Herobrine X Reader - Love's Wither Rose (COMPLETE)

20 - If You Can't Beat 'Em...

A/N:

Again, I wanna start off this chapter with a huge thanks to CrumbleMuffin for helping me out with the chapter! Seriously, you're the best!

I decided to release this chapter a little early since I was late with the last one, so enjoy!

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From where he stood, leaning against the brewery room's table with his arms crossed, Herobrine could see the way Johnny tenderly held (Y/N)'s arm as they all waited in silence for the healing potion to take effect; he didn't like it. Just as he didn't like the meek but reassuring smile that passed between them as (Y/N) flexed their fingers and gave their healed arm a few test stretches. Just as he didn't like the way Johnny's hand lingered on (Y/N)'s shoulder for a moment longer.

If one's eyes changed colour to suit one's emotions, Herobrine's would have been emeralds enough to buy an entire village.

He decided to distract himself by clearing the table behind him: placing the jar of ghast tears back on a shelf, beside the bags of Nether wart and blaze powder. He left the brewing stand.

His head felt...clouded. Not through nausea or any other ailments, though - this was something different. It almost reminded him of how he felt on the day Alden took over his kingdom. As he tidied and kept himself occupied, the feeling became weaker, just a vague presence in the back of his mind. But when (Y/N) spoke and brought his attention back to the rest of reality, he found himself clenching his jaw.

"What do we do now?" (Y/N) said. "That Wither Storm is loose, and we need to stop it somehow. We can't just let it live."

"What can we do? You saw how much destruction that thing made in a few minutes!" Herobrine spun round, not quite able to keep himself from snapping.

(Y/N) almost flinched back, towards Johnny, Herobrine noticed bitterly. They took a deep breath and stood to meet Herobrine's gaze, their (E/C) eyes hard and cold and tired. They opened their mouth to speak, but Johnny cut them off.

"We can kill it. Blythe wanted to use (Y/N) as its power source, to make it immortal, he made that clear," he said.

"Your point?" Herobrine didn't bother keeping the irritation out of his voice.

"It absorbed Blythe instead. It's mortal."

"Still," Herobrine pressed. "We. Can't. Kill it. We barely got away from it alive."

"Didn't Blythe say that you killed the last Wither Storm?" (Y/N) took a small step forward. "Or was that just another lie?"

Herobrine hesitated.

"I did," he said at last. "But I needed to send an entire army of trained warriors to their deaths just to get close to it."

"Alden and I..." (Y/N) paused, shaking their head. "No. Zac and I fought the Ender dragon for three full days before we realised we needed to destroy the crystals. There's always some hidden path."

"Why do you call him Zac? His name was Alden." Herobrine felt a familiar type of frustration bubbling in his veins.

"The one who died in the hall wasn't Zac. Zac died when he fell into the void, and Alden took his place."