Chapter 2: A Toe in the Pond
A/N:Hi everyone :) it's me, Sunny! You know, the girl who never posts more than two chapters...well, HERE'S THREE! I own Syrena, melody, Jodi, Parker, Ophelia, Avery, Narissa and Sarafina. Desmoria and Ani belong to Lady Sly. Carmen and the girls belong to rainlily :) everything except the plot belongs to Disney. Enjoy!
"Ok Jodi, it's your turn to answer."
"Bring it on." Jodi smiled at the little girl's form of entertainment, asking Disney-themed questions.
"Ok, what is the name of the giant from Fun and Fancy Free?" Melody giggled.
Jodi thought for a moment."Willie." she finally answered.
Melody's smile drooped a little, she had been trying to stump the group for the last fifteen minutes. No luck so far. The 13-year-old turned to her next victim, Parker.
"Parker's turn." she singsonged. "What is Kida's dad's name?"
"King Kashekim Nedakh." ha said, almost immediately. Sarafina frowned.
"Follow-up question," she said "Kida's full name?"
"Kidagakash." he said almost as quickly. He could not be stopped.
Narissa thought for a moment, then gave Parker a sly smile. "Final question.." She said dramatically.
"Bring it." Parker smiled with gusto.
"In the Lion King, name the three hyenas."
"Easy; Shenzi, Bonzi, and Ed."
"And what is Shezi's full name?"
Parker opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked abashed.
"I don't know." he admitted after a three girls celebrated their victory of beating someone at disney trivia.
Avery smirked. "I know the answer." he said, cooly. The girls paused their celebration to look at him.
"Do tell." Sarafina said, cautiously.
Avery took a deep breath, and began. "Shenzie Marie Predatora Veldetta Jacquelina Hyena." He answered with astonishing speed. The others just looked at him. Finally, it was Jodi who broke the silence.
"Nice job, dude!" she said as she gave him a high-five. Toulouse smiled. The closer the group got to their destination, the more excited Melody got. And the more excited melody got, the more questions the little girl asked.
"Where are we staying?" She asked for the umpteenth time.
"You are going to be staying at the Contemporary hotel. Club level. All summer." Toulouse smiled from the drivers seat. This seemed to satisfy the questions, and they passed the rest of the drive in relative silence. Then they got to the hotel.
The seven kids looked up in awe at the tall entrance of the expensive hotel. Having never been to Disney world, Avery was speechless at the sight of it.
"Wow, this place is huge." Was all he could muster.
"Bigger than the boardwalk." Sarafina said, her sister nodding in agreement. They hadn't stayed at this hotel before and both the sisters were excited to explore the new environment.
The kids followed Toulouse inside, leaving their bags with the valets. Once inside, they walked up to the receptionist, a pretty young girl with white blond hair a big pink bow on top. Toulouse stood there for a moment before clearing his throat. When the girl looked up from her computer, Toulouse gave her a dashing smile.
"Marie, my darling sister, how are you?" He asked.
Marie rolled her eyes and looked back down at her papers. Another moment passed before she realized her brother was still there. She faced him again, obviously annoyed.
"Can I help you with something, or shall I tell Mama you are bothering me at work again?" Toulouse laughed.
"The contest winners would like to check-in."
Marie fumbled, nearly dropping her papers in surprise, finally noticing the children standing behind her brother."Why didn't you say so?" She asked, obviously embarrassed as she turned to her computer and began typing. Another few minutes of typing on the computer, and Marie came around the counter with fourteen key cards, seven golden, and seven a bright green.
"Now, these," She held up the green cards "are your keys to the world. they let you into the parks. The golden cards are your room keys and charge cards. They have no limit, Syrena took care of that, 'so go crazy'. Her words, not mine" Narissa couldn't believe what she was hearing. Limitless spending money at Disney World. She looked at Ophelia, who had the same look on her face. Marie laughed.
"Alrighty, Avery David Gildenross, Parker Rory Thomas, Kimberly-Ann Barker, Ophelia River NIckels, Melody Gwenivere Twine, Sarafina Rose Labolet, and Narissa Amelia Labolet. That's everyone. Well, your bags should be up in your rooms by now. You'll be up on the 12th floor, club level. Enjoy your stay and have a magical day" She said with a pretty little smile.
Cinderella castle was bustling with movement as Syrena walked briskly towards one of the meeting rooms on the 5th floor, already late. She burst through the doors, making the occupants jump a little. 17 pairs of eyes followed the young woman as she walked to her seat near the head of the table, where The Blue fairy sat.
"Thank you for joining us today, Miss. Delmont. We are expecting Carmen to contact us any minute now." The fairy smiled.
Syrena sighed, she wasn't late...good. She looked around the table, glancing at the participants, representatives of each of the groups of characters. Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel representing the princesses; Eric, Adam, and Phillip for the princes; Megera, Mulan, and Esmeralda the heroines; Hercules, Jim, and Tarzan the heroes; and finally the animals, represented by Simba, Basil, and Baloo
"Good," Syrena thought "Everyone's here." Her eyes flitted to a dark corner, and almost jumped when the shadow moved. It was Maleficent, representing the villains. There was not a seat for the evil fairy. Syrena frowned, and leaned over to the blue fairy.
"Blue, why is there no seat for Maleficent?"
The good fairy blinked in astonishment. "Maleficent is here? I had not realized." A chair materialized out of the air, and sat itself between herself and Esmeralda. "Please, sit Maleficent. I was unaware of your attendance today." She rectified. The dark fairy reluctantly sat, the other characters gasping. Eric and Adam had to hold Phillip back.
"What is she doing here?" the prince spat.
"I invited her." Syrena stared down her nose at the aghast prince. "She is to represent the villains, or did you forget that we need them Princie?"
Phillip shrugged off the hands of the other princes. "I had not forgotten, Syrena. I was merely thinking that you would not have invited her as the villain. If Aurora was here..."
Syrena cut him off. "She is not. I was under the impression that you, as a prince, would be able to behave yourself and be the bigger person. If I am wrong, please be feel free to leave."
Phillip sat down, pouting like a child.
"Wow Syrena, you grew up." a kind and familiar voice filled the room. Syrena turned her head to see a young woman with caramel hair braided down her back. She was adorned in an extravagant golden dress, perfect for her role as queen of Narnia. Behind her stood her husband, the handsome High King Peter.
"Carmen Kendall Pevensie." Syrena rose and hugged her old friend. "How are you dear? How is Lily?"
Carmen returned the hug warmly. "She is good. I forgot, you haven't met her yet! She is beautiful, Syrena." Carmen smiled. "She has Peter's blue eyes." she kissed her husband.
"She sounds beautiful, Car. She'll be, what, ten now? Please she is coming to the wedding?" Syrena pleaded.
Carmen laughed. "Of course she is! Now, what is this all about?"
Syrena's face fell, and she led the couple to two empty seats the blue fairy had materialized while the friends were catching up. Once seated, Syrena took a deep breath and began.
"Earlier this year, I was traveling through the lands, like I normally do as ambassador to the lands. I heard whispers, dangerous whispers concerning the Horned king." At this time, Syrena began addressing the whole table, not just Carmen and Peter. "They said that he was trying to release Chernabog from imprisonment on Bald mountain. Then, about three months ago, there was a large disturbance, felt throughout the lands..a message, with only three simple words...He Is Out." She finished grimly. Carmen gasped.
"We need to get hold of the other girls." She cried, but she was silenced by a look from Syrena.
"The thing about that is, I have gathered new guardians. Seven children, two boys and five girls. They will replace the girls as guardians of the Magic Kingdom."
Carmen looked offended. "Why did you need to gather new kids? We are perfectly fine, and I know the others would agree me when I say that we would be ready and willing to fight for Disney again. What about Desmoira? I'm sure she would want to fight!"
"Thats not the point, Car." Syrena sighed. "You have a child, and the other girls are moving on with their lives. Desmoira is unaware of what's going on. She's out living her dream and I wouldn't call her back here and take it from her. She also has Ani and John Rolfe waiting for her when she returns. I know that you are willing to fight, but are you willing to lose the lives you have made for yourselves? Are you willing to give up your daughter and husband? I will not ask you to do that, ever. These children are all under 19, and I have selected the best I could find."
Carmen looked down at her lap, twisting her wedding ring around on her finger, looking defeated.
Syrena felt bad, but she knew this was the only way to make her friend understand. She and the others would run headfirst into the fire, not thinking of how it would affect their family or their new lives. She too wanted to fight but she had her wedding to worry about among other things. It was times like this that she wished Desmoira was around to offer support. But she was out living her dream of being a singer so she was out of reach, but she knew her best friend would've supported her decision to gather new children. She really did miss her. 10 years was a long time to be separated from your best friend.
"I am sorry Car, but this is the way it has to be."
"I understand." Carmen smiled wearily. "Do you think we could at least help train the kids? Teach them all we can."
Syrena smiled brightly, "How did you know i was going to ask?" Carmen laughed.
"I fail to see how she fits into this." Phillip piped up again, looking pointedly in Maleficent's direction.
Syrena rolled her eyes, exasperated at the princes' lack of attention on the matter at hand. "Because Phillip, Chernabog can only be defeated by both sides of Disney working together. We need the villains, heroes, as well as the children to defeat him for good."
Ego deflated, Phillip shut up.
The rest of the meeting consisted mostly of Carmen and Syrena talking excitedly about the upcoming wedding. Syrena mentioned that she had sent an invitation to Desmoira and they both hoped she would attend. They both had missed their friend dearly. Syrena could also think of someone else who had missed Desmoira greatly.
Characters began to excuse themselves, and soon the room's only occupants were Carmen, Peter, Syrena, the Blue Fairy, and Maleficent.
Syrena looked at the watch on her wrist. "Oh my, I need to go get ready. I'm meeting the kids for dinner in an hour. Ladies and Peter, if you'll excuse me, I must see to the preparations and get dressed." She stood up and kissed Carmen's cheek. "I'll see you in two weeks. Take care dearie."
After Syrena left, Carmen turned to her husband. "Lets go home."
Narissa P.O.V.
Ok, today is officially the best day of my life. First, I find out that Sarafina and I won a contest to stay at Disney World for the entire summer. Now, I learn that we get unlimited spending money and are staying club level at the Contemporary! The elevator ride to the 12th floor seemed to take forever. Finally, the doors dinged open. To our right, there was a moderately sized lounge, which was now serving snacks. To the left, long hallways extended around the corner, rooms lining the walls.
"Your rooms are this way." Toulouse gestured down to the left, "I suggest not getting snacks right now. Syrena has invited you to dinner in Cinderella's castle in about an hour."
Ok, nobody pinch me please. I have been dreaming of eating in Cinderella's castle since I was a little girl. And now it was happening! Toulouse walked us to our rooms, two conjoining queen suites with two beds and a pullout couch. Jodi jumped on the couch as soon as the door opened, claiming it as her own, and leaving the remaining four of us to decide who slept with who, which didn't take long. Melody wanted to sleep in the same bed as me, and Ophelia seemed fined sharing with my sister.
Toulouse then left us to get situated and ready for dinner. "We're leaving in thirty minutes." he warned us. "I'll be waiting in the lounge when you're ready." then departed, leaving us to unpack.
About five minutes, the door to the boys room was opened so we could chat and check out one another's rooms, which were depressingly the same. Avery plopped down next to Jodi on the couch and reached for the remote. Sarafina, who was closest to him, took the remote out of his hand.
"What gives?" the boy complained.
My sister rolled her eyes. "We need to get unpacked, and then dressed for dinner, all in thirty minutes." she explained. "We don't have time to watch any tv."
Avery groaned, but accepted his defeat. Good thing too, when my sis gets stuck on an idea, there is little you can do to change her mind. I once tried to convince her that my theory on how Sherlock survived could be correct, and I got a two hour lecture on physics, and how my theory was impossible. Needless to say, I don't argue with her that much anymore.
Parker lingered in the doorway, like he didn't know where he belonged. Ophelia obviously noticed this too.
"Hey, Parker. Come on in dude." Ophelia said, patting the bed next to her. The shy boy meandered to the bed and sat down. Ophelia then began poking the group with personal questions; where are you from, any siblings, favorite color, it was all very entertaining.
Once the seven of us finished unpacking, we kicked the boys back to their room so we could get dressed. I chose a simple light green shirt with a flowery knee-length skirt and tan, strappy heels.
The guys got dressed a lot faster than us, and, by the time we got out to the lounge, were deep in conversation with Toulouse. Seeing us, the guys stood up and walked towards the elevator.
We decided to walk to the park, rather than take the monorail, which we decided would be too crowded at this time of day. The walk was filled with an uneasy, awkward silence that no one had the guts to break. When the group arrived at the bag-check, the line was surprisingly short, I hadn't seen it this short in the busy season in a very long time. We passed the security lines with ease, then went through the new turnstiles. Jodi had a bit of trouble with her card, and the attendant had to recalibrate it. Once that was done, we walked into Main Street. Avery was very excited, drinking it all in. By now, the park had become more like the crowded park I was used to.
Toulouse turned to us. "If we get separated," he told us, "meet at the base of the castle."
I nodded, looking at Sarafina. I knew we had had the same thought, we went straight for Goofy's Candy Co, and walked through the store in the air conditioning. The pair of us were the first ones to the castle, joined quickly by Ophelia, Parker and Toulouse. Moments later, Avery and Toulouse fought their way up to us. Toulouse then led us up to the castle. I smiled when I saw the mosaic portraying Cinderella's story on the castles inner was into a well hidden door in the middle mosaic that our guide led us. Up we climbed for what seemed like hours before we emerged into a large room. It seemed too large to fit in the castle, but here it was.
On one side, a living room with six couches centered around a large ornate fireplace. On the other, a large dining table set for 8. The woman sitting at the head of this table stood and walked over to welcome us.
I took a moment to take her in. She was about 5' 6' with curly light blonde hair and faded pink highlights. She was wearing a cream colored peasant shirt with long sleeves that splayed out at the wrists and a brown, gypsy-style skirt with gold decoration and trim. On her finger glittered a golden and diamond engagement ring. She approached us us with open arms.
"Welcome, children. My name is Syrena Delmont. I'm the one who organized the contest and selected the winners. Please, sit." She gestured to the table. "Thank you so much old friend." She said to Toulouse, who hugged her warmly.
"Any time, Syrena. Tell my brother I said hi." Syrena laughed.
"Oh, I will" she winked.
And with that, Toulouse bade us farewell, assuring us that he would see us soon. Syrena resumed her seat at the head of the table and looked at us all. After a moment, she spoke.
"I hope you all like gumbo. It's our chef's speciality."
~END~
Long chapter is long. Thank you all for bearing with me and waiting for my chapter. Next time won't take this long, i assure you. See you next time :) Love Sunny and Nina