The Endperor - Herobrine x Reader

Chapter Twenty

You don't think you've ever had such a good day at school before.

Maybe it's just because of how long it has been since the last time you were there, but every moment just seems so busy and full of life. It's a little overwhelming, but you enjoy it.

Your friends, and even friends of friends, are bursting with curiosity as to why you've missed the past two days of school. Apparently the police had been called when you vanished, which... makes sense. You spend a couple classes in the morning thinking of a decent story to tell them during the lunch period, which gets passed around the school quickly. You feel a bit like a celebrity.

You spend a lot of time thinking about Herobrine, though, too. You still feel bad about leaving him for so long, and by mid-afternoon you're starting to come up with unlikely scenarios regarding what's happened to him. He could have been killed by Notch, or Theo discovered that he was hardcore and took him out. While he's usually the one doing the protecting, you find yourself wishing that you were there to watch out for him.

All too soon, the school day is over, and you spend the short bus ride home enjoying your last few minutes with your friends. You have no doubt you'll see them again, but, at least for now, you need to go back with Herobrine. As long as he's okay, and can come pick you up, that is.

You marvel at the normalcy of the rest of your day, how such mundane things such as doing chores and eating dinner with your parents make you so happy. You hadn't realized just how much you've missed them until now.

You spend the evening hanging out with them, vaguely wondering why they haven't really questioned your mysterious disappearance. All the better for you if you don't have to explain, but still, kinda weird.

At 10 PM, you head upstairs to find Herobrine standing in your room.

"Herobrine." You whisper, pushing the door shut behind you and hurrying forward to give him a hug. He wraps his arms around you tightly as you lean your head against his chest, hands clasped behind his back as you try and assess whether or not he's hurt. He seems okay.

"Y/N." He murmurs in response.

"How are you doing? I mean, are you okay?" You ask, pulling away. "Anything important happen while I was gone?"

"Nothing much." He offers you a hint of a smile. "303 has made no move. Perhaps Notch was right in that he fled back to Earth as well."

"He did?" You blink. "Oh, that... explains how I ended up here, kind of."

"Indeed." Herobrine gives you a small nod. "Are you willing to go back with me?"

"I said I would. Yes." You nod back. "How long- how long was today for you?"

"Three months." You physically flinch. You knew there was a significant difference between how time worked here and there, but the thought of Herobrine being alone for so long is still painful.

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't be." His voice is blank and motionless. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah." He takes your hands in his, and in a flash of color you find yourself in a flower-filled field.

You look around, feeling a sense of deja vu as you're reminded off the first time you were pulled into Minecraft by your now-husband. The biome is surrounded by birch trees, and just inside the forest line you can see a small cabin.

"Is that ours?" You ask, pointing, and he follows your gaze before nodding.

"I built that over the past few weeks. It's well-stocked, I was hoping to wait out the rest of 303's attack where he can't find us." He responds, turning and beginning to lead you across the field towards it. "Or, at least until you'd like to go home."

"For now, can we plan on me going home before morning?" You ask, swinging your clasped hands between you and your husband. "So, about... a month?"

"Of course." He sounds slightly more cheerful at that. The two of you cross the remaining distance in silence, until you reach the front porch of the little birch house.

"Y/N." His voice holds slightly more emotion now, and you look up as he comes to a halt and gets on his knees beside you. "I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure." You respond, hesitant.

"I ask that you would give me another chance." He places his other hand over yours. You blink.

"Another chance?" You echo, bewildered. "You haven't done anything wrong, I just-"

"That's not what I mean." He interrupts. "I mean... I did not do a good job of... courting you." His eyes drop to the ground. "It was presumptuous of me in the first place to assume that just because I love you that you should reciprocate. So, I suppose... I want to start over." He looks back up at you. "Try again. The right way, this time."

"I- of course." You've been blushing since he said the word 'courting', mainly just because that's such a weird concept, but it doesn't die down as you try to think of a better response. You don't know what you expected upon seeing him again, maybe that he'd fallen out of love, or even that he was angry with you, but definitely not this. Not that you were complaining. "Yeah. That sounds good."

"Thank you." He rises to his feet again, and you're struck once more with deja vu. This time you're not even sure where it comes from. "I had a thought a couple of weeks ago." He changes the subject. "Despite my attempts to protect you, you've found yourself in far too many dangerous situations."

"True." You run through your head all the times you've gotten kidnapped. "Yeah."

"I can't always guarantee your safety," Herobrine continues. "But I can make an attempt to prepare you should you be placed in danger. If you are willing, I'd like to teach you how to fight."

303 drops his backpack on the floor and collapses face-down into his mattress. One hand finds its way to his ribs, which are definitely bruised and possibly broken. He grimaces, glad he could at least make it to his room before dad noticed something amiss.

His stomach growls, and 303 heaves a sigh. He'll have to go back out and get something to eat, he's too hungry right now to work on getting himself back. By midnight, though, he should be able to send himself back to his base.

Flipping over onto his back, 303 stares up at the chipped paint on the ceiling of his room. His body aches from the stress of the day, and he wishes he could just regenerate his form like his virtual one. The pain is a stark and physical reminder of why he wants to be in the other realm so badly, where he has even a little bit of control over his situation.

Letting out a breath, 303 lets his eyes fall shut. His stomach pricks with hunger, but he ignores it, letting drowsiness dull his senses. He has time for a quick nap, the pain should wake him up soon enough anyway. Assured of this by the twinges of pain running from his chest as he shifts, the teen doesn't fight as his body succumbs to sleep.

At around 11:30 PM that night, 303's door opens a slit, a beam of light falling on the sleeping form on the bed, before it closes with a click and the room is overtaken by darkness once more.