Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the long wait! I swear I've been trying to update but every time something had popped up. My computer got temperaily broken and my internet connection kept dropping. I want to thank all of you for your constant support even when my updates are getting irregular. I promise and this time truly to update whenever I can and to write whenever I get a spare moment so updates wont ever be that long again.
I hope this long wait hasn't made you turn away from this story! Thank you again to all who has reviewed my story or PMed me. You honestly make my day and it feels great to have so many supporters.
Here's the long awaited chapter twenty-five! Hope ya'll like it!
After the beautiful performance done by the royal couple, the family had called it a night. Sleeping next to a barren lagoon, Clarion rested her head on Milori's strong masculine chest and listened intently to his heartbeat and his voice as he quietly sang to her to help her fall asleep. Once he was sure that Clarion was in a deep slumber, only then did he stop singing to her. He leaned down and softly kissed her forehead and he too joined her in sleep. Everything seemed perfect. When the first rays of sunlight appeared over the horizon, Milori felt Clarion shift above him. Still asleep, she buried her head in his chest in attempt to shield herself from the light. Milori felt her throw her leg over him along with her arm. He smiled with his eyes closed and continued to cuddle his love. Hours later, the family began to awake. Clarion could smell the lagoon's crystal clear waters sine she and Milori were positioned closely to the shore. Clarion opened her eyes the furthest they would go, and came to face to face with something not many would awake to.
"Good morning!" Came three cheery voices. Clarion and Milori sat upright and stared at the lagoon.
Leaning over the edge of the blue waters were three merpeople, two mermaids and a merman. The first mermaid had grey eyes and caramel coloured hair with a pink tail and a dark pink top to cover her chest but you could still see her flat tummy. The second mermaid had fiery red hair with penetrating golden eyes. She wore a light green top and had a dark green tail. The merman was shirtless to reveal his well-defined muscles, and gentle ridges on his abdomen, and had a dark navy blue tail and he had almost black eyes and dark indigo hair.
"Uh, good morning…" Clarion said slowly as she looked at Milori sitting behind her with a protective arm around her waist. With all the commotion going on by the waters, the siblings soon made their way over to see what was going on and found themselves staring. Realizing nobody was going to take charge of the situation, Clarion decided to speak. "Who are you?"
"Oh! This is embarrassing! Well I'm Sara." Said the mermaid with caramel hair. "And this is Chloe and that's Jack." Clarion nodded slowly as she eyed the merpeople before her.
"Well I'm Clarion." She said kindly as she reached over to shake hands. The mermaid's hand was slightly damp and Sara noticed how warm Clarion's hand was.
"Clarion. Sounds familiar…" Chloe said, thinking out loud. Clarion giggled.
"Well I'm the queen of Pixie Hollow if that helps." Chloe's eyes averted to Clarion's sapphire eyes.
"Oh my…the last time I had heard about you, you were just a little princess!" She leaned over to pull herself slightly out of the water so she was inched away from Clarion. She lifted her hand and cupped the fairy queen's face. "My have you grown…you look just like your mother…"
"Wait, you knew my mother? How?" Chloe nodded.
"I was good friends with your mother before her disappearance along with her husband and you four. The last time I saw all of you was at your fourth birthday party." Clarion and her sibling sat in shock. They all recalled being told that they vanished only days after their youngest turned four.
"Have you seen our parents since?" Robert asked as he sat next to his baby sister and wrapped a comforting arm around her. Chloe sadly shook her from side to side.
"I'm afraid I haven't Robert." Robert would've been surprised that she knew his name but he guessed she would've know the name of her friend's first child. "Nobody has seen your parents or you four for centuries. It was all rather strange if you ask me…" Robert nodded, taking in the information yet again.
"Wait, if you knew we disappeared how did you know we became four new monarchs with a completely different life?" Dania asked the mermaid before her. Chloe smiled kindly.
"News travels pretty quickly under the sea, my dear. When we heard about the births of four new monarchs, I instantly recognized you all to be the missing heirs from weeks before. But I didn't say anything for I feared of putting you all and myself in danger." Chloe explained wholeheartedly. James nodded from the back of the group, despite the fact that nobody could see him.
"Well maybe you could help us…" Clarion prompted. The mermaids and merman looked towards her in confusion. "We've been told that if we want our parents back, we must turn into mermen and mermaids and swim to the bottom of the lagoon to an underwater cave that will allow us to appear by yet another cave." Clarion explained, trying her best not to sound like a total fluff head at the request she was implying.
"So you want us to help you turn into mermaids?" Jack asked. Clarion nodded hopefully. "I think we can do that." The mermaids nodded in agreement.
"You might want to have something to eat and then we'll transform you." Sara suggested. The royal family nodded and went to have some breakfast. Keeping it simple, Clarion and her fellow females gave the men of their lives and themselves some hand picked fruit and some yogurt that they had packed from Pixie Hollow. After filling their stomachs and feeling themselves wake up, they made their way to the edge of the lagoon where the mermaids and Jack were waiting patently. Milori then realized something.
"What's going to happen to our belongings and the birds?" He asked. Clarion looked at him and gasped in realization and turned to look hopefully at Jack, Sara and Chloe.
"Don't worry. They'll be safe in a special amulet that one of you will need to where. Preferably the youngest of you." Jack explained and raised an eyebrow at Clarion.
"Why the youngest." Clarion questioned.
"The youngest, meaning no offences to any of you, has naturally the strongest life source even though you all are immortal." Sara explained. Clarion smirked.
"So what I'm hearing is…" She turned to her siblings. "I'm naturally the strongest to with hold the task?" James rolled his eyes at his younger sister.
"Well I guess so." Chloe giggled. Clarion couldn't help but laugh at her family's expressions as it shifted to unamused to very amused and soon enough they all began smiling.
Jack waved his hand and the birds and the belongings all swirled into a ball and transformed into a sparkling opal amulet and it landed in Clarion's hand. She quickly placed it around her neck.
"Now you must keep it on at all times." Jack said sternly. "You are holding the life support for the birds." Clarion nodded and gripped the white pendant in her hand. Jack looked towards the mermaids and they all shared a smile before all of them raised their arms and lifting the monarchs with an invisible force. Dania gasped as she and her siblings were levitated above the ground and carried towards the lagoon. One by one, their wings disappeared and dissolved into their legs, which were replaced by tails. Clarion was given a sunshine yellow tail with a dark shade of a mix of yellow and orange as a top. All the girls had similar sets. Dania had a mint green set, Louise a dark shade of purple and Elizabeth an orange set. The males all became shirtless, much to the females delight, and had different coloured tails. Milori had a dark blue, which created a strong contrast with his relatively pale skin, Robert had a dark red, James a dark green and David a lighter blue. As soon as they had fully transformed, they were dropped into the lagoon.
"Sorry!" Chloe exclaimed. "We don't really know how to let you down gently." Clarion lifted her head from under the waters.
"That probably would've been good information to know beforehand, don't you think?" She asked jokingly before looking down at her magnificent tail along with the others. They were all amazed at each of their unique tails. Clarion had always used to daydream about her being someone else, in another life, that wasn't a queen. One of those very fantasies was being a mermaid and she always thought it would feel weird to have a tail, to have your legs stuck together incased in scales and fins. She giggled as she swished it around under her, not able to feel anything in the lower half of her body.
"Now, here's the tricky part." Chloe said, snapping the monarchs back into reality. They all gave the mermaids and merman a confused glance. "Since you all have breathed oxygen-air- all your lives, it will be extremely hard for you to adjust breathing under water. Subconciensouly, you will hold your breath but you don't need to. It's easier to do it fast so you have no time to think about what is happening. The oxygen will dissolve into your lungs and tail to keep you all alive. So just go under, keep your eyes open, and breath as if you're on land." The family nodded and took a deep breath all together, the last breath that they would take from the sky for a while, and Robert and Elizabeth went under first. The rest stayed above the waters, watching closely for their brother and sister-in-law and before they knew it, they resurfaced smiling from ear to ear.
"Its amazing!" Elizabeth squealed. "You can see all the fishes and the corals." Dania's eyes widened and she took her husband's hand and together they went under with Robert and Elizabeth joining them. Next were James and his wife. She smiled lovingly at him as he led them under making sure she was okay with the situation. Clarion sat frozen as she looked at the waters. Milori sensed she was still wary of going under water so he took her hand to comfort her.
"Are you alright?" Milori asked softly. Clarion shook her head from side to side as she glanced at him and back at her siblings who had begun to swim afar, laughing along the way. Milori gently wrapped his arms around her and brought his love closer to his chest. She sighed as she tucked her head under his chin and Milori kissed the top of her head.
"Why can't I do it?" She whispered as silent tears fell from her sapphire eyes. "Why am I always the one who can never do it!" Milori rubbed her back lovingly and soothingly.
"Darling its okay." He whispered in her ear as he kissed her temple. "It's natural to be afraid at first." Clarion shook her head, disagreeing.
"What about them? They can ice-skate, they can breath under water when they need to. Its as if I'm a burden on their shoulders…and yours." She cried as she buried her head further into his slightly damp chest. Milori was shocked.
"My love, you are no burden to me or your family. Remember that I love you darling and wouldn't give you up for anything. If you were a burden, I would have relished our seperation but I didn't. Not a second went by without me thinking about you. Your eyes, your hair; these are just a few of the things that make you the beautiful fairy you are. You are me beacon. I know that I will forever be content if you are by my side, even if you didn't love me I'd still need to see you so it can make my day." Milori said with a passion, looking into Clarion's teary eyes, "And as for your family, you know they adore you. Dania is always helping you cook as well as your sisters-in-law. Robert and James are always wrapping an arm around you when they feel something is dangerous or I'm needed elsewhere. They love you and as do I."
Clarion leaned forward and gave him a passionate kiss to show how grateful she was to have him. Milori, of course, kissed back and ran his tongue along her lips, begging for entrance. Clarion opened her mouth and let his icy cold tongue explore her mouth. This was probably the most passionate kiss they had even shared as Milori hugged her tightly. As they pulled away, they both were panting. Clarion grabbed his hand.
"I'm ready." She breathed. Milori nodded and looked at her dead in they eye.
"Remember that I'll make sure nothing will ever happen to you or hurt you." She nodded and together they dipped into the crystal lagoon and took in the air underneath…
It was the most amazing sight Clarion had ever seen. The fishes were swimming in school and with the fact she was a mermaid now she had the ability to understand them. There were beautiful orange, blue, red, purple, pink, and practically any colour you could think of, corals. The blue of the underwater was incredible and so very clear yet very mysterious. She gasped as she saw sea horses swimming all over the place and playing with one another. It was a whole new world. The couple was snapped out of their thoughts as the family called for them. Taking his love's hand, Milori and Clarion began to swim over to them laughing at how natural it was beginning to feel swimming with a tail.
"Right, so the cave." Jack began once the couple had reached them. "It is deep under but it shouldn't take us long. There are no predators in this lagoon and it is fairly shallow compared to others." Everyone nodded and began to swim deeper into the lagoon, talking to one another lightly. Milori kept a firm grip on Clarion's hand as they swam and look at her.
"Alright?" He asked. She smiled at his concern for her.
"Very." She answered beaming. "Its amazing down here, is it not?" Milori nodded and they continued to talk as they swam. As they got deeper the royal blue waters were turning into a dark indigo. Milori felt Clarion's grip tighten as it became darker. He held on to her for dear life. Only after a couple of minutes of swimming, their surroundings became pitch black. Clarion whimpered in fear before hearing Sara's voice.
"Don't worry. Your tails will light up in just a moment." With that each tail began to give off a glow, allowing them to see clearly and they continued with their journey. Clarion still held her sparrowman's hand, still wary of the fact it was still quite dark, and swam as close as she could next to him. He held her hand and whispered sweet nothings and words of comfort in her ear to soothe her. And soon enough the cave began to appear in sight.
"There it is!" Jack pointed as they swam to the entrance. They all looked at one another. "As soon as you all are in here, you'll change back in fairies and land in front of your destination." He explained. They all nodded and took one last look at the darkness around them and their glowing tails.
"If you ever want to come back, just ask." Chloe said softly. "We'll gladly turn you into mermaids or mermen when and if you want to. And we'll miss your company. Tell your parents hello from me when you find them."
Everyone smiled and nodded before making their way into the cave. As soon as they entered the cave began to swirl and they all passed out from the pressure.
Author's Note: I know after making you all wait I shouldn't give you a cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist it and it seemed like a fitting place for one don't you think? The next chapter will be posted real soon since I cant wait to write it! I want to apologise again for the major delay in updating but I promise I'll do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't happen again. I swear this will forever only be the longest wait you'll have to put up with. Thank you so much for your support though and not going at me for not posting sooner and being as patient as you can be.
Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. What did you think about the whole turning into mermaids and mermen thing and how it played out? Really would love to get feedback in any way possible.
See you all real soon in the next chapter…I promise!