Chapter Forty Six
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
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Oh before I forget...I've opted to forgo 'baby/toddler' talk because well...it's a pain in the butt to write lol!
danifan3000: Yeah I heard that too…
Estella234: Glad you liked it!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! I know! He took his time but he's here! And of course you gotta love Mushu!
61394: To be honest…I wasn't expecting Mushu either. He just…appeared!
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Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Time seemed to go by in the blink of an eye as Stephanie, Maurice, Emily, Helena, and Caroline had soon celebrated their second birthdays. Every milestone had been celebrated by all of the parents—walking, talking, potty training (well at least the beginnings)… though there was one milestone no one had been prepared for.
"Papa!" Emily called as she toddled to Akiho.
"Hey there my little snow angel!" Akiho smiled as he picked Emily up into his arms. "How are you?"
"I'm good papa! I made icies!"
Akiho paused as he heard that and Elle looked over at her husband, as if she was double checking with him that she'd heard the same thing he had.
"Emily? What do you mean you made 'icies'?" Akiho asked.
"Like this papa," Emily said, showing Akiho her hand with her palm facing toward the ceiling. There, Akiho could see small flurries floating around his daughter's palm almost like moths being drawn to a light.
Akiho and Elle locked eyes with each other, both of them coming to the same conclusion. Emily had ice powers.
"Elle, my darling wife? Would you mind holding our daughter for a minute?" Akiho asked.
"I mean…of course I'd love to hold Emily but…why?" Elle asked as Emily grinned at the chance to cuddle with her mama. Akiho didn't answer but, after making sure Emily was secure on Elle's lap, whipped out his phone and pressed a button on his speed dial.
"Ben? Um…how would one handle having a magical child? Specially one who can drown me in snow?" Akiho whispered, turning his head so that Emily couldn't see the panic on his face.
Of course he didn't mind that Emily had ice powers, he knew it was a high possibility considering his mother's family tradition of the eldest daughter getting them. However he also had to think about the safety of his wife. He didn't know how wheelchairs would react on ice so if he had to call in the calvary of his best friend, then as the Gods as his witness he would.
"I'm sorry? You'll have to speak up Akiho because I just found out…ouch! Effy, darling, papa is not flammable! Mal!"
"Ben, do you have me on speaker?" Akiho asked.
"Yes because my daughter recently discovered she could turn into a dragon and has decided she covets shiny things like my buttons!"
Elle shook her head, unable to hear any of what Ben had said but she was still amused by the whole thing. "I love how your first reaction to this is to call Ben instead of discussing it with me," she said with a small chuckle.
"Hey if Ben hadn't picked up, I'd be calling my Aunt Elsa," Akiho told her, putting his hand over the speaker as to prevent Ben from hearing.
"Dude, I'd like to just say that you're kinda getting the easy end of the stick," Ben said. "I'm dealing with a baby dragon here but please vent away…wait hang on, Harry's calling. I'll add him to the call."
"Go ahead Ben but don't deny the fact that you're loving having a baby dragon in your life."
"I mean yeah of course I do…I'd just love it more if she wasn't attacking my buttons! Oh hey Harry, you're on the call with me and Akiho."
"Can one of you lot give me a life boat?! My daughter is flooding the kitchen!"
"Okay, did not expect that to be the first thing out of Harry's mouth," Akiho said, shaking his head.
"Harry? Are you okay?" Ben asked.
"No! Uma's off on a trading route and Helena apparently thinks 'terrible twos' means 'time to drown papa'! Ben, I might need to use your speedboat in my kitchen!"
"Hey, now you've got an indoor swimming pool," Akiho couldn't help but joke.
"Not funny!"
Elle shook her head. "Come on honey, let's go video chat with your Auntie Mel and you can show her your new powers!"
"Yay!" Emily grinned and Elle rolled her way out of the room. She knew Akiho was nervous about how her chair would work if Emily gained the familial ice powers and she also knew that Akiho would love their daughter no matter what. However, that didn't mean Emily needed to hear her father's worries and fears.
"Hey, my daughter can apparently drown me in snow so I'm in the same boat as you," Akiho said after he double checked that Emily was no longer in the room. "Ben, help!"
"What makes you think I can help you? Ice is your family's background Akiho!"
Akiho opened his mouth and then closed it as he realized Ben was right.
"…Ben! Why does our son's cry sound like a Beast's roar?!" Mal's voice could be heard in the background.
"Sounds like both your kids have powers dude," Akiho chuckled.
"Aye, at least Helena's not a twin," Harry chuckled. "Oh hold on, DeVil's calling me."
Huh…odd. Carlos doesn't exactly seem like the type to call Harry. I'd have thought he'd call Gil, Akiho thought as Harry put Carlos on the call.
"Hey DeVil, you're on a group call with Akiho and Benny," Harry said.
"Oh good, I was hoping to talk to them too," Carlos said.
"What's up Carlos?" Ben asked.
"How do you reverse your daughter turning her plush dog into a real one?"
"…I'm guessing this is your way of saying Caroline's got magic too?" Ben asked.
"You'd be right," Carlos told him. "And I'm guessing by the sound of your voice, you're experiencing the joy of magical children?"
"Hey, only the person who had his kitchen turned into an indoor swimming pool can be sarcastic about the joys of anything related to raising magical children!" Harry called.
"Harry, you can swim. Just get a floaty and worry about mopping up the water when Uma gets back," Carlos said and Ben could hear the eye roll in his voice. "What am I going to do about this dog? Caroline's crying because she wants her plushie back and I can't figure out how to turn the real dog back into said plushie!"
Ben sighed. "Why do I have a feeling all of our wives are on a text thread talking about us right now? Also…why is Gil calling me?"
"I have none of the answers you seek," Akiho said "Bring Gil on the call though, he's gone through the whole kids with powers thing, maybe he's got some advice."
"Good idea," Ben said, ignoring the snort from Harry. He knew it was mostly good natured now anyway since Gil was technically Harry's family after Harry and Uma got married. What with Gil being Macaria's husband and Macaria being Uma's cousin and all.
"Hey guys," Gil's cheerful voice rang through the call. "Macaria suggested I give you guys a call, apparently she heard from Elle and Mal that you guys got surprised by toddlers with powers?"
"You could say that," Ben nodded before a loud clatter could be heard on his end.
"You alright Ben?" Akiho and Harry both asked.
"Fine, fine…no Effy, you can't have my buttons! Yes I know they're shiny, yes I know dragons like shiny things! Gah!"
"…Okay so I think we've lost Ben," Gil said as the commotion could continue to be heard as Ben was presumably running away from the dragon version of his toddler daughter. "Why didn't you guys set up magic free zones? Macaria said there were runes you could set up."
"…We have Fairy Godmother coming tomorrow to talk about that," Carlos said. "We just didn't think Caroline's powers would manifest so soon."
"Uma's said flat out no magical barriers," Harry said. "She lived sixteen years of her life under one, she doesn't want Helena to have to go through that…even if it would be nice to not have to swim in our kitchen!"
"Hey Harry, quick question. If you're talking with us, who's watching Helena?" Akiho asked.
"CJ and Ryan came over when I called CJ to ask her to watch Helena while I handled the flooding," Harry told him. "What, you thought I'd leave my toddler daughter alone while I dealt with flooding in my home Akiho?"
"…Of course not!"
"Yes you did, don't lie," Harry said and Akiho could almost see him shaking his head. "You might be allies with VKs, Akiho, but you're still an AK when it comes to your lying ability."
"I think we might have gotten a little off track," Carlos said.
"That happens with an Akiho conversation," Ben said, re-entering the conversation. "It's worse when it's with both Akiho and Emir. Hey speaking of Emir, I'm surprised he's not in this conversation. Feels odd, doing something without him."
"I know what you mean but at the same time, shouldn't we have expected it?" Akiho asked, opting to ignore Ben's comment about how conversations with him could get off track. "Neither he nor Emma have magic after all and it's not as if Aladdin, Jasmine, Snow, or David have magic that could skip generations."
"You're right…still feels odd though."
"Preaching to the choir there Ben, preaching to the choir."
"Not to change the subject but could we get back to the pirate who has to swim in his own kitchen?!" Harry exclaimed. "How am I—?"
"Harry, couldn't you reach out to Lord Poseidon?" Gil asked. "I mean…you do work for his brother and it's no secret that Lord Hades favors Lord Poseidon over Lord Zeus."
"I don't exactly have the Olympian mental link Gil!"
"So call Lord Hades and have him use his link. Or I could ask Macaria to talk to him if you'd like?"
"You mean she's not ducking young kids with powers?" Carlos asked over the small barks that could heard in the background.
Gil chuckled. "Forget our kids are a bit older than yours, Carlos? Gwen and Markos still have their power flair ups but they don't happen as often now. Which is great because it means I can take them with me to Evie's and not worry that they're going to potentially fry her sewing machine."
"I think Evie would kill you if they did that," Ben said with a small chuckle before a medium sized clatter could be heard on his end.
"You alright Ben?"
"…Can someone transform my daughter back into a human? Ducking to the ground every time she wants to swoop at my buttons is painful," Ben said, a slight groan to his voice.
"Portable magic wards, works every time," Gil said.
"Wait…didn't Fairy Godmother give Hadie, Emir, and you a prototype of those to use at Mal's baby shower since Rea was going to be there, Akiho?" Ben asked.
"…Yes?"
"I think what Benny is saying is how could you forget those?!" Harry called. "And oh, Gil, thank your wife for me. Lord Posideon's just arrived and I'm no longer in danger of drowning. I still have to swim but I'm treading water."
"Good to know, I'll pass the news off to Macaria," Gil said, the smile audible in his voice. "Ben, do you want me to ask Macaria to reach out to Lord Hades for you?"
"…Judging by the fact that Dean just announced Lord Hades and Lady Persephone are at the door, I think Mal did that," Ben said with a small chuckle. "Thanks though Gil."
"Any time, you know we in-laws have to stick together."
"Did you ever think you'd say you'd share family with Belle and Beast's son?" Harry asked with a small chuckle.
"Honestly? I'm more amazed I ended up sharing family with you Harry," Gil said and Ben could almost see the blond shrug.
"…That's fair," Harry said. "Well lads, I hate to go but it's probably rude to keep talking on the phone when one has a literal God in his kitchen so I'll talk to you all soon."
"Sounds good Harry," Ben said. "I should go too, no sense in making my in-laws mad at me."
"And I guess I'll go ahead and call Fairy Godmother to see if she can turn Caroline's toy back into a toy instead of the actual dog it's been transformed into," Carlos nodded.
"Sounds like we've all got our marching orders," Akiho said with a slight chuckle.
"Let me guess, you're going to go and make sure your castle isn't completely covered in ice?" Harry asked.
"Knowing Akiho, he's going to encourage Emily to do just that now," Ben said and Akiho could almost see him shaking his head.
"While normally you're not wrong, that would make it a challenge for Elle to move around," Akiho pointed out.
"Ah yes good point."
Akiho shook his head. "Alright you guys, I'm going to go before Elle thinks I'm insane."
"You mean she didn't know that before she married you?"
"Yeah dude, I'm pretty sure everyone knew that in school," Ben chuckled.
Akiho shook his head once more at Harry's and Ben's comments. "Don't you two have somewhere else to be? Like not drowning in your kitchen and ducking your dragon daughter's attempt to steal your buttons?"
"Touché."
"Well I'll let you guys go but we should definitely meet up at some point. Compare notes on the insanity that is our lives," Akiho said with a chuckle.
"Sounds good mate," Harry nodded.
"I'm down," Gil said.
"If I don't have any clients that day, I'm happy to meet up," Carlos chimed in.
"Same, I'll check my calendar and make sure I don't have any meetings whenever we decide to meet up," Ben promised.
"Can't wait," Akiho said, a grin beginning to form at the thought. Of course, he was always happy to see his friends but this just made the happiness twofold. Ending the call, Akiho turned to go find his wife and daughter.
"Crisis averted?" Elle teased as Akiho found them.
"Yeah," Akiho said. "What have you two been up to?"
"Well we called up Melody, who I'm sure you remember has kids of her own," Elle told him. "And Emily showed her the flurries Emily can now summon."
"So you're saying I panicked too soon?" Akiho asked.
Elle gave him a small smile. "I'm saying that I get it, you're worried about how my chair will react to Emily's powers, but Akiho, you panicked too soon. You don't even know if my chair will be impacted by Emily's new powers. Plus we've got your aunt on speed dial to help teach Emily how to use her ice magic."
She looked over at Emily, who had been off in a corner practicing her flurries. "Besides, I'd rather not panic now and make Emily afraid of her own powers. You know how caring she is. If she thought she could hurt me…?"
"She'd end up like Aunt Elsa did and try to suppress her powers," Akiho said, the realization coming to him. Kneeling down so that he was at Emily's height, Akiho called, "Emily, sweetie, can you come here please?"
"Okay papa!" Emily said and toddled over to him.
"Emily, can you make papa a promise?"
"Uh huh," Emily nodded.
"Can you promise papa that no matter what anyone says about your powers, that you'll continue to use them?" Akiho asked. "Unless mama and papa say it's not safe to use them or it's bedtime."
"Okay papa!" Emily said with a smile.
Akiho smiled back at her. "That's my good girl," he said. "Maybe this weekend we can go and visit Auntie Elsa and you can show her your powers in person."
The resulting cheer from his toddler told Akiho that he had definitely said the right thing.