[A/N: THIS IS NOT THE FINAL CHAPTER... but it is the 2nd to last! Thank you everyone who has been reading *ahem* Redfox *cough*. It's been a fun ride, but after this, I'll be taking a break before starting book three! 

Wait, book three?

You heard it right!

There will be a third and final book, but after I finish this one, I will be working on getting the first book drawn for the comic it was originally going to be. Also, this chapter is by far going to be one of the longest and it has a scene I may or may not draw soon because it's been in my mind since the end of the first book. So, all my readers, and especially a certain red fox :D , strap in! This will be one heck of a chapter]

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[Alexa POV]

As we enter the End, I notice that the platform is, indeed, destroyed as Reginald mentioned. Thankfully, Mobius was able to set up a new spawn point and get us to teleport elsewhere if needed. "Alright. Let's bring them through." I turn to Peter, and he nods. He brings out an Eye of Ender, but it's distorted a bit. It's glowing with a black hue, and when he throws it on the ground it opens a massive End Portal. Out marches an army of pillagers and ravages, more numerous than the last time. I raise an eyebrow at him, and Peter shrugs. "Had a lot of time on my hands since our last meeting."

"Fair enough."

I carefully walk around, waving to a few endermen I recognize from last time. One warbles at me, and I move closer to him. He is wearing a tuxedo with a purple bowtie. He extends a hand and offers the final part of our plan.

The Dragon Egg.

I turn my gaze upward and smile softly. "Thank you, Bart." He only warbles in confusion, and I shake my head. "I'm starting to understand a bit, but not much." He nods and turns away. I don't hesitate to race back to our group just as I hear a teleport succeed. Once I slow to a stop, I see Joseph glide in on an elytra and land easily.

"Show off."

He only smirks and pulls out an ender chest, placing it down in front of him. "Herobrine's stash has everything we need to make the crystals and create a few lingering potions." I only nod as Peter quickly sets up brewing stands and Joseph joins him quickly. Now, we were waiting for Mobius, Reginald, and Aria. However, I'm beginning to feel as if something is wrong. If it had all worked out, they should be arriving by now.

She better be alright.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[Reginald's POV]

I couldn't stand to see Aria hurt like this once more. She is always throwing herself into danger in order to save others, and at times I can understand. Other times...

I wish she would trust us more.

Right now, Mobius and I were sitting on either side of the bed Aria was now laying on. Claire had come in earlier and helped bandage Aria up, then she figured out how to hook up an IV-like needle and tube in order to pump regen potions directly into Aria constantly.

Her healing abilities were almost non-existent, and without the potions, her health bar was constantly depleting.

I can only look away right now in mild irritation, but also concern. I could feel her pain, and her mind was unbearably silent. After being so used to her speaking through the telepathy all endermen share, her silence was deafening. Mobius was not much of a talker either. I could tell he was still hard at work trying to find out what the problem is with her code and why she wasn't healing-

Her hand twitches.

I turn back towards her, watching carefully. Perhaps it was simply my imagina-

Her hand moves again.

"Mobius."

The avali turns to me, and just as he does, Aria's eyes snap wide open. Both were burning a bright purple and she held an expression that isn't normally on her face.

Fear.

"Aria?"

She doesn't move, but she does respond.

"Get to the End."

Mobius starts to speak. "No, we aren't leaving you be-"

"If you don't go now... They will all die."

I could tell she wanted to yell it, but the pain she was in was too much. I can feel her gaze on me, then it transfers to Mobius. "Please..." She reaches out to Mobius, her hand landing on his. I watch his eyes widen, and he looks at me. I can only nod my head. "She's right. Claire will take care of her here, but we have the last of the supplies for the plan." Mobius looks back to Aria, and he only huffs. "You're right. I just..." He doesn't have to say it, because I am finally realizing that we are thinking the exact same thing.

"You can't risk losing her again either... can you?"

Mobius' head snaps towards me so fast that I swear I can hear a gear pop somewhere in his neck. Aria's eyes simply close, and her breathing evens out again. Her mind goes silent, but I can only keep my gaze on Mobius. His gaze turns back to Aria, and he slowly nods.

"I... I guess you're right."

With a sigh, I stand.

"Then we have a battle to win. For her."

Mobius turns to me, then nods. He carefully stands as well and moves towards me. "Let's just hope Herobrine holds up his end of the deal and doesn't get himself killed." I let out a grunt like warble, then place my hand on his shoulder and teleport to the End. We arrive next to Peter and his pillagers along with Alexa and Joseph. Mobius moves closer to them and Alexa is the first to notice us and rush over. "Mobius! Where's..." She stops dead in her tracks when she realizes I'm the only other one with him.

"Where's Aria?"

I have lived in the End nearly my entire Minecraft life, and I have never heard it grow so quiet.

Mobius looks away, and I only turn to accompany my other companions. I couldn't bear the look on their faces once they hear the news of her injury. Instead, I busy myself up with preparing for the return-

CRACK!

My blood runs cold, and I turn towards the skyline. Cracking was beginning to form, and we know all what from. I spin on my heel, warbling in urgency. "HURRY! We don't have much time left!"

Everyone speeds up the process while I pull out from my inventory four End Crystals. I give one to each Enderman near me, one with green eyes named Samuel, one sporting a suit and tie named Bart, another blue-eyed one with scars on his face named Rael, and lastly Easton the yellow-eyed enderman with orange scars on his shoulders. Once they hold the crystals, their faces turn grim. "You all know the plan. Get ready." Each nod, and we all teleport to the Bedrock End Portal. Carefully, we position ourselves in the needed spots.

Now we had to wait for Herobrine. He had to place the egg himself in order for him to have control over the dragon when it respawns.

The crackling echoes again, and I barely duck as a cyan figure barrels at me from seemingly nowhere. As I stand back up, I shout as pain radiates from my side. In instinct, I teleport away from the portal and back to where the rest of the group was watching. I stand and hold my side carefully. When I turn my gaze, I am not shocked to see that the cyan figure was Herobrine, but I am shocked to see the state he was in. I knew he would be corporeal if everything succeeded, but he was beaten nearly to the end of his life. He had crashed against Alexa and Joseph, the latter holding him gently.

A massive gash is across his chest, his face is riddled with scratches, and one leg is bleeding profusely from what appears to be an impalement. And one arm was almost completely missing from the elbow down.

And somehow, he was still breathing.

Dark cackling echoes through the air, and I turn with a growl on my face. Entity steps out of the break in the code, a maniacal grin on his face. "I know the saying is not to play with your prey, but..." He chuckles one last time to himself. "I couldn't resist." I hear Herobrine growl, but it quickly cuts into a painful cough. I growl once more and step between him and the others. There isn't much I can do, especially if he attempts to take control once again, but I cannot stand by idly while he mocks us.

His glowing red eyes pierce my own. Entity's smirk only widens, and I withhold a shiver. I could tell he was feigning not being tired, as his power was not as overwhelming as it was the first time around. His smirk slightly falters, then fails as a growl escapes him. "You really think you can take me on in a one-on-one, human?" I return the growl without a verbal answer.

I may not be able to take him on, but I can buy the other's time.

Besides, I can respawn. The others cannot.

Swiftly, I make the first move. I am behind him with my leg swinging towards his head. To my surprise, it connects and he skids to the side. His scythe slams into the endstone, slowing him to a stop. Despite his power being partially drained, he is still fast and is before me within seconds. His scythe skims off a few pixels from the top of my head as I duck, but I am unable to block the sword slash at my gush.

The pain was unbearable. An iron sword, even enchanted, shouldn't hurt this bad.

"Don't let it touch you again..."

My eyes widen, and I turn to spot Herobrine holding one eye barely cracked. I could feel his gaze on my wound, then it raises to meet my eyes. I gaze down and feel my cold blood freeze.

The pixels were disappearing.

"His sword... will kill you. Delete your file." His eye shuts, and I suddenly realize why he wasn't regenerating as fast as normal. When I turn back to Entity, his grin was wide and eyes flaming with malice and insanity.

"Ah, so he told you?"

He twirls the sword in his hand, flipping it around and watching it in awe. "A gift from my creator, in order to finish off the glitch that got away..." His eyes lock with mine again. "And anything else that stands in my way."

He rushes once more, and I duck again. His scythe sails over my head. I roll to the side, avoiding his fish and a slash from the sword. My stomach was starting to throb in pain. The agony that was building was near unbearable. I can barely dodge his attacks anymore, and teleporting was starting to make it worse. After narrowly escaping his blade once again, I try to hold my gut gently, but my arm seems to hit nothing.

I lower my gaze and find that nearly all of my mid-section had vanished. Black pixels were continuing to fall from me, and my vision blurs. A groan escapes me as I feel my legs shake before they give out completely. My hands barely keep my face from crashing against the end stone.

'What is that weapon? Why does he only have it now? How does he have it now?!'

I fear my questions will never be answered in time as my eyes grow heavy. This pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my entire life, real and Minecraft combined. My whole body, or what's left of it, felt like it was on fire. Carefully, I lift my gaze once again and see Entity 303 facing me. I could barely make out his smirk glowing in the abyss that was his face. I try to turn my gaze to the others and make sure they are okay, but my arms collapse beneath me. My head hits the endstone, and everything fades.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[Aria's POV]

The silence was deafening. After having Herobrine in my mind for what seemed like three days, not having him even existing there anymore was... resounding. Echoing. Roaring.

Terrifying.

However, the fact that once again I wasn't dead only made this even more painful. My eyes may be closed, but I was aware enough to feel the numbing pain from my chest and the attempts being made to heal it. Whatever that sword was he used seems to be slowing my healing rate. It felt different, like it was tearing me apart, but the potions and whatever Mobius did to me seem to be battling it.

Footsteps break the silence.

"I know you're awake, Aria."

It was Claire's voice.

I keep my eyes shut, mostly because I don't have the energy to open them, especially after feeling my enderhalf retract in pain. Reginald must have taken a hit. I try to give her some form of acknowledgment, but a warm hand rests on my arm. "You don't need to speak or move. I just... wanted to ask you something." Her tone is low, and concerning. I force one eye to crack open so I could see her. She was standing on my right by the nightstand, changing out the potion bottle that was connected to the makeshift IV drip Mobius helped create. Her face was sorrowful, and her eyes heavy.

"Do you really think this plan will work?"

I can't widen my eye, but the shock from her question seems to radiate from me. Her head turns, and her gaze meets my own. I can tell immediately that she was trying to hide something, but she lets out a sigh.

"I... I'm human as well, although I didn't know that until recently. It was sudden, like all my memories returned at once. I don't know what triggered it, if anything at all, or if I just suppressed them myself after..." She turns away as tears fall down her face.

She never finishes her sentence, but she stands and disappears from my field of view. I figure she simply doesn't want to cry in front of someone who could potentially be dying. Just as I'm about to close my eye, she reappears, a bottle in her hands. The liquid within it looks like she had scooped up the end portal. It was dark with blue star-like specs floating within it. A soft glow surrounded it.

"I... I know you would do anything for your friends, your family, as I would mine." She steps closer, allowing me to see her completely now. She was wearing glowing emerald armor, which I could only assume was the lucky armor from the lucky block mod. Her eyes held a new fire in them, but also one of doubt.

"The potion I have you attached to will keep you alive, for now. However, this is a prototype strength and stamina booster I created. It... It could kill you, or it could give you the boost you need to recover, and maybe some extra."

Ah, I now know why there's doubt.

She's thinking I've given in, given up.

She wasn't completely wrong. I am tired, worn out. I've been hurt more than I ever thought I would, experienced death more times than I would ever have liked. She's worried I'll say no and accept my fate.

She looks away for a moment, and I fear I've taken too long and she's going to leave. I could barely speak, barely move, but my hand seems to exert the last bit of energy I have to reach out to her and grab her arm.

Her head snaps towards my hand, and I guess I still have some strength in me because she hisses in pain as I squeeze. I couldn't open my eye enough, but I try to flash it, do something to tell her to do it. If it kills me, then I'm just back where I was already heading. There's no other option. If Reginald is down as I fear, then that means the plan is failing. I may be of no help, but I won't leave them alone to fight it if there is another chance I can try.

Thankfully, she gives me a small, soft smile. "I figured as much. This," she pauses while reaching over to the IV to swap out bottles. "This won't be pleasant." 'Could it be worse than what's currently happening to me?'

As the liquid flows through my arm, I realize that it is, indeed, not pleasant. It was a burning sensation through my entire body, but I could feel it reaching my wound swiftly. That's when the real pain hits. A blood-curdling scream erupts from my mouth, and I can barely keep myself conscious. I can't tell if it was killing me or healing me, but the pain was only growing stronger. I feel Claire try to remove the bottle, but I yell.

"NO!"

She stops, and I can barely see her watch me with wide eyes.

"I-I can do this!"

She reluctantly backs away, watching me, and I can only hope that my words ring true.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[Alexa's POV]

To see Herobrine in such a broken state had me shaken. He was barely able to keep his eyes open, and the glow in them was almost gone. His whole body was littered with wounds, some major. Not to mention his missing arm. His blood was soaking my shirt, and I couldn't do anything to move him off me without furthering his injuries. Joseph was in front of us, rifle ready after Reginald bit the dirt. That weapon was dangerous. It deletes code from whatever it seems to touch!

"It's... my fault."

I gaze down as Herobrine barely stutters out the words. I could tell his gaze was on me now that his eyes were dull. He actually held irises within those glowing white blocks. I lock eyes with him, and he shifts in pain.

"The sword... it was created... because of me."

I suddenly realize how dire this situation is. If any of us are hit with that sword, we could be gone, not just from this world, but from any world. It was instant death. Deletion. No chance of being tossed in the end portal to wake up at home again.

The perfect weapon against Herobrine.

Permanent death.

The sorrow that hits me for this man shocks me. I was now seeing firsthand the change nearly everyone had told me about, and I couldn't believe it. However, I don't have much time to think about it as Entity's cold maniacal laugh echoes through the dark landscape. I raise my eyes to find him slowly turning to face us after watching Reginald crumble to the ground. Said enderman was slowly deteriorating. If he doesn't get a regen potion soon...

"Aria..."

It suddenly hits me like a brick wall. When I look back down to Herobrine, his eyes flick away. My heart drops. If she was hit with that sword bad enough to not be able to join us, then-

"Claire has her, Alexa. She's-She'll live." Mobius says, eyeing me from the side. He was standing next to me now, fully rigged up in the nano-tech suit. It seems like he knew what I was thinking, but I couldn't shake the fact that he wasn't sounding so sure of himself. She may be living long enough for now, but if we don't win this battle...

For the first time in a long time, fear sinks in. None of us are strong enough to defeat him, even if we fought together. He's stronger than Herobrine, and Herobrine killed all of us except Joseph. Even then, nothing seems to keep him down long enough except Aria's sword or Herobrine's power. Combined, they could beat him, but only barely.

"We lost..."

The words slipped out before I could catch myself.

Herobrine stiffens in my arms, then hisses in pain from the movement. I hear a grunt from behind, then Peter appears on my left. Justin steps up next to him, both with grim looks on their faces.

"Then we go down fighting." Peter growls out the words, summoning vexes and bringing out a glowing diamond axe. Justin slams the ground in anger, and more iron golems appear behind him. Ravagers and pillagers line up behind us, each holding the same grim expression, bows ready with enchanted tips. Each had on armor that was enchanted as well.

"Why do you keep trying when you all already know that you have lost?" Entity chuckles the question out, swinging the scythe around. The sword itself floats next to him now, a red enchantment glinting from the blade and a chain forming on it and attaching itself to Entity's left hand. His eyes were slightly glowing now, and I could tell he was stronger than before. I still couldn't move with Herobrine in no shape to move, but I don't know if I could anyways. The thought we would die in the end no matter what was still haunting me.

'How does Aria do it?'

She always throws herself headfirst into these types of situations with no fear, or at least she never shows it. Now, I'm back in the situation where she's down for the count and I'm stuck here without her. The last time this happened, everyone was killed. How could I do this?

I lift my eyes to Joseph, and it's as if he knows I'm looking at him. His head turns to look at me, and he only gives a single nod. With wide eyes, I can only nod back. When he turns away, I felt mild relief. Joseph could lead this group of misfits better than I could. The ending may be the same no matter what, but he could instill hope better than I could right now.

Entity laughs, pointing his scythe towards us.

"A fruitless battle. Give me what I want, and I'll let you go free."

Herobrine stiffens again, his fear radiating against my own. I place a hand on his chest, and he turns his gaze up to me. I only give a small smile before lifting my eyes. Tears fall, and I surprise myself at the growl that escapes.

"Never. You're lying to us. To trust you is more fruitless than this battle." Joseph lifts his gun, slamming a round into the chamber. Peter steps forward as well, raising his hands. They smoke as he prepares attacks, and the ravages stomp in anger.

Entity's smile falters.

Herobrine shifts.

And the smile that rises to my face brings tears of joy.

Entity lowers his scythe slightly in anger and confusion. "What has you all so excited?" I try my best to keep myself from looking behind him, but thankfully she speaks before I give it away.

"They know you made one very grave mistake."

Entity's eyes widen, and his stance stiffens in sudden fear. He turns slowly, and he steps back at the sight of a black-clad avatar wielding a glowing sword. Her eyes are set and smoke was emitting from her entire being. Herobrine's hand on mine shifts my gaze.

"The... egg!"

My eyes widen when I realize where she's at. The endermen suddenly appear in place behind her, and I pull the egg from my inventory. Carefully, I raise my right arm, then shout. "ARIA!"

Her eyes turn to meet mine just as I release the egg. It soars through the air as Entity turns, and he hurls the scythe towards the egg. As it seems to hit it, the egg teleports away as it usually does. Entity's eyes widen in shock, apparently not knowing about the egg's ability to not be hit or broken physically. When it reappears, it's a block from Aria's hand. She catches it with ease. Entity turns to her, fear starting to pool off of him. The enderman place the crystals in the necessary areas surrounding the portal.

Aria eyes the egg, then glares daggers at Entity.

"You're mistake was not finishing me off when you had the chance."

With that, she places down the egg behind her in the center part of the portal. The enderman teleport away as the crystals emit beams of light into the sky. Aria suddenly doubles over in what looks like pain. She's shaking, and I feel worry start to bubble up inside of me. Before I can move, Entity appears behind her and starts to slice down, but she suddenly explodes outward with power that I have never seen before. A cry of rage leaves her as the roar of the Enderdragon echoes through the landscape. As the power dies down and the light fades, I spot Aria turn around. Both eyes were glowing a purple pink. She stands tall, eyes locked on us. A smile makes its way onto her face.

But it was a sorrowful one.

However, before I can question it, Entity moves from the spot where he landed after the blast threw him back. Aria catches the movement and her gaze hardens. Entity stands, holding his scythe in both hands and the other sword beside him, glinting with the red enchantment. "This changes nothing!" He shouts. Aria says nothing.

Then the enderdragon herself crashes against the ground behind Aria where the portal had once been. She lifts her head slowly, smoke emitting from her mouth. In rage, she roars over Aria's head before lowering it next to Aria. Said woman places a hand on the side of the reptile's head.

"This changes everything."