Dragon's Dismay with Absent Family

Chapter 1

She groaned at the soft patting on her nose. Her left eye cracked open only slightly to catch sight of the small finger poking the tip of her nose. She smiled and closed her eye again as the poking continued. Lifting her hand slowly and quietly from its place nestled into the bed sheets she grabbed a hold of the one that was poking her and pushed them onto their side. Giggles erupted from them and her emerald orbs snapped open to meet another pair that resembled her own. Her arm was draped over the little girl who now lay next to her and her smile basically lit up the room still shrouded in dim light since the curtains hadn't been open yet, that smile which had definitely come from her father. Her clothes resembled that of royalty with their elaborate designs even if it was a simple sleeping gown which was perfect since that was what she was, a little princess.

"Come on mommy! You have to get up!"

The little girl sat up from her spot on the bed and shook her mother violently. The brunette groaned and tried prying the blonde off of her. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair while using her other hand to ruffle her daughter's beautiful long hair. The little girl climbed off of the bed and tugged on her arm. She was eager alright, hyper, and energetic which also seemed to come from her father who had his own energetic outbursts. It wasn't hard to remember why her daughter was so happy; she was going to go around town today with her mother and father which was rarely ever done since her father was always busy. The female swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, her nightgown falling down to just past her knees.

"Hurry mommy! You have to get ready!"

"Like you should be talking young lady, you aren't fully dressed yourself." She said while glancing down at her, her bottom lip butting out making the brunette smile.

"Ah so you are awake . . . Queen Artemis."

Artemis turned toward the door that creaked open. There stood Rufus, one of the kingdom's knights who is also well respected. She smiled at him as he bowed. In all seriousness she would have told him to stop that but it never seemed to work any other time she told him not to bow since he was obviously still doing so. She watched as Rufus turned to her daughter next and bowed to her while greeting him with the words "Good morning Princess Peyton". The little blonde grinned back and raised a hand. She wasn't very formal with her actions; then again both of her parents were the same way most of the time. The knight smiled back before addressing his attention back to the brunette.

"Let me guess, He asked you to come in here to wake me up?" Artemis hummed as she looked into the mirror trying to fix her hair and part it right again.

"Spot on with your guesses like always your highness, seems like someone already beat me to my order though." Rufus replied with a glance to young one.

"She's rather eager today is all. The sooner she gets me up the sooner we can leave just like she wants." Artemis sighed pulling her hair back and braiding it nicely herself, "If you wouldn't mind Rufus could you take Peyton back to her room and see to it that she finishes getting dressed?"

The knight nodded with a soft smile before taking Peyton's hand and leading her out of her mother's room. Only mere minutes after he had left the room there were maids walking in already trying to get her the dress she would be wearing for today. Even after eight years of living in the castle and being the queen for the past five and half years Artemis still wasn't used to this kind of treatment. Coming from the social class she did it was difficult to adapt to a royal lifestyle. The brunette still wished to do things herself and not burden the maids or other servants with her needs, unfortunately they never listened to her when she told them this and continued to do things for her such as simply getting dressed. She rolled her eyes slightly at the thought that annoyed her greatly and made sure not to let any of the maid see for it was rude and disrespectful, though she never meant it in such a way. Trying to ignore the petty thought she looked at the maid pulling out a dress from her closet while the other one proceeded to fix her and Sting's bed. The dress was a light pastel orange that split down the middle in the back to reveal the white layer beneath it while the upper piece was laced up in the back by the maid with a white string after Artemis had slipped it on. The brunette had wiggle herself comfortably into it since the maid tied it rather tightly which earned her a giggle from the maid who had finished tidying up the bed.

After slipping on a pair of white wedges she slipped from her room, one of the maids quickly pacing her small tiara atop her head as she left. To think she almost got away without wearing it, to her it was nothing but annoying because she always had to fix its place on her head. Ignoring it for now she made her way to Peyton's room, Rufus standing outside the door. He stepped aside for her and Artemis knocked lightly on the door. The soft voice of her daughter told her to come in from the other side and upon opening the door Artemis caught sight of her little girl standing there in front of her large mirror on her wall next to her bed. Peyton's room was painted with a baby blue, her favorite color, and her bed was covered in clean gray sheets. Half of her floor was covered in a cream colored carpet while a small area in front of the door was white marbled flooring. This room had actually been the room Artemis stayed in when he first came to Sabertooth and Sting found it fitting to change this exact room into his daughter's. To be honest Sting had seemed so eager to decorate the child's room that Artemis let him do as he pleased with it even if she didn't have a say on many things, she had been simply enjoying the happiness that her husband had been showing as he did it and in truth he did most of the work himself, painting the walls and everything. Smiling the brunette looked back at her daughter who had finished looking herself over. She stood in a nice hunter green dress that was embroidered with gold stitching at the waist and at the very bottom and her hair was pulled up into cute twin tails. Peyton also had a smaller tiara placed on her head since she didn't see bothered with it as much as her mother was.

"What are you trying to do, out beautify your mother? If so I think you win by a long shot there sweetheart." Artemis chuckled softly as she ran her finger through on of Peyton's blonde pigtails.

"Not true! You're more beautiful than anyone mommy!"

The brunette could only laugh at her daughter's words. She was happy that her daughter thought highly of her but sometimes it could be a bit much for her. Artemis knew she wasn't the most beautiful girl out there, she was far from it actually but still the way Peyton talked about made her feel flattered. She was glad that she could make Peyton appreciate her so much but Artemis knew well enough that there would always be one person that Peyton thought more of than even herself and that one person would be her father, Sting. Artemis took a hold of the little girl's hand and walked her out of her room. Rufus was absent from his spot outside the door when they left, he was probably off attending to one of Rogue's needs since he technically was Rogue's right hand man. Peyton skipped next to her mother and Artemis swung her arm in sync with her daughter's as they walked to the front of the castle. There were very little puddles on the ground now from the last rainstorm the kingdom had a few days ago. Of course Peyton decided to hop into one of the little ones which earned a slight scolding since Artemis didn't want the dress to get ruined. It wasn't that the brunette was all that concerned with clothes and needed to make sure every little part of her looked perfect Artemis didn't want any of Peyton's dresses ruined since all of them were hand-made by Rufus himself and they all took quite some time. She didn't want all of his hard work to go to waste.

"Daddy!"

Artemis's little girl's hand slip from her own. Peyton ran full speed at the man crouching down for her just up ahead and watched as he was picked up and spun in circles. Artemis smiled and walked towards them. She was always happy to see Sting and Peyton together; it seemed that the little girl was the only thing that could put a smile on his face even with all of the stress he has been carrying as of late. Peyton wrapped her arms tightly around her father's neck and Artemis leaned forward to greet her husband with a kiss.

"How are my two beautiful ladies doing this morning, huh?" Sting grinned while pinching the tip of his daughter's nose gently.

Artemis smiled at his cheerfulness. Of course Sting was happy, he was finally getting a break and was able to spend it with his family like he has been wanting to for awhile now. For some reason it seemed like so many problems had been popping up all at once lately and Artemis knew that it was overwhelming Sting greatly. She wished she could do something to relieve him of at least some of his stress, but unfortunately she didn't exactly know what he was supposed to do or what she could do. Though, because she was the queen others within the castle have been giving her own duties to handle lately. Peyton has had to stay with Rufus most of the time which didn't please either of her parents not because they didn't like Rufus with Peyton but because they felt like they wanted to have time with their own daughter instead of leaving her to play by herself. Well she was at least lucky to have her cousins Rio and Riku, Celestine and Rogue's own children. Artemis was at least happy that Peyton didn't seem to feel the way that her and Sting did, she was happy that Peyton was cheerful no matter what.

The brunette waved to those that passed. Some were a little surprised to see Sting walking about with them but Artemis knew they were at least happy as well to at least see their king having a break for once. Sting took Peyton to the school first. Artemis was surprised at how fast the little blonde haired girl caught onto Yukino. It was like Peyton knew her before she was even born. It was a good thing though because Yukino was Peyton's personal teacher. The white haired female would come by the castle at least three times a week to give private lessons to Rio, Peyton, and Riku. Yukino was just so great with children; it was kind of hard to even think about recommending a different teacher for their children. The school halls were quiet. It was break time for the kids so they were out playing in the small fenced in field behind the small school building. That also meant that Yukino would be on break right now which is what Sting had been hoping for. Knocking on one of the classroom doors lightly Artemis opened it and Peyton dashed inside. A squeal of shock echoed through the room followed by a small chuckle. Peyton had clung onto Yukino giving her a hug. The brown eyed girl looked up and smiled at Sting and Artemis as they walked in.

"It's good to see you out on a stroll. You've needed a break for some time now." Yukino said, her eyes firmly set onto Sting.

"Yeah well. . ." The king scratched the back of his head.

"Anyway," Artemis interrupted trying to change the subject, "We thought it was about your break time and Peyton has been wanting to see you."

"Of course! I know I haven't been around lately to come teach you guys or even drop in to say hello, things here at the school haven't been running smooth like they should and a lot of the kid aren't paying much attention anymore for some reason."

"I don't blame them. . ." Sting mumbled.

Artemis looked down at the floor and then to Peyton who was now writing on the chalkboard and doodling little stick figures and flowers. Of course the kids would be restless. There has been so many crimes lately and new criminals have been popping up everywhere from what seems like an invisible hole set somewhere in the kingdom. It's one of the reasons that Sting hasn't been able to catch a break because he always has to tend to the criminals cases and some of them are just petty cases that the blonde just wastes his time with but he can't really blame the people who organize the papers and the trials. There have been that many issue that even hard for them to separate the urgent ones from the ones that shouldn't even matter.

"Mommy! Daddy! Look!"

All three of them turned to look at the drawing up on the black board. It made all of them instantly smile at her. Artemis knew that it was their family in a heartbeat, her and Peyton in dresses while the stick figure of Sting held a crown a top his head. She had even drawn Celestine and Rogue and their children and her grandpa, Weisslogia. Flowers surrounded the stick family and were colored in messily. Sting walked over and picked her up before taking the chalk in her hand and placing it down. He told her it was beautiful before turning and making his way to the door. Yukino and he exchanged some last words before they left the teacher to have a little bit of peace in her classroom before her children come back inside.

Peyton basically dragged the two around the town for the next hour or so. She pointed at a few things in shop windows that Artemis knew she wanted. Only once did Sting give into buying her something and that was a new set of earrings for her to replace her diamond stud earrings with small dangling diamonds, ones that much resembled Sting's earring on his left ear rather greatly. Like before Peyton had a great deal of pride when it came to her father. Whenever she got a chance the little girl would do anything she could to be just like him. Her looks only helped her with that even if it was Artemis's emerald eye color she had inherited. The little princess just never seemed to know when to stop boasting about her parents and as flattered as they seemed they could sometimes find it rather embarrassing.

"Well, I'd say it's almost lunch time. Why don't we stop by a restaurant and grab something to eat?" Sting asked looking down at the little girl holding his hand.

"Yeah!" Peyton aid and grinned up at her father with his own smile he inherited well from him.

Peyton was quick to pick out what she wanted but sadly the three of them never made it to the restaurant she requested to go to. One of the palace guards came running up the street towards them panting. It wasn't hard to blame him if he ran the whole way to them since the castle was pretty far from this spot in the kingdom. He had shouted out Sting's name while obviously using the title of "king" in front of it. Artemis had a bad feeling about this, not for her sake but for Peyton's.

"What is it?" Sting asked, irritation laced through his voice.

"You presence is requested back the castle from Rogue. You're needed for an urgent case." The guard replied.

Artemis pressed her lips into a fine line while Sting groaned irritably. The brunette pulled Peyton close and he knew that her daughter was probably feeling gloomy right about now. Sting nodded and dismissed the man before looking down at Peyton. He knelt down and hugged her. Artemis caught sight of the small tear duds forming in her eyes and he couldn't help but feel that sick feeling any parent would feel at the sight of their kid almost crying. Sting pulled away and wiped the duds before ruffling the small amount of bangs covering her forehead.

"Hey . . . Don't cry baby girl. Daddy doesn't want to go but he has too. I'll make it up to you ok? I'll read you a story before bed tonight does that sound good?" The blonde asked.

Peyton hesitantly nodded and Sting painfully smiled before standing up and kissing Artemis."I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting this. I'll try to get it over with as soon as possible."

The brunette nodded and watched the blonde jog down the street towards the castle. Artemis placed a hand on Peyton's head and looked down at her. Oh how the brunette wished she could wipe that depressed look off of Peyton's face as she watched the only time she had with her father slip away.