MY WITNESS BRINGS ME INTO EXISTENCE

===

The throbbing pain coursing through Angel's body was a stark contrast to the soft bed she was laying on as she woke up. Wincing slightly, she opened her eyes, glancing around the dark room that she was in now.

"What the fuck..."

"Angel?" A soft voice turned Angel's attention to a familiar face, one which immediately sent relief through her; it was Clara. "Oh, thank God you're okay, sweetie..."

Any trace of worry quickly left her as she reached up, running soft fingers through Angel's hair. "Jesus... How long was I out?" Angel mumbled, glancing around. Tom was there too, looking relieved as well, and he was accompanied by another man sitting in the corner, one that Angel did not recognize immediately.

"Not long," Clara explained. "We were so worried when we saw the state of you... what happened?"

Angel winced as she tried to remember. "Some dicks at school found me," she explained. "I tried to get them to leave me alone... ended up hitting one of them, 'cause he tried to take my notebook - where is that?"

Tom reached down, picking up the notebook, and Angel sighed softly. "Thank god..."

"They left it alone," Tom reassured her. "It was beside you when we found you. Damn bullies..." A hint of rage shone in his normally calm eyes. "They're your age, aren't they? Maybe we should press charges."

"I hit Brandon first," Angel said. "And hit him hard, too. They could do the same for me, and say they were defending themselves. I'd just leave it."

She shrugged, wincing a little at the pain in her arm as she did so. Clara's fingers still gently ran through her hair, calming her nerves slightly further. "How'd you find me, by the way?" she asked.

"Well, we came to the park a little bit before it happened," Clara explained softly. "It was on the way home from the store, so we thought we'd drop by to see you. We were horrified to hear about what happened, but this nice gentleman explained the situation and said that he saved you."

Clara gestured to the stranger in the corner. "He says that he knows you."

Angel sat up slightly, tilting her head as she observed him closely. From what she could gather due to the fact that he was sitting, he was tall and quite lanky, with stringy, shoulder-length hair that hung down in curtains around his face. His ears were unnaturally pointy, sticking out from his hair, and his thin face wore an expression of nervousness as he glanced up at her.

"Uh, howdy," she mumbled, tilting her head slightly. Looking into the stranger's eyes, she was surprised by their color - a deep crimson, as if they were made of blood, just as warm as they were chilling. He watched her with an almost fierce intensity, as if he was searching for something within her soul; Angel was slightly startled by this, but she didn't look away. She couldn't, not when this man's gaze comforted her in a way that only one other had, despite the slight fear it held.

"It really is you..." the stranger said, and Angel's breath caught in her throat.

He sounded just like...

"You do know him?" Clara asked softly, tilting her head as she watched the two interact. Angel paused, collecting her thoughts, before raising a hand and pointing at the not-stranger.

"You," she muttered, gesturing with her hand as her words failed her. "You're-"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "It's me, Angel."

"Holy fucking shit..." Angel breathed, blinking furiously as if this was a dream, and that this man was merely an anomaly in her vision. "Um. Cool... So it worked, didn't it? Obviously it did, you're right fucking here... the words aren't wording..."

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she took him in - it was him, he was alive, he was real. She was overcome with the urge to feel him, to touch his face, to hold him close just as she had done before he died, but she couldn't move. All she could do was stare, just taking him in.

"What's your name, son?" Tom asked, an easy smile on his face as he watched the not-stranger, who turned away from Angel with slight difficulty to face him.

"Erebus," he said.

"Holy fucking mother of Mary..." Angel muttered, looking down and wringing her hands. "This is insane..."

Clara turned to face Erebus, tilting her head. "Angel's told me much about you," she said softly. "She said that the two of you were very good friends in Minecraft."

Erebus's eyes widened slightly at Clara's words. "She- She said that?"

Angel shoved her face in her hands with a quiet whine. "Maybe..."

This was an understatement, but none of them mentioned this. Clara slowly stood up.

"Angel, do you think it would be best if Tom and I left the room for some time?" she offered gently. "You and Erebus can talk in private if you'd like, to catch up."

Angel nodded, letting out a muffled hum of agreement. Clara placed a hand on her shoulder, briefly rubbing it in reassurance before starting to walk off towards the door. Tom stood up as well, following her. "It was lovely to meet you, Erebus," she told him. "We'll be back, but take as much time as you need."

"Thank you," Angel mumbled, looking up as she watched her aunt and uncle leave. A soft sigh escaped her as the door shut, and she glanced up at Erebus.

"Angel, I have questions," he told her.

"And I have answers, but please be patient," Angel requested. "I'm... I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit overwhelmed over everything right now, so I'd appreciate you being gentle with me."

Erebus nodded in understanding. "Okay," he said, standing up and moving over to Angel, his gaze not once leaving her. His eyes darted across her face as if he was attempting to memorize every detail of it. Angel exhaled slowly as she looked up at him, ever so slightly flustered by the way he was looking at her. "How did this happen?"

This was the question that Angel was expecting, but she barely had any idea how to explain it, so she opted for the truth, as awkward as it was.

"You, uh... remember that one guy," she mumbled. "The guy that oversaw everything, with the white eyes?" Erebus nodded. "Well, uh... how do I put this..." She huffed softly at herself. "So this dude was apparently really important, in the grand scheme of shit... he was a shadow-crafter, Herobrine, which meant he created monster heroes - this included you, you and Malacoda."

Erebus looked away at the mention of his name, and a pang of guilt hit Angel. Despite this, he still looked interested in what she was saying.

"Ah... so, yeah, that's what he meant by 'heroes', which sort of ties into the whole 'one side's hero' thing he mentioned before, which is honestly really interesting when you think about it..." She paused, exhaling slowly to bring herself back to the topic at hand. "Anyways, that's his deal, and he's important because..."

Angel glanced down, her face flushing with embarrassment. "This is the shit thing to describe, 'cause I don't know how to say it without being... I don't know. When you died, I- I wasn't exactly... happy, to put it-"

Erebus scoffed in mild amusement.

"I didn't think it was fair, given how close you were to victory, and- and because... what was happening at the time..." She tilted her head away from him, trying her hardest to hide her blush. Why was she blushing, like a simping schoolgirl? It was a hug, a cathartic hug that should have meant far less to Angel than it did. Unsure of how to continue, she raised a hand, giving a thumbs-up.

"Yay, trauma," she said sarcastically. "But anyways, I ultimately bargained with Herobrine to bring you back, and to take you into the physical world, because honestly, you deserved it after everything that happened, so..."

She trailed off, managing a glance back to Erebus to see what he thought. He looked confused, as Angel expected that he would, but for an entirely different reason than she had predicted.

"Why?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

Erebus looked up at her. "Why did you go through the effort of doing any of that for me?"

Angel shrugged. "Well... why not?" she said, slightly offhandedly. "Like I said, the way that you died didn't sit right with me. You didn't deserve that, just a few moments away from victory. Not like you deserved to die at all, of course... I mean, you were actually nice to me."

She could tell that Erebus didn't completely believe her, and it upset her in a way - she had been telling the truth, after all.

"Another question," he spoke up after a moment. "Why am I... human?"

Angel glanced down, recalling the requests she had made to Herobrine. Uninjured and intact... memories preserved... human. That was it.

"Damn... he took that literally," Angel mumbled. "I-I didn't want to have any loopholes, so I said that I wanted you to be as human as you were when you were in the game. And now you're... actually human."

She wasn't going to lie to herself, Erebus was quite a handsome human.

"Angel..." Erebus said, his voice soft and clearly projecting the nervousness he felt. "I don't know how to be human."

"No one does, that's how you really know you're human," Angel told him with a weak chuckle. "But you don't need to worry. I can... I suppose I can help you be human, and so can Clara and Tom - I don't know if they said or not, but they're my aunt and uncle that I had mentioned before."

Erebus nodded. "They're very kind," he murmured. "But why would they use their kindness on me? Don't they know who I am?"

"They do," Angel said. "I have no one else to talk to about the stuff going on in my mind, and when it comes to important things, they're the only ones that know about it. I trust them enough to do so."

Erebus tilted his head. "I'm important to you?"

Angel looked away. "That's... not the point," she mumbled. "The point is, I don't have any hard feelings for you after what happened. I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't care at least a little about you."

There was a soft knock on the door, causing both Angel and Erebus to look up. "Come in," the former called, thankful for the interruption so that the fact that she cared about Erebus didn't sink in as much as it could have.

Clara stepped inside, a soft smile on her face. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said. "I just wanted to let you know that I was going to make soup, even though it's late, so that Angel can get enough to eat before she goes to bed. Erebus, would you like some?"

"Me?" Erebus asked, taken aback. "Isn't that your decision to make?"

Angel could tell that his nervousness was starting to return at the simple offer. Clara just looked mildly concerned.

"Of course it isn't, dear," she told him. "You can have as much soup as you want, I don't think any of us would mind. And if you don't like soup, I can make you whatever you'd like. Just let me know what I can do to make your time here more comfortable, okay?"

That soft, motherly smile that always warmed Angel's day only brought Erebus a sense of confusion, along with fear that he was doing something wrong. He didn't understand why she was being so kind to him, since she had only known him for a few moments, and couldn't help but feel as if he was exploiting her kindness despite her being the one to offer it. He nodded, however, muttering a hasty thanks, and Clara shut the door again. Angel started to get out of bed, wincing a little at the pain in her arm as she did so.

"You can do what you want here," she told him, placing a hand on his arm. "No one but us knows who you were before. You can be yourself in the physical world, whoever you want that to be."

She smiled softly at Erebus before turning away, oblivious to the fact that both of them were wondering the same thing; whether the other had felt the same sparks that they had at the contact of their skin.