Pap pan pap pap pap, PAA!
"There. Just like that. Do that for a whole minute." Herobrine tossed you the gloves as Sandrah turned to you with the punching pad, which is basically a shield but made with foam. You strapped on the sweaty gloves and tightened your fingers into a pair of strong fists.
Herobrine started counting in his head as you began, punching at the bag with intense speed, not letting your arms drop for a second. "ts ts ts ts ts ts ts!" You breathed out quick breaths with every punch, occasionally gulping a new breath of air. Sandrah meanwhile meandered over the padded floors, forcing you to follow or back away from your target as you punched. Hero stood stiffly as he watched, hands folded behind his back. All three of you were already tired and sweaty from the several hours worth of training and physical strain. You pushed through, even though you were nearing your limits. Sandrah had met hers a while ago, earning her the spot of bag holder.
Your fists swung with intense speed, flaring pain engulfing each and every muscle involved. Even those around your hips and stomach were strained by your fast movements. But, your punches remained strong. It took a lot for Sandrah just to hold herself up against you.
"Time." Hero's mouth opened at last. So in the zone, you continued a few times after until Sandrah made a daring move and dove away from you. Panting and covered in sweat, your eyes wandered up to the man only wearing black shorts and a sweaty teal tank-top. Hero stood proudly with his hands on his hips as he smiled faintly down at you. "Good job, (Y/n).." He complimented. You could only pant and gulp on dry air. "Alright... That will be enough for today. You ladies go and clean yourselves up."
"But what about you??" Sandrah asked over your shoulder, sounding a little concerned for him for some reason. Herobrine chuckled at the blond.
"I will be in here just a little longer. 303 is preparing dinner for everyone as we speak, so I suggest you two hurry up." He waved the two of you away, turning to step even further into the large room. It was a warehouse-like room dedicated to combat training! Literally anything you might need, from punching bags to gymnastics bars were all readily available in the room covered wall to wall in thick padding. The pillars holding up the high ceiling were all rectangular concrete. This was still all in 303's castle, believe it or not.
You followed the reluctant Sandrah out of the room into a much shinier, fancier hall. But Herobrine remained inside.
Crack!
"Aghh..." You heard him groan from inside. Sandrah was already talking to one of the butlers when you froze and curiously turned back towards the room. You peeked through the doorway to see Herobrine finally practicing against something nearer his level.
Crack!
Hero slammed his fist into a massive cinder block made of solid concrete. It had only taken a couple punches and already his knuckles were filling with red under his skin. A brow of yours rose. The man eagerly accepted this challenge, punching it again and again and again and again. Each time, a faint growl or huff was pushed out from his lungs. Slowly, the cinder block gave way under his might. Equally challenged by the contact, Herobrine's uncovered fists began cutting open, bleeding, stinging when struck again and again and burnt by the sweeping wind.
"YYAAAAHHHHH!!!" Herobrine shouted, determined not to break before the cinder block. But then-
Crack!
This time, it wasn't the concrete which broke. "AGHH!" He screamed. You cringed away from the sight. Hero's left fist had planted itself against the stone improperly and paid for it dearly. His arm recoiled, carefully clutching the injured limb close to his chest as still his right fist collided with rock, more frantic and rage filled this time. He was utterly determined, the blow to his bones taken as a blow to his own ego as well. At last, the cinder block crumbled away, leaving the man panting, right fist especially absolutely shredded! You had just stood watching silently, not even knowing if intervening would be a good thing.
He was your enemy, right?... Then why did you have such the strong urge to help him?
At last, when the obstacle before him had been defeated, Herobrine turned your way with sweat running down his brow. He froze when his shining eyes at last noticed you. You froze as well. The man's trembling and swollen wrist dropped to his side as normal. You saw purple gathering around it already. Undoubtedly, he had broken it.
"...You weren't supposed to see that..." The man's growling voice rumbled across the room, shaking you to blink once again.
"I- I- I-- sorry!" You quickly half bowed your apology, worried now there might be some verbal punishment coming your way.
"No...." Herobrine's head turned away, gazing again at the pieces of cinder block which were now decorated with little splotches of his blood. "I...am glad you came to the sound of my distress... Means I can rely on you at least to stay alert..." He huffed something. Meekly, fiddling with your hands together in front of you, you stepped a foot into the mat covered area.
"What's wrong..?"
"Nothing-... Hhhhh.... I...am just not feeling...powerful..right now."
"...Ah." That's a good sign.
"Which is why I need you by my side more often. You remember everything I've taught you these last couple months?"
"Y-yes!" ...Hopefully you had muscle memory of it at least.
"Good.. Then you should be able to handle just about anything should trouble come... I know this is stupid to ask someone forced to my will, but.. can I trust that you will do everything in your power to protect me..? A promise?"
You froze slightly. He was asking you to promise something? You hated breaking promises! It took you a moment to prepare yourself well enough to lie inconspicuously.
"I... Yes. I won't let you down." Your brows tightened, straightening your back as you stiffly saluted.
Herobrine chuckled a little. "Heheh... At ease, soldier.." You smiled faintly, briefly reminded of all your good deeds back on the battlefield. "Now...um... Is anyone else behind the door too? You shuffled back and checked...then shook your head. "Good! Because, um...I can't feel my hands... Can you...help?" It was a struggle for him to ask. You jumped up quickly. Not being able to feel them wasn't a good sign..
"Do you know where any medical supplies is?" You hurriedly asked.
"They have some in this cabinet over here.." Herobrine said, stepping toward a small white enclosed shelf just behind the door in the corner. You stepped to it quicker than he and started digging through for the right supplies. By the time arrived, you had pulled out some cleaning ointment, cotton balls, and medical tape. His hands were dripping with blood when he extended them your way, torn far past just skin!
"Oh my gosh.." You gasped faintly. "Why did you do that..?" Looking up at him.
Turning his face away from you out of embarrassment, "I..again...was feeling a little weak, and so challenged myself to destroy the block. If I couldn't..then..I in my own eyes would be deemed...pathetic." Heh, funny how he thought not being able to destroy a five foot thick block of stone would make him weak..
"Hm.." You had no other comment. Nothing encouraging came to mind, so you just kept your mouth shut. You doused a cotton ball in cleaning alcohol and with the empty hand grabbed the man's left hand.
"Aa-!... Sorry, other one first, please." His left one shrank away back to his side. Trying to hide your annoyance, a weak huff vented from your nose as you instead grabbed the man's right hand. It was still trembling slightly, every muscle too tense and swollen to even move properly! You tried to hide your astonishment. If Herobrine was this prone to pain, then perhaps there was a chance at beating him in hand to hand combat. It would take a very powerful foe, but perhaps maybe it could be done... Hmm, maybe you shouldn't have sent Notch away the other day... Maybe Herobrine was just as weak...but was simply better at hiding it?.. The thought made you scowl at yourself. You started dabbing at Herobrine's bloody knuckles, cringing more and more when little bits of bone were revealed!
Seeing you cringe so, "I am a fast healer. Should only take a good meal and a fine night's sleep before I am good as new." Silently, you nodded, letting him know you at least heard. Gosh, it was so awkward tending to the man's wounds, especially when you were supposed to pretend to actually care about him! This lead you to mostly stay silent. At least when you were sparring with him before, you could excuse your flashes of anger as just 'being in the moment.' Here, though, you actually had to take up the role of a caretaker! When his hands were finally clean of blood, you grabbed some gauze and layered them carefully over his skin. Then, as a final touch, you wrapped it all in medical tape!
Though your job appeared to be done with his right hand, feeling them so shaky and stiff reminded you of Jason: a good friend of yours in the army. He would get into so many fist fights at the bar, his hand joints would lock up by the time he returned to camp. You ended up being his personal caretaker since you knew if word spread of him getting into fights among the medical team...the word would eventually make its way up the ladder until he was fired. Other than his moments, Jason was a good man, so you wanted to give him as many chances as possible. Remembering this, you near mindlessly started massaging Herobrine's hand to get it back into shape.
"What are you-?"
"-Oh-oh, sorry! Remembered one of my friends!" You quickly snapped out of it, fond memories fading. Ohh, that Jason. Always the funniest when drunk!
"No, please... That actually helps." Herobrine faintly smiled, handing you back the hand which you had just dropped. A little awkwardly this time, you massaged the stiff muscles a little more until you felt them soften over time. "Ahh.. Thanks." Hero snatched his limb back, flexing all of his fingers with satisfaction before his eyes. You just chuckled awkwardly. Then, slowly, Herobrine extended his swollen left arm. "Can you...snap this one back into place, too? Do you know how to do that?" Herobrine cringed at his own question. You could see him already preparing for the spring of pain.
"I- I can try! Only done it to myself, though." You answered.
"That's good enough experience for me!" Faking a cheery tone. You delicately grasped the man's hand and pulled it your way. Then your fingers traced over his swollen skin, feeling for any obvious fractures. "A l-ittle further down." He coaxed you as you searched. Then, your hand grazed over a tender bump- "Ow!"
"Sorry!"
"I-it's fin-n-ne! Just..gotta," inhaling and exhaling slowly, "..prepare." The fallen Nether King's arm stiffened.
"...You need to relax it."
"I am relaxing it!" Hissing.
"Fine..fine... Your funeral." You sighed, shortly after feeling his arm forcing itself to relax some. You placed your thumb and middle finger over the two crucial points on his wrist, and, before he could even think about pulling it away-
Snap!
"OWOWOW!" The Herobrine hollered. You couldn't help but snicker. Thankfully, he was too distracted to hear you. Yanking his arm away from you, "YOU DIDN'T WARN ME!"
"That would have just prolonged the process." You said, shrugging. Herobrine huffed a few more times in pain. "...Did it work?"
"I don't KNOW!.. All I feel is pain!"
"And all I feel is a bitter emptiness; now hand me your hand again so I can check it." You said, extending an open hand for him to place his into. After a moment of reluctance, Herobrine caved a little, turning his eyes away as he relinquished control of his aching limb to you. You delicately felt around, pleased to find the bone was back in place. "Alright..feels good. Now I just have to bandage." Herobrine hissed occasionally as you cleaned that hand up and dabbed it dry of blood. Once it was all clean, the fallen Nether lord asked that you at least massage his fingers a little so he could bend them properly. Hiding another huff, you did just that. "There! Good as...at least better than a moment ago." Finally releasing his hand. Hero flexed his fingers to assure they were still working. A small smile crept onto his face when he saw they were.
"Thank you..." Catching you a little off guard. You had already begun to turn away. So, you spun halfway back around, a brow raised by his kind speech. "It's...hard to come across someone you can actually trust..these days." The tall man sighed, still smiling at you faintly... Strange... It looked so genuine... Like that of an old friend.
You just nodded stiffly. "It is." Then you turned away to leave him again.
"-Wait!" He made you freeze again. You didn't put in the effort to turn back around as he continued to speak this time. "I just...wanted to remind you of your promise. You will stay close to me...correct?" Hero asked.
With stiffened shoulders, you finally responded. "...As close as I am needed. Why?"
Awkward suddenly, "I need someone to..defend me as I sleep."
"-What about Sandrah?" Monotone.
"Pardon?"
"Sandrah... You know... Your girlfriend. Would give her life to save you.. --t-too." You reminded him, turning around to meet eye to eye.
"Ahh.." Hero chuckled slightly, hand raising to rub the back of his hair. "Do you think she would be...alright with it, though? I- I was just thinking another bed be added to the room.-"
"They are all out of beds here. But lucky you, Sandrah has already worded her okayness with sharing a bed."
"She-she HAS?!" The man suddenly blushed. A funny sight for sure.
"Yeh." Simply spoken. "...I'll let her know you want her to join you tonight." Spinning around, you smirked, already imagining the absolute fluster-fit that girl would have. The bed would at last be all yours.~ She kept kicking you in her sleep last night despite all the pillows, so you couldn't wait for the sleep deprived Herobrine to show up next morning and complain about how terribly his bedmate was at keeping still! Ohhh, that would be so funny!
"To-tonight?! Oh no..." Wrapped hands covering his burning cheeks, the man quickly descended into a chaotic, panicky state behind you. You smirked. How cute- "Wait! Maybe don't?! I- I- I.... Can I tell you something?" That caught your interest. You turned around slowly, eyebrow raised.
"...Mmhm.."
Herobrine's shoulders dropped, terrible guilt clear on his face as his eyes returned slowly to stare directly into yours. "I... I don't actually like Sandrah...in that kind of way... Just...don't want her to..feel so bad."
Your eyes widened a smidge. "Wh... Whaa?"
.
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Thanks for the idea, _Akira91 ! Had no idea I would use it so soon! 😅
OOOHHHOHHHHH!! Just did the maths. I have about 100 average readers! 👀 Broo!!! I could..like...squish you all into the deep dark cellar under my house and y'all would have a hard time fitting... Woa... That's a lotta people...