Dragon's Dismay with Absent Family

Chapter 2

A family day ruined by another crime. Artemis couldn't understand how Peyton didn't show any more negative emotion than the depressed emotion she had on her little face when Sting walked away from them. It seemed that Peyton had switched emotions so easily in matter of mere seconds. One moment and negative emotion lit her face and then the next the little blonde was prancing about the castle garden with Rio and Riku as the mirrored smile of her father's decorated her cute little face. The brunette sighed softly as she watched the three run about, Totomaru standing near them and watching over them, Celestine's advisor. Not even the slightly pained look on the male's face when Peyton stomped on his foot with her cheeks puffed out could lift Artemis even slightly from her gloomy state of mind. Somehow the little princess seemed to take after her mother when it came to her feeling towards Totomaru, the man who was there when Pyre had been attacked and burned down. Of course, Artemis had forgiven him by now but Peyton had seemed to remove those negative feelings and taken them with her when she was born. At times it was funny to watch as Totomaru tried hard not to explode at a little girl let alone one of Sabertooth's princesses but right now the little scene wasn't helping her to come to a better mood.

She turned in her seat at one of the garden tables she was seated at and cupped her hands around the small cup of tea placed in front of her. Staring down at the small reflection that she could see her eyelids fluttered halfway shut. She barely looked up too when she felt a gentle hand place itself on her arm, a hand that belonged to her cousin. How selfish of her to act like she was the only one who was dealing with the problem of not being able to see her husband much either. Artemis had completely forgotten that Rogue too was dealing with many of the kingdom's problems and Celestine herself wasn't having much time with her own husband. She looked up at her and smiled softly trying to make the expression on her face seem less depressing.

"I'm sorry Celestine. It slipped my mind that I'm not the only one dealing with this." She whispered as she looked back at the children for a few seconds."It's fine, I seem to see Ry-Rogue more than you see Sting." Celestine smiled back with a quick glance towards her twins.

At least that much was true but Artemis hadn't felt like saying that out loud. She nodded her head and tapped the side of her cup. Still though she didn't want to seem overly selfish about it. "Let me tell you, even the shadow prince can find his way home through the night." Celestine offered with the slightest wink, a comment that would have made her old self light up at all of its double meanings.

Artemis giggled softly at this."Yeah." She sighed softly."Still . . . it seems unfair to them." Artemis said, her head tilting towards the little ones. Really what it was like to not be able to see their own fathers much, even Artemis could understand that seeming's how she herself had lost her mother at such a young age and then to lose her father when she was simply only eighteen. If that seemed too much for even someone at that age she didn't understand how the kids were capable of handling it at their age.

"I'm sure they'll see them soon. I mean it could have been a lot worse. We could have had Face Hunters running around all over the place...and other such things." Celestine said her voice becoming quieter as she added the last part.

"I guess you're right." Artemis agreed hesitantly. She looked up and over at Peyton when Totomaru let out a small sound of pain. A laugh bubbled up in her throat as she watched the advisor rub his foot while Peyton stuck her tongue out at him."I think I need start handling her attitude slightly." The brunette chuckled. Knowing as much Artemis was sure Totomaru could still handle himself against three kids even if he was going to attack them back which he certainly wouldn't. He could even handle himself if it came down to Peyton using her father's inherited magic on him which was still weak at this time. Too bad that Totomaru had agreed on helping to train Peyton with her magic as well as Celestine's children, of course this was before he had found out that she inherited her mother's old feeling of animosity towards him.

"Peyton! Be nice!" She called out, this earning a slight pout from her daughter.

The brunette shook her head and looked back at Celestine. Somehow she could see how her cousin could smile so easily at a time like this. Even if more crimes had arisen it wasn't like they were major either. This was more like the closest thing to peace they had right now and with everything that happened so many years ago Artemis was sure that her cousin was probably the happiest she could be right now. Though deep down Artemis was also sure there were some other things that make the girl even happier though she wasn't sure what they were. Maybe those were little secrets only Rogue would be able to squeeze out of her. This thought made her giggle softly probably earning an odd look from Celestine but she never looked up from her cup to see what face her cousin made from her noise. Her smile dropping quickly, Artemis's thoughts took a turn to the original topic of this conversation making her feel slightly depressed once again.

"Really . . . I just wish there was something I could do for Sting though. I don't want it to build up on him so much but they all just tell me to stick to the duties that the queen should handle. . .even he tells me that and it annoys me greatly. I know that he could snap at any moment now with all of the stress building up on him and Sting isn't the greatest person to be around when he does snap. I know this but . . . he just keeps giving me the excuse that he's fine and that Rogue is there helping to relieve some of the stress. I can't help but to think that still isn't enough." She whispered softly hoping that anything they were saying wasn't reaching any of the children's ears since they too had dragon slaying hearing like their parents.

"You know, one of the queen's duties as well as a wife's duties is to support their significant half." Celestine smiled towards her cousin offering her a wink.

Artemis smiled back at this and nodded."Yeah I know . . . but I know mentioning such a thing to Sting would still get me nowhere. I don't understand why he won't let me help him when that's my job to help him since I'm his wife. . . .Sometimes it makes me want to hit him on the back of the head as hard as I can." The brunette replied, the last part a simple mutter.

"Then maybe that's just what you should do. I mean it wouldn't work with Rogue since his personality just really different. But Sting's personality is he needs someone to tell him that he can't do it all on his own." Celestine nodded taking a sip of her drink."Maybe . . . Sting is like that a lot. . ." She agreed biting her lip.

Artemis thought that over. Hitting Sting, geez that would roll over well. It might turn out that Celestine's prediction might happen but even if so her cousin had no clue how much the stress was really affecting him and if Artemis were to really go along with it she was afraid of her husband also blowing up at her for it. He was really that close to the breaking point and for some reason it seemed like she was the only one that could see it. It was times like these that Artemis wished Sting would take an example out of Rogue and just slow down his pace and let her help him.

"You look like you're actually considering hitting him seriously. I meant play hitting him you know? Just something to get his attention. If you hit him like you two are about to get into a fight than he might take aggression to that at the current rate." Celestine rolled her eyes at her over-thinking stressed cousin.

Artemis stiffened slightly at that comment."I-I knew what you meant . . . but in all honest he really does need a good hit whether it's playful or not. Can't you get Rogue to convince him then, because at this point I'm about ready to hit him for real. It's frustrating." She grumbled under her breath.

"Hey Totomaru. Come here." Celestine sighed as the fire mage attempted to remove several children from his foot before they bit down on it.

"Yes, princess?" He asked as Celestine rolled her eyes at the adornment.

"Want to spar a few rounds with Sting?" Celestine smiled as Totomaru gave her a strange look between actually wanting to and not sure if he could actually win without being brutally injured. "That sounds like a rather dangerous request milady." He replied as another of the children hooked themselves around his leg. "On top of the little dragon slayers teeth." He sighed moving away once again as Celestine shrugged. "I tried."

Artemis rolled her eyes slightly."Yeah well I wouldn't want your advisor to be brutally injured anyway if it came to you needing him. When I say that Sting is overly stressed Celestine I really mean that if Totomaru were to spar with Sting he'd end up in the infirmary for a good amount of time, maybe two week tops at that." Artemis said as she took a sip of her nearly untouched tea. Totomaru glanced an unhappy glare towards Artemis before turning back to release himself from the children's grip. "Well I figured since he's always sparring with Rogue when Stings busy, sparring with Sting wouldn't hurt him when Rogue was busy." Celestine shrugged.

"You haven't bothered to think that Rogue would actually think of not hurting Totomaru while Sting wouldn't think of that thought what-so-ever in his current state have you?" The brunette snickered slightly.

Celestine rolled her eyes. "You have no idea how many times they've actually put each other in the kingdom's infirmary than." Celestine sighed remembering the trashed sparring hall decorated in fire and holes in the walls. "We're just luckily there's still a sparring hall" she continued.

Artemis paused as she was bringing her cup up to her lips again and raised an eyebrow at her cousin."Huh? I didn't think Rogue was that bad . . . Gezz, I think I retract my previous statement." Artemis said and then finished taking a sip of tea once again.

Celestine let out a giggle. "Even though they've got so much on their minds, it's surprising that they make time to spar or even help out with things like that." Celestine smiled looking towards her advisor Totomaru as he attempted to talk to the children who thought of him as a new play toy.

"Yeah . . . maybe sparing wouldn't hurt Sting then, but in all honest I don't know who would be brave enough to do such a thing because I know even if Rogue sounds that bad we both know my husband is worse beyond compare." Artemis said with a roll of her eyes. They probably all knew that much was true no matter how much on even thought to deny it.

"Yeah I know what you mean; although no one would ever admit it I believe Rogue has a more gentle nature than Sting does." Celestine smiled as Totomaru made a comment in the background "Gentle my ass!" Followed by being hit in the head with a tea cup for the comments "adult like nature".

"Oh trust me I admitted that a long time ago." Artemis replied as she chuckled at the tea cup being thrown at Totomaru.

This too made Peyton laugh which only earned the small blonde a side glare from Totomaru. It wasn't long before Artemis heard one of the kids ask if they could practice their magic now but it seemed as if the fire mage was really reluctant to do so at the moment. "Guys it's getting late . . . It's almost bedtime, besides poor Totomaru has had a really long day." Celestine smiled towards the children who begun to pout.

"But Uncle Totomaru...we made him promise to bring us to go see Uncle Gajeel one of these days." One of the twins pouted causing a giggle to erupt out of Celestine.

"Ry-Rogue will be so envious when I tell him his children wanted to go see Gajeel."

Artemis nodded in agreement and stood up from her seat. Peyton too knew this meant that she had to go to sleep soon as well which ultimately made her hide behind Totomaru. Of course the fire mage rolled his eyes and folded his arms."Now I'm not such a pesky adult because you think you can use me as some sort of shield to hide you from your bedtime." he grumbled.

"Shut it!" Peyton snapped stomping on his foot again.

"You little-"

"Peyton lets go." Artemis interjected before Totomaru could finish saying what he was saying knowing that it wasn't going to be pleasant.

The little blonde trudge over to her mother's side and took her hand before sticking her tongue out at Totomaru one last time. Who rolled his eyes heading back towards his queen's side who ultimately patted him on the head like a little child trying to console him as if he was a new kid on the playground who couldn't find anyone to play with. The fire mage turned his attention away seeming as if he truly were the little kid she was trying to console even though he was older than her. Artemis laughed lightly at the sight of someone older having to be consoled by someone younger before bidding her cousin and her 'niece' and 'nephew' goodnight. She walked back into her side of the castle, Peyton still holding tightly onto her hand. Artemis helped her daughter prepare for bed, helped her into her elegant white nightgown and undid the small ribbons that held her hair into her pigtails. The brunette tucked her daughter into bed and smiled as she kissed the little girl's forehead gently. Peyton had asked about that story Sting had promised to read her which made Artemis frown slightly. She simply shook her head and told Peyton that her father was busy which ultimately but a depressing look on her face. The queen watched her daughter flip over on her side and pull the covers up over her head. Shutting the lights on the way out and closing the door Artemis sighed with her eyes closed before opening them and looking down at the floor. Now the only thing left to do for today was confronting Sting.