Quiet voices in the background slowly woke Steve up. He wasn't being woken up by the crack of a whip, which means the ringmasters weren't awake. Good, that meant he got a few minutes to just rest. Who was that in the background? Maybe one of the clowns or the trapeze artists. They wouldn't bother him.
As Steve laid there, he realized something was wrong. Someone should have come to wake him up by now. Oh no, was he going to get in trouble? He cracked one eye open—and shot upright.
For the briefest second, Steve had absolutely no idea where he was. Nothing about the small wooden cabin around him registered at all, until it did. Right, Herobrine had rescued him last night, or so he had claimed. Like most shows, Steve had no memory of what happened until the bands came off.
"You're awake," Steve heard behind him. He turned around and saw Null sitting at the kitchen table, drinking something steamy from a mug. "I assumed it would be better if I just let you sleep. Good morning."
"…thanks," Steve mumbled. He pushed the blankets off him and stood up. He had to admit, that was one of the best nights of sleep he had in a very long time.
"Man, you slept in a LONG time! You've definitely beat Herobrine's record, and he sleeps like a rock!" a new voice chimed. The owner of the voice was a teen roughly Steve's age, maybe a bit younger. Like Herobrine and Null, this kid clearly wasn't human. He had ink-black skin and bright red eyes with slitted pupils. When he grinned, he revealed a set of teeth that looked a bit pointer than they should be. He wore a white hoodie and jeans. "Hi, I'm Entity!" he said cheerfully.
Steve briefly remembered Herobrine mentioning something about an Entity last night, so this must have been who he was talking about. "O-oh. Hi," he replied simply.
"Are you hungry? Null made pancakes! He's the best cook. Seriously, you should try his chicken and vegetable soup. Mmm-mm-MM! So good." Entity disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared quickly with a plate holding a stack of pancakes. "We saved you some! I asked Null if I could eat them if you slept in past lunch, but he said no."
"You had three servings. You had plenty," Null said between sips of his drink. Judging by the smell, Steve assumed it was coffee.
"But if he wasn't going to eat them, why couldn't I!?" Entity demanded.
"Because I didn't make them for you," Null stated simply.
While they argued, Steve scurried over to the plate of pancakes and quickly took them back to the couch before Null or Entity could notice him. He didn't even waste time using a fork, he just started cramming the pancakes into his mouth.
When all three pancakes had disappeared, Steve looked up and saw Entity and Null staring at him. "Sweet Notch, did you even breathe between bites?" Entity exclaimed.
Null shot him a murderous glare. "Entity, be polite!"
Steve shrunk back. "I'm sorry, I-I was h-h-hungry, I d-d-d-d-don't have to eat tonight i-if you're mad."
Null's expression softened. "No, No. We just did not expect you to eat so fast. Are… are you okay?" Steve just nodded and tried to melt into the couch. "Would you like more? Actually, it is almost lunchtime. Would you like a sandwich?"
Steve blinked at him. "I… I can have more?"
"Of course, if you would like some. We have plenty of food." Steve hesitated, then nodded. "Wonderful. Entity, will you grab the bread for me?"
Entity jumped to his feet and rummaged through the pantry until he pulled out a loaf of bread. He presented it to Null with a large grin. "Here you go!"
"Thank you." Null grabbed Entity and pulled him to the side. He lowered his voice so Steve wouldn't hear him. "Entity, we need to speak about our new guest."
Entity pulled out of Null's grip. "Yeah. What about it?"
"We both know that you are not the most careful when it comes to other's emotions. I do not know what Steve went through to end up here, but I assume it was severe. Please think before you say things around him," Null said.
Entity sighed. "I'm sorry."
"It is fine. I am simply requesting you are careful around Steve."
Entity gave him a thumbs up. "We'll do."
"Good. Give this to him, please." Null handed Entity a fully assembled ham and cheese sandwich. Entity saluted and delivered Steve the sandwich.
"Here you ago!" he chimed. Steve nodded as thanks and took the sandwich. He cautiously bit into it, then Entity watched as Steve devoured every crumb of it. Entity's eyes landed on the numerous odd scars peeking out of Steve's shirt. "Oh my gosh! What happened?" he reached out to touch them, but Steve jerked away. In the background, Null facepalmed.
Steve ran his fingers through his hair, letting the water wash out all the dirt and grime. He couldn't even remember the last time he had a bath, much less the last time he felt clean. Years of filth, dried blood, and old skin was washed away. He ran his fingers over the old scars across his back and the new cut across his arm. He assumed he got it from the show last night, since he didn't have it before then. He carefully scrubbed around it since he didn't want to rip off the fresh scab.
"Steve! Where is that brat!?" a gruff voice shouted.
Steve's heartbeat quickened and he backed against the wall. It was one of the ringmasters, they were looking for him. He frantically looked around, looking for somewhere to hide. He spotted one of the tent tarps haphazardly folded up and crammed in a corner. He sprinted over to it and buried himself under the thick fabric.
For a moment, all he could hear was his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. Tears streamed down his face and he prayed to every god he knew of that he wouldn't be found. But then he heard the boxcar door slam open and the slow, menacing footsteps of a furious man in boots searching for Steve.
"Where is he?!" Steve instantly recognized the voice as Bill, one of the two ringmasters and owners of the circus.
"I don't know, I saw him duck in here," a second voice grumbled. It was Greg, Bill's brother and the other ringmaster.
"Well, we need to find him! This won't work without him!" Bill ordered.
The ringmasters scoured the room until Greg lifted up the tarp and found Steve under it. "Hey! There you are, you little punk!" Steve screamed and tried to make a run for it, but Greg grabbed him by his shirt collar and lifted him off his feet. "You come when we call you, you here!" he screamed in Steve's face.
"Y-yes sir, yes sir!" Steve quickly responded back, now fully sobbing. Experience told him it was better to not fight and just say "yes sir" when he was caught.
Bill scowled at Steve as he joined Greg. "What do you think, will he work?"
Greg grabbed Steve by the hair so he could fully inspect Steve's face. "He'll need a haircut, but yeah. He's the closest thing we have to matching the descriptions."
Steve wanted to ask what they were talking about, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. He probably wasn't going to get fed tonight for hiding, and he didn't want to make it any worse.
"Good. I got the bands right here, lets see how they work," Bill said, pulling out something from his pockets. Steve dared to look and saw Bill holding two steel cuffs engraved with enchantment runes. Oh no. Steve had no idea what those were, but he had a guess as to what was going to happen next.
Greg held Steve's arms. Steve didn't even bother fighting at this point, since he knew there was no escape. Bill locked the cuffs around Steve's wrists, and everything went black.
Steve didn't even realize that he had been crying. He cupped his hands with water and splashed it on his face, washing away the tears. He then pulled the drain out of the bathtub, letting the murky, soapy water drain away. Null had set out some clothes for him that were apparently something Herobrine used to wear, since Entity's clothes were too small and Null didn't wear anything. The light blue t-shirt and indigo sweatpants were a bit large on him, but they would work just fine.
Steve wanted to get to know his rescuer better. He really only had one conversation with Herobrine and new next to nothing about him. Except, of course, the legends and rumors. Most of those were probably not true, given that Herobrine is clearly NOT some kind of diabolical psychopathic killer. Well… nevermind, he still very well could be, given that Steve had absolutely no idea where Herobrine was at the moment. It was possible that Herobrine was out slaughtering people for fun. But if Herobrine liked killing people, then he probably would have killed Steve instead of rescuing him from the circus… right?
Steve really didn't know, and he wanted to find out.