Fly, Phoenix, Fly - Herobrine x Reader

Chapter Two - Unfinished Business

Two armored piglins stood guarding the gates, and they pulled them open to allow the trio entry as they approached. Herobrine nodded to one of them and it was returned. Clearly he had gotten over his... issue with them.

"Commander Zenith and the Queen, along with their other guests, are waiting inside." Herobrine informed them as he led them across the courtyard. Y/N hummed in acknowledgment, studying the castle walls. She hadn't seen it for long on her last visit, but from what she could remember this place seemed much the same. Had Herobrine built it, she wondered?

The first thing that Y/N noticed as Herobrine guided them inside was how well-lit the interior was. She had expected it to be rather dark and dismal - and perhaps it had been, at one point - but even the entry hallway was well-lit, the lower walls lined with glowstone and blue-lit lanterns hanging from the ceilings.

Herobrine lowered his hood again, here, and Y/N found herself focusing on the back of his head as he walked ahead of them down the hallway. His hair was a bit shorter now than it had when she had last seen him, but still quite long, trailing down past his shoulders. It was neater now, too. It was currently drawn back on either side to meet in a braid on the back of his head, held in place at the base by some kind of gold ornament. Nothing like the unkempt nomad who had dragged her out of the mud on the day they first met.

Herobrine stopped, and Y/N snapped out of her trance just in time to avoid running into him, as he opened a door and beckoned them through to the dimmed room beyond.

A couple of figures stood as Y/N and Meryl stepped through the doorway, and Y/N quickly picked out her commander on the left side of the small room where he had just risen from a red couch. Still seated on the same couch was a woman wearing a black, flowing dress, with a wide-brimmed hat from the rim of which fell a dark veil. Before the other couch in the room stood a young woman with red hair, who stared at the two valkyries in unrestrained awe, and finally, on the far side of the couch sat David Tekno with a hand lifted in greeting.

"Hey Eve, Meryl."

"Tekno." Y/N broke into a grin at the sight of him. "I didn't know you would be here."

"I've told you, haven't I?" The half-piglin propped up a foot on the table that sat between the two couches, apparently heedless of the fact that he was in the presence of a queen. "Aether loves sending me on Nether missions."

"Thank you for coming so promptly," Zenith said, beckoning them over from the door. "I trust your trip from the portal was uneventful?"

"It... was." Y/N stole a glance over her shoulder as Herobrine shut the door behind them and followed them into the room. From the way no one in the room had reacted to his presence, she could only gather that they had all been well aware of his location... and hadn't told her.

The queen rose to her feet, her hands clasped together in front of her as she greeted them. "I'm glad to see that you have both arrived safely," She said in a kind voice. "Not that, I'm sure, I had anything to fear. Thank you, Herobrine." The man in question nodded silently as he went to stand behind her couch. "I'm sure you're very eager to know why you've been summoned here with such haste," The queen went on. "And it is because I have need of your unique life experience." Y/N and Meryl shared a knowing glance.

"Such as, my lady?" Meryl asked.

"Several days ago, I received a message from this young lady-" The queen gestured to the human girl, "Miss Alex Hunt. In her letter, she described her encounter with a young piglin who was clearly not in his right mind, who attacked her while she was gathering resources some distance from here. She was forced to kill him in self-defense, and she brought his body to me for examination. My servant-" She gestured over her shoulder at Herobrine, who shifted slightly. "-thinks that the poor lad's state was the handiwork of someone whom with you both are quite familiar."