Chapter Four

Prince Ralphie of Maldonia looked ahead of him as he heard the news. His brother had been discovered dead. He took a deep breath and looked down, feeling his world crumbling before him. His brother was gone. With his niece and nephew at such young ages, he was to provide leadership for the country until they were of age. He didn't want to do that. He knew that it was his duty. Tiana wasn't of royal birth, if she had been a princess of another country then she might be seen as a candidate for the throne but she wasn't, she had been a humble waitress who his brother had married out of love. That was the relationship he had always wanted. Now, he would have to carry on the family legacy.

What he had loved about his brother growing up was his heart. Naveen was fun-loving but he was also loving. Although he might have been a frivolous playboy at one point in his life, Ralphie had always felt such love from him. He had been proud to be the brother of someone so kind.

He supposed that as much grief as he felt, he had to keep going for the sake of his country, his home.

He would have to travel back to Maldonia as the first task on hit itinerary. He would have to consult others at how the kingdom was, what needed to be done, his options of what to prioritize first and then step into his brother's shoes. He had trusted his brother to do the right thing but with him gone, he would have to figure things out for himself.

"Your Highness," a servant spoke to him and Ralphie looked back in that direction. He froze as he saw the one man he wasn't expecting at all. Well, those guards at the palace had been idiots because this was his brother. His brother wasn't dead. That wasn't to be said about the servant though who appeared as if she had been hypnotized. No. There were other things which he needed to think about.

"Nice room you have here," Naveen told him and Ralphie nodded his head.

"Not much has changed since the last time you visited me," he said before going over to his older brother. "I thought that you were dead." He commented but as he drew nearer his brother, Naveen held his hand out and stopped him. Ralphie felt a painful pressure against his chest as he was stopped, his body couldn't move forwards.

"Don't think that I'm that idiot, Naveen," the man said and Ralphie stared at him. What was going on? Had his brother gone mad? Ralphie watched him, taking a step backwards. "You should be king, you understand that, don't you?"

"In the place of my brother were something to ever happen to him and there was no one at the right age to ascend to the throne, yes, it would be my duty," Ralphie replied. He tilted his head slightly as he examined this man in front of him. As he moved backwards though, the man who looked like his brother slowly became somebody else and Ralphie stared at him. He hadn't seen this happen before and it gave him cold chills as he realized that this was the one who his brother had warned him of, the shadow man. "I know you," Ralphie told him and heard the man laugh.

"There are very few who don't know me," the other man smiled. Ralphie took another step back, this man didn't look like the person Naveen had described to him. Whenever he would ask Naveen about that story, Naveen would tell him about Dr. Facilier, a man who had worked with the shadow man but this man seemed to have an endless amount of bodies which he could use including his own brother's.

"Why do you come to me at all?" Ralphie asked feeling as if he were kicked numerous times in the gut. He was much younger than his brother, in fact at the time when his older brother had fallen in love and married the woman who he had stayed happily married to all this time, he wasn't even seven. Still, he had always had so much love for his family, admiring his big brother as his hero and role model and he knew that Naveen took pride in knowing that.

"You might be easier to manipulate than your brother," the man told him honestly. "After all, wouldn't you wish to save his soul from the afterlife where he is bound in limbo. I could send him straight down to hell if you wanted me to."

"I won't harm people," Ralphie argued but then found the man to step forwards to him and as much as he tried to resist, Ralphie found himself in a strange and silent world where he could see his brother get pulled down into a blazing inferno. His bones were crushed and his skin became black as it started to burn. Ralphie wasn't sure whether this was a vision or whether it was really happening. All he truly knew was that he didn't want for his brother to ever have to endure all of that pain.

As he found himself in his room again, Ralphie clung to himself feeling the cold sweat. He wanted to save his brother. He didn't want that to happen, he wanted to protect him and not see him tortured in that manner but what could he do? He was just one man who had been the younger prince of two.

"If you allow me to rule with you, I will allow his death to be significantly less painful," the man said before reaching out for the prince's chin and tilting it up to gain eye contact with him. "What do you say? Will you go to such needed lengths to save your brother?"

Ralphie nodded nervously, "As long as it doesn't harm others," he said. "I will give you more power when I become king but I don't want to cause anyone any pain or suffering," he said. With cautious movements, he reached out to the shadow man's offered hand and shook it to seal their pact. He felt a strong rush of pain through his body and closed his eyes in order to endure it but when he opened his eyes, the other man had vanished.

PATFPATF

Their children knew, that was the important thing, their children knew and had accepted Naveen in this form. Tiana was glad for that. She had felt a true sense of fear when they had been talking of giving him to the cat who loved to at least chase frogs. Naveen had learned a lot about fighting tactics, using guns as well as older weapons like swords, all in his quest to become a great ruler. Still, frogs couldn't use guns and even if they could, the bullets would never be able to harm anyone.

Tiana sighed and put a hand on her forehead, shaking her head. What would her mother have said to such an idea? Frogs using weapons. No. She would have to be the strong one here. Although she didn't have experience, she had a want to learn, a determination, an amazing work ethic, and she was intelligent as well. She could handle protecting those who mattered most to her.

She took a look back at the box and noticed that Naveen was still under the piece of blanket she had cut off for him. She walked over to him and lifted the fabric, seeing how he was still able to sleep in this form. Most frogs would sleep curled in on themselves like a rock. Seeing Naveen all stretched out with his feet at different angles proved his differences. She very gently, placed her hand under his body and moved him over to her chest, wrapping the blanket around him lovingly.

When she was a child, she had found frogs disgusting and just the very idea of kissing one filled her with unease. She had thought they were slimy and disgusting. She never thought that she would be cradling one close to her breast and especially hadn't believed that her own husband would turn into such a creature.

She walked over to the window where night had started to fall again. "The stars are bright tonight," she said to the sleeping frog in her hand. "I think that Ray must be looking down upon us with Evangeline. I hope that Ray understands how much love we still have for each other, how much we still care about him."

Tiana blinked as she imagined the star burning brighter and then fading and then burning brighter. She had to believe that that was Ray promising to do all he could to still protect them. He had been small but feisty. Hopefully he hadn't been bothered by them returning to human form. She could understand why most animals hated humans.

She saw Naveen's chest swell a little before he coughed and started to wake up. Tiana watched as he stretched his legs out and yawned. Was this like those small moments in time during a morning where you wake up and think everything will be okay before you realize that it's not and that the nightmare you hoped to wake up from was actually very real.

She saw him blink before his expression fell as he looked to his foot. "No luck," he said before looking up and quickly sat up so that he was facing Tiana. "Tiana, I feel I need to apologize to you," he said feeling the slight burn in his chest. "I don't know how I can return to human form."

"You just keep wondering how to live as a frog then and I hope that I can help you with those worries," she said before lifting him to her chin and kissing the top of his head. She heard him croak in response and froze. Was he becoming more like a frog or was that just her imagination? "I love you. Frog or not. I love you."

"Maybe you should leave me here and head back to New Orleans," Naveen said sadly, bowing his head and Tiana noticed the sadness in him but she just held him closer to her chest. She craved contact with him but a human woman could easily crush a frog even a strong looking frog like Naveen.

"Never. I'm not leaving without you," Tiana told him. Naveen smiled weakly. This moment between them, however, was stopped by a knocking on the door. Tiana turned towards her amphibious husband and gently placed him back in the box she had fixed up for him. She nervously went to the door and opened it. Naveen couldn't help but try peering out the box as if there were danger nearby.

Instead, they were both very taken aback when they saw Naveen's brother standing there.

"I need to talk with you, Tiana. I need your help in making sure to save my brother," he told her and Naveen stared at him. He had told Ralphie a story about the shadowman but not that he had been transformed into a frog. What was the best way of handling this? Would the best thing to do to make sure his brother knew about his change?

End of Chapter Four

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

In the future, the number of reviews on the latest chapter will show me how many people want for me to update and be one of three deciding factors for what I'll update next (others are view count on latest chapter and my favorite/inspiring fics).

Thank you to ThickBlackGirl for reviewing Chapter Three