Hello and here we are at the fourth and final chapter. I'm actually a tiny bit sad it has to end ;-; (starring Ivor finally making his (brief) triumphant appearance)

Fic-ward, ho!

Everyone in the entire biome, including the Order, knew of the band of travellers that was slowly passing through, as did many people in the neighbouring biomes. The group consisted of everything from hunter-gatherers and fishermen to mercenaries to entertainers, the latter of which regularly sang and played and performed card tricks for whatever iron they could make from the ones who turned up to wherever the travellers were camping that night to watch.

In most circumstances, this wouldn't really be of much importance to Gabriel. It wasn't unheard of, after all. But 'most circumstances' was swiftly shot halfway to the Nether when a dishevelled messenger knocked frantically on the door of the Order's temple, not even pausing to catch his breath before stammering out that the travellers' camp had been attacked by what had appeared to be a pack of savage bandits. And that was how Gabriel, Soren and a few other men who'd gotten wind of the incident had found themselves running to the scene to investigate.

The attack had clearly been brutal. Many of the travellers' roughly constructed huts, most of which were dotted about over a small area quite close to a cave, had been badly burnt; those that hadn't instead had chunks of them hanging off, huge gaps gouged into them or both. So much of the grass in the vicinity had been burnt away that the ground resembled a macabre sort of patchwork quilt and the smell of smoke still lingered in the night air. The silence pressing around the place was almost...well, deathly.

Gabriel glanced at Soren, the whole reason that he'd brought the man with him in the first place being that he'd vaguely hoped that some parts of the camp could be salvaged and rebuilt for those who'd evaded capture (or worse). He noticed that the architect looked a little twitchy and he wasn't sure how much of that was down to the devastation in front of them and how much was mother-hen nerves over being away from his kid for the first time.

The three kids had stayed safely at the temple, out of harm's way, and Magnus and Ellegaard had stayed behind too, at the insistence of both Soren and Gabriel (for the first time, the rogue and the engineer had actually been of one mind on something, protesting that they had to come and help too. Gabriel had tried to quell this by pointing on that neither explosions nor redstone could realistically be of much use in a situation like this, but Soren had succeeded by arguing that the kids needed someone to keep an eye on them). One thing that they all agreed on was that their protective instincts spiked at the thought of something happening to those kids while the Order weren't there, after all. Even Gabriel, whom the kids appeared to look up to as a 'cool uncle' figure of sorts, which he found gratifying as well as rather accurate.

Soren suddenly tapped Gabriel's shoulder, the warrior's brown furrowing deeply with dismay as he spotted patches of dull red staining the ground. His hand tightened upon the handle of his trusty blade.

Gabriel turned abruptly to the small group just behind them, all of whom were glancing around askance. "Spread out and see if you can find anything or anyone capable of telling us more," he ordered, not waiting to listen to the murmurs of assent.

He strode deeper into the camp, finding shreds of evidence that many of the travellers had either been dragged off, chased away or (Gabriel's gut contracted) killed, if the red splatters on the ground, on trees, on collapsed walls and on some of the items that had been left behind, such as fishing rods and torn blankets, were anything to go by. But surely some had escaped?

If so, were they still nearby?

Gabriel paused as the nearby cave caught his eye. It had 'bears and wolves' written all over it, but it just seemed stupid not to look inside to check whether or not anybody had retreated there. Besides, he was Gabriel the Warrior; he could handle wildlife.

Squaring his shoulders and assuming his battle stance, Gabriel moved into the pitch-black entrance of the cave...only he realise rather quickly that it wasn't as pitch-black as he'd assumed. On the contrary, a lone torch inside was casting a single circle of flickering light onto the craggy stone wall.

Which in turn illuminated the two small, decidedly neither ursine nor lupine faces next to it.

Instinct took over and Gabriel crossed the cave in three long-legged strides. As soon as they noticed him, the taller one shrank away, passing a protective arm around the smaller child sleeping on her shoulder with tearstains marking their grimy cheeks.

"Get away," she choked out, glowering up at him from under a tangle of bright red hair.

The warrior hesitated only briefly before crouching down next to the two of them, glancing first at the tiny sleeping one, who was so bedraggled and raggedy that it was impossible to tell what gender they were, and then at the girl whose tightly drawn eyebrows, bared teeth and clenched fists were all at complete odds with the hollowed look in her eyes.

They had just watched their world being ripped away, after all. The wreckage just outside was proof enough of that. Little wonder the redhead was gripping the child next to her as if she was just about ready to pounce upon anyone who so much as tugged a lock of their hair.

Gabriel leaned away slightly so as not to imply a threat of any kind, hastily sliding his sword back into his inventory when he realised that the girl's distrustful eyes were darting between him and the blade.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said in a low voice. "We – me and some others – are only here to help however we can."

The girl scowled even more, averting her gaze as her cracked lips tightened.

"We don't need your help," she spat, her harsh tone causing the other child to stir in their sleep, forehead creasing briefly before their face relaxed again. "All the others did, before. Nobody cared then; why should they now?" The last few words sounded distorted, as though something solid and heavy was caught in her throat. She turned her face away from a deeply frowning Gabriel, instead choosing to press her forehead against the top of the other kid's head. Her voice was little more than a horse whisper when she added, "Don't need anyone. Don't have anyone anymore."

Gabriel would have sworn his heart had physically sunk all the way down past his boots. It certainly felt as if someone was stepping all over it.

"The fact that you don't have anyone," he said heavily, cutting through a charged silence, "is exactly why the two of you need someone."

The girl slowly raised her head and blinked at him, suddenly looking so much younger, so much more vulnerable, now that some of the ferocity had melted from her demeanour. Something trembled in her eyes for a few moments, some metaphorical wall just beginning to chip the slightest bit, causing something protective (not unlike his tendencies towards Olivia, Axel and Lukas, except that this, for whatever reason, was stronger) to spark in Gabriel's chest. She opened her mouth as if to say something-

"Gabriel?"

The warrior's head whipped around so quickly, he almost gave himself whiplash. He squinted into the almost tangible darkness around them, barely able to make out a familiar shape standing in the cave entrance. Obviously spotting Gabriel by the torchlight, Soren stepped closer, his eyes falling onto the two kids with an unfathomable expression on his face.

Gabriel glanced at the red-haired girl, sadness and concern striking his chest in equal measure as she huddled back against the wall again, that defensively hostile scowl of a mask wrenched back into place with eyes twice as hard as before, as though to compensate for letting tiny gaps be chipped into those walls. He exchanged a troubled look with Soren.

"I don't know what to do," the kid admitted finally, voice far quieter and more childlike than it had been so far. She didn't look at either of them as she trailed shaky fingers over the other child's unkempt hair as they slept on, little face squished against her arm. "I don't know what we can do."

Gabriel let out a long, low sigh, cautiously edging closer and then slowly leaning into the girl's sightline until she was forced to look him in the eyes. "You're both coming with us, that's what you're going to do." he told her, gently but firmly.

"We can look after oursel-"

He cut off her weak protest. "No, you can't. At least...not under these circumstances," he added, making sure to hold her gaze.

More silence succeeded until the girl finally gave the tiniest of nods, too weary to argue anymore, judging by the way the look of distrust was replaced by a physical and emotional exhaustion that was harrowing just to witness. Gabriel glanced back at the worry-lined face of Soren, who nodded at him, before turning his gaze to the other child, unable to hold back a small smile as he glimpsed the tattered handmade teddy bear tucked under their thin arm.

The redhead stiffened as Gabriel reached towards the kid, but relaxed somewhat when he carefully scooped them into his arms, although her eyes still tracked his movements closely. He rose to his feet and she slowly, hesitantly, imitated the movement, one of her hands clutching the child's own hand so tightly that her knuckles were turning whitish.

Afraid that they could be torn away from her too.

Gabriel swallowed down the sudden knot in his throat and escorted their silent group out of the cave. Several of their companions paused in their activity to stare openly at the little girl, who refused to meet any of their eyes or loosen their hold on the smaller kid's hand, and the child in Gabriel's arms, whose mouth quivered in their sleep as though they were caught in the midst of a terrible dream.

The warrior's grip on the kid tightened instinctively, but fortunately Soren began to walk a little ahead of him and the children, directing warning glares to the other men until they looked away shamefacedly.

Gabriel exhaled thankfully. These kids had been through more than enough already.

Petra and Jesse. That was what their names were. At least, that was what the girl calling herself Petra mumbled out as she stared down into a mug of untouched, rapidly cooling hot chocolate. Her tense shoulders were enveloped in one of the thickest blankets the Order had been able to find.

A second blanket had, of course, been tucked around Jesse, awake now but yet to utter a single word, move an inch from where they were nestled closely against Petra's side, relax the death grip they had on their mud-spattered teddy bear or even raise their eyes from the floor.

Gabriel (having already asked the others to give him and the two kids some privacy) allowed the silence to drag on, trying to put off the inevitable question for as long as he could so as to give them the chance to explain on their own terms. But as the minutes crept by as quietly as if out of some sort of respect, as if they were afraid of disturbing the children with their passing, the warrior had to ask.

"What happened, Petra?"

"I don't know," she muttered.

"Petra-"

"I don't know," she repeated, raising her head at last, her expression now one of an almost unnerving blankness, voice utterly flat. "All I know is that...that people came...and one of the women pushed me and Jesse into the cave and told us to take care of each other and not to come out until one of them came back to get us." Her fingers tightened around the now-cold mug in her hands. "Only nobody did."

Gabriel cursed himself internally, wishing he had the first idea what to say to console her. But then, words would mean very little to Petra at that moment. It was probably better to just stay silent and give her and Jesse time, especially considering that Jesse in particular looked like they were struggling to process what had happened, struggling to make any sense of it.

But his blasted traitorous mouth refused to support this decision. "And...your parents? Where are they?"

Petra's mouth quirked into a hollow smile. "Where are anyone's parents?" she countered. "What mattered was being a part of that group. Only family either of us needed." She tilted her head down towards Jesse, who was now watching Gabriel through big, slightly fearful eyes, to include them in the statement.

Before Gabriel could assure the kid for the fifth or sixth time that nobody in the temple had any intent on harming either of them, Ellegaard poked her head around the door, looking uncharacteristically uncertain. Olivia appeared at the engineer's side, offering Petra and Jesse a nervous smile that was met with either a wide-eyed stare (from Jesse) or a stony look (from Petra).

"Sorry to interrupt," Ellegaard said, brown eyes darting from Gabriel to the children. "I just thought that...well, those two...I mean, you two...you look like you could use some cleaning up and a change of clothes. And then a good hot meal."

Gabriel mentally berated himself again for not thinking of that sooner.

Petra and Jesse exchanged inscrutable looks. Petra opened her mouth, that suspicion resurfacing in her eyes, but Jesse was already darting across the room, taking the hand that Olivia held out to them, their teddy bear dangling by its paw from the other.

"The bear might appreciate a good scrubbing too," Gabriel found himself pointing out, giving Jesse a slight smile that the kid, surprisingly, returned.

Meanwhile, Petra had gotten to her feet too, evidently having decided that Jesse wasn't going anywhere with two near-strangers without her. The door swung shut behind the four of them, leaving Gabriel to lean back tiredly in his chair, staring up at the ceiling without really seeing it.

Fortunately for Gabriel, he knew how best to vent his feelings. Training had always served him very well indeed in that respect, letting everything else fade away until all he was focused on were his blade and whatever was in front of him.

That still wasn't quite enough to block out the sound of the training room door being opened.

Gabriel halted mid-swing, turning a somewhat startled gaze onto none other than Petra, who was hovering in the doorway. It was as though the beaten-up, paranoid girl Gabriel had met in the cave had been replaced by a hesitant child, hair neatly combed and wearing what Gabriel vaguely recognised as something belonging to Olivia, a little short on Petra but at least clean and dry.

"Do you need anything, Petra?" the warrior asked cautiously.

Petra shrugged, moving into the room. "Not really. I just wondered where you-" She cut herself off, trying very hard to steamroll any expression out of her face. "Jesse's getting patched up and I made your friend swear to me that they'll be okay, so can I just stay here for a while?" she asked directly, an odd look in her eyes that said 'I feel safer here'.

Gabriel nodded, giving her a smile that was gentler than his usual ones. "Certainly."

Petra nodded slightly, seating herself atop a double chest as Gabriel returned to his training. Which was suddenly more difficult to concentrate on when one could feel a child watching them closely.

"Do you like swords?" Gabriel asked Petra over his shoulder, regretting the tactless enquiry a moment later. To his relief, Petra nodded slowly.

Progress.

"How about I teach you a few things sometime?" he persevered.

She shrugged, hands busy whittling a piece of wood into sticks in a way that Gabriel would have said was nervous if it had been anyone else doing it. The warrior left her to it, slashing away with his sword like there was no tomorrow, until the sound of someone clearing their throat had him stopping in his tracks for the second time.

Petra was standing there, the lid of the chest she'd been sitting on propped open, one of Gabriel's spare swords in her hand and the tiniest hint of a challenging smile on her lips.

If that didn't signify a leap forward, Gabriel didn't know what did.

Of course, the course of accidental adoption that everyone involved would deny was adoption never did run smooth. There was just one little, tiny, insignificant, rather massive thing they were all forgetting.

Ellegaard and Soren had finally been persuaded to relax (and Magnus to ease off on the pyrotechnic experiments) for an evening and so nine people were currently gathered in the temple's main living room. Jesse (who'd come out of their shell a lot more thanks to the kids' combined efforts) was chattering away about animals to Axel and Olivia, Lukas was examining a new type of block Soren had shown him and making notes on the most effective ways to utilise it in a build and Petra sat at Gabriel's feet, sharpening her new sword just the way he'd taught her and coming out with a well-timed quip every once in a while. Naturally, being told it was time for them to go to bed elicited a round of groans from them, which in turn had them treated to four stern glares.

Jesse giggled in spite of themselves and graciously admitted defeat by leading their new friends out of the room. And that was when the Order remembered just what they'd neglected to do.

There was a slight gasp of surprise from at least two of the kids, then a stream of chirpy-but-slightly-nervous apologies, as though…as though they'd just collided with someone. And a muffled crash rang out from somewhere in the entryway, suspiciously similar to the sound you'd get from dropping, oh, perhaps a bag full of crystal vials. Onto, say, a stone floor.

The four Order members automatically exchanged wide-eyed looks, 'didn't any of you tell him?' written all over each of their faces. Hasty recollection quickly turned to mixed apprehension and amusement as they realised 'no…no, we didn't'.

Almost on cue, a familiar voice issued forth, almost endearing in its combination of poor volume control and sheer 'why me?' tone that permeated the words.

"WHERE did all these SMALL PEOPLE come from?!"

A second. Two seconds. Three–

"LAST ONE TO THE ROOF HAS TO EXPLAIN THIS TO IVOR!" With that, Magnus all but stage-dived out of the room, a sniggering Axel at his heels.

So that's that. We're done here...and quite why I'm proud of a few measly chapters about blocky people and their adopted cubes, I really don't know.

I appreciate you guys dropping by :)

(*awkwardly tips hat*)

~ Rainy