♡ ̆̈XII✩

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Flashback...

Bad gasped as he ran around the corner, covering his mouth with his hands. He had visited the Nether Fortress to hang out with his best friend. It so happened that his best friend was the prince, Sapnap Armstrong. They had hung out all morning, running out of the fortress and causing mayhem near the selling stands. They were teenagers, around fourteen years old. It was what they did and enjoyed. Although Sapnap was the future face of the Nether, he wanted to live his life how he wished and then worry about ruling once his time came.

Bad Halo was his solution, his escape. When they met, they were around eight years old. They had become the best of friends, creating a one-of-a-kind friendship. Bad was from a family of bakers, who were seen as less than the rest of the dimension. So when Sapnap saw him that first time, wanting to play, Bad felt special. That feeling never left him. He felt cared for. Sapnap reciprocated those feelings. After all, the prince always wanted a friend.

But now, it seemed the truth was unfolding before Bad's eyes. After jumping on Sapnap's bed with the prince, he went to the restroom. He had left the restroom, walking slowly in the corridors of the Fortress. When he first stepped foot into the Fortress, it was difficult navigating through the many corridors, until Sapnap made him a map one day. While he was making his way back to his friend's bedroom, he heard voices in the dining room.

It was the King and Queen of the Nether, Jackson and Abigail. Bad always feared them, but he never knew the real reason. That was, until today.

"Don't you think we should expand?" the King asked.

"I do. The Nether is glorious... it's superior. We need more power," the Queen answered.

The King sighed, "Where would we expand?"

"Is it not obvious? The Overworld is the best option! Our people wouldn't risk falling into the void, unlike the End. It's huge! Bigger than the Nether itself," the Queen exclaimed. "All we have to do is..."

"Kill everyone there," the King said.

"But we need a plan. We can't just go through the portals and attack, we need to get ourselves on their good side," the Queen sighed.

The King hummed, "Remember that bargain they gave us? The one we haven't accepted."

"Do you mean?"

"Yes. Should we?" the King asked.

Silence.

"Yes. We should. We'll give them Sapnap to be able to enter the Overworld. Let's wait until he's older, he has to think it's for training purposes," the Queen said.

"Agreed. He'd believe anything--he's too naive."

After hearing that, Bad felt his whole life fall apart. He had grown up knowing one truth. The King and Queen were good people and didn't want any altercations with the Overworld. Their ancestors fought hard to prove they were good people, worthy to be seen as more than monsters. Now, all the King and Queen wanted was pain, destruction, and to return the Nether to its former glory. If you could call death and chaos glory.

A group of guards had seen Bad standing outside of the dining room, trying to get him. Now, Bad was hiding around the corner, trying to keep quiet. He looked over the corner, finding the guards returning to the dining room. "Phew..." he sighed, carefully standing up. He turned to look at Sapnap's bedroom, feeling his heartbeat quicken as he began to walk toward it. "I have to tell him..." he whispered, "he has to know what his parents truly are."

Bad reached for the door, pushing it open. Sapnap was standing at his desk, staring out the window into the beautiful lava pools beneath the cliffs, watching as lava fell from the hills standing above the Fortress. Bad looked around the room as if it were the first time he'd stepped inside. Their mark, the Wither, was everywhere. On the bedsheets, on the bed frames, on the books, on Sapnap's clothes, on his clothes. Bad frowned as he pulled his shirt, staring at the mark. He loved being a Netherian, truly. But living beneath the King and Queen, now knowing their intentions, he didn't want to be associated with them.

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