It was still late into the night when Herobrine reappeared in the forest, now with the kid next to him. The nearby mobs almost immediately scattered at the sight of him, even the brain-dead zombies. One fierce glare around the trees sent the last of the monsters retreating to the darkest shadows.
"You're safe, don't worry," Herobrine said to the kid with a smile. "The mobs won't touch you on my watch." The kid looked around at the trees but doesn't say anything. His silence was concerning and Herobrine was quite sure that the enchanted bands had something to do with that. "Come on, we're close to my home. You can stay there until we can get these bands off and find out where you're supposed to be."
The kid just nodded slightly. Herobrine started walking and the kid trailed behind mindlessly. His current state was actually very concerning. Herobrine had seen plenty of horrible enchantments, both applied to other people and himself. That circus seemed pretty large, but not nearly large and wealthy enough to have the kind of enchantments. Herobrine made a mental note to investigate this later.
The two entered a clearing. A fence ran around the perimeter, keeping mobs out, with a few torches on it as a secondary defense against the monsters. Herobrine easily hopped the fence and the kid followed suit. A small log cabin sat in the center of the clearing. Off to the side of the house was a small fenced-off garden of potatoes and wheat, and off to the other side was a chicken coop. Smoke trailed up from the chimney, which meant either someone was still awake or someone had forgot to extinguish the fire. Herobrine hoped it was the former, or he was going to give another lecture about burning the house down.
The door was unlocked, so Herobrine walked right in. "Null! Entity! I'm home!" he called. The cabin was just as cozy on the inside as it looked on the outside. A bright fire burned in the fireplace, lighting up the room in a warm orange glow. The living room was decorated with a plush green couch and several potted plants. A small kitchen took up one corner of the house and a staircase off to the side led up to a second floor. The entire place radiated with cozy, comfortable feelings and seemed like the exact opposite place you'd find the legendary, dangerous Herobrine.
There appeared to be a shadow cast across the couch, but that "shadow" suddenly blinked at the two. It wasn't a shadow at all, it was a person. He had glowing white eyes like Herobrine, and his skin didn't seem solid, and instead was made out of dark smoke. "You're back. How was the show?" he asked, closing the book on his lap. His eyes completely lacked all emotion and none of his other facial features were visible, so his expression was completely flat. His voice had a weird reverb to it like multiple people were talking at the same time and also lacked any emotion, making him sound a bit like a broken robot.
"It was good. I ended up bringing back a… souvenir," Herobrine said, stepping out of the way to reveal the kid.
The shadow man just stared at the kid, his eyes not revealing anything about what he was thinking. He just looked at the kid, blinked, and looked back at Herobrine. "They were selling children at the circus?" he asked with a slight tilt to his head.
"No, it was a metaphor. He was being used to impersonate me, so I rescued him. Do you know where the screwdriver is?"
The man pointed at the kitchen. "Second drawer to the right, please do not touch anything else."
"Thanks." Herobrine stepped into the kitchen and opened the drawer. It seemed to be a generic junk drawer, but instead of lawless disorder the drawer had been sorted and every item was placed with impossible perfection. Herobrine made sure to only touch the screwdriver when he pulled it out so he didn't mess up the impeccable sorting system. "That's Null. He has no concept of metaphors, exaggeration, or sarcasm. He's also very picky about things he sorts. He's harmless, though." He held out his hand and the kid placed his wrist in his hand. Herobrine fiddled with the lock on the bands. "Hey, where's Entity?" He called back to Null.
Null didn't even look up from his book. "He's asleep. He was waiting for you for hours."
A smile flickered across Herobrine's face. At that moment, he was able to break the lock of the band and it clattered to the ground. At the same time, the whiteness left the kid's eyes. "Aha, there we go! How's that?" The kid blinked a few times and looked around, before nodding. Herobrine took the kid's other wrist and started working on the band.
"What is his name?" Null asked.
"I don't know," Herobrine admitted. He was able to read a few of the runes and saw, "Curse of Silence". A cold chill went down his spine. This explained why the kid hadn't said a single thing since Herobrine had found him.
There were several enchantment curses, though only two was really common: the Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing. They were very easy-to-make and rather useful, but they weren't the only curses. The Curse of Silence was one of them. It was fairly simple: the person afflicted could no longer speak. It was a rather difficult enchantment to make, unlike Curse of Binding.
The second band came off and the kid suddenly jerked like he had been burned. He looked up at Herobrine and screamed. "What the—who are you!? Where am I!?" He scrambled away from Herobrine and his gaze whipped around, taking in his surroundings.
Herobrine's hands shot up in innocence. "Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down, kid. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe."
"Where am I!?" he demanded. "How did I get here!?"
Herobrine hesitated. "You mean… you don't remember?"
The kid paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "N-no. I… I never remember shows. They-they put those bands on me… and then I wake up the next morning." He looked back up at Herobrine. "You're not answering my questions!" he pointed out.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm Herobrine, that's Null over there, and Entity is… somewhere. This is our house. I rescued you from the circus."
"What!? No! You have to take me back!"
Herobrine just blinked at him. "W-what part of 'rescue' didn't make sense? Those two ringmasters were literally publicly whipping you and using you to soil my name. I RESCUED you from that circus."
"You-you don't understand!" the kid backed away as far as he could, but he hit the wall and was now trapped. "The last time I tried to escape, they found me and—and—" his voice broke and tried to blink away the tears now trailing down his cheeks. "You have to take me b-back," he whispered.
Herobrine frowned. "You didn't escape, though. I rescued you, and I'm not giving you back."
The kid didn't answer. He was shaking too hard to speak and tears streamed down his face. Herobrine slowly approached the kid and got down on one knee to be at eye level with him. He changed his eyes back to green, since he didn't want to scare the kid with his white eyes. "You're safe, okay? The circus isn't going to find you here. They'll never hurt you again."
The kid let out a choked sob. "B-b-but—"
"You're safe now," Herobrine smiled softly. The kid broke down into sobs and to Herobrine's surprise, he suddenly hugged him.
"I-I-I-I'm safe?" he asked in a trembly voice.
"You're safe," Herobrine confirmed, hugging him back.
…
"So, you'll stay on the couch until we can get you an actual bed," Herobrine said, laying out a blanket over the sofa. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. I'm going to be gone in the morning, but Null will be here, and hopefully Entity too, if he doesn't sneak out." He rolled his eyes. "You can trust Null, don't worry. He should be able to provide everything you need right?" He glanced at the shadowy man, who looked up from his book and gave a thumbs up. He had moved to the kitchen table since the couch was now occupied.
The kid just blinked at Null, then looked back at Herobrine. "Where are you going to go?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Herobrine hesitated. "I… have stuff to do. I'll be back, like, about mid-afternoon." He paused, then asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
The kid hesitated, then said," S-Steve. My name's Steve."
Herobrine smiled. "Well, Steve, Welcome to your new home."