Bit of a longer chapter here, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 16

Steve woke up an hour or two before dawn and despite his best efforts, he couldn't get back to sleep. It was hours before he needed to be at work, so he laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. He could hear the occasional groan and screech of mobs outside. He thought for a second that he heard an Enderman warble, but when he didn't hear it again, he dismissed the thought.

Eventually, the sun came up, Steve listened to the sounds of the zombies and skeletons being burned out. The creepers and the spiders, despite not being affected by the sun's rays, still retreated into the darkness of caves and forests. Steve sat up with a groan. Time to get up.

Steve started making breakfast, when he heard a small squeak. He looked down to see Herobrine's creeper staring up at him. "What is it?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

The creeper squeaked at him again, and Steve felt a little dumb for asking a creeper a question when it couldn't answer. Maybe it was hungry. Steve had no idea what creepers ate, so he broke off a piece of the bread in his hand and dropped it on the floor. The creeper sniffed it and happily snapped it up, but then looked up at Steve again. "I gave you food, what else do you want?" Steve asked.

The creeper tugged on Steve's pant leg and continued squeaking. Steve just ignored the tiny creature and kept making breakfast. The creeper squeaked louder, still trying to get his attention. When it realized that it wasn't getting anywhere with Steve, it stood on his foot and sank its tiny, sharp teeth into Steve's ankle. He yelped in pain and kicked the creeper off of him. "What!?" he demanded.

The creeper squeaked at him loudly and walked over to the sleeping lump of blankets that was Herobrine. Oh no. Was something wrong with him? Steve crushed his worries and unwrapped the blankets covering Herobrine's head. His heart fell out of his chest and settled in the pit in his stomach.

Herobrine was paler than paper and shivered violently, even though he was scorching hot at the touch. He was hotter than he was yesterday.

"Herobrine?" Steve tried to wake him up. "Herobrine!" he poked his arm, but Herobrine didn't stir. "Hero, I need you to wake up now." No matter what Steve did, though, Herobrine didn't wake up.

Oh no.

Steve panicked. What could he do about this? Hero was clearly sicker than Steve had first thought, and now he wasn't even waking up. The home remedies that Steve and Clara had been using for the past few days didn't do anything to improve Herobrine's situation. He needed a doctor, but who could Steve take him to?! No doctor would help him if they knew who he was.

Wait.

Clara's husband, Jackson, was a doctor, and Clara knew about Herobrine. If Jackson refused to help, she could probably talk him into it. But if Steve wanted Clara's help, then he'd have to leave now, because she'd be leaving for work soon.

Steve gathered the bundle of blankets, and Herobrine in it, and walked outside. It was still too early in the morning for most people to be outside yet, but Steve still traveled quickly to avoid being seen. He walked down a path he had walked down a million times and stopped at a familiar house. He knocked on the door and glanced around to see if anyone was around.

"Hello?" a man in glasses and a white coat opened the door, and his eyes widened when he saw Steve.

"Help!" Steve exclaimed.

Herobrine was asleep on a bed, an IV dripping water into his arm. Steve sat in a chair, wringing his hands nervously. Clara sat with him, just comforting him with her presence. Dr. Jackson looked at the results on his clipboard.

"You have nothing to worry about. It's just Nether Fever. Caused by too much time spent in that dimension. The Nether is a sterile environment because of the heat, so sometimes when people are in there too long, their immune systems are weakened from not regularly fighting pathogens that are around us all the time here in the Overworld. It's not fatal to adults, but it probably would be to a child like him. I don't know for sure, though, since I've never had any cases of this in children before. I'll have to monitor him for the next couple of days," Dr. Jackson explained. "But I do have several questions. The main one is Steve, where did you get this kid?"

Steve stared at the ground and said nothing. When Clara realized that Steve wasn't going to answer the question, she answered it for him. "Um, Jackson, it's a bit of a funny story…"

Jackson looked at her. "What do you know about this?"

Clara rubbed the back of her neck as she thought about her next words. "There's no easy way to put this, but that kid is Herobrine."

Jackson looked like he had been struck by lightning. He just stared at Steve and Clara with his mouth slightly agape, stuttering in complete shock. "B-bu… tha-tha… wha… Herobrine!?" he managed to get out. He looked at Steve. "D-didn't Herobrine—"

"Yes," Steve snapped. "I don't want to talk about that."

Jackson looked at Herobrine, then back at Clara. "Clara, that's a kid. There's no way that's Herobrine."

Clara just shrugged. "We don't understand it either. Steve found him in the caves about a week ago and brought him home without knowing who he truly was. He's been taking care of him since then. I found out just a couple of days ago."

Jackson looked a bit more horrified then shocked now. He stared at Steve. "B-but H-Herobrine… he killed—"

"We all know about that, Jackson," Steve said gruffly. "Yes, he did that to me. And yes, I've been taking care of him anyway."

Jackson adjusted his glasses and glanced at Herobrine before looking back at the pair. "How on earth are you still alive, Steve? That's a mass murderer over there."

Steve sighed. "For whatever reason, he doesn't have his memories anymore. He doesn't remember what he did. He isn't dangerous right now, but we don't know how long this amnesia is going to last."

"Well." Dr. Jackson cleared his throat like that would clear the tension in the room. "You're lucky he isn't human. He was running a fever of 110 degrees."

Steve swore under his breath.

There was a moment of silence before Jackson said, "Well… what do we do now?"

Steve sighed. "Well, I'm waiting for the Netherwalkers to get here."

Dr. Jackson paled. "The Netherwalkers!?" he glanced at Herobrine again. "Steve, I've seen one of their executions. It was one of the most brutal things I've ever seen in my life. I mean, I know who we're talking about. Legend says that Herobrine has killed gods and can level entire armies with barely a thought. He's powerful and dangerous, but… that's a kid."

Steve scoffed. "No wonder you and Clara are married. You basically had the same reaction when I told you two that. But it's not like you two can do anything about it, though. I already contacted them."

Dr. Jackson turned the color of paper and stared at the ground, thoroughly horrified. He cleared his throat again. "Well… I, er… I'm gonna go…" the last part of his sentence faded into mumbles and he walked away.

Silence blanketed the room. Clara picked at the tip of one of her arrows before saying, "Well, we're late to work, Steve." She stood up. Steve hesitated and glanced at Herobrine. "He'll be fine," Clara reassured him. "Jackson will take good care of him."

Steve hesitated before standing up. "Okay." He chuckled. "Thea is really gonna let us have it."