Steve Befriends The Monsters™

Ragamuffin

He got out his book to reread the earliest pages, entries before he started leaving the house. Simple things, like notes on phantom behavior or the kind of blocks endermen were most commonly seen holding. To think he actually met a monster the other day. He worried that said monster would be upset at him for not showing up, but he had a feeling Charles wouldn't mind to much. He suddenly remembered the reason he was up all night and shivered, glancing around a little.

He quickly felt a lot less safe sitting at home alone. He rushed into his room and changed his clothes before leaving the house. He noticed Snowy happily drinking some water inside her newly built stable.

"Morning Snowy." He said tiredly. She glanced at him and exhaled. She looked at him for a moment before continuing to drink. He smiled before walking down the village path, going no where in particular, just mumbling good mornings to his neighbors and so on. He noticed a small cat following him, probably because he smelled like his mom, who fed all the stray cats. He kneeled down to pet the little creature, eventually sitting down and letting it climb onto his lap. He continued to pet the pretty thing as it purred happily. Any fear he had a moment ago was forgotten after a few minutes. Cats almost always seem to help calm negative emotions.

"Mmm..." Cole sighed and sat down next to Steve. Steve smiled at him and they pet the cat together. Cole knew he'd be an hypocrite to bring up Steve's eye bags, and he himself always had them.

"She looks like a Muffin. Name wise not like- the pastry." Steve brought up quietly. Cole nodded in agreement.

"Muffin..." he said quietly. Steve looked at him and blinked for a moment or two before continuing to pet the cat.

Eventually Richie stumbled across them, and the three greeted each other before they all began petting the cat. Animals bring everyone together.

"You know, you're up rather late." Richie spoke up after awhile of silence.

"It's not that late." Steve huffed, knowing full well that it was. Richie shrugged.

"I mean, I guess by Cole standards you're only an hour late." He joked. They all chuckled a little at that.

"We're gonna call this little kitter, Muffin." Steve responded after remembering to.

"Yeah, I think it suits her." He nodded.

Not much else happened that day really, what can I say? There's never really much to do. Sometimes you just have to accept that life can feel pretty empty sometimes, but you also need to understand that it's not always a bad thing. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be this deep in a Minecraft fanfiction.

After hours of just sitting and talking, they all said their goodbyes and returned home. When Steve got back Alex was already asleep. He assumed she was exhausted after spending all day working and a stable and most likely helping Monika on the farm. She can be hard to work with sometimes, but Alex is a good girl at heart, and she means well. He was relieved that he didn't need to sneak out of his room, as he could just walk back outside and into the night. It didn't take him long to find the same pond he met Charles at.

"Charles?" He called out. He saw a greenish blue head quickly poke out of the water. The drowned swam up fast and hugged Steve.

"I thought you died or something!" He said, before realizing he might be acting a bit dramatic and letting Steve go.

"Sorry! I was afraid to leave, humans were between you and me." He responded quickly. He wasn't exactly lying, he was just leaving details out.

"Alright well, better safe then slain I guess." Charles sighed.

"Humans are dangerous things..."

"How so? Not to be a bother, but I'm kind of newly turned."

"You didn't hunt us in life? Strange, you must've lived in a village or something, right?"

"Right."

"Ah, well humans and golems, sometimes even testificates, they all hunt us ruthlessly, sometimes just for sport. We no longer feel guilt for attacking on sight, or at least the monsters I've met feel that way."

Steve was silent after that. He didn't even think about it until now, but Charles is sapient, which would mean that other zombies must have sapience too, and yet they're being hunted, violence first and questions never.

"Sorry I should've tried to tell you slower."

"No! No I just... oh..."

"Yeah it's.. pretty bad. This pond used to have more drowned in it..."

"I'm so sorry about that..."

"It's not your fault Steve, it's the humans."

Steve couldn't really disagree with him. That was all a lot to take in. His beloved cousin who was like sister to him, Alex, he'd never look at her the same would he? He didn't want to feel uncomfortable around his own family and friends.

"I was a human once."

"So was I, and unlike you I did hunt zombies, it was my job, Steve."

"Don't blame yourself for that, you couldn't have known! It's not like monsters and humans, testificates, and golems give each other much of a chance to explain themselves."

Charles looked at Steve, not angry or anything, just surprised.

"I never really thought about it like that." He said quietly.

"Really? Well, I guess even if you didn't it's not like you'd be able to have an easy conversation with a murderer."

"I guess that's true, but maybe one day?"

"Maybe one day."

"Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Thank you too, Charles."

They sat next to each other for awhile, just enjoying the company. They felt like they'd known each other for an eternity, even though they'd only had two nights together. Steve never really had a friendship like that, and he barely even knew a thing about Charles.

"Charles, tell me about yourself."

"What?"

"You know like, who is Charles the drowned? Who was Charles the human?"

"Well um, I had a brother and two very loving parents, but that's long gone now. I used to love sunlit picnics at parks. I was a painter once, but it was just a hobby really, you've already heard about my regular job. A lot of people thought my art was strange, but I always liked the way they turned out. No one really appreciated surrealism much anyways."

"I wish I could've seen one of your paintings."

"Yeah, but that's just not a possibility. Hah.."

"Oh come on, anything is possible!"

"I'm not getting my hopes up."

"Well... suits yourself I guess."

"I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

"I'm not getting my hopes up either."

"Suits yourself."