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

Chapter 13

(A/N Wow, great to be back, lol. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend, and an awesome 2021! Happy New Year everybody!!)

( WARNINGS: Wow, none?! )

"Son, wake up!" A kind voice spoke softly in his ear. "Mom, just five more minutes!" Steve rolled over in bed, away from his chuckling mother. "Sweetie, it's time for school." The brown-haired boy just groaned in response. "Alright then." She ripped the sheets off of his sleepy body and began tickling him. "Hey, hey! No, stop!" He cried through laughter. "Never!" She teased. "Fine, fine! I'll get up, I'll get up!" He screamed, and she relented. "That's what I thought." She shined him that loving smile of hers. "I'm glad you decided to get up, because otherwise you would have missed out on..." "Cake?" "No..." "Pancakes?" "Not just any pancakes!" Steve gasped and a wide smile spread across his young face. "Daddy's Bestest Pancakes Ever!?" "That's right!" "Yay!" He bounced out of his bed and ran into the kitchen with his mom trailing behind. "Daddy!" Steve cried as soon as he saw his father, standing in the kitchen with an apron and a spatula in his hand. "Hey! Morning sleepy head!" He ruffled his son's hair as he ran past, and gave his wife a kiss when she appeared at his side. "I'm going to the market today, is there anything we need besides flour?" She asked him as she walked to the fridge and tugged it open. "I know we're almost out of milk, and there aren't many eggs left. Or chocolate chips when Steve is done- Hey! Get your hand out of there!" Steve's father swatted his hand away from the bowl of chocolate chips. "I'm hungry!" Steve pouted. "The pancakes are almost ready, go ahead and sit down you two." 

"Steve, come here." Steve slowly walked to his father, who was seated on the couch. "Sit down." Steve obeyed, tossing his backpack on the floor and flopped onto the couch beside his father. "Son, what's the matter with you?" "It's nothing." Steve responded, staring out the window. "You keep saying that, son, but I know you're lying." Steve remained quiet, arms folded and staring out the window. He watched his mother outside in the garden, planting flowers and pulling weeds, just like she always did. "It's because of Mom, isn't it?" Steve's face contorted, and he looked into his lap. "It's not easy for me either, Steve. It hurts like hell. I can hardly sleep without her next to me." Steve clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tight, determined not to let the tears fall. "Death is part of the cycle of life Steve. It happens to everyone at some point." "How can you be so comfortable with this!" Steve screeched, opening his eyes and turning to face his father as tears streamed down his face. He wasn't finished, but he was stopped mid-sentence in seeing his father's face was also wet with tears. "This is one of the hardest things we will ever go through Steve. Your mother loved you, oh she loved you so dearly. And so do I."  Steve stared into his father's face, unable to hold the flowing tears back. "The only way we'll get through this is together, alright son?" Steve threw his arms around his father, and he wrapped his around his son in return. "I'm sorry, Dad. It's so hard to handle it, waking up without her, knowing that she won't be here when I get home from school, knowing I'll never hear her voice again..." He began to sob. His father rubbed his sons back affectionately, letting the tears fall out of his eyes as well. "It will be alright, Steve. I promise you, everything will be alright."

Steve felt sunlight on his face. Sunlight... Feels warm... Chest heavy... Can't breathe...

His body began convulsing, violently coughing up water. He rose to a sitting position and continued to spit up water from his lungs until he felt like he could breathe again. He opened his eyes, and things took a moment to come into focus. His head hurt... He could feel his wet clothes sticking to his skin uncomfortably and the cold stone underneath him. Soon he saw Alex looking at him expectantly, concern in her green eyes. As he watched the girl's mouth move inaudibly, he realized his ears were ringing so loudly he couldn't make out a single thing Alex was saying. Slowly shaking his head, he held it in his hand and shut his eyes. Dizzy... 

She shook his shoulders and he looked into her eyes again. He could tell she was saying his name by reading her lips, but still no sound reached his ears. He got the sensation of water in his ears and shook his head forcefully despite the pain it caused. They made a popping sound and his head felt like it was going to split in half, but when he finally heard her voice, he decided it was worth the aching. 

"Steve? Can you hear me?" All he could do was stare at her, speechless. The past events were slowly coming back to him, and he couldn't clear his mind of the questions.

"You're so stupid, you know that? You scared me to death. Why didn't you tell me you didn't know how to swim?" There was a sense of relieved humor in her voice.

Suddenly, a warm feeling passed over him and wiped all the others out. She was alive. She was alive! She was fine, everything was fine...

In a state of relived happiness, Steve lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. She's alright, she's fine, everything's okay...

Alex sat motionless for a moment, surprised at his behavior.  

"I'm just- I'm glad you're alright, smartass." He whispered shakily.

Alex's face frowned in confusion, but quickly changed to a smile as she returned the hug, simply closing her eyes and lifting her arms around his back.

"Hey. I'm glad you're alright too, dumbass."

Steve just held her tighter, burying his face into her shoulder, before pulling away to look at her. Her red hair was soaked, her green eyes as bright as ever. He lifted his hand to her face, moving some of her hair behind her ear. She was really here, safe and sound with him by her side.

"I really thought you were gone..." He whispered again, before embracing her once more. "Don't ever do that again..." She laughed softly. "I should be the one saying that, you were the one that scared me so horribly." "No, seriously, don't ever do that again. I won't be able to handle it emotionally. You better always come back up right away."

She released him and gripped his shoulders, eyeing him with confusion. "Hey, I came up right away! You were the one who didn't." Now it was Steve's turn to look confused. "No, no. I- I did. I did see you drowning. There were other dead bodies, you were one of them, I almost drowned trying to save you!" His voice slowly rose as he spoke. 

"Other dead bodies, what the hell?" She asked in a shocked and disturbed tone. They stared at eachother for a few moments, knowing that the other was telling the truth. Questions flew through Steve's head hopelessly, with no chance of finding their answers.

"It- it must be Herobrine. We need to go." Alex mumbled, lifting herself to her feet. "Y-yeah." Alex offered Steve a hand, which he grasped and she pulled him up. Alex almost slipped it out of their grip, but Steve squeezed it, not wanting to let go. It felt way too good to feel her soft hand in his, to know that she was really, truly here with him, not a dream, so many other dreams he had that weren't real lately... 

She turned back to look at him, her bright green eyes flashing down to their hands and back up to his blue eyes. Alex smiled and squeezed his hand back tightly, leading him across the stone floor. He trailed along behind her, a warm feeling in his heart. He knew, in that moment, that despite all his problems in his life until then, and all the ones he would face after then, he would make it through. Everything would be alright.

As long as Alex never left his side, never pulled her hand out of his grasp, never turned away.