Fear
Herobrine closed the door and sighed deeply.
He had been in the map room most of the night, working out the details for plans of attack again. He had dropped Nuka off outside his room, hoping the boy would stay there, and left him alone.
Herobrine felt sympathy toward the boy. Even so, there was no excuse for reacting so shocked when he saw his own wanted poster or at that execution.
Honestly, it's a wonder that the guards didn't notice Nuka's reactions, Herobrine thought, annoyed, as he walked through the long corridors of the castle to his bedroom. If they did, they would have captured us immediately, guaranteed. Fortunately for us, they really seemed to be blind and deaf to everything that day.
Although that was strange, he thought as he turned another corner. They're usually very observant. Maybe I should check on the boy again, to see how is doing?
With these thoughts he closed his eyes and stretched his senses, but instead of finding Nuka in his room as he expected, he found his heartbeat in a completely different place and not only that! His heartbeat was significantly faster than it normally would be.
Herobrine frowned as he concentrated on the distant heartbeat. He knew that rhythm only too well.
The boy was afraid.
Of what?
Confused and a bit worried, he teleported to the boy and was surprised to find himself on the balcony.
At that moment he suddenly heard a sniffle. Turning, he saw Nuka huddled against a wall with his face buried in his arms, crying. He did not notice Herobrine's presence yet, at that point, and for a brief moment Herobrine considered just leaving again.
He decided not to. First, he had a lot to discuss with Nuka anyway, and second, Herobrine, as much as he hated to admit it to himself, felt sorry for the boy and wanted to help him.
"Hey," he asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"
Nuka flinched as if Herobrine had yelled at him. Throwing up his eyes, he quickly wiped tears from his eyes.
"What... what do you want?" He choked out, lowering his eyes and avoiding to look at Herobrine. He tried to sound composed, but Herobrine immediately realized that he was not successful.
"Nothing really," he finally replied, looking at the boy with a thoughtful expression, "I was just wondering why you were here and wanted to know if you were okay."
He was silent for a moment before continuing, "Because you don't look like it."
Nuka shrank even more when he heard this before sniffling again and looking into the distance.
"That's not fair," he muttered, but so quietly that Herobrine couldn't understand him.
"What?" he asked, to which Nuka just shook his head and looked at Herobrine with surprising anger, not caring about the new tears in his eyes.
"It's not fair!" Nuka repeated louder. Herobrine could clearly hear the anger and frustration in his voice.
"This hybrid...he had done nothing wrong! The only thing he did wrong," he continued, his voice breaking at the words, "was to be different! Something he couldn't help!"
Frustrated, he struck the bow with his fist, as if he needed some outlet for his anger, but the very next moment he sank back into himself, muttering desperately, "Something I couldn't help..."
Herobrine didn't know what to say to that.
Nuka was right. It wasn't fair, not at all, but the hybrid was still dead and neither he nor Nuka could do anything about it.
"I know," he murmured before kneeling in front of the boy, who had meanwhile put his arms on his drawn-up knees and buried his head in them, "but life is never fair, unfortunately. That...no one knows better than me..."
At this, Herobrine remembered something.
"Speaking of fair," he said, "I noticed that your bounty on the wanted poster in Ombra is very high. Far too high a sum for a hybrid who is simply on the run, if you ask me. So, what did you do?"
Nuka swallowed and started shaking again, while tears came to his eyes once more.
"You don't have to tell me," Herobrine offered quickly, but Nuka just shook his head in response.
"No!" he replied in a surprisingly firm voice, "I will tell you. I'll have to do it sometime anyway."
And so Nuka began to tell his story. From his mother, his birthday, the children who found out he was a hybrid and then wanted to betray him, to the point where he panicked and used his powers, killing a boy, after which he fled to his mother, who then sacrificed herself for him so that he could escape.
Herobrine did not interrupt him once, nor did he laugh at him while Nuka was getting everything off his chest, but listened quietly and seriously until Nuka finished.
"I didn't want to kill him..." Nuka repeated at the end, looking desperately at Herobrine, "I was only 12 years old at the time. I didn't know what I was doing! I didn't have my powers under control. I am so terribly sorry for everything. Also everything I did afterwards but I had no choice! I wanted to live! Please believe me when I tell you that I would like to make this all undone but I can't! And that is the most terrible thing of all!"
By now tears were streaming down his face again and when he finished, he buried his face in his arms once more.
"I believe you," Herobrine replied softly. Nuka's fate and that he just told him his whole story really touched and impressed him.
He really seems to trust me, he thought incredulously, before his heart became heavy again, even though I don't deserve that.
"Thank you," Nuka replied softly and managed a weak smile, which quickly disappeared.
"You know," he said, averting his eyes and looking into the distance, "it's not like I don't deserve to be hunted. I'm a criminal and also a murderer but when I saw how they dealt with the hybrid who didn't do anything really bad..."
He faltered and looked again at Herobrine, who could clearly see the fear in Nuka's eyes, "What are they going to do to me when they catch me..?"
Herobrine's heart grew heavy when he heard that.
So this was what had thrown Nuka off track...
"I don't know..." he said softly, whereupon the boy looked down again in sorrow.
"But if it makes you feel any better," he added in an endeavoring voice of encouragement as he leaned forward and carefully put a hand on Nuka's shoulder again, "As long as you're here in the Nether, in my castle, by my side, nothing can happen to you." That evoked another faint smile from the boy.
"Promise?" he asked softly. Herobrine hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
"Promise," he replied, smiling as he looked at the boy, who sniffled again and wiped tears from his eyes before looking down again.
"I just don't get why there even is such a stupid law anyway..." he asked quietly, to which Herobrine raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"You don't know?" he asked amusedly, to which Nuka just shook his head sadly.
"Well, obviously not..." Nuka muttered softly before running his hand over his eyes again. Lifting his head, he looked at Herobrine questioningly. "Do you know why?"
Herobrine smile disappeared when he heard that, but he nodded.
"Well, about 200 years ago," he finally began, "there were nowhere near as many hybrids as there are today, nor were there as many different kinds of them. Back then, they were still fighting criminals as a kind of superheroes and were celebrated like heroes by the Minecrafers and, of course, treated as such."
Herobrine was silent for a moment before he continued, because now the unpleasant part of the story began.
"This eventually went to their heads and they felt that they should be the rulers of the Overworld, not the Minecrafters. They certainly did not wish to follow a god who had no special powers. That's why they started a war against the Minecrafters and Steve."
He looked at Nuka, expecting the boy to become even more disturbed now, but he seemed to have forgotten everything and was listening to him intently, so he continued.
"The war lasted almost a hundred years, and although the Minecrafters and Steve were outnumbered and fought the Hybrids with everything they had, it was clear that the Hybrids, even if they weren't even half as many, would win it sooner or later thanks to their powers."
He sighed deeply before starting the last part of the story.
"When the war was nearing the end, when both people nearly destroyed each other and the Overworld lay in ruins, Notch stepped in and sided with the Minecrafters. That's why they won the war."
He was silent for a moment before he continued.
"From then on, Steve created a new law that hybrids, no matter what age, would no longer be tolerated in the Overworld and would be considered outlaws. From that moment on, hybrids had no rights and any person who caught, discovered or even killed a hybrid would be rewarded for it. Minecrafters themselves were forbidden to trade with hybrids, befriend them or have any other contact with them. Those who did were to be punished."
He sighed again.
"I think most people today just assume that this law exists because you, hybrids, can't control your powers and are therefore a danger to everyone. That's why they don't rebel against it and so the law still exists to this day."
"I understand," Nuka murmured softly after a moment's hesitation, "but why do we have to be punished for something our ancestors did wrong?... I mean," he continued before Herobrine could answer his question, "That was 200 years ago! Why doesn't Steve resolve it again? We have nothing to do with the crimes of our ancestors..."
Herobrine laughed coldly when he heard that.
"The answer is simple. He is afraid of you." He replied. "He is afraid that if he repeals the law, there will be another war and he wants to prevent that at any cost... Think about it," he continued, when Nuka sadly lowered his eyes, "If you look at it closely, Steve is really just a regular human. The only thing that makes him a god is his immortality. Even a young hybrid like you could defeat him without any problems thanks to your powers. That's why he doesn't change the law. He doesn't want to be the inferior one again."
Nuka just shook his head sadly as he heard that.
"So there will never be a good end for the hybrids..." he concluded, and Herobrine shook his head.
"Probably not," Herobrine agreed, "but if you help me attack his castle, you would send him a message. You would show Steve and the Minecrafters that the Hybrids are still out there, and you would show the Hybrids that they don't have to hide."
Nuka nodded slowly in response before turning back to Herobrine and looking at him with a surprisingly determined look.
"You're right," he replied and turned to Herobrine, a new confidence sparkling in his eyes. "I didn't think of it that way before."
"Good," Herobrine replied, smiling with satisfaction before standing up and turning away, "then I suggest you go back to your room and try to get some sleep, because if everything goes the way I hope, we'll be able to attack the city soon."
"Really?" replied Nuka, and for once he didn't look so sad anymore, "Do you know when?"
"I guess in the next few days," Herobrine replied thoughtfully, before turning back to Nuka, "You'll have to do a few more training sessions, but then," he added with a nasty grin, "nothing should stand in our way."
"Great!" Nuka replied happily before standing up and saying goodbye to Herobrine, "See you tomorrow then! And thanks for cheering me up!"
"You're welcome," Herobrine replied, but by then Nuka was gone.
Still smiling, Herobrine shook his head at Nuka's impetuosity and left the balcony as well.
What a nice fellow, he thought as he walked back to his bedroom. So lovable and so full of compassion. That doesn't fit the role of a murderer at all. I really hope nothing bad happens to him.
He sighed at that thought.
Let's just hope nothing goes wrong during our attack.