Second Chances

Chapter 15

The first thing Steve remembered was dull voices chatting quietly in the background. His head throbbed painfully, and his left arm was unnaturally cold. He groaned.

"Steve? Are you awake?" he heard Clara say.

Steve slowly opened his eyes. Clara was watching him worriedly and Jackson was messing with potions. When Jackson saw Steve was awake, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods, you're alive."

Steve' s arm throbbed painfully. He had a bright red burn across his arm that resembled a lightning strike, and his entire arm was submerged in freezing water to help the burn.

"Do you remember what happened?" Clara asked.

Steve nodded slowly. "W-where's Herobrine?" he asked.

"He's in the other room. He hasn't left or eaten anything in days," Jackson said.

"Days?" Steve puzzled. "How long have I been out?"

Clara and Jackson exchanged glances. "Two days," Jackson said quietly. "You were definitely severely electrocuted. I'm pretty sure that it was worse than if you had been struck by lightning."

Steve shivered again.

There was a moment of silence. Steve's arm continuously throbbed despite the icy water and overall, he just felt sore. It was probably going to take weeks to recover from this.

"I feel like all of this proves a point," Steve muttered.

"What?" Clara asked.

"Herobrine IS dangerous. I know he doesn't look like it, but this is the second time he's almost killed me. We can't keep him. We can't send any one of us on the run with him. We have to give him to the Netherwalkers before he actually kills one of us." Steve said.

Clara opened her mouth to retaliate, but Jackson butt in. "Clara, I know that you care about him. But I've just spent forty-eight hours trying to keep Steve's heart beating."

"He's dangerous. We can't keep him," Steve said.

Suddenly, the three heard a whimper from behind them. Herobrine was peeking out from behind a door. His white eyes were red and puffy from crying. He looked absolutely heartbroken from what he had heard. Steve wasn't sure how much of the conversation he had heard, but it was clearly enough to upset him. Everyone just stared at him guiltily.

"Hero—" Steve began.

"I'm SORRY!" Herobrine said, bursting into tears. "I-I-I didn't m-mean to h-h-hurt you! I'm so sorry!" he sobbed. Crackle was standing at his feet and squeaked angrily at the adults.

"Hey, hey. It's okay," Clara said, walking over to him and getting on one knee to be eye level. She reassured him quietly, and he sobbed into her shoulder. She shot a glare at Steve and Jackson, who exchanged guilty glances.

Clara took Herobrine away, probably to cheer him up and talk to him. Jackson finished brewing a health potion and gave it to Steve. The sweet red liquid helped numb the pain of the burn.

"What do you think, Jackson?" Steve asked.

"About what?"

"Herobrine."

Jackson said nothing for a solid minute. He wrung his hands nervously as he thought. Finally, he sighed and said, "Look, I don't really want to get involved or share my opinion, because Clara will probably hear and it will lead to a fight. But... maybe, just maybe, you may be right. Maybe... giving Hero up is the best thing we can do."

...

A pair of cold eyes surveyed the town. He watched villagers and people trade with one another and work along side one another. Hmm. This appeared to be one of those villager-human alliance places. He found it amusing that his prey was hiding here. He'd have to have truly forgotten everything to end up in a place like this.

"So, what's the plan?" a woman asked, joining the stranger. She wore matching enchanted netherite armor and had an enchanted bow on her back. A long scar across one eye blinded her.

"Hmm." The stranger continued surveying the town. "I'm thinking of a more... delicate approach to this. If he's as wiped as we think he is, then it probably isn't best to go in swords blazing and executing him in the center of town. The villagers wouldn't appreciate that, no matter who he is. Stupid pacifists," he muttered. "Let's just find him, drag him into the forest where no one will hear him scream, and do our job. Who knows? This could be the last time we ever track him down."

The woman nodded. "What about our pact, though?"

He shrugged. "That's not my call. We'll get paid accordingly, especially when we blip him out of existence."

She nodded again. "So, when are we heading down?"

"As soon as we disguise ourselves as civilians. A half-dozen heavily armored knights will cause a panic," he pointed out. He headed back down the other side of the hill, where a small camp had been made. The woman cast one last look at the town before following him.

...

It had been a few days, so Steve was feeling well enough to walk. He had been helping Jackson with his patients since he still wasn't well enough to head back to the mines.

Steve carried potions to one of the patients, who was completely wrapped in bandages. The patient was a mob hunter that had been caught in a creeper explosion and nearly blown to bits. Steve was luckily not present to see the gory wounds when Jackson stitched him back up.

Herobrine trailed behind Steve with a smile and two potions in his arms. Steve stopped at the patient's bed and started putting the potions in his inventory on the nightstand. Herobrine did the same. He had been purposely trying to be helpful for the past few days after the Incident.

"Thanks," the patient mumbled, popping open the cork of one of the bottles and downing it in one swig.

"You're welcome!" Herobrine said cheerfully.

Herobrine had purposely only been allowed to be with the patients who couldn't see correctly so no one would notice his eyes. This unfortunate victim had been blinded in the explosion and probably would never see again.

Steve walked out with Herobrine on his heels. Steve rubbed his sore arm. It was feeling better, but the lightning-shaped scar across it probably wouldn't fade for years.

Herobrine noticed him rubbing his arm. "Are you okay?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Steve reassured him. He immediately stopped touching his arm. Herobrine didn't look very convinced, but he didn't say anything else.

Jackson added nether wart into the brewing stand and watched as the water bottles were infused with a deep blue liquid. He glanced up when Steve and Herobrine walked in. "Oh hey, did you get the potions to the patients?"

"Yup!" Herobrine said cheerfully.

"Great."

Suddenly, the door to the clinic flew open and Clara ran in. Sweat trailed from her forehead from running. She was still wearing her work armor, so she must have come straight from there.

"Jackson, Steve, we have a MASSIVE problem!" She exclaimed between gasps of air.