(Music above is nice. You can listen if you like. ;v; It has the FEELS.)
(Lol, take that! I named all the chapters! Wahoo! Also DANG! 20 CHAPTERS?!?!... DEFINITELY not a short story anymore. 🤣)
(Fun fact: Kim wasn't actually supposed to stick around this long! I had originally planned for her to leave somewhere around chapter 3 or 4, but then at the last moment pulled her back in when I realized Y/n needed an emotional support human. And then she fell in love with Steve... I didn't even do that! She just saw tol' and reclusive man and was like, "MINE."....so I let her keep him.)
(Also lol. I love how I hinted that the previous chapter was going to have something sad or dramatic in it, and then just couldn't fit that scene into the chapter, either! Gave ya all some anxiety there! Oop!
XDDDDD
Ight, imma just stop teasing. You'll know the drama is here when you see it!)
(So far this book has 73,327 words... Wow.)
(Please forgive my writer sins but I am too lazy to edit tonight.)
-
-
You rode on Hero's back as he made his way toward the throne room. Curious... For as long as you have been here, not once have you seen the literal King's throne in person! So it was reasonably a little exciting and scary to finally be led straight toward it.
"I ask that you excuse me if my attitude changes a little as we enter. I am used to being in 'business mode' while inside the throne room." Stepping up to the iron sculpture decorated, large dark arched doors of the throne room. Hero was already straightening his stance a little.
"OoOo, what do you do in there?" You pondered aloud.
"Basically...everything." Extending one hand towards the massive doorway, which was about four times the man's height, he used the powers of his mind to open them slowly.
Creeeee...
One of the doors screeched on its old hinges. "Ugh... Need to have that door oiled again.." The king huffed. Beyond the doors, pitch black darkness whispered eerily. Thinking back, this entire castle's layout, all of its rooms and hallways merely circled around this room, right?.. Meaning that this was of the most important rooms in the entire building! The centerpiece of the very place you had been living in for a month now! The freakish darkness lingered for a while as Hero entered with you into it. His footsteps echoed for what sounded like miles!.. How big WAS this room?!
After grazing his hand against a solid wall for some time, the man's faintly glowing eyes illuminated a light switch. His hands were beginning to tremble by the time he at last flicked them on.
Life was brought to the room! One massive chandelier after another flashed on, the light slowly crawling from one side of the room to the other. You gasped in astonishment. The place was about the size of a FOOTBALL STADIUM!!!
"Heh... The architects were ahead of their time. Created this room to be able to withstand any attack as a last line of defense, able to hold thousands upon thousands in need of protection." The man strode boldly into the open space of the room, sliding you back into place against him. You were still marveling at everything!
The light was warm and majestic, gold in tone. It bounced beautifully off of the shiny marble floor and pillars. The pillars were all a glistening white; the floor was much more colorful. Decorating the place beautifully, the floors were a mix of white, deep natural red granite, black sparkly slate, and waxed tan sandstone. The pillars stood rather far from the distant walls, outlining the pathway headed directly toward the throne. A plain, long, red rug about the width of a road paithed the way there. From the massive doors, Hero strode over the repeatedly stomped and squished carpet towards the throne which stood ahead. A massive, almost feathery display of gold departed from the distant wall to further embolden the darker material making up the throne. The chair of importance itself wasn't all too massive. Was made for one, though two could easily fit if one scootched.
Your neck stretched to see the ceiling. Bright marble staircased its way higher and higher inward until finally closing at the top. Within each of these pearly, oval rings were depictions of creation, civilization, exploration, and many more broad concepts hard to depict even through an entire 500 page history book! For the King's sake, there was not a reference made toward the Falk kind. Instead, the artwork celebrated the accomplishments of man and their creator, God.
Herobrine continued as you slowly made your way to the other side of the large room. "Titanium fills the walls, roof, and floors. Springs of water run through the pillars in case anyone is locked in and needs a drink. Underneath the floor are hidden places packed with emergency food, tools, and medicines... Despite the high ceilings, I feel somewhat safe in here...because it was built to keep those inside alive and well as long as physically possible..."
"Woooaahhh... Why was it designed like this?!" You wondered, clutching the man's upper chest tightly as you leaned back some to marvel at the ceiling some more. Hero chuckled.
"This entire castle was made for war, if you hadn't noticed. Not only is it a castle, but it is a military fort. Initially, even, it was built for exactly that; in our darkest hour, when we feared the Falks might win, a bunker --an impenetrable fortress-- was created to protect and defend as many human lives as possible... Since then, everyone has forgotten the structure's initial intent..." Hero slowed, having veered from the path just enough to delicately glide his fingers across a smooth pillar's surface. He was quiet for a moment, his eyes studying again the fine detailing of gold patterns, most paisley, decorating the glossy white surface. He sighed, oddly neither happily nor sadly. "Hhh... I still remember." He faintly added to the grandiose atmosphere, in one breath humbling its shine. "Indeed...what you see here was once merely concrete... Dull and bleak.. It was here that I was decided as king. And, it was here that I at last declared victory over our enemies..." You sighed quietly this time. He had done so centuries late. By the time he had finally quit his stalling, and declared the war ended...your people had been massacred.
You felt yourself enjoying being held by the king a little less now that you remembered. By the time news finally reached the papers that the war had at last been called off, you remembered being nothing but numb... You still vividly remembered staring blankly at a fallen newspaper, foot stamped over half of the page. In bold declared the end of the slaughter. You remembered your almost disinterest in the news, hardly believing it, even. A world where Falks aren't being hunted left and right...? Pff! Give it a break! You remembered just walking away numbly. It took an entire year before those words finally sank in...though it never quite felt like the war had ended. There were always those fringe groups who hunted Falk for sport!... Herobrine noticed your sinking interest in the place, scowling at himself for whatever he may have said to get you to close down.
"Do you...need anything?" Hero asked with mild concern. You shook your head slowly. Not knowing what else to do, the king continued on...
At last, you arrived at the throne. The carpet stopped where the dark stairs started. The stairs circled around the throne. Up about five shallow and broad steps was the slate platform, which the king's chair stood so finitely on. You stared at it for a little bit. You recalled about a month ago when you caught a glimpse of it in a photo on the news. Man... That was only a month ago?!.. So much had changed.
"I am still deciding whether you will be given a throne of your own." Hero spoke up again. "It isn't a part of the plan that you should be as heavily involved politically as I, so I wouldn't want to bore you for hours by having you sit silently beside me when you could instead be doing other things."
"Yeah.. that does sound kind of boring...and I wouldn't want so much money to be put into making me a new one." You kind of shrunk away a little, somehow, on the man's back. The king chuckled.
"Oh, don't worry. I have barely spent a pretty coin on decor for this place in centuries. There is plenty stockpiled up if you so wish."
"Yeah, I'll...think about it, I guess." You almost asked your new husband if you could sit down on it, however, that would require dropping from his back first. Your eyes wandered around until they landed on something curious. "..What is that?" You asked, pointing to the dark right side of the room. Hero turned his head to see what you were seeing. In the near corner of the room was a large table and even larger map behind it! The size of the room made the two appear small, though you could tell just by comparing the hopefully normal sized chairs that the table could easily seat over 30 people, and the map attached to the wall behind it was approximately the size of two busses stacked on top of one another!
"Oh, that? Do you want to have a closer look?"
"Mmhm!" You nodded.
"Hm!" Herobrine strode that way. When the chairs and table were at last close enough to touch, you marveled up at the massive map. It was of nearly the whole WORLD! The entire continent of Pangaea was split with thousands of lines and marked with even more little red and black dots. Occasionally, a few lines were drawn between two dots with string, but that wasn't all too common. And in the center of it all, was of course, Glydeemia. Your country was massive! (About the size of South America) However, remembering the older maps, it was much smaller than it used to be. Nearly all of Pangaea had once been under Herobrine's rule.
"Why did you let Glydeemia fall apart..? It used to be much bigger!" You asked innocently. You felt you already knew the reason, but you wanted to hear it directly from him.
"Hm. That one's pretty simple. Actually- wait.. no. It isn't simple at all now that I think about it. Hah... Umm, well one of the reasons is simply because so many people wanted to rebel just for the sake of rebelling. They feared, in a way, having their states controlled by a man who couldn't be killed nor die while they were still alive. There's also..a lot of messy political issues I ran into regarding branches of government and representation in the court. The country was so big, to represent EVERYONE in court would be to essentially expand it to the size of a small country! I just... That clearly wouldn't work. Also, I'm.. quite frankly, it was taking too much out of me to care for so much and handle all the needless conflict. I'd choose to let others break away and form their own countries than...have another war break out again."
"Ahhh..." Man, Herobrine seemed pretty adamant about not letting another war start up again. I mean, fair, wars do lead to a lot of deaths. "So what is..this section for?"
"Ohh, mostly plotting trade routes and visualizing borders for the council and I." He faintly gestured to what you were already seeing. Though you did just then notice a couple ladders on either side of the large map, latched to the wall and able to roll back and forth without fear of falling. That part looked pretty fun. "...Are you ready to go?" Hero asked, noticing how quiet you were being.
You sighed, "Yeah, guess I am.. There's just..so much to take in."
"Heh, completely understandable. I had the privilege of being here from the start; able to adjust to one new detail at a time." Following that, Hero strode down the long carpeted path and back out the door. When he had finally turned off the lights and closed the doors behind him, you two were lit again by cooler lights from the wall of windows lining the hall. The sky was a little clouded today, appearing as though it might rain.
"Oh! There you are, King Herobrine!" A young blonde man scurried down the hall toward you. "King Khagan will be arriving this evening!" Screeching to a halt in front of Hero.
"Oh-! I nearly forgot!" Nearly dropping you, Hero was instantly set into a mild panic.
"Wait- What?!"
Addressing the young man first, "Thank you. Tell whoever sent you to have the dining table prepared at once. I will prepare myself as well." Then, Hero spun back around and started walking speedily. "Khagan is an old royal friend of mine. Well, old as far as mortals go. He couldn't make it to my wedding and so wanted to celebrate with me personally."
"Oh.. Well that's nice of him."
"Indeed. He is the ruler of Javva, the third largest country of Pangaea, so, it really is an honor to have him take off time to come and visit me."
"Awh."
-------------
The table was so fancily set with such intricate napkin folding and plate placements, you felt really bad about touching anything! You wore a pretty yet simplistic purple dress. Awkwardly, you held a pair of chopsticks in your hands, staring down at all the fine, flawless wads of sushi in silent terror. Sweat gathered on your brow, lips tightly pursed, as you imagined all the different ways you could screw this up.
King Khagan had the pleasure of sitting at the end of the table. Herobrine sat at the guest king's left, you seated to Herobrine's left. Other officials from the King's Court sat at the further end of the table, Mrs. Persson taking her place at the opposite end. Steve and Kim sat over by her, almost completely out of sight. The ones closest to you were the many relatives of the foreign king himself, who were already digging in to the fine dish.
As Herobrine and the other old king, who wore a colorful display of fine silks, were talking beside you, you remembered back to the hundred or so years ago when you were actually good at using chopsticks. Hopefully, you wouldn't be proven rusty in your time of need. The other king had his long white hair tied up behind his crown. He smiled in such a warm, genuine way that made you not fear him as much as you just wished not to disappoint him.
Taking the risk and extending your chopsticks out toward the plate finally, your muscle memory kicked in just in time that you could pick up a simple piece of sushi, which was just rice and raw fish. Smiling in celebration that you managed to pick such a thing up first try, your eyes flicked around the room to see if anyone had noticed. Both kings, you realized with a quickly paleing expression, were smiling your way placately. Your cheeks reddened, quickly hiding your face from the two. Both men just looked at each other and chuckled. Cheeks reddening even more, you shoved the sushi into your face. The tasteless, pudding-like texture filling your mouth. Beside you, Herobrine sat with a suit very similar to the one at your wedding on; biggest difference being he was wearing a red tie now. His shoulder guards were in tact once again, returning the king to his confident self.
"Hmhm, you picked a beautiful young lady, Herobrine." The old mortal complimented. Then, you felt a strong, embracive arm rest over your shoulders. Without thought, you melted his direction.
"Indeed I have." Herobrine said while smiling. Then, he landed a short kiss on your head before pulling away. Your muscles tightened again once he left you, the social anxiety quickly returning. Eyes darting down to your plate again, you pondered which sushi would taste like what! It had been a while since you had eaten anything from the eastern region and so were new all over again to their fine delicacies!
"Sorry I couldn't make it to your wedding, by the way." The other king apologized. "My youngest grand daughter just gave birth to her first child."
Herobrine chuckled warmly as he chewed. "Congratulations. Though, honestly, my friend, you could have stayed simply because you were lazy and I wouldn't have minded. You are, after all, a one in a lifetime king."
"Hm, no need to flatter me." Khagan choked back his laughter. And when the table had settled down some, the other king cleared his throat, "If you don't mind me asking.. do you have a number for how many children you may have..?" He exclusively asked your now husband. The question caught both of you off guard, though. Herobrine nearly spat out his fresh glass of water while you rushed to take a sip from your own cup.
"I- I-I- I, um..." Herobrine's cheeks flushed red beside you. "We haven't exactly..talked..about that yet.."
"-Three." When you had swallowed, you turned to the other king with your answer. Hero's upper half pivoted your way curiously. Glancing up at him, "What? I used to think about it a lot... Even came up with six different name ideas, three boy names and three girl names...just in case." Your confidence immediately drained, you turned again to your fancy glass of water and downed a pint. Herobrine still stared at you with...almost amazement.
"Well!.. Heheh, I- I guess we're having three!" Hero repeated to King Khagan. You noticed his posture had greatly stiffened, clutching his legs together on his chair. "..Wh...why do you ask.?"
"Oh, Herobrine.. you know how old I am. It is more likely that I will never get to see the day when one of my oldest, dearest friends has his children..." He smiled. May have not meant it, but you couldn't help but feel at least a little pressured by his statement. Assumed Hero felt the same... Chm... Nudging Herobrine suddenly, "If you ever need any parenting advice, old friend, you know where to teleport." Hero just smiled kindly back, flustered that the conversation was still going on. Honestly, same.
Conversation returned to normal as you thought tactically about the order of which you would eat your sushi. Each time, you guessed what might be in it and what it would taste like before taking a bite... You were only correct two times, sadly. Not a personal record... Your head eventually perked up when an interesting topic was suddenly brought up.
"I heard about your yet to be made decision regarding the remaining Falks..." King Khagan brought up. Herobrine turned his head to the other slowly, just blinking at him a couple times.
"...How did you hear about this..?"
"Word travels fast among kings. Though it is not my place to give my opinion on such a touching matter, just know that whatever you decide.." gently slapping the white eyed king's shoulder, "I will stand with you. As will, from what I've heard, the kings of Cixx and Pythonah. We may be severed nations, but we trust your judgement regarding the Falks" The other king smiled. You tried not to die inside. Pythonah was the second largest country just south of Glydeemia. That was also where most of the Falks took refuge! If they- ..if Herobrine chose to declare war on the Falks once and for all, your kind would really be doomed!
"Thank you...Khagan. Though my mind is not made up.." Herobrine leaned closer to the other king to speak a little quieter, "I am leaning towards just removing this thorn in my side already. Can't just sit back and wait for them to attack me first, after all." Khagan nodded as he leaned in a little too.
It was too much.
You were done with pretending to be alright as Herobrine pondered killing your people.
Stiffly, you pushed yourself up from your seat. "It was a pleasure meeting you." You forced.
And then, you left.
-------------
Standing at the rails of your old room, you watched through tears as the sun said its final goodbye to the sky, leaving nothing but faint patches of purples and pinks in the air.
You leaned over the railing, palms pressing sweat into the concrete banister. A pang of pain pricked through your ribs. In agony, you felt your heart shredding in two.
You HATED Herobrine! Hated, loathed, detested, abhorred his very being! He was the slayer of your people and always would be! Nothing could change that!! NOTHING!
You fell with more weight on the banister, mouth breaking to let out a premature cry. I'm mediately, you wiped the liquid from your face..then with the same hand slapped yourself.
You comforted the king! You grew to understand him!! YOU were idly sitting by- w-worse! You were sleeping with the very man you so claimed to hate! WHY?! Why did you care how he felt?! Why did you care about his tender smile and contagious laugh?! Why, why, WHY!?
Smack!
You slapped yourself across the face. Some great savior of your people you were! Every time you were given the chance to stand up against tyranny, every time you were gifted the opportunity to fight back...yu-you DIDN'T! You crumpled like a soppy, moist sponge at every chance to make a difference! Why?? It didn't matter what Armond did to you in the end! Better you than the thousands of others!
You dropped to your knees, leaning your arms and forehead against the concrete barrier as you went at last.
In the end, you were just a sad, docile little girl...who was too scared to even stand up for her own people when given the perfect chance.
Some perfect queen you were...
You stood on your knees letting all your disappointments run loose until the sky was black and ominous. You finally quieted down. Your heart still felt torn...but you didn't have the tears to cry...
"(Y/n)..?" Herobrine murmured. You froze up at the sound of voice. You ignored Herobrine as his footsteps neared. Dread filled, you hoped he would just leave you alone... "What happened? Is it something I did?" Crouching beside you, Herobrine placed his hand on your shoulder and started rubbing it gently. His fingers withered away upon feeling you tug your body away from his. "...(Y/n)..?" He half whimpered for you, sounding genuinely concerned. "Did Armond say something-?"
"-No." You simply couldn't keep out the faint growl.
"Was it about...the kids thing-?"
"I-it was about the Falk thing, alright? I just don't-- I don't think killing them is the best solution!" Herobrine knelt a little straighter, oddly taking offense for a brief moment.
"Well then what is? Letting them kill you and everyone else?!"
"They won't do that, alright?!"
"How do you know?!" The two of you faced each other still on your knees as the little debate escalates into an actual argument. "You don't know the Falks like I do!!"
"Yes I--! ...You're right.. Bu-but still!"
"I'm sorry," raising one hand of his flatly between the two of you. "but as much as I love you...you simply haven't been around as long as I have. You don't know the things which took me ages to learn myself..and you don't know war... (Y/n), I know this is a hard position to be in, and it pains me inside to make such a tough decision... but..." The king's warm hand draped over your exposed shoulder. "...it is for the betterment of our future..." He lowered his head to assure you were staring him in the eyes. Those dreaded, glowing white eyes. He sounded so sure. He looked as though he had already made his decision.
Half a glare crawled onto your face. Your body started trembling. The king, though he saw your anger, peered past that with compassion. His arms met behind your back, followed by him pulling you closer to him. Your struggling was non-existent as your body was pulled onto the man's seated lap. His legs laid flat in front of him as your jittery body was pressed against the King's chest. You quickly scolded yourself for enjoying the warmth and short-term security of the embrace. Half of you wanted to push away while the other half just wanted to hug him back and forget the world and its trials. Stuck in the middle, you simply sat there stiffly. A war raged inside your heart... Your body meanwhile showed no such emotions.
Herobrine could feel you shutting down in his arms. Dread filled, not knowing what to do, Hero wrapped his arms a little tighter around you as he kissed the top of your head. He scooted so his back was leaned against the concrete railing and pushed away the anxiety in his own heart. To imagine you pushed to the point of shutting down was unbearable again. Seeing your face so still and emotionless was like looking upon a dead figure.... He did not like to look upon his own wife with such an image in mind...
You felt your mind fuzzing, consciousness dissociating from your body just to take a break for a little bit... This was just too much.
Stroke... Stroking... Soft, gentle, warm...
Herobrine started to glide his fingers through your hair, gaining no immediate reaction. Such a thing did grab the attention of your wandering mind, however.
"Hmm-hm-hmm..." The man started to hum. You felt his entire chest vibrate a little against your body, drawing you in a little further into the present. What was even more impressive...was...you recognized this tune...
It was an old song from your childhood. You fondly remembered your mother singing it to you and your siblings every other night before bed. The warmness of it all. How you felt so at peace in those moments...
"Hm-hm-hmmm" You started to join in. At first, it was barely audible, but as your body relaxed more and more against Hero's chest, so too did your volume grow. The unexpecting Hero shivered the moment he felt your back vibrate against his chest. The warmth of you on his lap, the closeness of your body to his, and the harmony of your two soft hums... You flinched as Hero leaned back a little more, settling into a position more comfortable for him. After the short scare, you continued. It had been so long since you last hummed this tune, you barely remembered the words.
...But that didn't matter now... Now did it?
When the cherished moment extended into half an hour or so, both you and Hero had nearly sent the other to sleep. Though your position was reasonably comfortable, Hero's sure wasn't. Though he felt he could have dozed off right then and there, the man's weak humming at last stopped. Yours did as well. The sudden silence was a little eerie after so much time spent humming the same, gentle tune in unison. At last, Hero broke the silence with his strained sigh.
"Hh-hhh-h... Time to...go to bed..." Herobrine then yawned. You couldn't help but join him in this yawning. He then started moving his feet under him. You followed suit. Slowly, you two fumbled onto your feet again, at least one arm still around the other as if losing contact completely might mean the end of a perfectly good night. Herobrine smiled down at you tiredly. "..Want me to carry you to-"
"-No." Remembering what had started all of this, you pulled away, leaving Hero with the sting. "I...don't want to sleep with you tonight..." You said, staring at the floor. Herobrine joined you.
"...Oh..." He already knew why. "Where will you..sleep..then?"
"Here is fine." Monotonicity on full display, your right arm vaguely gestured to the door leading to the balcony. Herobrine glanced around, his own emotionless expression mixing with a hint of sadness.
"I will..." It pained him to say it. "I will sleep on the floor."
"Just go to your own bed.." You tiredly huffed, not noticing quite yet how rude that sounded. Herobrine was too hurt...too tired to argue.
".....Okay... I'll...position guards around every entrance point. And I'll...just have to pray you'll be safe.." His posture was slumped. You blinked in agreement. "Well then... Get good rest."
"You too." You found yourself saying without thought.
Herobrine teleported away. A few minutes later, about ten guards awkwardly shuffled through your room to reach the balcony. More were positioned outside your bedroom door. Kim wasn't there... You felt alone.