Finally, finally, they landed next to Notch's castle. Charlie scrambled to get off the winged horse, barely resisting the urge to kiss the ground. Never again would he travel by flying animal. Never. Again.

Max wasn't as relieved as her father to be on the ground again, more anxious than anything. At least, Charlie thought she looked anxious. Not for the first time -and probably not the last- he wished that he knew her better.

Max made to pull Wither's still-unconscious body from the horse, but Charlie beat her to Him.

"Don't," Charlie told her, holding up a hand to keep her from moving. "Do you really want to drag Him all the way into the castle?"

Max glanced at said castle, scowling. While they were indeed right next to it, the entrance was still a short ways off. It'd be a pain to drag the gray God all the way when they had a perfectly good flying horse right there. As long as it didn't actually fly. Please, Notch, do not make the horse fly away with Wither still on its back. Charlie was in no mood to chase after a runaway that could fly. He'd rather die.

Charlie grabbed the horse's mane, leading it towards the entrance with Max trailing sullenly behind. Charlie was fairly certain she was pouting, likely about not having thought of leaving Wither on the horse. Or maybe she was pouting at what that thing inside her head was saying? Charlie hoped he'd be able to tell better as time went on.

The small group grew closer to the castle doors, which were standing wide open to allow passage for the multiple people strolling in and out. Charlie noted with irritation and unease that many of these people glared or scowled at them after a few double takes at the sight of the winged horse and unconscious God. Others just ignored them entirely, but with Wither and the horse, those people were very few.

When Charlie scowled at them, most scowled back, irritating him more. Didn't they know who he was? They certainly knew who Max was, though, glaring more at her than him. Which was ridiculous because (1. Max had helped them win whatever baby battle had been fought, and (2. Max wasn't doing anything to hurt them at that moment. Charlie might hurt them if they kept staring, though. Sadly, they were interrupted, saving those insufferable people from harm.

"What are you- what."

Charlie whirled towards the noise, sword immediately in his hand and pointed at the throat of...Notch...

He dropped the item in surprise, staring at Notch with his mouth gaping open. It only took a second for him to gain his bearings, however, falling to his knees in a kneel. "My lord," he said respectfully (though perhaps it had been more of a squeak), his face burning with embarrassment. Did that really just happen? He just pointed a flippin' sword at Notch, one of the first Gods, in his own castle! This was so embarrassing and- and such a rookie mistake! He just hoped the God wasn't mad. He also hoped that if He was mad, that He wouldn't turn Charlie into a flowerpot. The Gods had always been more lenient with the Caretaker family, but it was still a worry.

To Charlie's relief, Notch didn't seem mad at all. He laughed and Charlie could hear Max joining in, both of them amused by his mistake, only embarrassing him more. Charlie peered up to get a sneaky glance around, to make sure they were the only ones to have witnessed the mishap, and felt his face burn even more. Wonderful. People had been drawn by the sound of their God's laughter, some laughing too, and others, not having seen what he did, just watching curiously.

Charlie ducked his head again, despite his wish to stand and- no, not flee. Caretakers never fled, but he dearly wanted to do something about the audience, and maybe break a few arms in the process.

Thankfully, another God decided to take pity on him.

"What's going on, here?" a new voice asked, Charlie glanced up quickly again, relieved to see it was the other one of the Two. Herobrine scowled at everyone, waving a hand and teleporting the small group somewhere else, away from the crowd. A reasonably sized stone chamber, Charlie was pleased to note. Not so small as to make fighting difficult, though not too big to be so noticeable if someone were to look for it.

The forgotten God then turned His displeased expression towards His brother. Notch merely shrugged sheepishly in answer to a silent question, and Herobrine huffed in Charlie's direction, "You may now stand, Caretaker."

"Thank you, my lord," Charlie said, and did so quickly, shooting Max an annoyed look for her expression of mirth. Apparently this had all cheered her up from her sulk, which Charlie would have been fine with, if he wasn't the one she was amused at. Seriously. It wasn't funny, okay. Charlie got tense around hostile people. Notch shouldn't be such a sneaky ninja and sneak up on him like that. Rude, much.

(Okay, maybe or maybe not Charlie was still a little shaken up from everything and was trying to use sarcasm to hide. He'd admit nothing.)

Outside Charlie's little huff-fest, the Gods were arguing, as the brothers usually did when They disagreed on any small thing.

"Brother, we talked about this. It's rude to laugh at the family that's helped us so," Herobrine was scolding. So Notch had laughed at Max before? Why hadn't Charlie been informed about this?

Notch was taking the lecture in stride. "And? He's so jumpy that he pointed a sword at me, Herobrine. Am I not allowed to laugh at such a thing?"

"He has all the right to be jumpy, after what our dearest parent did to him," Herobrine pointed out- and what the Nether did Herobrine just roll His eyes how is that possible. He had no pupils! Why is He rolling His eyes!

And then Charlie spotted Max rolling her own eyes, so maybe it was a learned habit.

Charlie wished he were back home, where his wife bossed him around and all he truly had to worry about was whether or not he could stall an Evil (with a capital E) Goddess in the event of her waking. Those were the good ol' days.

Notch opened His mouth to respond to His brother when Max decided to cut in. "Yes, yes. Wonderful, no one loves family drama more than I do, I assure you," she rolled her eyes again. "But there's this thing going on with your youngest family member that's even more dramatic so shut up and look at Him," she ordered sharply. Charlie gave her a look that she ignored. He glanced anxiously towards the Two, hoping the Gods would not take disrespect from her tone.

To his bewilderment and relief (there was a lot of that going around today), the Two seemed to ignore Max's rudeness, instead pausing to look at the flying horse that Charlie was still not happy with.

"Is that a winged horse."

That didn't really sound like Herobrine was asking a question, so Charlie didn't decide to point out the obvious and say that it was.

Max, however, didn't sound as though she cared. "Yes, yes it is. Look at the pretty pony later, tell me what's wrong with Wither now."

Notch sent her a reproachful look, while Charlie gave her an all-out glare. What was she thinking?! She was going to get them killed!

"You haven't really explained why you think there's something wrong with Him, Akroatis," Herobrine reminded her.

Max scowled at the white-eyed one. "He went crazy after He saw... Charlie teaching me how to fight without Kreaya. He attacked us, and All had to do that to keep us from getting hurt," she gestured to the still-sleeping Wither.

"Hmm," Notch murmured, sharing a look with His brother. "We'll see what we can do. If you'll excuse us." And then the world blinked and Charlie was in a new room- still stone, but furnished as a luxurious bedroom with a door over to the side. Max was standing next to him, but it was just them two. No one of the Two, Wither, nor terrible flying horse in sight.

Charlie saw Max's face begin to adapt one of anger, but it quickly turned to surprise when he whirled on her. "What the Nether were you thinking?!" he demanded harshly.

"Wh-" she started, but he cut her off. Now that the Gods weren't there, he could scold her freely. Which was wonderful, because he really wasn't in the best mood.

He didn't let her finish, taking an angry step towards her. "No, I don't think you were thinking at all. Because no one other than a brain-dead idiot would lip off to a God like that!" he snapped.

Max looked hurt and startled by his words, as though she didn't really know why he was yelling at her. "I-"

"Do you realize what could have happened?" he growled. "Do you know what they're capable of doing? No matter what you think of them, you do not lip off at them! You could have gotten us killed, you idiot child!"

Max shoved him away from her, surprise being replaced by her own anger. "What the Nether, Charlie?!" she snapped. "What are you talking about!?"

He snarled at her, "What do you think? Disrespecting the Gods is something that can get you killed! I'd tell you to ask my uncle, but woops, the Forgotten turned him into a flowerpot!"

Again, Max's anger was replaced by surprise. "What? Herobrine wouldn't-"

"Don't forget who they are, Max," Charlie said darkly. "Notch is unlikely to hurt you, but the Forgotten doesn't have good feelings towards our kind, no matter what you seem to think. The only God that's ever been meant as good has been Notch. Don't forget that again." With that, Charlie stormed towards and out the door, leaving his stunned daughter behind him. He needed to cool off, to get this weird and terrifying future to make sense in his head, and he wouldn't be able to do so with Max being a fool.

My excuse is the entirety of 2016 :p This is probably the last chapter this year unless I become magic, so happy new year!

Question for this chapter: How was your Christmas?

AlliyahTheAuthor:

xD It really is a great coincidence.

I feel so bad for him, and yet it's too fun to mess with him, honestly, the poor guy.

:D

Daw, that's so nice of you to say! You made me smile so much with that :D