Chapter 49: Broken Fragments


When Andvari returned, the group made their preparations, left the rest of the blaze rods within Steve's house (staying for a few minutes at the request of the miner just in case the rods decided to ignite), retrieved Squash, and set off once again.

They went off toward the dark oak forest, leaving during the late afternoon when the sun was still pretty high up in the sky, much to Malgun's dismay. Though it would begin to set soon enough, the group decided to remain beneath the trees for the moment, not wanting to risk anything whatsoever. After making their way past the roofed forest, they soon came across a familiar sight, which immediately caused Steve to feel a bit nauseous as the memories of what had happened in the area came rushing back to him.

Passing by the remnants of the destroyed village, Steve attempted to keep his gaze focused forward, trying to avoid looking at it directly as guilt slowly began to build up within him. He still hoped desperately that a few people were able to escape, but given the fact that no one had seemingly returned to the village, doubt rose up within him.

Herobrine glanced over to the village, an uninterested look settling upon his face before he looked back to see how Steve was faring, a bit of concern soon replacing his expression.

Steve was troubled. His eyes were slightly wavering, fighting off the urge to focus elsewhere.

Falling back to walk beside him, Herobrine made his expression more neutral before speaking.

"...What do you suppose that will happen with that village? Eventually, someone important will realize what happened to it, won't they?"

Seeing Steve visibly become more upset by his words, Herobrine stepped a bit farther away from him as he waited for his response.

"...I don't know." Came Steve's brief answer.

Herobrine frowned, expecting a more detailed answer to have left the other's mouth than what he had been given.

"...Shouldn't there be a plan in place for an event like this? Humans are often fond of thinking up scenarios that have little probability of actually happening, shouldn't this have been one of them?"

"I don't know." Steve reiterated, still refusing to turn his head.

"...Oh you've got to be joking." Herobrine said abruptly, a frustrated sigh leaving his lips after. "They're going to have to do something about this sooner or later."

'They wouldn't have had to do anything if it wasn't for you.' was what Steve wanted to say desperately, though his words remained within his thoughts.

If he said anything out loud, would Herobrine lash out at him? Would he ridicule him? What response would he get? Though he originally knew what to expect from the other, now he was having a bit of an issue with getting a proper read.

Before he could think any longer about the possibilities, he heard a small sigh escape from Herobrine's lips.

"...Any survivors would've likely picked up some of the pieces and made their way to other villages for help. Eventually, someone might come back to use whatever's left here for the creation of a new settlement. At least, that's what I'm guessing."

Steve thought about the other's words for a bit before nodding quietly.

What else could he say? He didn't have any words that weren't either critical of Herobrine or woeful for the previous occupants of the village. He felt as if one spilled word from his mouth would result in a barrage of emotions that might be met with harsh pushback.

As they left the ruined village, silence overcame the group once again.


They emerged from the forest slightly and came upon a grassy plain, one that had been, intriguingly enough, completely flattened and cleared of all tall grass, bushes, and flowers. In the very distance, just in front of them, there seemed to be a significantly large tower of smoke rising into the air, its source being hidden by the trees just up ahead.

The second he spotted the smoke, Herobrine held an arm out in front of the others, quickly gesturing for them to step back into the forest.

"...That might possibly be another village. What do you all make of it?" Herobrine asked, glancing back toward the others for their input.

Constiere shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I can only see that one tower and nothing else."

Andvari walked to Herobrine's side, glancing down at him.

"Shouldn't we consult the map?"

"Yeah, I think it'd be better to not run into a potential group of armed villagers, at least," Malgun added.

Herobrine's eyes widened slightly in realization before he gave the others a quick nod, doing as they suggested. As the map was unfurled, the group was slightly surprised to find that, according to the sketches that had been drawn on the map, there was nothing up ahead. Nothing but the forest was supposed to be in front of them.

"Should we go ahead and scout it out, Sir?" Constiere asked, looking up from the map to watch for Herobrine's response.

Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before nodding slowly.

"It wouldn't hurt to be cautious."

Folding the map back up, Herobrine pointed ahead to the forest that was just across the clearing from them.

"Consteire and Malgun, take a few of your forces with you and check the area for humans. Andvari, keep watch over them and make sure that the endermen are far away from this area. If anyone is living here, we need to make sure that they can't interfere with our mission in any way whatsoever, even if it's through encountering the endermen alone. Make sure that you search thoroughly; there might be buildings spread out far from each other."

The three mob generals nodded and quickly went away at his command, with Constiere and Andvari going on ahead through the clearing while Malgun stuck to the forest, traveling safely beneath the trees.

Herobrine directed his attention upward to Steve as soon as the mob generals had gotten far away enough.

"We'll stay here. As soon as we assess the situation, we can proceed."

Walking back into the forest, Herobrine led Steve forward into a more darker area of the forest, hidden from clear view by large bushes and cluttered rocks. Stopping within a small, semi-cleared area, Herobrine glanced around carefully for any signs of life as Steve decided to dismount from Squash, moving her closer to a small set of large rocks before doing so.

Climbing up onto a nearby rock, Steve sat down as Herobrine continued to look around and stare at the overhead trees for a moment before looking back at the miner.

"...How are you taking in the situation?" He asked quietly, earning some brief confusion from Steve.

Steve shrugged.

"I…I dunno. What if we do find someone there? What are you guys gonna do?"

Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before shrugging in response.

"Hopefully nothing. If whoever we find is insignificant, we can simply move past them without issue. If they're suspicious, then we'll have to do a bit of investigating for the greater good."

"...You won't hurt them, right?" Steve gave the other a pleading gaze. "...Please?"

Herobrine looked at him for longer than he deemed comfortable, debating with himself quietly before turning away.

"...It all depends on how much of a threat they pose to us. Of course, if it's minimal, they'll be fine."

Somewhat still worried about the other's words, Steve found himself only able to nod in response.

As silence formed within the forest area that they'd decided to wait in, Steve found himself fiddling around with the ends of his shirt for a bit before catching a bit of gold in his vision, realization hitting him immediately.

He was still wearing the other's valued gold pendant.

Before he even had the chance to potentially damage it, Steve decided that it was finally time to return it.

"Oh, I think that I forgot to give this back to you." Steve said, removing the pendant from around his neck before handing it over to Herobrine, watching as the other's gaze briefly lit up in surprise before he walked over to retrieve it.

"I...I forgot that you still had it." Herobrine said, taking the necklace from his hands and staring at it. "...You kept it safe."

"...Were you expecting me not to?" Steve said with a small chuckle. "You kinda showed me how valuable it was to you. I'm not gonna just take something of yours and put it in danger like that."

Herobrine's gaze remained focused upon the pendant, his thoughts seemingly well-occupied by something he was keeping well hidden. Eventually, he looked back up at Steve, moving to tie the pendant back around his own neck as he did so.

"...Thank you."

Hearing the strange word exit the other's mouth, confusion arose in Steve briefly before Herobrine gave him a small smile to accompany it.

"It's 'thank you' in Aethren. A small pre-lesson."

"...T…T-thank you? Like that? Just that?" Steve asked cautiously, earning a small nod in response.

"Yes. Exactly."

"...Thank you. Thank you!" Steve repeated a bit excitedly, focusing on remembering the word properly before looking at Herobrine with a genuinely appreciative look in his eyes. "...Thank you."

As Herobrine hid the pendant out of view, he gave Steve another short nod of acknowledgment.

Once the other left his side, going to pace a bit as they were left waiting for the others' return, Steve found himself retreating into his thoughts as he watched his brother step further away.

Something had been silently irking him. An emotion he couldn't exactly describe before had been quietly eating away at him the more he spent time by Herobrine's side.

He knew that he'd been insistent on being the other's sibling. He knew that he'd proudly proclaimed that he was fine with that fact, and he knew well enough that he was being truthful about what he'd said. What had been irking him, however, was the fact that Herobrine had been eager to set aside their previous experiences and go straight ahead to acting like close siblings. They had only just started to break down their barriers, but now, Herobrine's, in particular, had utterly shattered.

He found himself conflicted. He wanted to get the know the other better. He wanted to be his friend. Now that the opportunity was being handed to him freely, why couldn't he just allow it all to happen?

Steve glanced downward at his hands.

"...Brine."

Herobrine looked over at him, gaze full of curiosity.

"Yes?"

"...Don't you feel...well, kinda weird about all of this?"

Herobrine raised a slight brow at him.

"...About what? The mission? The smoke?"

Steve shook his head.

"No, I mean about us. You and me."

"...What's there to feel weird about?"

At Herobrine's quiet question, Steve felt himself growing nervous.

"I...I dunno. You putting all this sudden...uh, added trust in me is um...weird, to say the least."

Herobrine looked at the other with added confusion on his features.

"...What do you mean by that? We're working with each other, but above that...we're siblings."

Steve shrugged.

"...I dunno. A few days ago, we were just...getting used to each other, and now, we're suddenly...buddy-buddy? You said that you'd hold back on telling me any personal information, but the second I push harder, you crumble."

"...You said that you wanted to be brothers. I wanted to try it."

"Yeah, but we weren't even really friends before Mo came and told us the truth. Now all of a sudden, we are. You barely tolerated me when you thought I was mortal, and now, you suddenly don't. You tease me like we've known each other all our lives. It's...kinda giving me whiplash, now that I think about it."

Herobrine narrowed his gaze at him a bit.

"...What, would you rather prefer things go back to how they were?"

Steve shook his head, holding his hands up in defense at the other's more aggressive tone.

"No, no! I...I just think it's weird. It feels weird." Steve paused, looking down at his feet. "...The second you found out I wasn't human, your barriers...cracked."

Looking up to meet Herobrine's gaze with a nervous expression, Steve let out a small, shaky chuckle.

"...Making up for lost time, I guess?"

Holding the other's focus for longer than he wanted to, Steve felt relief as Herobrine eventually turned away, staring at the ground in front of him intently. The miner couldn't read his expression from where he was, prompting added concern.

"...What the hell was I supposed to do, then?" Herobrine asked quietly, keeping his gaze upon the ground.

The other's tone was surprisingly weaker than what he'd been expecting, causing some brief confusion.

"...With what?" Steve asked cautiously.

Herobrine left him in silence, rolling his wrist around within his hand before a soft sigh escaped his lips.

"...Nineteen years we've spent separated from each other. Nineteen years we've spent unaware of the other's presence. You're my blood sibling, so how am I supposed to treat you?" Herobrine looked back up at him. "...I wouldn't know the first thing. I only know what I've been taught, and what I've been taught is how to act with a sibling that I've known all my life."

"But that's the thing, isn't it?" Steve asked. "We haven't met each other until recently. You can't just skip everything and act this close to me, can you? Especially since…well, you know how you introduced yourself to me."

Herobrine's eyes lit up somewhat in remembrance, though, from Steve's perspective, panic soon followed shortly afterward.

"I didn't know-"

"-I know. Brine, I know that you didn't, but still. How am I supposed to just…well, get over everything you've done at this point? I'm trying to, I really am, but…" Steve looked away, his gaze falling slightly. "...The more I think about it, the more conflicted I feel. We're siblings, yes, but…do I forgive everything you've done? Do I forget about everybody you've hurt while I've been with you? Do I throw away everything just to act this close to you? I appreciate everything you've been telling me and everything you've been doing for me, but...I don't know how to feel about this."

Herobrine stared at him intensely, his eyes wavering as he left the other in silence. Steve felt somewhat concerned by the fact that Herobrine hadn't answered him yet, but as the seconds passed, he soon found the gears turning within the other's head.

Eventually, Herobrine opened his mouth to speak.

"...What are you asking? I mean, I have a good idea of what your words are truly implying, but…what do I make of it?"

Worried about how the other would respond, Steve decided to simply push forward with asking his question before he could chicken out and go back on his words.

"...Do we start at the beginning? I only know you as Herobrine, King of the Mobs, the god of Imitation. How do I get to know you as Herobrine, my brother? Without all the shortcuts?"

Silence was the other's response as he kept his gaze focused upon him, staring at Steve with unreadable emotions. Though Steve still felt rather nervous, all he could do at this point was hope that the man before him would at least give him some sort of answer, even if it was a negative one.

After a moment of tensity, Herobrine turned away from him, staring outward into the distance as Steve's heart fell at the sight. Despite the fact that it seemed like Herobrine was going to ignore things, he still held out some faint hope.

"...It's been ages since we last sparred."

Somewhat alarmed by the sudden change in topic, Steve raised a brow at the other.

"...Yeah, and?"

"...Now that we know you can't die except...well, while under divine circumstances, I can continue teaching you about how to face the other divines. When night falls again, shall we spar?" Herobrine slightly turned his head back to speak to him, though Steve still couldn't see his face entirely.

A frustrated sigh left Steve's lips.

"Brine, I know you just wanna push past things, but I-"

Herobrine fully turned to face him, expression neutral.

"I want. To spar." The other's words were spoken in a slightly forceful manner, his offer becoming more of a demand.

Looking down at his lap in slight frustration, Steve thought to himself for a moment, debating on whether or not fighting against the other's demands would be worth it, in the end.

Herobrine tended to speak more freely during sparring matches, but the man was speaking more freely in general as well. If the sparring match was only going to be for educational purposes and nothing more, Steve would've preferred it if they fought after traveling a bit further.

The second Steve looked back up in order to respond to the other, he froze as he connected gazes.

If anything, from what Herobrine displayed in his emotional silver eyes, the man did not want to simply spar. He was closer to running away or teleporting off somewhere more than anything else. He looked uncomfortable, and yet, it seemed as if he wanted to speak with Steve, just in a more personal setting that was separate from the others.

Steve slowly nodded in response.

"...I...yes. Night's a weird time, but...sure."

Examining Steve's expression intensely for a moment, Herobrine turned away slowly as he found nothing there that would contradict his agreement.

"...You don't have my eyes. Getting more used to fighting in the dark will benefit you greatly in the long run."

"...Sure. Yeah."

Silence filled the space between them momentarily before Herobrine continued to speak, though his tone was a bit quieter than before.

"...The others will take a while, as well."

"...Take a while? What do you mean?" Steve looked at him curiously.

"...They'll take a while. I told them to search for life. Life might be more spread out around here."

Finding the other's sudden lack of further details rather intriguing, yet all the more baffling, Steve gave him a small nod.

"...Alright. Fair enough."


WHEW I'm back! Sorry for the long break between chapters! I'm still going through my reread, but in doing so, I've decided to make this chapter another little in-between one. With how fast some aspects of character development have been going, I wanted to space things out a bit before I drop another kinda lore-heavy chap lol. Originally was gonna do some heavy stuff for this chapter, but after some heavy debating with myself, I felt like this was the better option! Chapter's a bit shorter, but I decided that it was better to post it as-is instead of adding heavy details (that would ultimately make me take longer in updating the fic) lol. I might go back and add more stuff, though, idk how I feel about this one in its entirety.

Steve's already regretting pushing his feelings aside just to be brothers with Brine tho lol

No fun facts this week! Pretty small chapter, so there are not that many additional little tidbits I can include lol

Anyways, that's it for now! See y'all soon! I'll still be working on editing the fic a bit, so sorry for the upload delays!