SPOILERS for episode 20 of Minecraft HC 5!!!

“Haw, look at him! He want’s to be a pig!”, Austin's cheerful, bubbly voice rang out through the harsh night. “I can’t kill this happy little family…” The swordsman turned away from a sheep with pink wool and a pig, laughing. They’d found that sheep just a few minutes ago, he and his best friend, Jeff.

“I’ll kill all the sheep, though,” he said, after a thought. He proceeded to slaughter a flock of white sheep, leaving the pink one to watch him steadily, as Jeff echoed his friend's last statement in amusement. Austin cut through their soft wool with his heavily enchanted diamond sword, patches of red slowly pooling and becoming absorbed into the pure, white fluffyness thereof. Jeff watched him out of the corner of his eye, as he grilled some of the meat they’d collected earlier, and smiled.

“The fake pig stays- the fake pig and all his other piggy friends,” Austin added, “will live.” The moon rose steadily over the small, makeshift camp they had set up, the unearthly, ghostly light reflecting in the leaves of the trees. They were on a tiny island, where they’d been hunting and killing endermen all day. But now was a time to rest, hunt some nearby wildlife, and cook it. The light of the furnace made the scene a little more homelike, and both adventurers were content. As they chatted, and made plans with light hearts, they saw another one of those queer, pink sheep.

“There’s two of ‘em!”, Austin exclaimed.

“Dude, yeah,” Jeff cooed, “There’s just- just two.” The men stared in wonder at the odd creatures, their wool the color of strawberry ice cream, their peering eyes staring at them with interest.

“It looks like something from a creepy kid’s show,” Austin remarked. “It just looks like somebody’s in there, just wearing a costume. Cuz, their faces are still white…” He stared one of them straight in the eyes. There was something about that creature. Something behind those black, glassy lenses. It scared him, for he couldn’t exactly place what it was. It was some sort of foreboding, some dark secret. He didn't like it. Austin blinked, and turned sharply to a small tree near the camp.

“They’re so creepy, actually… I don’t wanna be near them anymore..”, he mumbled. “I’m getting shivers.. Something about that is really freaking me out..” He shuddered, his enchanted diamond chestplate sagging with the movement of his shoulders.

“Here, put your pork chops in here,” Jeff changed the subject in attempt to lighten the suddenly dampened spirits of his friend, “Let’s-let’s cook.. I need a few foods so I don’t die..” Even Jeff seemed a bit frightened of the swine-cosplayer-sheep, as he nibbled on a steak. They seemed to stare at the travellers, ominously.

Watching.

Waiting.

Learning.

These ideas scared Austin even more, and he decided something had to be done.

“These fake pigs are bad omens,” he stated. “Let’s get outta here.” The nervousness was creeping up his spine, at the thought of the pink sheep.

“Okay, we’ll get outta here,” Jeff assured him. “I need to- I need to heal first, though…” At this, he took another bite out of the steak. This worried Austin even more. Jeff hardly ever stuttered like this- it was proof that he wasn't going completely crazy. He sighed, and turned to get some food out of the furnace. Suddenly, he heard a familiar- all too familiar- ‘...ssssss..’ behind him. His heart dropped to his stomach like an atomic bomb. Jeff’s eyes grew wide.

“WATCH OUT!!!”, he screamed, just as an explosion blasted out, right behind Austin. Suddenly, he was flying, soaring through the air, a piercing cry escaping his dry lips and echoing out into the distance. An excruciating pain cut through him- it felt as if he were being torn apart! His heart pounded like a drum on steroids, adrenaline pumping through his system even as it was crushed by the force of the explosion. The ringing in his ears could not quite block out Jeff’s strangled “NOOOOO!!!!”, as his vision faded to black. And then it was over. He felt nothing more. In an instant, his body hit the ground, the life he once cherished splintering into tiny pieces. He was gone. PeanutButterGamer had perished.

Jeff stared in horror at the remains of his friend. Tears began to well up in his big, blue eyes. It had happened so fast.

“You’ve gotta be joking…” he whimpered, his voice cracking into sobs. For a few seconds, he was too shocked to say anything else, as he stared at the awful scene. Austin lay there, on the broken ground, eyes wide open, a corner of his mouth bleeding. His hair was singed, and his face was covered in dirt, and sweat. The flies were already sticking to his irises, eating away at the juices. The rest of his corpse was mutilated beyond recognition, causing Jeff to lose his lunch. Wiping away the vomit that still hung from his lips, he tried to control his emotions, but it was impossible.

“Oh my God…” he muttered. “Am I really… by myself?” The tears rolled freely down his battle scarred cheeks, as he repeated this phrase. He shuddered and crumpled to the ground, sobbing like a child.

“This is not-”, he gulped as the waterworks continued to flow, now falling onto the dirt like raindrops, “This is not how I expected this day to go…” Sighing, he piled stones into the hole the ground that had come as a result of the accident. He didn't want to fall in and lose health.

“I need these,” Jeff mumbled to himself. “Where are all the other eyes.. Er-..” He tried to sort through the items that had fallen out of Austin's pack, looking for the Ender pearls they had been working so hard to collect.

“Well, I could use- I'm like.. I'm scared now,” Jeff sighed. Here he was, talking to himself, like a confused moron. He looked back at Austin- his best friend. He looked so broken, his body shattered and splintered. Jeff couldn't bear to leave him like this… After pondering for a second, the young man slowly knelt down, and closed his deceased friend's soft, grey eyes. It was the least he could do. He sighed, and looked up into the dark sky. He’d never felt so alone in his life. The moon glared down at him, and the trees seemed ten times taller. Jeff scanned the area, as if searching for something lost. He was like a tiny child- a grain of sand on the beaches he now walked alone. Only a few adventures ago he’d had his friends at his side. He still cherished fond memories of Barry, Jared, Dean, Stewart, Ray…. and now Austin. They were all gone. They’d loved him like a brother, protected him, and cared for him. Now he- goofy, confused, crazy Jeff Fabre was alone. It felt strange.

    Finally, he stood up, leaving Austin’s corpse.

“Okay…. Alright. Regroup,” he said, trying to gather his thoughts, “Regroup. I-I gotta get the ender pearls… I’ll take his armor, because it’s better than mine...And his sword.” Carefully, he sorted the rest of the items, and took the sword and chestplate his friend had been wearing.

“Cheez-its…”, he sighed. Suddenly, the emotion took over again, and a few spare tears came with them, as Jeff threw back his head, and cried out toward the heavens:

“Why, Austin!? WHY were you NOT HEALED?!” The memory kept re-playing, over and over again in his mind- the creeper sneaking up from out of the shadows, the explosion….. Austin’s final scream of terror. It all echoed in his mind, like an old VHS that kept rewinding and replaying the moment forever. Suddenly, Jeff was brought back to reality as he saw a dark shadow looming over the camp- an Enderman. It’s purple eyes slowly scanned the area, sparkling in curiousity. A spider appeared, right behind Jeff, and he slashed it to bits with Austin’s sword. Other enemies began to gather, surrounding him.

“There’s so many things here!”, he exclaimed. “This place was a BAD place!” A sudden wave of anger had begun to follow his grief, and Jeff could feel his cheeks burning with the intense emotion. He was mad. It was those stupid enemies that had taken the lives of his friends. It was their fault. As the mobs drew nearer, Jeff began to draw energy from this anger, and he charged at them, with a mighty cry.

“Piggies!,” he cried. “Zombies, get out of here! HOW MANY MORE THINGS ARE THERE GONNA BE?! I need to kill this Enderman!” The rage continued to fuel him, as he sliced, and slashed, and stabbed his many foes until they were all dead except for the tall, looming Enderman. As Jeff healed some minor wounds he’d gotten from the mobs, he noticed the sun was rising. It was the first morning after Austin’s death. Jeff shook this depressing thought away, and checked his food supplies. Good. He had plenty of food. Now, in another dash of the anger that still bubbled inside him, he turned towards the pink sheep, which were still grazing near the camp.

“SCREW YOU, PINK SHEEP!”, he hollered, as he began to stab the creatures. “YOU GUYS WERE A BAD OMEN! As soon as you came in here… As soon as you came into our lives….” His voice began to quiver slightly, but he managed, after regaining his composure, to finish the sentence.

“....My friend died…”, he whimpered, as he stared at the now bloodstained pink wool that still covered the sheep corpses. “I don’t know what to take with me.. I’m so confused!” He looked into the ovens, where the pork chops Austin had placed inside still lay, burnt, and charred. He decided not to take them, and instead turned to face the Enderman.

“Okay…”, he took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. “I have to fight these guys on my own now.. T-This is gonna be….so bad…” He gulped, and drew his sword, only to find the Enderman gone.

“Where’d he go?”, Jeff cocked his head, in bewilderment, as his half-crazed eyes widened in despair. “He was RIGHT THERE! WHERE’D HE GO?!” He spun around, scanning the trees for any tall, dark, shadowy figure. Finding nothing, he began to duck behind trees, calling for the creature.

“Where’d you go, Endy?”, he whined, as if he was looking for a lost cat. “Endy? Endyyy! Where’d he go- Oh, I see him!” The blue eyes locked onto the Enderman, who had teleported to another tree.

“Let’sa go!”, he cried, in a Mario voice, as he strode towards the being. Though the crazed-anger look had left his face, he still came closer to the beast, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

“Oh, that’s a scary noise..”, Jeff shuddered at the sounds coming from it, as he stared into the purple jewels that were the Enderman’s eyes. With a mighty swing, he hit the creature in its long legs, the knees buckling a little. Indigo blood spurted from it, staining Austin’s sword purple. The Enderman hit back, slamming it’s long arms into Jeff’s shoulder.

“Ow!”, the young man cried. It felt like someone had dropped 50 bricks on him. But the pain only fueled his fury, and he stabbed the tall figure until it lay dead. An Ender pearl fell out of its clenched fist, dropping on the ground next to Jeff.

“Yes!”, he cried, just before a creeper sprang up behind him. “AAAH!!” The creeper had startled him, and he ran away, shrieking as the leaf-covered monster chased after him.

“I just can’t explode… like our dear friend, AUSTIN!”, he cried, as he finally turned around and stabbed the creeper in its explosive heart. Jeff sighed with relief, and bandaged the shoulder wound. Finally, a chance to rest was in sight. He pocketed the Ender pearl, and began to sort the items in his pack. He took the pink wool the sheep had left behind, and dropped some stone to make space.

“I just.. I just feel so..”, he muttered. “I just feel so bad!” He looked at the wool in his hand, still stained with crimson blood.

“I’m bringing this back as tribute. For Austin’s GRAVESTONE!”, Jeff was still mad, and he sat down on the charred dirt. He remembered all the video games he and Austin had played, long before they were stuck in this wasteland. Before it all had happened. It was like he was playing a singleplayer game now. A singleplayer game of life.

“So anyways, hey guys!”, Jeff said to no one, as if he were still a letsplayer on youtube, a website that had died with everything else in the fire of the apocalypse. “This is Jeff’s solo LP of Minecraft. I hope you guys, uh, enjoy this. It’s gonna be a good time……. Right?” He let a half-smile show through his beard, and prepared for the lonely time he would face. It was time to kill an Enderdragon.