Chapter 5: Back in the Mines - (Part 2)
Without a clock, the concept of time within a cave becomes completely meaningless.
It could've been minutes since they got trapped, it could've honestly been hours. Neither of the two could ever hope to be completely sure, even if they counted the time by each and every second that passed since the moment they entered the cave in the first place. Day didn't exist down there, and neither did night. Even for someone like Herobrine, who spent a good portion of his time during the day within caves for personal reasons, the darkness of the caverns often blended together with the darkness of the world outside when he bothered to leave them. Only when somebody bothered to light up the place was there even a chance of being able to tell when time passed; torches can only stay lit for a given period of time.
He wondered how Steve could keep track of such a thing if he even did so at all. Maybe he usually kept a watch on hand, but just so happened to forget one this time around. Or maybe he just did what he usually does with everything else and went in blind without a clue of what exact time it was, which might better explain his poor sleep schedule. He couldn't even remember if he ever saw the miner take out a clock and check the time during their little expeditions together, so in all honesty, he could take a gamble on either option and still end up with the outcome of both of them getting deeply confused with the passage of time.
Eyes fluttering open and attention focusing, he turned to look at the miner in question. Though his thoughts went elsewhere, his focus remained completely on Steve, whose own almost-quiet snoring had disturbed him in his sleep quite a bit.
He would've never guessed that he'd ever meet a human that would be so comfortable with his presence; who would knowingly fall asleep right in front of him like it was such a normal thing to do. That'd be a death wish coming from anybody else, but Steve usually didn't even show any kind of concern for his safety when he was around him.
Did he just have that amount of blind trust in him? Like how he trusted his own scattered brain to lead him through the cave?
Steve treated him like he would any other human, so did he just actively disregard the whole 'being a demigod' thing?
…
…
After briefly considering the possibility of that situation, Herobrine shook his head in silence.
The idea wasn't likely given multiple occasions where Steve interacted with him in fear based on instinct, but the fact that he would even give him the light of day instead of simply running away as fast as he possibly could (though that action would be pretty much useless) would never fail to amaze him. Even his own forces didn't have that kind of courage most of the time, and whenever they did, it was usually because they were staging an uprising of some sort, or they wished to challenge one of his closest companions for dominance.
Closing his eyes once again, Herobrine attempted to read his own body, finding that he was more rested than earlier, but not quite rested enough.
He could take a few more minutes to regain his energy.
…
The silence gave way to stray thoughts.
Earlier doubts began to slowly creep their way into his brain, previously long forgotten, though still rather haunting.
What if Steve was treating him kindly because he wanted something from him?
The question was born out of pure confusion upon one of their earlier encounters, but every so often, it would come back to annoy him and make him doubt the legitimacy of the relationship between him and his one-and-only human friend. He knew that Steve was entirely sincere, but that sincerity only gave way to the suspicion of him just being really good at acting. There have been countless times in the past where he lent his trust and was disappointed by the result; where that same, friendly tone that the miner had melted away into condescending words of hatred and malice.
Trust wasn't exactly something that he had much of when it came to humans, but, like with most things, it was the exact opposite situation for Steve.
He wanted power and attention, Steve just wanted to blend in with others. He was an expert in intimidation, and Steve couldn't even bring himself to completely shake off his baby face. He was slightly wary of humans getting close, Steve was willing to break down and let a few people in. Steve was kind of compassionate, and he was kind of an ass when it really came down to it.
They were so different from one another that Herobrine sometimes found it difficult to believe that they were truly friends. He found it so baffling that Steve would ever feel even remotely safe around him.
Though this was the case, Herobrine couldn't help but admit that he found at least some comfort in the idea that he was somewhat likable enough to be around. Taking the effort to be a friend to Steve, even if their friendship could never be seen by anybody else if either of them wanted to walk this plane of existence again, was challenging, but easily worth the effort. Even if it meant revealing weaknesses to the other that would've never slipped from his mouth otherwise, he'd do anything to keep Steve interested in his presence within his life. If he had any chance of not giving up entirely on the Overworld, he wanted to make sure that Steve was there to hold him back and force him to think rationally.
He looked back at Steve.
He sighed.
He wasn't looking forward to escaping the tunnel.
Teleporting was, as much as he wouldn't like to admit, an extremely taxing thing on him from time to time. To travel miles away in a single instant could leave one very fatigued and weakened if they were using something like an Ender Pearl, but for someone that had to summon the willpower to perform such a feat? Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it made him want to vomit and collapse on the ground without a second thought. It was such an experience that he actively loathed having to take anything alongside him that he had to think about moving in front of anybody, even though he practically mastered hiding the side effects of the action. To move a whole person, however? To think about moving another being with flesh that might be ripped and bones that might be weakened? He had the confidence to act like it didn't affect him as much, but he didn't know if Steve would be happy to see him possibly pass out immediately afterward.
He also didn't want to be wrong about how much energy he had to expend and possibly end up severely hurting, or even killing, Steve.
Nevertheless, he felt like he'd gathered enough energy to try such a thing, though he still felt a bit nervous about it.
And, of course, he felt a bit mischievous.
As quietly as he could, Herobrine crawled over to the miner and gently grabbed his arm. Without any sort of warning whatsoever, he forced himself to teleport the two of them a short distance away from the collapsed tunnel, finding almost immediately that the action had drained him quite a bit, as expected. Though he staggered momentarily upon "landing", he kept his composure and put on a mask of indifference.
To his amusement, however, he found that Steve had finally been stirred awake.
And he appeared to be completely disoriented.
Eyes widened in shock, Steve glanced around the room to find that indeed, the two of them had finally escaped the tunnel. When he found that there was no sign of a shovel or impromptu exit, the reality of what had just happened slowly started to register within his brain. Words laid still on the edge of his tongue, but it wasn't until he shakily stood up that he was able to get them fully out amidst his total confusion.
"W-what was that?!"
Herobrine shrugged as if what he had just performed amounted to purely nothing.
"That was me, teleporting us out of that hellhole."
Steve stared at him like he had suddenly grown two heads.
"That's what you feel when you teleport?!"
The demigod shrugged again, this time hesitantly.
"Trust me, it was worse when I first started out learning how to do it. You get used to it eventually, Steven."
"How?!"
"…Practice." Herobrine said as he walked right past the miner, swaying momentarily before he regained his confident footing.
Acting cool while on the verge of vomiting was a secret skill of the demigod's, but it wasn't like Steve would ever figure that out any time soon. Besides, as long as the miner was okay and unharmed, he'd teleport a million times and suffer a million near-death experiences to make sure that Steve was safe.
"…I don't think I'll be 'practicing' any teleportation skills any time soon, Brine."
"Really? Not even with pearls?" Herobrine asked with a playful tone.
"What? No! That'd be even worse!" Steve exclaimed, looking rather offended by the idea that the other had proposed.
"How so? It's the same thing, essentially. It's just that you're not doing the work to teleport."
"Yeah, but I'd have the guilt of knowing that I had to kill something in order to make travel a bit less inconvenient."
"Just scavenge, then. I've seen other humans do it well enough."
"That doesn't make it any less horrific, Brine. I'm not about to go searching for mob corpses just so I can abuse what's left of the monster that was just there."
"It's sad, yes, but for your information, most mobs end up falling prey to their surroundings faster than to predators such as you humans, so there's a good chance that if you find a stray ender pearl, it wasn't discovered and unearthed through any intentional actions."
"That still doesn't make it any better!"
"Then allow me to take you with me to different places sometime so that you can get used to it, for emergency purposes."
Steve shook his head with a small laugh.
"I think I'll be declining that offer, but thank you anyway."
Pausing for a moment, Steve took a moment to inspect the other carefully.
"Hey, how're you holding up? Did teleporting drain you a lot, or what?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"Of course it did, but the fatigue? It's to be expected. Especially since I only teleport inanimate objects with me most of the time. A living person is a whole 'nother deal entirely, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been."
Though he knew that the side-effects of such a feat were being well-hidden, Herobrine suddenly felt a bit nervous as the other's wary gaze focused on him. Wandering eyes picked him apart slowly, but surely, and though he didn't feel the very least intimated by the younger male, he felt like there was a slim chance of him somehow breaking under the cautious pressure.
"…Are you completely sure that you're fine?" Steve began quietly, extremely concerned."I wouldn't want to put you through something like that again if we get in a tricky situation-"
Herobrine held up a hand to silence the other.
"As I said, I'm fine. For somebody who willingly hangs out with a demigod, you sure like to think that we're kinda fragile, don't you?"
Steve's eyes shone with deep kindness. A bit of offense too, but mostly kindness.
"I don't know how you work, I'm just a bit worried about you! Besides, we're still gonna be working down here, so I wanna make sure that you don't have to strain yourself if any other part of the mineshaft collapses." Steve rebutted, giving the other an expression of concern.
Herobrine shook his head at the other's words.
"If we encounter any problems, we'll deal with it accordingly, there's no need to worry, Steven. Now, what are we going to do next?"
Letting out a sigh of defeat as the demigod walked past him down the tunnel, Steve got out his blueprint and began scanning his eyes over it. Momentarily, he got out a quill from his pocket and crossed out a small section from it.
"We can avoid that section since it no longer exists, I guess."
Walking faster to catch up with his friend, Steve showed him the updated map.
"If we go further this way, we'll be running into a little space with a wooden bridge that's over a large gap. I don't know how far that gap goes down, but hopefully, the bridge won't make us figure that out anytime soon!" Steve finished with a laugh, though he wasn't joined by Herobrine.
"Steven, we're not walking over that bridge if it looks anything like that wooden support beam from earlier that would have cost you your life had I not been with you. Especially since you don't know how far down the fall would be."
"We can find a way to test the distance once we reach it!"
"And if you do happen to find a ravine instead of a small drop, or something?"
Steve stopped walking for a second, pondering the other's words before continuing on.
"Then we'll do what you say and turn right back around. I'm not exactly in the mood for certain death any time soon, y'know?"
This time, Herobrine joined in with quiet laughter.
"I didn't think that you would be."
The two continued their journey down within the Mineshaft, this time scanning over the area for unstable walls and failing support. Passing by both perfectly cut tunnels and even more surprisingly collapsed ones, Steve continued to edit his map accordingly now that he wasn't rushing to draw everything that he saw, updating the paper with better details as he walked along the pathway.
Eventually, they arrived at the bridge that the miner had mentioned earlier, as well as the drop that was present below it.
Looking over the edge, Steve whistled.
"I can't see any ground from here, can you?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"Not clearly. I can see some stone from here, but it may just be part of a ledge."
Nudging the miner, Herobrine nodded towards the hole in the ground.
"Drop a torch down there, then we'll see how far down it goes."
Nodding in response, Steve did as he was told and pulled out the torch, lighting it shortly afterward. Holding it out over the opening, he dropped it and watched as it bounced off the stone wall, falling and landing on a flat stone surface only seconds later.
"Hey! It's not that deep!"
Herobrine leaned over the edge to see where the torch had landed, giving a small shrug as he moved to jump down in order to get it back.
Once his feet connected with the ground, however, he suddenly found himself momentarily in the air, only to fall right onto a newly-discovered pile of stone, andesite, and of course, more gravel.
He couldn't catch a break with this mineshaft.
"Brine! Are you okay?!" Steve's voice called out to him, though it took a rough moment to register.
Letting out a small groan, Herobrine turned to look back up at the miner.
"I think I found out why this place was abandoned. It's cursed!" His voice was laced with annoyance as he shook some of the gravel off of his body, doing a quick self-check to make sure that his limbs weren't too damaged from the fall.
Looking around, he saw that the pit was, in fact, still a part of the mineshaft, with two tunnels leading out that were supported by noticeably more unstable bits of wood.
However, the whole area appeared to be slightly…wispy.
Little bits and strands of a fine white material floated through the air, accumulating in different areas of both the tunnels and the main pit itself. Summoning a bit of fire in his palm to illuminate the space a little bit better than the light from his eyes could, Herobrine walked closer to one of the tunnels, becoming slightly off-put by the sheer amount of cobwebs that appeared to be not so far away from him.
His focus was broken by his friend once again.
"Should I try and make my way down there too?" Steve called out to him from above.
He turned to look back up at him.
"No. Stay where you are. It looks rather dangerous up ahead, and I don't want something lunging right at you when I can take care of it myself."
Squinting in order to see farther into the dark tunnel, Herobrine attempted to walk carefully into it, becoming quiet as he tried to see if any other creature would be joining him anytime soon.
He didn't need to be so cautious in hindsight, as the second he got close to the mass of cobwebs, an alarming amount of eyes flashed open and stared right back at him, and suddenly the air became filled with the sound of hellish screeching.
"Yeah, Steve?" He called back to the miner, who was waiting anxiously from his spot up above the hole.
"…What?"
"Definitely don't come down here."
The moment he finished, he jumped back just in time, thanks to sheer instinct, as several of the spiders lunged toward him, seemingly insistent on attempting to kill something that couldn't be killed (at least not by them, anyway). To his annoyance, however, more and more of the little demons crawled out of the cave and made their way towards him, easy leading to an unfortunate situation where he was outnumbered and suddenly trapped.
As he stared at the mass of arachnids that were approaching him, Herobrine took a brief moment to consider the fact that he'd never gotten bitten by a cave spider before.
The smallest one out of the bunch lunged towards him, followed suit by several others, all bearing sharp, venom-laden fangs as they rushed forward. He didn't see exactly which one in particular, but one of the spiders happened to make contact, latching onto his arm with a screech.
It burned, to say the least.
Though he only felt slightly nauseous with the feeling of pure poison running through his bloodstream, it didn't really feel as bad as various tales from the humans set it up to be.
Which means that a single, harmless bite to him would probably mean instant death for Steve.
Working as quickly as he possibly could, he brought out the closest thing to his hand, his pickaxe, and swung away at the little venomous creatures that were making a beeline to his location. Stabbing through most and stomping on others, he backed further away and began to scale the wall as he tried to return to Steve carefully, making sure that he didn't bring any guests along with him. Dragging his poisoned body over the ledge was the worst part of the escape, but as he tried his best not to slip up and slide right back down to where he started, he felt another pair of hands assisting him, allowing him to spare himself the energy. Those same frantic hands began to check him over, trying to find any injuries that he had sustained.
"Herobrine, are you okay?! How many of those things were down there?!"
Groaning a bit, Herobrine dusted himself off.
"Enough, apparently."
Looking over to his friend, the demigod found worry clear on his features.
Steve placed his hands on his shoulders, staring directly into his eyes.
"How many times did you get bit?"
"Once or twice. Nothing too serious for me, but don't go trying it out for yourself, okay?" Though his tone was humorous, Steve didn't appear to be laughing along with him.
"Let me see." He ordered.
Herobrine raised a brow.
"See what?"
"Where you got bit, Brine."
Though he was slightly confused at Steve's words and the idea of what he wanted to do, he complied with his request. Outstretching his arm for the other to see, Herobrine gave Steve a small, almost apologetic smile as the other reached out to hold the injured appendage and winced at the sight of blood dripping down his skin from mangled flesh; part of the wound cut down straight to the bone, though it was a bit tough to see through the rest of the damage. Blood began to pool briefly from the wound, but as it appeared to be cleaning itself, the demigod blew on it a little bit to get the substance a bit drier so that it could start to scar over.
In order to draw his attention away from the painful, gory sight, Herobrine began to talk to Steve with a quieter, yet nonchalant tone.
"Cave spiders tend to be more feral than the ones you find elsewhere. They put their fangs right in your flesh and rip it apart, but not before they leave a ton of poison in your system. That's what happened to me, I guess." Though he stated the little tidbit to give the miner some important information in case of any future encounters, that did nothing to distract him from his wounds, as they were starting to sting once again, albeit less intensely.
"Then we should be heading back out to treat your injuries, right?" Steve asked quietly, looking back up into the other's calm gaze.
Herobrine shook his head.
"I'll get over it in a second, there's no need. Just make sure that you don't get hurt."
"But-!"
"Steven. I am a demigod. Unless that spider is also one, I'm totally fine. I'll heal naturally. Besides, I already don't feel the poison anymore. It's gone from my system. Hell, I've felt worse."
"Herobrine, I-"
"-Don't have to spend any time worrying about someone who has literally been through more life-threatening situations."
Though he wished to say more, Steve shut his lips immediately. Seeing that the other would be too stubborn to convince otherwise, he let out a sigh of defeat.
"Fine."
Letting go of the Herobrine's arm, Steve backed away, turning his attention back over to the bridge that hung over the death pit.
"So…you think that the bridge is worth it?…"
Herobrine stared at the structure for a bit before shrugging.
"I can step on it and see if it holds up. If it breaks and I fall back down, it'll be okay. I already got bit once, so breaking my limbs wouldn't even matter."
Without waiting for a response, Herobrine walked over and stomped hard on the bridge a couple of times, shrugging when the surface didn't collapse beneath his feet.
"...Guess it was structurally sound after all."
Though he said it jokingly, the look of pure guilt on Steve's face made him feel rather remorseful himself. From a small glimpse, it appeared as if the miner was on the brink of tears.
"…I'm genuinely sorry for putting you through this, Brine."
While he appreciated the sentiment, Herobrine rolled his eyes.
"Stop apologizing. Seriously. You haven't done anything wrong here, Steven."
"Yes, I technically have. You got hurt while doing my chores. This is why I didn't have you deal with this in the first place."
"Steve, if you hadn't let me do your tasks and you went down here, down there, alone, without me, you'd be dead."
Walked back over to the miner, Herobrine patted him on the shoulder.
"I'll be making your stupid decisions for you, alright? I have nothing to lose here, and I can't get that badly injured."
Turning back around, Herobrine nodded his head towards the tunnel in front of them.
"Let's look a little bit further in here, and then leave, since apparently, you're so upset by this place."
Steve looked at him with slight apprehension.
"I'm not upset, I'm just…concerned that you're being too reckless here."
Continuing the walk down, Herobrine kept his focus on the trail ahead as his friend lagged behind.
"How so?"
Though the other couldn't see him, Steve shrugged.
"…You're immortal or whatever, but you act like getting hurt is a fun pastime for you or something. You don't have any caution-"
"-That's rich coming from you of all people, Steven, but please continue-"
Steve's eyes widened at the remark, and he froze in place.
"-Wait, wait. What do you mean by that?" Steve asked in confusion.
Herobrine chuckled.
"Every time I'm here, you're suddenly running headfirst into dark caves and into all sorts of trouble. And apparently, I like to take the hits that were meant for you. It's like we bring out the pure dumbassness out of each other, I guess."
Suddenly, Steve seemed a bit pensive. He gazed off to the side, before looking back up at the other with a sheepish expression.
"…Do I really do that?…"
Herobrine looked back over his shoulder at him with a smirk.
"Without fail."
The miner immediately became upset.
"I didn't realize that I was always going off like that! You could've at least told me what I was doing!"
"Nope. Things seem less fun that way."
"Less fun? You get hurt because of me!"
"Not that hurt, but still.
"Brine!"
Herobrine laughed a bit and walked faster, ignoring the other as he attempted to scold him for his behavior.
Going across the bridge led them into an open area that only had one section of the mineshaft leading out of it, leading Steve to pause and edit his map accordingly. As they continued through the tunnel, they were eventually met with a dead-end, forcing them to backtrack their way out from the deeper recesses of the cave.
"Alright. Did you update your map, Steven?"
"…Yeah. I got all of the areas that we visited today down. At least, I think that I did?…"
Herobrine raised a brow.
"…Do you want to make sure that you did before you make us do everything all over again?"
"No! I'm pretty sure I have everything down! We won't have to go back to every place we stopped by."
"…Not until we have to place the rails down, correct?"
Steve nodded enthusiastically.
"Yup. It'll take me a bit to re-adjust my plans for this cave, so we can head up for the time being."
The two began to make their way out, with Steve leading the way as Herobrine trailed only slightly behind him. They traveled in silence for roughly a quarter of the way back until Steve broke the calm tranquility.
"So…when did you last visit a mineshaft that wasn't this one?"
Herobrine pondered for a moment before answering.
"…I'd say about what, four months ago?"
"What was that one like?"
Herobrine groaned.
"It was placed in one of the worst areas I've ever seen. Nothing even remotely as planned as this one. Every wall was collapsing along with gravel, and the roof was barely even stable enough to support even one tunnel."
"…Then why do you think it was placed there?"
Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before answering.
"…Greed? I'm not sure, but I'm almost 100% certain that the original constructor was blind. If they didn't see all that gravel in the wall before, then they clearly weren't in it for the long haul. Just for the chance of finding something valuable."
Steve laughed.
"How badly do you think we would've gotten hurt by that cave?"
"Steven. I wouldn't have even let you drag me down that one. I wouldn't have even allowed you to step near it. It was that bad."
The miner laughed once again, giving the other a skeptical look that was paired with a smile.
"That bad, huh? Might actually want to take me there so we can get into some more trouble, right Brine?"
Herobrine immediately glared at him.
"No. Hell no. You'd get beyond killed. It wouldn't even be worth it. Nothing down there would be worth your possible death, it was practically barren last time I bothered to check."
Slightly surprised at the other's deep concern, Steve pressed further.
"You really think about my safety like that?"
"Well, of course. I'm immortal, and you're not. If I happened to encounter something, my survival would be basically guaranteed, but if you were to meet with the same thing, I'm not entirely sure that your luck would be able to get you out of it, at least, not on its own."
"Well, I know that, I'm just asking, how much do you think about what'd be safer for me?"
Herobrine didn't exactly know that to answer that question.
When he'd think about the kind of "trouble" he found himself in often, the only main thought that seemed to consistently rise from the back of his mind was, 'This is quite the minor inconvenience.'. Though, whenever he'd think about Steve joining him for such an occurrence, his thoughts shifted into 'I just hope none of that happens while I'm around him.' From doomed attempts on his life to the short-lived uprisings from dumber mobs, he strayed away from the miner when he was able to predict that such an event would happen. Putting aside the harm that came to him like a magnet, he knew that Steve was just in desperate need of a friend that would encourage him to avoid getting into dangerous situations that he wasn't fully capable of getting through by himself. It was the least he could do for his friend.
But was he obsessing over it too much? He was a bit worried given the fact that they had been stuck in a cave that was currently being supported by luck and the sheer willpower of forces beyond them alone, but did he ever worry apart from that? Steve was growing to be like a brother to him; if anything happened to a sibling, wouldn't one be concerned for their safety?
He gave the best middle-ground answer that he could muster.
"...I guess I worry about you a few times more than what's needed. I just don't want to stumble upon one of my closest friends in a puddle of their own blood and vital organs when I could've had the chance to save them."
"Well, I don't think that you have to stress about that, I've worked as a mob slayer, and I do all of this for a living, remember?" Steve gestured to the surrounding area.
"Yes, I'm aware of that, but there are things down in caves that you haven't experienced yet, and there's more than just the threat of mobs down here, Steven."
"You think I don't know that?"
"I know that you know that. It's just...you sometimes seem to ignore that fact in favor of satisfying your curiosity."
The two fell into silence, though Herobrine's thoughts remained fixated on his own concern for Steve.
After a minute or so, Steve spoke up.
"Brine. Didn't we say that we were gonna build a few rails and a couple of minecarts, maybe?"
He was thankful for the switch in conversation.
"...I think so. Do you want to take care of that now, so that when we come back later, we can set it up?"
"That's what I was thinking, yeah."
Dropping the bag that was on his back to the side, Steve shifted through its contents before pulling out what they needed, then tossed some of the supplies right to Herobrine before sitting down in his place.
"I don't know what fancy crafting tricks you know, but when I make rails, I usually make them on the floor so that they fit correctly and don't end up too bent."
Herobrine slowly copied him, finding a place to sit as well.
Working in silence wasn't exactly optimal for him concerning the ending to their previous bout, so he decided to ask more questions.
"So…how far down have you traveled in the mines when I wasn't around?"
Steve shrugged without looking up from his work.
"Well…even though we spend hours down here, me and Pickett haven't really hit much bedrock, so to speak. We've gotten pretty far, but not exactly enough."
"Good. I'd recommend that you keep things that way."
"…I want to ask why you would say something like that, but I'm assuming that you're gonna say something I'm gonna lose sleep over."
Herobrine smirked a bit.
"It's nothing too bad. I was just going to warn you about the dangers of deep caves, Steven. Those steep drops, the open caverns filled with lava, that sort of thing."
"Oh. Well, if anything, I want to visit those kinds of places, they at least sound like they're filled with adventure, Brine!"
In an attempt to persuade the other, Herobrine continued.
"Did I mention the mobs?"
"Those are obvious things that would be down there, Brine."
"Did I mention the dungeons?" A smirk appeared on Herobrine's face at the immediate reaction of shock that the other gave.
"There are dungeons around this mineshaft and you didn't tell me?"
Herobrine let out a little laugh.
"Well, not in this one, but pretty close to this one. If you're genuinely curious, there are a couple of little rooms that I found ages ago, used by old warriors, in particular, to test and build up their strength. Of course, now they're all buried, but you could find one by accident. I think that you're close enough. I'd love to see you challenge one, though if you haven't gone mob-slaying in a while, your sword arm might get rather tired after a few waves, or so."
"...Waves of what?"
"Mobs, fool. Skeletons, zombies, spiders, take your pick, pick your poison. They'll make a beeline right towards you since there's nowhere else to run, and you'll have to adapt to the close quarters pretty quickly if you want to avoid being overwhelmed. It's actually kind of fun, once you get a rhythm set in place."
Attaching the redstone wires into place, Herobrine delicately put together the rail track he was working on with ease as his companion continued to stare at him with clear interest.
"How far from this mineshaft is one of the dungeons?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"Not that far. It's just in a regular old cave, but I suppose it's also close to another partial mineshaft that didn't get worked on enough to be considered a decent project."
"...Didn't you say that there wasn't another mineshaft near this one?"
"I meant one worth exploring that was connected to another village's, so...maybe?"
Steve let out a small chuckle.
"Brine, you have to be clearer about these things. If you don't want me to rush off into danger like an idiot, you have to warn me about all the cool stuff I can find instead!"
"Dungeons are dangerous, Steven."
"Then why did you recommend them to me?"
Herobrine gave him a playful smirk.
"Because I think that they'd suit your fancy and give you a proper chance to spar, why else?"
"Spar? If you're so worried about my safety, then why not spar me yourself?" Steve got closer to him, poking him in the chest with a playful expression as well.
"If I were to fight you, you'd get overwhelmed."
"What, even after all this time, I'm still no match for you?"
"We haven't physically fought without interruption, so no."
"Hey, I've trained by myself sometimes!"
"Yeah. By yourself. At least find somebody else to swing at before you even consider thinking about swinging at me, Steven."
Steve mumbled to himself, something along the lines of "I can take you." before going back to work, drawing a brief laugh from Herobrine.
"Mind speaking up, Steven?"
Steve shook his head.
"You have better senses than me. I know that you heard me."
"Yes, but that doesn't make what you said any less amusing."
"Just keep working, Brine." A hint of embarrassment appeared on Steve's face, bringing Herobrine to laugh even more.
Eventually, the two finished with a decent amount of regular rails and a few redstone rails, picking up what they had created and moving along down the tunnel, retracing their steps as they made their way up the pathway.
The journey back seemed to be shorter than the trip inside, but they managed to leave the cave fast enough to meet with what both could describe as being either a sunset or a sunrise as they looked out toward the sky. Once they had reached the entrance of the cave, Steve placed the rails down near the sign that was staked outside, and Herobrine followed suit, leaving their finished work without much discussion about it.
As they were walking back towards Steve's house, the miner paused, taking a moment to hesitantly turn around and face the other.
"Hey, thanks for putting up with all that."
"...All what?" Herobrine looked rather confused.
"Everything that just happened down there. The cave-in, the spider attack, the planning, the mapping, the crafting, everything. That was more than what I wanted you to do, and-"
"Steven. I'll always be glad to help you out."
Steve's eyes widened slightly.
"You mean, during the terms of this bet, right?"
Though it took a moment for Herobrine to draw out the words from his mouth, he gave the other a genuine smile as he shook his head.
"No. I mean in general. If you have anything that isn't too tedious for me to take care of, I'll do it if I feel like it. Maybe you'll catch me in a good mood sometimes, who knows?" giving a jokingly-nonchalant shrug, Herobrine began to walk past the miner, his smile not wavering. "So...I suppose I get my break, now?"
Steve nodded.
"Yeah. I think that's enough for now. See you later, Brine."
As the miner waved goodbye, he responded with a wave of his own.
"See you eventually, Steven."
When Herobrine left Steve back at his house, he wasn't expecting himself to grow so upset about their conversations from earlier in the day (night?).
Was he really worried about treating Steve as an equal rather than a subordinate?
It had been bugging him for a while, but Steve was someone he considered to be on the same level as him, despite his mortal status. He wanted to change his opinion on humans for him, but it wasn't as easy as he wished for it to be. He wanted to let Steve know that if things were to go sour with his village, he wouldn't hesitate to bring him in and be his support.
Nobody but a select few had this honor, and yet, he wasn't fully ready to admit that to Steve's face. He'd be teased for it non-stop.
Maybe he'd get over the feeling, or maybe Steve would do something to lose his respect (he HIGHLY doubted that would ever happen), but what he did know was that he wasn't going to let Steve stay on the same level as other humans within his mind.
He was above that. They were above that.
AOFSJKBEGASKEJGOAJGA IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR OVER A MONTH AGAIN AHHHHHHH
School finally started for me, and I was adjusting to that whole nonsense. I don't like to post without having any content to give, so an "update" chapter was NOT an option for me. But hey, I'm taking creative writing classes now, so my fics will at least be getting better in quality ;)
I'm adjusting to the schedule and working on time management, so we'll see how that works out in the future. I'm thinking of making a larger fic going into detail about how these two met and for what purpose, but it might be set in a different storyline than in this fic since there are more characters involved there. I also want to make it so that it's kinda wacky but serious, and I'm trying to make my chapters flow better, lol
Also, since I last updated, STEVE AND ALEX GOT INTO SMASH AND WE'RE FINALLY GETTING A CAVE UPDATE?! HELLO?! I hope Steve's in S Tier just for the memes, lmao
I was debating whether or not I should add some of the future update details (that we know of so far) into this story, but ultimately, I canned them. While I was writing this story initially, the Nether update came out, and I had to learn the new details through that so that they'd make sense here, and I wanna be able to do the same for the new Cave and Cliff update without possibly being wrong or contradicting myself with including any new feature that might be changed drastically for the final product.
I now have a new headcanon where Herobrine would totally square up with the Warden for sparring, though. I'd imagine that the Warden is some sort of failed or banished demigod (like him huehuheheheh) that's just chilling down in the caves, attempting to fulfill whatever forgotten purpose it was made to take care of. My version of Herobrine has eyesight that is heavily affected by surrounding light sources (low light situations are better for him, blast a light directly in his eyes and he can't see period), so I'd imagine that he'd spar with the Warden by using everything but sight to compete.
Anyways, leave a review if you have any thoughts or criticisms! I'm always willing to improve my writing abilities, and I love writing for you guys!