Disclaimer: I do NOT own the game 'Minecraft'. I only own this AU series.
☆

"Hey kid! Don't wander off and stay with your family!"

Jason yelled to the boy who was really interested in a pile of flowers. The boy turned and nodded, running off to join the group. Jason sighed, leading villagers to their new home was actually tiring. He led his horse forward, watching out for the villagers. Other soldiers were scattered to keep an eye on the villagers, several kids kept on wandering off.

He turned when someone called him. Ty was riding towards him, maroon eyes filled with worry. Jason frowned and asked, "Ty, what's wrong? Did someone get lost?"

Ty sighed and said, "No, Rive smelled mobs ahead of us. You need to send out a few of the soldiers to kill or drive them off."

Jason groaned and replied, "Alright, I'll go with two others. Take over for me. If I don't return in half an hour send someone out for me."

Ty gave a quick nod and Jason galloped away to fetch two of his squad mates.

○

Lord Bergensten paced around his room. Well, it was the room of the late King Markus Alexej Persson. He was clearing out a few of his things so he could move in. Jeb had cleared out the desk and closet but he found a trunk underneath the bed. It was locked and he was curious of its contents. He sighed and unsheathed his sword. He put a foot on the trunk and raised his sword. He brought it down with all his strength and he was relieved when the padlock broke and fell off.

It was rusty anyways.

He opened it and winced at the dust. He covered his nose and blew some off, creating a temporary cloud of dust which faded away. He gasped, there was a ton of stuff in it. There was an inscription carved on the lid.

'Blast to the past!'
'Too fun, Markus. Tone it down.'

He could recognize the second's carving's style just a little bit. It was cursive and neat. The first one was obviously Markus, but clearly when he was a little younger. He had ridiculous penmanship, but he gradually improved. Memories of the past slowly made Jeb feel the sweet, sweet feeling of nostalgia. He smiled softly to himself.

Those happy memories were plagued with bad ones, and Jeb sighed. The murders began and their dear friend and brother was sentenced to death. Markus told him about it and he took Hero's side. He truly believed that despite the past deaths Herobrine had made, he would never intend to kill someone innocent. There was something deeper and Markus knew. Too bad he did not tell Jeb before he died.

The first thing he spotted was a bright blue cape. He grabbed it and laid it out on the carpet, it looked like Markus' brown cape and it had the royal creeper sign. It was made of the finest silk Minecraftia could provide. He folded it and looked inside. He reached in and brushed against something bulky. He pulled it out and found a... Diary?

He read it, the same cursive and neat familiar handwriting and it seemed like an observation diary of mysterious stuff. It talked about teleportation, summoning creatures and all that weird stuff. Jeb knew the magic folk really well, but he was pretty sure they did not delve into these kinds of magics. There was no name but there were dates. It had been over 10 years ago that this book was written. 

He put it aside and found a picture frame. It had a total of four people. Two adults with two children, both young boys. All of them seem so happy, together and strong. He took a look at the adult female, the mother. She has her golden brown hair tied and hung loose on her right shoulder. She has pale skin with deep dark blue eyes. She was just so beautiful. And vaguely familiar.

Then the adult male, the father. His dark brown hair is combed neatly and his amber eyes are sincere and bright. The two make a lovely couple. Then onto the tallest boy, probably the eldest son. He represented his mother. Long golden brown hair and deep dark blue eyes. He has his arm around the more shorter boy.

Both boys were pretty familiar. The shorter and probably younger one had dark brown hair which represented his father. Not to mention the pale amber eyes. Jeb's eyes widened. They were the Persson brothers when they was young.

The taller kid..? Hero. He looked adorable when he was young. The last time Jeb saw him, he still had that slight baby face. He set the picture frame aside gently and dug through the trunk. There was a letter at the bottom. It was not crumpled and it looked like it was written just a few weeks ago. The handwriting was that of Markus. Jeb saw the date. Yes, only just last month was it written. He sat down on his bed and read it.

Who ever is reading this, this may mean that I am long gone and have joined my friends in the afterlife or whatever you believe in. This is important.

You may have looked through the contents of this trunk and must be very confused. The boy with golden brown hair in the picture frame is my older brother. Yeah, Hero Persson. The general, that guy. My only brother in blood.

He is alive right now, you must think he must be an old hag right now but trust me, he looks like a young adult, still breaking hearts and making people drool after him. He looks exactly the same... Minus all the additional scars...

This is my death wish.

Please find my brother. He gave our country freedom. He built the railway. He built the bases. He built this very castle. He had done so many things. He helped Minecraftia gain safety, for he built the Royal Military. People think he has run away and dead by now. A rabid dog hungry for death.

But I know him more than he does.

He is strong and alive but isolated from society. He had done so many good things to Minecraftia and most importantly, to me. But to one small mistake, people lost trust in him. I have NOT.

There's still hope in that man, he was just scared. I know you have heard of all those murders. The man who had killed humans, was him. The theories are true. The resemblances to him and eyewitness counts are uncanny. He got caught and after facing me, he ran away. I let him. I did not trust my own community with the safety of my brother.

Just trust me on this. Find him and put him in his rightful place; the one who leads the military. Let him protect the current lord's side. He deserves this. The current lord will be his... Student per say. He is an excellent guide and teacher. From all my experience, anyway.

Find him, show him this letter and he'll follow. He made a good general back then, and he would be still be now. I want people to have faith in him for he is losing faith in himself.

He is my closest friend and vice-versa. I trust him, he has helped me so many times. Let me help him too. He never shows it but he is frightened of himself. He would rather die than kill someone innocent ever again.

Please bring him back.

Sincerely,

Lord Markus Alexej Persson

Jeb let all of those words sink in his mind. He rolled the letter up and kept it firm in a scroll. He shook his head in frustration and walked to the picture frame of Lord Markus on the wall.

"Don't worry, Markus. I'll bring him back. For you. For him. For me. For us."

○

Jason sighed in relief as the last villager passed through the gate. The other soldiers who were supposed to be on guard duty went in and took their posts on the new wall. Herobrine was great help. He corrected the mistakes on the building. He must even have constructed the whole godamn thing. He knew where goes where, what material would be best and even helped with the arrangement and alignment of blocks.

Where does that guy get all that experience?!

Jason checked on the soldiers on duty one last time before he gathered the free soldiers and headed back to the base. He received salutes as a greeting and made his way to Sky to report. Sky listened attentively before he nodded, "Good. The base's now silent. No kids running around... Peaceful."

Jason chuckled before asking, "Where's Flashyeyes?"

Sky gave a worried look and spat, "Hey, the walls have ears. 'Flashyeyes' can hear you."

The commander laughed as soon as Jason looked scared. He sighed and confessed, "I'm just messing with your innocent mind. Actually, he walked off to the forest once you set off. Never came back since then."

Jason raised an eyebrow and looked out the balcony. The sun was setting. Night would come, together with mobs. He just hoped Herobrine would be alright.

○

Herobrine grumbled. The voice came back again once Jason set off. It was getting on his nerves. He never called the voice by its name ever since it made him do those things he regretted.

I control you, don't make me mad.

Yeah, yeah.

Want more deaths?

...No.

That's the spirit. Be a good boy and don't annoy me.

Who would you kill off anyways?

Hmm... Maybe that butter-addicted freak?

Herobrine stopped in his tracks. No, the last thing he wants is Sky dead.

No, don't you dare.

Mhm.

Herobrine gave a small smile as the voice went silent. But his happy moment was destroyed unfortunately.

Can you sense that?

Herobrine raised his head and sniffed the air. He could sense a living creature nearby.

Yeah, a horse.

Been a long time since you ate, huh?

Herobrine's eyes darkened. He gulped as he knew where this was going. He was forced to do it once, a long time ago. A friend of his had eased him into it for survival, but he stopped once that friend died. He pulled every bit of his mind's defenses to shut the voice up. The taste of blood was already on his tongue. He hated it. Flashes of mauled carcasses penetrated his once calm and peaceful mind.

Y-Yeah, I know that.

Why don't you...

No.

Oh, does it smell nice...?

Please, no.

Horse meat is nice and tender, you know?

Please, please...

How about hunting?

N-No.

Are you rejecting me?

...

Now, what did I say about disobeying?

I must not disobey you or else...

Herobrine felt like losing his mind. This was stupid... He just could not even live a normal god forsaken life... He made a mistake in the past and now that mistake was following where ever he goes. Every second he spent with this mistake made him hate himself even more. He felt this once. Underground, surrounded by strong people, of course he had to build and construct a fierce and snappy mask he always put on, hiding the scared and terrified young boy pushed into war.

Well?

Or else you will take away everything precious from me.

Exactly, do you want that to happen again?

No.

Good. Be a true hero and go and murder that horse. You need blood to stay strong.

Yes, sir.

Herobrine felt himself lose control of his body. He felt someone else take over him. How familiar. His body started moving on his own and he was forced to watch. His mouth opened to speak, and Herobrine could not do anything about it. Derrek was in control again. It has been so long, and the feeling was always bad.

"Been a long time since I've used your vessel."

His own voice did not sound right. His katana appeared in his grasp as he crept through the bushes. He saw a rather big horse. It is full of nice tender flesh and how he longed for the metallic taste of copper on his tongue. Derrek was making him feel this way. His mouth tugged upwards to form a rather creepy smile as he stared at the stallion. His eyes glowed with longing. He waited for the right moment to...

He leaped from the shadows. He used his strength to nudge the stallion's neck aside, exposing the throat. The stallion whinnied in surprise and distress and he raised his katana.

The blade cut right through the throat, blood squirting out. He brought it down, slicing the flesh open, blood squirting onto his clothes and face. The horse's whinnies died as it fell on its side, no longer moving. Just dead. He slid his katana out and grasped it, blood dripping down his chin and blade. The katana disappeared and it took a few minutes for Herobrine to come to. Derrek has released his hold on him, which meant he had to do the dirty work himself.

"No. Please, no."

Appetite, that's why, my puppet.

"I didn't ask for this..."

Who needs your permission. You need this.

"No! No, I don't."

Yes, you do. I say so.

"But why?"

Oh my god, I already said so. This is for you to eat, you idiot. I helped you. Is this how you repay me?

"I am not hungry. I don't need to eat that."

Too bad, eat it.

"No!"

The butter-addicted freak will be your meal, then.

"No! Fuck, please, not Adam..."

Then eat the god forsaken horse. Are you really going to leave it dead like that?

Herobrine gave up. He crouched down and tore the gash apart, exposing the tender flesh of the fallen stallion.

Go on.

He grabbed the meat and tugged, eventually tearing it into a small piece. He stared at it with sorrow. He gulped.

I'm waiting.

He licked the blood off, the familiar taste coming back. He then proceeded to nip at the flesh and bit down. His unusually long fangs tore it and he chewed. His first ray prey had been a deer. His spider clanmates back then has hunted it just for him. Derrek had been recovering at that time. Now, ever since Noah had died, every memory Herobrine had with the spiders seemed wrong.

Swallow it.

He savored the odd taste for a few moments before pushing it down his throat.

Taste good?

Yes.

Good boy, eat up.

Alright...

○

The next day, Sky was shaken awake by Herobrine. Herobrine went on and on about how early a true commander should wake up to attend to duties. Sky wasn't listening. He noticed something was off in the Swede. Even though he was talking about serious stuff, Adam caught him shiver. He also seemed distraught and hurt. His eyes raked down the man's body, and he actually winced at how thin Herobrine was.

Now that he thought about it, he had never seen Herobrine eat. Never. He noticed a lot of things that were not normal for Herobrine. He knew Herobrine was definitely not normal. But, he was a fully functional human... Right? He did see Ty offer some cooked food to him before but Herobrine refused with a sad look on his face.

"Hey, Briney?"

"Great, you weren't listening. Whatever, excusing the stupid nickname, what?"

Sky gulped. He parted his jaw for that question, "What do you usually eat?"

With that question, Herobrine's serious expression went to uncomfortable and scared immediately. Herobrine remained quiet as he thought. Sky went on, "I've never seen you eat before. I have your powers, but I still feel hungry."

Herobrine's eyes darkened as he tried to breathe. Didn't work. Herobrine's soft breaths grew hitched as his pulse quickened in distress and fear. Sky panicked as he gently held Herobrine's shoulder in attempt to comfort him. Sky saw this in his old soldiers. Panic attacks, normally triggered by something that was linked to what caused their panic, or their trauma.

"Fuck. You're panicking. This happened to... Ah, fuck. What do I do again?"

Herobrine's gaze was lost as his eyes were clouded with negative emotions. Herobrine clenched his fist as he bit his lip. "I finished my batch of potions. I'm sorry. I-I need to ask S-Seto for another..."

Herobrine muttered after silence. "Also... I just eat the occasional wild b-berries?"

Herobrine's breaths calmed down as he panted. Sky flinched at how Herobrine seemed so used to this. He slowly calmed down and turned to Sky, eyes then glowing a bit dim. He put a hand against his forehead and deeply inhaled. He exhaled and peeked at Sky from under his fingers.

"Don't worry. I'm alright," he lied.

Good. Don't tell him.

Sky raised an eyebrow before walking away to prepare himself for the day, muttering 'whatever you say'.