oh yeah I forgot to cross post this also lol
Part 1 AKA Steven and Stephan are parents. Takes place three weeks after the ending of "Stephan".
Alex crept down the silent passage, almost holding her breath to avoid the sound of her breathing blocking out the sound of a potential threat. She held a pickaxe in her left hand, and an axe strapped to her back should she need to defend herself. Nervousness and excitement flitted through her as she tiptoed through the cave. Finally she got to go out on her own!
So far, she hadn't come across anything of use. Stephan had - or was it Steven? - whichever one of them had told her that the caves near their house had been completely stripped of resources, but she had been walking for nearly 20 minutes already, so she must be getting close. She almost hoped a zombie or two would spawn so she could strike it down. Her combat skills had so far gone to very little use.
As she rounded a bend, she found that the passage ahead was lit up with an orange glow. At first, she frowned, assuming it was torches, but realized as she came nearer that she could hear the bubbling of lava. She shifted a stack of cobblestone into her right hand as she neared it, peering over the edge. Yup. Lava. There was no existing way around it, so she turned around and crouched down, backing up until she could place a block on the side of the ledge. A little further, another block. She got into the rhythm of it very quickly.
As she worked, wholly concentrated on her task of bridging across the lava, a figure appeared directly in front of her.
She shrieked, nearly tumbling off her bridge in her fright, but a vice-like grip seized her arm and steadied her. She sat down heavily, looking up in dread to meet the eyes of her oldest brother. She had spent too much effort trying to get away from them, only to get caught now?!
"What are you doing down here." Steven's voice was stern. Alex huffed.
"Mining."
"There's nothing to mine down here. These caves are bare, we told you that."
"You said the ones under the house were mined already! I've been walking for a while!"
"We're under the barn right now." Steven said flatly. Alex's gaze flickered up towards the ceiling, and her shoulders slumped.
"You guys don't let me do anything."
"Yes, we do. We just don't let you put yourself in needless danger." Steven's grip tightened on her arm, and they teleported, causing her to wince and shield her eyes as they appeared in the sunshine.
"Herobrine!" Stephan came running as she struggled to get her eyes to adjust. "Where was she?"
"Underground." Steven released her, allowing her to cross her arms. "I found her bridging over a pit of lava." Stephan sighed.
"Alex…"
"So what?! I know how to bridge! You showed me!" Alex surged upright.
"Yes, but you've only just learned, it isn't safe to do it over lava."
"I was fine until Steven startled me!" Alex whipped around and stomped off towards the house. Neither of them stopped her as she stalked inside and into her wing, slamming the door behind her. She climbed up into her bed and threw herself down on her stomach, muttering the rudest words she knew into the pillow. Notch really created her and handed her over to these… these overprotective nannies?
She threw her pickaxe over the edge of the bed, listening it crash to the floor, then continued quietly cursing her brothers.
Steve winced at the sound of a crash, and Herobrine pursed his lips
"Notch had to give us a redhead."
"What?" Steve side-eyed him, but Herobrine just shook his head.
"Nothing. She's just… young, and has no idea how young she is."
"Yeah…" Steve gave the house another glance. "I just hope she figures it out sometime soon."
It had been three weeks since Notch had made Alex for them. Despite Steve's concern that Herobrine might treat a newcomer with the same hatred that he initially had for him, his older brother had welcomed her with open arms. Between the two of them, they had been trying to prepare her, both for the game they played and for the world outside. Steve had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't have any more luck in keeping her away from other servers than Herobrine had with him.
Alex had started out shy, but curious, ready and willing to be taught. She had quickly become confident in her skills - far too confident. She recognized that she was less than a month old, but she didn't have any comprehension of how much longer her brothers' years of existence were. This led to several confrontations not unlike the ones they had just experienced.
"I'll talk to Notch." Herobrine said at last. "When I see him next."
"That sounds wise." Steve paused, then started towards the house. "I'll talk to her."
"Alright." Herobrine didn't follow. Keeping his steps quiet, no threatening, Steve made his way up to Alex's door. A one-room cabin quickly grew too small for three, so they had built her an addition of her own. He knocked, and there were a few moments of silence before he got a grumpy response.
"What."
"Can I come in?"
"...fine." Steve pushed the door open, and found his little sister lying facedown on her loft bed. The room was quite small, only 4x4 blocks, to avoid the house looking strange from the outside, so Steve had done his best to maximize the amount of space. Alex peeked up at him as he entered, bright green eyes narrowed with annoyance.
"I can see you're upset," he began as he entered, sinking down in a chair.
"Yeah!" Alex rolled over, throwing her hands up in the air. "You guys treat me like a- a gold shovel!"
"We just don't want you to get hurt."
"I won't! I can take care of myself!"
"Alex…"
"Don't you 'Alex' me!" Alex rolled over, putting her back to him. "I bet Notch would let me go mining."
"Well, Notch put us in charge."
"It's not fair!" She snapped. Steve shut his mouth. He doubted he would be able to get through to her while she was so worked up.
"Can you help me with something?" Alex rolled back over, reluctantly looking at him.
"With what?"
"The wheat field has been left untouched for a while, and I'm starting to run out of feed for the cows." Steve thumbed over his shoulder in the direction of the barn. "Can you help me harvest it?" Alex's gaze followed his lead, then she reluctantly sat up, trying to finger-comb her hair down into some semblance of order.
"Okay."
"I'm not sure why you think I'll have any sound advice, Steven." Notch raised his hands in a half-shrug. "I was clearly helpless to stop you when you became rebellious."
"I was hoping you'd learned from the experience." Steven half-reclined in his chair, watching Notch through the monitor of his computer. "Besides, aren't you in possession of a teenager now?"
"Well, yes." Notch smirked a bit. "But Caden is hardly a rebel."
"True enough." Steven agreed. "He's quite boring."
"If your criteria for 'boring' is that he doesn't seek out confrontation, then yes, he's very boring." Notch countered. Steven merely rolled his eyes. The hacker in question was, most likely, off playing games right now. Steven was tempted to check, but put his curiosity on hold for now.
"Still... you created her." He sat up straight, turning his chair to face him head-on. "Surely you have some insight." Notch sighed, leaning back and looking away for a moment.
"I left her… mostly a blank slate." He shrugged. "Although I couldn't shape her mind much even if I wanted to. I gave her her curiosity, and that's about it. So… if she wants to explore, let her." Steven frowned, and Notch went on. "To expand, find things she can do. On her own, even. If you do have to watch her, do it from a distance. Give her space. She can respawn, so even if she does die she will reappear safely." Notch shrugged again. "And it might teach her a lesson."
"I don't want her to have to respawn." Steven protested. Notch sobered.
"I know. But, in the case that it does, she will be alright."
"Mm." Steven hummed, mulling over his words.
"Have you brought her to your server yet?" Notch asked. Steven shook his head.
"We want to be sure she will not act out around players first."
"Would the players you've met there not be a good first test?"
"I suppose."
"Not only that," Notch continued. "But if she did, you would be able to take her away, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, but she would throw a fit." Steven rolled his eyes a bit. "We try to avoid that when she can."
"Oh dear." Notch gave him a sheepish smile. "She is only three weeks old."
"She is." Steven agreed. "I'll think about it."
"She'll figure it out." Notch assured him. "Eventually."
"I pray that time comes soon."
Steve looked up from gathering an armful of wheat just in time to see Alex's axe jam into the body of the scarecrow.
"What are you doing?" He called over, soon locating her on the other side of the field. She grinned, pumping her fist.
"Practicing!"
"Practicing…?" He trailed off.
"Axe-throwing! Look, I hit it!"
"You did." He acknowledged. "Don't break my scarecrow, please. After this I'll make you some target blocks."
"Fine." Alex marched up to the scarecrow, yanking her axe out and swapping it out for her hoe. She then resumed her task of gathering the wheat. Steve looked away to hide his grin as she swung the hoe recklessly at the mature crops. She was such a puppy.
As Steve continued harvesting his half (considerably less violently), Herobrine came up behind him, causing him to jump a bit.
"How is she?" The elder murmured as he started to work beside him.
"I think she's about over it." Steve glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see Alex lose her balance and fall with a thump onto the farmland. Herobrine nodded.
"Notch recommended we find another way to satiate her curiosity. Perhaps she would like it if we brought her to the jungle?"
"Sure." Steve bobbed his chin in a nod. "I'd like to harvest some cocoa anyway."
"Then it's decided." Herobrine cast a final glance at their younger sister before going back to work. "Perhaps tomorrow?"
"If she doesn't throw herself off a cliff first."
"Hey!" Alex's indignant voice floated over. "I couldn't throw myself off a cliff if I wanted to, there aren't any!" Herobrine gestured dismissively at her.
"I'm sure you could manage it."
"Steven," Steve scolded him. "Don't tease." Alex scoffed and turned away.
"I finished my half." She announced. Steve lifted his head to look.
"Yes, and you trampled half the farmland." He pointed out. Alex frowned down at the dirt beneath her feet.
"It's hard."
"I know. Just re-till it, please."
"Fine." With a heavy sigh, Alex set to work again with her hoe.
"It's so green!" Alex gaped up at the towering jungle trees, running her fingers through the vines that trailed down to the ground. Stephan grinned at the look on her face.
"You can climb these." He gave a vine a tug, showing her how strong they were. She whirled around, staring at him, then, more suspiciously, at Steven.
"Can I?" She pressed. Steven looked at his brother, then up at the tree. It was short enough that she probably wouldn't die if she fell off.
"Sure." He gave a small shrug. Alex didn't wait for any further prompting, immediately trying to scale the vines. She was physically adept, so it didn't take long for her to figure it out, scurrying up the curtain of vines and climbing atop the leaves of the tree. After a moment, they heard a shout.
"There's a building over there!"
"Is there?" Steven called up with a smile, and Stephan spoke up.
"There's a jungle temple over there. Come down, and we'll explore it, just be careful. It's full of booby traps." A brief pause.
"What the Nether's a booby trap?"