GIVETH AND TAKETH AWAY 'TILL THINGS COME OUT A CERTAIN WAY

===

Every minute of the rest of Angel's day induced a fresh wave of panic within her. She was unable to take her mind off of the cryptic note left on her bed - who was it even from? Was it from Officer Shein? Had he found Erebus? Or was it someone else, someone she knew, who had kidnapped Erebus to get back at her for something she had done?

Her suspicions were on Officer Shein, but that didn't entirely make sense - he was a police officer, wasn't he? He was, by default, a moral man, who knew how to uphold the law and do what was right for the people of Crossrose.

If that was the case, why had he told her parents where she was? Why had he let them out of jail? Surely he knew what they did, right?

It felt as though the hours until 10:00 chose to stretch themselves as long as they could, solely for the sake of tormenting Angel. Nothing could distract her from her growing worry in her room - she certainly wasn't going to go eat dinner with Clara, Tom, and the Feynmans. If, somehow, either her aunt or uncle learned about the note left for her, they would forbid her from going to Crossrose Swim Club, and she had to go, no matter what.

At 9:30, Angel snuck out of her room through the window as quickly and as quietly as she could. The sun had gone down, leaving the cool evening air to chill at her skin as she made her way to the main town. After so long of living in this town, she easily knew the way to Crossrose Swim Club, despite never having gone inside it. It wouldn't take her far too long at all, especially if she ran, and this gave her hope that Erebus would be okay.

As she ran, she was reminded of another very similar experience, one that still sent tremors down her spine as she recalled it. For a brief moment, she wasn't dashing down the streets of Crossrose, feeling the night air against her skin. Buildings turned to trees, and the sidewalk blurred into grassy dirt beneath her feet, and now, she wasn't even thinking about the swim club. Any minute now, her surroundings were going to give way to that clearing, that terrifying place where she had seen Malacoda tormenting Erebus, his maniacal laughter echoing and drilling further into Angel's mind that this was her fault.

It took no effort for her to hop over the wire fence, landing on her feet and stumbling slightly as she hit the ground. Immediately, her fears were confirmed, and a paralyzing panic overtook her, rooting her to the spot.

Shein was there, watching her smugly through the tinted glasses he was still wearing, despite the fact that it was nighttime. Erebus was restrained to a chair in front of him at the edge of the pool, limp and barely conscious but still breathing. Forcing herself to move, Angel stepped forward, wary eyes fixated on Shein.

"Well, well, Angel," the 'officer' said. "I see that we have met again."

Angel willed her voice not to shake as much as she could. "What... What the fuck is this, huh?" she snapped. "What did you do to him?"

Shein huffed. "Nothing irreparable," he told her dismissively. "In any case, this isn't about him. This is about you, Angel."

Taking another step forward, Angel pointed an accusing finger at him. "What kind of officer would pull this kind of shit?" she shouted. "You set my fucking parents on me!"

The grin that was spread across Shein's face faded ever so slightly. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" he asked, before sneering. "You're far more stupid than I would have thought, then... You see, I'm not an officer. Nor is my name Nero Shein."

"Well, that would sense," Angel huffed. "Who are you, then, if you're so bold?"

A soft chuckle escaped Shein. "Come closer," he told her. "But stay on that side of the pool. Take one step in either direction, and you will have made a decision that you haven't heard yet."

Angel's head tilted as she stepped to the edge of the pool, watching him. "The hell does that mean?"

"All in due time, Angel." Shein waved a hand dismissively through the air, before reaching up, grasping the edge of his signature sunglasses and pulling them off in one fluid motion. Angel's breath caught in her throat, and her heart seemed to stop.

His eyes were pure white.

"Holy shit..."

"That's right, Angel." Not-Shein cackled. "You remember me now?"

Forcing herself to recover from her initial shock, Angel's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"We made a deal," Herobrine said simply. "And I've come to finish what I started. I knew that the only way to be able to bargain for what I want was with him, which is why I took it upon myself to-"

"Hang on." Angel raised a hand. "Give me a second here."

Herobrine huffed, but stopped speaking.

"So what you're saying..." Angel muttered. "Let me get this straight - what you're saying is that you came to the physical world, disguised yourself as a fucking police officer - do you realize how ironic that is? You, as a police officer, the heroes of Crossrose- oh. That makes more sense."

"As a fan of irony yourself, I thought that it would have become obvious who I was far earlier than now," Herobrine commented. Angel suddenly let out an incredulous laugh.

"Hang on, hang on- another thing. You come here, you disguise yourself as a police officer only God knows how - and you named yourself Nero fucking Shein? Herobrine - Nero Shein? Could you have picked a more obvious fucking name?"

"If it was so obvious, why didn't you recognize me?"

Angel's face fell. "Well, shit. Now I feel stupid. Can we just move on now?"

Herobrine laughed. "There are far more pressing matters at hand than my choice of name. I brought you here for a reason, along with your dear Erebus-"

"Yeah, what the fuck did you do to him?" Angel snapped. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Patience," Herobrine said, raising a hand. "As much as I wish I could have done more to him, he is fine. I only punished him when he refused to cooperate-"

"Well, obviously, you literally kidnapped him-"

"Will you stop interrupting me?!" Herobrine shouted. Both Angel and Erebus, who had not spoken once throughout this whole exchange, winced at his tone. "I have a deal to make with you, Angel."

Angel huffed, glancing down. "Right. Your deal. What is it?"

Herobrine crossed his arms over his chest. "You lied to me."

"The hell? When did I do that?"

"You told me that gaining a physical form would be more beneficial for my endeavors than directly entering the Internet," Herobrine told her. "You told me that I could access the Internet from the outside and control it. There is no way for me to do that without entering it directly. Disguising as a police officer was the closest that I could get to doing so - I was able to access information about everyone, including you. With this knowledge, I was able to find your parents and release them from jail, until I discovered that they were of no use to me, and killed them."

"That was you?!" Angel exclaimed. "That makes perfect sense now - honestly, thanks for that, they were dicks-"

"Let me continue," Herobrine snapped. "Before I brought your parents to you, I realized that despite the information I was granted, there was nothing that I could do with it; no way that I could achieve my goals from outside of the Internet. So I devised a plan to capture Erebus - it was simple to place a criminal charge against him after he murdered those three kids, and arrest him shortly thereafter while you were at church." A devious smile crossed his face. "The Feynmans were an unexpected, yet very welcome addition to my plan, however. In short, I brought you here to make a simple request. Find Richard Feynman's digitizer, and use it to bring me where I rightfully belong - in the Internet."

Angel blinked as she took in this information. "And, uh... what are you going to do once you get in there?"

"Why, find my creator, of course," Herobrine said, as if this was obvious. "The one who implemented the virus that caused me to come alive within the world of Minecraft. I intend to make him pay for the suffering he brought, the unnecessary violence that he put me through simply because of what I was..." His voice was a menacing growl now, and his hands clenched into fists. "I will find him through the Internet, and once I succeed in doing so, the very virus that he created will destroy him."

"So let me get this straight." Angel looked down, gesturing with her hands. "I go back, steal my uncle's client's prized invention from him, then give it to you, so that you can go into the Internet and kill some random guy... yeah, that's not gonna happen."

"Then you have a choice to make, Angel."

"Oh, great, there's more..."

Reaching down into his police duty belt, Herobrine pulled out a small, metal object and pulled it open - it was a folding knife, its dark blade gleaming in the moonlight.

"I swear to fucking God, if you put that anywhere near Erebus-"

"Relax." Herobrine cut Angel short, his voice still eerily calm. "It is not my choice whether he gets hurt or not. I've done enough to him."

"What did you do?" Angel snapped.

"I merely showed him what the consequences would be if he disobeyed my orders," Herobrine said simply. "My other failed creation, Malacoda, taught him well, but not well enough, it seems - Angel, relax," he urged, seeing how Angel was now practically trembling with suppressed rage. "If you take a step in either direction, you will have already made your choice."

"If you don't tell me what this bullshit choice is about, I swear-"

"Patience." Herobrine moved his free hand up to his duty belt, pulling out another object - a ring of a few keys, which jingled as he held them up. "These will get your precious Erebus out of the handcuffs restraining him to this chair."

"Gimme those," Angel demanded, holding out a hand.

"So you've made your decision?"

Angel's hand lowered. "What's the catch? And what's the knife for?"

Herobrine shook his head. "There is no catch... only a simple test of loyalty. You see, choosing the keys will free him, but it will allow me to escape. However, if you choose the knife, you will be able to stop me from leaving."

An expression of utter confusion crossed Angel's face. "What if I don't choose? What if I just stab you with the knife and then use the keys to help Erebus?"

"By then, it will be too late to save him." Herobrine said simply. "You see, you will be under a bit of a time constraint, once I kick this chair into the pool and let it sink-"

"What?"

Erebus was suddenly alert, wincing as he twisted in his chair to face Herobrine due to the ache his body was still experiencing from the taser. "You're not- you can't-"

"What the fuck?!" Angel shouted, stricken with the same panic that Erebus had. "You can't just fucking do that- come on, we can work something out, you don't have to-"

"Shut up!" Herobrine shouted, though he seemed quite pleased with the reaction he had received. "Listen to me, Angel. This is the choice you must make - catch me and stop me from escaping, or save the man you had already lost once. The answer may be obvious at first, however, it would be worth it to remember that I know where you live - or more importantly, where your family lives. Your aunt, Clara, seemed quite nice..."

He tapped the blade of the knife against the hilt of the gun sitting in its holster. Angel was horrified.

"You- You're not gonna kill my fucking aunt!" she shouted. Erebus jolted against his restraints, the terror on his face mirroring that which Angel felt.

"Angel, please- please don't-"

"Whoever dies is entirely up to you, Angel," Herobrine said, his voice ever-so calm as he tossed the ring of jangling keys to one side, and the knife to the other - it made a scraping clatter as it landed on the concrete, and the sound caused Erebus to flinch. "Make the decision - save your family, or save Erebus."

He placed a foot on the back of Erebus's chair, earning a whimpering cry from him as he was pushed closer to the pool's edge.

"Don't!" Angel shrieked. "Don't make me choose - please, I'll do whatever the hell you want, just don't make me do this!"

"Then find the digitizer!" Herobrine snapped. "Let me into the Internet, and let me exact the revenge that I deserve!"

It was one man, one simple, insignificant man that Herobrine was targeting. Angel didn't even know who he was. He could have been an absolute douchebag. But what would have happened then? What if Herobrine thought it not enough? What if he craved more destruction, more power through the Internet after that? What if he killed more people, or took over the world like the monsters of Minecraft had planned to do once they entered the physical world?

The words came out before Angel could stop herself.

"I won't let you do that!" she shouted, gripping her hands into fists hard enough that her nails dug into her palms.

Herobrine simply grinned. "Hm..." he mused. "Maybe you aren't so bad after all, Angel."

And with that, he leaned forward, kicking the chair over the edge and into the pool, the resulting splash mingling with Erebus's terrified scream as he hit the water. Immediately, he began to sink, hitting the bottom before it fully hit him that he was drowning, that the surface was well beyond his reach. Panic ruled his mind as he began to helplessly thrash against the handcuffs binding his wrists to the chair, the metal digging sharply into his skin. This was everything he had feared and more - even if he could miraculously escape from the handcuffs, he still didn't know how to swim, rendering reaching the surface impossible.

Angel could swim. Angel was coming to save him.

There was no sign of her, however. No shadow pierced through the moonlight to signal her entering the pool, no disruption passed the water besides his own as he fought to return to the surface, as he fought not to breathe - she wasn't there.

The realization was far too sudden for Erebus to handle, and yet, somehow, he knew it had been coming.

Clara.

She had chosen her family over him.

This was where Erebus was going to die.

This couldn't be it, this couldn't be how he died, not like this - and yet, it was already happening. Water was suffocating him, choking him, seeping into his throat and lungs and burning his insides, even as he frantically thrashed against his restraints, even as his wrists throbbed with pain, even as bubbles streamed from his mouth as he let out an anguished, inaudible scream.

At least Angel had been able to save her family...

Had he been selfish for wishing that Angel had chosen to save him? Or had he just wanted to feel her close one last time before he died?

Little bursts of light were starting to pop in his vision, clouding the sight of the surface above him, but none even came close to shining as bright as Angel had in his mind.

She was an Angel, wasn't she?

Perhaps she would greet him in the afterlife, welcoming him with open arms.

He could almost see her now. Eyes half-closed, he could see her, could feel her hands touching his face and making him feel so warm, so safe.

He called her name, but there was no sound, just a face he couldn't see, a touch he couldn't feel.

His voice was gone, and so was he.