(Y/N)'s POV
I slowly open my eyes. Last thing I remember is being outside with the endermen. Now, I'm lying on the floor back inside the room with a pounding headache. I sit up with a groan.

"(Y/N)!" Aiden rushes over to me. "You're awake!"

Another man follows Aiden. Soren. The one who knocked me unconscious.

"I don't think it will bruise," he says. "You're face, I mean."

"You must be Soren," I say.

"I am Soren," he says, "but must I be? Sometimes I'd rather be anything but Soren . . . ooh, like a donkey, for example."

"Yeah, okay." So, I guess being alone with endermen and having no contact with any human being makes you . . . how can I put this in the nicest way possible?

Totally bonkers.

"Where are the others?" I ask Aiden.

Instead, Soren answers with, "Stomping around, uninvited."

"Yeah, they're still out there," Aiden says. "I just figured I would stay here to make sure you were okay."

I smile. "Thanks."

"Are you two, you know, together?" Soren asks.

Aiden's face goes a bright shade of pink, and I'm sure mine does, too.

"What?" I say, much too quickly. "Aiden and I? No, we're— we're not— we're not boyfriend and girlfriend!"

"Oh, my mistake," Soren says, smugness written all over his face.

"We— the world is in danger," I say, forgetting that moment.

"Oh?" he asks. "What else is new? Whatever your issue is—whatever your problem—it has occurred before, and has been solved before." He hesitates. "Even so, what do you need me for?"

"We need you to help us save the world," I say.

"How?"

"The Formidibomb."

He pauses for a long while. I look around, waiting for an answer. The endermen outside are all staring at us, glaring with their beady purple eyes.

"There's a Witherstorm out there and it's eating the world," Aiden says when Soren never replies with anything.

"Ah, I see," Soren says. "You misspoke. You don't need me. You need my stuff. I've found that when you give people what they want, they turn on you."

"I won't do that," I say. "I would never do that."

"Yeah," Aiden says, "(Y/N) is a good friend."

"It's only natural," Soren says. "It's why I prefer endermen. They always do what you expect, almost to a fault. You're a stranger."

"I have an adorable cat!" I gesture to Fish, who perks up when he hears the word "cat". Hey, who can resist a cat?

"I was wondering about that. If you came to 'save the world', why bring a cat?"

"He's my friend."

"Of course. I used to have those."

That makes me sad. "Gabriel asked me to get the Order of the Stone back together."

"The Order of the Stone?" Soren echoes. "They asked for me?"

I think for a moment. "Well, yeah, Ellegaard is your friend."

"Hm, I don't know. Does she ever talk about me?"

"Uh, yeah." Well, it's not totally lying. We did talk about him a little before heading to his fortress.

"What kind of things does she say?"

"That she missed you. They all missed you."

"Really?"

"Maybe it was more like missing. You have to read between the lines."

"Yes, yes you do."

"But what about you?" he asks. "Are you my friend?"

"Of course! I'd love to be your friend!" I say excitedly. I love making new friends.

"And you?" he asks Aiden.

"Yeah, sure," Aiden says.

"That's the best thing I've heard in years!" Soren says. "Admittedly, it's not a very high bar."

He places a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry I'm going to help you. Because that's what friends do. Before we leave, I want to give my old friends a gift." He pauses. "The gift of song!"

Oh, this is going to be good.

"Gary may seem scary, but he's a swell guy," he sings. "Sally dilly-dallies, but give her credit, she tries. They might look the same to the untrained eye."

"What is he doing?" Aiden whispers.

I lightly elbow him. "Sh. I want to see where this goes."

"But that's a lie," Soren continues, "so I say. . . . "

The door flies open, cutting off Soren's song. In all honesty, I'm trying so hard not to laugh. In through the door come our friends.

"Soren?" Jesse asks.

"Nice to meet you, Soren," Lukas says, then coughs.

"You look terrible," Soren says, walking up to him.

Lukas seems frightened by something, looking behind us. I turn my head around, only to quickly shut my eyes afterwards, due to the fact that the endermen starting pooling into the room.

"That's odd," Soren says. "They've never been inside before."

"Everyone, look away," I say.

Too late, the endermen start screeching.

"You've upset them!" Soren says. "You've altered their behavior!"

"Let's just get out of here!" Aiden says.

We walk out of the room, our heads low.

"Oh, no," I sigh, "there's more."

"I wasn't expecting so many houseguests," Soren says. "There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them!"

"How do we get out of here?" Aiden asks.

"We break the fountain," I say. "When we were in the maze and you and I jumped into the water, the endermen didn't follow us."

"Naturally," says Soren, "endermen hate water. (Y/N), you still have the enderman suit. Put that on, and you'll be able to safely reach the fountain."

I nod and put the mask on.

"We'll all watch from here, then," Soren says. "Where it's safe."

I stealthily walk over to the fountain, avoiding endermen and watching my step.

"Try not to die," Soren says to me.

I look over at him, annoyed. Wow, that's the second time someone's told me to not die today. At least it was cute when Aiden said it.

I make it over to the fountain and break the blocks on one side. The water spreads everywhere, causing endermen to teleport away.

"Okay, everyone," I call to them, "it's clear."

The others follow me. We turn a corner and find even more endermen.

I groan and walk to the next fountain. I break one side of the fountain and wash away another group of endermen.

"Let's go!" I shout.

We run towards the woolly outside-room. The others stop in front of me.

"Oh, please tell me this room isn't full of endermen," I say. I push through the crowd to find that the room was, in fact, full of endermen.

"How are we supposed to get through there?" Aiden asks. "They're everywhere."

"Everyone, just hold onto me and keep your heads low," I say. "I'll guide us through."

Aiden grabs my waist, which makes me blush. Good thing I'm wearing a mask.

I guide us all through the endermen, who stand around us and stare at us. We make it to the bridge before the endermen close in on us. Aiden holds on to me more tightly. I'm really loving this mask.

"Yeah, there's no way we're getting through them," I say.

I look behind us to see if we could turn around, but there's about the same amount of endermen. One endermen appears in front of me, startling me and making me almost fall backwards. Aiden helps me regain my balance. By this point, I think I'm blushing so hard you can see it through the mask.

The enderman leans over me, getting closer and closer.

"It's right in my face," I say worriedly, trying to get out of its gaze. After a few seconds it backs away from me and I ease up, but then he starts screeching. {This jumpscare gets me every time.}

"Get in the water!" I turn to break the railing beside us and slip into the river. The others follow me.

"Oh! When I constructed this place, I was worried about how flammable my building material was," Soren says. "So, I installed a fire suppression system to prevent the whole thing from going up in flames!"

"So we could get more water?" I clarify.

"Much more!" he says. "If we activate it, it could disperse all these endermen while we swim to safety!"

"How do we activate it?"

"The lever is right up there!" He points to a high-up water tower.

"That's . . . high. . . ."

"Don't worry, (Y/N), I got it," Aiden says. He runs past me.

"What? Aiden—," I start trying to stop him, but he's too fast. He climbs up the ladder and pulls a lever on top.

The whole room starts shaking. Aiden loses his balance and tumbles off the side of the tower.

"Aiden!" I shriek.

Luckily, water starts filling up the room, catching his fall.

"It worked," I sigh of relief.

"Well done, Aiden," Soren says. "Time to swim to that trapdoor."

And so we do. Jesse helps poor Lukas get there quickly. I make sure everyone gets through the trapdoor then do so myself, closing it behind me.

»-(¯'·.·'¯)->A/N<-(¯'·.·'¯)-«

Fan art is distracting, please help. Although, I am starting to draw more quickly. Sunday night, I stayed up until 2:30AM, Monday until 1:00AM, and Tuesday until 11:40PM! I'm so proud of myself.

Word count: 1,568

P.S. Thanks to Faith for helping me a bit with this one! I think it was the right decision; it's pretty cute that Aiden stayed to make sure you were okay. So, thank you! ^-^