Oh, yeah, I don't own Minecraft.

Prologue: Home

Twenty years ago:

Sarah was numb.

Her daughter was missing, her husband was dead, and her home had just gone up in flames. Trudging through the cave systems of the nearby mountains, Cal by her side, she didn't want to think. She didn't want to imagine. All she could see was the boy-man. She had felt him before she had seen him, his dead gaze sweeping over her home.

He was a man in all physique, but his soul was that of a boy. It confused Sarah. She didn't know how to feel about this. Cal slipped his hand into hers, his darker, tanned skin contrasting against her own pale white features.

"You okay?" His words echoed amongst the crying and murmuring of the other villagers. He watched her quietly, the torchlight glinting off his dark eyes and shining dreadlocks. He was worried about her. Genuinely worried.

"No," Sarah answered miserably, a sob escaping her throat. "Everyone's dead. Our home is missing, Austin is dead-half the village is dead, and Alex is gone."

"Alex is gone?" Cal asked, genuinely concerned as he led her to a corner of the wall to sit down. Poor Cal. He was Austin's best friend, almost like an uncle to little Alex. Now he'd lost them both in one night. Wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders, Cal set a torch beside her and sighed deeply.

"I miss everyone," He muttered. "Stupid mobs, if they hadnt attacked." He pulled a stick from his inventory and snapped it in half, tossing it across the deserted cave tunnel.

The noise of the others began to fade as the rest of the people made their way deeper into Dragon's Horns mountain.

Sarah leaned into Cal and sniffled. She pulled out an apple from her inventory and held it out to Cal. He took it gently and split in half, taking one piece and giving the other to her.

She ignored her half of the apple. Now was not the time to be snacking. Now she had to worry about her family and her future.

Footsteps came through the tunnel, and a figure appeared in the dim light from the torch. It was nineteen-year-old Jacob, watching them closely.

"Hey guys?" He asked. "We're all coming for a meeting."

"A meeting about what?" Sarah snarled at him. "Where to bury our dead?"

"Um… no?" Jacob shrugged. "We're talking about building our home inside the mountain. Y'know, away from mobs and stuff."

"Whatever," Sarah grumbled. "One day, I'm going to find Alex."

"Okay…?" Cal asked.

"Yeah," Sarah added. "I'm going to find Alex and make everything okay."

Cal nodded.

"But for now," Sarah sighed. "We'll have to make a home for her to come to."

Cal took her hand. "Well, then, let's get started."

Recently:

The warrior slipped through the caves, fighting down another zombie as he lunged towards the open-ended hollow in one of the walls. Skeleton bones crunched beneath his feet, moldering zombie flesh lay on the cold stone ground, and the skittery bodies of spiders were smashed into the walls.

Crossing the massive cavern, he approached the hollow, using a bit of bamboo scaffolding to hoist himself up into the tiny space. His blood-soaked boots drenched the carpet as he crossed the room towards the lectern on the wall.

Touching the smooth wood, he reached out and laid a hand on the spellbook on the lectern, it's leathery cover soft brushing against his cotton gloves. Lifting the book, he opened it, coughing, waving the gritty gray sand that powdered out of it so he could read. Smiling at the illustrations, his grin got wider, sharp teeth glistening in the light of the torch.

Slamming the book, he tucked it into his inventory and smiled wider. Oh, yes, this, this changed everything.

After all, what better to end the world of Minecraft than with a Wither?

A/N: Hi! I'm back with another installment of Minecraft. As you can probably tell from the title, Homebound is about Alex and Steve discovering what happened to their home villages after Herobrine. This story also also includes some characters based off of people who regularly reviewed M:TOA and M:303'SR. So, without further ado, let me introduce the OC's of Homebound:

Jimmy: a teen male character from Alex's village. (Reviewer name: JimmyPenguin421)

Elli: A teen female character, and Alex's half sister. (Reviewer name: ThinMintE)

Scott (nicknamed 'Scar'): a teen male character, Entity 303's nephew, and a boy from Steve's village. (Reviewer name: ScarOfHerobrine)

Max: a teen male character from Steve's village, close friends with Scott. (Reviewer name: Moatazabou4)

There are also going to be a bunch of background characters as cameos of people I know in real life. :)