[A/N: I found this in my notebook earlier and had the sudden motivation to type it up and do some basic revision. Again, I apologize for the hiatus and overall infrequent updates. As soon as I get the inspiration to work out the details of how I'm going to end the series (which is rapidly coming up) I'll do my utmost to release chapters more frequently! Love you all and hope you enjoy!]

THUD. THUD. THUD.

A stabbing pain hammered steadily beneath his forehead. With difficulty, Herobrine opened his heavy eyes. His vision spun sickeningly and he shut them again, with only a vague image of what he'd seen. Amidst he mind-numbing pounding of his head, he felt a cold finger on his lip carefully open his mouth and pour in a warm, thick liquid.

Too confused to protest the mysterious substance, the man could only focus on his breathing. As the liquid slid down his throat, he could feel the haze over his thoughts begin to lift and his headache fade.

It looks like he's regaining consciousness, is there any way to ease his pain?

It'll fade, stop being such a softie.

Just because he's...

"-Herobrine?"

He once again opened his eyes, Sydney's voice breaking past the soft whispers in the back of his mind. He let out a groan of discomfort and focused his sight on her hovering face. He lay on his back, sprawled over the small bed in what he assumed was his tent. Sydney stood next to him, half-empty potion in one hand and wide eyes full of shameless curiosity.

"Oh good, you're awake." She sighed, "It took a bit for your heart to start up and I couldn't tell if you were dead or what. How do ya feel?"

Sliding a shaky arm over his chest, Herobrine rested his hand over his ribcage. He could feel the steady pulse of his heart beneath his skin.

"Better," he said. "Significantly better."

"It was really cool," Sydney started, voice dripping in awe, "the way your heart suddenly started beating and the color of your skin came back." She continued to watch him in awe as he sat up. The second potion Sydney had dribbled down his throat finished repairing him to peak condition and given him a short energy boost.

"Sydney, did you say anything while I was unconscious?" She gave him a strange look.

"I said your name once or twice and asked you if you were dead. Why?"
He made a small frown and sighed.

Standing from the small bed, he ducked out of the tent and into the cool outside air. Not bothering to mask the purpose of his steps, he started a slow pace to the outside of the campsite. Standing in the darkening shadow of a tree, he took a breath and tried to clear his thoughts.

A minute or so passed and he heard nothing. He let out a sigh.

"I'm going insane, aren't I?" Herobrine grumbled to himself.

No you're not, sir

His eyes widened at the meek sound of the male voice.

"Sir?" he asked in confusion.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't receive a reply. Did that voice call him 'sir'?

A low groan emanated from the shadows behind him, and his thoughts were instantly scattered.

Zombie. Fuck.

Herobrine reached instinctively for his sword, but found himself empty-handed. A panic set in at the sudden realization that he was unarmed.

Call for Sydney! the female voice cried, with just as much fear in her voice as he imagined his would have had. Turning to face the monster, he saw it limping and snarling a throwing distance away.

"Shit... Where is my sword?" he hissed to himself.

Glancing over his shoulder to look for Sydney, he saw no sign of the girl, nor his weapon. He had no place to go and no intention of leaving the monster for the brunette to deal with, but he found no other options.

Your sword is at your house!

Just as the male voice rang out in his head, a set of rotting fingers wrapped around his wrist.

A flash of revulsion brought along his desire to be in front of the unfinished building. With a clap of sound and the faint scent of the Nether, the ground jerked out from beneath him and the bony grip of the zombie was torn away. The ground settled once again and in a moment of disorientation he walked into something irritatingly solid.

Shaking the the confusion from his head, his eyes focused on a plank wall. To Herobrine's shock, he recognized it as the front wall of his unfinished house.

"How..?"

As he stepped back to confirm his suspicions, he felt something smooth and cold under his foot. Looking down, he saw his diamond/obsidian sword laying on the ground. Picking it up, he turned to look the direction he'd presumably came from. If he focused on the right spot, he could faintly see the the fire Sydney had built in the clearing between the trees. A familiar low growl sounded and he turned quickly to the left.

"Herrr..." the zombie moaned, making a considerable pace towards him despite it's rotting limbs. Herobrine watched it limp towards him.
It was uncommon practice to look too long at a monster, there was a fear that seeing it's human features would inspire pity and one might forget they were a viscous predator. He watched anyways, as it soon became apparent that this one was different.

"Herrr... oohh..."

It stalked closer and closer, it's milky eyes not once leaving his. The man felt an uneasiness crawl up his spine and fought to find the reason behind it.

It was a male, or it had been, and it's hair had fallen out in clumps. It's skin clung to it's face loosely and was far into the stage of rotting.

Another sound came from the creature, and his observations came to a crashing halt.

"Her.. oh... breeeh..."

RUN! Get away from there, sir!

Despite the frantic warning, Herobrine's feet stayed still and stared at the monster vacuously.

"whhy..?" it moaned, grasping out at his old blue shirt, "whhy did-"

Before it could finish it's questioning, the zombie fell slack and slid to the ground. Far behind it was Sydney, her visage uncharacteristically serious, walking towards him.
It was only when he looked down at the spear-impaled corpse below him that he realized he was trembling.

"Are you okay?" Sydney asked, removing the weapon from the monster's back and shooting him a worried look. He nodded and stepped back on weak legs.

"I saw you with this thing thing and then... you were gone! It looked like you teleported, can humans even do that? I-..! Are you sure you're okay..?"

He nodded again, but this time less confidently, and leaned hard against the wall.

"Did it get you?" Sydney asked, walking a step or two around him, her expression growing even more worried.

"It said my name..."

"Say that again?"

"Herobrine, Herobrine, why?" he stuttered.

Sydney stared at him in shock, both at the concept of a zombie speaking as well as his reaction to it.

"The zombie talked to you?" she said slowly, an undertone of shock in her voice.

Controlling his emotions he stood straight, took a breath, and looked back at Sydney with his usual blank expression. A muscle twitched faintly in his neck. She stared at him for a moment before nodding to him in understanding.

"I have some more stuff I'd like to give you. It's all in your tent, ok? I think we should probably get to sleep now. "

Sydney gripped her spear and walked off in the direction of her camp, checking that Herobrine was following behind her.

"Yours seemed to be in bad shape, so I got you a replacement outfit. I stopped by an old storage stash I'd made a while back and grabbed a few things I thought might fit you. I couldn't find any more of those weird shoes you'd worn before so I had to get you some regular leather ones like the rest of us." She chuckled to herself and led him to the small clearing. With a cheery smile she led him into his tent.

Herobrine sat down in a sudden wave of exhaustion and let out a heavy breath.

'Teleportation, huh?' he thought, 'How exhausting.'

He looked over to Sydney, who had her arms full of items from a chest tucked in the corner. Doing her best not to drop them all, she handed him a dark green sleeveless shirt, gray slacks, and a pair of leather shoes.

He nodded to her in thanks, taking the items and looking them over.

"Goodnight, Herobrine." She said with a wave, and left the tent.

The flickering light from the fire outside brightened rapidly as the brunette added sticks to the pile. He looked down at the dark clothes in his arms and sighed, wondering absently what Shelby would think of them.

He was already missing her badly.