobrine. I was sent on a mission: gain Mitch's trust, so it would be easy for me to backstab him when the time came.

That night was the attack. I killed most of Mitch's family, burned his house down, and Nyxus was killed by Seto. Seto died shortly afterward.

We went to the City of Angels the day after that fight, trying to find some way to revive Seto. On our way there, we learned that the Royal family was murdered, and Herobrine had taken over.

Elise took us in, and we met Lilly Celestia, the Princess - now Queen - of the kingdom. Seto came back to the Overworld, thanks to Kermit. We came up with a way to get into the Palace, and take back the throne and defeat Herobrine, once and for all.

We made our way into the Palace and encountered Lucas - that backstabbing, lying jerk - Seto, captured again, and Herobrine. Lucas put most of them under a spell, but let me go so that I could fight Herobrine.

Jerome died during that fight, Quentin badly injured, but we defeated Herobrine. He's in another world now, where he can't hurt us. Although he might be a problem for whoever's living there.

And after that, we come to the present. I'm head of an army now; my friends are serving with me. I think - no, I know - we're going to have a lot of great adventures as a team.

Team Crafted. That's who we are; what everyone calls us now. Ty, Seto, Jason, Mitch, Ryan, Ian, Quentin, and me. And even Jerome and Kermit, even though they live in another dimension.

Well, I guess this is where my story ends, with a final farewell from us all.

But with every ending comes a new beginning.

Don't worry, you may see us again, and very, very soon...

__________________________

A/N: This is the last chapter, for real.

I'm not putting a super long A/N here, I'll just wait until after the epilogue...

Hope you enjoyed :)

~Anna