[Alexa POV]

"Alright, I've gathered about a stack of iron and double the amount in gold, a few diamonds and lapis, redstone, and a lot of experience berry bushes. What did you find?" Joseph walks over, locking his pickaxe on his back. I tossed the iron into a furnace I just placed, and he added some coal. "A few stacks of coal, some copper, a few tin and aluminum, along with more obsidian as well. Oh, and a small mineshaft. Only had one chest, but it held a few enderpearls." I nod, then pull a scanner-like item from my inventory. "Check your code, make sure nothing slipped through while mining." Joseph takes it grimly and starts sweeping over his whole body. It's an old design idea Mobius came up with about a year ago. After playing with the coding and creating a slight mod of his own, Mobius was able to implement it into the game to make sure nothing messes with our codes and allows something - or someone - to sneak their way into our safe zone.

"All clear." I let out a sigh and continue working on smelting. Once everything was finished, we need to gather as much as we can and head back to Aria and Herobrine. There wasn't much we could do right now, but if we get enough supplies before Mobius logs in, perhaps we can have what we need so he can do his computer science... stuff. He was the best coder of us all. I couldn't understand a word of it.

Besides, I'm better with weapons.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead and huff. Even after doing this for years, I'm still worn out from swinging my pickaxe for hours on end. Joseph leans against the wall, releasing his own sigh. "You'd think we'd be used to this by now." I laugh at his remark. "I was thinking the same thing."

Finally, everything finishes, and we quickly destroy the evidence of us ever being there. It was outside of our normal mine, so the coding wasn't protected. We didn't want to risk 'you know who' finding our items and being able to trace them back to us. We didn't even know if that was possible, but it's best to assume anything is traceable. Joseph leads the way out of our little hole and through a few caves until he stops.

"Alright, place it here."

Putting the obsidian in my hotbar, I quickly build a nether portal. Joseph mines a few blocks into the wall and places a black-speckled block. "Alright, don't forget to place yours when you get through. I'll give you 2 minutes. That should be how long it takes me to destroy the portal." Joseph pulls out his diamond pickaxe as he finishes, and I nod. Once the portal is complete, I light it up and quickly jump through-

Right into the open hand of Notch himself. 

I gag as his grip on my throat tightens. His face shows no emotion, but he studies my avatar carefully. "You're different, but you smell like his code." His eyes glow slightly, and I know he's scanning my code. I couldn't take him alone, and I only had about a minute before Joseph would try to teleport through. I have to place the other side down!

Swiftly, I swing myself around and land a solid kick to Notch's face, forcing him to release me. As I land, I toss a bundle of TNT straight at Notch. He tries to grab it, but it explodes on contact. As dust kicks up from the soul sand around us, I quickly turn to place the teleport block-

A hand grabs mine and tries to steal the black-speckled block from my hand. "No!" I shout. Quickly, I grab the arm and flip over it again, landing two kicks to his face and twisting my arm free. I feel my spine shiver, and I swiftly drop into a roll. I feel the edge of a blade graze my back and I launch up the moment my feet hit the ground again, narrowly avoiding the blade returning to Notch. 

10 seconds...

I have to place it now or risk losing Joseph to an unknown coordinate. I slam the block down behind me and turn to face Notch.

Who was nowhere in sight. 

Fear floods me, and I quickly turn back around to face the block I just placed. I figured Notch is hiding to try and kill Joseph the minute he teleports in. I have to warn him, grab him out of the way-

Pain floods my gut as the blocks form before me. I see Joseph's eyes form, and the anguish in them matches my pain. I can feel the blade retract from my back just as Joseph catches me. 

"Alexa! Hold on, I've got you. Hold on!"

The world is blurry, but I can hear the gunshots ringing out. Something screams in pain as I feel arms slip beneath me and hoist me up. We're running now, I think? I can't tell. The pain is making my head spin. It's been a while since I've felt this sensation, but I know it well.

A screech echoes.

A ghast firing a fireball.

I feel the explosion as it hits the netherrack beside us, and it sends us both flying. We're still falling, and I see the cliff we were just launched from. Neither of us had any more fire resistance potions, and we were falling straight into the lake of lava below. Anger fills me at first, then sorrow. How could we lose so quickly? Did we really get so relaxed that we forgot who we were up against?

Purple. I see purple in my peripherals. 

Thin arms wrap around me. I feel another body crash against my own, and Joseph's grunt hits my ears.

Until the cry of an enderman in pain shatters my hearing.

Suddenly, we're back in the mine, tumbling across the floor. I stop face up, gasping for air. The sudden chill shakes me to my core, causing the pain to flare in my gut again. I wasn't healing properly. I hear a voice shout my name, then a face floods my vision. A glass bottle is pushed to my lips, and I eagerly drink the red liquid. However, exhaustion hits first, and I feel my eyes flutter shut.

I knew I wouldn't die now, but I couldn't cling to consciousness anymore.