Noah sat up with a gasp.

Was it all a dream?

He searched for the warmth Hero usually has next to him when they sleep. His sides were empty and cold instead. His hands absently went up to his neck, and his fingers brushed against two puncture marks. He sighed.

He's dead.

It was not a dream, and Hero's alone. He left him alone, with his nightmares and panic attacks and-

"Welcome!"

He was faced with a rather tall woman. She had strange glowing white hair that cascaded down her back in thick waves. Pale freckles dotted her cheeks, and even they seemed to gleam. Her hands were folded neatly in front of her, and she wore a silver silk dress that hugged her frame perfectly. Her feet were hidden in her long dress that draped on the ground. Pearl wings that had pink sheens decorated her pale fingers, and a matching pearl tiara rested on her glowing hair. She opened her eyes to smile warmly down at Noah, and he was shaken by the silver irises. Stars seemed to dot her pale eyes, and mist poured gracefully from them.

He had not noticed that he was staring, jaw hanging. He shook himself out of his stupor, and took his time to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. He was laying in something extremely soft, and he looked down to see himself sitting on clouds. He bent down to squeeze the fluff, and gasped at how soft it was. He looked back up, and found himself in a cloud domain. Buildings rested on the clouds, and he seemed to be on a street. What was truly strange was when people peeked in from their homes. These people had stars dancing around their bodies, and they looked misty. Their eyes were dotted with stars and had a white sheen whenever they looked at Noah. They stared at the woman with respect and awe, and down at Noah with curiosity.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, he looked down at himself. His breath hitched in his chest when he saw his own dark skinned body surrounded by tiny flecks of light. They followed every movement, and his hands went to his chest. He felt nothing, but instead of the chill of death, he felt warm. He looked back up at the woman, who was patiently waiting with a hand outstretched. Reluctantly, he took it and a surge went up his body as his fingers intertwined with hers. He froze, and the woman chuckled.

The woman's voice sounded so heavenly.

"You must be Noah, right?"

He nodded absently, still in awe. A few words made their way from his mouth without him even thinking, "Where am I and why are you so beautiful?"

The woman's chuckles turned into loud and deep laughs. Noah felt himself relax at her laugh, and he listened intently to her reply. "Such a charmer. Well, you are in the land of the resting and fallen, the Aether."

She gestured to everyone and everywhere. The place seemed to glow under her presence. People cheered and waved at Noah eagerly. All negativity leaked from him as he returned the waves shyly.

The woman spoke again, "This is my realm. You have done your part in Minecraftia and here you shall wait for your friends to complete their destinies. In the meanwhile, you can explore and even meet some of your own family members."

He could meet his mother. His father. His family. The family he was taken from. Noah felt himself going emotional. The woman cooed, "Please don't cry, dear. Now, I'll lead you through the basics."

Noah raised his head. She smiled warmly again, "I'm Lady Aetheria, and like I said, this is my realm. There's my big sister, Lady Netheria who operates the Nether. She does not come here often, but when she does she wrecks almost everything. My other sister, Lady Endia, she resides in the End and she's really calm and collected."

Her eyes suddenly glistened in awe. "And there's big sister, the oldest of us all and our creator. Lady Minecraftia. We all work together to make the lives of Minecraftians happy."

The glisten disappeared and was replaced with mischief as she looked smugly at Noah. "We're got quite the plan for you, young Noah."

Before Noah could even speak, he was dragged off the Lady Aetheria, towards his home.

○

Hero had stayed with Noah for a while. He held Noah's cold body to his own, thinking that he could supply enough warmth for the both of them. The sun was high up in the sky, and gave Hero a clear view of Noah's resting face. The puncture marks on his neck were clean and healed from all the vampire spit. Unfortunately, it did not stop Noah from being drained of all his blood. With a shaky gasp, Hero hugged his friend close and teleported them to the clan.

When Hero did not land as graceful as he usually did, his clanmates sleepily peeked from their dens. They rose fully awake when they saw their alphas curled together intimately, but one of them was not moving, at all. Hero kept his head bent down, a clear apology for his clanmates, as he had let them down and had their leader killed. He did not dare meet their eyes, but knew there were gathering around him slowly, some staring at their leader's still body. A few of the pups tried to wake him up, but his eyes remained shut. They huddled close to their fallen leader, and paid their respects for him. They grieved as one clan, together with Hero.

Hero had picked up a familiar scent, and peered at Helena, who stood nearby staring at her leader with wide eyes. She pushed through the crowd and to her leader's side, taking him from Hero's arms and sobbing into Noah's cold chest. Hero had backed away, and retreated silently to the caves. He had spent way too much time grieving for Noah, and he felt it was unfair for the rest.

He found refuge in Noah's old den, and cuddled deep in the nest to fetch the promised picture from deep underneath the blankets. Indeed, there was a smiling face staring back at him. He noted Noah's features on his mother, and smiled softly. If she were still around, he would have thanked her for creating someone just as amazing as Noah. His insecurities had gotten the best of him, and Hero was just thinking of how much she would have hated him for putting her son in danger.

Tears fell fast without Hero even knowing. He just cuddled deeper into Noah's now drifting scent, clutching the picture in his shaking fingers.

○

"Alpha?"

Hero did not sleep, afraid of the nightmares. His back was turned to the entrance, and he was lying on the stone-cold floor as if he was sleeping. He shuffled, and hummed questionably. He caught Helena's sorrowful scent, and guilt ate away at him again.

"Um, if an alpha passes, their closest family member or partner would always be the one to bury them."

Hero was not worthy of that.

But he longed to see Noah again, even if he was dead, so he crept out of the entrance. He had wallowed in his own self-pity and guilt under it was night again. More spiders were out and about, but they were all moving in silence in vigil of their leaders. Helena followed a respectful distance behind him, and he did not meet the pitiful eyes of his clanmates. Noah's body was still were he left it, but it was laid neatly as if Noah was just in a deep peaceful slumber.

Hero bent down to Noah's body, and took the picture of Genevieve Arache from his pocket. Helena watched, intrigued as he placed it in Noah's shirt pocket. It was positioned so his mother's face was still smiling warmly on her son's chest. He turned to Helena, and spoke softly, his first words after Noah had fallen.

"Call Hugo, and track my scent. I need the two of you with me."

Helena had nodded, but she had not moved. He looked at her with a raised brow, and she made a face. He was about to repeat his orders again, but was interrupted when he felt the warmth of arms around him. Helena hugged him tight, and she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Hero's mind supplied him immediately, a sign of comfort and empathy. She broke away when a familiar and irritating raspy hiss some loud and clear, "You filth got our leader killed."

Helena was clearly fuming in anger, but Hero had cut her off before she could tackle the ex-alpha elder. "Continue speaking, and you'll be next."

The elder just snarled, before lumbering away shakily.

○

Hero carried Noah's body through the large territory and into one he knew all-too well.

His heart swelled when he saw the dingy and moss-ridden cabin in the woods. He could see Dianne's now weed infested garden at the back, and the old training dummies Ivan had used on him. He turned away from it, planning to visit it later, and walked towards the beach.

He stopped at the cliff, where he used to sit and talk to Melanie. The ground there was soft, and it was the place where Hero and Noah met.

This place had started it all. Hero set Noah's body down gently against a tree, and walked towards the cliff. He stared down at the crashing waters below, and started to hum Melanie's mermaid song. She sang this to attract Hero's attention whenever he passed, and it had always worked. He kept his eyes alert for any peek of turquoise scales in the water, but his hum was not answered. He tried singing, but it was clear that Melanie was either not around, or she was dead. It had been a few years.

He turned to Noah's body, and looked down at the military dog tags on his own neck. He had forgotten about them. It was the last thing he had kept from the North, and he took the dangling tags to read.

'GENERAL PERSSON'

His fingerprint was carved onto the tag under his name. Soldiers had their fingerprints so if they had died and their bodies were too destroyed to tell who it was, at least the tag would tell others who had perished. It was an odd concept. Hero looked at the other tag, which just had the Royal Military logo on it. Their motto was also there. The year period of the rebellion to the independence were also carved behind, to remind soldiers of the period where their very first soldiers fought and won.

Where Hero had fought and won.

His name was glaring at him, and Hero gulped. He suddenly felt wrong, and he sighed. He was no longer a soldier. He may have fought, but no one would value him as a general anymore. No one would see him as a mere soldier, or a citizen of Minecraftia. He brought a massacre of the innocent into his own people, and they were probably on the lookout for him at this right moment.

Hero shut his eyes tight and calmed himself down. He kneeled in front of Noah's body. He only kneeled like this towards his brother, as he was royalty. He ducked his head in a respectful bow and held the tags in his hands in front of him. After a moment, he raised his head to look at his tags one last time. Slowly, with trembling fingers, he slid his tags over Noah's head. They dangled on Noah's neck now, and Hero's neck felt bare and naked without them.

He smelled Hugo and Helena arrive. They watched silently, and Hero bowed his head again. He fixed Noah so he looked neat and peaceful, and adjusted the tags perfectly on his neck. He trailed his fingers down the chain, and down to the tag. He thumbed the fingerprint and name carvings and whispered...

"You deserve this more than I ever could."

○

Helena and Hugo stood silent as Hero carefully dug out a grave. He did not use tools, and just used his elemental powers to make a deep grave. Once he was sure everything was ready, he used his magic to lower Noah's body carefully into the hole. The tags glistened under moonlight one last time before they disappeared into the grave's darkness. Hugo and Helena had thrown in flowers, and Hero built a protective bubble above Noah's body. It gleamed blue of Hero's core, and prevented any dirt from falling onto Noah's body. Slowly, Hero piled the soil on top of the body.

The soil stood out from the nice patch of grass, so Hero started to bend.

Waving his fingers delicately, roses of many colors grew and bloomed on top of Noah's grave. A particularly huge red one loomed right above where Noah's head was supposed to be. Magenta and blue lilacs had grew also, and they twined carefully around the red rose's thorns.

Hero stepped back. Noah's grave was marked by a red rose and lilac twining together lovingly. It rested on a cliff, right under a tree. Hugo stepped forward, then started to use his claws to mark the bark of the tree.

He was a friend.

Helena went next.

A wonderful and capable leader.

They looked at Hero, and he stepped forward. He did not use his nails, and just pressed a finger to the bark. The bark burnt and started to peel off as he dragged his finger into words.

¹En anmärkningsvärd frälsare.

Helena and Hugo did not ask. They stood over Noah's grave for the rest of he night. At one point, Hugo and Helena had Hero between them, and they purred comfortingly against his tears.

○

Noah felt at home.

He was in a mansion, meant for his family members only. He had met his mother for the first time. She was lovely and they had both cried when Lady Aetheria introduced them to each other. He felt a mother's embrace for the first time, and they both bonded over having the same blood. Both were half spider, even if Noah was born one and Genevieve was made one. Shortly after, he met his father. He was loving as well, and he was crying when he saw the son he had lost together with his wife. They shared stories, about how they met, about everything.

They got Noah to share about his own life without them. He eagerly told them about everything, but when he went to Hero, he hesitated. Lady Aetheria had hung around, and just smiled sweetly at him, urging him on. He looked at his smiling parents and mumbled, "A-And... There's this person I really like..."

Mrs. Arache brightened up immediately. She clapped excitedly and pestered him on, "Well? Who fell for my boy's charm?"

Mr. Arache leaned closer as well in interest. Noah just whispered, "Well... I fell for his charm, not the other way around. I think."

Putting an emphasis on Hero's pronouns, he stole a peek at his parent's reaction. They seemed unfazed at the pronoun and urged him on. Noah started to talk animatedly about Hero, going on about how capable and how much of a perfect mate he would be. Noah did not have to fear his thoughts being read anymore because-

He halted.

Because Hero... Was not here.

Because Noah was dead.

His parents noticed the grim change in his emotions. It was clear that the dead would have to leave their friends and loved ones behind. Noah would have to wait for Hero. He does not think Hero would perish any sooner, too. Hero was strong, he could take care of himself.

He hoped.

○

Lady Aetheria dragged Noah outside. Noah could not escape her death grip and just followed the goddess obediently. She pulled Noah in front a blue office of some sort. It was brand new, but it looked vacant. Noah could still smell the fresh paint. Lady Aetheria motioned for Noah to wait and she let out a high-pitched whistle, and when she stopped, another low whistle of the same tune came from inside the office.

Slowly, Noah's ears picked up footsteps and he stood alert. The scent was familiar, and his breath hitched when he could smell Hero's cookie dough scent faintly. It had a touch of something else, something unique, but Noah prepared himself for the worst.

He did not think that the door would open to reveal someone who looked like Hero.

He had darker, more browner hair, that was shorter than usual. It was like before Hero grew his own out. One of the more major differences are his eyes. One of them were pure white and glowing fiercely, but the other was pure black, and they seemed to absorb all the light that seemed to linger near. His expression was set in an unamused face, and he looked a little grumpy. He wore tight-fitting black robes that had burnt ends. Underneath were black pants, paired with gray heeled boots. Noah's eyes caught sight of something thin and brown.

It was a tail.

It was like a lion, light brown fur into dark brown thicker hairs, like a tuft. It swung around lazily between his feet. He looked back up at the lookalike, and noted that the inside of the house was not dark.

He was looking at feathers.

The person stepped out of the doorframe, head tilted high. A sense of challenging authority and Noah bristled slightly. Immediately, huge black wings slid from the office and spread out on display. They fluttered, and Noah stared at how fluffy the glossy feathers were.

The man extended a hand. Noah stared at it.

"I'm Nabiel. I guard this realm. Pleasure meeting you."

Dang, he even sounded like Hero. Just a little deeper and more stern. Noah did not see him as a threat anymore. He shook Nabiel's hand, which was strangely warm.

"You too."

□

Translations:

1. Swedish: A remarkable savior.