Binds That Tie

Chapter 4: Tension

A/N: Sorry if that last chapter had too many question marks, sometimes I do that without noticing. I'll go back and fix it later. Also, I finished this so that I can work on Hero's Bane next and hopefully have an update on either Sunday night or Monday evening. Enjoy!

…

"About time?" Herobrine muttered as he kept himself leaning against the side of the small house in the shadow of a large tree hovering partially over the structure, he quietly awaited for the two stragglers but it was grating on his patience of how long they were taking. He thought he could already be on the road to recovering his real form and powers already and just be done with his predicament but that pathetic miner and the old woman just kept taking precious minutes and making him stay in this weak state longer. "Even walking here and I still beat you Steve? Walking is something you are kind of good at, running? Even better." He said with a smirk. "Did you have to hold onto the slow hag's hand the entire time? What an infant."

The witch narrowed her eyes as she looked at the evil Steve double, he was so arrogant, annoying, and just plain rude. It was even more annoying now that he was an eight year old, normally she wouldn't of expected Herobrine to say what he did like that but his mentality had changed a little. Less than she expected, but still; he had to have that spoiled and childish tone of voice and it was getting on her nerves. She was about to give that boy a piece of her mind but Steve walked out in front of her, or more like stomped out in front with his fists coiled. Seems like someone else didn't like what the brat had to say.

Steve had mixed feelings as he bravely trudged up towards Herobrine. He felt bad that the being didn't have any positive 'human' feelings and had forgotten his true purpose in which he'd eventually become a mindless body of power that destroys everything he touches in the future if the miner didn't succeed in changing him, but on the other hand; he was angry from everything the being ever did to him and now the insults to him and the witch. Mad that his double was so cruel and bullied him over something as simple as walking with a nice old lady that had the 'care' to help them and was even going to give them supplies and a map to start on their journey. Besides, he wouldn't of learned the truth of anything if she didn't talk to him. He wouldn't be so eager to help the being and not know ahead of time that the white-eyed boy would ultimately turn back into the murderous man within a week's or more time, and that was if he was lucky. Herobrine was completely oblivious to the kindness the old lady was going to show them which meant it was going to take a lot more than survival items… no gifts, to even get him started on seeing life through a new light.

He stopped as he came within two feet of the being and he only glared silently as Herobrine leaned up from the wall and glared back with a daunting grin. "You can insult me but don't insult her!" He daringly moved a hand forward and pushed Herobrine back an inch to show how serious he was. "She's going to help us out a lo-" Steve suddenly felt himself being shoved back and he gaped silently before pushing back with a deep growl. "Stop that!"

"You started it." He brought his palm top the miner's chest and heaved.

"Well…" Steve paused and deeply frowned after realizing he pushed Herobrine first.

"Well?" Herobrine prodded?

"Well, I'm going to finish it!" He shoved again and this time made Herobrine back into the house and he frowned from the feeling of being cornered.

"Oh really?" He retaliated by shoving harder and caused the miner to fall flat on his rear end.

Steve stood up and huffed before wiping the dirt off of his pants, struggling to get under control of his childish anger. "Well yeah. I'm done with this. I might have been turned into a child but I am certainly not going to act like one, like you." He pointed before turning away from Herobrine and walking towards the witch.

Herobrine grinned again and this time he moved towards Steve and pushed him with both hands and caused the other boy to stumble forward a few feet and almost made him fall face-forward to the ground, he was lucky to catch himself in his stagger. "Still weak. That's how you were on the day I killed 'them'. You couldn't do anything then and you still- can't-." He provoked.

"That's it!" Steve clenched his fists as tight as he could and then turned and ran at Herobrine and slammed him into the house with as much force as he could, powered by rage and hate. A few stray tears ran down the sides of his cheeks as he moved his fists against his enemy. Pushing and shoving was one thing, but reminding him about something he was powerless to stop as 'they' were killed? That crossed the line.

The white-eyed boy was actually taken aback and somewhat shocked as he collided with the wooden building, actually feeling a strong force pounding against his chest and feeling it become more tender by the second as Steve hammered his fists at him. He hated this new feeling, he hated the one causing it. He rose his own fist up and slammed it into the miner's face to get the boy off of him, that did little to stop Steve and that was surprising to say the least. He continued to punch back, making sure to land good blows to the unrelenting miner's face.

"Stop both of you this instant! We have more important things to worry about then the two of you starting fights! We definitely don't have the time!" The witch shouted but the kids kept throwing punches at each other and believe it or not; she actually thought Steve was going to beat the little brat to death. He was taking some good wallops but that didn't deter him from striking Herobrine repeatedly. She quickly tramped over to them and tugged at Steve's shoulder but he completely ignored her and continued to clout Herobrine, landing a few hard punches to the other's gut and making the being now using his arms to defend himself instead of hitting back. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" She placed both of her hands on Steve's shoulders and tore him off of the other and pulled him away. She grabbed one of his arms to keep him from moving and tackling Herobrine, though he really deserved it. "Steve calm down right now!" She made the boy face her and he looked away from both her and his rival now that the fight was over.

Herobrine growled and wrapped an arm around his stomach, he looked to be in some pain. That could be his first lesson? The witch thought.

She grabbed Steve by the chin and made him face her. He was silently crying, only having tears run down his warm cheeks as he remained wordless. His blue eyes were watery and his cheeks were red and puffy from the strikes and his lack of air from the fight. The miner tried to face away again but she wouldn't let him.

"Leave me alone." Steve groaned as he rose his hand to rub his sore cheek and wipe away the tears that irritated his skin as they flowed downward.

"No." The elderly sorceress simply said. She really did feel bad for the kid, he was supposed to retain his mentality more than Herobrine since he already grew up, had enough life experiences and such but that wasn't the case now. At least not when It came down to the murder of his parents. "You are going to have to learn to not be bothered by what he says, he's only trying to goad you into fights. He can't help himself right now and you need to realize that. He doesn't feel. He wants you to hurt and pay for something that wasn't really ever your fault. … Which now that I see, he may be regretting since he got most of the physical pain in that fight?" She looked up and saw the little being partially hidden behind the tree, sitting down and gently running his hand over his chest and upper abdomen with low groans.

"I'm sorry." He said with an apologetic tone, looking down at his feet in shame.

"I am not the one you should be saying that to."

Steve narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as he looked back up at her. "I'm not telling him that, he started it!"

The witch sighed and rubbed her temples. "Steve, you can't even ever have the hope to change him if you fight with him the entire way and not show him things like forgiveness and sympathy? You should be more mature in the mind than him so you should know better to handle these small scuffles and get past them. So, apologize to him."

Steve only looked away and rubbed his tender cheek.

"Well, later then. At least once you cool down anyways." She grabbed his arm and he let her pull it from his chest, she pulled him along as she walked towards Herobrine. The witch tugged Steve along and let him go as she reached the other child. The boy had then fully turned away as she drew near. "Alright Herobrat, come on?" She reached an arm down and tapped him on the shoulder but he refused to look at her or budge, he only continued to rub his chest. "You pretty much started it and you got what you had coming, but now you need to get up. I have to give you guys a few things before you leave here or you could die on this trip." She shook him but he still didn't move.

"Come on?!"

Steve didn't bother even looking in Herobrine's direction until he heard what sounded like the boy sniveling? That was very surprising. Fight after fight he had with Herobrine before their curse and not once in any of the battles had the being ever shown an expression or made a sound of pain, so this was definitely new. A prick of guilt rested in his chest and he just couldn't shake it, he shouldn't even feel remorse for hurting his parent's killer but he did.

The witch let go and left Herobrine to stew in his mood. "Come Steve, at least I can give you something."

The miner lightly nodded and followed behind her, taking only a short glance back at his rival as he walked into the house. His eyes soon darted around the small windowless interior as he walked in and he couldn't believe how much stuff the woman had. Strange smells instantly filled his nostrils, the place smelled like melon, gunpowder, carrots, and rotten zombie flesh. This witch had tons of potions on long shelves that lined most of the walls and ran around the entire one-room building. A few cobwebs clung to the ceiling in the back corner and partially hid a shelf with few empty bottles as well as a few burnt-out torches. She had an open fireplace at the main end of the room with bookcases on each side loaded with books, some books even laid on the floor. Many of the manuscripts were stacked up on a few countertops next to the cauldron and brewing station along with loose sheets of paper and scrolls. Loads of ingredients were piled on any flat surface he could see that wasn't the floor, some were even piled on her small dusty makeshift bed of wooden planks and sheets of wool and leather. Though the place made him feel crammed it did have that home-feeling, the crackle from the fireplace along with the warm cozy temperature of the room almost made him sleepy. The smell really didn't bother him, he could take a nap right there on the dusty floor if he wasn't about to go on a long journey.

"Okay, lets see here?" The witch tapped her chin as she looked around. "Maybe I put it over here?" She moved away from her bed where she was standing as the miner came in and dug through a pile of ingredients, she dropped a few chunks of redstone as she moved stuff around but paid no mind to mess she was making. "Not here." She then moved over to her cauldron and smiled. "Ah, here it is!" She grabbed onto the item from behind the and pot and pulled it out.

Steve felt himself smile as she pulled out a wooden sword and handed it to him, but then his grin fell as he remembered that he had an iron one. "Where's my-"

It should be in your inventory, but I wouldn't worry about using it if I were you? It's going to be too heavy for you right now so I made you one that is lighter." She handed it to him and he carefully studied the item but it was nowhere near sharp.

"It's not very sharp." He said with disappointment. "I don't even think it could cut grass?"

"Hm, probably not but it is better than nothing. I'm a witch not a blacksmith, so sorry to disappoint. Oh?" She put her hands on her hip and gave a light chuckle as she looked behind Steve. "Look who finally decided to join us?"

Steve quickly turned around to see Herobrine standing by the doorframe, he looked angry with his position but only glared quietly as he stood there.

"Well, I do have something for you too Herobrine."

"I don't want or need it." He said with a deep frown.

"Don't be silly, that diamond pick of your is too heavy and don't deny it?" She waved a finger at him. "I saw you trying to swing it around in the air earlier and you could barely get it off of the ground, so I made a wooden pick for you. I would have made you a sword but you're going to need a pickaxe to harvest some coal if you run out."

"Run out? We don't even have any old hag."

"Patience Hero-brat." She said with a deflated scornful tone and this made him sneer. She handed him the pick and he reluctantly took it before she moved closer to the fireplace and grabbed some coal ores and scooped up a pile into her arms. "Now which one of you wants to carry the coal?" She asked but neither seemed to volunteering until Steve sighed and held out his hands like the good child he was. "Thank you." She handed him handfuls at a time and the boy stuffed them into his inventory coming to an amount of twelve chunks.

"Do we have to make torches?" Steve softly asked.

"Not yet, I can give you guys a few. And be thankful, I don't really have much coal or torches or anything, but I can always go looking for some more stuff or make some trades with the local villagers." She quickly moved over to her bed grabbed a few unlit torches that laid in a small stack, she evened the amount and gave both Herobrine and Steve. She then moved about in the small house grabbing many things before handing them to the boys, most of it was taken by Steve since Herobrine refused to take things that seemed 'useless' to him.

"How much stuff are you going to give us?" He asked, now checking his inventory to find coal, torches, bottles of water, a few labeled potions, wooden sticks, a few iron ingots, some apples, potatoes, and carrots. As well as wooden planks, a few loafs of bread, some dried steak, leather strips, string, and a compass.

She then held out the map for Steve to take but Herobrine quickly moved to take it out of the elderly woman's hand before the miner could.

"I'll take it. It's only one of the few things here that'll be of any use." He grumbled.

"Hey?" Steve narrowed his eyes but the white-eyed one ignored him.

"That was rude, but at least he finally decided to take something other than the bucket and flint? Hmmm… is there anything else I can give you boys?" She scanned the room, turning her head in every direction to see if there was anything else they'd need. … "No. … Wait!" Her eyes landed on her bed. "One more thing!" The witch moved back towards her bed and started to pull off the sheets, dumping most of the items that were on the covers onto the thin mattress made of a woolen sheet. Herobrine only sighed and walked out the door. "Here, both of you can have a leather sheet to keep you warm at night or if you pass through cold climates, it's not as soft as wool but it's pretty much water proof and could keep you dry when it rains." She folded the large grey dyed leather pelt and handed the first one to Steve who seemed all too happy to take it, she noticed that Herobrine just left. "Wait Herobrine, I have one for you too?" She poked her head out the door and waved the dyed black one but the being continued to ignore her. "Herobrine?"

"I don't need it."

"You say that now but you'll regret it."

Herobrine walked over to the edge of the woods and stopped, still paying the witch no mind as he waited.

The old woman sighed before moving back into the house. "It seems he wants to freeze, if he had checked the map by now then he'd know that there is a large taiga about eight miles from here. What a fool?" She heavy sighed before refolding the hide and holding out for the young miner to take. "If you want to take it then go ahead, 'he' thinks he don't need it but he will. Trust me, without powers he can't regulate his body temperature in that biome or in any biome as a matter of fact. But I am going to let you decide if you want to carry if for him or not?"

"Why are you making me choose?" The young boy asked in curiosity though he already had a feeling as to why.

She held it out and lightly shook it out of impatience. "Let's see? Your inventory is about full, you could always use it for yourself for more warmth, or- you could give it to him yourself and show him how to share?"

Steve didn't say a word as he reached out and took it before storing it away.

"There's a good boy, you have a heart unlike him." She motioned for the miner to exit And they left the house with the witch closing the door behind them.

"What about you? Those are your sheets?"

"I'll be fine. I do have a fireplace and with the my house being so small and without windows it stays nice and warm in there. Don't worry about me child, you need to worry about yourself and Herobrine."

Steve looked at Herobrine the moment the old lady said his name. The being only stood with his back to both of his company. "This isn't going to be easy."

"You are not lying, I'll tell you that." She leaned down and patted him on the head and he only raised a brow in confusion from the taps. The kid wasn't used to being treated like a child anymore and she could tell by his expression but he wasn't too bothered by it. "You're a good kid, … or a good person. Either I guess works in this situation?"

"Yeah." He lightly chuckled and playfully swatted the hand away, his dad used to do that to him a lot. "Thanks for the help, I will try my best with changing h-" Steve quickly caught himself in mid-sentence as Herobrine turned around and gazed at them. "Changing us back." He simply finished.

"Yes. You 'DO' your best Steve and 'DON'T' fail." She made a quick wink to indicate her real words from their past discussion.

Herobrine raised a brow of his own, confused as to why his enemy seemed so comfortable to go on this trip. Was the miner planning something? Did he not know that they were enemies and after they reach their goal that the being was going to kill him as soon as the moment he gets his power back? Herobrine narrowed his eyes. This entire trip with the curse would be useless, he was still going to regain his older form and kill the miner and the witch but they didn't seem to be concerned at all. That old hag was really stupid, she was only delaying the inevitable. She must really be old and dim-witted if she thinks that making this ridiculous journey after turning them into kids and telling him how to be free of it would be benefit her or the miner. It would have been more rational to just kill him in his weakened state but neither of the humans before him seem to see the clever idea which favored him, but just knowing how careless they were over the opportunity bothered him more than he ever wanted it to.

"Are we going or not?" The angered child asked while tapping his foot in impatience and frustration.

The young miner glared at Herobrine and crossed his arms. "Yes, patience." He looked at the witch and made a weak smile. "I will try not to let you down. … Also, I forgot to ask your name?"

"It's Annah, and I know you will do great but remember; behave yourself. The both of you." She looked at both of the boys then lightly pressed as Steve's back to get him moving along though he seemed reluctant to move at all. She could see his real feelings from behind the fake smile, she could tell from the boy's body language that he wasn't all that excited to leave. He was probably frightened like he was walking through the woods earlier but she knows he can beat his fear if he tries hard enough. At least he wasn't alone. She knew that Herobrine was going to have to toughen Steve back up, but hopefully doing so in a way that wasn't going to result in fights. "You boys need to get going, it'll be dark in before you know it."

"Okay." Steve took a deep breath and left the old woman's side, feeling chills as he now looked ahead at the forest. There was no telling what could be lurking in those shadowy woods, creepers was his first thought and he shook from it.

"What's wrong Steve?" Herobrine hissed the miner's name. "Afraid of the trees?"

"No!" He raised a fist and growled lowly to himself.

"Don't even start it boys!" Annah placed her hands on her hips and shook her head in disbelief, wondering if her visions were stirring the kids in the right direction. Herobrine had intentions to provoke Steve and that poor child seemed to fall for the goading to easily, they would be at each other's throats again soon. She watched as Steve slowly made his way next to Herobrine and the being simply ignored his very presence and Steve then pretended to do the same. They looked so much alike, as if real brothers. For some reason that thought made the old witch smile. "You know, you two are like brothers? You both share the same flesh and blood and you certainly act like it when you fight, so you two should try to get along like brothers are supposed to. Now behave boys and good luck. Oh, and remember Steve, time is of the essence and everything, everybody you know and care depends on you. 'He' depends on you."

Steve quietly nodded and dared not to look at his counterpart, Herobrine still had no idea of his true intentions. The process was probably going to move slow but that he expected.

"Brothers? Ha!" The bad one scoffed. "We may share some features but trust me, we are nothing alike."

"What he said." The miner said with a frown.

"I was just speaking from my mind, now run along. You shouldn't be wasting time."

"For once, I agree." Herobrine turned on his heels and began his trek through the woods and Steve only looked back but was still hesitant to follow.

"Are you sure about this Annah? We're only kids out in the world by ourselves with nothing but a few items to keep us moving for a short while, I can't even be sure if 'I' am ready?" He rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness and searched the ground before moving his eyes up to the witch who was now walking back to her house. She made a short stop.

"Go." Annah said as she continued to walk away. She felt bad that she had to say it in such a careless manner but the miner wasn't moving and Herobrine was getting ahead. She soon heard the young miner exhale softly before the sound of his rushing footsteps through the long grass. Those footfalls disappeared quickly and she left a sigh of her own escape her lips. Annah slowly opened her door and moved inside the house without looking back, she really hoped for their safety and hoped she made the right decision in letting them go it alone. Fate was in Steve's hands now and she strongly prayed that her dark visions would cease.

The young miner saw his double several yards away and sprinted after the boy, he was going to just leave without him and that was down right mean and foolish. Steve finally caught up and paced a few feet back behind the being, Herobrine did have the map after all.

"Now I'm not going to hold your hand like you did with the old hag so keep up." The double said in a harsh and thoughtless tone.

Steve rolled his eyes and folded his arms in anger bubbling up again. He couldn't believe this guy's purpose was to protect him.

…

A/N: Okay, now they are starting their journey. This chapter was longer than I thought it was going to be but oh well, at least you enjoyed right? Let me hear your thoughts. Review? :D