Disclaimer: I don't know. I dislike the regular Minecraft, but oddly got into Story Mode (shrugs). So you should know I definitely don't it XD
Story: Jesse hadn't been looking to be a hero, but now was her time to save the world, and she's just wondering when she and her friends became people who mattered and weren't losers. She also wondered why Lukas was weird around her, why Axel was acting differently, and why the men of the Order were such kicked puppies, while she was at it.
Set as fem!Jesse of the gameplay.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Age difference, poly relationship ("triangles" for a while though), possible sexual situations, dark/perverted/silly humor present…
Pairings: Jesse/Lukas, Jesse/Axel, Jesse/Magnus, Jesse/Gabriel, Jesse/Soren, Jesse/Ivor…(basically reverse!harem)…

The Road is Long
Chapter Two: Headed For the Castle

"Are you alright?"

Jesse, still a bit dazed from the combination of being attacked and then somehow meeting Gabriel the Warrior, could only nod weakly. She couldn't help noting that his voice was deep and strong, which was rather suiting for him, in her opinion.

She mentally shook her head, focusing on the fact that they were still surrounded, and only one of them had a weapon. Then again, given who it was…

"Follow me, alright? I'll lead the way away from them all."

She gave him a stronger nod, looking determined to not be a burden. As soon as he began to move, cutting down the creatures in their way, she made sure to stick close and follow him as he made a path through the mob and got them away safely.

He was amazing, and she couldn't believe she was able to see him at work like this and be saved by him.

When they were far enough away, he turned to her. "I'm Gabriel, though you might probably already know me," he gave her a reserved grin.

She didn't let herself be shy or intimidated, and gave a wide, friendly grin (though admittedly, she was kind of…embarrassingly fangirling on the inside, even if Soren had been her favorite of the Order; besides, Gabriel was a close second).

"I'm Jesse! I do know who you are, but I'm more appreciative of the fact that you saved me," she ended on a wry note, placing her hand on the back of her neck and her grin became a little shier. "Thank you so much."

His reserved grin softened slightly. "You are welcome, and please call me Gabriel. There was no way I would have just let you be attacked like that. What were you doing all alone out here though?"

Jesse refrained from grimacing. "There was an incident at the Building Competition, which upset my best friend and who ran away all the way out here."

"I see. Where is he now?" though Gabriel had a frown on his face.

"I told Reuben to run back to Endercon, while I created a distraction," she told the famous man. "I had a wooden sword I was using earlier, but unfortunately it broke not long after I had Reuben run away. Thankfully you came along though."

"I'm glad to be of service," he told her sincerely, and she couldn't help the flush her face took on. Geez, and he was so chivalrous too. That wasn't something that was common much these days, and she could definitely appreciate it. "Come, I'll lead the way back."

Though she did come a little closer and followed his lead, she couldn't help being a little curious herself.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but I was wondering why you were out here yourself?" she asked hesitantly.

"Ah yes. I don't mind. The truth is that I decided to take a walk and hopefully clear my head and prepare for my appearance at the convention," Gabriel smiled slightly. "Slay an Ender Dragon, fine. Go talking in front of a large audience? I'll need some time to prep and hopefully give myself a pep talk!"

Jesse laughed at that, taken aback by how easy it was to relax and be comfortable in front of such a legendary person.

"Really? I've always thought you were so brave that nothing would scare you," Jesse told him.

Gabriel looked hesitant for a moment, before he gave her an uneasy look. "Everyone has their fears. It just depends on what it is."

"So what's yours?" Jesse asked, before she realized how personal that was. "Not that you have to answer that!"

But Gabriel only gave her a smile that seemed a little off, though Jesse dismissed that as something she imagined.

"My fear? I have yet to find it. I'm sure I'll find one though," the two of them shared a quiet laugh at that.

By that time, they'd reached a large bridge made of stone and bricks looked pretty sturdy. The two of them were just crossing it when on either side of them and heading to crowd them in on the bridge, more hostile mobs came to get them.

Jesse gave a frustrated sound, gritting her teeth at this new turn of events for her. She didn't even have a stupid weapon to fight back with!

"Ugh, I'm so sorry," she apologized to Gabriel as they looked on to either side of them at the incoming mobs. "I got you dragged into this, and I don't even have a weapon to help out!"

Gabriel shook his head. "There's no need to apologize. Like I said before, I wasn't about to just let you be attacked and left to fend on your own. As for a weapon, you told me yours broke. That can't be helped. Now hold on and don't let go!"

He grabbed onto her and brought her closer to him, holding her tightly against him to the point where she could feel the curved slopes of his muscles against her. And then he was leaping off the bridge with her, and they headed into the water. Jesse barely had time to scream and had ended up closing her eyes in midair. From that point, she could feel water engulf her and pull her under with Gabriel, before they resurfaced.

She looked up at Gabriel, who smiled gently down at her. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment.

"Don't worry. We can head back to Endercon from here."

It was…perhaps one of the strangest encounters he'd had in his life. Not because of the girl, Jesse, but because of where he'd met her, what happened as he met her, and the continuous attacks on them during their first meeting.

It was actually nice and comfortable talking and being around her though (even if he'd gotten a little upset and disappointed in this friend of hers that left her). He hadn't expected that. To be honest, he was expecting more of a "fan" reaction. And though he wasn't completely sure she wasn't a fan, he was glad that she hadn't acted crazy around him and acted normally.

It wasn't long until they were back to the convention, still a bit wet from their jump and subsequent ride from the water. They split up then, he back to his dressing room to prepare, and she to her friends. He was actually feeling a little disappointed at the separation, but he quickly shook it off to focus himself.

In the comfort of his dressing room, he took off his armor to let it dry and took off the clothes he had underneath and changed them to dry ones. He spotted his amulet next to the vanity, and picked it up and held it to his face.

He frowned solemnly, inwardly sighing.

Gabriel missed the others. Magnus, Ellegard, Soren…He missed the old days where they were together and were young and carefree, traveling the lands and trying to make a name for themselves.

He even missed Ivor, back before the whole Ender Dragon and he had been one of them.

"Time passes," he murmured. "Memories are supposed to fade."

It didn't seem to be the case for him.

"Congratulations, guys!" Jesse exclaimed, also sort of still on a high from meeting Gabriel and the little adventure they had (and also still very wet at that).

Axel brought her and Olivia into a huge group hug. "You built it with us, you knucklehead! Give yourself credit too."

Olivia snickered. "You act like you didn't do anything with us."

Jesse blushed. "I did leave you guys though…"

"Because Reuben was scared and ran away, and could've been hurt," Axel said in exasperation. "We're not going to blame you for that, especially since you did give the idea for our project and helped out first. And Reuben's important and one of us! So don't you dare feel all guilty!"

Jesse beamed at her friends. "You guys are the best! But I still have to find Reuben…I had him run away to back here when we were cornered by a whole bunch of creatures."

"What?!" her friends gave her wide-eyed looks.

"You didn't say anything about that!" Axel shouted, looking worried.

She gave them a reassuring look. "I'm here and I'm fine. I just need to make sure Reuben is too."

"How'd you manage to get away?" Olivia asked, though she looked at Jesse and noted something else. "Especially since it looks like you don't have your wooden sword anymore!"

Jesse gave a nervous chuckle. "You won't believe what happened. See, I was fighting them off and was doing alright, right up until my wooden sword broke…A huge spider jumped on me and I thought I was a goner!"

"What happened?" Axel's anxiety level was definitely going higher the more Jesse talked, even though she was right in front of him now.

"Gabriel happened," Jesse suddenly looked awed.

"Gabriel?" Olivia asked, while Axel hid his jealous look. Yeah, Gabriel who?

Jesse let out an exasperated sigh. "Gabriel the Warrior, guys!"

"No way!" Axel's jealousy was forgotten as he looked at Jesse in awe himself.

Olivia looked shocked. "Really? Wow! How'd that happen?"

So Jesse explained to them what happened and what was talked about between her and the famous man, all the way up to them getting back to Endercon. Both of her friends were shaking their heads.

"Lucky you," Axel was definitely stuck in awe.

Olivia laughed. "Man, it is always her luck, isn't it?"

"Aw, guys," Jesse laughed with them. "Let's look for Reuben and split up, okay?"

"Okay!"

Still, at least her friends got to meet Gabriel soon too, since their team managed the win in the competition. That was good news and it relieved her that her having left them hadn't ruined their chances.

She watched them leave her and then was going to go in another direction, before a familiar girl came towards her anxiously.

"Uh, Petra, right?" Jesse hesitantly recalled.

Petra gave her a strained smile. "And you're Jesse. Can I ask a favor?"

Jesse blinked, caught off guard. "Um, yeah! Sure." Reuben was smart and wouldn't need her right away. He hated it when Jesse hovered over him too much (though she bet the independent pig was just making a fuss and really enjoyed it).

Petra relaxed slightly. "I'm meeting with a customer. He's a bit…shady. I need someone to have my back while I make the trade, just in case. You up for it?"

"Yeah, I am," Jesse told her. "Why me though? We just met."

"Lukas is a bit of a coward," Petra sighed. "And he's the only one I know well enough. You, though I just met, was introduced by Lukas and you seem a pretty hardy person. Plus, I saw you earlier in the forest and you were doing well against those creatures, until your sword broke. I got one you can use though," Petra handed her a stone sword. "I was going to step in, but lucky you were saved by Gabriel."

Ah, that's a little embarrassing. Jesse personally didn't think she'd fought all that great, but her help was needed, so she was going to do her best to give it.

"I'm trading with him in an alley around here, so keep close," Petra warned her.

"Can I ask what you're trading?" Jesse asked in curiosity.

Petra took out something and Jesse gasped when she saw what it was.

"It's a Wither Skull. He wants it and I'll get a diamond in return," Petra told her, though Jesse wasn't too sure about the deal. Still, a diamond would be a great trade…Not that that Wither Skull was anything to sniff at.

A few minutes later, they were in the alley. It was empty though, and had no sign anyone was there or had been there.

"He's late," Petra noted, growing a little irritable.

"What's he look like?" Jesse asked, not knowing who they were supposed to look for anyway.

"Long hair and beard, dark colored just like his eyes…he's also pretty pale," Petra tried to recall as many details as possible. "Tall too. I should probably check some other alleys nearby, just in case he mistook one of them for our meeting. Stay here?"

"Sure," Jesse agreed and was then left alone.

"You are not the girl I was to meet with," a voice suddenly said near her and she jumped, only for whoever it was to uncomfortably stick his face right up to hers, curiously examining her. She stood stock still, while he watched her closely.

She faced the man with Petra's description and nervously stood in front of him, trying not to show how unnerved she was by his proximity. "Um, no I'm not. Petra went to see if you were in any of the other alleys just in case you went to them instead of here. She'll be back soon. Probably."

She really hoped so, because she found herself really nervous in the presence of this man who set her nerves alight and made the hair on her neck stand on end.

"You're here finally," she didn't let out how relieved she was at hearing Petra's voice, as she addressed the man near Jesse. She tried to not make it so obvious that she moved slightly farther away. "Jesse, this is Ivor, the man I'm making a trade with. Ivor, this is Jesse, my…partner."

"Here," the man held out a chest that Jesse guessed held the diamond.

"I've got the Wither Skull," Petra took it out, showing it. "The diamond's in the chest?"

"It is," Ivor confirmed and held it out to them. "The Skull?"

"Here," they traded both items at the same time.

Petra looked at the chest and started to open it, with Jesse eagerly peering in and wanting to see a real diamond. However, her jaw dropped when she saw what was actually inside. Petra snatched up the lapis lazuli.

"THAT JERK!"

Jesse couldn't believe they'd been scammed by that thief!

They looked around and saw the man was gone. Jesse's jaw dropped and thought how shameless this scoundrel was.

"Let's split up and look for him," Petra growled, looking around heatedly.

"Okay," Jesse agreed quickly, because Petra looked ready to tear someone's head off.

So they both went back to the convention and split up, and Jesse went searching around for Ivor. She was feeling disheartened the longer she spent looking and not being able to see him or even Petra. However, she heard a very familiar squeal and perked up.

"Reuben!"

She followed the direction of where she was hearing his 'oinking', only to find her poor Reuben being handled roughly by a butcher. Furious, she stormed up to him and held out the stone sword that Petra had given her at the butcher.

"You! Let go of my pet pig!" Jesse glared, jabbing the sword once towards the butcher.

Scared, the butcher let go of the pig and Reuben quickly scrambled to her side, hiding behind her legs.

"H-here! Don't hurt me!" the butcher threw something at her and she hurried to catch it and not be hit by it, which allowed the man to run away from her.

"Serves him right," Jesse grumbled, putting away the bow the butcher had thrown her (along with the stone sword), and then reached down to pick up Reuben, cuddling him close. "You alright?"

"Oink oink," Reuben pushed his snout against her.

"Okay, okay! I get it," she laughed.

"Looks like you found your pig," a surly voice said and she turned and saw Aiden, one of The Ocelots. He was frowning at her.

"Yeah, I did," she said shortly, eying him with distrust.

He shuffled slightly. "G-good," he huffed though, turning his nose up at them. "Wouldn't…wouldn't want him to have become food!"

Not knowing whether to be outraged or be confused why he sounded even the slightest bit relieved and worried, Jesse just gave him a bland look before turning on her heel to walk away.

"W-wait!" he stalled her and she exasperatedly waited for him to say what he needed to. "Con…congrats on your win. It looked really cool," he actually admitted to saying, making Jesse stare at him.

"T-thanks," she stumbled over her reply, still not sure how to take his compliment. "Um…see you around."

She ran away then, not sure if that had really happened.

Unfortunately, Jesse didn't find Ivor or Petra (though she did mistake a lady for Ivor when she saw her walking and how similar she was from the back to him). She was getting a little upset at how little success she was having, along with not having seen her friends for a while.

"Oink?"

"I don't know, Reuben," Jesse muttered, holding tightly to her pig. "I'm not having all that much fun here, which sucks since me and the others had been looking forward to attending for so long."

Reuben made a few noises of sympathy.

"You must really be attached to that pig."

Jesse looked up from the ground to see Lukas smiling hesitantly at her. She attempted to smile back, but she had a feeling it was as halfhearted as she felt.

"Reuben's my best friend," Jesse told him. "He's been with me practically forever. I found him one day by a waterfall and he's been with me since."

"That's a strong friendship," Lukas complimented them. "I can see why you went after him earlier and was so worried. Congratulations on winning by the way. You guys did great, and your build was fantastic. I mean…that Ender Dragon replica was no joke. I'm really impressed."

Jesse found herself blushing, giving the blonde a small smile. "Thanks a lot, Lukas. Um…your rainbow beacon was really impressive too. That took a lot of skill to make." She remembered seeing it lighting up the middle of Endercon from the entrance of the convention, while her team's Ender Dragon periodically made huge fireworks blast into the sky. Together it looked awesome.

"Thanks," he grinned easily at her.

"There you are!" the two of them heard and Jesse saw her two friends coming towards her. That had been Axel's voice. "I see you found Reuben."

"Yeah, I did. Had fun looking around –" she had been attempting to ask, when she caught sight of Ivor finally, and saw him running into the large hall that was going to hold the convention's special guest presentation with Gabriel. Without a word to the others, she shot off after the thief, determined to catch him before he got away again.

"Jesse?" she heard Olivia shout in shock.

"I have to go after that guy!" Jesse yelled behind her, still running.

She noted briefly that they were running after her (even Lukas), but she stayed focus and was about to run into the auditorium hall when at the gate, she was blocked by the usher.

"Ticket please," the usher said in boredom.

Frustrated, Jesse pointed passed him. "There's someone in there that I have to get! He stole something from a friend!"

"I'm sorry, but no ticket, no entry," the usher said without a change in tone.

She was about to push passed him when she felt Axel's hand grip her shoulder and hands on either side of her (a glimpse showed her Olivia was on her right and Lukas on her left) and helped drag her away.

"You guys –!"

"You're never going to get in there that way," Olivia said firmly.

"And what's this about something being stolen?" Axel asked.

Jesse sighed. "Petra wanted my help earlier and said she was going to trade something with this guy. He was going to trade a diamond with her. She asked me to back her up and I came with her, only for us to realize she'd gotten scammed in the end. The jerk gave her a lapis lazuli instead, and I've been trying to track him down since, and only caught him running into that hall a few moments ago. I need to get in there!"

"That guy's afraid of chickens," Lukas said out of nowhere. Jesse gave him an incredulous look, and he looked embarrassed.

"How'd you find that out?" Olivia blinked at him.

"My friends and I heard the vendor near him talk about it," Lukas explained. And he went on to explain why he brought it up. "There's that glass case machine full of chickens near him, the one he keeps glancing at terrified? Well, what if we somehow managed to break it and let the chickens loose near him? He'll freak out and leave his post and we can sneak in."

While Axel eyed him distrustfully and Olivia thoughtfully, Jesse gave him a huge grin.

"That's a great idea! But how do we break it?"

"A slime block," Olivia said immediately. "It's easy to make and will be just as easily used to break that glass if we can get one of us to jump on it and break the glass case. Plus, there's that lady selling slime right there."

Incidentally, the same lady Jesse mistook for Ivor.

Agreeing with that plan, they headed to the slime lady, but was only able to retrieve eight pieces of slime.

"We need one more," Axel grumbled.

"Wait, I think I have at least one," Lukas said and searched for it. Once he had it, he handed it over to Jesse, and they found a crafting block where Jesse quickly made a slime block.

Without further ado, she set it close the chicken machine and headed to a lower building near it. She climbed onto it, before jumping onto the slime block and towards the glass around the chicken farm, breaking it and letting the chickens loose. Like Lukas had said, many of the chickens came near the usher, who freaked out and ran away, and the small group hurried towards the gate and went in.

Lukas was really glad to have run into Jesse. He'd been worried when he hadn't seen her for a long time since she'd run after her pig (more so when he spotted her two friends, but not her). But he'd finally found her, and she had her pig too. They even had a nice talk together, before her two friends interrupted.

But then there was this whole thing about a thief and he was slightly confused until he got it when she explained, and was further glad to be of help in coming up with the plan and supplying the last piece of slime for her.

He just wasn't sure about following the strange guy that Jesse was determinedly following down some stairs and eventually to what looked like some secret room.

He watched as Jesse found a lever and revealed a chest that had three Wither Skulls and some Soul Sand, and a strange pattern on the wall behind them with glowing lights, making his jaw drop as he looked at those things in horror.

"Oh God…I think whoever he is was going to create a Wither and might even try to destroy the convention," Lukas told them seriously.

"We have to stop him!" Jesse said worriedly. "We can't let him get away with it!"

"Yeah!" Axel looked worried as well. "Who knows what will happen?"

Olivia shivered. "Nothing good, I bet."

"Close enough," Ivor's voice said from somewhere near them and they saw him appear at the stairs to the secret room. "But you won't be able to stop me!"

Ivor managed to summon an Iron Golem before disappearing from their sights, which was quick to start attacking them. Yelling and screaming erupted from them as they tried to avoid it and escaped from the secret room. Well, most of them.

Lukas was still kind of…stuck in the room. Darting into a chest to avoid being caught by the Iron Golem and praying it didn't catch him, he tried to be as still and quiet as possible. He wasn't sure how long it was, but there were places on him that were starting to cramp and it was getting to the point where he was about to just burst out of the chest.

"Lukas? Lukas, are you there?"

Lukas gaped to himself. Jesse had…Jesse had come back for him!

Jesse had been pretty upset to find out about the Wither ingredients, but that feeling had temporarily escaped her when the Iron Golem appeared and attacked. However, in the safety of being outside of that secret room and away from it, she was back to worrying and being upset, only to realize that Lukas wasn't with them.

"Wait! Lukas isn't here," Jesse noted anxiously.

"He must still be back there," Olivia echoed her worry.

"But we've got to warn Gabriel about what Ivor's up to," Axel cut in.

Jesse thought about it and made up her mind, handing them Reuben. "You guys warn Gabriel. I'm going to go back down there and get Lukas myself."

"Are you sure?" Axel asked, sounded uncertain himself.

"I am," Jesse said and then gave them a brief grin before she ran back towards the stairs that would lead her back down to the secret room.

She tried to be as stealthy as possible, especially when she saw the Iron Golem and tried to avoid catching its attention. She called out to Lukas, waiting for a reply. He popped out of a treasure chest and put a finger to his mouth and she nodded. But then she spotted a potion near her and grabbed it, aiming near the Iron Golem and throwing the potion at the wall. It distracted the golem successfully, and Lukas quickly jumped out of the chest and headed towards her direction. As soon as he reached her side, the two of them ran back up the stairs and got out of there.

"Um, thanks for coming back for me," Lukas gave her a small smile.

"Of course. What are friends for?" Jesse said with a smile back, unable to help it. Before Lukas could reply, his cheeks tinted red, Jesse pointed to where her friends were, attempting to talk to Gabriel and explain what's going on. "Let's get to them. Looks like they're not having any luck."

"Why are they doing charades?" Lukas asked in confusion.

Jesse wanted to face palm. She got they wanted to be subtle and not outright say it, and especially cause a panic, but still!

Reaching them, she went to go in front of the group, catching Gabriel's attention.

"Sorry for them," she said in a rush, looking up at Gabriel pleadingly. "But there's a man here that's threatening to create a Wither! You have to help us stop him!"

Gabriel's eyes widened as panic spread out behind her. "A Wither?" he asked in shock.

"Yes! It's true and I will succeed," Ivor made his entrance then, sneering at everyone. "I will reveal the truth to you all!" He gave some kind of meaningful look to Gabriel.

A Wither appeared and everyone screamed, running out of the hall and leaving a small group behind to stay behind and face Ivor, who pointed at a strange block (that matched the strange pattern on the wall from before) attached to the Wither.

"Don't worry," Ivor said smoothly, his lips curling even more. "I have control of this Wither with this Command Block. I can defeat it easily! Now, retreat, creature!"

But it refused to listen to him, no matter how many times Ivor yelled at it.

"I-I have this under control!" Ivor said, and threw a potion at the Wither. It didn't work though and Ivor shook his head in disbelief. "It…it didn't work…It didn't work!"

Everything went wrong. Instead, the Wither consumed the Command Block into its body and grew into a monstrous size, gaining three heads with sharp teeth and basically terrifying Jesse as it became some sort of Wither Storm. She wasn't the only one though. She could tell her friends were too.

Cowardly, Ivor left them behind and Jesse glared at the spot where he'd been.

"Quickly!" Gabriel shouted to them. "We must get to my temple. We will be able to find safety there!"

They all started to follow him, and luckily managed to make it to his temple without any permanent mishaps, though there had been several close calls), and with Ivor appearing again and heading there as well and which grated Jesse's nerves. She was relieved to have found Petra running to catch up with the group midway, having worried about the other girl and not knowing where she'd been up to now.

"There's a nether portal," Axel said in relief, once inside Gabriel's temple.

"We can get out of here from there," Lukas was relieved as well.

"Jesse, please take this," Gabriel got her attention and handed her some kind of amulet. "I can't defeat that thing on my own. Please protect this and use it to help the others."

"The others? You- you mean Soren, Magnus, and Ellegard?" Jesse gave him a tentative look.

"Soren has been missing for years," he told her softly. "But Magnus and Ellegard are still around and can be found."

Jesse nodded jerkily. "I…I promise! I'll find them, Gabriel. Don't worry."

"The portal's not working," she heard Axel exclaim. "We need to light it up!"

She gave Gabriel one last look before heading over to the portal. Jesse helped light it up and had Olivia and Axel go in first with Reuben. Just then, the Wither Storm caught up to them, attacking them with its tentacles and managed to direct some sort of beam onto Gabriel and Petra.

"Petra! Gabriel!" Jesse screamed, scared to find those two being pulled up into the Wither Storm. She looked back to see Lukas still there, but shocked still and just staring in fear at the Wither Storm and their friends being pulled away. "Lukas!"

But he looked at her, frozen in fear.

She darted to the closest one, finding it was Gabriel, and pulling on his leg, dragging him back down and away from the beam of light. Barely hearing his breathless thanks, she ran over to Petra and attempted to do the same, only to be knocked back into the nether portal with Lukas by one of the Wither Storm's tentacles.

Her last thought before she went through was the worry of whether Gabriel and Petra were okay and would make it through the portal too.

Started 3/3/16 – Completed 3/11/16

A/n: Huh, I was really worried about this for a bit. Didn't think it would bring up much interest, especially after the first day and there didn't seem to be any readers. I'm really glad people got interested in this though! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and will read the next one! Also, please review!