hey look I updated on Thursday that's shocking.

Lmao I actually finished this Tuesday so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

WARNING: some Kake.

K bye

~<>~

OKAY SO IM ADDING THIS FIRST PART AT THE LAST SECOND SO HOPEFULLY ILL FINISH IT CAUSE LIKE IM NEARING THE END OF THE BOOK AND I NEED TO MAKE CHAPTERS LONGER.

Update: I finished it

~<>~

~ 3rd person pov ~

Notch looked around. He peered into the gloom. There was only mist around him, so not much to see. The moist ground squished under his feet. The air felt sticky, even though he wasn't in the swamp.

He didn't get it. This was the meeting place. And his anonymous letter said to meet 5 minutes ago at this place. Was the person late? Was this a trap? Who would trap a god? Unless...

"Hello brother." A voice said.

The mist cleared up suddenly around Notch, creating an oval around him and the person. His shadowy figure pressed against the tree made it hard to recognize his features, but Notch would know that voice from anywhere.

"Herobrine." Notch said calmly.

"If it wasn't me, you'd be in big trouble. Honestly, you shouldn't accept random anonymous notes in the mail that tell you to meet someone in a deserted location."

"Why here?" He asked. "Why these coordinates?"

Herobrine gave a toothy grin. "You don't remember?"

The clearing in the fog amplified immensely, revealing the night sky, a ruined structure, and tons of dead trees. The only living tree for what seemed like hundreds of blocks was the tree his brother leaned under.

Notch stared at the structure. It was— well, it used to be a large 2 story house. However the only things that made it up were rotting wood walls randomly sticking up around, and some old mounds that used to be furniture. A set of stairs led up to nowhere.

"Our old house." He realized.

"What made you finally figure it out?"

"Wood doesn't rot unless made by a god."

A small growl came out of Herobrine. "That's the only thing? No memories of the place that we built? That built us?"

"All in the past." Notch turned back to his brother. "You hold on too much. You need to let go of the bad memories."

He chuckled, and straightened himself, no longer needing the tree for support. "But there were also good memories. Fun ones. Remember when we were running through the house because we saw a wolf outside, and raced to tame it? And you fell down the last few stairs and broke your leg."

"I couldn't get out of bed for weeks." Notch recalled. "You had to do everything for me."

"The good old times." Herobrine's smile faded. "That is, until—"

"Why did you call me here." He interrupted, sick of the conversation.

"What? I can't reminisce and invite my brother to join along?"

"You aren't like that."

Herobrine shrugged. "I just wanted to remind you of the good old days. When we worked so well with each other."

"And then you betrayed everyone."

"I did not." You could tell the white eyed god was getting irritated. "You betrayed everyone!"

"You tried to turn everyone against me." Notch's voice remained at the same volume.

"Because you tried to turn everyone against me." Herobrine closed his eyes and sighed. "But that's not the point. The point is, imagine what would happen if we worked together on this."

"We tried. I tried to make peace. But you wanted more. And you took more by force."

"You confined me to the nether. What choice did I have?"

"You left to go to the nether. You could've went somewhere else, but you didn't."

"Alright, alright." Herobrine motioned for Notch to calm down, even though he was completely calm. "I see this isn't going as I planned it would. So moving on from the past, let's move to the present."

"Please stop this brother." Notch insisted. "You will ruin the lives of many innocent people. And your own."

"No one is innocent on this world." Herobrine scowled. "The nicest people still lie. They'll say they care about you, and then turn their backs on you when you need them most. Backstabbing. Blackmailing. They still judge even when they say they don't. Everyone wants to change the economy but they choose not to. The government is thought to be corrupted. Everyone is lazy. Everyone gets offended too easily. Arguments erupt when they shouldn't. War is always talked about. No one ever wants to settle things nicely. Not even you."

He said nothing.

"Everyone knew the world was going to erupt into misery eventually. I just simply pushed it along. Gave them a reason to why it could happen instead of them blaming themselves. Aren't I nice?"

Notch didn't say anything for a moment. Then, he took a deep breath. "You can look at the world in two ways. A dark and depressing place full of horrible people. Or, a place full of opportunities, where people can rise up and become shining beacons of hope." He said slowly. "We basically represent these ideas according to everyone. We are their options. And we should want them to choose to be the best they can be. To make the world a better place."

Herobrine's scowled lightened slightly, but his glare still remained. "I pity you. You were supposed to be the older brother that was wise, not naive."

"I may be naive to you." Notch said. "But many people look up to me. Do they look up to you?"

Herobrine got a little angry. His fists started to glow. "I do have people that follow me. And soon I shall have more."

"No one will follow you by force."

"But they will. And I have the entire city of Bladville under my control now. Plenty more followers." Herobrine smiled. He breathed in and started pacing slowly. "Your little group of teenagers are still there, you know."

"I'm aware." Notch said.

"And you know where they are."

"You don't?"

"I cannot pinpoint their exact location, thanks to you. But my prediction is that they're underground."

"Leave them alone." Notch said, though he knew his brother would do no such thing.

"Why would I do that?" Herobrine laughed. "I only need the girl. Her friends will most likely be prisoners of war."

Notch's fists clenched. "She will not be taken easily."

"She would not be needed to be taken if it weren't for you."

"I needed to."

"You broke our deal!"

"So did you." Notch's voice lowered.

"Then I guess we're even." Herobrine's evil smile shown brightly. "But as you know, I hate being even."

Notch had to end the meeting. "We shall see, Herobrine. But you will get what you deserve."

"I hope so." His brother grinned. "A whole world to rule."

"No." Notch shook his head. "A place alone in darkness."

"As you said, we'll see. I have a plan, brother, and I doubt even you can stop me." And with that, Herobrine disappeared.

Notch sighed. "Kat, I hope you will do something soon."

~<>~

~ Kat's PoV ~

Everything was peaceful until someone tried to kidnap me.

I was walking quickly down the streets. I couldn't swing my arms because the one was wounded, and it would hurt.

The walk to the base took about 40 minutes in all. I was around halfway there. The sun still hadn't rose, but the sky was getting to be a lighter blue. I needed to move faster before people started to come out.

My arm was throbbing. There wasn't supposed to be any weight from the inventories, yet I felt them starting to get heavier as my strength left me. The inventories that were full of stolen items. The arm that was shot with a poison arrow by a guard. Oh gods, I feel like a bad guy.

As I thought, I didn't notice someone following me. But I did notice when I was yanked into an alley.

Someone grabbed the arm of my— I mean Ash's—hoodie and jerked me toward them in the narrow path. It was dark, so I wasn't able to see who it was. But my battle instincts kicked in.

I grabbed their arm that had a hold of the hoodie, and pulled them toward me. I kneed them in the stomach, earning a male grunt. I was about to do it again, but they shoved me away. I was about to send my fist flying into what was probably their face, but they grabbed it mid-swing.

"Wai—"

I cut them off by twisting their forearm and pushing them away. I backed up and finally got out my sword. The sword was engulfed in flames in seconds, lighting up a circle around me and the stranger.

... Who turned out to be someone I knew.

"Jake?"

He grunted again. "Yes. Ya know, usually friends don't try to kill each other when they greet."

"Usually friends don't yank each other into an alleyway." I retorted. "You scared me!"

"Shhhh." He shushed me. "You could wake people up."

I exhaled. "What are you doing here? How'd you find me?"

"What are you doing here?" Jake said. "I went to your room but you weren't there. Then Yuri came walking down the hall, and I asked him where you were."

"And?" I wondered if Yuri would tell him the truth.

"He said you went to the surface to run an errand for him, which," Jake chuckled, taking a step forward. "I obviously got worried about."

"So you went after me?"

"Of course I did. Knowing you, you'd get yourself hurt."

I decided not to mention the arrow.

"Really." I pretended to scratch my shoulder so I covered the puncture hole. "You don't have much faith in me. Besides, it was just a simple mission. Nothing dangerous."

"Then you wouldn't mind telling me where you went?" He smiled with victory.

I clicked my tongue. "Welp." Then, I shrugged. "I just went to get some more supplies."

"You stole." He summed up with a sour look.

"I mean..." I looked around for an excuse. "It's for the greater good."

He sighed. "Kat, we're not the bad guys."

"I know that!"

"Then don't act like them." He said calmly. "We aren't robbers, we aren't murderers, we aren't the villains here."

"We are to them." I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." I shook my head, extinguished my sword, and started walking out. "But whatever. Let's just head ba..."

"What?" He asked again, walking behind me. I covered his mouth with my hand and shoved him back into the alley.

"What is it?" His voice was barely audible.

"Police officer." I said. "Coming this way."

We both looked around. Nowhere to hide. Then, I remembered my ladders.

I ran to the end of the dead end alley. I quickly placed down ladders, leading up the 3 story building. "Follow me quickly!" I hissed, both in pain and anxiousness. As I climbed and placed, I felt the pressure of Jake grabbing the ladder.

We were almost to the top when I heard footsteps. Paralyzed, I only looked at the entrance, waiting for my fate. When the male police officer walked by, he glanced into the alley. However, he did not look up to see two teens on a ladder. He continued on his merry way.

I let out the deep breath I was holding in. We didn't get caught.

"That was close." Jake said from below me. I nodded in agreement, then continued climbing. We were almost up there, so why not finish?

Finally, we reached the top. I climbed onto the stone roof and stood up. The view was pretty cool. Despite not being high up, it was actually a good thing, because the building silhouettes looked awesome.

"Cool view." Jake said from beside me.

"Yep." I agreed.

I walked a little further to the center of the building and sat down. The sun was just starting to rise, so it made a beautiful array of colors from blue to purple to pink to orange.

I heard movement. When I turned, I saw Jake sit down next to me, giving me a small smile.

"So..." I said.

"So..." He cleared his throat. "What were you doing?"

I hesitated. Should I tell him the truth? And say that I broke into the army base and stole enough weaponry and armor and basic supplies to fill two inventories? He was definitely going to be upset. But... the way he looked at me innocently for an answer... it made me have to be honest.

So I was. I explained everything that happened. The knocking out two people, the sneaking in, grabbing everything, the TNT, the chase, and barely escaping. The only thing I left out was getting shot by the arrow.

He didn't react at first. He just stared at the ground. Then the sunrise, a random building, just anywhere but me.

"Aren't you going to yell at me?" I asked. "Tell me what I did wrong?"

He finally met my eyes. He had a solemn look. Then, he sighed and chuckled. "Wow. That's a lot you did tonight. I'm impressed."

"Impressed?" I was surprised. "Seriously? I literally robbed the army base of the city we're in. I knocked out innocent people. I... I..." I looked around, trying to think of something else.

"Look, this may contradict everything I said before, but that was because I wasn't bothering to think more about it. You're only seeing what you did do. But what you didn't do was murder. You didn't cause destruction when you could've. You wanted to make it in and out without being seen. And that's great. Yuri gave you a huge responsibility, which I'll kill him for later, but you completed it. And I'm willing to overlook the whole idea to notice the good things about it. About what you did."

He took a deep breath. "That's pretty awesome honestly."

I couldn't believe it. Not even 5 minutes ago, he was dissing on the Rebels for acting like criminals. Now here he was praising me for breaking in and robbing.

Hesitantly, I looked up. He was smiling at me. A smile slowly grew on my face.

"Say Jake. Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Can I ask you another one?"

"You just did."

"Can I ask you two questions?"

"You just did."

"I only asked one! Since when did I ask two?"

"Right now."

I glared at him as he laughed. But I couldn't help but laugh along. This was the smooth guy that I took Jake for at first. The one that was flirty, calm in dramatic situations, quick to make the funniest and most sarcastic remarks, and just that guy that everyone wanted to be like, or be with. But it turned out that he was awkward, overprotective, and horrible with romance. And honestly, I'd take that over any smooth talking dude.

"I'm going to ask you a question." I finally said.

"Okay, okay." Jake admitted defeat.

"Earlier you said you went to my room and I wasn't there. Why'd you try to visit me?"

He opened his mouth, and closed it. I could tell he regretted saying that before.

"Jake...?" I tilted my head.

"I just wanted to talk to you about... some things."

"Like?"

"Like... Where you think this whole thing will lead to. What the rebels are doing. But nevermind."

"You got out of bed and walked all the way down the hall to my room just to talk to me about something that could've waited until the morning?"

"I mean, I couldn't sleep. I just needed to talk to someone."

"And you chose me."

"I chose to talk to you, yes."

"Is that really it?" I raised an eyebrow.

He blinked a few times. "Yes."

"I don't believe you."

"Oh come on!"

I shrugged. "It's obvious when you lie."

Jake groaned. "Okay. Um... I was wondering... Can you tell me what's going on between you and Damen?"

"Damen?" I was about to laugh. "What ever do you mean?"

"Please don't make me go into details." He pleaded.

I waited.

"Ugh. Like you two do a lot of stuff together, and laugh a lot, and I see how he looks at you."

"Like...?" It was hilarious seeing Jake so awkward.

"Like... he like likes you."

"Like likes me." I bursted out laughing.

"Quit laughing!"

"I'm sorry." I calmed down after a few seconds, but still kept a mischievous grin. I pulled down my mouth fabric. "But there's nothing between us, despite what he feels about me. Just friends. Why do you want to know?"

"Good." He exhaled. "And uh, I was just wondering if there was a new ship coming so, you know, I can be caught up."

"Really." I gave him a 'are you serious' face.

"Really really." He swallowed.

"What did I say earlier, Jake?"

He sighed. "It's obvious when I lie."

"Right." I chuckled. "But I won't make you continue."

"Thank you so much."

I looked back at the sunrise. It was bright, but not blinding.

This was the perfect setting for romance. Two people that could possibly have feelings for each other are alone on a roof, looking at a gorgeous view together. Then they'd lean in and have an amazing kiss that made them both realize they liked each other a lot, and go back to their friends either holding hands or pretending it didn't happen to save their friendship. However, these people were two friends. This was a friendly conversation that could've led to something more. But it didn't. It was fun and humorous. And it was okay that it wasn't any more than that. It was okay that we didn't kiss, or anything romantic. Sure, I could tell that Jake was definitely jealous about Damen and I, but that was settled easily without leading to anything else. No establishing boundaries or confessing our loves. Nothing awkward (for me at least). We were just friends sitting on a roof talking.

Just friends.

~<>~

So what did you guys think? Didn't have as much Kake action as you wanted, did it? Good.

I was gonna end it with an almost kiss, but I like this better.

But you gotta admit, I did pretty good with writing this on time.

Question: what was your favorite moment in this book so far? In both books?

Rock on, my little rebels.