Roman wakes up to Remus shaking him. “Wake up,” the younger twin says. “Let’s go witch hunting.”
“Two more hours,” Roman mumbles.
“No, let’s go now!” Remus plops down on the bed. “Come on!”
“We need to eat first and you need your medicine.”
“Okay!” Remus stands up and bounds away. They found a witch a few days ago. She’s been bothering nearby villages and the two witch hunters were hired to stop her. Remus pauses in his bouncing. Did he actually take him medicine? He’s not sure. He goes and double checks in the medicine cabinet. Yeah, he did. He stretches, popping his neck. He’s ready to go.
Remus plops down on the couch, picking up the paper that has the info on the witch on it. He squints at the paper. How do words work again? He can’t tell. He can’t read them right now. Remus absently folds it into a paper airplane and throws it at the closed bedroom door.
Roman opens the door and gets smacked in the face with Remus’s paper airplane. “Remus!” Remus hums in acknowledgement. “We need this! Haven’t you read it?” Roman picks up the paper.
“Reading is hard.” Remus fiddles with a piece of paper he found in his pocket. “I read it yesterday.”
“Couldn’t you try harder?”
“I did. Reading is hard.”
Roman sighs. “I’m going to eat. Then we can head out.”
Remus looks over at Roman, grinning. “Great!”
Remus bounces behind Roman, sword swinging at his side. He adjusts his bag, humming. “Hey, hey, hey Roman.”
“Remus!” Remus giggles. Roman sighs, smiling slightly. “We need to focus!”
A laugh behind them causes the two to stop speaking and turn around. A witch smirks, holding a potion, a sword at her side. “So you are the ones who have come to defeat me.”
Roman draws his sword. “You have no commanding power over us.” Remus draws his sword as well.
“Perhaps,” the witch says. “Perhaps not.” She throws the potion and Remus smacks it away with his sword. The potion shatters on the ground,the effects spreading. “Careful, little adventurers,” she teases. “You don’t want to get hurt.” She disappears.
“Careful!” Roman tells Remus. “Invisibility!”
“Got it!” Remus says. He swings his sword in a circle. “Stay back!”
“If you insist.” A bottle smashes against Remus;s chest, knocking him backwards. Darkness fills his vision. “I’ll stay away from you.”
Remus sits up, hand gripping his sword. “I can’t see!” Another potion smashes against his face and he screams. His face is on fire. “Roman!”
“Roman?!” Remus shakily stands up, face burning. “I… I can’t help! I can’t…” Another bottle smashes against Remus’s chest. Pain blossoms through his body, knocking him backwards. Remus screams, falling on the ground. It hurts. It hurts so much.
“It took me ages to figure out how to make a potion of decay. Too bad I won’t see how it works.” The clang of metal against metal. The fighting grows farther away.
Remus tries to get up. He doesn’t have the strength. “I’m going to die,” he says quietly. “I’m going to die. I’m going to die and I’m not going to see Roman again.” Tears drip down his face. Everything hurts. Footsteps. “Hello?” Remus calls softly. “Who’s there?”
The footsteps stop. “What?” It’s a voice Remus doesn’t recognize. “Dp you not know who I am?”
“I can’t see,” Remus says. A bark of hysterical laughter. “I can’t see and the witch said it’s a potion of decay which I’ve only heard rumors of and I’m never going to see Roman again and he might die too…” Remus lets out more hysterical laughter.
Silence. The footsteps get closer and Remus is lifted in strong arms. “You won’t die, I’ve got you. I’ll heal you.” The voice is soothing.
Remus pushes weakly at his rescuer. “No, don’t touch me. The effect will hurt you, too.”
“I’ve been through worse,” the person says.
“...Worse than the Wither…?”
“Rest,” the person tells him. “We’ll be there soon.” A cool hand touches Remus’s face and he falls asleep.
Remus wakes to the sound of a Nether Portal. He’s still blinded. “Why are we going into the Nether…?” Remus can’t feel his face. He’s slurring his words. He grips weakly at the sleeve of his savior.
“Do not worry,” he says simply, voice calming Remus. “It’s not going to hurt us. The mobs will not hurt me, nor will they hurt you.” The Netherrack crunches slightly underfoot, background noise with the moans and cries of a distant Ghast. He walks with purpose.
Remus knows the closest Nether portal to his home is in a village over an hour walk away. Remus would have died by then. “How long have you carried me…?”
“About ten minutes,” his carrier says. “You’re in very unstable condition. You’ve almost died three times.”
“You sound like a doctor,” Remus says.
“When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn these things.” The sound of his feet crunching on Netherrack is replaced by the sound of his feet clicking against Netherbrick. A fortress.
Wait, ‘lived as long as I have?’ Remus furrows his eyebrows. “How old are you?”
A second person snorts. Remus jolts slightly. When were they joined? “That’s a new one,” the new person says.
“Oh, shut up. Get a stabilizing bed ready, they’re going to need one. Someone made a potion with a Withering effect and I need to deal with them.”
“On it.” There’s the sound of an Enderman teleporting, which confuses Remus. Endermen don’t live in the nether. They’re named after the End for a reason.
Remus starts coughing, shivering despite the heat of the Nether. “Hey, stay with me. Tell me about yourself.”
“My name is Remus King,” Remus says. “I live with my twin brother Roman in a house er built in a swamp a few years ago. We’re witch hunters. We don’t usually kill the witches, we stop them from hurting more people. They’re human too. We’re twenty-four. Our birthday is next month. Roman doesn’t like them but I name the slimes, but only the small ones that can’t hurt us. I talk to them even though they don’t understand me. They’re very meaningful conversations.”
“I’m sure,” says the man. “Do tell me more.”
Remus starts telling him about his brother, how cool he is, that Roman built most of the house but let Remus pick the area. Remus’s words become slurred and he’s having trouble staying awake. “...Can I go to sleep now?”
The man sets Remus down on a soft bed. “I’ll be right back. Virgil, watch him.” There’s the sound of teleporting.
“Does that mean I can sleep?”
“Not yet,” says the second voice. “Wait a bit longer. Lord Deceit will return soon.”
Remus recognizes that name. It’s another name for the terrifying Herobrine. “No,” Remus says, struggling to sit up. “Not Herobrine. Please. I’ll do anything.”
“It’s okay,” the voice says. “He’s not going to hurt you. He’s not Lord Herobrine.” A hand pushes Remus back down. “My name is Virgil. What’s your name?”
“Remus…” Remus sniffles. “...Will I see Roman again…?”
A pause. “Yes,” Virgil tells him. “You’ll see Roman again. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay…” Remus doesn’t believe him. Virgil doesn’t sound very sure. “I hope so…”
Another sound of teleportation. “I don’t have a full star and he might need one. Virgil, prepare the room for me.”
“Whatever you say.” There’s the Enderman teleportation sound again. How strange.
“What’s going to happen to me…?”
“Nothing terrible,” Deceit says. “I’m going to heal you. Withering hurts and takes a lot of power to fix. Now sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake up.”
“...Okay…” A wave of drowsiness passes over Remus and he falls asleep.
Remus wakes up on a bed with a nasty headache. He sits up, rubbing his face. His skin feels slightly odd. What happened? He can’t remember very well…
“Oh good, you’re awake.” Remus looks to his right then up. The person sitting next to the bed is very tall. His skin is a rich and dark brown, edging on black in the dim light. His hair is pure black and bright purple. His eyes are a pale magenta and seem to glow. Nothing extremely unordinary. What does seem impossible, however, are the freckles covering his face. They’re bright pink. “I’m Virgil. Do you feel better?” Virgil stands and Remus looks up higher. He’s taller than anyone Remus has ever seen.
“Uh…” Remus looks down at himself and rubs his face. “Yeah… Where am I?”
“In the Nether,” Virgil answers. “In our home.”
Footsteps and Remus looks towards the doorway. There stands another man, He has pale patches of skin on his arms and face and his eyes are bright yellow. And they’re glowing. “You’re awake.”
“I am.” Remus eyes the man. “Are you Deceit?”
“Yes, I’m Lord Deceit.” The man looks at Remus and crosses his arms behind his back. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yes.” Remus answers. “I am.” He shifts to stand up.
Virgil kneels and keeps him on the bed. “You’re not feeling that good. Trust me. The process takes a while to heal.”
Deceit says, “Using a Netherstar to neutralize a Withering effect is hard. You’re… Not completely human anymore and your body needs to adjust.”
“What?” Remus isn’t human? But he’s always been human.
“You’re not completely human anymore,” Virgil says. “Isn’t that simple enough to understand?”
“Virgil.” Deceit looks at him and folds his arms. “Be nice. You didn’t react well when I told you.” Virgil rolls his eyes.
“For one thing,” Deceit says, “you have to stay with us. I don’t want to separate you from your brother, but it’s necessary. This is the place where I can make sure you don’t die.”
Virgil grins, leaning over Remus’s face. “Part Creeper now.”
“What?!” Before Virgil can continue, Remus grins. “That’s cool! Can I explode?!”
Virgil stands up, surprised. Deceit smirks. “He’s much more excited to learn about how his powers work than you were,” he says. “I’ll teach you when you’re stronger.”
“Because you’ll probably get lost.”
“Get some more rest. We’ll return later.” Deceit and Virgil leave Remus alone, who settles back into the bed and promptly goes back to sleep.
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