Game Over

Chapter 7

When they got back to The End, they all went down to the catacombs. Kira held the weapons while Ashley used her lava powers to melt a hole into the floor. Serenity used her pyromancy to make sure the hole didn't get too big. When the hold was done, Kira threw the weapons up into the air. Cyber Dog used his telekinesis to catch them. When he lowered the weapons down into the hole, Ashley formed lava into a floor. She cooled the lava into obsidian and they all left.
While Kira and Cyber Dog showed Serenity around all of the houses that were vacant, Ashley stayed behind. She was sitting on her head, trying to figure out what Vordus had meant. While she was thinking, she felt a gust of air blow through her room. The wind flowed into a single spot next to her on the bed. She looked to her right and saw Herobrine sitting next to her, though she knew he wasn't fully there because she could see right through him. The translucent being looked over at her and sighed.
"Hey, Ash," He greeted her.
"Hi, Herobrine," She replied, looking away "Herobrine... who am I? Vordus said I'm not his daughter, so if I'm not an Endrian, then what am I?"
Herobrine sighed again, then told her "Listen, I think it's time we finally talked about this."
Ceris and Vordus came home from the hospital, looking down at a new baby girl. Her eyes were the usual pink and purple and her short hair looked like Ceris's. Her skin was dark, but not black like Vordus. She was asleep and had been since they had come from the hospital, but that was normal for an Endrian baby. Something did seem off about the child though, but they put no thought into that.
"We never came up with a name!" Ceris suddenly realized when they had put the baby in the crib "We know she's a female, so what do you think?"
"How about, Hailey?" Vordus asked "It has a nice, gentle sound to it."
"Yeah... yeah, I like it," Ceris replied, looking down at her child again "Hello, Hailey. You're going to have a nice, long life." She leaned against Vordus as the two smiled down at Hailey.
The next day, when Haily woke up, she instantly began crying, most likely because she was hungry. Ceris got out of bed and went over to the baby's room. She went over and picked her up, fed her for a few minutes, then laid her back own in her crib. Vordus came out a few minutes later and watched as ceris spoke to Hailey softly.
"Wait." Herobrine looked at Ashley "I though Ashley was my name?"
"Yeah... that may be my bad, but can I get back to this?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"Alright... anyway..."
Later that day, Vordus noticed that while he was in the room with Hailey, her breathing seemed strained. He called Ceris over and she took a listen as well. She looked up into her husband's eyes and showed a concerned expression on her face. He sighed and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, we know she may be unstable, but the doctors said that if she does contract anything bad, it should take a few months." He kept his gaze on her eyes "Listen, tomorrow morning, we'll take her to the hospital, maybe they can tell us what's going on, it'll probably not be anything that bad."
"I... okay." She looked down at her baby girl again "You'll be okay, Hailey, I promise." She bent down and kissed her baby on the head, then they walked out, and let her sleep.
For the rest of that night, Hailey couldn't sleep, in fact, she could barely breathe. This didn't seem like common pneumonia though, it felt different. She had no idea what this was, but she knew it was unpleasant. She had been alive for not even twenty four hours and already had some kind of illness. After a few hours, Ceris came into Hailey's room and held her in her arms. Ceris sat down and rocked Hailey back and forth, trying to make it easier for her baby to breathe. Vordus didn't wake up until the Ender Crystals were relit and he came out of the room. He walked to Hailey's room and saw Ceris, who was asleep holding Hailey. Their daughter, on the other hand was still awake and trying to breathe. Vordus sighed and teleported over to her, kneeling down, and picking his daughter up. She looked up at his face and reached up toward his glowing purple eyes. He stood up and nudged Ceris with his foot, waking her up gently. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her eyes showing that she was still incredibly tired.
"Come on," Vordus told her "We're taking Hailey to the E.R. I've already told them we're coming, so let's go."
"Mph," She mumbled "Can I just sleep?"
"Ceris... just come with me to the dragon and you can sleep on the way."
"Mph... fine." She pushed herself up, then the two walked out toward the dragon.
Vordus and Ceris teleported on top of the reptile and he grabbed the reigns. Ceris just laid down across his lap and Vordus held the baby. He flew the dragon through the giant portal to Overworld, but he made sure to land before anyone could see. When they got into Overworld, he laid Ceris's head down on the black back of the dragon. He held Hailey in his arms a he walked toward the village. It had been years since endermen had been banned from villages, now they were welcome to come and go as they like. Vordus entered the village and the people who noticed him waved, then passed by. He walked into the hospital and came to the front desk, coming across a small girl. She looked to be around eighteen or nineteen years old. She had auburn hair that fell down to the middle of her back and over her shoulders. She looked up and gave Vordus a kind smile.
"Hello, Vordus," She said "The doctor said to send you in as soon as I saw you. Go to room forty three, that's where he'll be."
"Thank you."
"Hold up." Ashley looked up at Herobrine this time "Is that how he met Sora? I should ask her, now that she's here again."
"I... oh, yeah. That would make sense." Ashley pondered that for a moment.
"Alright, now that we've got that out of the way, let's get back into this."
Vordus went into the back and met the doctor, who ushered him into the operation room while saying "Listen, I wasn't taught about the Endrian anatomy, but if I'm correct, your bodies are very similar to humans. A problem with breath at her age could be fatal in a matter of hours if this isn't treated. We may need to conduct a surgery and see if there's something wrong with her lungs."
Vordus held his little girl tight against his chest, then remembered how horrid her breathing sounded, so he nodded, and replied "How long should that take?"
The doctor looked at the Ender King and replied "I dunno... but it's all we can really do. She's so young, and we both want to see her live, right?"
"Yes."
"Then please... hand her over. I promise she'll be in good hands." The doctor held his hands out to Vordus.
The massive enderman looked down at his daughter. Her face was contorted in pain. He looked back up at the doctor and sighed. He handed Hailey over and the doctor held her in his hands.
The doctor looked up at him and said "Don't worry, Mr. Vordus. We'll take care of little Hailey." Vordus nodded and turned to leave, but then the doctor said "We'll send you a message when we get all the information we need." Vordus nodded, then turned around again, and walked out the door.
As he got back to the dragon, he saw that Ceris had woken up and was pacing around on the ground next to the dragon. The flying beast was the one who was asleep now so Vordus walked over to Ceris. She heard him coming, but didn't know who it was, so she turned, took her massive blade off of her back, flipped it into her underhand, and pointed it at his throat.
"It's just me, Ceris," He told her, putting his hand on the flat of the blade and pushed it away from him "Listen, we need to talk."
"What... what happened?" She asked.
"Look, they need to do a surgery on her to see what's going on with her breathing. They said they'd call when they got the info we're all looking for." Ceris sat down on the dragon, but it didn't wake up.
She sighed and looked up into his eyes, then asked " How long is it going to take?"
"The doctor didn't say, but I would presume it might take a little bit, so we should probably just sit tight and wait..."
"So... what happened after that?" Ashley asked.
"I dunno," Herobrine replied "Vordus didn't tell me anything, but all I know is that Hailey died... or I guess... you died." Ashley looked down "But... I do know what happened after that," He told her "It wasn't very pleasant, but it let me know you, so... I'll just get through it quickly."
When Hailey had died, Vordus and Ceris were crushed, understandably because they had lost their newborn daughter. They had the body of the baby, because they still didn't know what to do with her. They wanted to bury her, but they wanted to see her alive again. They didn't want to let her go, but they didn't seem to have another choice... until they went to The Nether to see their old friend.
"I'm gonna guess this friend is Ay-Yu?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah."
"How much of this is true, Herobrine?" She questioned.
"As far as I know, this is all real. I wasn't present for this at all. I was out helping in another world. Lava monster with a giant axe and a red glowey guy that seemed to have rock skin. They killed each other, then I left."
"That's weird... I didn't know you can go through reality?"
"Yeah, I stopped leaving when you two came into my care. I just didn't want to leave you two alone, and soon enough, I completely forgot how to do it, but anyway..."
The two of them went to The Nether and met up with Ay-Yu, and while he wasn't nearly as rotted as present, he looked generally the same. When they entered, they walked through the fortress and told Ay-Yu about what had happened.
"So... you two had a daughter, and she died within days?" he asked "Hm... makes you wonder why Endrians're so rare. Most of them die, but, I have a solution, to rid both of us of our problems." The pig stood up "I have a daughter, who I never wanted, her mother left the moment she was able to stand after the birth. She's a week old and I have been trying to find a way to get rid of her! I am not a parent, I am a warrior. Someone who kills, not one who protects something as meaningless as a child. So, I have a proposition. I get one of my witches to cast a spell, one that will put your mind into my daughter's body. This spell will make sure your daughter lives, and I deal with the body. When the spell is complete, only your daughter's mind will remain, mine will just be erased from existence, and soon, everyone's minds, including my own."
"That's... that's really fucked up," Ashley gasped.
"Yeah, but unlike you, your parents were stupid. They were racked with grief, and so they accepted."
When the spell was completed not ten minutes later, the body of Hailey turned to dust, or more accurately, purple particles. The body of Ay-Yu's daughter, on the other and, woke up. She looked at Ceris and Vordus and reached up to the two. She made happy baby noises and the two Endrians were over the moon. The had done it! They had saved their daughter! The only sacrifice was someone who they cared not for, so, in their minds, no sacrifice.
"Do you see now, Ashley?" Herobrine asked "You may not be Endrian by body, but you are by mind. You are one of the rarest types of people in this universe. An Nethrian, Endrian hybrid. I know you may see your parents differently now, but know they did all this so that you could live. Your brother survived, there's nothing weird with him... aside from everything you and I know about him." Ashley let out a laugh, then looked at Herobrine.
"Thank you, Herobrine," She thanked him as she hugged him "I love you."
"I love you too, Ashley," He replied as he wrapped both arms around her shoulders "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all of this earlier."
"It's... it's okay. I don't think I was ever completely ready to hear that, but seeing as everything's been going to absolute shit recently, I think now's the best time that I knew..." Herobrine suddenly noticed how tired the girl looked.
"Ash, are you okay? How long has it been since you've slept."
"At this point, Herobrine, I don't know," She admitted "We've been fighting and fighting for a long time and I can't remember the last time I just... went to sleep."
"You should. You're already on your bed, and you look like you've seen hell."
"Well... in reality, I kinda have. Dread sent hell to Physical World. I've just been up for the past... who fucking knows how long... yeah, I really need to sleep."
"Then go to sleep," He told her "I don't wanna see you die of exhaustion."
"Can... can you stay until I fall asleep?" She asked as she leaned her body against his chest.
"Sure..." He laid her down on her side and put the blanket over her.
The moment she was laid down, Ashley fell asleep, her hair spread out on the pillow. Herobrine got off of the bed, looked down at her for a moment, then smiled. He began to fade away and he made sure the last thing he saw was her sleeping face.