Hey. This is my first blog and blah blah thais and that. Yes I see the thais but I'm not changing it. Blegh.
For a while now I've been working on a new story (about three years, wow) but I no longer have access to fanfiction, where it needs to be. Not that I'm posting it all here, just some excerpts I really like and oneshots and small things. So whenever I get it posted on fanfiction...

For no particular reason, here- I'll give you the whole (non-confirmed as complete as of yet) first chapter :)

Enjoy. (note I wrote this three years ago lol)



Exception #1

A/N: Why hello there! YES! WRITING AGAIN A YEAR LATE! WOO-HOO!!!....

...Yeah, no.

Anyways, thanks to all of you that are reading now. I really appreciate this. Luv you <3

Enjoy.

{{{///\\\}}}

"... I think I'm gonna regret this later," the miner muttered to himself, shifting his shoulders as he dug further into his pack.

For the moment, Steve was trying to find his sword, in case there was anything directly inside the Nether portal he was about to enter; for instance, a zombie pigman or a blaze. If it was a ghast.... Well, he could dodge, maybe. And yes, he was about to enter the hellishly hot Nether, for about thirty blocks or so of glowstone. Why?

Someone, namely a construction worker, had requested the glowstone for a house he was working on, and promised a payment of about a half-stack of diamonds. When he thought back on it, the trader ended up raising it to a full stack. And even though Steve could have taken the extra three weeks or so it would have taken in a normal mineshaft if he really needed them, the man had looked ready to hand over his foot next. So here he was, about to just jump into something he really didn't have to do.

And as Steve had lost his flint and steel somehow, someone else from the village had to come light it for him last night. So, now....

"I said three weeks. Not long. Okay." Finally fishing out his iron sword and its belt, he huffed, slinging his pack around, back onto his shoulders. He clipped the belt and sword to his waist, and mentally checked off all the necessary items he'd need.

'Food, check. Pick, check. Bow, check. Water- definitely needed that- check. Armor, check.'

Nodding to himself, he hesitantly moved towards the portal. Hopefully, this was a one day in, same day out trip. No Ghasts, nothing big. Maybe a Zombie Pigman or two, but that he could handle. Easy. Right?

Just as he'd stuck one foot in the portal, he heard a hiss behind him and jumped, whirling around- and also stepping fully into the thick portal.

He swore mentally as he felt the thick curtain of the portal lock up his limbs, rendering him unable to move and completely at the mercy of the creeper that was dropping into the small valley. Wishing he could move to grab his bow, he felt infuriated with himself for not having it out to begin with- even though he was better with a sword, it was almost always a good idea to have a bow on you- in your hands- whenever you went into the Nether.

And, even better? Although he could slowly shove his hand out of the portal, and start hitting the damn thing, it was cautiously staying back- it didn't want to risk being shoved back last second and have to... re-fuse/ re-light himself or whatever it was creepers did to explode.

"Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon...." And besides- if he didn't have his hand back in the portal when it sent him through, he could easily chop off half of his arm just from not having it in the portal on time.

Such things rarely happened, but when they did they were never forgotten.

Shuddering a little at the thought, he bit his lip. 'Why isn't it starting already?!' By now, the creeper was white. And he still couldn't reach it.

Realization clicked in, telling him that it would likely explode right as he got through the portal.

Finally, at that moment, the portal began to do its job and sent him through to the Nether-

Just as the creeper swelled to the sky.

************

Moments later, with a few minor burns, one major, Steve was stumbling out from the portal, wincing a little as the major burn- the one on his chest- pulled as he moved. He heard the portal behind him deactivate, and he ended up tripping onto his knees, where the netherrack split open his knees.

Hissing in pain, he stood up, and looked at the silent portal. The part about this that was the worst? The portal itself was a mile out from the village, due to a scare years ago or something. Placed in a deep, rather wide valley, it wasn't the ideal place to start a battle or a fight of any kind. The rim of the valley was a great place for any archers to stand, and while it was easy to get down- good for attackers- it was nearly impossible to get back up, bad for defenders. The only neutral point was that the cliff edge was an outcropping, allowing for anyone to run underneath and hide. Not that any of that had ever happened, but for some reason the miner's thoughts jumped to it every time.

Another thing? Somehow, its location made any noises that came from it virtually soundproof. Unless you were within five feet of the rim, it was impossible to hear the portal. So anyone looking to ambush would have the perfect opportunity.
So if anyone heard the creeper blow sky high, it was likely a stalker or a traveler.

....and as far as Steve knew, he didn't have a stalker, and travelers hadn't been around for months.

And the mines and farms were at least a mile and a half away, making even less chance for him to be heard. If anything it could be a villager that heard.

But again, chances were thin.

"Three weeks in here.... great." He lightly kicked the obsidian frame, sighing and sitting on the inside, picking out pieces of netherrack from his cut knee.

The heat of the Nether was just now reaching him, but it wasn't doing much. Unlike most others, he had a natural heat resistance due to an accident that had happened about two years ago. While mining, he'd fallen into a lava pool because the gravel on top- appearing to just be a layer on top of some stone- turned out to be unsecured, floating shards of rocks that gave way under his feet before he could run. Somehow, though, just as he was pretty much dead, a traveler had found him and taken him to a doctor in the village, but how or why he was in the mines was unknown. In fact, the fact that he was even passing by was pure luck- by the looks of it, a major storm was due the next day, and according to reports from the other villagers, he didn't want to stay longer than a night.

However, the next morning, all they got was a light shower, and the traveler was gone. Steve was out for a full week, and the storm returned a month later, but just as all the crops were gathered- a surprisingly strong coincidence.

Long story short summary is, he was alright being in the Nether in terms of heat. It didn't bother him, though cold did. Heat resistance meant less cold resistance.

Glaring a little at his surroundings, Steve laid on his back, shutting his eyes for a moment. A ghast was keening somewhere in the distance, going farther away by the second. Overhead, a cliff was practically hanging right above him, and the thought of what could be up there spurred on quite a few things he needed to do- first, find some sort of shelter. Probably hope to find something useful, although- having never been in the Nether before, he didn't exactly know what 'useful' would stand for. The least, a shelter- the most, items that could possibly help relight the portal, but that seemed dicey at best.

Sighing, he stood up, catching a glimpse of formed Nether bricks, which was a nice sign of a fortress- hopefully. He examined the wall, trying to see if there were any footholds that made it all the way up. He didn't want to use his pick yet, and if he was going into a fortress it'd be better if he wasn't already worn out. So right then he was pretty glad that the Netherrack had a lot of... edges. Although, as his knee injury proved, that wasn't always a good thing.

Rolling his shoulders, he walked up to it, making sure his pack was secure, then grabbed for-

"Agh! Wha-"

That was the most he could get out before he was on the ground. His head lightly clipped the ground, but not that badly, just enough to stun. Wincing as white spots temporarily covered the red and orange, Steve tried to shove the- he had to assume, because he was pretty sure it had hands- person off his back, or at least see who it was.

"Who are you?" The stranger jumper's voice was pretty dark, low, and it was right in the miner's ear.

"Ow... I could- ask you the... same thing- ah! Could you get off!" The person ignored him and snorted.

"Honestly, just wondering, how do you not know who I am? Or is it normal for you mortals to pin each other like this in dimensions- of course, when you think you're alone."

He froze right then, because the stranger decided to pull their face a little closer. And that's when Steve caught a little of his face.
Then felt instantly confused.

"...you're seriously Herobrine?"

"There we are. Now, again, who are you?" It was said pleasantly but it was clear that the other was pretty ticked. A fact that was emphasized with a knee digging into Steve's back.

"I- ah! Stop- jeez, that hurts you know! - I'm- could- you please give me a second to talk? Ah- fine! Steve!" And with that, the pressure vanished, and Steve felt his arms release. Sighing in relief, he went to push himself up-

Until the other decided he'd waited long enough.

Yelping as he was suddenly grabbed by the ankles and tossed into the air like a sack of feathers, Steve was slung over the other's shoulder, and his breath was knocked out of him for a moment.

'How, in the matter of five minutes, do I go from a simple item trip to three literal weeks in the Nether with no way out, and now picked up by- wonderfully enough- Herobrine? Really, this is bad. Never, ever screw up this badly again. Never. Next time- you know what, there probably won't even be a next time so let's not think about it.'

After that, he realized that Hero was walking them somewhere around, a pathway that likely led up to the previously seen fortress. Steve bit his lip and decided to risk a question- "...is it safe to ask exactly why you're hauling me off? Or am I going to get killed for asking?"

'Please not an early death. Please not an early death.'

Bad sign #1- a growl. "Damn brother wants me to look after you for however long you're going to be here, he just told me, so I don't know much other than he's going to 'checkup' on you every other week or something. Now do me a favor and shut up."
Steve did just that, sitting there sheepishly.

Until there was a sigh and a, "Okay, down. You can walk from here without me needing to worry about you falling or getting hurt... I hope." This seemed like an odd thing for him to say, but Steve blinked only once before he was set down to something he'd never seen before and honestly had no idea of ever seeing.

A netherbrick palace that pretty much reached three miles high, at least five acres of space taken up- at least- and had many towers, windows, and it was all surrounded by a twenty brick high wall...

He stopped gaping when Hero shoved him forwards.

"Move."

Frowning just a little, Steve shuffled through what he assumed was the front door. Then, Hero huffed- probably because his walking was slower than the time it took most people to take one step- and took him by the ear. Now yelping, he was dragged through a hallway, up some stairs, around a few corners, and finally to a door near the end of a hallway that was proportionally huge. To the miner. To the rest of the castle, though, it was small.

"There's your room. You'll be here for the next... however long it is you're supposed to be here. Now go to sleep." Steve was dropped again, and Hero walked to the end of the hallway, which led to another staircase. He disappeared after a moment, leaving Steve in silence- who was still trying to comprehend exactly what had happened.

Slowly he stood, opened the door- which was surprisingly cool, despite the heat of the place- and walked into a room that, like the rest of the place, was made of netherbrick. The bed was colored the same way, with surprisingly white sheets and pillows. But a thickish layer of dust, not thick enough to have never been touched, note, but thick as in it hadn't been used for months thick was coating everything in the room.

Surprisingly, after he touched the bed a lot of it came up at once. When he sat down it practically exploded. Coughing, shirt pulled up to his nose, Steve stood away, near the reopened door, waiting for the dust to settle.

When it did, he tentatively sat back down on the bed, leaving the door open in case more dust came. He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt and decided that since he hadn't brought any sort of other clothing- he hadn't planned on staying that long, and if he hadn't been picked up he wouldn't have changed or needed a change of clothes- he would just sleep in his jeans. Despite the heat, he climbed under the covers- which, somehow, were also notably cooler than the room- and promptly fell asleep.

{{{///\\\}}}

A/N: I really enjoyed the concepts of this story. At the time of this chapter's completion, I want to say I finished the plotline stuffles and honestly it's beautiful and I'm so proud. I love it. I spent a whole day just filling it out, toying with various ideas and things. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a whole week's worth of history things to do and honestly I may or may not be murdered come Monday by my mother and possible joint attempt from my father. My grades are lower than they've ever been and I am hungry.

Seriously, though, this story was the lightest project I think I'm forcing myself to write the hell out of. Nothing else in my docs right now is so nice, at least not to me.

Anyways, note- this story might seem pretty anticlimatic at first, but don't worry- the real action comes in a while. Give it time, you'll be on the tips of your toes at the finale :D (I was just while writing the PLOTLINE and honestly that's the smallest summary of the chapter possible)

However, don't expect it to reach over eight chapters, that's not what I had planned.

I planned for seven, agonizingly long chapters. :D

And I'll see you next time on Exception!




Thanks for reading :)