Evening humbly settled in over the town of Crown Mesa. The sunset had already begun, splashing vibrant colors of red, gold, and pink across the sky over the desert. Most of the town's residents were retreating into their rebuilt homes for the day, wiping sweat off their foreheads from a hard day's work. Reconstruction of their home had been a challenge at first, even with Harper assisting the efforts. But their luck had begun turning around when one of the scavenger groups had found underground caverns filled to the brim with water. Harper theorized that PAMA had stored any water it couldn't eliminate far from the town. With streams of water now restored in the town, leaps of progress had been made, and crops were soon poking out of the ground. The people of Crown Mesa had even constructed a large fountain in the center of town, right in front of the spot where PAMA's screen used to tower above them.

All redstone wiring in PAMA's core was altered to power up their machines and lights. Tonight would be the night where they attempted to fix the lampposts spread out between the houses so that they lit up automatically once it was dark. Harper, Harry, and a few of the town's other engineers stood by the center fountain, anxiously waiting to see the results of their work today. Harper gave encouraging smiles to the others, but even she felt her hands fidgeting as they waited.

The redstone lamps began to flicker and Harper held her breath. She feared the familiar buzzing sound followed by the lamps shutting off that had marked their failed attempts for the past few days.

"Come on...come on…" Harper quietly urged, hoping luck would be kinder to her today. She crossed her fingers as the lights went back and forth between dim and bright, until finally all the lampposts lit up brightly with the sound of a flick. Soon, the whole town was lit up in every corner. Cheers from the engineers and other residents filled the air, as they began high-fiving or patting each other on the back at their success.

"Perfect, that'll keep the mobs away at least," Harry said as he turned to Harper. The scientist beamed, just seeing their satisfaction felt more rewarding than the lampposts working.

"No more dark nights," Harper agreed with a nod. The group began to disperse, most of them heading home to celebrate. Harry and Harper watched them all leave before turning to each other once again.

"So, what now?"

"Well, we got the lights working, but there's a lot of wiring we'll need to look over, gotta make sure nothing overheats," Harper explained before releasing a small yawn, "But for now, I think we've earned the rest of the night off. I'm heading home, grab something to eat and hit the hay."

"Sounds like a plan," He said while stretching his arms behind his head, "We'll check out the wiring first thing tomorrow, unless they go out in the middle of the night. See you in the morning, Harper."

With that, he turned and headed in the direction of his home. Harper waved goodbye before doing the same, making her way to the edge of the town where she had constructed her new house. Her new home was a decently sized two-story house made from clay blocks dyed with red and orange and a jungle wood roof. She had moved most of her equipment from her old lab to a new location in town, so her home was mainly just for living, though she did leave notes and small inventions about. It was the farthest building from the other homes of Crown Mesa, which she knew was for the best. After being alone for so long, the idea of a town full of people right next door was intimidating, and she was well aware of the lingering resentment towards her. She didn't blame them, but that didn't stop her from wincing whenever she spotted a dirty glare pointed in her direction. Even Harry, who had been her right-hand-man for much of the Post-PAMA construction, still couldn't hold long conversations with her that didn't involve their work without it turning awkward.

Time, she reminded herself on a daily basis, they all just needed time.

Her dinner was made up of a small bowl of soup, a glass of milk, and a loaf of bread, both made from the latest harvest of their growing crop field. Harper would savor every bite of the bread, oh gosh, she had missed bread during her lonely days in hiding. Back then, her meals consisted solely of beetroot, as they had been the only seeds she managed to salvage before fleeing the PAMA-invaded Crown Mesa, and small portions of water. Tasted awful, but it had kept her alive for so long. Every bite in the bread was a warm, blissful taste on her tongue, and the milk felt like a cool stream trickling down her throat.

As Harper cleaned up the bowl from her soup, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder at a clock resting above the front door. The picture of the full moon had dialed into the center, matching the starry sky outside her window. She frowned, normally on the first day of the week, she could expect a visitor from the Portal Hallway. Most times it was Ivor. He was a strange, silly man with clear volume control issues but he wasn't bad company. When the alchemist wasn't asking her question after question, he would do small tasks for her while she worked, such as bring her a small snack or tidy up her home a bit. Harper attempted to ask him questions about his own world once in awhile, but for unknown reasons, he'd never give her detailed answers. More times than not if Jesse was tagging along she'd answer for him. Although the one thing he would share about his world were flowers that grew near his home, claiming they would make good "specimen" for her work, seeing how they were a rare sight in the desert, especially after PAMA dried up most of the water. She could still remember those words PAMA had spoken to her when her favorite potted daisy had wilted...

"Flowers are beautiful, but what purpose do they serve, creator? Cacti hold water, those crops provide you and your friends with nutrients, but flowers do not serve any practical use. They are not useful."

The mechanical voice in her memory made her chest feel tight. But the pain was softened when she looked over to a windowsill where she'd place all the flowers from Ivor's many visits in pots, there were poppies, daisies, tulips, wisteria, allium, blue orchids, and even dandelions.

"Most people see dandelions as weeds, but I've found that they make charming decorations," Ivor explained as he handed the small yellow flower to her, "Just don't plant them anywhere near the crops."

Harper smiled to herself, the fond memory settling cozily in her head. She was a little disappointed he hadn't come today. Guess it can't be helped, she told herself, he was probably off on one of his "ADVENTURES!" anyway.

She had also grown fond of the company of Olivia over the past few months. They'd met when Harper had freed her and her friend Axel from obsidian prisons, but didn't speak much to each other until Jesse had formally introduced the two of them sometime after the end of their journey together. Like Ivor, she asked Harper a great amount of questions, although her questions were more related to the redstone work, but as her visits became more frequent, it grew into the two redstone engineers trading and discussing tricks and secrets. Despite being way younger, Olivia was a redstone prodigy, the girl could build an arrow launcher machine in mere minutes! That alone was impressive enough, but every visit she would amaze Harper more.

Beyond the redstone however, there were visits where Olivia confided in Harper. She'd talk about her doubts, the pressure of being a role model for other redstone enthusiasts, worries of keeping her friends safe during their treasure hunts, the list went on. Harper admitted to herself, she saw a lot of her own younger years in Olivia, and it was for that reason that she tried to give her advice to the best of her ability. But some days, Harper couldn't help but feel she wasn't the best person for Olivia to seek advice from…

Clink!

Harper blinked, her hands felt empty all of a sudden. She lowered her eyes before realizing the bowl she'd been cleaning had slipped from her fingers while she was lost in her thoughts. It sunk to the bottom of the soapy water that filled the cauldron. Her sore shoulders and a yawn that escaped from her mouth convinced her to just let the bowl soak for the night.

She began making her way towards the red sandstone staircase that led to her bedroom on the second floor, shaking her hands slightly to dry the water droplets off. The sensation of crawling and snuggling into the covers of her soft bed was calling to her, until a familiar buzzing sound alerted her. Along with the sound, her home had become darker for just a split moment. Harper looked up, and to her dismay, the redstone lamps installed into her ceiling were flickering.

Of course. Just when she thought she could actually get to sleep early tonight too…

Harper released a sigh, rolling her gloves up back on her hands and re-adjusting the goggles on her head that she had been ready to take off, she headed towards the light wooden front door of her home. Opening the door partly, Harper started to step out into the dusty night when she was met with the sight of a fully lit up Crown Mesa without a single lamp flickering. Her eyes went back and forth between the town and the blinking lights of her house. Harper rose an eyebrow as she slowly retreated back into her house.

"Guess it's just something wrong with my wiring?" Harper muttered aloud as she started for small hatch that led to the redstone wiring underneath her home.

Just as she was about to lift the trapdoor, however, a series of muffled noises paraded into her ears. There were thuds—almost sounding like someone was hitting a hard object against the walls—along with an eerie creaking, resembling light footsteps. All the while, the lamps were only blinking more. The house would go dark for a more noticeable period of time before the lights flicked back on. Okay, not normal. Harper stood up, examining her surroundings.

"Someone there?" She called out into the dark, empty space of the building. The only response she got back was an even louder thud, this time sounding like it was coming from her front door. Harper felt her body become tense, limbs feeling tight. She took a few slow breaths to calm herself down, reminding herself to think rationally. She and the townspeople were the only people out here, the only real threat now would be mobs. Even then, the mobs were back to being their not-as-bright selves with PAMA's influence gone, taking down a stray zombie or spider would be no sweat.

On the other hand, a stray monster wasn't an explanation for what was messing with her lights. Harper then recalled a prank pulled by Margaret, who was quite the jokester back in their younger days, where she would re-wire the redstone circuits of someone's home to create a false blackout before following it with a variety of spooky noises to get a jump out of them. Maybe she was getting back into her old habits.

"Margaret, I swear if you're behind this," Harper sighed, shaking her head as she went back to the front door and opened it, "it's not fun-,"

She stopped in her tracks. There, collapsed on the sandy ground just a few inches from the house, was an unconscious girl clad in blue armor with long black hair. A face Harper knew too well.

"Jesse?" Harper gasped, the sight catching her off guard. She rushed to the girl's side. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Harper shook her slightly as she said, "Jesse? Jesse, can you hear me?!"

When Jesse only responded with a small groan and a pained expression, Harper began examining her. No visible injuries, okay, good sign so far. She rose her head for a moment, getting a view of the area around them for any trace of a monster that might've attacked her. The coast seemed clear, allowing Harper to return her attention to Jesse.

"Okay, okay," Harper said to calm her own panicking nerves. She took another deep breath before heaving Jesse onto her back, wrapping the girl's arms around her shoulders to prevent her from slipping off, "Questions later, just hang in there, Jess."

Despite her old age, Harper was no slouch when it came to lifting heavy weight, allowing her to carry Jesse back inside her home, stopping at a couch settled by a bookshelf and carefully allowing her to slide off Harper's back to rest on the couch. As she stood up straight, she realized that the mysterious blinking lights from before had ceased. Weird, but Harper had bigger issues right now.

With no possible injuries or any other signs of a sickness, figuring out what happened to Jesse would be tricky. One logical explanation would be dehydration, something that was a common issue in a mesa biome. Locals were experienced enough to keep themselves hydrated at all times, but someone used to forests and waterfalls probably wouldn't. Yet even that explanation seemed like a stretch for Jesse. She came here far too often to be oblivious to how hot it could get, and the spot where the Portal Network spit out people wasn't too far of a walk from town. Still, it would probably be a good idea to get some water in her.

Harper returned to the kitchenette nearby, taking a cup and scooping fresh, clean water into it. As she did this, she continued narrowing down the possible causes. The only other logical possibility would be exhaustion. It seemed much more plausible, going on what Olivia told her, Jesse was known to push herself to her limits. Which, while practially being the factor that saved them all during the battles with PAMA and Hadrian, was a large concern for her friends. That may also have explained why she found her so late at night. Maybe Jesse had gotten caught up by fighting some monsters and was on the verge of collapsing by the time she reached town. At least, this would be the theory Harper would go by until she got some answers from the girl.

Speaking of whom, Harper turned and made her way back over to Jesse only to see the girl slowly awakening.

Before the scientist could even let out a sigh of relief, Jesse suddenly sat up with a sharp gasp, panic evident in her expression. She began panting heavily, clutching a hand to her chest as if she'd just awaken from a horrible dream. Harper rushed back over to her, setting the cup of water side on a nearby table and placing a hand on Jesse's shoulder.

"Easy, easy, breathe," Harper told her in a soothing tone, "You're safe."

Sure enough, the ravenette's breathing slowed as she caught her breath. She looked towards Harper, green eyes wide with confusion and beads of sweat resting on her forehead.

"Har...per?" Jesse croaked out in a hoarse voice. She blinked a few times, adjusting her eyes to the light, "H-How did I get here?"

Harper frowned, "You tell me. I found you outside the house, out cold."

The girl's head tilted to the side, stumbling over her words as she tried to make sense of where she was, "But how's that possible? I was with Olivia and Ivor, but there was this explosion- I got lost. And then I fell and I thought-," Jesse stopped, clamping a hand on her forehead and wincing.

"Jesse?"

She shook her head, her voice straining, "Sorry, I'm okay, it's just my head. Ugh, feels like it's full of rocks..."

"Take it easy. I'm not really sure what's going on, but you're not exactly in the best shape. Just rest for a sec, alright?" Harper calmly told her, handing Jesse the cup of water.

"Thanks," Jesse breathed before gulping down every drop the water. She wiped her lips with her hand and placed the cup back on the table.

A few minutes past, Jesse using them to catch her breath after that jolting wake up. Harper took the time to catch a few glances out her window, double checking for anything out of the ordinary. She couldn't pinpoint why exactly, but something in her gut was ordering her to be on the lookout. All seemed peaceful outside once again. Now was the time for answers.

Harper took a seat on a nearby wooden stool, scooting it closer so that she was right next to Jesse. She started simple, "So let me see if I'm getting this right; you don't know how you got out here?"

Jesse nodded, "Not a clue. Olivia, Ivor, and I didn't even come through the portal. I mean, we were going to come here, but we got a little...sidetracked."

"Care to elaborate, Jess?"

"It's kind of a long story, but in a nutshell, we ran into this guy who's been missing for a while in the portal hall. He set up camp in some weird mushroom island world, and then..." She trailed off, holding her head and groaning from another headache. "It's kinda fuzzy, but I remember an explosion. And something attacking me. Then...I was wandering around, looking for my friends. I couldn't find them...but I did find Elle-,"

Jesse stopped, her breath shook slightly, and she continued, "Someone who...wasn't happy to see me. I left her alone and that's when I ran into Aiden."

"Aiden," Harper repeated, "that guy who used to pick on you all? Olivia mentioned him a few times."

"Yep, that guy. Needless to say he wasn't all too thrilled to see me either," Jesse rotated herself on the couch so that she could make eye contact without having to turn her head, "We fought, he threw me off something high up. I don't remember what exactly, but the last thing I do remember is...falling. Then suddenly I'm here with you."

"That is strange," Harper muttered, tapping her chin. "That's all you can remember, huh? Nothing about coming through town or the portal?"

Jesse folded her arms, "Nothing. Where did you say you found me again?"

"Outside the house, you were lying right by the steps."

"But-,"

Jesse was cut off when the lights of Harper's home began to flicker once more. She glanced up, watching the redstone lamps blink before snapping back on.

"What's up with your lights?" Jesse questioned.

Harper shook her head and let a out frustrated sigh, "Oh who knows, they've been acting up all night. It's probably just something mixed up in the wiring. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Well, either I'm the most terrible sleepwalker," Jesse began, a concerned look forming on her face, "or someone put me there."

Harper didn't respond. The likely suspects of who would drop Jesse out in front of her house were plenty, but each one wouldn't add up. That Aiden kid? Prison. PAMA? Deactivated and taken apart. Hadrian and Mevia? Giant chicken world. Unless Jesse had managed to make herself another enemy, she couldn't name anyone who would drag her here.

"But who would do that?" Harper began.

"Who indeed?"

A gargled, scrambled voice broke out into the room, alarming Jesse and Harper to a new looming presence just a few feet away from them. It was in the shape of human silhouette, except completely black like a shadow, with two blank, glowing white eyes staring straight at them. Harper let out a short scream before gripping the goggles on her head and yanking them down over her eyes. Jesse stared in disbelief, before her pupils shrunk as a memory resurfaced.

"It's that thing, that's what attacked me after the explosion!" Jesse exclaimed, practically springing off the couch and grabbing her sword.

"Hey kid, I don't appreciate being referred to as a 'thing', thanks." The being lectured in a patronizing tone. "Sheesh, didn't even ask me my name. You're rude."

Harper shot her heads toward Jesse and yelled, "Jesse! Keep your head down!"

The ravenette returned with a puzzled look, "Wait what? Why?"

"Just listen to me okay?! Whatever you do, don't look into his eyes!"

Before Jesse could open her mouth, a synchronized chuckle escaped from the being. Despite not having a mouth, it almost seemed like he was smiling. He cocked his head to the side.

"Oh Harper, I'm afraid it's too late," he suddenly lifted the glitching mess that looked like his hand and clicked his fingers together to produce a snap. "She already did."

Without warning, as the sound echoed, Jesse's entire body went limp as she sharply gasped and fell to the floor. Her sword clanked on the wooden floor as it fell from her hand. Harper watched in horror as the girl's green eyes were covered by a dim white glow, becoming blank and unfocused. This was even worse than Harper could've predicted.

"Jesse!" Harper cried out as she attempted to reach out to pull her to safety. But her attempt failed, multicolored pinpricks of light surrounded Jesse and an insivible force yanked her away from Harper. Jesse was lifted up into the air next to the being, her arms dangled at her sides and head slumped like a rag doll. The being had one arm raised to keep the girl suspended in the air. The other was placed on the being's hip, returning his attention to Harper.

"So you both do know each other. That's handy."

Harper began reaching for inventory, hoping to grab a diamond pickaxe she had forgotten to put away earlier.

The being's hand gripped into a fist, lifting Jesse higher above the floor, "Ah, ah, ah! I see you. If you don't want Jesse here to get a couple new scars, then I suggest cooperating."

With that threat now in the air, Harper begrudgingly lowered her arm, keeping a hard glare on the being. The glitch-like twitching that ran throughout his body turned her stomach.

She shook her head, "What...what happened to you?"

"You know it's a funny thing, when you're crammed into a reactor core for a long time, it tends to have some side effects." His voice strained out, "Such as your physical form slowly and painfully being chipped away. Hell, if it wasn't for the kid here providing me plenty of fear to snack on during the trip here, I probably would've dissolved the moment I stepped out of that block."

Harper grimaced, as if she didn't have enough weights on her already guilty conscience.

"Oh stop, relax. I got numb to the actual pain a long time ago. Didn't make it any less miserable, but that's life for you, you take what you can get."

"How did you get here?" She asked, her voice low.

"If you mean out of the reactor core, that's a story for another day," He replied, "As for how I got to this cute little town? You can once again thank my new pal next to me. A quick stroll in her head let me know exactly which portal you were hiding in. And then it was just a cakewalk dumping her outside to get your guard down."

The being looked upwards at his hostage levitating in the air, "Guess I owe the kid a lot, huh? I'll put her on my I.O.U. list. But enough about me, let's talk about you!" He rose his free hand and rubbed what was probably his chin, "Look at you, doc. You got old."

"Old?" Harper huffed, glaring once more, "Excuse you, we're the same age."

"Huh, guess we are. But while we're on the topic, I want your opinion on something that's been on my mind for a while." His voice suddenly grew deeper and more hostile, "When you tell someone, 'I'll be back soon!' isn't it just even a teensy wee bit inconsiderate to make them wait thirty years for you to fufill that promise?"

The older woman's eyes became focused on the floor as she frowned.

"Listen," Harper began, her voice shaking, "I didn't want things to happen that way. I really didn't. I thought...going somewhere new would give me more time to find a way to help you. But, I made even bigger messes I had to fix-,"

"Shocker."

Harper shot him a look at the interruption before continuing, "You're mad at me. And I get it, okay? But leave Jesse out of this. She's not involved in any way. Just put her down, and we can talk about this."

"Ooh, sorry Harper. But I can't do that. See, I didn't come here for a friendly chat. I want something you have, and you're going to give it to me unless you don't care what happens to your friend. Now be a dear and fetch the Redstone Heart for me."

Harper's eyes widened. She shook her head, "I don't have it."

"Liar."

"I'm telling the truth! And even if I did have it, you don't need to resort to this!" Harper's expression saddened, eyes full of regret, "You're better than this. I know you-,"

The being rushed forward faster than Harper could blink. He lunged forward, stopping his face mere inches away from the scientist's. The white glow of his eyes reflected on the glass of the goggles covering her own eyes.

He hissed, "Don't you dare. You were about to call me that name, weren't you?!"

Harper backed up, at a loss for words.

"That guy is gone. Thanks to you and the rest of those cruddy Old Builders! I go by a new name now."

He regained his composure before letting out another deep chuckle.

"It's Herobrine."

He didn't care if he didn't know what would be awaiting him when he burst into her house. He didn't care if he didn't know how long it would take for Olivia to rejoin him with the the others. He didn't care that the residents of the small mesa town were calling out to him, wondering what he was doing and why he seemed to be in a hurry.

The Atlas said they'd come here, through this portal. That's all he needed to know.

With a throwing potion at hand, Ivor continued his charge through Crown Mesa to a familiar house in the distance. He pushed his thoughts of throttling Soren for when he found him again aside. That didn't matter right now.

All that mattered to the alchemist, was that some monster had kidnapped his friend, and was heading straight towards another one. He wasn't going to allow that.

Greetings readers! First things first, sorry for the longer wait! My schedule's been flipped around and full lately, so I haven't been able to squeeze in writing time as much as I would like. But I do aim to at least keep my routine of updating once a month, maybe twice if I'm lucky. (That's also why this chapter's a bit on the shorter side. Next chapter's definitely gonna be longer.) Once again I appreciate your patience with me! And thank you for the support!

Anyway, YEP. Herobrine's in this story! (And yeah, most people already caught on to it back in chapter four so not too big of a surprise, but eh *shrugs*) Although I will say that he's not exactly the same Herobrine from the original creepypasta. I've made a couple of tweaks to his backstory to fit in a bit better to the MCSM world rules, buuuut saying what those are would be spoilers. All I can say is stay tuned!

That's about everything I believe, as always, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time!

(P.S. To answer your question from last chapter, JasmineShade113, I believe Aiden said something more along the lines of "Just DIE already!" before they fought in the throne room back in episode 5, but good eye on pointing out the role reversal! That was sort of the aim I was going for and I'm glad people noticed! Thank you for the kind words!)