A/N: Hello everybody! Starlet 0495 here with the next chapter of Where Loyalty Truly Lies. I would like to give a special thanks my reviewers: Chipmunks Are My THANG, omega1979, starrscar19 & chloemcg. You guys are so awesome for reviewing. I would also like to thank starrscar19, chloemcg, and Silver Moonlight Blossom for putting my story on their favorite stories and alert lists. You guys hold this story in such high esteem and I appreciate it. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the readers. You guys really make my day. Also, to warn you, Tiana and Naveen maybe OOC, but don't worry, they'll be back in character by the end of the story. Okay, that's enough of this. On with the story!
Disclaimer: Disney owns all Princess and the Frog characters.
Where Loyalty Truly Lies- Chapter 1: Confrontation
14 years later
A huge, festive building called Tiana's Palace sat on the side of the river. This building was once the crown jewel of New Orleans.
Now, in the summer of 1941, it was nothing but a run-down restaurant.
The Great Depression blew through and torn the business apart. For the past ten years, Tiana's Palace had seen nothing but okay, bad, and horrible days. There were never any perfect days anymore.
Sure there were still people coming, but it wasn't nearly enough to be called the "crown jewel of New Orleans" anymore. In an attempt to bring in more profit, Tiana had to raise the prices of the food. This brought in even less people, so the prices were returned to normal.
Outside the restaurant sat a light-skinned, teenage girl by the name of Evangeline. With her amber eyes trained towards the water, she sat thinking about why couldn't be normal, just like every other night.
Of course, being able to talk to animals was cool, but she had to make sure not to do it in front of people. Although, turning into a frog each and every time she got too emotional was too much. Every time she got too happy, sad, excited, or angry, the color green would cloud her vision and then she would shrink.
Mama Odie had been teaching her voodoo magic almost all of her life and tried to help her control her transformations to no avail. Because of this, she could really never have any friends or anything more.
Oh god, how she wanted something more.
Seeing how Charlotte's 12-year old daughter, Sarah, had many suitors made Evangeline wish she had a guy stepping out of their way to get her affections. Evangeline had more of a position of power than Sarah did since she was a living, breathing princess, but the position did nothing if she could not even talk to a guy.
She sighed and looked up to the pinkish-purple sky.
She saw the two special stars Ray and Evangeline, and laughed under her breath. If she could not turn into a frog herself, she would not even believe her parents' outlandish story about how they got together.
Out the corner of her eye, she saw the lights of her parents' restaurant come on. She turned and looked at the neon letters. 'Tiaa's Palce' it read.
She rolled her eyes. As a young kid, she loved this place. The people, the food, and the whole energy of place really had her going. After enough of it, her dad would put her in a room until she calmed down. Tears filled her eyes. She felt like such a monster back then. After the rave of the restaurant subsided, she could finally be in the restaurant the whole night without an incident.
Then she heard singing coming from inside, and sharply turned back towards the river. Her mother had the most beautiful singing voice, and Evangeline hated it. Back when she was younger, her mother had never really sung to her. In fact, she stayed away from her as much as possible. Evangeline was sure her mother didn't hate her; it was just that she was afraid, and maybe a little disgusted. Her father was a little more open to her, but there was always a wall up on both sides when they spoke.
"Hey Angie!" Evangeline genuinely smiled as she heard the immature voice of a boy.
"Willy!" she turned, held out her arms, and Willy jumped into them. Willy was a bobcat kitten that she had found in the bayou a few months ago. So far, he had proved to be her best friend.
"So whatcha thinkin' about?"
Evangeline smirked. "You have to ask?"
"No, I guess not. You know, you're cool just the way you are. You don't have to change for anyone."
"As much as I'd like to believe you, I know there a couple of people who'd like me change." She threw a pointed glare over her shoulder at the restaurant.
Willy shifted in her lap until he stood on his hind legs and used his front paws to keep his balance on the front of her dress. His dark brown eyes bore into her amber ones.
"You matter to them no matter what you can do. Your mom and dad really do care about you. You're lucky to have parents." She sat thinking about what Willy had said until the street lights came on.
She sighed. With tears running down her cheeks she said, "I really wish I could believe that."
Willy went up to lick the tears that had fallen, "It's not hard to believe it. I promise you, you'll see."
"Evangeline, come on inside. You know the night isn't safe." Tiana yelled out of the door, while putting a bowl of meat on the ground for Willy.
Evangeline scoffed.
"Why? Because of some stupid shadows? I think I can handle myself a bit better than you can!" she said in an insulting tone.
"I do not have to explain myself to you. Just do what I say. Naveen and I are just trying to keep you safe!" Tiana nearly yelled.
"How? Locking me in a room and leaving me there by myself? Never being there for me and never acting like real parents? It's not my fault that I'm like this!" Evangeline screamed at the top of her lungs, and a green light embodied her and then disappeared to reveal a frog.
Evangeline stared up at her mom's face one last time before hopping off into a dark alley. Willy discarded his meat and ran after his friend.
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Tiana didn't bother to stop her, and watched her leave.
She sighed. She knew she raised the boys differently, but they didn't have the problem that Evangeline had.
Even if she and Naveen didn't shower her with unconditional love growing up, they made sure to teach her three very important lessons: hard work always pays off, never take anything for granted, and keep eyes open for what you need and not what you want.
Naveen and Tiana had a strong feeling that she would need these lessons more than Ray and James(A/N: their sons) would.
She turned her head sharply to where she thought she saw a shadow move.
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A dark blot moved inconspicuously from large shadows to larger shadows until it got to its destination. It stopped In the middle of a dark room.
"Masters, I summon you." (A/N: I know how the shadows communicate, but I want to show their interactions, so I'm writing it in English.) A huge, brightly colored mask appeared in the middle of the room, with smaller, but equally colorful masks, following suit.
The biggest mask spoke, "What is it, minion?"
"I think we've found what we're looking for." The masks looked shocked, and the smaller masks began speaking to one another.
"Are you sure? We can't afford to make any more mistakes." the biggest one spoke once again.
"Yes, I'm positive."
The masks looked as if they were smiling.
"Then it's time. Get the boy. Do whatever it takes to get him on our side. He is the key to everything going perfectly." the biggest mask said. The shadows then started cheering.
After the short celebration was done, two shadows left to collect their "key."
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A/N: So how did you guys like it? I'm sorry it took so long. I actually finished this chapter a week ago but I didn't really like it so I added a lot more to it. I was very distracted, but my reviews kept my attention on the story long enough to finish this chapter. If I get more reviews, I will finish the next chapter even quicker. Speaking of which, Evangeline's love interest and the other main character to this story is going to be introduced in the next chapter. If you want to see more, please review!