Second Chances

Chapter 16

Clara leaned against the doorway, breathing heavily from her run. Jackson sensed that this was something about Herobrine, because he said to him, "Hey, why don't you take this to the patient, too?" he asked, handing Herobrine a red-colored potion. Herobrine looked at Clara worriedly but complied, walking down the hallway out of sight. As soon as he was out of earshot, Clara closed the front door behind her and began.

"There's two guys walking around town looking for Herobrine and you, Steve," Clara explained.

The color drained from Steve's face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jackson beat him to it.

"The Netherhunters," Jackson whispered, horrified.

Steve cast a glance down the hallway Herobrine disappeared down. His stomach churned but he started walking towards the door.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Clara demanded.

Steve didn't answer. He put a hand on the doorknob. Clara realized what he was about to do and was about to speak, but Jackson touched her shoulder and shook his head. Steve started to open the door but something stopped him.

He remembered his first night with Herobrine. Herobrine was scared and alone. He didn't remember anything about that one night, or anything before waking up in Steve's care. Steve remembered how Herobrine listened to him and put the creeper back outside, despite clearly wanting to keep the monster. When Herobrine electrocuted Steve, he was incredibly apologetic and spent the days after that trying to make it up to Steve.

Herobrine was not the monster he used to be. He was a sweet and innocent little kid that truly cared about Steve, and it wasn't like Steve hadn't earned that. No matter what painful memories came up, Steve still fed and cared for Herobrine when he was sick.

For the first time, Steve realized that he also cared about Herobrine. Steve might have lost his family, but he gained a new one.

Steve shut the door and turned around to face Clara and Jackson with tears running down his cheeks. "H-Hero?" he called.

"Yeah?" Herobrine came skipping down the hallway. His smile vanished when he saw that Steve was crying. "What's wrong, Mister Ste—"

"Nothing, nothing," Steve brushed away his tears. He bent down on one knee to be at eye level with Herobrine. "Listen, Hero, I've made a really bad mistake. I did something I shouldn't have done. I need you to listen to me, okay? I need you to go with Clara and not come back here until she says you can."

Herobrine looked up at him with fear in his white eyes. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

"Nothing. It's okay, Hero. Everything's gonna be okay." Steve hugged Herobrine. "Just listen to Clara and stay safe, okay?"

"Are you leaving?" Hero asked. Steve didn't answer. "Please don't leave. I don't want you to leave." Tears were beginning to form in his eyes.

"It's okay, Hero. Just stay with Clara." Steve gave him one last hug, then stood up. "Take him into the forest, as deep as you can go. Stay there as long as you can. Keep him safe," he said to Clara.

She nodded and started packing stuff into her inventory. "What are you going to do?" she asked him.

"I'm gonna buy you some time." Steve walked out without another word.

...

In the market, the two strangers casually hung around, watching the crowds. The one with the lightning-shaped scar picked at his fingernails while the other one munched on an apple. Despite their civilian clothing, they radiated wrongness. They weren't supposed to be here and everyone except them knew it. The crowd made sure to keep a wide circle around them.

"So, I heard you're looking for me," Steve said, stepping out of the crowd.

The scarred hunter smiled. "You must be Steve." He extended his hand for Steve to shake. "My name's Victor, and my friend here is Rowan. Pleasure to meet you."

Steve shook his hand, then Rowan's. "Nice to meet you too."

Steve didn't like these two. Victor's narrow gray eyes made Steve's blood run cold. His medium-length black hair was neatly brushed back and his mouth was curled in a perpetual smirk. His short-sleeved shirt revealed his muscled arms and his hands had several scars across them, some of which looked like burns and others looked like they were inflicted by a blade. He had a sword strapped to his back, and it was the first netherite-plated weapon Steve had ever seen in his life. He knew that it was possible to plate diamond tools with the nearly indestructible metal, but he had never seen anyone do it. Netherite was incredibly rare and even more expensive. It would take years for Steve to earn enough to plate a single shovel, much less a sword. This hunter was clearly wealthy.

Victor noticed Steve looking at the sword and grinned. "What do you think?" he drew the weapon so Steve could see it better. The blade shimmered with enchantments. This weapon was probably worth more than everything Steve had ever earned in his entire life.

"It's incredible," Steve admitted.

"You'd be surprised how much of His blood has decorated this blade," Victor said with a grin. Steve's stomach did a somersault. "Speaking of which, where is He? We've come an awfully long way to get here and I'd hate to have wasted that time." His voice sent shivers down Steve's spine.

"O-of course. This way," Steve led them towards his own house. He wanted to glance at Clara and Jackson's house to see if Clara had escaped with Herobrine yet, but he didn't want to risk giving the hunters any clue that he was lying to them.

"So, how'd you keep him locked up? We've never been able to pull that off for any longer than a couple of weeks," Rowan asked. He was younger and less scarred than Victor, but he had an equally expensive axe hanging at his waist. His blue eyes were just as cold as Victor's, or maybe Steve was imagining it. He was so terrified of them; it was hard to tell.

"I, er... well, he doesn't seem to remember... anything, so I didn't really have to lock him up. He just... stayed with me."

"He lost his memories?" Victor and Rowan exchanged meaningful grins. "So he's pretty young then, huh? How old do you think he is? Five? Six?"

Steve actually stopped and turned to face them. "How do you know—"

"I'll explain later, once he's dead. It's quite the story," Victor interrupted him.