Chapter Three

Departure

MELODY

The archer planted her feet securely on the concrete, shoulder width apart, and lined up her feet parallel to her shooting line. She rotated on the balls of her feet till she was positioned in an open stance, improving her stability. Straightening her slender frame, she rotated her chin towards her right shoulder as she lifted her bow and drew back the arrow slowly. Her eyes narrowed to see better in the blinding morning sunlight as she breathed as calmly as she could manage.

But it proved difficult, the idea of trying to focus on her target. The idea that she could not allow herself to miss. The idea of…damn it. Her trembling fingers slipped and released the grip on the bowstring. The arrow flew wide and hurtled out to sea, missing the target board completely.

She sighed, her shoulders dropping in disappointment.

"Again." Oliver held out another arrow.

"This isn't going anywhere," she said exasperatedly.

"Yes it is. Overboard," he snorted and tried to stifle it, but not before Melody gave him an icy glare. "Sorry. That was terrible."

"The joke or my aim?"

"You really want the truth?"

She shook her head. "I already know the answer to that." She snatched the proffered arrow from his hand and nocked it in her compound bow. Her specially constructed bow was supposed to compensate for most human errors, but yet she still couldn't seem to hit anything on the target board, much less the bullseye. And to think I used to be able to do this without even having to try! Years of training and experience, all gone.

"What are you waiting for?"

Clenching her jaw, she drew back the bowstring as she aimed at the target board. Baby steps. Hit the board first before thinking about the bullseye. Despite the winter morning's chill beating against the side of her face, cold sweat began to form on her brow and her palms grew sweaty. No, no, no, focus! Her teeth ground against one another as her muscles tensed, trembling with the effort. Focus, damn it!

With all her effort and control, she released the arrow and willed it to hit the board. Like the one that came before, it whizzed straight past her target and out to the vast ocean.

"Okay," Oliver said thoughtfully. "We might really have to start from the very basics again."

Melody grunted in frustration, her grip tightening on the riser of her bow. "This is humiliating." She glanced round at the bustling deck. Most of the Agrabanian sailors who were manning the sails - and doing whatever else seamen did - and Coalition soldiers eating breakfast or playing cards were all watching her. They all looked away hurriedly when she noticed them, but it was obvious they'd seen everything. Terrific.

"It's not like we have a better place to practice," Oliver pointed out. "We need a practical environment to start off with, one with sufficient range and wind to compensate for."

"Yeah, but everyone gets to see me make a fool out of myself."

"The Melody I know wouldn't care about what others think of her. She'll just get the job done, pride be damned."

She stared at him and raised her bow. "Do I look like that same Melody?"

"Yes," he levelled her gaze. "Beneath whatever you've buried yourself under, I still see that talented, determined girl who annoyed the shit out of all her competitors in school including myself when she couldn't seem to miss a target even if she damn well tried."

"You're deluding yourself."

He took her arm, concern in his eyes. "What happened to that girl during the siege of Steinfall? The one who fought beside us all and carved through hundreds of those bastards?"

"She faded away along with whatever spell Holli gave me," Melody looked down at her feet. "I think we should call it a day."

"We literally just started!"

"No, I'm done," she turned to leave.

"You're done, when I say you're done," Oliver refused to relinquish his grip on her arm. "You asked me to train you. This is what it looks like."

"Take your hand off me," she looked over her shoulder, her frustration replacing the tremors. "Now."

"You're not leaving yet."

"Last warning."

"Not going to happen."

She twisted angrily, slipping out of his grip and landing a jab on his collarbone, staggering him back a couple of paces. The soldiers and sailors in the near vicinity stopped what they were doing again, their attention suddenly directed towards the commotion again.

Oliver breathed hard, glaring straight at Melody. "That was uncalled for."

Melody blinked in horror, taking a moment to realise what she'd done reflexively. "I…I didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to be a total ass?" Oliver shook his head. "You're right. We're done here, Your Highness." He turned round to walk off in the opposite direction, and found soldiers and sailors staring at them. "Get lost." He said as he pushed them aside and cut through their midst.

Melody opened her mouth to stop him, but the words caught in her throat. What the hell was I thinking? The shame and frustration rushed in all at once, forcing her to turn away from the onlookers and slink off towards the stairs leading down to the cabins. She'd treated Oliver so horribly, and for what? He'd agreed to train her even though he didn't have to, and more importantly, he was a close friend. He didn't deserve to be treated so horribly in front of all those soldiers and sailors.

This trauma or guilt…whatever it is…she descended down the steps away from the eyes of all her witnesses. It's destroying my relationships with my friends. People I care about. She fingered the little rocks of Maui's tribal necklace that now rested on her chest alongside her own golden one. Maui would be ashamed of me.

So consumed by her own grief, she streamed past the Danish soldiers in the narrow corridor of the ship's lower levels, failing to realise her own men were saluting her.

You know what you need to do. Maui's voice, clear as day.

Ignoring her own conscience, she bolted back to her private quarters, where she slipped into the room and shut it behind her before she could suffer another emotional breakdown - only to find Tracy and Anna waiting for her inside.

"What are you doing here?" Melody hissed, holding back the wave of emotion that threatened to break lose.

"We were looking for you last night," Tracy slouched in a chair, her feet up on Melody's pillow. "You weren't around, so we thought we'd swing by today to give you the breakdown."

"Breakdown?" She struggled to keep her composure. "Wait, how the hell did you get in here?"

"The doors on this ship have no locks," Anna said. "No privacy at all."

Tracy snorted. "Like anyone wants to see what you and Kristoff do at night."

"Oh, just shut up," Anna massaged her temples.

"Anyway, you'd never guess what we came to tell you," Tracy grinned.

"I'm not really in the mood for games right now."

"No game," Tracy assured her. "Trust me, you probably want to sit down for what's coming."

Melody folded her arms. "What's going on?"

Tracy looked over at Anna. "It's your surprise."

Anna sighed, meeting Melody's eyes. "I'm pregnant."

Melody's eyes widened. "What?"

"In all fairness, you took it a lot better than I did," Tracy noted. "I thought they were all in on the joke."

"You're pregnant?" Melody repeated, staring at Anna. "But when-"

"I think it was after we routed the Exonians at Korynes," Anna was going red. "Look, I only just found out. Like yesterday."

"Wow," Melody ran a hand through her hair, her eyes still wide as saucers. "Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"How is Kristoff taking it?"

"He's scared shitless," Anna chortled. "But honestly, so am I."

"I…I don't know what to say." Melody ran a hand through her hair. "I'm happy for you, but I have so many questions."

"Oh, and there's something else," Tracy said.

"What?"

Tracy glanced at Anna. "You wanna take this one too?"

"Be my guest."

"Right," Tracy looked at Melody. "What if we told you travelling through time was real?"

Melody frowned. "Time travel?"

"Yeah, think of it like travelling to the past or future like you're riding a horse." Tracy explained.

Melody's brow creased further. "Where are you going with this?"

"You know Anna's pregnant," Tracy said. "And now her descendants from the future have come back to help us."

Unfolding her arms, Melody stared hard at Tracy, then at Anna. "You're serious. You're saying Anna's descendants time-travelled here?"

"Both Anna's and Elsa's."

Who are they?"

"You've already met them," Anna looked as though she'd already gotten used to the idea. "Talya's mine and Kristoff's, and Peggy's from Elsa and Janus."

"I…" Melody stuttered. "I'm having a hard time trying to believe this."

"You weren't alone," Anna grimaced. "But it's true. They laid the seeds that enabled us to escape the Empire with our lives. If it weren't for them, we would've already been dead according to this new twisted version of history."

"Long story short, Hans found a way to change the future and now our descendants are here to stop him and get history back on track," Tracy said. "Wow. It actually sounds bloody cool when you say it out loud."

Staring at her two friends for another long moment, Melody shook her head. "I don't know what to say."

"It's alright," Anna put a hand on her shoulder. "I took some time to process it all. But we just wanted to keep you in the loop before the meeting."

Melody looked blankly at Anna. "Meeting?"

"The descendants are calling for a meeting," Tracy snorted again. "Don't know when they started running the bloody show."

"Fifteen minutes," Anna said. "We'll convene in the ship's war room."

"War room?" Melody asked.

"We're going to need the space," Anna explained. "Besides, we're still at war after all."

This is insane. Melody stared hard at the two girls - Talya and Peggy - as they entered the ship's war room. They looked like any other ordinary people, but yet they were supposedly time travellers, descendants from the 21st century. How could it be possible? Then again, Melody grimaced. We've seen some pretty impossible things the past few years.

The table in the centre of the war room was fully occupied by the Warriors. Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Tracy, Deirdre, Eleanor - who wasn't really one of them - the Witch Hunters - whom she supposed were part of the team by now - and herself. Janus was still recovering from his injuries and he'd been out of action since the end of the siege.

Out of all of them, the former mercenary had sustained the worst injuries and it was a miracle he was still alive, probably thanks to Holli's healing magic. Elsa had told them Holli's diagnosis was that he wouldn't regain sight in his left eye, but he didn't know that yet since he hadn't stirred from unconsciousness since boarding the ship.

Peggy stood before them all, with Talya by her side. She looked somewhat sheepish, unsure of where to begin.

"You said you have something for us," Kristoff said guardedly.

Peggy looked uncomfortable. "We do."

"Spit it out," Anna said. "We made sure that everyone in this room has already been briefed on whatever you told us last night."

Peggy opened her mouth, then closed it as though rethinking her approach.

"What is it?" Elsa asked somewhat worriedly.

"Forget it, I'll handle this," Talya cut Peggy off before she could start again. The descendent of Anna looked round at everyone seated at the table. "We decided that we have to go back to our time."

"And what the hell does that mean?" Deirdre's tone was accusatory.

"Probably shouldn't have led with that," Talya muttered.

"What Talya means to say is we went over plans all night," Peggy's shoulders were slightly slumped. "And we came to the conclusion that we have to go back to the 21st century,"

Tracy leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, that didn't help narrow things down much further."

"So you're abandoning us, that's what you're saying," Eleanor surmised.

Talya glared at her. "Why is she even here?"

"Asked myself the same question," Kristoff said stolidly.

"Why are you going back?" Elsa asked.

"You said you came back to stop Hans and change things back to the way they were," Anna added. "As far as I can tell, nothing's changed yet apart from our supposed deaths."

"You're right," Peggy said. "But we have to go back if we're going to have a chance to succeed."

"How so?" Melody asked. She had always been the team's best tactician, but here, she felt like she was in uncharted territory. Warlords and magic she could handle. Maybe even dealing with demon assassins. But this whole 'travelling through time' thing? This was way out of her league, and she knew it.

"First of all, these," Talya held up two strange devices, not unlike the ones Melody had seen when the Empress had banished her, Anna and Maui to another futuristic world. The devices both had a flashing red light displayed on a small panel on the back. "The Chronotravellers are running out of charge. We're going to need to get back to our present to recharge the batteries, otherwise we'll be stranded here forever."

"And second, the best way we can help you is to go back for more information," Peggy said. "When we stopped you all from dying either in Exon or during the Siege of Steinfall, we already altered history. We need to know what else has changed."

"Val's the best person to help us," Talya added. "My brother, that is. He'll have been researching for a way to restore things to the way they were. Once we find out more about how to take the Last Emperor down, we'll be back."

"Somehow I don't find that very reassuring," Gretel said.

"I know you don't have a lot of reason to trust us," Peggy replied, and turned to everyone else with a look of discomfort. "All of you. We showed up out of the blue and lied about who we really were to get close to you."

"That's a bit of an understatement," Deirdre said acidly.

"We have a stake in this," Talya placed both hands on the round table. "If we don't help you stop Hans, we'll forever be stuck in a world ruled by the Last Emperor. Subjugated. Conquered. We're coming back as soon as we have a clue as to what we should do next."

"When will that be?" Elsa asked.

"We don't know," Talya answered truthfully. "But what more can we offer other than our word?"

Silence settled across the war room for a good long minute. Melody caught Tracy's eye, and the girl gave her a shrug. She turned her attention to the others around the room. Everyone was in silent contemplation of what they'd just been told, and Melody herself was no different. She was having a hard time believing or understanding all of this.

"Go," Anna finally broke the silence. "Before you're both stuck here without a way home."

Peggy looked at her. "You believe us?"

"We don't have any other alternatives."

Talya put a hand on Anna's arm. "I swear to you, we'll be back," she looked at everyone. "We will. That I can promise you."

"Will you tell Janus I'm sorry?" Peggy asked Elsa.

Elsa nodded. "I will. Now go. You're both running out of time."

Talya and Peggy both nodded, each taking a Chronotraveller in hand. It took them both a few seconds to fumble with the devices, but soon seemed to figure it out.

Melody watched as the two Arendellian descendants began to fade from sight, slowly but surely as a white light glowed over them. It was a rather unsettling experience, witnessing the two girls gradually turn translucent, before vanishing completely. And then, they were gone as though they'd never been there.

"Anddd it's back to just us," Tracy put her feet up on the desk, leaning back hard in her chair. "As it's always been."

Sullenly, Deirdre looked over at Anna, Kristoff and Elsa who sat on the opposite side of the round table. "Now that your descendants are gone, what now?"

Anna pursed her lips. "To be honest, I don't know."

All eyes went to Melody.

Melody felt an enormous burden on her, all of a sudden. "I don't know either," she admitted. "In the past, when it's just regular battle or even a war against sorcerers, I knew what to do. But this," she shook her head. "This is all out of my league. And you all know I'm not exactly in a good headspace right now."

"We know," Elsa said quietly.

"That's why I'm also taking this opportunity to tell all of you this," Melody added, feeling the sudden impulse to come clean. "I'm leaving too."

Everyone sat up a little straighter, and even Tracy put her feet down.

"Say what?" Tracy nearly shouted.

"You heard me," Melody felt guilt overwhelming her all of a sudden.

"But…but why?" Elsa looked rather dismayed.

"I'm no good to everyone like this," Melody held out a shaky hand for all to see. "By now all of you know what really happened to Maui, and my part in it. I can't…I can't be the Warrior you need me to be like this. I have to find a way to sort it all out."

"We can help you," Anna glanced at her sympathetically.

"No," Melody said firmly. "I don't want your sympathy. This was my fault, and my mess. I have to clean it up on my own."

The Witch Hunter siblings glanced at each other, looking at a loss for what to say. And Melody couldn't blame them. They didn't exactly have an emotional attachment to this team. They were bounty hunters who for some reason were still sticking around with the Warriors.

"Melody," Deirdre looked unhappy. "We can figure this out together. You don't have to-"

"I'm sorry. I have to do this alone," Melody felt tears prickling her eyes and she fought them back as she strode quickly to the exit. She paused long enough to look over her shoulder. "I'm sorry." With that, she walked out of the war room, leaving her friends speechless.

Apparently, it'd begun to snow heavily at some point during their time in the war room, for when Melody arrived up on the deck, the sky was completely dark in spite of the fact it wasn't even noon yet, and thick snow fell from the ominous clouds. The winds howled and hissed, beating against her as she treaded across the empty deck - the soldiers and sailors were no doubt seeking shelter in the comfort of their own quarters away from the storm. But she didn't care. Where she was going, no snow storm could get to her.

"Hey!" Tracy screeched over the sound of the incessant winds. "You really gonna leave without giving us a proper goodbye?"

Melody spun to find both Tracy and Elsa not far behind.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked as they closed the gap. "We're stuck on a ship."

"She's not," Tracy glared at Melody. "You're going back to the bloody sea, aren't you?"

Melody met her gaze, just as a flash of lightning lit up the clouds and a clap of thunder followed. "I am."

"You don't have to do this," Elsa pleaded with her. "You remember when I said I would be here to help you through this?"

Melody's eyes narrowed.

"How am I supposed to help you if you're gone?"

"I don't need your help," Melody said, and rumbling thunder ensued. "You can't help me. No one can."

"Don't be stupid," Tracy took her arm. "You think running away's going to solve anything? We're here to help. Don't push us away."

Roughly, Melody tugged her arm away. "Who said anything about running?"

"Sure looks like running to me. Or swimming."

"This isn't what you really want," Elsa said. "Think this through."

"I have thought this through," Melody insisted. She had, actually, ever since she and the others had successfully evacuated from Steinfall. The final nail in the coffin was earlier today when she'd punched Oliver for trying to help her. "I'm affecting everyone around me. Hurting those who are close to me. I need space if I'm going to heal and figure this out. I can't stay here."

"Melody…" Elsa trailed off.

"No. I wish I could make you understand," Melody blinked away tears, which were immediately swept away by the winds and snow. "But I can't. Please let me go," She walked up to the side of the ship, removing her winter jacket and handing it to Tracy. "Keep this for me, will you?"

Wordlessly, Tracy took it from her as Melody's fingers brushed Maui's necklace. Her fingers lingered there for a moment before she reached for her own necklace and lifted it into the palm of her hand. The necklace began to emit a golden beam of light, expanding outwards to consume her. Light engulfed her entire being, illuminating her gloomy surroundings in a bright, warm glow in contrast to the stark grey skies. When the golden light receded back into the necklace, she was a mermaid again, her legs replaced by her vibrant salmon-pink tail.

Swinging herself off the deck, Melody sat on the edge of the ship's port, ready to return to the sea.

"Where will you go?" Tracy asked.

"To be honest, I don't know," Melody dove off the ship and extended her arms in front of her as she plummeted towards the water. She broke through the surface, disappearing into the ocean. Once again, all was quiet and calm, the sounds of the snow storm above her gone. All that remained was the calm of the waters, and they reminded her of an easier time. A better time.

As she floated just beneath the surface of the water, she looked up at the ship as it cruised onward away from her position. "I'm sorry," she whispered to no one in particular - yet directed to everyone at the same time. With that, she turned and swam deeper down into the ocean.