....
I woke up that day with the same feeling as always. I just laid there in my unnecessarily large comfy bed and just hoped the day would be over with already so I could fall back to sleep. I couldn't shut my glowing white eyes I didn't even like anymore, even though they could be useful at times. They mostly just scared people however, even after all the things I had done to repay the world for the destruction I had caused in my youth. I had been busy doing nothing but helping others for the past almost three years, however, the sickening feeling never left me. Even if the world eventually forgave me, I would never be able to forgive myself. My younger brother was killed by my own hands, and after I had promised to protect him too. And my twin had been memory wiped and sent to a random point in time as an experiment so many years ago, by me. I never saw him again.
I heard a gentle knock on the door of my room and groaned, rolling over in my bed while pulling the blankets over my head. I heard the knock again.
"Goawayandlemmesleep.." I grumbled from under my blankets. I really wasn't in the mood for anything.
"Um, Lord Herobrine?." I heard Fred, one of the whither skeletons, speak through the door.
"Isaidleave,sogoaway!" I growled a little louder. However, I didn't hear the sound of his bony feet leaving me to be alone. I then heard the small creek of the larger than normal wood door opening and a beam of light shined in through my covers. I hissed under the blankets at the light and grabbed a pillow. I then proceeded in throwing it across the room at the cracked open door. Fred saw the pillow coming and closed the door quickly to be used as a shield against my wrath. But to my unliking, the door opened once again.
"Um, Lord Herobrine.. There is a slight matter just outside the corridors." Fred informed. I was annoyed with Fred but always liked keeping him around because of his nice English Accent that fit his role as a butler pretty well. That, and he just sounded smart. I grumbled once more but decided to finally get my lazy self up. So I rolled out of bed and slowly walked towards the door. Fred just watched my depressed figure as emotionless as always.
"Alright, what is the problem?" I asked Fred once at the door.
"There appear to be three humans near the entrance. We have not been able to define them as a threat or not sir. Perhaps you could speak with them." Fred suggested. I straightened myself a little and tried to match Fred's height, however inside I knew I would never be getting any taller. I didn't like being shorter than those who worked for me very much. Or anyone I guess. Probably one reason I like Minecraft so much, because everyone is so similar in size.
"Alright. I'll go check it out." I then grabbed the old diamond sword off my wall and walked over to the front doors. I was in no rush to teleport. Since there hadn't been any explosions so far I figured it was just a few teens daring each other to break in or something. But I kept my sword with me incase it happened to be more. Once at the door I straightened again and opened it casually.
Once outside the large doors, I looked left and right. I didn't spot anything unusual, so I turned to walk back inside. But then I heard a few quiet whispers and a couple harsh shushes. The voices intrigued me since they sounded far too young to be in the Nether. I then decided to take another look. That time around I saw three forms crouched or sitting down against the Nether Brick walls. I could tell they were overheated by the Nether's heat and were attracted to the brick's cold touch. I myself liked that the Nether bricks acted as built-in conditioning so my castle never got too hot.
I looked closer at the three and saw that they were, indeed, children. One girl and two boys. The oldest looked probably fourteen or fifteen, so I guess a teenager. He had slightly long, curly black hair that ended just above his shoulders. And for an outfit, he wore some leather armor over casual looking clothes. In his right hand was a wooden sword. The second oldest was the girl. She looked maybe eleven and had sandy blond hair that went down her back and a pair of large dark purple glasses on her face. She didn't have any armor like the oldest, and she was wearing some old torn casual clothes just like her brother.. I had gotten myself in the habit of doing DNA scans when I first met someone so I knew right away that all three had been born by the same parents.. And the youngest I could tell had been the one whispering earlier because he looked almost terrified by the worried shushing his older siblings had given him. The youngest looked only four or five. And he had yellowish blond hair and sky blue eyes. The oldest had dark brown eyes and the girl had greyish blue eyes.
The three didn't even seem to notice me at first. Where I stood was slightly higher up the wall. But all three looked around like terrified mice for anything that might want to spook them. They didn't have to worry about the mobs around here, however. I made sure they only fought back in self-defense or if someone tried to kill me indirectly. I might eventually want to change that last part though because the sooner I am gone, the better. I knew I would eventually just muck everything up and probably cause even more trouble for myself and everyone around me.
Finally the youngest looked up directly into my eyes and let out a little yelp. I just stood as still as a statue while watching all three slowly notice me. Once the oldest saw me he put on his warrior face and stood, holding his sword in front of him. I couldn't help but smile at his bravery. I could tell just by looking at his face that he knew he couldn't kill me, but hoped to scare me off.
"Don't worry kids. I won't hurt you." I chuckled as I threw my old diamond blade onto the floor in front of the oldest to show I was no threat. He quickly crouched down to grab it, keeping an eye on me at all times.
"We're not kids! Now leave or die!" He attempted a threat. I just chuckled more as my smile grew. This kid was funny. He only frowned at my little laugh, the first time I had laughed a non-evil laugh in a looong time.
"Fine, fine, I'll leave you three alone.. But, this is my castle. You know that right?" As I told them the two oldest jumped away from it as if it suddenly became lava. The youngest didn't seem to quite understand why he had been jerked away from the source of coldness so he put on a slight pouty face. The three then began backing away a little. The brother in front of the sister and the sister in front of the little boy. I just looked at them with a slight smile as I remembered my own brothers and the way I had felt about protecting them.
An idea came to mind so I teleported into the kitchen. While rummaging through chests I imagined all three of the kids standing back to back looking all around waiting for me to reappear. I teleported back to exactly where I had been before and sure enough, I saw them exactly as I had imagined. All three standing back to back looking around everywhere anxiously. Once they all saw me all eyes turned my way. I did what I guessed they weren't expecting. I tossed three bottles of water onto the floor in front of them. They just stared down at the bottles as if waiting for them to explode.
"Don't worry. It's just water. Figured you three were thirsty." I said before walking back to the door. I just let them contemplate about whether it was poisoned or not, which I was sure was running through at least the older two's minds. I then walked around my castle and checked on all the farms and such to see how they were doing.
After a bit, I decided to see if the kids were still there. I opened the door and looked where they had once been. And they were still there, sitting against the wall like before. I looked at the floor near them and saw all three bottles empty. I smiled knowing they had some hydration, but wondered why they were still here.
"Uh, why are you three still here?" I questioned. All heads snapped towards me and they looked startled by my presence, but not terrified like before.
"Well, um, we.. ummmm..." The oldest tried to respond.
"We can't go back home or weewll get awested." The youngest said in a cute little boy voice. His siblings quickly shushed him.
"And why is that?" I asked the little boy with a kind voice as I leaned against the wall with my eyes fixated on his little innocent face. He didn't really seem to fear me very much. Refreshing after so long with people only wanting to kill me. The little boy looked like he was about to speak but was cut off by his older sister.
"Teddy no. That guy is Herobrine." She warned him.
"Teddy hu? And what are your guy's names?" I asked with a little smirk. I then looked directly at the older two and let them think about answering. They just stared at me blankly as if waiting for me to go away. "Hey, I ain't leaving until I get an answer. And I am a bored immortal so don't think I'm just bluffing." I didn't get an immediate response from them after saying that. But then finally it looked like the girl gave in.
"My name is Madelyn." She said simply with little emotion.
"And um Mine's Sebastian." The oldest said as more of a growl.
"Well, I can tell you two already know who I am." I chuckled. "But just so you know, I became good almost two years ago and have been trying to make up for my madness ever since." I informed. The oldest/Sebastian just looked angry like I had said something wrong.
"Listen, if you are trying to make us forgive you, it won't work!. You killed our parents!!" Sebastian shouted. I just blinked at his sudden raised volume. For a little bit I didn't even know he could do anything but growl.
It suddenly hit me that I had ruined these little innocent kid's lives some time ago and felt like throwing myself into the nearest lava sea because of the guilt I felt. However being immortal doesn't make things like burning to death easy, or even possible. Instead, I just faced the nearest wall and punched it. Several blocks in front of and around my fist shattered and made a hole in my wall. I looked back and could tell they saw the guilt in me, but didn't trust me in any way. Well except for Teddy, who just looked at the hole in the wall with amazement.
"I'm sorry for your loss. But can you please just go back to the Over World. It isn't safe here." I spoke quietly, keeping myself from shouting as best I could. I then turned to the doors.
"We can't." Madelyn called out as if it had been building up for quite some time. "W- we, were caught stealing something, and have been on the run ever since." My face softened.
"What did you steal?" I asked with zero emotion as I kept my back to them.
"Madelyn do-" Sebastian tried to stop her from answering.
"We- we broke into Minecraftia's biggest vault, and tried taking the Book Of Portals, along with a bunch of diamonds." Madelyn ignored her brother to answer. My shoulders lost their tension and I finally turned around to see that all three of them had sad and full of guilt looks on their faces, especially Madelyn.
"Trust me, you guys don't have to feel so bad. You did nothing compared to me." I told all three.
"We weren't comparing." Sebastian snapped bluntly. I just turned around and left through the door. As I walked down the hallways I wondered even how a few kids could break into the, least creative name, Minecraftia's grand vault. A vault even I couldn't break into, with ease at least.
I walked around a bit until I felt a small hand grab mine. A volt of shock shook through me and I had to stop myself from turning around, summoning a new sword, and slaying whoever was there, all in one motion. I had to keep myself from doing so, because first I had to figure out if the person who had just grabbed me was a threat. I didn't want to be responsible for yet another innocent life lost. I felt the small handshake a little in response to my jump. The person had obviously not expected my reaction, but the hand didn't let go. I turned my head to look over my shoulder and had to look down to see who was holding my hand. I then saw yellowish blond hair and light blue innocent-looking eyes. The eyes looked up at me as if saying thank you. It was then that I realized the eyes and hair belonged to Teddy, who had somehow gotten inside and found me.
"H- how did you get in here?" I asked the little boy.
"Can you help me sir? Me, Maddie, and Baz cam in through the hole you made. We were walking, and I saw a open door. I went in and saw a bunch of food. I was hungry, so I ate it. Then, I couldn't find Maddie or Baz.." Teddy told me. As he told his tale his eyes grew tearier and tearier, until he was practically crying at the ending.
"Baz?" Was my question. Then I figured it was probably Sebastian's nickname or something. Maddie was pretty easy to tell that it was Madelyn's nickname. "Well, by the sound of it, seems like you last saw them around the kitchen. Let's go there." I said, trying to slide my hand out of the little boy's. But he had a firm grip and just would not let go of me. I quietly sighed as I gave up trying to pull away and just started leading him to the kitchen.
I thought of teleporting, but that kind of stuff usually hurts your head the first few times and I didn't want Teddy to be in pain. I also thought we might possibly run into his older siblings along the way.
We finally reached the kitchen and found the two others digging through the chests greedily for food. I smirked when I pictured their faces as they turned around and saw me.
"Ahem." I clear my throat a little to get their attention. They both turned around like ocelots and stared at me wide-eyed. The kitchen lights were turned off and with me standing in front of the only source of light, the door, I probably looked pretty scary. Ya know, with my glowing eyes and all. I turned on the lights using my mind so I wouldn't appear scary to them, hopefully. The two still looked pretty scared though. Then, they noticed Teddy. They looked like they wanted to run to him and pull him away from me, but were worried I might hurt him or something. "It's alright, I won't hurt him." I said smoothly as possible as I pried my hand from the young boy's grip. Then Teddy ran to his siblings and hugged them both happily. I smiled seeing all three happy at once.
"Teddy, what were you doing with Herobrine?!" Madelyn scolded when done being glad that her brother was alright.
"I- I got lost! I saw Herobwine and asked him fowr help!" Teddy pleaded to his sister. Then both Sebastian and Madelyn looked at me surprised.
"What? I said I had changed." Was all I said. Sebastian looked away with an untrusting frown but Madelyn looked thankful.
"Thanks, um, Herobrine." She said with just a little bit of a thankful tone in her words. It was still better than nothing.
"You're welcome.. Now uh, do you guys want anything?" I asked as I hinted to the food laying about. The two oldest quickly put on guilty looks. "Don't worry about it. I have an endless supply of food and am the only one here who actually eats." I chuckled. "So take the whole chest if you want."
"Wow! Thanks!" Madelyn said with a genuine smile right before turning around and picking up a fist full of potatoes. Sebastian did the same, but without a thanks. Teddy jumped from chest to chest and opened each one excitedly but looked sad when he didn't find what he wanted. He finally opened a chest and squealed when he saw his heart's desire. He then leaned into the chest, almost falling in, and pulled out a hand full of cookies. I smiled at his excitement as he showed them to everyone, including me. Teddy didn't hesitate in eating them right then and there. After that, he looked pretty satisfied with his hunger and began looking around excitedly at the kitchen. Teddy then turned his attention to me and ran over, jumping all around in front of me. I probably shouldn't have let him eat all those cookies.
"Can I see the west of your castle Herobwine, can I?!" He asked while jumping around me. I chuckled and looked at the other two. Sebastian still looked like he wanted to kill me in my sleep, while Madelyn was looking at least a little more trusting. She mostly just watched Teddy as he happily jumped around me.
"Well I don't see why not?" I chuckled lightly as I tried to keep my eyes on the little boy, but he was moving so fast it was hard to keep up.
"Yea!!" He squealed, and ran out the door expecting me to follow.
"Teddy wait! We need to find a place to stay first!!" Sebastian called out the door Teddy had left open. Then an idea came to mind.
"I wouldn't mind it if you three stayed here until you find a better place to stay." I suggested. "This place is so big, I wouldn't be able to hear you most of the time anyway, unless Teddy finds my secret stash of cake of course." I chuckled. Madelyn did too.
"Na-ah. We will be going as soon as possible. Right, Madelyn?" Sebastian said with a little muffled growl at the end hinting at Madelyn to agree with him.
"I don't think it would be that big of a problem if we stayed here, just for one night." Madelyn suggested. Sebastian just huffed at her response in disagreement. "And I am pretty sure we all know Teddy's opinion."
As if on cue, Teddy's voice was then heard echoing through the halls. "Herobwine! Hurry up!!" I chuckled and walked out the door. Sebastian and Madelyn followed not too far behind.
And from that point, I showed off rooms of all kinds. The training room, farm rooms, portal room, dining room, arena room, map room, and the many many halls. Since they were guests I also made sure to show them the hidden traps so they would hopefully be avoided. My castle was far from child friendly so I tried my best do deactivate most of the traps as we went along. The kids all seemed to enjoy the place, even Sebastian showed a small smile as he saw some of the rooms. Mainly the rooms with armor and weapons in them. After a while, however, the kids showed obvious signs of being tired. Mostly Teddy, who was dragging his feet on the floor and ready to faint any minute. Even I began to feel a little tired.
"Alright, let's go find a room for you all to stay in." I said plainly when my eyes told me they were finally ready to close.
"Can you carry me there Herobwine?" Teddy moaned from behind me. I shook my head as politely as I could sense it wasn't exactly my role to carry him. That was a big brother or parent thing, maybe uncle.
"I'll carry you, Teddy." Sebastian suggested. Then he let Teddy climb onto his back and started following me as I navigated towards the nearest guest bedroom. I thought it kinda cute seeing Sebastian carrying his little brother on his back.. And Teddy dozed off to the calming rocking motion, resting his chin on Sebastian's shoulder. We eventually made it to the guest bedroom, which just so happened to be a few turns away from my room. They would never dare to go into my room. I had a 'do not enter' sign on the door. :}
The guest bedroom only had one large bed but the three didn't seem to mind as they tiredly crawled in and laid on the same one. Sebastian sat up in bed while Madelyn tucked herself and Teddy in. He looked up at me with a scowl.
"You can leave now." He huffed. I stepped back by the sudden rudeness and teleported out of there into my own room. It was then that I realized I had gone through the entire day in my pajamas! Well, I guess they were exactly like my every day attire, but just a softer fabric. It was still funny to think about as I crawled under my large blankets and shut my eyes. And that night, I fell asleep quicker than I had in a looong time.