You accept his invitation and take his hand. He then leads you out of the room into the hallway, nicely decorated with red carpet, past the wither skeleton guards. You can't help but feel extremely uneasy around monsters. "Don't be afraid. You're safe with me." Suddenly a flashback rushes through your mind the moment you heard those words. You remembered Steve saying the same words to you the first time you met him. 'Brothers...?' you think quietly. Herobrine gives you a quick glare, but then gives you an unusual gentle smile. You guess he heard your thoughts, but you can't help but wonder why he didn't get mad at that moment. "Let's start from the beginning." He says while suddenly teleporting you to the main front entrance of his stronghold. You now find yourself in a pretty big room with a pair of gigantic doors that seem to be made out of obsidian, and decorated with a lot of golden ornaments. You can't help but wonder if the door's purpose is to keep people from coming in or getting out. You also see a pretty chandelier made of glowstones hanging from the ceiling, decently lighting up the room. You also see two gigantic pairs of staircases, one on each side of the room, both leading to the second floor. "This his the lobby." he says pointing all around the room. "Pretty large.", you say unable to think of anything else, all embarrassed. He chuckles, "I like big rooms. Gives a sense of wealthiness, not that I really care about that stuff. It's all just for pure impression." You nod in agreement. He then shows you the library, kitchen, diner room, potion brewing room, and the crafting room, among other rooms.

-Time skip to several minutes later-

Herobrine is almost done showing you his mansion, but when both of you stood in front of the last door, he stops. "Why aren't we going in?" You ask curious. He smiles and tells you, "I'm working on a little something for you." You look at him surprised, and you can't help but feel very excited, and at the same time, you can't help but feel shy. Seriously, Herobrine making something 'nice' for you? The last time he did something for you wasn't very pleasant at all. "It's my way of making it up to you." He suddenly replies. You know he read your thoughts, but you nod in acknowledgement. He then leads you to the room of portals. A very large room full of Nether portals, and every single one leads to a different location in the overworld. "I wanted to tell you one more thing." You listen to him attentively. "The mark I gave you has another use. Rather than a 'curse', it was meant to be sort of a 'gift'. I have given you some of my power. For as long as you bear it, you will be able to jump much higher. You can also run, and mine faster. Falling from very tall heights won't hurt you as much either." Your eyes widen up, and you begin to smile, absolutely loving what you are hearing just now. "But don't go overboard with it. It has its limitations. As I said, it's only a portion of my own power. If you abuse your powers, your energy will be drained twice as fast." 

You stop to think for a moment, trying to figure out why he would do such a thing for you. "Why? Why do this for me?" He gets closer to look into your eyes, and smiles gently, much to your own surprise. "Because I know I won't always be around to protect you." You get confused, and ask, "What do you mean? You're Herobrine! You can do anything, right?" He laughs at your sweet naivete. "I know that, but what I meant to say is that even as we speak, Notch is working nonstop on new ways to get rid of me. For all I know, I could 'disappear' right now, and get removed from the game again." You frown at his response. You never thought about those possibilities. You knew he was right. "If I'm gone, I won't be able to protect you again. This way, you can defend yourself better, and not rely on... 'him' for protection." He says with a rather upset tone in his voice. "Each time Notch removes me, it takes me longer to decipher his code encryption. I don't know much longer it could take me next time-" you cut Herobrine off by placing your hand on his lips. "Please... say no more. I can't bear the thought of it." He frowns for realizing he made you sad, and holds you in his embrace. "But hey! You're right! Nothing can stop me for long!" he chuckles. You nod in response.

You remain there, lost in thoughts. After everything Herobrine has done to you and for you so far, you finally realize that he has done it out of jealousy because of Steve. You know he hates him with all of his might, and that you crush on Steve, even if just a little. You can't help but start giggling at the funny thought of Herobrine actually feeling jealous of someone else, making him feel upset and embarrassed. "I'm not jealous!" he shouts back. "I didn't say a word." you say smiling at him.

He finally breaks the awkward moment by saying, "Well, I have some business to attend to, so make yourself at home in the meantime. If you get hungry, you know where the kitchen is. And one last thing - if you ever want to go on an adventure, just go through any of these portals. Whenever you want to return here, just locate one of the many hidden portals I have scattered everywhere. You can change your dress now into more comfortable clothes, but I expect you to be wearing it again when I get back." He winks at you, and then walks out of the portal room. You blush as you wave at him. You look around his portal room amazed as always, and you are very surprised of his mansion. He has absolutely everything, and yet, somehow you feel the great emptiness within him.

You decide to just distract yourself until you can figure out what to do for Herobrine. "Hmm... Aww yiss! Time to go to an adventure and test my new powers!" you say grinning mischievously. You run back to your room to change clothes, and equip yourself decently from the chest next to your bed. You run back to the portal, and select a random one as your destination, and walk through it. You feel all tingly as you are being transported to the overworld.

-Steve's POV-

Steve finally wakes up after being asleep a whole day. His head wasn't pounding as hard this time, and he gets up to freshen up. After a delicious breakfast, he sits down on his bed reading the note you sent him, particularly, reading your name over and over. Trying to remember too hard made his head hurt again with more sudden flashbacks. This time, his able to see your face in some of the memories. "Aagh!" he groans holding his head again. "I think... I saw her face this time... but who exactly is she...? Why was she living with me? Who is she to me...?" Steve keeps asking himself while holding his head in pain. "I need to stop thinking about it right now." As he tries to relax, the pain starts to slowly go away. Feeling much better, he gets up and decides to go out. "I haven't fed my little friends in a whole day. They must be starving!" He says smiling a bit, getting himself ready.

After finishing his chores, Steve realizes he's running short on several materials. He needs more iron, coal, wood, diamonds, and food. So he equips himself with his emergency equipment supplies he keeps in a secret chest should he ever die and lose his main equipment. 

-Time skip to several minutes later-

"Time to head out!" he says excitedly. He leaves his house, and heads out into the wilderness. Steve decides to go beyond the areas where he has explored before to find new uncharted regions. After a while of walking, he finds a mountainous region of Extreme Hills. "Ooh! I sure could use some emeralds!" He says outloud excitedly. And so, he ventures forth towards the mountains.

-Back to your POV-

The portal you chose brought you to a very beautiful, lush forest, filled with many flowers of different kinds and colors. "Aah, so beautiful!" You begin to collect several of these flowers to decorate your dull-looking room. You also go around collecting wood, cobblestone, and iron, among other materials. "Now then, time to put these powers to the test." You say very excited. You see a very tall tree and decide to jump to the top of it. "Hiah!" You successfully jump higher and land on top of the tree. "No way! I've always wanted to do these kind of things in real life!" You look around and spot far away the Extreme Hills. 'I sure could use some emeralds for my jewelry collection...' you think to yourself, but before leaving, you mark down the coordinates of the Nether Portal on your map, so you can safely find it again to go back. "Now let's try combining speed with jumps!" You sprint from the top of the tree and quickly jump before running out of footing, and leap decently far away, landing on top of another tree. "Hahahah! This is so awesome! At this rate, I should make it to the mountains in just a few seconds!" You continue running and jumping until you make it to the base of the mountain. You begin to pant a little from using your powers a little too much. "Whew! And here we go!" 

You begin mining your way through the mountain collecting lots of materials, finding every now and then emerald ores, and fighting mobs nonstop. Your inventory is almost full now, and you decide to finally head back.

-Steve's POV-

"Whew, mining sure is hard work, and very rewarding. I got plenty of materials I needed." He pauses briefly, "Although... I am a little lost..." Steve follows the trail of the cave he was in, leading him outside to a different location from where he came from. "Hmm, I don't remember coming from this side..." He then spots someone walking out from another cave exit a little farther away from his. "Huh...? Who's that...?" But then he recognizes you from his flashbacks. 'Wait... That's... I'm positive it's her!' He thinks to himself. "HEY YOU!" He shouts at the woman's direction.

-Back to your POV-

You hear someone shouting, and startled, you turn around to look in the direction from where it came from. Your eyes open ever so widely completely shocked. You never expected to find Steve this far out into the uncharted regions. "Steve..." you mumble to yourself. But you know that if you get any closer again, he could get hurt. So you do the most natural thing you could think of - RUN! You quickly run in the direction where the Nether portal is.

"Hey! Wait! Damn! She's fast!" Steve drops his inventory bag to run faster after you.

"SHIT! He's gaining on me!!", you mumble to yourself. Your super speed is actually affected by all the stuff you are carrying. You don't want to use your powers in front of him, but you have no choice if you want to leave him farther behind. You gather your strength for a speed boost, and then leaped through the air farther up ahead, but in doing so, you dropped your inventory bag. "DAMMIT!" You try to turn around to get it back, but Steve was already too close. You have no choice but to leave without it, and go back through the portal from which you came from, after losing him out of sight.

-Steve's POV-

Steve finally stops, giving up. "Damn... I lost her... But why did she run?" He then approaches the bag you dropped, and picks it up. "Hmm, she sure was busy up in those mountains... Which means... She'll be back eventually to get it back." He pauses briefly. "And when she does, I'll be waiting..." Steve looks at the horizon to see the sun setting. "I better camp out here for the night." 

-Several minutes later-

He builds a small shack inside the forest for better camouflage, and puts your stuff in a small chest. "Sigh... That sure was weird... Either I'm going insane or I actually saw her jump really far away... I'll need to think of a way to deal with that particular... ability..." He looks at his clock on the wall. "Hmm, it's pretty late now. I should go to sleep." He lays on his bed and slowly falls asleep.

-Back to your POV-

Finally out of his range, you leap yourself through the air to make it faster to your destination, and as soon as you find the portal, you quickly go through it and teleport to the Nether. As soon as you walk out of the portal, you collapse on the floor, completely drained of your energy. "Damn... Herobrine wasn't kidding when he said not to abuse these powers..." you mumble as you feel your consciousness slipping away.

-Time skip to a couple of hours later-

'Ah, it's dark again... But I feel like I've gotten used to it by now... Might as well embrace it rather than fight it, right?' You feel like you are shaken in you sleep, and you finally open your eyes slowly to see who was shaking you. You find yourself in Herobrine's arms, and you stare into his glowing eyes. "What happened?" he asks concerned. "Um... well-" he cuts you off immediately. "Let me guess, you abused your powers, didn't you?" he grunts. You lower your head shy and embarrassed. "Um, maybe a little...?" You smile with the cutest, most guiltiest look on your face. "Siiigh... What am I going to do with you?" He then carries you (bridal style) to your room and lays you on your bed. "You should get some rest. You're going to be doing a LOT of exercising later." He winks at you. You blush embarrassed thinking he called you 'fat'. He laughs at you for even thinking that. "No no no, I didn't mean that. I meant you're going to be using a lot of energy. Remember the project I told you I was working on? Well, I finished the last tweaks."

"Really? Can I see it now?" you ask excitedly. "No. You rest now." He forces you down on the bed. You pout back him, only making him laugh. He then breaks the 'cute' moment by saying, "By the way, good job on what you did back there in the overworld." You look at him puzzled, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Your eyes slowly widen up when you remembered seeing Steve, and running away from him. "You can't mean-" 

"Yes I do. I was watching you the whole time. That's how I know you abused your powers a little too much as well." he crosses his arms glaring at you. "Well, it had to be done, right? I didn't want him to catch me, and let alone find the portal!" you reply upset. "I know." he says walking towards the door of your room. "That's why I'm going to let it slide for now. So for now, rest." He snickers as he walks out of the room, leaving you to yourself. You know he won't let you get out of the room until you actually sleep, so you just lay back down, and close your eyes, slowly falling asleep.

-Time skip to 1 day later in Minecraft-

You wake up finally feeling all refreshed and revitalized. You look at your clock only to see it going all coo-coo because it doesn't work inside the Nether. "Great... I can't tell if it's daytime or night time... Not that it really matters in here, I guess." you mumble to yourself as you get up. You go to the bathroom to freshen and handle your business. After you are done, you go to the wardrobe, and dress up lightly to head out again and get your stuff back. "I can't help but feel like Steve actually got all my stuff. How am I going to get it back now?" you grunt to yourself. "I'll figure something out." You finally leave your room, and head towards the portal room, and take the same portal you took before.

-A few minutes later-

You are at the location of the lush flower forest. You carefully scout the area for any signs of Steve wandering around, but you don't see him anywhere. "Whew... OK, concentrate. From which direction did I come from?" you ask yourself as you jump to the top of a tree. You spot the Extreme Hills, and figure you obviously came from that direction. You then jump back down exploring the forest grounds in hopes of finding your bag. "Sigh... Nothing yet..."

You finally spot your bag in between some trees and flowers. "Ah! There it is!" You sprint to it and pick it up, only to feel it very light. "Huh? I don't remember my bag being this light..." You open your bag only to see it stuffed with fluffy wool. "Oh great... This can't be good." You take a step back and stepped on what seemed to be a very well-hidden wooden plate under the leaves, triggering some sort of trap. You quickly look up and see a huge rope net fall, but you are quick enough to roll out of the way before trapping you. "Whew! That was close!"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" You hear a voice shouting in your direction. You turn around to see Steve a little farther away from you, holding what seemed to be a potion of...speed?! And holding some ropes. "Oh this can't be good... He's serious!!" You mumble to yourself as you begin to run away.

"You're not getting away this time!" Steve drinks the potion of speed and makes himself as fast as you, and sprints after you.

As you run and jump through the forest, you encounter several traps you triggered by accident, slowing you down. "Agh! Dammit! Is this whole place booby-trapped?!" you grunt to yourself. "So, you wanna play 'Cat and Mouse', don't you Steve?" You mumble to yourself. "Well it is ON!!" You start to jump from tree to tree to avoid the traps. 

"Hohoho! She's not getting away so easily!" Steve swings a rope and latches it on a tree branch, swinging himself up above the trees. "That's right, keep running in that direction...", Steve mumbles with confidence.

You turn around and see Steve jumping on the trees behind you. 'What the- how did he get up here?? Well no matter! Time to lose him out of sight', you think to yourself feeling confident in your agility and jump back down, only to land on a camouflaged wooden plate that activated a dispenser, shooting a splash potion of weakness, hitting you from behind. "Aaah!!" You collapse on the ground, and shake your head, trying to recover. 

"Bull's eye!" He says with almost a tone of victory. "And look out below!" you hear Steve shouting as he jumps down. You get back on your feet to run again, but the potion had weakened you greatly, affecting your speed dramatically.

"Not so fast!" he then swings his rope at you, and it gets tangled up around your legs, making you trip and fall. You try to loose the rope on your legs, and when you turn around, you see Steve aiming at you with a bow. "Enough games, gorgeous! I'd think twice before trying to run again." He says panting heavily, and with a very upset tone.

"Siiigh... fine... you win..." you say reluctantly. 'How am I going to explain this to Herobrine...?' you wonder to yourself greatly concerned. Steve then helps you get up, and in doing so, he spots the black marking tattoo on your shoulder. "What the- you've got the stigma?!" he says shocked, stepping back a little bit.

"Huh? Stigma? What are you talking about?" you ask very confused. He then points at the mark on your shoulder. "How did you get that?!" He asks very upset. You can't help but feel a little scared from his angry demeanor. You've never seen Steve like this before. "I... I don't remember..." Steve raises an eyebrow while looking at you, hardly believing what you said. "What do you mean you don't remember?" 

"I just don't, OK? I was wandering through the forest one late afternoon when I was attacked from behind! When I woke up, the mark was just there!" you shout back at him, tears now swelling up in your eyes.

Steve decides to accept your answer for now. "OK OK, I'm sorry for yelling at you..." His voice now sounding more calmed.

"So um... why have you captured me, Steve?" you ask him.

"Well, yesterday you ran away from me, and I just wanted to ask you a few questions, because-" he pauses briefly. "Hey wait a minute- how do you know my name?" he asks, almost confirming his suspicions about actually knowing you and you knowing him.

'Damn, I just messed up everything...' you think to yourself as you probably know you will have to tell Steve everything.