The Battle: Hearts or Friendship?

Chapter 21: The Miracle Deal...Or Not?

Credit to @TheVioletFlower7 for a suggestion in this chapter. (I changed the idea a tiny bit, pls don't blame me Violet T-T)

(Clown's POV)

How many days I've been held captive, I wouldn't know anymore. I seemed to lose track and feeling of time as I kept staring at the same gray stone brick walls. Days seemed to blur into weeks as I constantly swam in and out of consciousness. It seemed like it's been an eternity since I talked to Branzy since then. The wounds the group have given me during my time here in this cell haven't improved since, sure, I don't feel the pain anymore because I'm so used to it, but in reality, the scars are just deep and red. Losing hope has been an option for me many times, but I can't just give up so easily. Branzy and the others will save me. I know they're trying.
As I felt myself being consumed by the inky darkness of unconsciousness, I held onto the thought of Branzy saving me as I whispered,
             "Good luck, BranzyCraft."

(Branzy's POV)

As we traversed through the red barren dimension, thousands of blocks away from our portal, we finally found a spot suitable for fighting withers. Although there had been previous landmarks of the similar blank space, it had been too close to the portal to be safe. Along the way, we had conveniently collected a few more skulls and soul sand from passed nether fortresses. We stopped in the middle of the large space, and I pulled the brown and mushy soul sand from my inventory as Spoke pulled out three wither skulls.
             "Wait, don't we need more than that? We need 5 different nether stars if they're asking for one from each of us." Mapicc noted.
             "We have enough materials," Spoke told him. "But there's no way we're going to kill 5 at once. We'd be dead before we even killed 2." He added.
             "Spoke's right," Parrot also added. "It's better to take it one by one, better chance of succeeding after all."
I set down the soul sand as I shaped it into a t-like shape. Setting the last grains into place, I called out,
             "Alright, you guys ready?"
They nodded in agreement, and as I stepped back, Spoke came forward and set 2 of the 3 skulls on the body of the to be wither. Before setting down the last skull, he hesitated as he turned to us.
             "Remember the plan, guys. We kill the withers, we go back hopefully without being seen as a large group, rename the stars, and set up a meeting with Vitalasy and Subz. Got it?" We nodded once again in agreement.
             "Alright. Let's do this. For ClownPierce!" He shouted, setting down the last skull.
The reaction happened quickly, as we were all blown back from the birth of the wither. It shot up into the air as the monster formed inside the white glowing ball before emerging from it.
The black monster appeared before us, the only shape of a body it had were a few rows of dark, smoky ribs, and 3 withered heads with glowing white eyes.
The trio got into fighting stances, waiting for the best to strike, but I wasted no time. I shot up into the air and became level with the wither, void fire ashes swirling around my figure. But something different inside me made me snap.
It wasn't nervousness of fighting head to head with a wither, no, it wasn't the worry of dying or what could happen to me, no.
It was about the determination of this fight to win for Clown.
Eyes glowing a mixture of dark blue and teal, I summoned a massive ball of void fire. As I held the fire, flames dancing, eager to burn, I whisked the flames toward the wither before it had the time to react. As the flames came into contact with the monstrosity, I could see it's health go down about a 1/5 of its full health in its health bar that everyone near could see.
"Nice move, Branzy!" Spoke yelled out to me, who seemed surprised at how much my attack did to the wither.
"Thanks!" I said before turning my focus back to the wither.
The wither had been blown back from the force of the flames, but as it came back to its senses, it screeched a deathly and hoarse sound at us.
The wither retaliated, charging towards me, to which I was still floating in the air. I tried to dodge the attack, but I wasn't fast enough, as the wither knocked me aside, making me temporarily lose my balance. I flailed in the air as I began to fall, but after focusing on a pull in my inner core as I regained the strength to levitate again. The wither charged toward me again, launching a smaller version of their head at me. I blocked the attack as I generated a fiery wall of flames. The force of the attack pushed me and my wall back, but I was able to stop myself from crashing into a wall of netherrack. As I stopped to gain more strength, I could see the wither had switched its focus to the trio below, now that I was further away. The wither came down on them as it attempted to knock them over, and luckily they were able to dodge the attack. Parrot was able to get up quickly enough and use his sword to slash across the beast. The wither roared at them once more with a deafening screech that could be heard from miles away. But due to a strength pot that parrot had splashed on himself, he was able to lower the wither's health to a little more than half health.
As the wither was down for a few more seconds, Spoke and Mapicc were able to charge at the wither and hit it with more strength-filled hits that decreased its health to almost a 1/4 of its health.
"Nice hits, guys! It's almost down!" I yelled down to the trio. "It should only take a few more hits before we defeat it!" I told them.
They nodded in agreement as they rushed to strike the wither again, but the wither took off into the air again, making a wind force that pushed them away from where it previously had landed. The monstrosity soared up back to my height as it came to face me again, but I was ready this time.
I charged towards the wither, aiming for the three skulls as I punched with all my strength with my fiery void hand. The blood was strong enough to make the wither fall to the ground as Mapicc leaped and dealt the final blow.
             "TAKE COVER!" I yelled to the trio as the wither started to expand.
As we all took cover, the either exploded into ashes, the force blowing us slightly back again, despite the protection between us.
As we stepped forward, laying in the pile of ashes, was a single glowing nether star.
             "We did it," Parrot said, breathing heavily. "We got one of 'em."
Spoke reached out, took the nether star, and held it up as he stated, "Yes, but we still have four more, so let's get to it."
The days went by as we slowly but surely defeated the next four withers. There was no way to keep track of time in the nether, as it was just pure barren and dark lands, no sunlight or moonlight like our overworld. Who knows how long it's been since we entered the nether, and worse, was Clown still holding up?
As I took the last nether star we needed from the ashes of the fifth and final wither, I felt slightly relieved. We were getting closer to getting Clown back.
             "Come on, let's head back and make sure these stars look like hearts." I said to the trio, who were still panting from the recent battle.
We traversed through the nether, attempting to find a clear spot away from our old portal to avoid any traps that could be sneakily placed that we didn't know about. Spoke quickly created a portal frame and lit it, stepping through shortly after. We followed suit, hoping that the portal spawn was somewhere nearby our base.
We ended up traveling back through, and found that our base was only a few hundred blocks away. We ran back to the base to get the 'hearts' prepared as fast as possible while Spoke went to his room to call Vitalasy, Subz, and the others for a meeting to seal the deal.
We spent the rest of the night making sure the stars looked like the hearts that we each owned for the scam, until Spoke came down, fortunately he looked relieved.
            "What's up, Spoke?" I asked the rainbow bandana man.
            "They agreed to the meeting, I think they were a little surprised that we already met their requirements this quickly, but they didn't hesitate call a meeting. Besides, the faster we do this, the faster we can make sure Clown is okay." Spoke said.
            "When's the meeting?" Parrot asked, looking up from his 'heart' he was working on.
            "Tomorrow. Which means that we need to finish these fake hearts as soon as possible so we can still get sleep for the meeting." Spoke replied.
We agreed as we swiftly finished up the stars and set them aside to take for tomorrow, and then we headed our separate ways to our rooms.
As I arrived in my room, I didn't hesitate to flop on the soft and squishy bed, but I wasn't planning on sleeping anytime soon. Although I had lost major hours of sleep because of this plan, I didn't care; Clown is still in danger until he is taken out of that cell, and even if he is out of the cell, there's no telling what they might do to him before the deal is set. I knew I wasn't going to easily fall asleep, so I spent the rest of the night staring at the blank ceiling as I thought about tomorrow.

(Clown's POV)

I woke up to faint sounds above me that sounded like conversation. As I groggily put my ear to the wall to listen, I could hear the voices of Vitalasy and Subz talking from near the basement door.
           "They've set up a meeting." I could hear Vitalasy say.
I couldn't hear Subz reply, but I could hear him shortly after. "Already...already gathered the stars or the netherite? How could...gather that fast?" He seemed to be whispering, as I only hear snippets of the conversation.
             "Meeting...tomorrow afternoon. We meet...spawn...suppose we have to...Clown go if...have the deal." I could hear quietly.
This gave me some hope.
Branzy and the others had set a deal with Vitalasy and the others, although it could've been much more riskier. They must've already gotten the materials for the deal, and they're planning to get me back tomorrow. My hope soared as I realized that I was soon free. It's felt like forever in this cell, and it's not like Vitalasy, Subz, or the others cared to properly take care of me, only enough to keep me alive. I could only hope this plan of their went well, and that they would get me back, and maybe even get something more. With the now happy thoughts, I drifted easily to sleep.

(Spoke's POV)

I woke up the next morning earlier than anyone else, but it seemed fitting as it gave me time to get ready for the meeting. I walked quietly downstairs to grab my armor and weapons and any other things that I may need in case a fight broke out. Branzy was the next one to wake up, as he walked down the stairs, dragging his feet slightly. What was a little concerning were the dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he clearly had not gotten sleep.
             "Branzy are you sure you're up for this? Maybe you need to rest, we can handle-"
             "No. I have to do this, Clown is my best friend, and I will be a part of this to save him. I didn't spend most of the night thinking about his rescue for me not to be a part of it." He said, determination fueling his voice.
I knew there was no stopping him, so I agreed as I handed him some coffee and toast (pretend the toast is just bread in Minecraft).
             "At least eat this then, you still need some energy, you never know what can happen nowadays in Lifesteal." I told him, recalling my chaos filled days in previous seasons. And then another thought popped up in my mind.
What if season 3 is going to end like all the other seasons? What if Lifesteal will fall because of the chaos that ensues on here? Not that it matters, because chaos and destruction is what makes Lifesteal the way it is.
I snapped back to reality just as Parrot and Mapicc came walking downstairs. I greeted them and also gave them some coffee and toast as I started to run over the plan.
             "Alright, I think we know the plan and deal is simple enough. Give them the fake hearts, and we get Clown back. However, I've also come up with another idea, to give them a taste of their own medicine." The group looks at me slightly perplexed but I continue speaking about the plan. "We can trap one of their own members."
Their eyes widened at this, but then they seemed to start realizing that it wasn't such a bad idea after all. They agreed with the plan, and agreed that Branzy, Parrot, and I should be there physically for the deal, while Mapicc can sneak up on a member or two and take them hopefully without too much struggle.
So we headed out to the planned meeting spot, 'hearts' in hand. We slowly walked up to the meeting area, to find Vitalasy, Subz, Zam, Ashswagg, and Reddoons already waiting. Vitalasy grinned at our appearance as he states,

             "Right. Let the deal...begin."

Hellooooooo my lovely readers!!
I am so so so sorry for not posting an actual chapter in a veeeeerrrrryyy long time T-T, however this chapter is finally done!
Hopefully this chapter (now being the longest chapter) will fulfill your need for my chapters as I try to make more as fast as I can, and I think this chapter is probably one of my favorites so far. What do you think, or what's your favorite chapter(s)?
Again, hopefully I won't have to deprive you readers so long again if any chapters, but I will try my best!
Stay happy and healthy, and as always, happy reading! ^.^

~N1ghtPierc3

(2495 words) :)