Story Nine: Family

Summary: It can be hard to adapt to a new group of people, and even harder when the ones you love have been torn from you and you are just expected to move in with people who dare to take their place. Jeb finds this out when his family is torn apart by the Valkyrie hunt for Starlords.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft.

Jeb's POV

You know a day's not going to go very well when it starts with you being woken up before the sun rises and it's not your birthday or some other present filled holiday.

"Jeb, get up!" my father shouted, pulling the door open and alloing the bright light of his wings to spill into the room.

"What is it?" I murmured, trying to pull the blanket over my head to block the light and only succeeding in making my feet cold. "It's still really early and I'm sleepy.

"This is not the time to ask questions young man!" he hissed, flashes of red and lavender crossing his wings. "You will get up out of bed now and come with me." Worried now since it was very rare for my father to raise his voice, I complied, eyes wide as my they adjusted to the change in lighting and I could better see my father. He looked frightened, a sight that I had never expected to see.

"What's going on?" I asked, pulling the blanket off and standing, slightly unstable because of my tiredness.

"I said no questions!" he said, grabbing my arm and shoving me out the door and down the hallway. "Now go to your mother and get somewhere safe. There is something that I have to do." I nodded in confusion, wondering what was wrong but not daring to ask my father what it was. After all, if he had reacted like this to it, it had to be pretty urgent. Carefully making my way down the stairs in the darkness, I silently cursed my lack of wings. The soft light they provided would have been quite a comfort in the complete darkness of the room.

"Mom?" I called softly, trying to avoid tripping over any furniture "Father said that I should come and find you." Above me, on the floor I had just left, I heard voices They had been intended to not be overheard, but the silence of the house transmitted even the faintest of sounds quite well.

"We are sorry that we have brought danger on your household." a soft female voice said "We did not know the true ferocity with which the Valkyrie searched for our kind. We would not think any less of you if you were to protect your family and deliver us to them."

"No, we shall stand firm against the Valkyrie." my father insisted "I shall not betray any of your kind and destroy my morals. I would never be able to live with that."

"Very well." the woman sighed "I shall apologies now for whatever happens as a result of us."

"There you are Jeb." my mother exclaimed, coming through the kitchen with a mix of colors darting every which way across her wings.

"Mom, what's going on?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Hush Jeb." she said, putting a finger to my lips. "We much stay quiet. The Valkyrie are coming and they must not find us."

"But why? I thought the Valkyrie were supposed to be on our side."

"Well Jeb, the Valkyrie are not bad. It's just that the things they have been commanded to do conflict with the morals of many. So while we feel that it is necessary to protect those who are hunted, we do so at our own peril. And tonight we have been warned that the Valkyrie are coming for us, at midnight in fact, to seek out the Starlords that they believe we and the others are hiding from their kind."

The femalw who had been speaking before, at least I presumed that was who it was, came down the staris. Sky blue wings with gold highlights shed a soft glow across the room, and in her arms she held a young child, eyes wide open in fright at the whole thing.

"We will leave now." she said, drawing the blanket she held close around the child and stepping towards the doorway. "If we do, the Valkyrie should not find us."

"Be safe." my father said. A sound of rapid flapping, the sound of feather on feather accompanied by the clank of metal forewarned the Valkyrie's approach.

"We were told they were not coming until midnight." my mother hissed, peering out the window.

"Hide you two." hissed my father to the Starlords. The woman nodded, squeezing herself under a narrow shelf in the open closet my father presented.

"You too Jeb." my mother whisepred, gesturing for me to get down. Silently I complied, wide eyed as I hid in a dark corner between several book cases, peering out between a gap in the books. Placing a basket and bowl over my hiding place to make it resemble a small table, my mother straightened, stepping towards my father and saying "Let them in. We don't want to make them suspicios."

"Of course." my father pulled open the door, looking properly surprised at the Valkyrie standing in the doorway.

"Hello." he said "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Yes." said the lead Valkyrie, a gruff sounding male that I could not quite see from my current position. "We heard that you might know of the location of several Starlords who have so far managed to elude us. Is this true?"

My father feigned ignorance "I am not sure what you mean. The only Starlords I have seen are those in your pamphlets. None of them have been here."

"Is that so?" the Valkyrie called "Then allow us to search your dwelling. Surely if you have nothing to hide, that should not be a problem."

"Of course." he said, stepping aside "Be my guest." Things seemed to be going well at first. The Valkyrie scoured the house, pausing to converse only when they stumbled upon my things. My mother hastily explained away my absence as me being at a friend's house, which seemed to persuade them. Finally though, they reached the closet where the Starlords were hidden.

"I thought you said you had never seen any Starlords." the Valkyrie hissed, pulling the women from her hiding place.

"I lied." he snapped, drawing a blade and twisting the woman from the Valkyrie's grip.

"Get them!" the head Valkyrie snapped "The man too. He has chosen his side." The other Valkyrie advanced, heading for them. The Starlord placed a hand on the forehead of the child she carried, murmuring some last farewell before making them disappear, presumably to a safer location.

The fight between the Valkyrie and the two lords was very one sided, the two of them quickly falling before the swinging blades of the angle like creatures. My mother stood there, watching in horror as this unfolded.

"That's done." said the lead Valkyrie "Grab the woman and bring her with us." Not wanting to resist and possibly endanger my hiding place, my mother mouthed "I love you, be safe." As they left, I pushed the top from my hiding place, racing towards where my father and the female Starlord lay on the floor as a widening pool of blood seeped out from around them.

"Why." I murmured, tears beginning to pour down my face "Why did this happen?" Shakily, I drew on the traces of magic I could feel within me, struggling to force it to heal my father. But I felt nothing. The Valkyrie were too effective to have left a trace of life in either lord.

A loud knock sounded on the door, followed by a splintering as it was kicked down. A pink and gold winged lord stood in the doorway, breathing hard.

"We've got to leave." he panted. I shook my head, not wanting to leave my father. Maybe if I tried just a bit harder... "Jeb, we've got to get out of here. The building's on fire." When I didn't repond, the man, Taylan if I remembered correctly, one of my father's friends, picked me up around the waist, slinging me over his shoulder and dragging me out of the building. From outside, it was clear that the building was burning. My life, burning, never going to be the same again. "Are you alright?" asked Taylan, putting me down.

"I don't know." I murmured, eyes struggling to focus on him.

"Come on." he murmured, picking me up and extending his wings, flying off towards another island. We landed with a jolt several minutes later, in front of a temple like house made of stone bricks and decorated with gem blocks. "Come on, lets get you cleaned up." he murmured, carrying me into the house. Almost immediately a women in purple robes swept me up, holding me close.

"Oh, you poor dear." she crooned "How awful this whole thing must be for you."

"Get away from me!" I shrieked, pulling myself away from her arms and dashing away, heading for the doorway "You can never replace my mother, you are nothing like her!" tears springing to my eyes, I sobbed "You can't replace my family" Then I trudged out the door, trying to pull myself together.

A few moments later, Taylan appeared in the doorway, eyes scanning the landscape for any sign of me. When he spotted me at last, sitting beneath a small golden apple tree in front of the building, he approached slowly, stopping well away from me.

"You alright?" he asked, looking me over. "Millie didn't intend to make it seem like she was trying to replace your family. That's just how she it."

"I know." I murmured sulkily "It's just that this was all so unexpected and now one of my parents is dead and one is captured. I don't have anything left."

"I know it's tough." murmured Taylan, drawing slightly closer "But you can stay with us as long as you like, if that's all right with you of course. Then, when you feel like you have settled enough, you can go out and find your own way. How does that sound?"

"I guess it sound okay." I murmured, wiping away some tears that clung to my face.

"I'm glad." said Taylan "Oh, and Jeb?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to your family. I should have gotten there sooner. Maybe I would have been able to help."

"No." I said with certainty "You wouldn't have made a difference. If another person would have changed things, my mother would have stepped in."