A couple days have past since Gale and her friends met the mysterious Elois. Gale was starting to forget about him. That was until she bumped into him again in the market.
"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry!" said a boy's voice. Gale waved it off, "It's fine. I was lost in a daze. It was my fault . . ." She trailed off when she looked up.
"Hello again Gale." Elois smiled and helped her up.
Gale lit up, "Hi Elois. I'm happy we got to see each other again. You kind of disappeared." She chuckled.
"Y-yeah. My mother doesn't let me go out much." Elois shrugged.
Gale nodded, "I know the feeling. My dad is protective of me like that. I love him but I wish he would ease up a little. I'm half my mother. I'm a free spirit and naturally curious." She pouted and then gasped, "Hey would you like to join me on a mini adventure to the castle?"
Elois blinked, "W-we're not going to sneak in right?" He gulped.
Gale laughed and patted him on the back, "No. My family and their friends are close to the king and queen. They're visiting them today."
Elois sighed in relief, "Okay good. I'll happily join you."
Gale cheered, hugging him and taking his hand as she took him to the castle. The guards recognized her and let them in without question. Xavier and Arlo ran up to them.
"Elois! Good to see you." Xavier greeted.
"Where have you been?" Arlo questioned.
"With my mother. She's pretty protective of me and doesn't let me go out of the house much." Elois replied.
"Now then. Are you ready?" Gale smirked, "We're gonna do some research in the royal library."
Arlo yawned, "Boo. That sounds even more boring hearing about it a second time." He rolled his eyes.
"What are we doing research on exactly?" Xavier asked curiously.
Gale giggled, "I'll tell you when we get there. Now where are the twins?" She winked. "Waiting in the library." Xavier nodded curtly.
xXx
The foursome made their way through the castle to the royal library. Two brunet boys were waiting inside. One sat a table reading a book and the other was gazing out a tall window.
"Elois, meet the princes of the Northern Kingdom. Prince Ronald and Prince Mateo." Gale gestured to the brunets. The one sitting down had green eyes. He looked up at them.
"That one is Mateo, the older twin." Arlo clarified. Mateo set the book down and stood up, "Hello to you to Arlo. You seem just as snarky ever." He rolled his eyes.
"Thank you." Arlo snorted.
"Hey! He's only older by like, five minutes." Ronald came jogging up to them, pouting over the comment.
"Doesn't change anything. I've been in the world five minutes longer than you." Mateo teased. The twin proceeded to bricker back and forth for a few minutes. Gale eventually cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Ahem. We're here for a reason you know. You said you may be able to help me." Gale sighed.
Mateo nodded, "Right. Ronnie, go get the books and maps." He looked at his twin. Ronald saluted and whistled. A red macaw flew to his shoulder. A blue macaw landed on his head. "Coco, Churro. You get the books. I've got the maps." He smiled, letting the birds fly off before darting off himself.
"Oh my god. Are you still on cloud nine?" Arlo groaned. Gale scoffed, "Well excuse me cat-dog. I am a person of curiosity, like my father. I can't rest until I get some kind of answer."
"What are you looking up exactly?" Elois tilted his head slightly.
"She's looking to find if there's something across the oceans." Xavier smiled.
"Our mother was a traveler of the seas. She did say that there are other lands but she couldn't elaborate for some reason." Mateo explained, "Luckily, our mother is spacey and stupidly kept all the maps and journals from her travels. She tried to hide them. She didn't do a good job." He smirked slightly.
"Hooray for miss Martina's ditziness." Gale grinned. The macaws came back with four dusty books.
"Who is who?" Arlo quirked an eyebrow. Mateo whistled, the blue bird perching on his shoulder. "This is Coco." He stated. Churro flew to land on Ronald's head when the brunet came back with an armful of maps. Ronald set the scrolls onto the table.
The young teens began to sort the various maps. The twins looked through the journals. Gale and Xavier began to carefully lay out the maps across the table.
"These maps don't make any sense. They all show completely different places." Arlo huffed. Elois squinted before gasping, "Maybe we can use that to our advantage. Move them around. Like puzzle pieces!" He carefully shifted the maps around.
"Giant map, giant map!" Churro squawked.
"Whoa! I never would've thought of that." Ronald cupped his cheek in surprise.
Mateo blinked, "Guess mother is craftier than we thought. That's nine maps becoming one large map."
"And look!" Xavier used his staff to point out the Northwestern part of the map, "That blob there looks like land."
Gale's eyes sparkled with excitement, "A mainland! I knew it." She cooed. Then she paused as a smirk crept onto her face.
"No Gale. I know that smirk. That's your idea smirk." Arlo huffed, "And I know what you're thinking. We are not going there."
"Gale, we can barely travel the island without our parents. You really think we can cross the ocean?" Xavier gulped.
Gale puffed out her cheeks, "Come on you two. Where's your sense of adventure? We can explore this land that only a few people know about."
"And how are we gonna get there huh? We'd need a ship to cross the water." Arlo sighed.
"We could help with that." Mateo winked. "Yeah! We can take a ship from the castle docks." Ronald grinned.
"You know, why not? We're not getting any younger. Let's explore before our fates decide our lives." Xavier snickered.
Arlo face palmed, "Why am I the only sensible person here?" He rubbed his temple, "Okay, what are we gonna tell our parents? I don't think they'll let us just go if we ask."
"There's a thing called sneaking around genius. We don't tell them." Gale said simply.
Arlo grabbed her shoulders, "Gale please think straight! Our parents are either heroes of the land or the rulers of a kingdom. If they find out that we've snuck off in the middle of the night, chaos will ensue! All the red flags will go off. It's too risky." He hissed.
"If it's adults you're worried about, I've got it covered. Lovino is visiting Martina and Alfred came here to meet up with Matthew. They'll be supervising our adventure." Gale smiled.
Arlo growled lowly, "Can we really trust the bumbling brother of my dad's former partner as the 'adult' of this trip?"
"That's why Lovino is coming too. He'll keep Alfred focused." Gale countered.
"We can trust Lovino. He's also an animal shapeshifter. So he can protect us too." Mateo added. "And Alfred has a lot of physical strength. What he lacks in brain, he makes up for in brawn." Ronald smirked.
Arlo looked over at Elois, "You. You've been quiet this whole time. What do you think about this?" He snapped.
Elois gulped as he played with a lock of his hair, "W-well. It's risky for sure. But . . . rebelling a little bit to explore sounds nice. I don't like being cooped up in my house." He looked away.
"HA!" Gale poked Arlo's forehead, "That decides it! We're going on an adventure."
Arlo let out a frustrated sigh, "Okay. Whatever. I'm gonna come. Just to make sure none of you die. Especially the twins." He groaned.
Gale giggled with glee. The next couple of hours were spent planning their getaway. The plan was to wait until nighttime before sneaking around the castle to the docks and setting sail before guards noticed. Gale called for Alfred and Lovino to clue them in. Lovino was made lookout and Alfred was meant to knock out guards that got too close to the docks. It was the perfect plan.
xXx
As the children were sharing a room at Tolys' and Kaska's home, waking up wasn't an issue. Xavier managed to conjure up a sleeping spell and cast it over the house. Him, Arlo and Gale were unaffected by it.
"I still think this is a bad idea." Arlo grumbled as he pulled on his boots.
"And that's why you're coming with. To keep us from doing anything crazy." Gale smirked as she pulled her hair up in a high ponytail.
Xavier sat on the bed, gently stroking Julia's hair, "What if something goes wrong? I love my family. I'd like to be able to see them again." He gulped. "Gale. What about Ella?"
Gale paused for a moment, gazing over at her sleeping sister. "S-she's a big girl. She'll be okay by herself for a bit." She sighed.
"Now don't either of you get cold feet. I didn't get dragged into this quest just for you two to bail." Arlo huffed, "We're . . . the dream team remember? We can do anything." He bit his lip. The two blondes perked up at the sound of that.
"Yeah, we can do anything." Xavier smiled. "We're gonna find out so much stuff and come back smarter than ever." Gale cooed.
Arlo smirked slightly, "There we go. That's better. Now let's head out to the docks."
xXx
Sneaking around at night wasn't difficult, especially when they got to the castle. A gentle orange glow circled the docks. Lovino was doing his job. Alfred waved the trio over.
"Took you long enough. You're the last ones here." Alfred snickered, "The twins made up an excuse to spend the night on the ship. And that Elois kid got here an hour ago."
"Show off." Xavier muttered.
Gale looked up at Alfred, "Are the twins preparing the ship?" She questioned.
Alfred nodded, "Yes. They're almost done. We'll be able to set sail in a half hour."
Gale grinned, "Excellent! Come on. Let's load up our stuff." She ran off to the ship. Xavier and Arlo were about to follow her when something held them back. It was Lovino in his human form.
"Now, don't try and fight on the voyage." Lovino huffed.
"We can be well behaved. We're nearly adults." Xavier scoffed. "You're supposed to be the fun adults on this quest. Don't act like my parents." Arlo groaned.
Lovino rolled his eyes and hit their shoulders, "I'm not lecturing you little shits. I see how you two look at Gale. You have trapped yourselves in a love triangle. Learn to be rivals in silence."
Xavier and Arlo both became flustered. "I-it's not like that!" Xavier whined. Arlo looked away, "We're childhood friends. There's a difference." He muttered.
"Your red faces tell a different story." Alfred teased.
"I'm just saying to be careful. Because you boys have got competition." Lovino snorted and pointed at Elois who was helping Gale with her things. The two were laughing together. Suddenly, both Xavier and Arlo glared at him.
Lovino grasped their shoulders, "Be rivals in silence. Also, be cautious. I know you two aren't dumbasses." He warned.
"A quiet battle for the lovely lady's hand. Sounds like the fairytales Mattie and I used to read about when we were kids." Alfred laughed, "Three different guys in love with the same girl."
"Hey, we don't know if Elois likes Gale like that!" Arlo snapped. "He kissed her cheeks!" Xavier panicked. Elois had pecked both of Gale's cheeks. She was blushing like crazy. Arlo and Xavier ran off to stop the interaction.
"Ah, young love." Alfred chuckled.
"Says the guy who's still single." Lovino smirked. Alfred pouted, "Shut up. I'm simply waiting for the right girl. Leave me alone."
As, Alfred had predicted, Mateo and Ronald had readied the ship for sailing within a half hour. Lovino and Alfred had stopped six guards from discovering what they were doing. Ronald ushered everyone onto the ship. Churro and Coco perched atop the lookout tower with Lovino.
"You guys ready for an adventure to the mainland?" Ronald clapped his hands.
"Let's get on with it!" Gale cooed. Mateo pointed to Arlo and Gale, "Lift the anchor Arlo. Gale, push air into the sails." He instructed. Arlo swiftly heaved the anchor out of the water. Gale shapeshifted into a dragon and fanned the sails of the ship, slowly pushing the large boat out towards sea.
Lovino flew down and perched himself on Alfred's shoulder, "You know. If this goes horribly wrong, the parents of every one of these kids are going to kill us." He whispered.
"We've been through war Lovi. We'll be able to keep order of this quest." Alfred assured. Lovino shapeshifted back into a human, headbutting Alfred's chest. "I am Lovino to you. Only my brother and Martina call me by that nickname." He snapped.
Alfred laughed nervously, "Got it." He gave a thumbs up.
xXx
The adults of the Tolys-Kaska household were woken up early in the morning by furious knocking on the front door. Tolys rolled out of bed and went to answer the door. He was surprised to see Martina and Roderich.
"Eh? What are you two doing here? Do you have to eat breakfast with your boys?" Tolys yawned.
"Well, we would. If they were here!" Martina whined.
Kaska came up behind Tolys and rested her chin on his shoulder, "What are they blabbering about dear?" She mumbled.
"Ronald and Mateo are gone!" Roderich snapped.
Tolys sighed, letting the brunettes inside. "That's awful. But why is that our problem?" He questioned.
Suddenly, the other adults in the house came downstairs.
"Gale's gone!" Erika panicked.
"Arlo and Xavier aren't here either." Sakura added.
"And Al never came to the house last night." Matthew gulped.
"What in the blue hell is going on?" Lukas groaned. "Daddy, look!" Julia tugged on Tolys' shirt, pointing over to the corner of the room that was deemed Tolys' workspace.
"Oh my! Someone tampered with your potions." Kaska gasped. Tolys and Lukas went to investigate. Bottles were out of place and the lock on Tolys' spellbook was missing.
"Xavier messed with my spells." Tolys blinked.
"How do you know it was him?" Mathew raised an eyebrow. "Like his mother, he's disorganized and messy. He's not one to clean up after himself." Tolys rolled his eyes. Kaska pouted and crossed her arms.
"It appears he played with a sleeping spell." Lukas observed the bottles left out.
"That explains why I slept through the night." Julchen rested a hand on her stomach.
"But why? I know Arlo can be a shit and Gale is a bit of a rebel. But Xavier doesn't seem like the type to do anything bad." Ned quirked an eyebrow. "Xavier can be bad too. He just chooses not to. He's mysterious like that." Kaska stuck her tongue out at him.
Martina set a satchel on the table, "I think I know why. And even where." She muttered. Roderich dumped the contents from the satchel, "These are maps from Martina's travels with her father Diego." He stated. Julchen and Erika spread the maps onto the table.
"These make zero sense. They're all maps are totally different." Erika blinked. Julchen tutted and rearranged the maps, "If I know Martina best, there's a puzzle to these." She smirked.
"You know me so well. I know I did funny things with my maps." Martina smiled.
"God damn. It's one large map." Ned helped Julchen arrange the maps, "That's rather clever Martina."
Lukas, Tolys and Matthew looked over the map. Lukas glanced over at Martina, "Okay. Now that we've figured out your map, show us where you think they've gone." He instructed. Martina nodded, tracing out the lines on the northwestern side of the map.
Matthew adjusted his glasses, "Eh? What is that? It looks to be off the coast of the Northern Kingdom."
"That's the mainland." Martina replied, "The Cardinal kingdoms merely exist on an island several miles away from it. My father and I never went to the mainland. But we sailed by it."
"So no one has explored this place?" Lukas questioned. Martina shook her head, "Rumors say that the mainland is dangerous. Crawling with savage people and blood-thirsty creatures. Everyone who has ventured to the mainland has died." She gulped.
"No! My baby boy is gonna die." Kaska whined.
"Gale can't shapeshift into her large form just yet. She can't protect herself or anyone else with her small size." Gale panicked.
Sakura pulled at her hair, "Arlo. He can't stay either of his animal forms for very long. He's a goner." She chewed her lip.
Martina hugged Roderich, "Roddy. The twins have barely been outside of the kingdom. Their swordsmanship will only help them so much. They can't make it out there." She sniffled.
Julchen perked up, "Wait. Lovino was visiting the castle yesterday, right? And Alfred arrived in the kingdom a day or so ago."
"Oh god. You think those two are the adults with them?" Ned questioned. "They're all gonna die!" Kaska gasped dramatically.
"Hey. Alfred may be an idiot but that doesn't mean he can't take care of others. I'm stronger by magic. He is stronger physically." Matthew huffed, "Who do you think took care of me when Arthur wasn't around? Alfred is a big brother to everyone. He will protect those kids with his life."
Martina rubbed her eyes, "Lovi is the same way. He's a very nurturing person and has good survival skills thanks to his grandpa. And he's a good fighter." She pushed some hair out of her face. "Him and the twins are very close. I trust him to protect them."
Erika rubbed her temple, "Okay. So let me get this straight. Five teenagers and two adults are on a quest to explore a land that is said to be extremely dangerous." She groaned. "What are we gonna do about it? We need to bring them back here. This adventure they're seeking is going to get them all killed if we don't do anything about it!
"They took the biggest boat." Roderich sighed, "We won't be able to catch up to them."
"We don't need a boat. I am a dragon. I can fly long distances." Erika huffed. Martina shook her head vigorously, "No! You can't simply fly across these seas. The weather out there is awful and very unpredictable. You won't be able to reach them." She gulped.
"So are you saying that we can't do anything until they reach the mainland?" Tolys raised an eyebrow.
Roderich put on a smug smile, "We can't, no. But we can reach them. The twins have pet macaws. Coco and Churro. We can communicate with them." He clarified.
"Although we'll need a bird to take a message to them." Martina pouted.
Julchen face palmed, "Why do I know exactly where this is going?" She muttered.
Ned copied her actions, "Awe hell. Are we gonna have to rely on Feliciano to deliver a god damn message?"
Martina laughed sheepishly, "Y-yes. We really don't have a choice. Besides, it would be in our best interests to have him deliver a message. Since Lovino is on the voyage so it will be easier for Feliciano to find them."
"Feliciano is making his way to the Northern kingdom as we speak. He took his family and Lovino's family on the scenic route here. Lovino got impatient." Roderich pushed up his glasses, "He'll be here a week's time."
"Oh lovely. We have to wait around." Erika grumbled. Lukas patted her shoulder, "The kids on the seas right now are strong. They are born from some of the strongest people of our time. They'll survive without us." He assured.
Kaska blinked, "Hey. You remember that Elois boy Arlo and Gale met a few days ago? Do you think he tagged along?"
"And Gale said she bumped into him yesterday!" Erika groaned.
"Then coincidentally, the kids disappear into the night?" Ned growled.
"I knew that kid was suspicious. I saw him once. He looked suspicious." Tolys ran a hand through his hair.
Martina puffed out her cheeks, "Roderich. I knew what we're doing until Feli gets here."
Roderich nodded slowly, "We get to track down his family. What a hassle."
Lukas gazed out a window. Outside was a view of the ocean. He trusted Gale. He had trained her to be strong in the ways of magic. But he was still a father and worried over her safety. Gale was his little girl. The man had been through so much with her. The last thing he wanted was to lose her.
Please be safe out there Gale. Lukas thought to himself.
I have finished another chapter. I'm so happy! Although, at this point, I'm not entirely sure what to do with this story. I guess it's time for me to brainstorm ideas. I have a couple but I need a few more. I want this to span at least ten chapters. I need to think up crazy things to happen! Aka, I need drama in this story.
Anyhow, I hope you all are enjoying this story. Writing this is fun, as always. If you have any suggestions for drama, be it with the adults or the teens, let me know. I'd love your input. Until next time my fellow hetalians, hasta la pasta! ~Mistress Churro