"I don't remember creating you... You're not a figment of my imagination, are you?"

The Enderman hybrid spoke to the being standing before him, as if expecting an exact response. A soft gasp brushed past from behind his pink lips-more so a pinkish purple on the right side, and his eyes enlarged, purple, magenta, and white shimmering in the false illusion of sunlight. His body quivered, an aching feeling tugging at his chest until it was physically painful, his own heartbeat racing in his eardrums.

  "Not exactly." That voice, a soft tone he cherished mixing with the devilish echo of a deep call. Two voices speaking at once, under one minds control.

His brother's own body was before him, a devilish grin tainting his expression, both eyes wide with killing intent. Or perhaps it was something even more sinister hidden underneath the glowing and clear glaze. His left eye glowed like a glittering star in the night sky, a bright light so blinding up close. His silver pupil considered so much that it nearly did not exist.
Drake's own mismatched orbs teared up, his gaze moving over to the dull cyan of the demons right eye. It shook as if full of fear, tears dripping from beneath the bottom eyelid of the vessel. Armen...
Drake swallowed a hard lump forming in his throat, trying to remain calm throughout this ordeal.

  "Armen..."

The monster controlling the boy's vessel waved his finger jaggedly, tsking and mocking his pray.

  "Guess again, darling. Being in denial isn't good for you."

Drake's fingers coiled into fists, masking his expression of fear with that of seething anger. He bore his teeth in a snarl, trying to ignite a magic flame in his hand and make the demon leave his head, to regain his imaginary dream world, but something did not feel like it should have. Drake looked down at his fist, waiting for it to ignite into flame, but no such thing happened.

  Why isn't this working?

The heartbeat pounding against his ears was joined with the blood chilling, deep cackle. Suddenly, the hybrid found himself unable to move, enveloped in a white, transparent aura. He screamed as he struggled to break free, his slender limbs slightly quivering as he attempted to move them, but he was unable to break free from whatever magic was encasing his body like ice. A sense of urgency and panic was finally beginning to take it's full hold.

Armen's possessed body leg out a repressed laugh, his arm held up and aimed at Drake, a bright aura running down his limb that mimicked the same aura surrounding Drake. "You're not in control of this world anymore, hybrid. Not as long as you and I are connected!"

Drake struggled harder, attempting to get himself to awaken and escape. The land surrounding them shifted and wobbled before everything settled once again. Armenbrine simply laughed, his arms behind his back as he slowly approached the Mage, mocking him once more for even trying to regain control over his unconscious world.
Drake's tightly shut eyes opened up, his breath coming out as a gasp. A shiver ran down his spine as a gentle touch was placed beneath his chin, frail fingers burned yet still soft, grazing his chin and a thumb against his cheek. Drake whimpered in discomfort and disgust, watching as the demon's tongue ran along his teeth and the ends of his lips. Worst of all, the tears accumulating in his dull cyan eye began to increase, running down his cheek with burns and pink flesh beneath the skin exposed, tears running into his open scars.

  "You know, that was a bold move, sealing a part of me into your body in order to save your friend. So touching..."

Drake bit his lip when he felt a cold touch slip beneath his shirt and slowly run up his torso, feeling the vessel's gloved hand caress his stomach and chest. His fingers twitched near constantly as they came to a rest, digging into his skin and bringing the hybrid pain.

Once again, he tried to call out. "A-Armen...you can break free. You can get back control! You just-" Before he could finish, he felt like his brain had exploded within his own skull.

The white aura around him faded as Armenbrine retracted his hands, watching the hybrid collapse onto the ground, curling up in agony as he screamed. As if a blood vessel had popped in his brain, a streak of red ran down from his nostril as the pain became so intense, he felt as if he should have fallen unconscious. Unfortunately, he already was unconscious, wondering if his body out in the real world was also undergoing the same results of the massive headache.
Drake tried to pick himself up, only for the burned boot of his comrades body to be stomped against his back just below the shoulder blades, forcing his body to slam back onto the ground. Even when the world was only a dream, Drake could feel the wind momentarily knocked out of his lungs, struggling to take in another breathe of air.
Armenbrine reached down, grabbing a handful of Drake's hair and yanked on it, forcing the Mage up onto his knees and to look him dead in the eyes. The rage and pain in his eyes was satisfying and brought him joy, but mainly, it was the tears of not physical pain, but of emotional anguish; the pain of not hearing his brother's voice or knowing that he was fighting to take back control.

  "It's cute that you think you could stop me; that you can save precious little Armen." His voice was mocking, only boiling Drake's blood more.

  "A-Ar..." He tried again before coughing up small drops of blood once more. He was not going to give up on his best friend. Not ever.

  "The thing is, Drakey. Armen does not want to be saved. He'd rather rot than be with you!" The demon slowly tilted his head, the smile on his face lowering, leaving his expression emotionless and unnerving. Like a dead man.

Drake snarled with denial. Those tears in the vessel's eye told another story.

  "Don't worry darling. Even when you're all alone, you'll still have me! I'll always be a part of you, and that's a choice you condemned yourself to." He chuckled, the unsettling grin snapping back onto his face. "You've bound yourself to me! And there is no way to break the contact you made long ago."

Drake whimpered, desperately trying to wake up when all else failed. But his efforts were fruitless. What now? What now that he was at this demon's mercy? All he could do was squirm and hope. Drake tried to move back as Armenbrine leaned forward, his head slightly tilting. Drake's hand reached up and tried to pry his grip off of his locks, yet nothing showed satisfying results. He froze, feeling the chapt skin of his lips brush against his own. Not push against it, just quickly and lightly brush against his own lips.

  "You have no one but me. No one cares about you, not even Armen...but I...well, I've grown fond of you to say the least. As much as I hate the fact."

Drake opened his mouth to respond, quickly realizing his mistake. Without warning, he felt as something dry but surprisingly strong was forced into his mouth, taking a few moments for his mind to process what was going on, and he hated what he realized was happening. Despite desperately struggling to get free, his body was once again frozen in place, unable to pull away.
Finally after the forced kiss, Armenbrine pulled away, his cyan eye bloodshot with the right side of his face stained in tears. Drake spat and hissed, trying to ignore the sensation against his lips and all over the inside of his mouth, including his throat. He could not stop himself from gagging.
Armenbrine's lustful, satisfied smiled suddenly dropped, looking over his shoulder before he stood up and turned around, leaving Drake to sit there as pain from earlier continued to disorient him. His eyes grew once more as another presence joined the two in his mind. A presence so familiar yet so foreign. It almost twisted his stomach in a tighter knot that it already was.

  "Leave him alone. You have no business here, Herobrine."

The demon let his smug grin return, laughter slowly rising from his throat, becoming louder by the second before he finally stopped. "Long time no see. I thought you would have faded from existence."

The other entity spoke, his light masculine voice sound similar to Drake's but different in tone. "Well, guess again. You've had your fun, not leave!"

His tongue poked out a bit from between his teeth, as if teasing the mysterious man standing before the two. It was like he knew something that Drake did not. More than one thing. The demon lifted up his hands and shoulders in a shrug, keeping them there with his grin never leaving his face. He stepped back, his form becoming more transparent as the seconds went by.

Before fading away, the devil left one last message. "You can not protect him forever! Once you're weak again, I will be back." With that, he was gone. For now.

Drake sat there in utter disbelief, his eyes looking up at the man that now stood over him, offering the hybrid a hand to help him up. Drake examined the boy's body, shock mixing with confusion and terror. His brunette hair gently cascaded against the back of his neck, dark blue eyes like the gorgeous deep blue ocean. His clothes were just like the ones the Mage wore, a simple blue shirt and dark blue jeans, although significantly cleaner and far less tattered. His skin was deathly pale aside from the visible pink rising in his cheeks. His body was semitransparent, yet still solid enough to believe that he was a true full human if seen from afar.

His voice had a slight echo to it. "Hello, Drake. It's nice to...meet you, I guess." Drake noticed the unsettling hesitation, and more so alarming, the physical resemblance to Herobrine's former vessel.

Drake smacked his hand away and pushed himself back, the panic not yet drained from his system that was once again becoming fully replenished. He was breathing heavily with his heart racing. The boy insisted for him to calm down, but the resemblance to both himself and his enemy, Herobrine, including his sudden appearance in his dream, raised too many red flags.

  "Wh-who are you?" Even if he did receive an answer, he had doubts that he would believe it. And he was right.

  "I'm...your guardian angel per say. I protect you."

The hybrid stood his head, stammering to his feet. Guardian angel? After Armen's possession and apparent death in Iron mere, he had lost hope of the existence of such a thing. Although he had never honestly given it much thought.

  "No...this...isn't possible! If you're some guardian angel then why are you only appearing to me now?!"

The boy pouted as if a bit hurt. His hands slipped into his pockets as he looked down, then off into to the distance at the calm ocean lit in the burning colors of fire from the soothing illusion of a sunset. His smile returned as he let out a small chuckle.

  "You've never needed me before. Even if the fact seems obscure, it is the truth."

Drake felt like the pressure from his headache was once again rising. All of this was a lot to take in. He repeated that thought to his human image, who smirked but looked to the ground with blush cheeks as if he were nervous. The hybrid was still cautious, looking for any energy that the man gave off, only feeling energy mirroring his own, only less lively and no life force.
Something about the boy caught his attention, something that gripped him. It was not just his appearance, their similarities, nor his silky voice. Something else was alluring him, but Drake could pinpoint the exact reason. Perhaps it was his claim that he was a divine being. No. It was something else, and not being to figure out the reason annoyed him, frustrating the usually calm hybrid greatly.

  "Never needed you? I needed you! I needed you when we fought Herobrine at Iron mere! I needed you when I lost Armen!" He was on the brink of tears.

The boy quickly cut in. "No, Drake. You were not the the one who needed a guardian angel...Not then." He sighed, his smile fading as he continued to look to the ground, as if pained by a memory.

Drake looked away as well, knowing exactly what, or precisely who, this being was speaking of. That tight feeling returned to his chest, remorse and guilt clawing at his burning mind. The brunette human, or angel as he referred to himself as, looked up to the hybrid form of himself, knowing his every thought. After all, the two shared the same mind, in a sense.

Drake changed the subject for the time being. "What's your name? Angels have names too, don't they?"

The boy laughed, scratching the back of his neck, his face growing a darker shade of pink. "My name...it's...Collin."

Drake grew wide eyed as he stepped back, full of shock and a rising terror. "Collin? As in...Herobrine? But how-?"

Collin shook his head, suddenly losing his calm demeanor as he snapped, cutting Drake off. "No! He and I are not the same! He took my body! He..." He trailed off, looking to Drake with remorseful eyes before letting out a laugh with his blush worsening further.

  "Just like me yet so different...you've grown so much, become such a different person than who I was, who I expected you to be...your own being...I can not say I'm not proud...prideful."

Out of everything to happen that day, those words through the Mage off the most. "What?!"

After awhile of silence, Drake gave up with waiting for a response. Collin smiled, looking around for a moment before turning back to his humanity, whom was still blissfully unaware of his true nature; of who he truly was in relation to himself. As he looked into Drake's eyes, he still saw tears, and it brought him pain to see Drake in such a state. If he had a heart of his own, it would have ached.

He straightened out his back and approached the hybrid, whom backed away from him with a nervous chuckle, his ears lowered. "Uh..."

Collin stopped only millimeters away from him, making the Enderman hybrid rather uncomfortable but he stayed in his place when he realized he might fall off the mountain if he back away any further, although the edge of the mountain was still a ways away.

Collin continued, his red cheeks easily standing out against the deathly pale of his skin. "I don't want you to remember this. You need to continue growing on your own without me. I will not always be there to protect you."

Drake wanted to say something, but so many thoughts ran through him mind that he did not know what to say first. Why could he not always be there? What did he mean by "a different person than who I was"? How did he become Herobrine's first vessel? One question that ate at his mind, something rhetorical that could not be answered; what was this feeling in his chest? This burning ache about Collin that he could not understand?

  "C-Collin...I-" He could not get much further with his forced words before Collin interrupted.

  "Now, relax. This next part is something I've never done before and I'm not even sure how I know that this will work but...it will work. Although...it's a rather odd method of performing memory manipulation, but it's all I've got."

Drake did not like the sound of that. He gently growled, a pit dropping in his gut from anxiety once again crawling over him. He was not looking forward to having his memories distorted and tampered with, especially by this being that rose so many red flags. Yet as the boy approached just a bit closer, his did not resist.

He walked up to Drake and took his wrists, pulling him down to eye level. "You will save Armen. I know you will." Collin said with a smile, his deep blush growing across his face. "You're are his guardian angel. No matter how much of a failure you feel, you will always protect him, even when it doesn't feel like you did...and that's all you need to remember from this. Take care."

Collin suddenly pulled him down, with Drake feeling that familiar but uncomfortable sensation of something pressing hard against his lips. At least this time his mouth was closed. At first his body was stiff from shock, but eventually everything grew more calm. Slowly, he grew more dazed, unaware of what was going on nor what had taken place in the moments prior. It all became a blur. And all he felt, was peace.
...

Drake's eyes opened slowly, a small pressure in his head and a small groan leaving from behind his chapped lips. He blinked and cleared his vision as he sat up, rubbing the crust away from his eyes. The relaxing sounds of waves crashing against his mountaintop home helped him keep calm, the rays of morning sunlight shining through his doorway and glassless windows. It was peaceful, and oddly, he felt like it was too peaceful.
What happened in his dream last night? He was quick to shrug it off. If he could not remember then it must not have been important, right? Besides, he had more important matters to attend to, such as worrying about getting Grayson up to begin their journey to hatch the dragon egg and save Armen. That thought alone gave him hope and happiness.
He stood up and stretched out his limbs, smiling with a grin brighter and wider than it had been in years. Although, there was an odd pressure against his lips that slowly faded with time...