The Mark Of the Nether (A Minecraft fanfiction)

Armed and Ready

Piper's POV:

"Where were you guys?" Asked an annoyed Ace. Hey, alliteration!

"Does it matter, we're here now." Merl shrugged.

"Yeah well now might be too late." She grumbled. Notch was in the middle of talking to Bod.

"Just tell us what we missed." I came up next to her.

"It's official, we're going to war." Quinn sighed.

"What?!" Merlin and I shouted in disbelief, causing Notch to turn to us.

"There you are." He marched up to us. "Where have you two been?"

"We, uhh.." I searched for an excuse.

"We got, lost?" Merlin failed at sounding confident.

"Lost? You got lost in the place where you live?" He crossed his arms.

".. Yes?" Merl dragged out the word and I groaned.

"What he means," I glared at him momentarily. "Is that we were so busy talking it distracted us. We took a few rights when we should've taken lefts, went back 'cause we forgot something, then realized we were going the wrong way." I said easily, causing Notch to turn to Bod.

"You believe her?" He asked him.

"Well now, that doesn't look like the face of a lass who's bluffing." Bod smirked and winked, like he was covering for me even though he knew I was lying anyway. "Come on, Notch. Don't keep that brother of yours waiting, I can handle the young ones." With a curt nod, Notch hurried out of the dining hall.

"Does your Dad seem, stressed to you? Or more anxious than usual?" I murmured to Echo.

"Yeah, no, he- uh.. He really does.." She stuttered a little. I raised my eyebrow until Eli pulled me aside.

"Dad never looks.. scared. That tends to unsettle the residents. The only thing that would be worse is Steve freaking out. Considering he is the most collected person in this castle." Eli whispered and I nodded.

"Kids!" Bod called.

"Adult." Ace nodded as he rolled his eyes.

"Take a seat." He used his boot to pull out the chair by the leg, and sat in the middle of the table. I sat on the chair across from him with Sav and Merl sitting beside me. Render being next to Sav, of course. Echo and Eli were on either side of Bod with Quinn and Ace next to her.

"Boddy," Donnie pushed herself up so she could peek over the table. "Are we really going to be in a war?" She pouted, her eye on the brink of tears. With a sigh, Bod lifted her up so she could sit on his lap.

"Don't worry Foxy," He ruffled her hair and she giggled a little. "You'll be safe in the castle. They're just trying to scare us. The rebels aren't targeting us." Bod turned back to us. "But we do need to people to be prepared just in case.. You all know what to do if you see a rebel?"

"Fight back!" Ace grinned, already looking ready for a fist fight.

"As in defense or offense?" I raised a brow.

"Does it matter?" She shrugged and brushed her low ponytail to the side.

"'Course it does," I shook my head. "You can't fight fire with Fire."

"Why not, seems like a good plan to me." Merl spoke and I stared at him.

"Really?" He looked away from me and I continued. "You can't fight fire with fire." I said more firm. "After all, it'll just-" I paused to swallow, trying to not freak out while saying the next sentence. "It'll just burn the house down."