5 years later
Barley was asleep in his bed in his room. He was in a peaceful slumber until
"Daddy" a small voice whispered. A familiar little girl then crawled onto his bed. He felt her weight on the bed since she's a slightly chubby like him
"Daddy… Wake up Wake up"
"Mmm Angel, go back to sleep" Barley whispered, his voice coarse from sleep
"But I can't, Me not tired" Angel complained "Me wanna play"
"We'll play in the morning... " Barley then looked at the clock "It's 3 in the morning princess" He playfully shoved his daughter off of the bed. Angel grabbed her teddy bear from her little bed which had the wizard cloak and hat on it and crawled back on her father's bed
"Magic Magic, make Daddy wake up or Mr. Fluffy will cast a spell on thee," Angel said in her best majestic voice waving her teddy in Barley's face. He tiredly chuckled at his daughter's goofiness.
"You are a silly girl, you know that" Barley scooped up Angel and cuddled her. She giggled and embraced him. Barley then kissed her head with was covered in short wavy hair.
"Okay, okay sweetie, what do you wanna play," Barley asks her
"Ooh Ooh drums on your feet, drums on your feet," Angel said excitedly
Barley chuckled. Ever since she was 2, Barley taught her to play drums on his feet, He even taught her the song and it became her favorite ever since, besides hide and seek.
Barley got on his slippers and Angel gently jumped off the bed and tapped her little hands on his feet to Shaves and a Haircut along with two raspberries to end the note Barley smiled warmly. He picked her up and placed her on his lap and She leaned on his belly and snuggled in his arms.
"What else do you want to play, baby girl?"
"Hide and Seek"
"Okay, but remember, we have to be quiet, okay" Angel quickly nodded.
Barley covered his eyes and counted to ten. His daughter ran into the living room and hid behind the large container that the umbrellas were.
"Ready or Not, Here I come" Barley whispered. He stepped out of his room and He searched around for his daughter. He looked underneath the table in the kitchen, which was her usual hiding spot. He scratched his head
"I wonder where my little Angel could be?" He thought out loud. He heard a tiny giggle in the living room. He tiptoed slowly toward the living room and looked at the umbrella container and slowly pulled them away
"Gotcha" He whispered. But he found it empty. Then a drop of drool went on the living room table. Barley then looked up and saw his daughter upside down.
"Hehehe" she giggled and She flew back down. Her flight skills are getting better and better, she even developed the skill of flying upside down. Barley then chased her daughter around the first floor of the house. The chase ended when Angel accidentally knocked over Ian's staff
"Uh oh," She said. The little girl luckily caught it in her hands, but the staff lit up in a blue light due to her touch. Barley gasped at this. Not only did he have a magic brother but he also had a magic child. Angel looked at the staff and then to her father and she quickly puts it back where it was.
"My little girl has the magic gift" He scooped up Angel and swung her around. "My Daughter is a wizard...The Lightfoot wizardry had carried on" He proudly proclaimed
"Like in Quests of Yore," Angel asked
"That's right, sweetheart" Angel then tittered excitedly
"Me a wizard" She almost yelled.
Barley chuckled. He glanced at the clock and it read 4:09 am
"We should get some sleep, you don't want to be late for school do you"
Then Angel's face fell "But...I don't wanna go...I wanna stay with you and practice magic"
Barley then carried her to their shared room and tucked her in her little bed
"Don't worry, We can do that after school okay"
"But I'm scared" Angel whimpered clutching Mr. Fluffy, sitting up in her bed.
"Angel...There's nothing to be afraid of...elementary school is going to be a great experience for you" Barley then sat on the edge of her bed. "I bet it's going to be fun on your first day...they'll do macaroni figures and drawings…"
Then Angel began to smile. "Wanna sleep with daddy tonight?" Angel nodded her head and flew into his arms
He took her to his large bed and She snuggled Mr. Fluffy in his arms and cuddled in her father's arms
"Goodnight my little wizard"
"Goodnight Daddy" with that, they both fall asleep in each other's embrace
The next morning was a bit of a hustle since Barley overslept his alarm clock again. He hustled Angel out of bed. It took them at least 10 minutes to get ready.
"Good morning Barley" Laurel greeting him
"Mornin, Ma," Barley said all dressed for work. He recently picked on a job as an auto person who works on cars. Since He built Guinevere from the ground up, he knew that this job was for him. He still kept Guinevere the 2nd, even though Colt told him to get another car since Angel arrived. He was completely against it and so was his daughter and Ian.
"Where little Angel?" His mother asked
"I'm here Gramma" Angel said sweetly. She was dressed in a miniature version of Barley's warrior outfit and a pair of blue jeans and black high-top sneakers. Her shoulder-length dark blue hair was underneath a little Viking helmet.
Barley chuckled. I remembered he got her this outfit when he took her to her first Quests of Yore Convention last year and took her along with Ian to the Renaissance Faire 6 months ago.
"You look so beautiful" Barley commented on her outfit.
"Thank you Daddy" Angel smiled. She gave the two adults a little twirl of her look.
"Aww so cute" Laurel awed.
"Heh heh, come on sweetie, and Don't forget your backpack" Barley reminded her
"I got it," She said, waving her orangish-red backpack in the air
"I'll pick you up after school, pumpkin" Laurel called as the duo leave
Barley then parked at the school and the two got out. She looked at the large school in front of them and she went closer to her father and clutched his hand
"Angel...It'll be okay...I'll drop you off in your class okay...I'm not going to leave your side."
"Promise…" Angel whimpered.
"I promise, pretty girl"
When they got into the classroom there were lots of kids mingling and minding their own business. Then the teacher came over to greet Angel and Barley. She was an elf with a beautiful fishtail braid on her left shoulder. She wore a pink blouse with white flowers on it, black jeans, and ballet flats
"Hi, you must be Angel...I'm Ms. Willow, I'm going to be your teacher." the lady spoke. "Wow I love your outfit"
Angel then smiled "Thank you, Ms. Willow, you're very very beautiful malady" Angel innocently said
"Aww thank you" The teacher turned her attention to Barley "Such a sweet girl"
"I know, she was always sweet as sugar" Barley replied, giving his daughter a playful noogie
Barley turned to his daughter. "Daddy has to go"
Angel then frowns slightly "Okay...I love you Daddy" She said, sad to see her father go
Barley then kisses her on the forehead. "And you know that Daddy will never stop loving you, my princess" He booped her nose, making her frown back into a smile again. Then they shared a big hug, which the teacher was touch by, seeing how close the two of them were. They then let go and parted ways.
Angel then looked around to see who could she sit by. She felt slightly self-conscious, seeing everyone else wearing normal clothes while she was in something else, but she remembers her father's words and tried not to let that bother her. Then a group of boys called her over, making the girl feel welcome. She ran over to their table. The boys consist of an elf, a cyclops, and a troll.
"I like your warrior suit," one of the boys said
"Thank you," Angel said
"Do you play Quests of Yore?" another boy asked
"Yeah, my dad and I play together"
"That's awesome, What's your name?" the third boy asked
"Angel, I'm Angel" She introduced herself "What are your names"
"I'm Ness," A cyclops boy said
"I'm Isley," the elf boy said
"And I'm Eddie, short for Edgar" the troll boys
"Nice to meet you guys," Angel said smiling sweetly
"Wanna play with us at recess and at lunch?" Ness asked her
"Uh-huh," She said
"Alright class settle down" Ms. Willow called for the class's attention
Angel had a really good feeling that Her father was right, that she was going to like elementary school.
At recess, things started to go wrong. Angel met the boys and they began to play. Angel then spotted a group of girls gathered around about to play something
"I think they are playing hide and seek," Angel said pointing at them.
"Let's join them," Eddie said.
The group of four made their way to the girls and they see the quartet approaching them
"Hi, can we play with you?" Ness asked
"Yeah...We thought you were playing tag and We want to join you" Angel added.
The girls gave them nasty looks, mainly Angel
"This game of tag is for girls only", one girl sneered
"What are you wearing?" another girl asked pointing to Angel
Angel's smile then turned into a frown, seeing that they are making fun of her
"Your parents let you go to school looking like that?" the third girl asked
"What an ugly freak," the girls then laugh at Angel
"Hey, that's not nice" Angel whimpered, gripping onto her red cape. "My daddy got me this"
"Well your dad is a screw up for letting you go out like that," the first girl said
"My daddy is not a screw-up" Angel fought stomping her foot
"Yeah he is, he's a freak and so are you" the girl then laugh at her again
"Come on guys, let's go, we'll play our own game of tag," Isley said, and the group departed the bullies
Unfortunately, the same thing happened at lunch. One of the girls makes Angel trip over her cap, the other girl took her helmet causing the poor girl to cry. It caught the attention of the teacher's aid, who defused the situation. The boys luckily defend her and they told her they bullied them at recess too. The girls got punished for it but Angel still couldn't give over at what was said to her
"Your parents let you go to school looking like that?" and "What an ugly freak," rang into her head all lunch going into the middle of nap time. The boys were looking in the direction of the bathroom where the poor girl stood in front of a mirror. Ms. Willow decided to go check on her.
"Hey, Angel...Are you okay?" She asked
"Me not a freak" Angel said quietly in the mirror. The teacher saw that tears were rolling down her face.
"Hey hey hey, come here," Ms. Willow said soothing her. She hugged Angel and then all of the poor girl's sobs went out. The sobs then woke everyone up and yelled at Angel. Ms. Willow shushed them all back down. She gave the upset Angel tissues and told her to blow her nose.
One big blow and her wings sprouted out, surprising the teacher and the students. Most of the students laughed at her except the 3 boys who befriended her
"It's not funny" Eddie yelled at them
"I'll be right back sweetie," Ms. Willow said, before telling all the students that it wasn't nice to tease
Angel then slowly turned back into the mirror and looked at herself
"Me not a freak" She softly spoke with sorrow.
When the end of the day rolled around, Laurel was there to pick up her granddaughter. Then when She approaches the classroom Angel was in. She was met with the teacher consoling the upset Angel. Angel then ran into her grandmother's arms
"Hey Angel, what happened?" Laurel asked the teacher, seeing her grandbaby upset
"Her friends told me a few girls called her names and made fun of her outfit and the whole class laughed at her wings," Ms. Willow told her
"Me not a freak" Angel murmured
"Shh, you're not a freak…" Laurel said rubbing her back while embracing her.
"I'll make sure the bully doesn't happen again" Ms. Willow added
"Thank you….I'll take her home" Laurel said
"She's such a sweet Angel"
Laurel smiled at the compliment given to her granddaughter. Angel really was a sweet girl. She would never be mean or rude.
Angel couldn't wait to get home. As soon as Laurel opened the door, the girl raced into her father and her shared room and slammed the door behind her. Laurel could hear the girl's cries and sobs. She felt horrible for her.
"I hope Barley gets home soon," Laurel thought. Barley was the only one besides her and Ian to calm her down when she's upset, but she was the closest to Barley.
Soon enough 30 minutes later, Barley arrived from work. Laurel then came to her eldest son
"Thank goodness your here" Laurel replied
"Why, what happened?" Barley asked
"It's Angel, she had a rough day at school," Then laurel told him what happened. Barley switched from being exhausted to being alarmed.
"Where is she?"
Laurel looked in the direction of their shared room. Barley then treads slowly to the room. He gently knocked on the door. He did a special knock that they had which was the same tune that Angel played drums on his feet with.
"Can I come in?" Barley asked
A muffled sound was heard signaling him to come in. He opened the door to find his daughter sitting sadly on her bed looking down at the floor. Her wings and ears were down. She was changed into one of her Quest of Yore Q shirts and a light purple beanie was on her head and she was holding Mr. Fluffy close to her. Her outfit was hanging close by her bed on her side of the closet.
Angel didn't look up when she felt her father sit on her bed. The atmosphere was very quiet and not a word was said.
"I heard that you-" that was interrupted by Angel giving him a tight hug which Barley reciprocated and she sobbed again. Fresh tears had rushed down her face. All Barley could do was rub her back out of comfort.
"Me not a freak," Angel sobbed out.
"Hey, hey, hey shhh" Barley hushed her. "You are not a freak...Gramma told me what happened…"
"These girls say I'm a-a-a freak" Angel then ended with a huge cry.
Barley then remembered that this wasn't the first time that this happened to her. When she was 3, Barley and Ian took her to the park, She wanted to play with a few girls and they made fun of her outfit which funny enough, was the same one she wore to school. They luckily defused the situation, but they both had to end up comforting her by telling her she's not a freak.
"They-They also said, you were a screw-up for letting me dr-dr-dress like that- I told them you weren't a screw-up and your not-"
Barley then hushed her again. His right fist clenched. Being called a screw-up was his weak spot. He knew that his daughter would never call him a screw-up and he would never call her a freak.
"Listen to me...you are not a freak...You are a beautiful, sweet, charming, and smart girl…. Don't listen to those other girls….they expect you to be like them...Being different is what makes you beautiful, sweetheart…"
Angel then looked into her father's eyes. Barley saw the tears rolling down her face and wiped them away with his thumbs
"A lot of people thought that I was a screw up because I would always defend and focus on the past rather than the present like everyone else...but did I listen, no… I was different...and that's what makes me, me… and being different doesn't make you a freak...It makes you, you" He booped her nose. She giggled
"There's that smile...Come here" Barley gives her a big hug. "Feel better"
Angel nodded her head "Can we play Quests of Yore now Daddy?"
"Sure we can pretty girl"
"Terrific" the young winged girl jumped out of bed and raced out of the room to set up the board with Barley following her. Then when Ian came home from school, Barley showed him that Angel had the magic gift like him. Ian was of course happy to hear the news and He took a splitter from his staff and made a little one for his niece, which she happily took.
The trio then spent the rest of the day practicing a few level one spells for Angel. Some of the spells were hard for her to pronounce, but with the help of her father and uncle, She got the hang of some of the spells
Barley then tucked in the sleeping girl in bed after a long day
"Goodnight my little wizard." Barley kissed her head. "I love you, princess".