Minecraft Hardcore

Chapter 19: Shenanigans and Forgetfulness

Michael tiredly stood at the crafting table, organizing Ender Pearls and Blaze Rods in their respective piles. He jumped when he heard the all too familiar voice of Ami behind him.

"What are you doing?" she said, peering over his shoulder.

"Nothing, nothing," Michael held a hand over his heart. "Just making some Eyes of Ender."

"You mean the things we almost died for?"

"Yeah," the outline of a smile appeared on his face. "Those things."

"That's probably a little more than nothing, don't you think?"

"Well," Michael said, grabbing one Pearl and one Rod. "Probably, but I'm not looking forward to crafting all of these." Ami grinned and watched as the two items emitted a faint, golden light before merging together to form a wide, eyeball with a slit pupil.

"This is what we've been working for," Michael said, turning over the shiny substance in his hands. It shone in the light, and was quite pretty. "It's just a shame that we don't have enough." Ami froze, feeling a chill whisk its way through her body.

"Come again?" she said, dreading the truth.

"We have eleven Eyes of Ender, that is, once I craft them all. I thought eleven was enough. We need twelve to open the portal, and a few others as spares so we can find the portal in the first place. We have enough Ender Pearls, but..."

"We need to go back to the Nether," Ami finished, staring at the Eye. Michael was quiet for a moment, struggling to find the words.

"I don't want to drag everyone back in that situation again. We all almost died, Aiden and Izzy especially. It's too soon for us to be dipping our toe back in that portal, not after our last experience. They will all be scared - terrified of the horrors we faced back in there. I highly doubt anyone will want to go back."

"But we have to," she said, hesitating. "If we don't go back...we'll be stuck here forever." Michael looked at her with sad eyes.

"I know."

The morning dawned upon them all, and with that a couple groans and complaints. Ami found herself in the middle ground, amusing herself with watching Charlotte rouse Aiden. He reluctantly rolled onto the floor, making loud, dissatisfied noises as he went. Ami made her way to the main room, that is, she fell on the table.

"You guys should probably either move the table or move the room," she said, rubbing her tailbone. Michael shrugged, pulling out apples, melons, bread, milk, and oddly enough, salmon. He made a face and reeled back from the chest.

"Urrrgh!" he yelled. "Who put rotten flesh in the food chest? Come on, it's not that hard to know what you shouldn't eat." He opened the front door and threw the slabs of meat out, watching them fall with a smirk. He turned back and grabbed the rest of the food, placing it all on the table, just after Aiden fell on it. Pushing on his neck, Aiden grumbled as he helped himself to a juicy, cerise melon.

"So, plan for today," Michael said between the crunches of his apple. "We should probably do a bit of organizing at best. Other than that, I see no reason to put ourselves in danger today. Agreed?" A small chorus of 'mm's followed.

"So, no plan?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "That's different. Especially for you." Michael shrugged, leaning back in his chair and continuing to munch away at his apple.

"Everyone needs a break once in a while," he said simply. "Now I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to go have some time with my sweet, sweet chests." He downed the rest of the apple, core and all, and climbed up the vines that lead to the hidden chest room.