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The moment Herobrine's feet hit the cold quartz floor of his familiar classroom, he allows himself a sigh of relief, slumping over with his hands on his desk, and his students burst out in adrenaline fueled laughter.
Spider sputters, coherent words lost in a field of hisses and squeaks, before they settle on, "DUDE!"
"Oh my stars!" Endie screeches, rocking their feet where they stand. "Oh, this is something to tell the queen about whenever I go back to the End!"
"Am I rattling? I feel like I'm rattling." Skellington clatters, examining his shaking bones.
And soon enough, the rest of the class is right there with them, a mass of mixed languages and dialects melding into one coherent stream of conversation.
"Where were you guys?" Silvester asks, perched atop Endie's shoulder.
"What happened?" Questions Cavell, hanging idly from the ceiling.
"Are you okay!?" Wilton clicks, hugging Skellington so hard he nearly falls apart.
And in contrast to everyone else, (as always,) Zupay jabs at the warden's leg with the blunt end of his axe. "Who the hell is this?"
Zombieswine comes up naturally behind him, covering his snout. "And why do they smell so bad?"
"Swiney!" Shouts Wilton.
"What!? They smell bad, I'm not allowed to say they smell bad?"
"They do smell bad." Zupay confirms flatly, always one to back up his partner in crime.
The warden, for the first time, speaks, albeit slowly. "It's okay... Lived underground."
They turn their head in Zupay's direction, antennae-like ears searching. "Why is your voice so low to the ground..?"
Herobrine tries to stop listening, but his magic is so used to translating them at this point that it doesn't turn off with his command.
He can hear the smirk in Blaise's voice. "Yeah Zu, why's your voice so close to the ground?"
"I will fight you."
Creep sparks from a little farther away. "Where'd you guys even go? It's like that weird red guy showed up and then you just dipped."
"I think we fought a war?" Endie warbles in a response, a question in the subtext of the sound.
"And won!" Spider makes sure to add, grinning with sharp teeth. "Yoo, how mad was the teacher when we left?"
"He was teleporting around school looking for you three." Ghist chimes in casually.
"Oh my skull!" Skellington finally manages to extract himself from Wilton's crushing embrace. "Guys, you should've seen when he caught me at the portal, I half expected to feel his wrath-"
"Yeah, you three are gonna be in detention for a while." Creep hisses, unable to hide his amusement.
Maggie gasps, hopping frantically. "Noooo, he's gonna make Skellington sit out of cooking again!"
A cacophony of complaints ring around the room, all displeased to lose their favorite cooking partner. But the camaraderie still lays high in the air, and Herobrine almost lost three of his students.
Permanently.
He doesn't realize he summons lightning until the thunder strikes outside, and his students all flinch at the sudden noise, silently turning their gaze on him.
Herobrine digs his nails harshly into the polished acacia of his desk, focus set firmly on the white glow his eyes set to the surface.
He can't let his magic spiral. Not now. Not in front of his children.
...
His children.
His composure snaps.
His voice starts low, arms shaking under the strain of controlling his anger. "What. In the name of Minecraft itself... did you three think you were doing!?"
He starts projecting near the end, unable to stop himself through the haze of worst-case-scenarios twirling around in his head.
His students don't answer, dead silent save for the nervous rattling in Wilton and Skellington's bones, and the breaths of those who still possess working lungs.
The bystanders step back, giving their three friends a series of apologetic glances as they're left in front to hear their teacher's lecture.
"Do you have any idea how powerful that man was with that staff!?" He continues, pent up emotions coming loose as he strides toward the trio.
And the god almost wants to punch himself as he sees the blatant fear they exhibit, but he's too far gone to stop. "You could have died!"
Permanently, the subtext clearly states. Because he tried, when Skellington first got sucked into that staff. And Skellington, in his last moments, kept fighting, blatantly thinking he'd come back from it almost instantly, just like he always did.
And Herobrine couldn't deliver.
He exhales sharply, inwardly scolding himself for feeling such a lump in his throat. Such a sting behind his blank eyes. He fights back the tears that threaten to slip past.
The warden trills, twiddling their thumbs nervously, bared hearts beating fast. "They were... only trying to help."
...
Herobrine is momentarily glad the Warden can't see the intimidating glow of his eyes, though with the way their ears twitch, he's sure they can hear the accompanying spark his magic gives off.
But they don't falter, the clay of their limbs creaking against the friction of their movements. "The realms were in danger. The one guiding me explained. That man wished to destroy... everything."
...
The whole student body is silent, save for Silvester whispering to a now-grounded Cavell about checking on his swarm.
"It's true." Endie pipes up shyly, looking down at their feet. "Sir, I had to think of my brood back home. They would've died. The queen would've died. I couldn't let that happen."
Skellington nods solemnly, lowering himself onto Spider's back. "My haunting is out there somewhere. And even if they couldn't care less about me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew something happened to them that I had any chance at stopping."
Spider sighs, chuckling sadly, without a hint of actual mirth. "I don't have any family to worry about... But this place would've been destroyed too, and I... I wasn't okay with that."
"Shit..." Zombieswine gasps, ear raised in a rare moment of tense vulnerability. "I have people back in the nether..."
Wilton makes quick work of walking up to him and squeezing his shoulder comfortingly.
"...My kingdom." Cavell hisses, so soft Herobrine barely makes it out.
Herobrine falters, just for a moment, because he understands.
It's the reason he's so upset after all.
And it hits him so hard in that moment, the love that's grown deep in his chest for these monsters, his monsters. The care he's developed for their quirks and their talents and their mundane flaws.
In the beginning, he tried everything he could not to grow attached. And now he's suffering the consequences of his own failure.
He takes a breath. "I understand. You were worried about your families."
"Forgive me for being worried about mine," he muses.
...
He only realizes he said it out loud when he looks up to see his entire student body staring at him in disbelief.
He tenses, forcing neutrality into his shaking voice. "Everyone at your desks, class is in session."
"Like hell!" Two of the wither triplets shout, and the one of them that's actually sane doesn't seem to mind it.
"Sir, do you really-" Mucus doesn't finish his query before Herobrine turns to his chalkboard, nearly falling over in his haste.
"Sir-" Ghist starts, interrupted swiftly by the loud tap of Herobrine's stick on his chalkboard.
"What was on our curriculum before thi-"
Herobrine yelps as he's lifted off the floor, trapped high in the air between lanky black arms.
...
"Endie, what are you doing?" The god sighs.
"I am hugging my broodmate!" They respond, with a firmness that's almost surprising.
Some of the other, more sociable students come running. Maggie hops on over enthusiastically, rubbing herself affectionately on Herobrine's leg. Silvester climbs on top of his shoulder. Nearly everyone surrounds him in some way.
Nearly everyone. There's a small sniffle from just outside the circle, and everyone glances outward to see Zombieswine with his ear drooping and Zupay right next to him, sucking back tears.
They both notice the eyes on them. "Don't look at us!" Zupay yells frantically, and everyone else laughs.
Spider and Cavell pull in Zupay with two sturdy strings of silk, and Wilton separates himself from the group just so he can drag Zombieswine over by the arm.
...
Herobrine could easily teleport out of this situation.
He doesn't.
With a small smile and a soft sigh, he humors them for a bit longer. Then he chuckles. "Alright. Now sit down."
He snaps his fingers, sending them all back to their own desks, and twirl his pointer in his hand.
"Now. What was on the curriculum before this whole ordeal?"