Chapter 45: Trouble
Moons's Pov
It's been a week since Igneel's birth.
"Wow, you're as big as me now," I said, shocked as I looked at him.
"Hahaha, of course! Sooner or later, I'll be taller than you," he smugly stated.
"Huh!!! Show some respect. I am your older sister," I said, growing angry.
"Bleh," he stuck his tongue out at me.
"You!" I said, annoyed. I took my sword out of my ring and chased him. His eyes widened as he ran away.
"Come back here!" I shouted.
"No! Mama, help! Moon is trying to kill me again," he screamed.
Hearing the commotion, Mommy came. He ran and hid behind her as I chased him around her.
"Young lady," Merida said strictly.
I paused and looked up at Mommy. She was angry. I put my sword back into my ring. "Didn't I tell you to not chase your brother around with a sword?" she said.
I nodded.
"And you, didn't I tell you to show your sister some respect?" she reprimanded him.
I physically smiled but stopped when I saw her glaring at me.
"Sigh, it's time for dinner, let's go eat," she said.
"Okay!" me and Igneel shouted in unison.
We then froze and glared at each other, but looked away when we saw our mother angry.
Later that night, I snuck into Igneel's room. As I saw him just looking out of the window, I couldn't help thinking that something about him was off. Sometimes he would give off a weird energy, like Father. I shook off my daydreams and walked toward him.
"Igneel," I called out.
He turned around and smiled at me. "What is it?" he asked with a smile. He had that same energy again.
"Cough. Well, I want to say sorry for chasing you with a sword," I said, and then I conjured honey and gave them to him.
He looked surprised as he took the honey and then smiled. "Thank you, Sister," he said.
I nodded.
"I guess I have to apologize too. How about a magic trick?" he said.
"Magic, really? Show me!" I said excitedly.
He started by waving his hand calmly in the air, and then flames appeared as they moved around. Slowly, they formed into all sorts of animals.
"Wow," I said in amazement.
Suddenly, he stopped and looked out the window. "Who's there?" he questioned.
I looked out the window. At first, I couldn't see anything, then I noticed a silhouette. I took out my sword just in case. Slowly, the person appeared. He seemed to be flying as he entered through the window. He wore all green with a spiky green hat, and there seemed to be a small person with wings following him. Is it the fairies that Mom was talking about?
"Who are you?" Igneel asked.
The guy was spinning around in the air as he laughed. "I am Peter Pan," he replied.
"How are you flying?" I asked.
He smiled and introduced us to the fairy. "This is Tinkerbell, she is the reason I can fly."
"Hi," Tinkerbell said, her voice like the chime of a bell.
As she flew around, golden dust fell around her. "What is that?" I asked as I pointed at the dust.
"This is called fairy dust, and with it, I can help others fly, of course, they have to believe they can fly or else they won't be able to," she explained.
"Wow, let me try," I said excitedly.
"Sure," she answered.
She then flew around on top of me as the fairy dust fell on me and glowed. "Wooah, I can fly! Igneel, look, I can fly!" I said.
"Me too! Me too!" Igneel shouted.
Tinkerbell laughed and went to him and then flew around him and let the fairy dust fall on him. He then jumped and also flew. "I can fly too, sister," he said.
"You guys, do you want to come with me?" Peter asked.
"Huh? Where?" I asked.
"The place is called Neverland. We can have a lot of fun and adventures there," he said.
"Adventures? I want to go!" I said excitedly. I looked back at Igneel. He looked calm as he didn't say anything. He then smiled.
"Okay, let's go," he said with a smile.
"Alright, let's go," he said.
Merida's Pov
Ten minutes had passed, and I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was off. Dinner was over, and the castle had settled down, but the silence felt wrong. I needed to see them. I walked down the hall to Igneel's room and gently knocked on the door. "Knock, knock."
No response.
I tried again, a little louder. "Moon? Igneel?"
Still nothing.
With a growing sense of unease, I pushed the door open. The room was empty. The bed was unmade, a few stray books lay on the floor, but my children were nowhere in sight. My eyes scanned the room, searching for a clue. A cool breeze wafted in from the open window, making the curtains billow like ghosts. It was a strange sight; the window was always closed at night.
My heart began to pound in my chest. "Moon? Igneel?" I called out, my voice more urgent this time. I walked to the window, peering into the dark night sky, but there was nothing. No sound. No sign of them. Just the quiet wind and the empty, starlit night. My mind raced, trying to comprehend what could have happened. They were gone.
Erik POV
"Phew," I breathed out, the sound a low rumble in the stillness.
I was finally done with the evolution. As I looked at myself, I smiled. For some reason, my body had become shiny, but I just attributed it to the god body. Other than that, I could feel all of my power without having to constantly control it. My power now flowed naturally within my body. Though I could use all of it, I didn't have much mastery yet. I should train with it when I'm not busy. I put on some new clothes and headed toward the door. As I reached it, I felt something was wrong. I opened the door and saw people running around everywhere.
A maid noticed me. If I remembered correctly, she was the head maid. "Alisha, go get the queen! The king has awoken!" she commanded. The maid nodded and headed off. The head maid then ran toward me and bowed.
"What happened?" I asked.
"My lord, the master, Prince Igneel and Princess Moon have gone missing," she replied.
"Moon is missing? And Prince Igneel? Who is that?" I asked.
"I-It's your son, Your Majesty. The queen gave birth while you were in seclusion," she quickly answered.
My eyes widened. Though the shock subsided as my emotions quickly regulated.
"Erik!" Merida shouted.
My head turned as I saw Merida running toward me, her eyes full of tears. As she reached me, I opened my arms. I grabbed her as she ran into me.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Erik, hic hic... Igneel and Moon are missing. The soldiers have already searched the whole kingdom, and they are nowhere to be found. They've been gone for three days," she quickly spoke.
I looked at her and winced. Her eyes were red, signifying that she had been crying. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was disheveled. I held her and used my magic to comfort her into sleep. Within a few moments, she fell asleep. I then carried her to our bedroom, laid her on the bed, and had some maids attend to her if she woke up.
As I left the bedroom, I shouted, "Call for the generals. We will meet in the throne room!" The head maid nodded and headed off.
An hour later, I was informed of everything. Merida had been pregnant when I had entered seclusion. There were no signs until a few days in. I had not been there for the birth of my first child—well, technically second, but Moon is a special case. The more pressing matter was that both Moon and Igneel had disappeared and had been gone for over three days.
Good thing the ring I had given her had my mana in it, or else I wouldn't be able to track her.
"I will look for them. I want you all to improve security and make sure something like this will never happen again," I commanded.
"Yes, Your Majesty," they replied.
I teleported to an open clearing and then transformed. As I transformed, I noticed that my dragon form had almost doubled in size. I put that in the back of my mind and flew toward where I sensed my mana. Within a few hours, I sensed it close, but all I saw was water. The open sea was the only view in front of me.
No, there was more mana. It wasn't mine, but inside it, I could sense my mana. I flew toward the direction and soon reached a barrier. I slightly touched it, and the barrier moved like water. This was an illusion. Something was behind here. I then entered. As the new view appeared, I was surprised. This was in the archipelago that I ruled, but I had never once come upon this island. It had a weird energy.
As I flew, I noticed a pirate ship heading toward the island but ignored it as I didn't sense my mana there. Soon I reached the island and landed where I sensed my mana. I stared at a large tree with a door on it.
"Moon," I called.
The mana seemed to move around within the huge tree before it reached the door and then came out.
"D-Daddy," she said.
I was angry, but I wanted to hear her side of the story first. "How did you get here?" I asked.
"Uhm, I came with my friend," she replied timidly.
"So it was your own decision?" I asked again.
She gulped and nodded.
I gritted my teeth and growled. I tried to control my anger, but I raised my hand and hit the ground with restrained fury. She flinched and took a step back.
"Didn't I tell you to not follow random people! Your mother has been worried and hasn't slept for days! She hasn't stopped crying since you disappeared! Your actions have been not only irresponsible but also disrespectful to your mother who has cared and loved you every day!" I shouted.
With each word I spoke, the island trembled. I wanted to continue, but someone cut me off.
"Father, please stop. Moon is still a child," he spoke.
I paused and looked at him. He was definitely my son. Though he had red, fiery hair, he had my face. Moon ran toward him and hid behind him. I could see Moon sniffling.
I sighed and transformed back into my human form and landed in front of them. "And how about you? Did you come willingly?" I asked.
He nodded. "The person that brought us here was a variable. And if I tried to stop Moon, I knew that she would sneak out, so I followed to keep an eye on her," he replied.
Hm, this kid thinks like me. And he's smart. When he's grown, I'll make him king and settle down on a nice island with Merida and Elsa. I smiled as I thought about it.
"Cough. Please don't smile like that as you look at me," he said.
My mouth twitched. "You brat—"
"Who is this?" someone asked.
My head turned as I noticed a boy in the air. He was wearing all green, but my eyes weren't focused on him but on the little creature next to him. Is that a fairy? She had yellow hair and wings. She had a golden glow around her. I teleported right in front of her and grabbed her.
"Agh, let go," she screamed.
The boy, seeing my action, pulled out a sword and struck at me. I just ignored it as it hit my body and bounced off with a clank sound. "Let go of Tinkerbell!" he shouted as he kept attacking.
I inspected her for a few seconds before letting her go. She was a unique creature but wasn't anything too special. But there was something that intrigued me even more, the condensed mana I sensed in the center of the island. "Stay here, I'll be back," I commanded.
I didn't wait for confirmation and headed toward the center of the island. Soon I reached the entrance of a cave. I entered and saw multiple drawings and paintings across the walls, mostly of people in brutal death scenes. Eventually, I reached a large open room with squared tiles across the floor. I walked forward and heard a click as a tablet was pushed into the floor. A log was headed straight toward my chest as I just squashed it away. The more I continued, the more traps there were. There were multiple rooms like this until I reached a room with text on the walls. I looked at them and read them. To open the gates, you must gather the breath of love into a bottle. Then boil it in water and—I ain't reading all that.
I just went to the door and punched it as it exploded. I entered and saw an orb with condensed mana. It was glowing different colors and floated in the air. I walked forward and just grabbed it.
"Huh, that was anti-climactic," I muttered.
The cave then started shaking. Without a second thought, I teleported back to where Moon and the others were. As I appeared near them, I noticed the sky was cracking.
As the boy from earlier saw me, he yelled. "What did you do?" he shouted.
I just ignored him as I saw six other kids. Where the hell did they come from? I should really use my senses more. Soon, the sky fully cracked as the real outside world was revealed.
"Did you take the illusion orb? Return it!" the boy shouted again.
"You have some nerve saying that after kidnapping my kids," I said coldly.
"I never kidnapped them! They made the choice to come with me," he replied.
"You should know how gullible children are. Why would you ask them instead of the parent?" I questioned.
He gritted his teeth. "Because grownups are evil. They never think of their children," he said with venom.
I paused and looked at him. The hatred in his eyes was clear. I sighed. Why did I have to keep finding kids with problems? Should I just leave this kid here... no, I can't. I guess I'll help him.
"Kid, you're coming with me," I said.
"I refuse," he retorted.
I smiled. "I wasn't asking."
"What—" he paused as he noticed something.
Of course, I had already noticed them. I turned my head as I stared at them. It was the people on the ship that I had previously seen.
"Peter Pan, hand over the treasure or the kids get it," a man in red with a hook for a hand said.
I didn't even think about it as I teleported in front of him and just sent him flying. I thought about just blowing his head off, but there were children there. With that attack, there was no way he would survive. I did the same thing with all of them. As I stopped, I noticed a paper slowly falling. I grabbed it and looked at it. It was a bounty poster.
"Captain Jack Sparrow, huh? That's an interesting name," I muttered.
Bite: LordOfOrigin guessed the name. Please decide what you want next after mulan/the secret movie that I had yet to reveal. Enjoy.