Herobrine closed his eyes and waited for death to rain down upon him. “What?” he heard Fae say, and opened his eyes again. The zombies hadn’t spawned. The two brothers were safe.

“But… but that’s impossible!” Fae gasped. Her face slowly turned red with anger and a hint of embarrassment. “Fine. If the zombies won’t kill you, then I’ll kill you myself!” she roared, taking out an enchanted diamond sword and stepping on the pressure plate. Although Herobrine and Steve were better geared, Fae had the advantage of being able to use her ender essence. However, as she tried to enter, something held her back. It was Five.

“Five? What are you doing here? Let go of your leader at once!” Fae ordered. Five ingnored her, holding her back with all his might. “Why are you helping the enemy?”

“Five’s not our enemy!” Herobrine blurted out. “He’s part of our town!”

“Wait… what?” Fae exclaimed. “Five, what is going on here?”

In reply, Five held up a heap of redstone dust. “You sabotaged my machine! You’re working for them!” Fae raged.

“Five belongs to Excalibur!” Herobrine told Fae. Fae gasped.

“You… you double agent!” Fae said, pointing at Five accusingly. Five’s expression was unchanging, but Herobrine thought he could see a twinkle of mirth in Five’s eyes.

“Thanks, Five,” Herobrine said warmly, and Five nodded. With a new burst of strength, he pulled Fae away from the door, and Herobrine and Steve rushed out just before the door closed. “I owe you one.”

“Five. I cannot forgive you for what you have done. I hereby expel you from the town of Musket,” Fae said, not bothering to hold back the anger in her voice. There was no reaction from Five. “I can’t believe you would betray your spawn town. I just… I can’t believe you, Five.”

Fae’s tone changed from irate to upset. “How do I know I can believe anyone else? I should have expected it, after all. You all hate me. You don’t care about how I feel. When Celt hears that I’ve failed this mission, my life will be over. Literally. He’ll never give me any ender essence again.”

“And what makes you think that your life is more important than ours?” Steve yelled suddenly. “You keep on wallowing in self-pity, cutting down the forest just to save one little insignificant flower. To be honest, I won’t care if Celt kills you! After all, it’s what you deserve!”

Fae gasped. She was starting to cry, but Steve didn’t notice, or maybe he just didn’t care. “Herobrine tried to kill you because you were the ones that planned the raid, and ultimate planned to kill him. If he hadn’t resisted, you would probably have killed him long ago! Then you try and kill two of us, and in your defence, you say that you were trying to save your own pathetic, miserable life, in exchange for destroying the lives of two innocent people. Open your eyes, Fae. You don’t matter in this world any more than we do.”

“I know,” Fae whispered, and Steve fell quiet. “I know I’m worthless. I’m the dark cloud in the middle of a perfect sky. I’m the blotch of ink on a clean sheet of paper. Every day, I wake up and tell myself I’m not useless. But every day, I get told by someone that I should just die. I can’t take it anymore. Five, the redstone please.”

Five obligingly handed her the redstone he had taken. Fae repaired her contraption, and walked on the pressure plate that opened the death machine. The two brothers watched in stunned silence. “And today, I’ll finally take that advice.” As she walked inside, she flicked the lever.

But just before the zombies attacked her, someone appeared out of nowhere. A hooded figure, dressed in black, appeared next to Fae for just a split second. Purple ender essence swirled around him in tiny particles. Then, as abruptly as he had appeared, he was gone. However, the essence remained lingering in the air. It gathered into a dense cloud, and shot through the narrow holes in the door, before shooting straight towards Five and gathering around him in a thick cocoon, slowly spinning. Herobrine and Steve took a step back. Something was about to happen. Something big.

The essence span faster and faster, enveloping Five in a thick haze. Then Herobrine heard an unearthly cry, and the essence faded away. What was there made the brothers gasp.

Although there were still some remnants of Five’s original character, his skin had been bleached a dirty white. His one visible eye glowed a menacing red, and he shrieked inhumanely.

“What happened to him?” Steve cried, terrified.

“I have no idea,” Herobrine said, failing to hide his fear. Then Five threw his head back and opened his mouth, and a ball of fire formed just above it, slowly growing. Five snapped his head forward, and the fireball flew towards Steve, who only just about dodged it. The fireball smashed into the ground in a resounding explosion, leaving a huge flaming crater.

“What. The. Nether,” Steve said, his mouth agape.

“There’s no time for this! Let’s go!” Herobrine came to his senses faster than Steve did. Grabbing Steve’s hand, he started running. “Snap out of it, Five!” he begged, as they started running. “You’re not like this!”

Five only replied with another fireball. Herobrine dodged it just in time, and swerved to avoid the colossal crater in front of him. As the brothers ran out of the open village door, Five followed them, his heavy footsteps dangerously close behind them.

The next explosion hit right behind them, causing Herobrine to stumble and nearly fall over. However, Steve was gripping his hand tightly, and soon Herobrine was back up and running. “Thanks,” Herobrine smiled, but Steve was looking directly ahead, his eyes slightly glazed over, attention unmoving from the basic struggle to survive.

“I can see it!” he cried eventually, and Herobrine saw it too. The familiar village walls were in sight. In that brief moment of joy, Herobrine stopped worrying about Five, and the next fireball hit its mark.

The world seemed to slow down as the fireball slammed into Herobrine’s back. He flew up into the air, facing the bright diamond-like stars in the jet black sky. The hint of a smile crossed his face. It was funny, really. In giving up on her mission, it had ultimately led to Fae’s success. The moon smiled at him, and Herobrine smiled back. There were no clouds tonight. The view was amazing.

Then time returned to normal, and just before Herobrine hit the ground, the stars blinked out, one by one, and the world turned black.

~o~O~o~

He floats in the empty, white void. It is not of this world, nor the next… it lies somewhere in between. It does not hold the living or the dead. It is but a figment of imagination, yet very real. He reaches out a hand to feel the pure blankness. It is muffled, like a thick blanket, wrapping him in its surreal folds.

As he floats, he sees a tiny speck of ever-changing light, even though his eyes are closed. The speck changes from white, to black, to green, and finally settles on a peaceful, tranquil blue. Then at once, it changes, becoming a long, snaking line. It dances around him, and he waves his hand through it. The line breaks into a thousand tiny pieces, but soon gathers back together, and continues swirling around him.

The line whispers tales to him. It begins where every tale should begin, before the beginning of the world itself, before the first breath was breathed, before the first eye was opened. It takes him on a journey through the past, all the way to the future, and a little further than that.

The line slows, and becomes a speck once more. Somehow he knows he must take it in his hands. He hesitates. Then he touches it.

Countless green numbers float past him. They are all zeros and ones, being sucked into the tiny blue speck. He is returning to whence he came, back to simple code once more. He feels his legs dissolving, fading away, but he is not scared.

But then there is a new light, more powerful than the other, and it draws him towards it. He is torn between the two forces. He longs to stay with the speck, needs to stay with the speck, but the other light is growing, getting stronger. He cannot resist it any more.

He falls into the bright light, the numbers following him. Voices echo all around him, some familiar, some unknown. Yet they are all saying the same thing, ordering him to do one simple thing.

He opens his eyes.

~o~O~o~

Herobrine’s eyes fluttered open. The world seemed to pulse around him. As it swam into focus, he made out faces – first worried, then relieved. “What… what happened?”

“Five got you,” Steve said sincerely. “I carried you back to the village. It wasn’t that far, so I managed to lock Five out, and somehow I survived. However, you were in extremely bad health. Thankfully Run managed to revive you. Welcome back, Herobrine.”

“Fae!?” Herobrine said suddenly. The enderchild stood a little way behind the villagers, hiding in the corner of the house they were in. Although the others were evidently stunned, they didn’t attack.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Fae said softly. “I–”

“Don’t worry about it,” Herobrine said warmly. “Ready to help, then?”

“Where is he?” Fae smiled.

“He’s upstairs,” Steve said suddenly. Herobrine gave a slight nod of thanks in Steve’s direction as he led Fae up the stairs.

When he pushed on Notch’s door, it didn’t budge. He noticed that it had been blocked up with what looked like two blocks of lapis. “Guess there’s a use for them after all,” Herobrine said, forcing a laugh. “So, do you think you can teleport in there and fix him up?”

Fae nodded. Then she vanished.

~o~O~o~

When Fae opened her eyes, she was standing behind the crouched figure of Notch, scribbling away in a book. “Hello?” she said softly. When there was no reply, she tapped him on the shoulder, and he stopped writing.

“I suppose you want me to give up,” Notch said, an edge of danger to his voice.

Fae took a deep breath. “I have come to make a preposition,” she said.

“Well, get on with it then,” Notch said harshly.

“I want you to share your creation with u– me. I can help cover up your secret, and–”

“No,” Notch said, returning to his writing.

“Why?”

“Go away.” Whatever interest Notch had taken in Fae before had disappeared.

“Fine,” Fae said. But just before she left, she let a small cloud of essence float into the air. It darted under Notch’s shirt before sinking into his skin. Celt will be pleased, she thought, before teleporting away.

~o~O~o~

Herobrine paced up and down worriedly. When he caught sight of Fae, he rushed over to her immediately. “How’d it go?” he asked.

Fae shook her head sadly. “He’s not going to be convinced. I tried my hardest.”

“Can’t you use your ender essence?” Herobrine blurted out desperately. “There must be something you can do… anything!”

“There’s only so much you can do with ender essence,” Fae said. “It’s hopeless.”

“She’s lying,” a calm voice said suddenly, and Herobrine turned to see Steve standing at the top of the staircase with cold, steely eyes.

“Of course she’s not,” Herobrine laughed nervously. “Don’t be stupid.”

“She can change him in an instant,” Steve said breezily. “But instead, she just wants to be a part of whatever Notch is planning. I saw her with my own two eyes.”

“How!?” Fae burst out, before slapping her hands over her mouth.

“I guessed,” Steve smirked. “I had a hunch you were no good from the moment I saw you. Turns out I was right.”

He brought out an enchanted bow and notched an arrow. “Any last words, traitor?”

Fae looked at Herobrine, and he felt a pang of sympathy in his heart. Yet what could he do? Steve was right; even after all this, Fae had still let them down in the end. She couldn’t disobey Celt, even if that meant betraying those who were closest to her. “I just… I can’t believe you, Fae,” he whispered, turning away.

“I am too,” Fae said quietly. Herobrine looked back, surprised at her response, just in time to see the arrow release from the taut string of Steve’s bow and embed itself deep in Fae’s neck.

“NO!” Herobrine screamed, as Fae fell onto the floor, limp. He was at her side within ticks, laying his hands on her weak heart. Her eyes were closed.

Herobrine fought back his tears, and wrapped his arms around her weak body, holding it tight. However, her body was quickly dissolving into long strings of code, and it was only a matter of ticks before he was groping at nothing but air. There was little of Fae left, and Herobrine did the one thing he still could do.

He kissed Fae full on the lips for the first and last time, with the tiniest crazy hope that somehow the kiss would reverse the deletion, and Fae would spring up again, healthy and happy. He held on tight to what remained of the enderchild, but he had to finally let go. When he stood up, he could swear that she was smiling.

Then the arrow clattered to the ground, and she was gone.

~o~O~o~

“I’m back!” Steve called, shutting the door behind him after a long day of patrolling. As usual, there was no reply. Even after three weeks, Herobrine was still grieving the death of Fae. It was best for all of them, though; she was too dangerous, and besides, she had already tried to end her own life – Steve was merely doing her a favour.

Steve peered through Herobrine’s door. He was staring out the window, as he tended to do often these days. Although Steve pitied him, he was powerless to help him. After a few tense moments, he moved on.

Herobrine stepped out of his room. Steve waved at him, but he completely ignored him, walking downstairs with a vacant look on his face. Steve’s smile faded, and he sighed deeply.

Suddenly, another door opened. Steve looked downstairs, but Herobrine wasn’t anywhere near a door: all he was doing was sitting on the floor, scratching at the wooden planks. Something clicked in Steve’s head, and his eyes widened. Could it be?

Steve looked towards the open door to a certain bedroom, and smiled as a familiar figure brushed past him. “Herobrine,” he said, “There’s something you might like to see.”

All you FaeBrine shippers, I hope you're happy. Now go draw your shipping art in peace. Fanart to the side is provided by TimeIsTicking!