(ON HOLD/BEING REWRITTEN) De Salute Mea- Safety From The Darkness

Chapter 10

Warnings: Language, leftover gore from last chapter

"Um... Nice to meet you?" Steve asked uncertainly, still confused over the whole ordeal.

"So, how did you get involved in all this?" Charlie asked.

"What do you mean?" Alex questioned.

"You guys must have quite a backstory if you were his target." Riley gestured to the unmoving figure soaked in blood.

Steve just shook his head. "I have no idea what the hell is going on. We're just trying to stay alive."

"Aw, Charlie. We should stick with them for a while. Help 'em get a feel- Wait!" Riley stopped mid-sentence. "You're not the guy in the Nether? Charlie-" He bumped his brothers shoulder, grabbing his attention. "Oh! Oh..." Charlie's face turned grim and sorrowful.

"What?" Steve asked with growing confusion. "What are you talking about?" 

"Oh, shit man. What he did to you..."

"You guys... Are in huge trouble."  

Steve felt a knot growing in his stomach at their words. They said it with such seriousness and so grimly it sent shivers down his spine. Then he remembered- two men brought him back to his portal when he was in the Nether. "You two were the ones that brought me back to my portal?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Yeah. You were hurt bad, man, holy shit. You wouldn't have lived if we hadn't found you and used healing potions on you." Charlie said sternly.

"What about my leg?"

"We didn't have enough to heal your leg. We only had six."

"Six!?" Steve's breathing hitched at those words. No way they needed six healing potions to save him. No way they had six and weren't able to fully heal him with five left over... "You're joking..."

"Not with this, sir. We're dead serious."

"But that's impossible!" Alex spoke up. "Six healing potions would be enough to fix like... 25 broken legs!"

"Herobrine doesn't fuck around. He will destroy your very soul to the point of literal hell and make sure you're able to live through all of it. It's impossible how bad he can injure you without killing you. Ungodly." Riley folded his arms gravely.

"Herobrine?"

"He's the one who's after you. He is beyond the definition of death. He is all demise and the god and lord of hell. The things he does are otherworldly and so evil it's quite literally unimaginable, the human mind is too weak to comprehend it." Riley continued.

"Except maybe when you meet your destined and unavoidable end... Maybe at the brink of death you can understand." Charlie said darkly with his eyes shut.

"Charli-" Riley cried out to his brother suddenly, but was cut off.

The figure, who had still had the swords protruding through his flesh, suddenly grabbed the twins' ankles with blood-covered hands, and before anyone could react, all three of them had disappeared into thin air.

Silence enveloped Steve and Alex and their surroundings once more, nothing but the sound of the breeze in the tree branches above them.

Steve stood still, frozen, waiting for something to happen, or maybe for everything to finally come together in his mind with a satisfying click, but neither happened. Nothing happened.

"Steve, we need to find shelter." 

The sound of Alex's voice sliced through the stillness of the night like a knife, cutting into Steve's ears. He didn't want to... He wanted to understand everything that was happening to them, he wanted answers, he wanted the ability to rest knowing he was safe inside his house, that the worst thing that might come through his door was a zombie. He yearned for that peaceful feeling of security, to relax with the feeling of being sheltered set in his conscience and sleep peacefully. He wanted the impending thoughts of worry and fright and their doom to leave, he didn't like when he didn't understand. His whole life he understood everything- except one thing. 

Why? 

The entirety of his life he desired an answer to that one question. Just that one, and he never received. Maybe Death would bring him an answer, the one thing he desperately searched for all over the Overworld unceasingly. Maybe this was his destiny, to have all the pain end with a question answered. One question. One answer. Before the gates of death closed opened before him and he was pulled in and the gates shut behind him, enclosing him forever.

"Steve, it's starting to rain." Alex grabbed his hand and tugged him along with her, as the rain began pouring down, matching their surroundings with their mood. Awoken from his thoughts, he walked alongside her as the water soaked their clothes and hair. "We need to find a cave or something." Alex remarked, her head twisting around as she searched for something that would keep them dry.

They walked for hours in silence after that, no caves in sight, no monsters of the night hunting them down, not even any animals. They were left to their own thoughts, which probably wasn't for the best. 

After shivering in the cold rain for hours on end, a small cave entrance caught their attention, and they rushed into it, thankful for a place to rest and dry off. It must have been more than halfway into the night, but Steve wasn't sleepy. He was feeling too anxious, there was too much on his mind for him to sleep. He knew the feeling all too well.

"Are you tired?" Alex asked him as he sat cross-legged on the stone ground, staring out at the rain outside. "No. Not in the slightest." "Too much on your mind?" "Yeah."

Behind him, she leaned against the cave wall and watched the rain fall as well as silence rang through the air once more. 

"Does the rain calm you?" She asked, serenity tracing her words. Steve paused before replying.

"Yeah. It does." 

"On your worst days, when you don't know what life's going to throw at you next, it sings you to sleep. Like a lullaby." Steve nodded slowly. 

"Are you tired?" He questioned.

"A bit."

"You can rest, I'll stay up and keep watch."

Alex didn't. Instead, she sat down next to him and faced him. He turned to look at her, and something about the way her intense green eyes stared into his comforted him.

"Steve..." She looked like she wanted to tell him something, but couldn't think of what to say. But Steve could tell what she meant.

"I know. We'll find a way out of this. We have to." Alex nodded as her lips curled into a small smile. His eyes flashed to her hand, which was laying still in her lap, and something deep inside him pressed for him to take it into his and hold it there. He reached out and gripped it reassuringly, as he looked on into her eyes. She squeezed it back comfortingly, snuffing out Steve's anxious fears, leaving only a feeling of warmth Steve didn't recognize. They turned their heads back to the rain, watching the raindrops fall. But one thing remained in the very back of Steve's brain. 

Something that always roamed his mind, lingered in his deepest thoughts.

Something he could never tell Alex, or anyone.

Something dark and haunting that he buried deep down.

Something that would bring tears flowing down his face and painful memories flowing back to his present mind when he saw him again.

That something wouldn't leave him alone for a very long time.