Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Are you sure this is safe?” Etho said nervously, rain pouring down his face.

“We’ve come too far to back down now, Etho,” Doc replied. “And besides, shouldn’t I be the one who is nervous?”

“It’s just a big risk, for little reward.” A pound of thunder rolled out.

“But it would be really cool,” Doc grinned, and his single cybernetic eye glinted in the stormy darkness. “I’ve always wanted to know what aspects hybrids retain from their parent mobs.”

“But supercharging?” Etho retorted. “That’s dangerous. Creepers can survive a lightning strike, but what if your player side wins out? What then?”

“Then I’ll respawn, and we’ll know not to strike me with lightning anymore.”

Etho shook his head and readied the channeling trident. “Your loss, I guess.”

He pulled back his arm, aimed, and released. His eye was true, despite the bad lighting from the thunderstorm, and the trident hit its mark.

Doc raised his arms to the sky as a bolt of lightning struck where he stood, setting the ground around him ablaze and throwing Etho back with the force of the blow.

Etho sat on the ground hard, and pain shot through his back. He grimaced, then looked up sharply at where the creeper hybrid had been standing.

“DOC!” he cried.

“I’m okay!” the scientist replied, a twinge of disappointment filling his voice, “Nothing happened.”

Etho couldn’t hide his sigh of relief as he stood up again. “Alright you crazy old man,” he joked, “Let’s get you out of the rain.”

He and the scientist headed to the closest shelter from the rain to wait out the storm, which happened to be Doc’s base.

They went inside, dripping rainwater from their vest and lab coat, respectively, leaving trailing footprints of water on the linoleum floor.

“That was disappointing,” Doc said forlornly.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Etho replied. “Worst case scenario is you turn full creeper and explode, ruining your respawn mechanic and killing us both.”

“You seem to have thought about this a lot,” Doc chuckled.

Etho shrugged.

The ninja went over to the kitchen to brew up a cup of coffee for the both of them. Something warm to cut the chill that was beginning to settle into their bones from getting soaked in a rainstorm.

“Doc, you like cream and sugar?” Etho asked when the machine had dripped out its smooth dark deliciousness. 

There was no response.

“Doc?” Etho turned around.

Doc was just standing there, staring at him. It looked like he hadn’t moved since they got inside.

“You okay, man?” Etho couldn’t keep the concern from his voice.

A garbled sound came out of Doc’s mouth, and his red eye flickered a bright shade of green

“Hey, you’re making me nervous. Did something happen to your circuitry?”

Doc stepped forward.

Etho slowly walked towards the creeper hybrid scientist, holding his hands out placatingly. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He tried to keep the thoughts of panic from rising in his mind. Surely the worst couldn’t happen, that Doc’s computerized mind had been glitched and was being overridden by creeper instincts? That was a statistical improbability–

BOOM

Statistically improbable or not, Doc and Etho were dead.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t altogether a bad thing being trapped between worlds. I mean, because your being isn’t attached to a respawn-point there’s no such thing as hunger! Or moving forward…or death. 

This was the pits. Literally! Which meant Zedaph was in quite the predicament.

He sighed and did another backflip. He was getting good at those. Front flips not so much. But he had all the time in the world to practice! Or, maybe not in the world. In the…space? He’d work on it later. He’d be here forever after all. 

At least, that had been his understanding when he read Everything You Need to Know About the Ender Dimension! A book by TinFoilChef. He wondered how TFC had come across the information he wrote about. 

He looked forward at the darkness surrounding him, “I guess I’ll never find out!” The words were lost to the suffocating abyss. He fell silent for a while. 

He tried a front flip; his hand got caught on his back leg in the process and he twisted weirdly for a second before straightening to normal. He’d get it someday. 

Someday. Hmm, the ‘day’ part implied that there were, in fact, 24,000 tic cycles. That the moon rose and the sun set. That time still held him in its iron grasp. 

Which it didn’t!

He was stuck. In the void. Forever. And ever and ever and ever and ever…Zedaph was starting to get dizzy. Or at least, he figured he was supposed to be dizzy. That’s what would normally occur from thinking in circles.

Zedaph giggled. 

He had been working on teleportation when it happened! 

It was a simple procedure really—just diverging the hemispheres of an enderian teleportation device. Or, y’know, splitting an ender pearl in half. He supposed one could describe the action in a multitude of ways. 

After much effort, he had finally succeeded. The pearl had broken unevenly in half, the edges sharp like glass. 

Inside, a strange blueish goop seemed to phase in and out of existence. He was fascinated as he observed the substance glimmer with teal sparks.

He wanted to touch it.

But as he watched, the substance began to fade into a different color. The teal changed from bright to a darker blue. The sparks dimmed like a dying star.

Zedaph gazed intently at the goop. He reached a single finger forwards and gently tapped it.

Nothing happened. Huh.

He dug his entire hand into the contents of the broken pearl and grabbed a large handful of the gunk. 

It pulsated in his hand and left his skin tingling.

“This seems safe,” he said.

He lifted his hand toward his face to examine it more closely.

I’m gonna lick it, he thought.

Zedaph laughed, the sound bubbling in his through and bursting forward, only to be stolen by the void in its eternal darkness.

He did another couple backflips. Just because he could. He attempted another front flip, getting his sweater tangled on his horns this time. What else was there to do but think?

He reminisced on the feeling of the goop on his tongue.  

The substance was smooth and slightly acidic, giving off a sour taste. The light dab burned his mouth and he swallowed quickly, the acidity leaving a lingering bitter thought. 

The handful of now completely purple stuff was momentarily forgotten in his hand as the burning sensation traveled down his throat. 

He was surprised to find the palm of his hand felt like someone had taken a blowtorch and burnt it to a crisp.

A few droplets fell to the floor, unceremoniously fizzling to nothing.

Nothing. Nothing. What is nothing? Its very existence is a contradiction of itself. It’s only defined by the absence of something. Without something, nothing is nothing.

And if nothing is nothing, then something…must be…

Zedpah grabbed his temples and shuddered. He shook his head, and another giggle escaped. 

“All this nothing makes me wish I had a fork!” He wondered how he would get a fork while spiraling in the void.

His communicator! Why hadn’t he thought of it before? He reached into his back pocket and pulled it out. The screen was cracked and glitchy. 

It would still work, right?

He tried to turn it on, but the screen flicked through a sequence of colors before completely dying.

Dying.

Dead.

Was he dead? He may as well be. If he can't exist beyond his own thoughts, how can he live at all?

What is life but the connections between others? Why did he desire to be with others? Was he not a hermit? A person dedicated to spending as much time as possible away from people? Were hermits dead? 

Solitude resounded in the pit of his stomach. It twisted and turned leaving him gasping for breath. 

A sharp pain stabbed through his stomach as the fizzling goop settled down. His breaths became ragged and strained. His chest heaved. He doubled over in agony. 

That’s when he noticed his hand.

It was gone.

And in an instant, his surroundings changed.

The floor under his feet morphed from stone to water, and his lungs were suddenly deprived of air. He frantically looked around and found himself surrounded by a variety of tropical fish. There was a wall of glass between him and—the cave of contraptions!?

Before he could comprehend what had happened, he teleported to beside his bed. The wrong side specifically.

He looked at it, “that can’t be goo- ahh!” He was swept away again.

It was cold, goosebumps raised on his arms in response to the temperature change. His feet sunk slightly into a layer of snow. 

Tango stared at him in shock, still holding the ice block he’d been about to place. “Zedaph?”

“Oh hi Tango! I’m just experiencing some techn-”

The world whirled around and he stood before a mustached mayoral advice bot, trapped in his own universe.

He barely heard the bot’s beep of surprise before he found himself falling through the air, stone whizzing past his gaze. 

He had only a split second to look up and see the bottom view of a bunch of boats all stacked on top of each other when he felt the tug of death pull on his chest. 

The bedrock floor above him quickly disappeared from view as the void grabbed his soul and crushed. 

Then it stopped.

He only saw a flash of pink before it changed to blue, then green. He felt his hand hit something hard then felt something soft. His fingers were probably going to bruise even with the short amount of contact. 

Then, just as it had started, the teleportation stopped.

He was somewhere dark. Quiet. Frigid. 

Suffocating.

He felt a chill through the very sense of his being, leaving his muscles achy and sore. His head hurt and his stomach twisted into a complex knot of uncertainty. 

He looked forward, then back. The view was the same. Inky black with luminous specks of purple and blue that stung his skin wherever they landed. 

He was suffocating. He was in an open expanse of nothing. He was living with no life to live. He was dying with every breath he stole from the void. 

He was trapped with his own self to blame.

Zedaph did another flip.

Chapter Text

Keralis had been searching for Doc for a full ten minutes. He hadn’t been in any of the shops, or his base, and he hadn’t responded to the three messages Keralis had sent to his com link. One through the main chat, and two through the private messaging system. 

Keralis nervously checked the tab list again. He’s not AFK, he thought.

He stood there for a second pondering what to do when felt a slight breeze across his face. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, today was such a beautiful day. 

The trees were vibrant green and the grass smelled heavenly. The sun grazed its golden rays across the ground, blanketing everything in a warm glow.

He wondered what he would have for lunch–wait. He had been doing something. Right, he needed Doc to help him with his design of a redstone-based steam roller for the construction site he was building at his base. 

He’d been working on it for a few months now, and it was coming along nicely. 

Keralis noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He grinned, and squinted his eyes ever so slightly, licking his lips.

“Hello sweetface, you will make an excellent lunch.” 

And he began to chase the rabbit. He followed his prey behind a tree and partially inside a cave where he thought he’d finally trapped it. But, to his great disappointment, the creature escaped at the last moment. The hunt continued. 

He stalked it until his quarry stopped, breathing heavily while Keralis remained untouched. 

He started to walk towards it once again, his arms outstretched slightly to grab it. He wouldn’t let the bunny get farther away. 

Its eyes widened in fear as it gazed upon the bloodlust eyes of its predator. 

With a burst of renewed energy, brought on by the terror of death, the rabbit sped off again. 

Keralis grinned, and a repressed chuckle escaped his lips. The creature was making this fun. 

Even though it seemed as if his prey could go on forever, Keralis knew the end was drawing near. It was getting tired.

The sun began to set, casting beams into his eyes causing him to squint, but he didn’t let that stop him from his pursuit. He barely stopped his even pace chasing his quarry. But for a moment he lost sight of it.

He looked through the trees and smelled smoke. A lava pool was igniting the nearby foliage, causing it to crackle brightly. The rabbit came to a stop at the edge of the pool, seemingly unsure where to go. 

Keralis tiptoed to the edge of the fire line, then lunged at his prey. With a quick motion, the animal hopped away and Keralis went flying into the fiery pit.

His eyes were filled with the molten rock and his face felt like it was in an oven. His shirt caught fire as it was engulfed in the thick substance, and then his body sank even deeper.

He flailed around, trying to get a purchase on the boiling liquid, but his efforts only served to sink him deeper.

He managed to get his eyes above the surface just long enough to see the rabbit watching him, and then hopping away before he was swallowed completely.

Keralis tried to swim in lava.

Chapter Text

Stress was enjoying herself as she lazily strolled through the forest, her face resting in a pleasant smile. The trees towered above her, their magenta leaves floating to the ground in a flurry of sparkles. She picked one up and held it near her sweater. 

She laughed, “They match!” and let the leaf fall to the ground as she went on her way. ‘On her way’ was a very loose term, since she was just walking aimlessly. 

The grass seemed to sparkle with a light misting of dew, and the sunlight set the whole canopy ablaze in a glittering display of pink stars. 

Stress took a deep breath and smelled the most beautiful fragrance she’d ever smelt. She could hardly hold back a gasp of glee as she looked down to see a patch of flowers; the source of the fragrance.

The flowers were similar to a rose, with layered petals starting with a dark magenta in the center and fading to a blushing pink on the outer edges. They too seemed to sparkle. 

She couldn’t resist bending down to get a closer look and the perfume of the plants nearly took her over.

“Oh, gorgeous,” she said in a reverent murmur.

Stress reached a hand down to pluck a single, smooth, stalk from the ground, reveling in the way that the petals seemed to float without any adherence to gravity. 

Before she knew it, she had picked a small bouquet of the precious blooms and stood, simply admiring their beauty. 

She closed her eyes in bliss as she deeply inhaled the heavenly fragrance. 

<><><>

Stress opened her eyes suddenly, and she was lying on the ground next to a patch of pink tulips. 

She made to stand, but found she was clutching something sharp in her hand. When she looked to see what it was, she found a bouquet of flowers with thorns on the stems digging into her skin. 

There were small trails of blood trickling down her fingers, getting under her nails and causing her hand to be stained a light red. 

The blooms were magical, and smelled like they had been sent from an enchanted wonderland.

They were almost like a rose, the overlapping petals had a light grace to them, starting with a deep magenta in the center and transitioning to the most beautiful airy pink at the tips. She’d never seen such a flower before, and yet they seemed so familiar. 

Stress smiled gently, she wondered what other amazing properties these flowers had. 

<><><>

Stress held up a finished potion to her eye, and as she looked through the glass the room was bathed in a magenta tint. 

She’d mixed four and a half petals with one ground up thorn boiled in three cups of water and a sprinkle of bonemeal—plus a tablespoon of honey for taste. 

All the previous potion attempts she had made with the flower had turned out dark and goopy, some of them oily and staining her mixing spoon, and others so thick they couldn’t even pour out of the bottle. She didn’t think they would be good for drinking. 

But this one was perfect . She lowered it from her eye and set it the table as she went to clean up. Then she stopped. She could clean up later. She wanted to experiment with the potion first. 

Stress turned around and picked up the bottle once again. With no indecision, she uncorked it, brought the opening to her lips, and swallowed half. 

After a moment, she felt lighter, like a feather—regaining two hearts. 

“I can’t wait to show this to the others!” 

<><><>

She wandered through the shopping district looking for someone to show her wonderful creation, when she stumbled across Bdubs.

His face lit up when he saw her. “Hello Stress! Have you seen Etho?” 

Stress shook her head, barely registering his words. “No, sorry—look what I made!” She held up the potion for his viewing pleasure.

“A potion! It’s very pink.” Bdubs laughed, “What’s it do?”

Stress thought for a moment. “It’s a healing potion!”

“Doesn’t regen already exist?” 

“Yes, but this one is better.” She smiled lovingly at the bottle and Bdubs smiled. 

“Can’t wait to try one!” He waved goodbye and continued down the path, leaving Stress behind. She glanced at him sideways as he passed and held the potion closer to her chest.

“Maybe, but this one isn’t for sharing,” she mumbled. Without a thought the opened bottle was at her lips again and she’d finished off another quarter of the heavenly liquid. She sighed in satisfaction. 

She didn’t hear the footsteps of Cleo behind her until the latter spoke up.

“Oh, Stress!” she called, “have you seen Keralis?”

Stress shook her head no once again, keeping her gaze on the bottle, a slight smile on her face. 

Cleo strode to face her. “What’s that you’ve got there?” Her slightly disinterested tone offended Stress. 

“It’s a potion.”

“I’ve never seen one like that before.”

Stress grinned and held up the bouquet of mystical flowers from her inventory. “I made it from these!”

Cleo’s face went white as a sheet, partly due to her lack of blood as a zombie, and partly because of fear.

“W-where did you get those?” Her voice quivered slightly, contrasting with the lack of interest she’d previously shown. 

Stress shrugged, “I don’t know, I was just holding them in my hand when I woke up.”

Cleo looked sick. “Stress, I need you to listen to me very carefully. That flower is very da—”

Stress’ face lit up with sudden inspiration. “Oh I know! Maybe it needs a bit of the stem!” She flew away before Cleo could get another word out.

The zombie stood there frozen for a moment before rocketing off behind the flower-obsessed hermit.

Stress landed at her base and dashed inside. She prepared the brewing station and snipped off the petals, thorn, and stem required for the new recipe. 

She finished off the first potion and used the same bottle for the new one. With a light hum in her voice, Stress watched as the ingredients boiled down into the delicious magenta mixture. 

She bounced in anticipation. The brewing stand bubbled and she couldn’t wait any longer. 

Snatching the still scalding potion from the burner, she dumped the entire contents into her mouth and breathed heavily. 

The hot liquid burned her tongue and throat, but the medicinal properties of the brew thwarted the heat’s effects. 

The light feeling encompassed her entire body and she felt as if she were floating off the ground. She staggered a little from the dizziness that overcame her but couldn’t keep down a giggle of pure joy.

<><><>

Cleo skidded to a stop outside Stress’ base and sprinted inside. She had to find her friend before it was too late.

She heard a light giggle from a room to her left and slammed open the door.

Stress lay on the ground, clutching that wretched bouquet in her hand, a smile of bliss on her face.

“Oh,” she said distantly, “Hello, Cleo.”

Without a word Cleo knelt beside her and tried to take the flowers away, but Stress held on with a strength that surprised her.

“Stress, please stay with me,” Cleo said frantically, grabbing at the flowers and finally ripping them out of her grasp.

Stress let out one last giggle before she fell silent. Cleo didn’t say anything, only reaching out to shut her fellow hermit’s eyes.

With a deep sigh, and the ghost of tears forming in her eyes, she stood and went outside. Taking a lava bucket, she dug a small hole in the ground and poured the lava into it.

Cleo stared at the flowers, an anger growing inside her chest before she threw them into the lava with every ounce of energy she had.

“I’ll die before you hurt one of us again!” she cried.

But zombies are already dead.