Fading Lights: Returned Lights | Herobrine x Redrare

Part 2: Stress Sewing [!]

(Lesgooooo-)

A lot of people had disappeared again. Hero was stressed out, either pacing or going into the basement.
303 kept visiting every once in a while like usual. Red returned after a while before suddenly disappearing again, saying he had a small mission. Zephyr was around luckily, however he acted really strange. He stayed silent and returned on the next day after every night, splattered with blood.
I sighed after a bit and just started to concentrate on taking care of Hero. He fell pretty silent too, staring at the ground. I noticed deep wounds on his arms, mostly from his nails. A bit worried I tried to fix him up so it won't leave too many horrible scars. He mostly just watched before thanking me quietly. I nodded and ruffled his hair, smiling. He chuckled weakly and let me do so, purring. He enjoyed it a lot as it seemed, so I cuddled him for a while. He gladly snuggled up to me, looking pretty happy and calmed down like that.
After a while of that I had to leave, so I excused myself and went to the kitchen after Nightmare called me over. Xander was still struggling with the death of his husband, so Nighty took care of him as well as Althea.
I checked in on them, tilting my head. "What's wrong?", I asked. Nighty sighed softly and nudged his head to Xander. I looked over, noticing the king sitting in a corner, curled up tightly, keeping his husband's shirt close and having his face buried in it.
I took a deep breath and headed over, kneeling down in front of him. He looked up to me, teared up a bit. I patted his shoulder before pulling him close, nuzzling him. He snuggled into my arms and chest, holding onto me for dear life. He was whimpering quietly, wanting Jubilea back. That's the second time they got seperated in such a cruel way, and I was starting to think that he might not be able to do this one more time.
I let him sob into my chest, whispering sweet nothings into his ear so he could calm down faster. He didn't mind too much, relaxing after a while. Xander was pretty pale and looked tired, so I carefully scooped him up into my arms and brought him to his room, a seperated one from where Jubilea was lying. We were praying that the realm would wake up as soon as possible, so we didn't bury his body yet. In 3 days we might have to tho, depending on if he revives until then.
A week would've passed at that point. And after that, there's absolutely no way to revive him.
I placed Xander onto his bed, ignoring that he hasn't changed out of his bloodstained clothes from when he brought Jubilea over and nearly killed himself on accident by removing that glass shard, and tucked him in. He was a mess, so I didn't judge him for not having the power to change into something better, to go clean himself or anything like that. I made it my mission to build him back up until Jubilea is back tho, so I'd get him something clean to change into.
I sat next to him and caressed his cheek until I felt Xander lean more against my hand, falling asleep. A small chuckle escaped my throat and I stayed for a bit longer before getting up and leaving. Quietly humming, I went to my room, got some clean clothes that might fit him, brought them to his room, set them onto the bedside table, and headed back to look for Hero. He however wasn't where I left him, that being the living room.
A bit confused I looked around until I remembered the basement. Maybe he went there...?
I headed to the door before hesitating a bit. What, if he wanted to be alone? Should I really go down there...?
A small peek shouldn't hurt, right?
A bit nervous I headed down the stairs after shutting the door behind me, remembering all the horrible memories. The place was on the first look pretty cleaned up, there were barely any bloodstains, except for in the back.
Wait... In the back...?
I completely forgot to warn Hero that I was coming down, so the first thing I saw was Hero sitting over a dead body, holding needle and thread between his lips, surrounded by blood. There was a bag with cotton, which he carefully and precisely stuffed into the hollowed and dried out body.
I needed a few moments, both in shock, but also in genuine awe. The organs were in a see through box on the table. The skeletal structures were, as gently and carefully as possible handled, placed onto a seperate table. I could see 3 of them, all of different sizes. There were more bodies in the back, some already stuffed, others were hanging to dry out, the blood dripping into a bowl beneath all of them.
I blinked in surprise when I noticed our old, dead bodies in that pile as well, but also people I had no clue even existed. There were, to my shock, also 3 small children.
Hero noticed my presence and looked up, going visibly pale. Well, more pape than he already was.
He put the needle and thread down, looking nervous now. "I-It's not what it looks like...?", he tried to say, but his voice was pretty quiet.
I walked down the remaining steps and went over to him, sitting down beside him. Hero kinda just watched, a tad uneasy.
"What are you doing?", I asked softly. He frowned at my tone, but replied. "I'm... Stuffing dead bodies to make puppets out of them. They're soft and allow you to feel pretty comfy in the arms of your loved one when they're not around.", he explained. I slowly nodded, looking at the body he currently was stuffing. A random stranger, blonde and with blue eyes.
After a bit of eyeing his work I continued to talk. "Is this what you do when you get too stressed?" He nodded in reply and got back to work, taking a bit of cotton and stuffing it beneath the victims' chest to make it a bit fluffier. It was oddly satisfying and interesting to watch him do this, it looked like he was a professional.
"You're good at this.", I complimented. He looked over, eyebrow raised. "Uh... Thanks?", he mumbled, surprised. I nodded and smiled.
Eventually he stopped again and just kinda stared at me. "How comes you're not absolutely horrified?", he asked the question lingering on his mind for a while. I needed a few moments before just shrugging. "Honestly, I have no clue. But it looks fun, and it seems satisfying and calming.", I explained. "I assume that this family messed me up more than I had anticipated."
Hero nodded slowly before looking at the body, them back at me. "Well, if you think it's so satisfying, why don't you help me? I still have a ton of work to do here after all.", he offered.
It was shockingly tempting, so I gave in and agreed. He showed me how that worked and watched as I gave it a shot. Hero gave me advice on how to stuff them correctly without ripping the skin of the dry bodies, and I did as told. It really was oddly satisfying, it didn't feel all that weird either. Almost as if I was getting used to this. It felt more like stuffing a turkey... A morbid image, but it describes this sensation the best way.
Hero smiled and left me to continue my work as he went to a body in a corner, covered by a blanket. He removed it carefully and revealed...

(Get cliffhanger biiiiiii-)