Carter Wyatt Whitman was excited. There was cake and ice cream, and his mother was letting him eat as much as he wanted.

To give credit to Amanda Whitman, formerly Lockhart, she wasn't usually one to let her children run completely free. Her husband, Finn, however, definitely was and she loved him for it... most of the time. But on birthdays, she could make an exception.

It was a sunny day, like most in Orlando. Amanda watched as her youngest enjoyed another birthday. He wasn't the youngest child there- Aria Philby, age 5, taking that title, the last of the 13 kids.

With so many children, it quickly became a competition, among the men of the group (if you could call them grown), to have exceedingly memorable parties. So far, the most was Terry Maybeck's doing, but for all of the wrong (though hilarious) reasons. On his daughter, Evelyn's, 10th birthday a few months ago, he had somehow managed to deflate a bouncy house. He suggests you don't ask how.

As Amanda remembered this, she realized that a deflated bouncy house and an immature competition would have been a fantasy life to her teenage self. So much had happened during those years that it was hard to believe she had gotten to this place at all. Her past self would have never thought she would ever be happily married to Finn Whitman, with 5 kids of her own, living in peace.

"Manda,"

Jess sat down on the picnic bench next to her, cake in hand. Her husband, Oliver, was off trying to win an impossibly matched game with the Deflator, against Amanda's own soccer coach husband, leaving the women to watch the youngest of the children.

"We need to do something about their competitiveness." Jess said, scarfing cake down.

Amanda laughed, "What can we do?"

As she said it, the soccer ball came soaring through the air, and Jess instinctively ducked as it narrowly missed her head. Carter climbed out of Amanda's lap, setting out to go get the ball as it went bouncing off towards where Willa Philby (née Angelo) and Charlene Maybeck (previously Turner) sat with Mila Maybeck and Aria Philby, both happily enjoying their own slices of cake.

"Sorry, Aunt Jess!"

Amanda's 14-year-old son, Lucas, came jogging up to them. He was entirely his father in looks, but completely his mother in personality. His dark brown hair and light complexion paralleled a younger version of Finn Whitman, but his chocolate, sometimes fierce eyes showcased Amanda's intense personality.

His twin sister, Sofia, also engrossed in the game, had more of her mother's complexion, the exotic look showing more in her than in Lucas, although they had the same eyes. However, Sofia's lacked the fiery factor present in Amanda and Lucas. Instead, when she became angry or upset, you could almost see the storm brewing from behind them.

Carter skipped back to them, his little legs hopping as he threw the ball to his older brother as hard as he could. Lucas caught it with ease.

"Thanks little bro," he said, ruffling his hair and turning to return to the game.

Carter grabbed his plate from the table, and ran back to sit with Aria and Mila, 5 and 6 respectively.

"I need a drink," Jess sighed.

Amanda laughed. She didn't know who had managed to kick the ball so out of the way of the field, but she knew it wasn't Lucas. With a soccer coach for a father, her children had become well-versed in all things having to do with the game, especially her twins, with Sofia being the more accurate of the two. With all three of them on the same team, Terry Maybeck and Oliver Webb were getting creamed. Charlene claimed it was good for her husband, and her son Elijah, to have their egos tuned down a bit.

Eli was a spitting image of his father, and with his parents genes, was extremely athletic. He was 14, like her eldest, as, with no planning whatsoever, all 4 of the Kingdom Keeper women had managed to become pregnant within a few months of one another. The result: having 5 children born within the same year.

The last two of the five adamantly refused to play the game, but both for very different reasons. Emma, talented as she was in the arts, was going over lines for the fall musical, of which she had gotten the lead despite being a freshman. She had the look of a performer, with pale skin, blonde hair that was almost white, and icy blue eyes. While she wasn't her kid, when you looked at Emma Webb, you saw a young Charlene Turner. It didn't help that Emma spent 6 nights a week in Charlene's own studio, training to work professionally in musical theater. It was a good thing Emma was an only child and they had a friend in the business, because there was no way Jess and Oliver would have been able to commit to their daughter's dream as fully as they had.

Alexander Philby on the other hand just wanted to continue his research into the technology of what his parents were known for: holograms. He was a total tech geek, which was to be expected considering his parents, Willa and Dell Philby, were two of the most well known Imagineers Disney ever had. They had been hand-picked for their intelligence as middle-schoolers when auditioning to become a part of the DHI (Disney Host Interactive or Daylight Holographic Imaging) program over 20 years ago, and the skills came in handy in the years that followed. Alex had all, if not more, of that intelligence, but he didn't look it. Much like his father, Alex was "a geek in disguise"; he had Willa's hooded, inquisitive dark eyes, with Philby's ginger hair, and was not at all the stereotypical nerd type as popularized by the media. In fact, Alex Philby was considered attractive by most girls (and boys) at Winter Park High, although he never saw the flirty looks and hidden smiles thrown in his direction, being too focused on the task in front of him to notice any such behavior.

Alex and Emma sat separate from the rest of the group, at a picnic table claimed by the five of them. If there was one thing they could agree on, it was that their friends had too much energy and that they didn't understand the importance of solitary silent time. It was productive while it lasted, but inevitably ended when Willa and Jess decided they needed to get up and participate in the "family" time.

This wasn't about being active, since all of the Keeper's kids did some athletic activity. All five of the Whitman children played soccer, with Lucas also running track with Eli. Most of the Keepers girls also danced, though Sofia spent considerably more time with her father and a soccer ball. Alex, along with his siblings Amelia and Abraham, took up both of their parents' pastimes, rock climbing and archery. No, the real reason their mothers wanted them to join was because Alex and Emma were workaholics, never pausing in their quests for perfection and thirst for any knowledge that would help them toward that goal.

So, Alex and Emma reluctantly joined the game. Amanda watched this interaction with a smirk on her face. When they were that age, they had no room for playtime. When they weren't alert, bad things happened. Because of their own experiences as teenagers, the Keepers were determined to have their children stay virtually carefree and, well, kids.

Although Amanda didn't know it, this was the last time all of their children would keep this version of their childhoods, as the next brisk October day would mark the beginning of a new, dangerous adventure for 5 of them, and continue for the Kingdom Keepers.

Clash.

Wanda Alcott's keys clattered to the ground. She sighed, crouching down to retrieve them, groceries in hand. She could never understand why her father had chosen to abide in the same apartment on Main Street, USA, in the Magic Kingdom, just above the firehouse. After all, there was a reason he had been moved out of the space and into a secure facility over 20 years ago. But Wayne Kresky had adamantly refused to be booted from his home with no threat remaining on his life. After all, Finn Whitman and the rest of the Kingdom Keepers had ultimately defeated the Overtakers, and they remained unorganized to this day.

Wanda froze, still bent to recover the keys. The door was ajar. Wanda quietly put the paper bag on the floor, slowly returning to a standing position. Pulling her phone out of her purse, she pre-dialed security before carefully pushing open the door. Nothing seemed too amiss, but Wanda still kept her guard up. She wasn't exactly as young as she used to be.

Wayne's apartment was filled with antique Disney collectibles, including an ancient VHS player for old tapes. One of the reasons Wayne Kresky was so important to the Disney company was because he was one of the last people alive whom Walt Disney confided in. He had been behind the creation of the DHI program, and had seen it accomplish the things he had only hoped it would, but not without consequences. In fact, Wayne had died for the cause. He owed his life to the Kingdom Keepers, who had brought a younger version of himself from 1955, allowing him to continue to watch Walt's vision in action.

Wanda walked in, searching for any sign of a struggle. It wasn't like her father to leave and not tell her. She knew something was horribly wrong. Then she saw it: a photo album resting on the floor of the living room, it's spine facing upwards, towards the ceiling as if someone had thrown it haphazardly onto the ground. Jessica Lockhart had sent it to Wayne, filling it with pictures of her and the rest of the Keepers families. Wanda carefully picked it up, putting it safely into her purse. She checked the rest of the apartment, no sign of her father.

Wanda didn't know what to do. There was no way her father left of his own accord. He wasn't young either, and he would tell her if he needed something. She pulled out her phone again, Disney security's number still dialed and ready to call. But something told her there was another, more reliable number to call. She looked at the time: 7:25am. Finn Whitman would be awake, getting himself ready for work, and his kids ready for school. She took a deep breath, entering the Whitman's number and remembering the last time she had needed Finn to find her father. This time would be easier, she thought to herself. Maybe not in emotions, but at least she didn't have to track him or one of his teenaged friend's down while they were actively avoiding her. She called the number.

Earlier…

Deep underground, only accessible from a newly created and well hidden passage inside of the Pirates of the Carribean attraction, a woman stood over a black cauldron. Like she had attempted many years before, she combined what remained of her last attempt, doing each step exactly as described.

Characters could never truly die. But there was no time to waste for her return. It was time to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.

Smoke, a vivid purple, poured out as the second to last ingredient emptied into the pot. A green glob of what looked like slime overflowed, streaming onto the floor. Tia Dalma laughed.

The glob came together, climbing up itself and forming the outline of a humanoid figure. Arms and legs came first, followed quickly by the head. In a matter of seconds, the green fairy emerged, solidifying into her new body.

She smiled. "Back at last,"