oh right, im posting this here too. whoops.
The deed was done.
$20,000. That was how much his captive had sold for. Caden had plans for the money the moment the deal had gone through, mind whirling at the concept of so much money. This was definitely worth it, and now he wondered if he could get the same - or more - for Steve.
Using a secure file transfer, Caden locked Herobrine up in a fixed folder and sent him to the buyer. He had no idea who they were- they'd used throwaway accounts for the auction, so he really didn't have a single clue. All he knew was that he had gotten revenge, on both Herobrine and Notch, and gotten a large sum of money to boot. He should be ecstatic.
...so why was he so uneasy?
After the initial high, his mood had settled into a general anxiety. What if Notch found out? He'd been angry last time, this time - this time he'd kill him. What if Herobrine somehow came back to haunt him? Given that he was an AI, he could completely disrupt his work. Or what if he didn't behave for his new owners, and they blamed it on him? He knew the dark net was chock-full of dangerous individuals, if they thought he'd ripped them off-
-but there was no sense worrying, 20k was enough for him to buy a car and flee should worst come to worst. Besides, he had a trump card - Steve. Another one of Notch's pets, and Herobrine's most prized possession, he would keep at least the both of them at bay.
Speaking of said possession, he should check on him. He hadn't so much as glanced at his prisoner since he had torn him away from his friend about 24 hours ago.
Before he did that, though, Caden got up and stretched. It had to be almost morning, he should eat. He would've held his auction during the day, but apparently 'the dark net' was taken quite literally by those interested in his wares. Hence, nighttime.
The teen milled around his quiet house, tiptoeing past his drunk and passed-out father collapsed on the living room floor before making his way to the kitchen and getting a snack. A bad of stale chips wasn't the most filling of sustenance, but it'd keep him going for a while longer.
When he opened up Steve's prison, he found the prisoner sitting silently in the center of the void he resided in. His eyes were downcast, dark shadows underneath them as he appeared to be deep in thought. The bags under his eyes made the teen pause - if those appeared, was he hungry? Thirsty? While he had outfitted both prisons (Herobrine's and the backup, which he had made in case the first didn't work for some reason) with a supply of oxygen, there was no food or water. Although, Herobrine had professed to his clients that he wouldn't die from starvation or dehydration. Most likely Steve was the same.
On an impulse, Caden plugged his headset into his computer and connected his mic to the contained world. He hesitated, for just a moment, then spoke aloud,
"Hello?"
"Hello?" Steve jumped at the voice, breaking his concentration on his thoughts and pulling his attention to a point just above him. He looked up, but saw nothing. The hacker, then?
"Hello?"
"Hello, Steve." Undoubtedly the hacker. The miner found himself struggling to keep up, even though he had only heard two words, due to his captor's voice. He sounded so young.
"You're younger than I imagined." He heard himself say. A pause, then a soft chuckle.
"I hadn't considered that, but, yeah, I guess."
"How old are you?" He didn't know why he was asking these questions, when there were so many more reasonable things he could be asking, but they kept coming out anyway. Maybe he just craved human contact. He'd been alone for a couple of days now.
"I'm 17."
"You're a kid."
"How old are you?" The boy asked, not acknowledging his response.
"I don't know." Steve paused, getting to his feet. "Maybe 13 or 14 years old."
"Have you always looked like that?"
"If you're asking whether or not I age, the answer is I don't think so."
"That's about it, yeah. How much do you know about what you are?"
"I'm a… person?" He was starting to catch up with what was going on, now. "Where's Herobrine?"
"He's- gone. He's gone." A forced harshness worked its' way into the boy's voice. "I sold him off." Steve blinked. A frown worked its way on his face despite his attempts to keep it blank, and he opened his mouth, voice trembling as he spoke.
"Why?" A pause. "What makes you think- why? How could you possibly be cruel enough to take - after what you've already done - tear him- us away from our home? Lock me in here, in this nothingness? And make him a slave?!"
"He's not a slave, he's a tool. Slaves are people."
"Explain how Herobrine's not a person?!" Steve shoved himself upright, furiously blinking away the tears that blurred his vision. "So that- that answers my question. You think that he's somehow worth less than you."
"He's a program. He's not a human being. He might be smart, but that doesn't make him worthy of personal autonomy!" Steve hesitated, a brow quirking at the unfamiliar word, but the boy went on. "He was too dangerous free, my research showed that he was capable of roaming the internet freely. We're better off with him trapped."
"But he didn't!" Steve threw his hands in the air. "He didn't leave his server! He was content to just exist by himself! Why did you have to ruin it for him?!"
"He's dangerous."
"Not after what you did to him, he isn't!" Steve fired back. "You changed him. Broke him. He wasn't willing to hurt people, even just player avatars, after what you did!"
"You don't know that! You don't know what he's done!" The hacker snapped. "You don't know he- he terrorized the players for years! He hurt them just for fun!"
"They were players! They didn't feel it! All it did was force them to respawn! And I do know what he's done!" Steve yanked his shirt up, revealing the dark scar on his side. "Herobrine's done far more to me." A stunned silence.
"...what do you mean?" The teen asked at last.
"He beat me within an inch of death." Dropping his shirt, he pressed a hand to a row of scars on his forearm. "Gained my trust, then took away everything I had. Killed my dogs, destroyed my home. It took me years just to be able to go outside without being paralyzed with fear."
"Then why the **** are you on his side?" Utter bewilderment tainted his captor's voice.
"Because I know how to forgive people!" Steve snapped. "He can't change what he did in the past, but he changed how he treated people in the future! I suppose I… I could thank you for that." The miner felt a smile twitch at his lips. "What you did to him changed him. You made him realize just what it felt like to be helpless and scared."
Steve jabbed a finger in the direction of the voice. "But that's no excuse to continue tormenting him! He's learned his lesson!"
"Look, I couldn't do anything now if I tried!" Did he detect a tremble in the boy's voice? "He's gone! I don't even know who owns him now!"
"Then get help!"
"From who?! It's not like I can go to the police and say 'hey I stole an artificial intelligence and then sold it to some other thieves, can you help me find them so I can steal him back?'!"
"I don't know what you're talking about. But- Notch." Notch was real, a real person, wasn't he? "Notch could find him."
The boy gave a stunted chuckle. "Notch hates me."
"Notch is a kind person. He would help us."
"He wouldn't. He'd throw me back in prison." His captor responded bitterly. "A-and we're not a 'we'. An 'us'. I'm not bringing him back, even if I could. He's a danger, he's better off imprisoned."
"What about me, then?!" Steve cried out in frustration. "I'm just the same as he is! Does that make me a villain? A weapon?! Are you going to sell me too?"
"No." The voice was unexpectedly firm. "I'm keeping you."
"Why?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure." That air of detachment was slipping back into his voice, the bored tone that meant he wasn't really listening. "Maybe just because I find you very interesting."
"Good to know." Steve responded bitterly. "What's your name?"
"What?" The boy hesitated, caught off guard. "My name?"
"Your name."
"Caden."
"Caden, get out of my server." Steve ordered, keeping his voice as strong as he possibly could as he sunk back to the ground. "I want the nothingness back."
A white room loaded around him.
Herobrine looked up, glowing eye blinking lazily as he took in his surroundings. A single doorway sat at the other end of the room, which was lit by ambient, invisible lighting.
A message appeared in the corner of his vision.
[Solve the maze]
The exit was to a maze, then? Herobrine almost scoffed, letting his eyes fall shut again. No, it was over. He had been sold. Nothing he did not would affect Steve's safety, so why not give up now?
Searching pain overwhelmed his senses, and he heard the scream before he felt the air rushing from his lungs.
