Mal's POV
It's been two weeks since Bella's coronation, two weeks since I defeated my mother and chose good with my friends. I'm currently walking around the tourney field when suddenly there's a bright blue light that flashes about a fifty feet away from me. It disappears as quick as it came and a little girl about six years old is left in it's place. She's wearing black pants and sneakers and a purple sweater and has black hair that goes a bit past her shoulders that's purple at the ends. She looks around frightened for a moment before her eyes land on mine.
"Daddy!" she shouts before running towards me. My eyes widen in shock as she makes it over to me and hugs my legs as if she hasn't seen me in forever.
"Daddy?" I quietly repeat to myself, completely stunned. She looks up at me and I see my own eyes staring up at me, a mix between happiness and curiousity filling them and all of my doubt disappears, I know she is mine.
"Why do you look so young daddy?" she asks innocently, cocking her head to the side.
"Umm..sweetie how old was I the last time you saw me?" I ask gently, silently wondering who her mother is. Probably Bella, but if for some reason she isn't I really hope it's not a girl like Audrey.
"Uh..twenty four" she says after a moment of thinking, and I smile at how her nose scrunched up as she thought about it.
"And how old are you?" I ask as she continues to look up at me with her little arms wrapped around my legs.
"Six and a half" she says proudly and I chuckle, yup she's definitely mine.
"Okay...do you know how you got here sweetheart?" I ask and at this her face falls and tears pool in her eyes.
"I-I'm sorry daddy" she sobs, burying her face into my black T-shirt.
"I'm sorry I disobeyed you..I know you said not to use magic unless you were with me but I wanted to surprise you. I'm sorry daddy" she sobs, shaking against me.
"It's..it's okay sweetie daddy's not mad I promise" I say comfortingly, rubbing her back soothingly. I look around the empty field for a moment before focusing on the distraught little girl that is sobbing into my stomach.
"Y-you're not?" she sniffs, looking up at me tearfully.
"Of course not, come here" I say softly, getting on to my knees in front of her and pulling her in for a hug. She clings on to the fabric over my shoulders and I rub her back soothingly as she cuddles closer to me.
"Can you tell me your name sweetie?" I ask gently and she removes her head from my shoulder to look at me.
"Aria, but you always call me Ari" she says and I smile.
"That's a very pretty name" I say as I continue to look at her. I can't believe one day I am going to be the dad of this little girl.
"Alright well would you like to go have some ice cream Ari?" I ask, I really want to get to know her before we find a way to get her home.
"Yes please!" she squeals excitedly and I chuckle. I stand up and carefuly take her hand, leading her off the field. I get a few odd looks from students as we leave the grounds and I quickly lead her to town. We enter a small ice cream shop and stand in line.
"What would you like sweetheart?" I ask as I look over the different flavors, I already know what I'm getting.
"Chocolate please!" she says happily and I grin down at her.
"Manners..good girl" I praise as we move forward in the line and she grins up at me.
"I got them from you and mommy" she says proudly and my smile widens.
"Who is your mommy?" I ask and she giggles.
"Queen Bella" she laughs obviously, as if I'd asked her if the sky is blue. I grin as it sinks in that I'll have kids with my mate soon. We order our ice cream and after a few minutes we're sitting across from each other at a small table meant for two in the back of the store.
"Aric likes strawberry ice cream like you daddy, you call him your little man" she says happily asvwe munch on our ice cream. I smile and glance at the pink ice cream in the cone I'm holding. Anything strawberry flavored is my guilty pleasure.
"Is Aric your brother?" I ask hopefully and she nods enthusiastically.
"He's four years old" she says and my smile widens even more. I'm the father of not one, but two beautiful kids.
"So...what happened that got you here Ari?" I ask and her face falls, looking down at the table sadly.
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to daddy" she sniffs and I see tears in her eyes.
"Honey" I begin to say soothingly.
"I was trying to conjure my favorite story book and I teleported myself instead" she sniffs, looking up at me.
"Hey...it's okay" I say comfortingly, my free hand reaching out and covering her much smaller one on the table.
"Magic is a very tricky thing sweetie but don't worry we'll find a way to get you home" I promise her before putting down my cone in favor of wiping away her tears and the ice cream off of her mouth and cheeks with a napkin.
"Now?" she says quietly with a small frown.
"Do you want to go home now?" I ask before taking a bite out of my now mostly empty cone.
"Can...can I stay with you? Please? Just for a day or two" she asks hopefully and I smile.
"Of course...but when we get you home I'm going to give you a letter you need to give to mommy, it'll explain everything" I say and she nods enthusiastically.
"Okay!" she agrees happily, and that's when I notice she has her mother's smile.
"So what's mommy like?" I ask with a smile as we continue eating our ice cream.
"Awesome! She loves the three of us very much and bakes cookies with me in the kitchen, chocolate chip with walnuts are my favorite" she says happily and I smile, like father like daughter.
"You and mommy always take turns reading us bedtime stories, yours are my favorite because they're always full of adventure" she giggles and I let out a little chuckle, she's definitely not an average princess.
"You always pick me and Aric up after school and every Wednesday and Saturday you and mommy take us to the park" she says happily and I grin as I picture Bella and I playing with our little family.
"You wanna go to the park now?" I ask and she nods eagerly. We quickly finish our frozen treats and clean up before I take her hand and we exit the shop. We walk to the park across the street and she runs over to the swings.
"Daddy! Daddy will you push me?" she calls out hopefully as she tries to get on a swing. I laugh and nod my head before jogging over to her and helping her on to the swing. She clutches at the chains and I lightly begin to push her and she giggles.
"Higher daddy higher!" she squeals happily and I chuckle before doing what she asked.
"Weee! Look daddy I'm flying!" she giggles and I smile. After playing on the swings for a bit she leads me over to the play ground and after a minute we find ourselves at the top of the big slide. I sit down and settle her between my legs before wrapping my arms around her to make sure she won't get hurt.
"Weee!" she squeals as we slide to the bottom. After a few hours of playing the sun is beginning to set and Aria can barely keep her eyes open.
"Come here honey" I say gently as I lift her up into my arms. She yawns and wraps her arms around my neck, laying her head on my shoulder and closing her eyes.
"Love you daddy" she mumbles sleepily and I look down at her feeling stunned. I can't believe that someone so young and innocent could have so much faith and trust in me. I'm only just beginning to embrace the fact that Bella loves me and that I love her, even if I'm not ready to verbalize it when she can hear me.
"I love you too Ari" I whisper before kissing her forehead. I carry her back to the school, careful to avoid the gaze of fellow students. Thankfully it's friday and Bella has gone to her parents castle for a few days for some Queenly duties.
'Thank god I got my own dorm' I think to myself as I unlock my door. It was getting cramped sharing a dorm with Jay and Carlos so Bella was able arrange me getting my own. I just moved in a few days ago. I enter the room and turn on the lights before I lock the door behind me. I carefully place Aria on the spare bed and conjure her into some purple pajamas before I cover her with the blanket so she doesn't get cold. I kiss her forehead before gathering some pajama pants and a T-shirt and going into the bathroom. I quickly get changed and exit the bathroom. I crawl into my own bed and after a few minutes I'm able to fall fast asleep.
When I wake up the first thing I am aware of is Aria is now curled up to my side cluching a pillow to her chest and her head on my chest, right over my heart. I smile and wrap my arm around her, just watching her sleep peacefully for a moment. I'm a dad, me, the son of the worst villian in the land, am a dad. I have a daughter and a son, and my daughter adores me. I admit growing up I never even considered ever having kids. Food was scarce enough on the Isle and feeding Evie, Jay, Carlos and myself was already a constant struggle. Adding a child to the mix was completely out of the question. But now we're all off the isle and I don't need to be afraid of that anymore. I shake these thoughts out of my head and focus on the little girl snuggling closer to me.
"Sweetie...come on honey wake up" I say gently as I carefully nudge her with my right hand, my left arm is supporting my head.
"Mhm..dad?" she grumbles tiredly as her eyes blink open.
"Morning sweetie" I say with a smile before kissing her forehead.
"Get up honey, daddy's gonna take you out for breakfast" I say and she perks up.
"Really?" she asks hopefully and I chuckle.
"I hope you like pancakes" I say with a smile, remembering the diner Bella took me to last week. She squeals and immediately jumps off the bed. I chuckle before letting out a small yawn and sit up while stretching. I stand up and conjure a new outfit for Aria and give the clothes to her. She yawns and gives me a small sleepy smile before going into the bathroom. This is going to be a fun day, just me and one of my two favorite girls in the world.