10 Chapter 10

Three and a half sleepless nights passed before I felt satisfied enough to go to sleep. Then I woke up only a few hours off the hard floor I had decided to sleep on instead of my soft bed and continued from where I left off. I was much further off than I had thought. I was SURE I had finished the time machine. Someone must have very carefully taken it apart when I was not feeling well.

And when I woke up in the new morning to continue, either I was just tired, or were some rather large chunks of the machine missing? I just shrugged it off and went back to work. I got into a mood where it seemed like I was working and sleeping at the same time. It was weird. One moment I was attaching the denoiser to a clutch, and the next I was suddenly being chased by a dragon. I must have just never been so sleepy in my entire life. Would make sense since I always slept at night, only skipping one or two nights of sleep at a time depending on the situation.

In that half-asleep state of mind, that dream that had woken me so many nights ago started coming back, but even stronger and more intense than before, as if I didn't finish in time the world would explode. The flask backs ticking like a clock in my head, the words 'FIX IT' booming in my ears. After some time it almost sounded audible. That voice I couldn't define. It sounded like it wasn't even a clear voice. Just a defined thought. But I knew that dream had to be coming from somewhere! Someone or something must have been pushing me at that point. Near the breaking point. Sweat dripped down my face constantly from just about every cause there is. I had to hurry. Though I was already going insanely fast for making something almost impossible, I had to go faster! But how?..

"Papy!!" Teddy screeched as he ran up to me and squeezed my legs. I couldn't keep myself on my feet anymore, and that little pounce brought me down onto the floor. I let myself take a quick breather as I laid there. It was as if I had suddenly been woken from a self-provided nightmare. "Papy you pwomised you wouldn't make yourself vanish!!" Teddy shouted, full of impossible fear. He stood quickly and tried pulling me to my feet, but I didn't budge. I didn't want to get up, not yet at least. That nightmare whispered in my ear as if finally fading but still trying to make a point, and I just laid there not sure when to make myself get back up. Finally, I realized what Teddy had just said.

"Wh- where did you get the idea that I was making myself vanish?" I asked in a way so that if he had just guessed, I could easily say he was wrong.

"Baz told me! He told all of us dat you awre going to timetwavle, and die!" Teddy said while shaking me. I covered my face to avoid looking at Teddy's sad face with my still glowing eyes. Then it struck me. 'They won't remember any of this when all is said and done.'

"Teddy, get off of me and leave." I growled, showing the first bit of real aggression towards Teddy ever.

"Papy?" Teddy's voice sounded ghostly, as if he was forgetting everything about me right then. I then stood up shakily and stared down coldly at the little boy. My heart stung to see the fear-filled face looking back up at me.

"I said.. LEAVE." I demanded. I could sense my eyes glowing brighter as I shouted. Quickly Teddy turned and ran out of sight. 'How did he even get in here? Those kids must have dug a secret passage into here or something.' But I was too tired to investigate.

'FIX IT!!!' The Inaudible voice screamed. It was so painful in my head that I fell down to my knees and held my head in pain. "Alright, alright!" I shouted back at it. Then I stood back up and got my lazy self back to work.

----------------------------------------------

Finally done. Finally done. Finally done. Finally.. done.

The time machine was complete! I couldn't believe it! But I had little time to celebrate. I had to decide on whether I should take a nice break to get myself into the best condition to fight, and risk having my time machine vandalized. Or just leave right now. In my agitated state, I decided to leave as soon as possible.. NOW. I just looked at the machine for a little bit. Once it was done, I noticed how much it looked like the feather end of an arrow. But much, MUCH, more complicated.

I just stood there looking at what I had just created, mentally preparing myself for what I would be going up against. It was true that my past self was much weaker back then. But that was mainly because I just hadn't discovered my powers yet. So I knew it should be fairly easy unless I accidentally made my past self unlock his powers a little early. So a sneak attack would be my best slash worst bet. I had a lot more energy back then though, especially comparing to that present moment, so tired after staying up nearly five days straight. Using my own powers to keep myself moving. I wasn't entirely sure if I could travel through time yet. But I could feel it deep down. Tired as I was, my blood was still surging with power. I could make it. Then I could rest for a couple days when in the past.

Finally, I was ready to go. I walked over to the control panel to the left of the empty portal and typed in the date I wanted: March 5, 1991.

Then I changed it a little so it was March 2, instead, so I would have time to rest. Once it was all set up, I stood directly in front of the empty portal blankly. '..fix it..' the Inaudible voice whispered as if it were on it's death bed. I closed my eyes tightly, hoking for any last thoughts, last words of advice of some kind, something from myself or Paul's God that might plead for me to stop, to turn around, to flee. But there was nothing. My mind would have been too foggy to hear anything anyways.

With a sudden determination, I thrust both my arms in the direction and held them there as I sent energy into the portal. It caught in the invisible web, which quickly formed a white swirling portal with the occasional black or dark grey swirl in the midst.

"Herobrine, noo!" Sebastian shouted as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled on me. I quickly shook him off. He fell on the floor but since he was down there he wrapped his arms around my leg that was closest to him.

"Sebastian, let go!" I demanded. But the teen didn't listen. I shook him off my foot and took a step towards the portal. But then someone else grabbed my other arm and pulled me back as Sebastian had. I looked over and saw Madelyn's glasses reflect my brightly glowing eyes.

"Herobrine, you can't do this!" She pleaded.

"Oh come on!" I grunted. "Don't you want to have your parents back?!" I asked, hoping that would convince them to let go. Then Teddy ran around to the front of me and pushed on my belly as if trying to keep a boulder from rolling down a hill.

"Hewobwine you can't go!" He shouted. The old name made me feel stone solid. I just pushed or pulled on everyone as they tried to keep me from the portal. And I was slowly making my way towards the portal.

"Sorry Lord Herobrine, but I can't let you go neither." Fred stated as he t-posed in front of me.. Okay so it wasn't really a t-pose, but he stuck out his arms and stood in front of me in attempts to block my path.

"Let me go, guys! Or all my energy will run out and I might faint!" I told everyone.

"It would be better than killing your past self!" Madelyn said, pulling harder.

"Why?!" I shouted full of confusion. "Why do you not want to see your parents?! Why do you not want to go back home and live a normal life?!" I asked them all, pushing myself forwards harder as I spoke.

"It isn't about losing our parents anymore! We just don't want to lose you!" Sebastian shouted to make it clear. 'FIX IT!' Rang in my head and I pushed harder.

"Nonsense! You guys just don't understand!" I shouted. Madelyn let go quickly and swung around in front of Fred and looked at me with a stern look in her eyes. I hadn't gotten to know her too well, but I knew she wasn't the kind to look stern often.

"Listen! You might have not realized it, but you became an inspiration to me!!" She shouted. I paused in place with an eyebrow raised slightly above the other. I wanted to ask how, but she interrupted my thought. "Sebastian mentioned that I did something worse than stealing diamonds, didn't he?! Well, I bet you are wondering what it is!." She then took a deep breath. "I had killed someone, alright?! I didn't mean to, but when we were trying to escape, a guard got in our way, and I knew karate and!..." She trailed off with a new sad face. "I hit him too hard on the head.." She said full of regret. "..And afterwards I tried turning myself in! But Sebastian stopped me. I tried making things right somehow, anyway I could! Countless nights I had nightmares that I had become a merciless villain. That I had changed just because of that one mistake.. I almost put an end to it all.. But then I realized, that the most evil person in the world had become good! That he was able to stop doing bad things, resist being evil! And when I finally met him, he even forgave himself after years of trying to make it better! You showed me that there was a chance." She spoke the most she ever had in the entire book. :> And that made my eyes tear up a little. 'How could I be an example to anyone?..'

"Papy don't go.. PWEASE don't go!" Teddy finally gave up pushing on me and just hugged me tightly instead. Tears streamed down his eyes and into my shirt. 'fix it.' The Inaudible voice whispered again. But I couldn't move. And the portal was slowly dimming.

"..Listen, we loved our parents. But we can't lose you too. You have cared for us as much as they did. And since you are willing to give up everything just for us, then maybe even a little more." Sebastian said.

"..Listen.." I sighed. "I love you all, but I have to make things right.. I have to fix it."

"-No, you don't." A different voice said. It sounded like Sebastian though, but a little deeper. We all turned and looked at the voice's source. It was Sebastian, but just a few years older! Wait, did he time travel or something?!

"Sebastian?!" Everyone but the younger Sebastian shouted, he just said, "ME?!"

"Sure, you can call me that, but I most commonly go by The Unexistant." He said. "Or more commonly known as A Time Lord." The older Sebastian stated. We were all just shocked so not much came out accept a couple "hu?!"s. Then I noticed that he looked a little see-through. Like some kind of ghost. But I had never even heard of Time Lords before! He continued on his own. "Listen, I can't be here very long, but if Herobrine goes in the past and manages to kill himself there will be catastrophic events that will occur that I am not even entitled to explain. Just Remer the butterfly effect. It is better that you became evil and then good, over what would be happening if you had died so early on. And I am serious! INTERFERE AND THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES." He warned. The portal closed, and I fell to my knees. I was so confused. So messed up. I couldn't even think straight. And that reason was all I needed to give up.

"Wait, does this mean I will become a TIME LORD in the future?!" The younger Sebastian asked as he ran up the older version of himself.

"Heh, nope. I am merely a figment of what you could have become.." The older Sebastian smirked. He looked satisfied as he turned to leave. But I sensed a hint of sadness creep over him. "..Just be glad you'll never turn out like me.." He sighed. And with that, the ghostly version of Sebastian vanished, and we were all left confused.

"What the heck was all that about!?" Madelyn suddenly piped up after a few moments of thought-filled silence.

"Ahahahhah!" Sebastian shouted a battle cry as he grabbed a big block and threw it at the time machine, knocking off some of the more fragile pieces.

"Wh what are you doing?!" I asked in a panic, still trying to get my mind back together. I felt so drained in so many ways all at once. I just needed a nice long nap! Sebastian suddenly looked away from the machine with his angry look and changed to an innocent 'I didn't do nuthin.' Face.

"Just making sure that thing is never used." He said plainly.

"Oh." Was all I could really think to say.. After everyone recovered from the drama in their own way, either silently like Madely, or destructive, like Sebastian, or even clingy, like Teddy, who seemed as if he was never going to let go of me, everyone finally was ready to leave. And I was right! When I saw the kids sneak into a little one block hole they had dug I knew I couldn't have been more correct about that secret tunnel.

"W- what do we do now?" Madelyn asked me in a daze the same as I. I just shrugged...

"But Papy, what if a zombie gets you?!" Teddy had pleaded as I pulled him off of me. I was almost at the door to my room and still, he was too afraid to let go of me.

"I'll be fine Teddy. See you in the morning." I chuckled. The little boy finally convinced himself that I would be fine and ran off to go find his siblings.

Finally, I was back in a comfortable bed, in my nice room that was not a dirty dungeon-like lab. So I slipped under my covers and began quickly falling asleep.

-Suddenly I was attacked by my pajamas. "For Notch sake, Herobrine, stop getting so dirty!"

><><><>Quite Some Time Later<><><><

"PAPYYYYYYYY!!!" Teddy screamed, pouncing on me on my bed, waking me up from my dream I couldn't remember. Teddy then shook me and jumped all around the bed more excited than I think I have ever seen him, ever. "IT'S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAAAS!" He shouted as he continued jumping.

'Oh yeah. I forgot in the middle of my sleep.' I realized as I groaned and sat up. I had promised the three if not the best, then at least one of the best Christmases ever. I just hoped they would like the presents I had planned for them all. They would be so surprised. I got all excited as I remembered everything and jumped out of bed, with the help of the excited Teddy of course.

I and Teddy raced down the hall to the living room I had built just recently. My castle had been built more as a self-defending fortress so I had to make a lot of renovations to make it more homely. The kids had helped me a lot with that, replacing the interior Nether Brick with stone and wood and lighting the place up a lot more. But I put myself in charge of disarming most of the traps.

When we entered the living room Teddy practically jumped over the couch to the tree we had all built ourselves. And the decorations on it were simple but still looked really nice. Madelyn was already there trying to figure out what was in one of her presents without opening it. And Sebastian showed up just a couple seconds after we did trough another entrance. I had built the new living room in place of my old storage central room, so there were four entrances in all where the room served as the intersection.

"I want to open mine first!" Teddy squealed as he slid sown beside Madelyn and grabbed his present quickly. I had given each kid three presents. And I even made one for Fred, which he didn't know about yet.

"Where would you like me to be Lord Herobrine?" Fred showed up with impeccable timing.

"Perfect timing Fred. You can stay right here for now. I even made a present for you." I smiled at Fred with my back to normal eyes, which I was finally getting used to after a couple of months. Fred looked shocked but smiled a little and sat on the couch and looked under the tree, probably trying to figure out which present was his. Ooohh, he was going to be so surprised!

"Is this one mine Papy?!" Teddy came up to me with a green and blue present.

"Yes Teddy, all the green and blue ones are yours." I chuckled as I watched his eyes sparkle with excitement right before me.

"Can I open it!? Can I?!? Can I!?!" He screeched. I nodded and he dug right in. Madelyn looked at me with an excited question on her face and I nodded to her as well. Sebastian just sat on the couch and watched his younger siblings unwrapping their presents excitedly.

"Hey, Sebastian. You have three presents too. They are the red ones." I pointed out to him. Sebastian didn't look as excited as he walked over and grabbed the first red present, but I knew he was beaming with wonder inside.

"I GOT A DRAGON TOY!!!" Teddy shouted as he pulled out a toy version of The Ender Dragon. Immediately he flew it a couple of times around the room before running over to his next present.

"No way." I heard Madelyn barely whisper in excitement. I looked over and saw an unbelieving smile on her face as she pulled out a pretty blue shirt with a gold dolphin design on it. It would probably look a lot nicer if it weren't so pixelated, but it still looked really pretty. And Madelyn lit up even more when she saw the dolphin plushie waiting under the shirt. I had put the two gifts into one box with the fear that she might not like the shirt as much as I hoped. But she seemed to love both gifts. Madelyn had sure been pretty difficult to find her interests, other than books, but eventually, I found out she had a deep love for dolphins, and read every single book I had even mentioning them in my library. So I figured she would like the shirt and plushie. Madelyn ran off and came back wearing the shirt, and she carried the dolphin around with her as if it were her new best friend.

I then looked back at Teddy and almost laughed when I saw his confused face as he looked at the present he was holding. It was simply a brand new iron shovel.

"Papy, why did you give me a shovel?!" He asked me with a tilted head.

"Well, I figured you might want a shovel for the new sandbox I made you." I smiled. Teddy lit up.

"Whewre is it!?" He exclaimed.

"In the old battle room, just down the hall..." Aaaand, he ran off before I could finish what I was saying. I guess he already knew where it was. I quickly sent Fred after him to help him guide him there, and then bring him back before the boy could do much digging. I didn't want Teddy playing around in there without any adult supervision. I had basically filled in the arena with sand, so it was more like a sandpit than a box. But I knew how much Teddy loved to play with sand. And after that one time he filled the kitchen with sand and didn't clean up, I figured he would need a special space for playing.

"Hey Herobrine, what's this?" Sebastian asked from between the tree and the fireplace. I looked over to him and saw he had already opened all his presents and was holding the last one in his hand. I had given him a couple world maps, since I found out how much he liked maps, and a chest full of all sorts of materials so he could craft whatever he wanted. But in his hands, was a simple little piece of paper. The present I was most excited for. I looked at Madelyn, who had opened her second present, which was a collection of glass panes, sand, coral, and buckets with some tropical fish inside. In her hands, was a paper identical to Sebastian's. Then Teddy rushed in, tracking sand behind him, and ripped open his last present, also holding a piece of paper.

Suddenly my palms began collecting sweat and I began imagining all the ways this situation could go wrong.

"U- u- um Fred! How about you open y- your pres- s- ent?!" I asked to hopefully send my own thoughts to something else. It helped. Everyone looked at Fred. And Fred looked over to see a grey box still under the tree. Good thing all eyes were fixated on Fred, because then, my insanely impossible to keep down smile would be telling everyone that this was no normal present. I waited anxiously as he walked closer to the box, my eyes widening with excitement every step he got closer. Time slowed for me as he picked up the box and I held in a laugh that was already starting to bubble up inside.

Once he opened the lid, a tidal wave of newly cleaned clothes jumped up at him, knocking him down onto his bony bum. Immediately I laughed hysterically, as did the three kids. When Fred freed himself from under the clothes he too began laughing. By that point we all knew the inside joke I had just put upfront. And it was perfect! In fact, that was probably the first time I ever heard Fred laugh, so Christmas miracles really do happen.

But my racing mind went back to worrying when the room quietened and all the kids looked down at the papers.

"Papy, can you wread this?" Teddy asked me. But I was a little too nervous to. I could barely lift an arm.

"It's a form, an adoption form.." Sebastian said for me. Once the word was out I really got nervous, the sweat visible on my face. I wasn't sure what to say or do, so I just let them think. 'Say something!' I yelled at myself internally. So I cleared my throat, grabbing everyone's attention, and stood so we were all standing.

"U- um.. I am sure this is, interesting, for sure. The thing is.. You guys have changed me so much." I started. Everyone listened intently and I felt as if I were giving a speech to a million people. "B- before you three showed up, I had become good. But good, isn't the same as being happy. You three showed me how much I could really change, how someone like me can live normally again.. You three changed my heart.. And, I thought, that mabye in return for saving me from myself, I could.. give you guys a family... Of course, if you don't like it I completely understan-." I was cut off when all three rushed in for a hug. A group hug.. A, family, hug...

All three kids agreed, and we were suddenly a family. It was pretty exciting.

The rest of the day we spent in the Over World looking at the snow and pretty decorations in the towns. In the towns however, I always had to mask myself with some kind of disguise. Even though my eyes were back to normal looking, I didn't want to draw any unwanted trouble. Good thing it isn't too hard for me to hide my identity. I just have to make sure my right shoulder is covered so no one sees the scar I am very well known for having. And at the end of the day, we were all happy.

'It is fixed.. He, is fixed...'

-----------------------------------

I strolled through the halls back to my room just thinking back through the day. I was about halfway there when a voice interrupted the little pleased smile on my face.

"Hey, Merry Christmas Herobrine!" Evie called from down the hall behind me. I turned around and saw her flying my way. She then rammed into me and gave me a tight Evie hug. I had given all her original power back to her so the hug was back to it's normal tightness.

"Oh, hi.. Evie. Let, go-please." I wheezed, gasping for air. Evie giggled and let go quickly. She didn't hug people often, except for when someone needed one or on special occasions like holidays, which I guess counted today.

"Hey, Herobrine. I brought over a Christmas present too. Except it is less of a gift, and more of just good news." Evie stated.

"Oh really?" I questioned. "What news?"

"The kind that is rather hard to take in." Evie's voice spoke, but not from Evie herself. I looked to my right where I saw someone almost identical to Evie pop up from behind a pillar. She looked so similar, but was several years older and wore blue, black and grey, armor I had never seen before. Plus she also had a couple scars Evie didn't have. Oh no, I had a feeling I knew what was up. "And no, it isn't what you think.." The older Evie said. "I am V3_4. And I have come here to this dimension in search for the cause of the corrupt evils starting to leak through from one world to another. And that search has lead me to you." She said. I stepped back with a little new worry in my eyes.

"L- l- listen, I became good years ago. Whatever you might be thinking I'm doing with dimensional stuff is wrong. I am still not sure if what you said about another dimension is even real." I stated my case.

"Actually, there about 27 dimensions, from what I have studied so far.. But no, I am not here for you. I know this has nothing to do with you, mainly because only one you even knew about other dimensions, and he was killed almost two years ago.. I am here searching.. for your brother." V3_4 said.. And it was then that I realized just how big this adventure was about to get...

[ The End ]