Heeeey everybody! I think It's finally time I say these words: Welcome back to "Story Within a Story"! Don't you think it's time I finally get back to this story? I do, I really do. This was posted in December at 2016? Man, I suck at being an author. I'm so so sorry! Oh and sorry for my horrible absence, I've been on a vacation, and wifi was terrible!

"These children were wronged. Some are left with no memories of what happened, while only a few are forced to suffer with remembering a lie told to them through a note, and they believed it. They don't even remember what truly happened. The memories will come back soon. Or should I say, eleven years later."

*Disclaimer* Hey friends, I don't own MCSM or Minecraft, all credit goes to Telltale Games and Mojang. Thank you very much for reading, and enjoy!

~ Minecraft: Story Mode ~

~ Story Within a Story ~

~ Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place ~

~ Chapter 38: WHAT? ~

It was raining.

And damn, it rained hard.

Jesse grumbles in annoyance as he ran a hand through his soggy brown hair, his other hand still holding onto the horse's mane, not minding that he had to reach around Matthew to do so. He looked over at the brewer, sitting behind Soren, with a bored expression. "Are we there yet?" he asked.

Ivor looked back at him. "Almost there."

He felt a sharp pain spike through his shoulder, his free hand clutching his shoulder, wincing.

Looking over at his friends to make sure they were occupied, he shifted the collar of his shirt to look at his shoulder.

Jesse sucked in a breath when he saw the purple skin has began to widen again. I won't last long if it keeps going on like this. He thought nervously, his mind beginning to race a mile a minute as it came up with possible scenarios, and none of them were good.

"Mr. Jesse, are you alright?" snapped out of his thoughts, he looked up to see the young boy's forget me not blue eyes staring at him concernedly. The brunet smiled back and answered positively. The child didn't need to know that his new friend was dying just like his mother had, he didn't need that heartache.

He knew that besides being heartbroken, Matty would tell the others, and they would make him go back, and he couldn't do that, he had to put himself in harms way to protect his friends.

They were the only real friends he had, and he wasn't about to just let them die. He couldn't, he wouldn't, he REFUSED.

He'd let himself die before that ever happened.

He can't lose them. He can't lose his brother, he can't lose Petra, he can't lose Lukas, he can't lose Olivia, he can't lose Axel, he can't lose Reuben- Hell, he can't let ANYONE die.

He already lost his father to the Wither storm, but they- it- whatever, will NOT kill his friends

Matty narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but nodded in acceptance when he saw the older boy wasn't going to say much else.

It phased from night to day, back and forth so many times that they all lost count of how many days went by. It could have been a week, or maybe weeks, or maybe even a month, for Notch's sake!

They went biome through biome, and he knew everyone was getting sick of it, just by the looks on their faces.

While they were in a desert biome with the sun blazing unbearably overheard, Jesse looked over at Ivor as the horses had trotted over a nicely shaped bridge that nature had created with time. "Are we there yet?" he asked, his lips curled down. His butt was getting so sore with all of this sitting!

The man narrowed his dark blue eyes at the boy to show he didn't really appreciate the question, although he humored him and answered, calmly as he could. "Not much further now."

And then days continued to drag by, as did the biomes. If you think reading this line being repeated is boring, imagine what THOSE poor souls are going through.

The silence that had been brewing between the traveling friends for many days was suddenly broken while they were in a snow biome, curtsy of Matty as he pointed to the frozen trees near them, asking with awe in his voice. "What are those?"

"Frozen trees." Soren and Olivia stated in unison, giving one another surprised looks, the child nodding, his curiosity satisfied.

The silence went on for a few beats, before the brunet asked again, definitely puppy-pouting now. "Are we there yet?" he honestly sounded like an impatient child by this point.

The brewer seemed to agree with the author as he twisted his upper body around to glare at Jesse, supremely ticked off now. "No, no, no, we are NOT there yet!" Ivor finally snapped,seeming to bristle in irritation..

He sheepishly grinned when his friends sent him amused smiles, Lukas let loose a hearty laugh and shook his head, while the youngest of the group just giggled madly.

"Sorry Ivor, I'm just not the most patient person." Jesse apologized, chuckling quietly at the expense of the man's annoyance.

Ivor scoffed. "Obviously!"

Matty chortled. "Well, well, somebody's beard is in a twist." he teased the man, who halfheartedly scowled at the young child before turning away.

The silence returned, and a few more days passed. Soon enough, the snow biome had turned into a thick swampland. Now it was either midday or morning, and nobody was looking too happy.

Well, not that they were before, but...

Uh- I... ugh! You know what I mean!

"My rear end is profoundly sore." Gabriel complained as he held tight to the helmeted girl's thin shoulders, his magenta eyes hungrily searching the area.

Rolling his eyes, Jesse jokingly commented to the amnesia-struck warrior. "You know, you could just say that your-"

"Jesse!" Olivia admonished him with a withering glare, luckily surviving without being too withered. "Remember, you have a fudging audience right now!" she subtly gestured to the seven year old for emphasis.

The brunet childishly grinned back at the pigtailed girl. "Oops, I forgot." he responded, it taking all of his willpower not to laugh when she rolled her eyes at his behavior.

"Mr. Jesse, were you about to use a naughty word?" Matty asked, inclining his head to look at the boy behind him.

Jesse smirked and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Maybe, maybe not."

Puffing out his cheeks indignantly, Matty quickly jerked away and looked forward, determined to ignore the soft chuckling from the older people around him..

A loud growl caught everybody's attention.

"Good grief, what was that?" Soren asked out of surprise, having nearly fallen off of the horse at how loud it was..

Gabriel raised his hand, having the decency to look sheepish as he claimed. "That was my stomach."

XXXXX

Matty cringed as his feet sunk into the mushy grass, mud squelching noisily as he trailed behind Jesse, the older boy juggling the potatoes they gathered.

"You doing alright there, Matty?" Jesse asked, lazily grinning when he peered back at the child.

Narrowing his eyes, he accused the older male. "You are a magician. There's no other way to explain why your feet aren't sinking!"

The brunet laughed and ruffled the scruffy hair of the child, eliciting an annoyed "Hey!" from him. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." he answered vaguely.

Matty gaped at him, nearly dropping his armful of potatoes. "You are a jerk!" he declared.

Jesse playfully scoffed. "Hey, remind me who saved who from that angry crocodile."

Groaning, the younger replied dryly. "You did..."

"Exactly."

The child muttered something about taking a pickax to the older male's head grumpily.

Jesse couldn't help but snicker as he listened.

XXXXX

Soren could never understand his friends. Really, he couldn't.

First of all, King of Boomtown, are you serious?

A famous engineer in Redstonia?

Gabriel was always the normal one of the group, yet he for some reason liked to fight?

Oh, and then there's Ivor.

Ivor, who decided to launch a monster into the world.

Ivor, who seriously needs to cut his hair.

Ivor, who offered help to destroy his own beast.

Ivor, who freaking built a lab in the Farlands!

"Move, move, move, move!" Jesse's voice pierced the silent air, and the sound of feet pounding on the squishy ground rang out. "Run, people, run!"

Soren scrambled up and looked over in time to see Jesse burst through the bushes, holding the terrified child tightly to his chest.

He gaped at the witch that came out afterwards, and whipped around, running away.

He failed to notice that Ivor had offered to lead the witch away.

The ginger came to a stop, but someone ran into him, knocking both of them over with a similar grunt of "Oof."

"Sorry." he looked up to see Gabriel offering his hand to him with a sheepish grin.

Soren shrugged and took his hand, letting the warrior help him up. "It's fine, my friend!" he said, not minding in the least.

Sure, he thought his friends were odd, but he cared for them deeply nonetheless.

They were his first friends, and they put immense trust in him.

... And he failed them.

Soren frowned at the reminder of why one of his good friends had turned on them and left the group.

He knew it was because of what they did.

He knew it was dishonest.

He knew it was just not right.

He knew that all too well, and he regretted every second of doing that.

But he also knew a simple "sorry" wouldn't be appropriate.

If or when they save the world, Soren knew they had to tell the truth of their misdeeds.

"Wow."

He looked over his shoulder to see the children looking at the Farlands, amazement on their faces.

"Take your wow," Lukas began as he came to a gaping Jesse's side, staring at the wide with wide eyes. "and raise to to a 'Whoooooooah.'"

Soren chuckled heartily and turned to the group, throwing his arms out with a wide grin.

"Welcome to the Farlands."

XXXXX

Petra swore she was going to lose her mind.

She kept thinking about Jesse.

Goofy smile.

Eyes.

Adorable personality.

Silly choice of clothing.

Great leadership.

Encouraging.

Brave.

Cat tendencies.

But there was something about him that she couldn't get out of her head for the life of her.

His lips.

She groaned in frustration, her face pinking at the not very platonic thought of her closest friend. Why did he have to turn his head? I could have just kissed his cheek and avoided these thoughts.

"Petra, don't pull your hair out." Aiden chided playfully from atop his horse, having watched the redhead's inward struggle, and he knew exactly what she was thinking about, if her blushing was indication. "I'm sure you'll get to kiss him again."

The dark-haired boy laughed when the girl choked on air, her face turning a bright luminous red.

Axel snickered from atop his horse. "Thinking about your boyfriend, Peets?" he teased her further.

Her face flushed even darker, and she buried her face into the horse's mane to try and hide it, although she knew they both had seen it.

Petra paused and bolted up, staring at the two full-out laughing boys. She yelled at them, blush not going anywhere. "He's not my boyfriend, you fookin' jerks!"

They only laughed harder.

"I hate you both."

XXXXX

They all thought the man was dead.

That he was down for the count.

That the witherstorm bested him.

That he was out of their lives.

That they wouldn't see him again.

Well.

They were wrong.

The man's gray eyes opened.

A/N's: YAY! Oh god, I missed this story! Why have I NEGLECTED IT? I feel like I have committed a CRIME! Anyway, guys, sorry for my recent absence, I've been on a vacation, and the wifi was terrible! And also, Fanfiction decided to be a big pain in the you-know-what.

Aiden: At least you're back now, yeah?

Yeah! *hugs Aiden* Oh lord, I missed this! Guys, I'm SO SORRYYYY!

Crispy: *walks in, but Rapid pulls him into the hug* Wha- Hey, you're back!

Yep! Miss me?

Crispy: Of course I did! I also missed this story a bunch, whatever happened to it, anyway?

I honestly don't know, just got... shoved away. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED?! READERS? PLEASE? By the way, I'm not answering reviews this chapter because it's all a bit mixed up for me, so please don't be offended if I don't reply to your review that you left and have been waiting for it to be answered. I promise I'll answer it next chapter if I see it, okay?

Aiden: Such a speech...

Tch, what you call a speech is basically just a mere sentence to me!

Crispy: Holy cow!

Aiden: You really ARE rapid..

I know!

All3: Toooodles!

~ TOODLES TILL THE NEXT CHAPPIE! ~

~*R.S*~