[Aria's POV]

I could feel my consciousness slipping in and out like a yoyo. Someone is next to me, trying to heal my wounds. Hero was walking towards another version of himself. I could hear the name, but it was expected. 'Steve' is the name of the original skin for all Minecraft players, and based off Herobrine's original form. It would only make sense that Notch would create another version with less free will as a slave.

And now they are fighting.

I can hear it on and off. Clashing, banging, the screeching of metal swords connecting and bouncing off each other. I can feel Herobrine's rage, anger, fear, hurt and sorrow all merging together to fuel this fight. He was weak and in no condition for a final battle.

Then again, I have no room to speak.

None of us could stand up against Notch. Not with his ability to control this world. With his command block, he can manipulate things and control the environment and even the mobs around us.

He was in control of this world.

With his command block.

'Wait a mintue...'

I will my eyelids to open and stay open for a moment. The first thing I can see clearly is Mobius' face. He is looking between my battered body and the fight in front of us. One hand is a blaster and the other is holding me carefully. I look around slightly, spotting the others starting to join the fight. Joseph lets out a volley of bullets at Notch. Said person lifts his hand and creates a stone wall to block the shots. 

One bullet slips through, and I see Notch flinch. When he stands straight again, I see red on his cheek.

Good, the weapons work.

'Where's Alexa?'

I feel my heart starting to beat faster as I look over the battlefield. Justin and Andrew are tag teaming fighting mobs that have suddenly appeared around us while Reginald is bouncing in and out of the fight with Herobrine and Steve. Said fighters are swapping blows evenly. Steve's fighting matches Herobrine's almost perfectly, and his power is overwhelming even from my position on the ground. I look to my right, over Mobius' shoulder, and I see what I was fearing.

Alexa is on her back, surrounded by red. Her eyes are shut, but I can tell she's still breathing. I look back at Joseph again and the tears are obvious now. Somehow when Notch came back through the portal, his attack hit Alexa as well as myself. I feel my heart break. I didn't protect her. I didn't know she was that close.

We have to get her home, or she will die here.

But how?

'We need Notch's command block.'

I hear his voice in my mind clear as day. I turn my gaze back to Herobrine's fight with Steve and see him starting to slow. I need to come up with a plan right now. I can feel something stirring within me.

Then it hits me.

Slowly, I push myself up. My hearing begins to return as Mobius shouts. "No! Stay down, Aria! You can't fight in this condition!" I huff, feeling the pain radiate through my whole body. I struggle to breathe, but I need to stand. I need to be on my own two feet for this to work. I try to keep moving, but a hand pushes me down a bit. "I won't let you throw your life away!"

"Shut up and help me stand up, or we ALL die here."

I watch him snap his mouth shut in an instant. I didn't mean to sound so cold, but I was done living in fear of dying. If I die, then there was no other way out. But, if I continue to cower away, everyone will die for nothing.

Sure, it's a hare-brained idea, but it's the only one I've got.

I open my hand slightly and feel the thrum of power from my sword. The sensation in my chest also stirs with the power spike. I try to urge the sensation to move, forcing it towards my hand. If it is what I think it is, then perhaps we can still make it out of here alive. I feel slight rage at not thinking of this before, but I guess it's better late then never, right?

'Going to need that sword back, Hero.'

'What are you planning?'

'You'll find out.'

I see him slice down with his pickaxe at Steve, making his clone jump back. Herobrine then throws my sword and I snap my hand out. I feel it's comforting power as it turns and rocket towards me. My gaze turns to Notch, who was now facing Joseph fully and moving towards him with a wall of bedrock before him as a shield. Joseph is emptying magazine after magazine into it, not thinking straight. I need to make this quick. 

The minute my sword hits my hand, I focus on the spot behind Notch and teleport.

My blade flies in a swift motion, but it's stopped by a separate blade before it can make contact with Notch's neck. I hear him chuckle. "You really thought that would work?" I give him a chuckle of my own, which earns me a frown as he turns to face me a bit more.

"No, I just needed a distraction to test something."

I take a step back, removing my sword from his, and raise my free hand. Sure enough, I feel this new energy surge through my arm and into my palm. Stone blocks erupt from the ground in front of me three blocks high. 

"What!?"

Before he can react further, I punch my hand out and the wall slams against his whole body and sends him flying backward. I swiftly turn towards Herobrine's fight now as pain flares in my side. I see the red first on his hip then Steve advancing while Herobrine is stumbling to regain his footing. I shift my footing and lift my sword. Stone erupts from the ground, and I jab my sword toward Steve. The line of stone rushes forward and crashes into the man. Hero snaps his head towards my position, and I can't help but smirk.

'Did you know we could do that?'

'Honestly? No, but it was risk it or everyone dies.'

He glares, but ends up nodding his head. I look around again during the moment we have. Andrew and Justin are moving in, retreating from the endless wave of hostile mobs that were converging on us. Reginald is helping Herobrine move closer to me, and I see Joseph by Alexa's side. His eyes lift to meet mine, and I can see his hurt, anger, and fear. My gaze narrows. I hear an explosion and look to see Notch finally clearing the debris off himself. His face is full of rage. I have to get everyone out of here and somewhere safer. Our base would be the best option, but something tells me it won't hide us anymore.

'You know where we need to go.'

I growl, but he was right. It wasn't the 'safest', but it was the one place we learned Notch has little control over. I only give a small nod, not letting my eyes of Notch. He can teleport, so I need to be ready. I catch a glint of red trail down the side of his head. I feel my lips curl in a smirk.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?"

I need to keep his attention on me. Herobrine was quickly speaking with Reginald, who nods before disappearing beyond my peripheral vision. Hero looks at me, and I shift my eyes for a moment. He nods. I grunt and look at Notch again.

He steps forward, sword in his grasp. He flips it around then gets into a fighting stance. "I've been going easy on you." He suddenly vanishes in a puff of white pixels, and I turn on my heel instantly and raise my sword. His blade connects with mine as he appears.

"I won't make that mistake again."

I growl as he pushes before jumping back, causing me to stumble forward. I roll against the ground instead, feeling Notch's sword graze my back and pull my hood off. I stand and turn, blocking attack after attack. Sword high, low, left, right, duck, jump.

A fist to my face.

I reel backward, shocked at the change. He was never one to initiate hand-to-hand, but I guess this is what he meant by 'going easy'. I drop to my knees in time to dodge another attack. I kick out my leg, but he easily jumps over it and attacks again. I roll as his weapon pierces the ground I was just over. He uses his blade like a pole and spins on it, landing a kick to my gut and sending me flying. My back hits someone, and I feel their heartbeat on my spine. Gentle hands help me stand, and I don't have to look to know who it is.

'Are they there?'

'All but us.'

I nod, locking eyes with Notch. I wipe a trail of blood from my lips and huff. "Let's go." I feel his hand on my shoulder. I have no idea if this will truly work, but we need a break and time to come up with another plan. I can't risk a fruitless battle right now. Notch might be able to respawn and we can't.

Notch nears us, but I already feel Herobrine teleporting. I close my eyes, feeling fatigue set in. When I open them again, it's from the sudden cold air hitting my face. End stone hits my feet and I sigh. Half of me feels relief at the coolness around us. I turn and see everyone was here. Joseph is holding Alexa carefully, but her eyes are open. She looks at me for a moment and lifts a hand. Mobius is next to them, hand over Alexa and a familiar mist pouring from it. 

"She'll be alright."

I nod, trying to hide the pain I was currently in. Mobius has to be exhausted from healing everyone, I can't risk him overheating and crashing on us right now. I can push through this for now. Andrew and his crew are sitting a few blocks away, resting against a hill of endstone. Everyone is alive.

"We can't stay here for too long. We need to keep moving as soon as we are able to."

"How right you are, Aria."

My blood runs cold. Before I can turn, Herobrine's foot slams into my side just as Notch crashes against him. I plow into the endstone. I'm barely able to dig my sword into the ground to flip myself over. This wasn't supposed to happen! How did he follow us so fast? Has he really been playing with us this whole time just to wait until everyone else arrives? Was this all truly just a game to him, with the outcome already decided?

Hero is struggling against Notch. Because of our bond, if one is weak, both are, and I am in no shape to keep a fight going long enough for everyone to escape. I growl and push myself up. I don't care about that. I don't care that I will die here. Just like all the other times I have fought with my life on the line. If I die here, then that's it. But I will never roll over and let the enemy win.

Never.

I quickly teleport next to Herobrine in time to block Notch's attack. I lift my hand and push it forward, making the endstone rise and shove Notch a few blocks away. I offer my hand to Hero, never letting my eyes leave Notch as the endstone falls. He glares, obviously unhappy I have figured out this little trick. Herobrine takes my hand and stands.

"I had him on the ropes."

"I know you did."

My gaze flicks to the others. Reginald was trying his best to move them all at once, but the strain was evident. Without being able to transform into a full enderman, it is difficult to use their abilities. Unfortunately, Notch notices this glance and turns to face the others. 

"Let's lose the distractions, shall we?"

My eyes widen as his sword begins glowing. It's a bright crimson red, and I know what he's about to do. I can hear Herobrine shouting a warning, but it will be too late. Reginald has his back to us. The others aren't paying attention. I'm behind Reginald in an instant, slamming my sword into the endstone. With what little strength I have left, I raise a shield and use one hand to lift a wall of endstone just as Notch twirls on his foot and releases a massive wave of blood-red energy. 

It obliterates both defenses as if they are toothpicks. I feel the wave slam against my gut and I am sent flying over my friends. I can hear Reginald's pained scream as well, but my hearing is suddenly filled with the cracking of stone as my body plows a ravine on the island. I struggle to breathe, agony filling every part of my body. Immense pain floods me, and I can barely move, but I have to try. I can't let anyone else get hurt. We have to get them to safety.

I reach my hand up to pull myself from the rubble, but it suddenly grows cold as a blade pierces my skin and pins my left arm to the ground. The scream I release shakes the End. I look up to see Notch above me holding the sword. I try to move, but the amount of sheer pain in my body makes it impossible. Notch kneels down, pressing a knee into my chest. I'm stuck. I can hear Herobrine, but there's pain in his voice. He must have fought Notch while I was hit and now can't save me.

No one can.

'It's over...'

"Now, it's time to get back what's mine and make sure you can't interfere anymore."

His hand reaches down near my face, and terror fills me as he nears my right eye.

My ender eye.

"No... please..."

He actually hesitates.

But only for a moment.

"If there was another way, but there isn't. I can't just make another command block, this world gave it to me when I arrived."

I feel his hand on my face just before the pain floods my system as he begins pulling the eye of ender from my head. If my scream before shook the End, this one was rocking the entire world. No words can explain the agony I was feeling. I could sense the ender half of me retreating to the eye as it is removed along with the command block within me. It feels like a fire is forming under my skin and melting each nerve one by one.

Then suddenly, it's gone.

Silence greets me as the pain vanishes, but I'm not dead. I can see Notch standing up above me now, a command block and eye of ender in his hand. Everything is numb, and my ears are ringing. My left arm is still pinned, but my right hand is free. I open my hand, longing to feel the reassuring power of my sword despite knowing it's drained of all power.

My hand tingles.

At least I can injure him enough.

I recall my blade, and I can see it fly through the air. Just as it nears, Notch puts the command block and eye away. He snaps his hand out and catchs my sword by its hilt. My eyes widen. My hearing returns just in time to hear him speak.

"None of this ever had to happen."

My blade is suddenly in my chest. I can see it piercing my heart, but the numbness from before is keeping me from feeling the pain. The sensation is there. I can feel the cool metal against my burning flesh. My heart is struggling to beat as it is cut clean in half. I look up in time to see Herobrine crash against Notch. He is back above me in a moment, yanking the blades from my body, but now I don't feel anything. I can't feel his arms as they slide beneath me or the warm from his chest against my head as he cradles me. My eyes can barely stay open, but I can see his face. Heartache, pain, fear, guilt and despair cover his face. 

Water hits my face. I can feel the cool liquid as it drops. 

He's crying.

I will my arm to move, and I find relief as my hand presses gently against the side of his face.

"No, no! Hold on, Aria. Please! Just, just-"

"Keep them safe... Hero."

I can barely hear myself speak those words, but I see his gaze widen. He probably didn't think I could speak. Neither did I, if I'm honest, but those few words took every last bit of energy I have. I find myself looking into the dark night sky of the End as my arm drops. I've tasted death before, but this one was different. It felt more prominent, more real.

'I don't think I'm coming back this time...'

My eyes shut and I lose all sensation of anything.