I've been playing Minecraft: Story Mode lately (though I've had the game for more than two years. I don't have a PS4, so I can't play Season 2 😭 ... only watch it on YouTube or play it at a friend's place.) This is probably my sixth playthrough of the game. Yes, I enjoy the game quite a bit. It actually got me into Minecraft and helps me understand the mechanics in it when I play Story Mode. I'm someone that follows a story in a game more than a sandbox, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them ... Disney Infinity I like too.

I've looked through the fanfictions on here in the Story Mode section and noticed there weren't many in what I was looking for ... a sort of a 'what-if' scenario considering the whole of the Witherstorm Arc. I won't say much about it, but if you've played Story Mode it'll be easy to figure out this 'what-if' after this chapter as certain 'things' will be different.

This is my first try at a Minecraft: Story Mode fanfiction and will be in first person (just to make it a little easier for me). I'll probably skip some sections in the game while some will be kept in, I'll add some parts and then the decisions Jesse makes will be from my own playthrough as I see him as a smart, hardworking individual that cares for his friends a lot. Yes, I'll be using the Male Jesse for this. I've grown fond of him after playing as him for a few playthroughs and I also ship him with Petra. I don't know if it will happen yet though.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

A Storm Is Coming

I wouldn't have guessed that such a normal day would've turned into such a weird one. We only wanted to win Endercon with our Enderman fireworks dispenser; which we did ... though Reuben and I had been attacked by zombies after Aiden nearly let our build catch on fire. That jerk. And now after chasing a weird guy that scammed Petra out of a deal down to a basement, asking Gabriel the Warrior for help and then ... watching Ivor put the finishing touches onto the soul-sand T - creating a Wither; which in turn started to destroy everything.

Well, this has not been my definition of a normal day ... at all.

It was chaos.

A storm.

A Witherstorm.

So, we had to get away.

We went to Gabriel's secret base which had obsidian blocks as the inner chamber and a Nether Portal inside. However just as we got to the portal; the Witherstorm showed up, swinging its tentacles through the open chamber door. One came through the roof, causing obsidian to fall everywhere.

I looked back to see if my friends had made it through the portal in time. Axel had grabbed Reuben and taken him through while Olivia had gone after him. Lukas was frozen outside the portal, staring at the chaos before him as Petra fought a tentacle with her 'flashy' gold sword.

Gabriel, however, got caught by one.

"Lukas, get moving!" I yelled over to him over the noise of blocks breaking and swords clashing. I just heard a small yelp from him as he watched me charge over to help Gabriel, grabbing his upper body and pulling him out of reach of the tentacle.

"Thank you..." He breathed out, almost sounding out of breath. He stood up, looking at me as though believing he was already defeated by the creature outside the fortress. "I can't defeat this by myself. We need to find the others."

"Others?" I questioned Gabriel, quickly glancing over my shoulder at Petra to see her still fighting a tentacle before looking back at Gabriel.

"Soren's been missing for years, but the others ... you must seek them out." He took something out of his inventory and I stared it. It was amazing. "Take this amulet and guard it with your life."

It was actually quite beautiful...

Wait ... what?

I was more astonished by Gabriel's words, staring at him then looking back to the amulet in his hands. "What? Why me?" I questioned him, surprised he was even asking me.

I mean ... I'm a nobody.

I'm just a guy; who lives in a treehouse and has a pig as a best friend.

Not exactly a typical duo to save the world...

What could I do to help?

"I believe in you." He handed the amulet over to me; my fingers wrapping around the golden frame.

Did he really just say that ... he believed in me?

Me?

An ordinary, pig-loving ... I don't even know how to explain what I'm like because I'm so ... ordinary.

I swallowed, nervously and looked at Gabriel; who nodded at me. "Now take the amulet, take it through the portal and then..." I looked down at the glow on the blue part of it for a moment before realising where I was and put it my inventory just in time to dodge a tentacle that came crashing through the roof.

"Close one!" I smirked to myself as I got out my stone sword and swung it at the tentacle, causing it to bat away from me. I heard Lukas scream as the tentacle swung near him, causing him to duck.

I turned around to help Lukas just as Petra took charge, swiping her own golden weapon at the tentacle with a loud yell. She landed near me allowing me to look over at her. "You two; go through the portal and meet up with the others. I'll stay here and do whatever I can."

No way...

She's not staying here!

"I'm not leaving you behind, Petra!" I told her, causing her to frown at me.

"Sorry, Jesse, this is something I have to do." I stare at her for a moment before looking back at the portal that Lukas was nearby, knowing that he had heard all that from the grim look on his face. He didn't want to leave Petra behind either. "If anything happens, I'll meet you guys at the temple."

I swallowed.

I couldn't...

I couldn't even think of leaving one of my friends behind.

It'd hurt too much...

Before I could make a decision; a purple tractor beam came down through one of the holes in the ceiling; grabbing hold of Gabriel. Petra turned around, ready to help him with her sword in hand to fight off the tentacles that were in the way. I ran over to help too; only to be grabbed by a tentacle and held in the air. A loud cry of shock escaped my mouth as I banged my sword on the tentacle that was wrapped around my body.

"JESSE!"

I'm totally fine...

I'm not being held upside down by a tentacle...

I'm not...

My grass green eyes met with Petra's oak brown ones as she sliced the tentacle holding me, causing it to let go and for me to face-plant the floor. "Ow..." She helped me up and started pushing me to the portal where Lukas was.

"Get going!" She shouted, before kicking our hides through.

Minecraft: Story Mode - Withering

All of that ... happened only a few hours ago; last night to be exact. I can't believe it's been that long since that Witherstorm was unleashed.

I sure hope Petra's okay; especially with that thing out there and causing such ... a destructive path in its wake.

Well, Gabriel told us to reunite the Order and that's exactly what we're doing. Olivia and I had just been to Redstonia to get Ellegaard. She didn't believe us at first; actually thought we were her new apprentices. Ha. Though we did stay long enough to help her construct another command block that could've stopped this one, but we weren't able to do it in time ... bad decision on my part.

The Witherstorm followed us and destroyed Redstonia, but we were able to escape to the Nether portal in time.

Yet ... I got grabbed by another fricking tentacle!

Yay...

The three of us finally arrived back at the Order's temple and a sigh of relief left my lips as we jumped down from the small dirt blocks we'd been standing atop of. A good rest would definitely be nice for a little while after all the running we did.

As if that'll happen...

A hissing sound caught our attention and I cried out, seeing a Creeper crawl towards us. I didn't have long to react because it was shot with four arrows and exploded almost instantly.

"Who goes there?" I turned towards the base, recognising the voice as our only blond companion. "Jesse? Is that you?"

"Wow! Lukas, did you build all of this?!" I exclaimed, impressed with the Ocelot member.

Lukas rubbed a hand behind his head as if embarrassed about it. He shouldn't be so modest. "Well, yeah. I figured I would try and fortify the place, you know?" He waved at us to show how glad he was that we were back.

"We brought Ellegaard!" I called up to him, pointing at the Redstone engineer behind me; who only gave a wry smile back.

"Fantastic!" He called back, jumping down from the platform he was on. I let a smile plaster itself across my face as we headed over to the door, so that Lukas could open it up for us. "You guys are never going to believe who showed up while you were gone…"

Olivia, Ellegaard and I with Reuben following beside me followed Lukas into the hallway of the temple to see Petra, leaning on the stone wall, smiling smugly at us and waving. "Petra!" I exclaimed, overjoyed that she was alright.

I am.

I mean after what happened last night ... I was little scared for her.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Reuben immediately darted over to our red-haired friend, running circles around her in excitement.

As soon as Reuben had his moment with Petra; Olivia moved forward to give her a hug, mentioning how worried we were which made Petra look a little guilty about. Once the two shared their hug I moved forward to give Petra one too, patting her on the back as if to tell her that I didn't blame her for worrying us.

"It's such a relief to see you. I'm glad that you're okay," I told her with a soft smile on my face.

"Thanks, Jesse." We pulled a part as she turned her attention to each of us; her expression changing almost instantly from relief to grim. Uh oh, I can tell this isn't going to be good. "After I pushed you and Lukas through the portal I ran and ran for the temple. I'm just glad I heard Gabriel tell you where to go."

I stared at her for a moment; watching her expression change before taking in a breath and deciding to ask, "Were there any survivors?"

Petra shook her head almost instantly, causing shock to sink in like a stone block as she explained, "It's all a blur ... but the Witherstorm left nothing behind. Everything ... everyone ... was just gone." She turned around as we started walking down the pathway through the base. This atmosphere is just so ... grim. "It even got Gabriel."

I turned my head to look back at Ellegaard for a moment to notice her jaw open in shock before she closed it and lowered her head. I can understand why. She believes her friend is dead. We thought Petra was dead only a few hours ago, but that didn't stop us from continuing on. She wouldn't have wanted us to give up and now staying positive worked ... in a way.

She's just that tough a cookie.

The five of us finally made it to the stairs, heading up them and taking in the sights of the stone walls and columns of the temple. I turned my head to notice Ellegaard pointing over to where Axel was standing on the other side of the room with a man dressed in griefer clothing. I blinked at seeing this, wondering what Axel did while Olivia and I were gone only for Lukas to explain that he had gone and gotten Magnus on his own.

I really wasn't expecting that.

What am I saying?

Of course I am...

I shouldn't even be surprised that Axel would go on his own to find Magnus! UGH! Seriously!

There's a Witherstorm out there and he goes on his own to get Magnus!

What was he thinking!?

"Uhh ... Jesse..." I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard Lukas' voice, looking over at him with a blink of my eyes. He was pointing at where Magnus and Axel were which seemed to be where Ellegaard had gone off to; I turned my attention to them and froze.

The two were fighting with each other!

This is no time for fighting!

We have a giant Witherstorm out there and they're fighting!?

Just ... why?

I hurried over to the three, my gaze shifting to Axel; who kept siding with Magnus in the fight. I finally came up beside Ellegaard, looking at the two with a frown on my face. Magnus noticed my entrance, causing a frown to plaster itself across his face. "Wow. You finally found yourself a live one. Your little devotees are usually a little more on the bookish side."

I groaned, shaking my head at hearing this nonsense. "Would you all cut it out? Holy crap, you're all acting like crazy people!" The two Order of the Stone members walked past me; causing me to turn around with a worried frown on my face. "Uhh, people? Can we, please, focus on the bigger picture? We have a very hungry Witherstorm in the process of the turning the whole world into its dinner."

"It was terrifying. It came out of nowhere and just destroyed ... everything..." Ellegaard commented, sounding actually frightened about this.

The two arrived back to where the others were and jumped down the two blocks into the area near the levers. "A little too scary for you, Ellie? You couldn't just think it away?"

I followed the two back over to the others; sighing to myself as they began to argue over how Ellegaard couldn't defeat the Witherstorm with just brainpower. Really? Just ... really? I stopped before the end block, glaring down at the arguing duo in frustration. "Would you two stop fighting?!"

The two stopped almost as soon I had shouted that, staring at me in surprise. I suppose my friends were surprised at my sudden shout as well. I'm usually the level-headed one in our group, but right now ... I put a hand to my forehead, rubbing it. A headache ... just great and at a time like this.

Just what I need...

"Jesse, are you okay?" I heard Petra's concerned voice reach me as she began to approach me; not anywhere near her spot near Lukas anymore. How'd she do that so fast? Wait, why am I questioning what Petra does? "Jesse?" She was now in front of me and I could see the confused and concerned expressions on everyone's faces, including Reuben; who was beside Lukas.

I just shook my head; allowing my arm to fall by my side and let a smile cross my features. "I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little..." I shrugged my shoulders, wondering how to finish that sentence.

"Stressed out? Tired?" She gave me a smirk and patted my shoulder, gently. "I get that. You're not used to running yourself ragged like I am in the Nether, so I can understand that."

A small chuckle escaped my lips as I watched everyone discuss about what to do about the Witherstorm. I turned my gaze to Petra and nodded at her. "Thanks, Petra."

"No problem. Just don't go in over your head, alright?" She gave me one last pat and headed over to where the map was located.

I blinked my eyes a few times; looking to the others and hearing small snippets of 'TNT' and 'Soren'. "What are you talking about? What did Soren have?" I asked, coming down the stairs; wanting to be a part of the conversation again.

The others turned their attention to me before Ellegaard started to explain what it was they had been talking about, "Soren had a kind of 'Super TNT', stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world." My eyes widened at hearing this, moving a little closer to hear better. "The Formidi-Bomb."

Magnus just ended up rolling his eyes at Ellegaard. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all about the F-Bomb before."

"F-Bomb?" Axel questioned Magnus, confusion tinting his tone.

"Yea, Soren claimed that dropping the F-Bomb could destroy anything," Magnus explained a little more about this so-called 'Formidi-Bomb'.

I blinked at hearing all of this from the two Order members. Finally! Progress! "Well, the Formidi-Bomb sounds perfect. We should go get it! Now!"

"Well, there's a little problem there..." Ellegaard mentioned. There's always a catch. We were so close! "We don't know where Soren is. But you found us ... do you know where he is?"

My gaze travelled over to where the map was at the other side of the room, walking over towards it with the others following me. "He wasn't on the map," I stated, causing the two Order members to nod and everyone to separate for the moment, so I could get the amulet's location thing going.

I looked over to Petra; who had Reuben sitting beside her, arms folded across her chest and she seemed to be ... eyeing me. But why? I gulped and wondered over to her with a smile on my face. "Hey Petra, how are you doing?"

She lowered her brows, frowning at me. I remained where I was; a little stunned she was giving me such a strong silent treatment. She turned her head away and let out a long sigh causing me to frown in concern. "I'm fine, Jesse. I just ... never mind..."

Umm ... okay...

Not weird at all...

Is it me or was there something possibly important she wants to tell me?

"Is there something wrong?" I asked her, sounding a little worried now.

She turned her gaze to mine, but as soon as she'd turned to me she turned to look around at everyone around us. "Later..."

"Okay then..." I said, walking away from her; looking back I noticed she was watching me again. I turned back around and shivered, slightly.

Has it always been this cold in here?

I rubbed my hands over my arms, heading over to the pedestal; putting the amulet in its place. Before heading over to the control panel where the levers were by the staircase and flipped the only one that hadn't been touched. Once I did that; the Redstone glowstone light came on, shining through the amulet and letting us see where the members of the Order currently were.

"Alright, there's your light, my light..." I heard Magnus tell Ellegaard from where they were looking at the lights on the map. A slight flicker from the amulet caused another light to appear.

"That's new."

"There he is." I wondered over to the rest of the group just as Ellegaard began to explain once more. "Soren had his fortress deep inside the mountains. After the Order ... broke up that's where he went to keep doing his experiments."

"So, what's the problem?" I asked, walking over behind the two and looking at them.

Before either of them could give me an answer; another short flicker and then there was a blue light on the map along with Soren's, Ellegaard's and Magnus'. "It didn't do that before..." Olivia commented, sounding surprised and astonished.

Blue?

Wait a minute...

My eyes widened, realizing whose light that was. "Oh ... that's not good. That's Ivor!"

Magnus blinked after hearing my statement and Ellegaard began explaining about how Ivor was probably going to Soren's and that we should go now to get ahead of the Witherstorm. This in turn made Magnus bring up his opinion of how we should wait until tomorrow morning, so we don't have to worry about the night-time creatures.

This ... just spawned another argument between the two...

Great...

Will they always be fighting like this?

I seriously hope not...

I sighed to myself, I would have to be the one to break the argument up and decide when we'd have to leave. "Yea, I don't want the Witherstorm catching up with us. We should go now," I told them, causing the two to look at me and Ellegaard to give me a thankful smile.

"An excellent call, Jesse. And far more decisive than either of us are being," Ellegaard said, turning her head to glare at her ex-Order member.

"What a coincidence that it's your plan, but fine," Magnus commented, sounding very sarcastic before finally agreeing to the terms.

I nodded as the two headed off towards the stairs, followed by my friends and I took a moment to look at the map a little longer; a hand on the bottom of my chin. "Jesse, come on!" Lukas called from the staircase.

I looked over to him and nodded; grabbing the amulet from the pedestal it had been in. I stopped for a moment; looking out at the sunset behind various mountains and hills over the horizon. It was quite beautiful ... too bad I never really took the time to look at these types of things before the world started to end. I am more of a builder I guess. I put the amulet in my inventory with a small sigh and began my trek over to the staircase the others had gone down.

A light cough came up from my throat and made its way out of my mouth; causing my hand to cover my mouth. A frown crossed my face with slight confusion; looking down at my right arm.

It felt strange.

It felt like pins and needles all over my arm.

I reached my left hand towards my long-sleeved white shirt; curiosity getting the better of me.

"Jesse, hurry up or I'm coming up there!" Petra shouted, sounding annoyed and causing me to chuckle a little.

I put my hand down and began walking down the stairs towards where the others were; seeing the annoyed looks on their faces for waiting so long. I smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head before following them out of the temple.

Whatever that feeling was on my arm ... eh, it was probably nothing.

Yea, as you can see I kept some text from the game and then also added in some. I wanted to keep the important parts like the explanation sequences on certain things like the Formidi-Bomb and such. I obviously didn't keep everything as it'd make the chapter too long and cluttered if I added in every single piece of dialogue that was in the game which is why I cut out some portions. Probably next chapter will have more of the add-on stuff than just the game-only dialogue.

Also, if this chapter is a little rushed ... sorry. I was up late writing it and I have TAFE/College tomorrow and wanted to get it up. I'll probably do some quick edits here and there at some point, but yea.

Hope you enjoyed!