Once lunch was finished, the door to the house opened and in came Brandy along with her and Bruce's kids, some of which Ariel knew from the movie. "Brandy? Is everything, alright?" Bruce asked his wife, Brandy looked to her husband and in-laws before spotting Ariel at the table. "Everything's fine, but the kids wanted to know if our guest was awake." Brandy replied as the kids moved to the table, Bruce looked at his kids before following their gaze to Ariel, and that's when he realized why they had wanted to know if she was awake. "Kids, I know you want to play with Ariel, but you have to ask her and promise to be gentle." Bruce told his kids sternly, he may have been use to roughhousing with his children, but Ariel would not be. "Will you please play with us?" LaBreezy asked nicely, with a smile on her face, Ariel agreed to play with the kids as Branch and the others agreed to supervise while Bruce and Brandy went back to the restaurant. "Is this a good idea?" Branch asked his three remaining older brothers, he might not trust the human yet, but he didn't want his nephews or niece to end up accidentally hurting Ariel. "We'll be here to watch the kids." John Dory responded as the kids chose to play musical statues with Ariel on the table. "I'll play and pause the music." Poppy told the kids, they all cheered happily as the pop queen began the music for them. "They seem to be mindful of the height difference between them and Ariel." Clay added, he laughed fondly when he noticed that Viva had joined the fourteen kids in order to play their game at some point.
"Bruce and Brandy did say to get them if something happens, but we'll be here to watch out for the kids." Floyd said with a gentle tone, he watched as Ariel had fun playing the game even though she lost the game in the second round. The four bros watched over the kids as they decided to take a break from their game while asking Ariel some questions. "Are your mommy and daddy coming to the island?" Cove asked cursorily, this made Ariel freeze in shock, as the half troll-half vacaytioners waited for her answer while the six trolls looked at Ariel's expression in concern. "My parents aren't in the picture anymore." Ariel replied slowly, she had to choose her words carefully since it was painful for her to talk about her parents. "Why not?" Windy asked with a head tilt, Ariel took some calming breaths. "They left me when I was only six years-old." Ariel answered honestly, this made the thirteen kids and six adults gasp in shock. "How could any parent do that?" Rainy asked sadly, he and brothers and sister didn't understand why Ariel's parents would willingly leave her to fend for herself while she was just a kid. "My family was a broken family, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fix it." Ariel said with a sad smile, the kids looked at each other before decided to change the subject which made Ariel feel better as they chose to play another game. "We need to help Ariel!" Floyd thought sadly, he and his brothers knew the pain of leaving each other behind, and even though they reunited, the bros were still fixing their relationship and it was getting better, but after hearing how Ariel tried to keep her family together only to fail, felt like a slap to the face for them.
A little while later, Bruce and Brandy returned to the house after closing the restaurant for the night in order to start dinner while Branch filled them in on what they had learned about Ariel since the kids asked her some more questions, and needless to say, the parents weren't happy to learn that Ariel had been abandoned by her own mom and dad. "How could they do that?" Brandy asked in slight anger, as a mother, Brandy couldn't stand the thought of a child being left behind by the ones who were supposed to care for the child in question. "Why would Ariel feel like she had to fix things?" Bruce asked in confusion and worry, he knew that what happened with Ariel's family wasn't her fault, even if they didn't have the full story, Bruce knew that Ariel wasn't to blame for her parents leaving her the way they did. "She'll tell us when she's ready." Branch replied with a sigh, then he told his second oldest brother and sister-in law how the kids had spent the rest of the day playing games while being careful not to hurt Ariel. "At least the kids are getting along." Brandy said as she calmed down then flipped the burgers over. "Ariel was really having fun." Branch commented out loud, that was when Bruce and Brandy started to wonder where their kids were before the three of them heard music coming from the living room. "What's going on?" Bruce asked Branch, his youngest brother shrugged in confusion, so the three went into the living room to see that Ariel was giving the other kids a dance lesson, but told them to just have fun even if they couldn't get the moves right.
[Play Shuffle of Love from Descendants: The Rise Of Red]
[Ariel]
(Music)
Got more aces up my sleeve
I got tricks you've never seen
I hope you'll bet on me
Maybe I'll blow your mind (Your mind, whoa)
Show me if you're there
Make all your worries disappear
Magic in the air
Something you can't deny
And you can do it too
If you just follow suit
First, one two-step to start
Feel the beat of your heart
Show me your, show me your cards
Then throw your hands up
Now take it side to side
Lean back like that and glide
Then do whatever you like
The shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of, shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of love
(Music)
Pick a card, any card
What is it, don't say
(Music)
Is it the queen of hearts?
My favorite all day
'Cause I'm all about love (About love)
And I got it in spades (In spades)
Makes you wanna move
Watch me levitate
And you can do it too
If you just follow suit
First, one two-step to start
Feel the beat of your heart
Show me your, show me your cards
Then throw your hands up
Now take it side to side
Lean back like that and glide
Then do whatever you like
The shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of, shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of, shuffle of love
The shuffle of, shuffle of (Love)
The shuffle of
It's a brand new deal
Dance 'til you feel the love
Shuffle of love
Jack of diamonds, night is shining
Got me flying, let me show you it's done (Ooh)
First, one two-step to start (To start)
Feel the beat of your heart (Your heart)
Show me your, show me your cards
Then throw your hands up
Now take it side to side
Lean back like that and glide
Do it with me one more time
That's the shuffle of love
First, one two-step to start
Feel the beat of your heart
Show me your, show me your cards
Then throw your hands up
Now take it side to side
Lean back like that and glide
Then do whatever you like
That's the shuffle of love!
At the end of the song, Ariel praised Bruce and Brandy's kids since they had tried their hardest to follow her dance moves, but since it was a little tricky for them, the kids got creative by adding their own dance moves instead of trying to follow all of Ariel's dance steps. "It's okay that we added our own steps?" Bruce Jr asked, he and his siblings were worried that Ariel would be mad since they hadn't done her exact dance steps even though she'd shown them what to do, and that's why the adults were ready to step in, if Ariel started yelling. "Dancing should be fun, and that's why you adding your own moves made this even more fun." Ariel replied with a smile, she was telling them the truth. "But we didn't do what you did." Freddy pointed out, this was what made him, his brothers and sister nervous. "Who said you had to do what I did?" Ariel asked with a frown, the kids looked at each other before realizing that Ariel had told them to just have fun, not copy her every move. "You only told us to 'have fun' not 'copy you'." Windy spoke up, his siblings nodded as they understood what Ariel was trying to tell them.
The eight adults smiled at the kids after hearing Ariel's explanation on why she wasn't mad at the others for not following all of her moves. "This may be a dance lesson, but it's a fun one." Ariel said with a chuckle, the other kids nodded before seeing their parents. "Dinner's ready." Brandy told everyone, Ariel watched as everyone went to the table to eat, but she was unsure if she was allowed to eat. "Aren't you coming?" LaBreezy asked her, Ariel shrugged in response as she remembered how her parents wouldn't allow her to have dinner after dance practice. "You're too skinny as mommy would say, so you need food." LaBreezy said as she gently and carefully picked up Ariel then went over to the table. "You can sit right next to me." LaBreezy told Ariel, the red head was stunned that she was being given some more food to eat while missing the looks that the adults were giving her along with Bruce and Brandy giving their only daughter proud looks for helping their new friend to the table. "You'll love mommy's cooking." Rainy told Ariel, the kids loaded up a bunch of food for Ariel since they knew that she needed lots of it. "T-thank you." Ariel replied as she felt her face heat up, everyone cooed or laughed sweetly at the young twelve year-old before going back to their own conversations and food.
New chapter done! I don't own Bruce's kids or Brandy, the names of the kids were on wiki, so that's how I got them.
I also don't own the song in this chapter, please read and review, but no flames!