Wither

Chapter 11-Time

*EXTREME TIMELAPSE: 6 mo*

*Toboe's POV*

Seto sat in his cell on the cot. I felt bad. Awful, really. Over the past few months he had languished in his tarp/makeshift bed, staring past the bars and seemingly at the wall, but I knew he wasn't really seeing anything.

He had told me the story of what happened. I was shocked. Apparently Ember and Jet had made out (ew) in a cave, which was more than a little weird (but who am I to talk, having kissed Herobrine in a creepy bloody mansion?), and Seto stumbled upon them. A tree narrowly missed hitting Ember after she was chasing him, and after healing her, Seto fought off a bunch of mobs. He had then died and come back to life in the Nether.

Now he was stuck here, after searching endlessly for a Nether portal to get back. Stuck here, just like me. Hopes lost, just like me. Tortured by the past, just like me. But with a friend who would do anything to help, just like me.

"Seto," I whispered, an idea forming. Herobrine had layered my cell with something that prevented me from shapeshifting, as Seto knew, but what he didn't know is that Herobrine didn't in Seto's.

He whipped his head up, his eyes broken. "Yeah?"

"I can help you get out," I said. I whispered my plan to him.

He at first agreed immediately. Then he gazed in my direction sorrowfully. "How will you get out? I would open the door, but I can't defeat Herobrine and get the keys..."

I shrugged. "At least you can get out. Don't worry about me. I'm linked to him. He'd find me again and if I traveled with you, I'd act as a tracking device."

I turned him into a silverfish-well, in this case, a purplefish. He squirmed over to the bars. I crossed my fingers, hoping he would make it through the thick bars. He wriggled through and popped back to his human form. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Go. There are zombie pigman guards at the portal. It's in the living room, which is straight down the hall, with the grand cherry doors." He nodded sharply and raced off. I could only hope he survived the journey.

*Seto's POV*

I did as Toboe asked and sped down the corridor. I swung the doors and they screeched open. Instead of the pigmen guards Toboe had mention, I saw Herobrine at his desk. He reacted to the door opening and whipped around, his white gaze blazing with fury. "How did you get out?" He snarled. I turned and ran. Ran, ran, ran, and ran. I reached little doors at the edge of the house and burst through them.

I landed on the hard, crimson Netherrack. I was out, but no closer to getting home then before. No closer to seeing my friends. No closer to potion making. No closer to getting back to the real world, to my life. But I would survive..

*Ember's POV*

Thanks to my father's extreme Nether abilities, we were able to stay alive off of zombie pigman meat-filtered and purified, of course-and some water my father summoned. This took a lot of effort, and he usually stayed in the cave resting. We all lived in an abandoned Nether fortress and slept on the ground, since beds exploded if you placed them-not that we had any wool to make any.

My father sent me scouting with Peterson. He instructed us to split up. I did. "Aww, Ember, please stay with me!" Peterson whined.

"Pete, Dad told us to split up," I sighed. He deflated, his eyes leaking tears. "Please?"

"No." He gave up and drifted away. I rolled my eyes and continued walking.

A while later, I saw an abnormality in the distance. I couldn't quite place what it was, but knew something was wrong. I squinted and rubbed my eyes. The Netherrack's color seemed...off, out there. And there was slightly more movement. I walked forward nervously.

I made it out clearly. Vaguely humanoid, it was running towards me, and fast. I summoned a fire sword and rushed forward. The sword clattered to the ground and poofed into smoke as I saw what it was.

*Seto's POV*

I dashed away from Herobrine's mansion faster than an Enderman teleports. I didn't stop to rest, to drink, to look around, and before I knew it I was in unrecognizable territory. I saw a blemish in the landscape and ran toward it. Fire-presumably-leaped up from the weapon it was wielding. Only then did I recognize that it was her. Ember. But I didn't stop running. Instead, I drew a sword of my own. Hers fell with a clank and she ran towards me.

She opened her arms as we got close and I brandished my sword. "Don't come any nearer," I snarled, shaking the shaggy brown hair out of my eyes.

She stood there for a minute. "S-so that's how you greet me? Almost a year of me thinking you're dead? Six months in this hellhole, looking for Toboe and by any chance you were here, you too and this is what I get?" she snarled.

I dismissed my sword and gazed coldly at her. "As you could recall, I didn't exactly die pleasantly. You kissed Jet literally right under my nose, and I discovered it. What did you do to him?" I snapped.

It stung her. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything to him!" she replied, a bit defensively, completely disregarding the fact that I said I had died.

"Oh, well I thought you might be dating River now, since we all aren't good enough for you," I barked angrily, my eyes blazing with fury.

She blushed, livid. "No, and for your information, I haven't kissed anyone since you..." her voice trailed off. "I thought you were dead," she said quietly, a whole change in demeanor. "I thought you were dead, and when we met in the afterlife, you'd greet me like...like a friend. But here I am, arguing about something as petty as a few stolen kisses," she sighed, more to herself. She let one tear slip before swiping at her eyes. "Nice seeing you, friend," she sneered, turning around sharply.

"Wait," I called. She looked back. "Ca-can I come?" I asked sheepishly. "I don't really have anywhere to go..."

"Whatever," she sighed, walking back to the distant fortress, her shoulders slumped. I momentarily felt bad, but vilipended it immediately, remembering the pain she had caused me. A tiny voice in my head reminded me how much pain I had caused her.

A/N THE SHIP HAS NOT SUNK DO NOT WORRY