HAVE YOU EVER DIED IN A NIGHTMARE

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Darkness pressed in on all sides, making Erebus wonder if he had even opened his eyes at all. The air was cold, yet misty as he looked around, attempting to peer through the black, seeing nothing but his own body beneath him. Invisible fog swirled around him, its moist kiss on his skin making him shiver slightly as a sense of unease overtook him.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice reverberating in his surroundings. "Where am I?"

There was no response, save for a distant giggle from somewhere behind him. He spun around, searching for the source of the noise, yet found nothing. It was as if he was being mocked for not knowing where he was, as if it should have been blatantly obvious to him.

"I pity you."

His blood turned to ice. It was not him that had spoken, but a disembodied voice in this void, all-too familiar to him - it belonged to the User-that-is-not-a-user, Gameknight999.

This couldn't be happening again. Not here, not while he was alone and helpless in this unfamiliar area. He didn't want to die, but the memories were overtaking him, tormenting him as if he was truly there again, at the Source.

His response was so vivid in his own mind that it was as if he had said it aloud.

"You pity me... Erebus, the King of the Endermen...!"

Of course Gameknight would pity him. He didn't deserve an ounce of respect, not with how utterly pathetic he was. Everything was so familiar now, so terrifyingly familiar, and he was frozen in place, not daring to move in case he felt the tightness around his body once more, in case he was held in place while Gameknight's friends poured bucket after bucket of water over him, unrelenting in their torture.

"You are nothing. You are alone in your pathetic life and you don't even know it."

The User-that-is-not-a-user's words echoed throughout the void once more, and Erebus's body began to tremble. He wasn't alone now, was he? He had Angel, he had Clara and Tom.

"They don't really like you. They think you are pathetic and weak, but are just too afraid to say anything."

Erebus spun around, his eyes wide as he searched for any sign of Gameknight. Was this really true? Was Angel only with him because she was afraid of him? His shallow breathing began to tremble as memories of his near-death fought to the forefront of his mind, memories that he could never bring himself to speak about with Angel in fear that she, too, would find him as pathetic as he found himself.

Gameknight's laugh began to reverberate in the featureless expanse, and Erebus knew what came next. He was going to die, he was going to be held down, struggling and screaming and begging for relief as the User-that-is-not-a-user's friends dumped bucket after bucket of water on him, and Angel was no longer there to help him. Unable to think rationally, he began to run, his panicked breathing and footsteps echoing throughout the land, mingling with the sound of Gameknight's unsettling laughter which only grew louder as he sprinted. The terrifying noise slowly built to a horrible, maniacal uproar that surrounded him from all sides, spurring him to run faster, every nerve alight with panic.

Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet disappeared. He let out a shriek as he began to plummet, with no end in sight, before crashing to the bottom of whatever pit he had fallen in and starting to sink.

He had fallen into water, and it was so cold.

The second he realized this, his panic tripled. He began to thrash, his entire body shaking as he clawed at the water, unable to find the surface. There was no agony of the water tearing at him, only an excruciating cold like ice against every inch of his body and the horrific reminder burning in his lungs that he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe.

In his panicked flailing, his hand managed to break through to the surface, and he kicked toward it, relief like he had never felt before flooding through him as he finally got his head above the water. His breath came in searing gasps, reverberating endlessly with the sound of his splashing as he searched for a way out.

His lungs were already getting tired.

"Help-!" he screamed, barely managing to keep his head above the surface. His voice echoed around him as well, mocking him. "Please, anyone- I can't- I can't breathe-!"

"Hello?"

It was her.

Twisting around in the water, he felt an immense warmth flood through him, so strong that it was able to rival the unbearable cold of the water. She was sitting on the edge of an invisible ledge just out of his reach, her head cocked to the side as she watched him.

"Angel...!" Erebus gasped, trying his best to swim over to her. "Angel, please- please help-"

"Why?" Angel looked repulsed at the very thought of helping him. "Why should I? It's not like you've done anything to help me..."

A sudden agony hit Erebus at her words, so sharp and so sudden that it was as if Hunter had shot him again. "What...?"

Angel scoffed. "Come on, Erebus, don't be like that," she sneered. "Ever since you got a second chance at life, which you didn't even deserve, you've been too stubborn to face the reality of the situation - I've never actually liked you. Honestly, anyone that ever acted like they did would have done so out of pity, like me. You're really just pathetic."

Erebus no longer believed that it was the bitter cold causing his breath to grow shallow, or chilling his body so terribly that he was barely able to keep his head above water. Everything was starting to feel so tight, just as it had back in Minecraft, outside of the cave where he had grown so terrified that he couldn't function.

"Listen," Angel said, her gaze condescending. "I don't understand what you're doing, but you really need to stop. All those remarks about how cute I am, making excuses to get close to me or touch me - it's starting to get uncomfortable, and it's honestly really selfish on your part. And don't even get me started on asking me if I want you to love me... why would I? Why would anyone, really? It's truly sickening, and you'd be better off learning your place and not speaking that way to me again, as if we're friends, or anything more than that. We've never been friends, Erebus." She folded her arms across her chest. "I hate you. I've always hated you."

"I'm sorry..." Erebus choked out, the temptation to just fall limp in the freezing water and allow himself to drown overwhelming his mind. His violently trembling voice was so frantic, so desperate for her to understand that he was barely intelligible. He couldn't have her hate him, he couldn't, not when she made him feel the way he did whenever she was near. "Angel, I- I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I'll do anything to make this right, I swear- ah!"

Out of nowhere, something gripped onto his throat so tightly that he was unable to breathe at all, and he was yanked from the water with a strangled yelp. His body swayed in the air as he attempted to loosen the pressure on his neck in vain, and he was lifted with excruciating slowness to eye level with the one holding him, feeling pure, unbridled terror fill every dark cavity in his soul as he beheld the one he feared most before him.

It was Malacoda.

"It seems that in my absence," he spoke, his booming voice echoing throughout the void as his glowing, malice-filled eyes bore into Erebus's. "You have forgotten your place."

Erebus didn't once think to question how he was alive, or what he was doing here. He let out a shaky whimper so pathetic that he winced at the sound, pulling weakly at the tentacle that merely tightened around his throat, constricting him and squeezing out any air left within him.

"What are you thinking, Malacoda?" Angel's voice called to the King of the Nether, not a hint of fear to be found within it - it sounded gleeful, like she was taking pleasure in Erebus's suffering, relishing in the sound of him gasping and choking and crying out as he struggled in the air.

"I want to teach this pathetic Enderman a lesson," Malacoda sneered. "I am the King of the Nether, and he betrayed me... I will show him what happens to heretics that dare defy my will."

A massive fireball began to form within the twitching mass of his tentacles, burning brighter and brighter until it satisfied Malacoda. Erebus had no time to choke out any desperate plea before the fire enveloped him, igniting every nerve with unbearable, white-hot agony. He screamed, the strangled sound tearing at his constricted throat as he thrashed and writhed in the air, sure that he was going to die. As soon as his mind was completely ablaze, and he thought he could bear the pain no longer, a pair of soft hands grabbed his shoulders, jolting him awake and bringing him to reality.

Malacoda was gone. The void was gone. The fire was gone. The water was gone.

All that remained was Angel.