rockabye •twenty-five

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The guests and hosts stood around and talked. The two children ran around, trying to escape Carlos who agreed to play tag with them. Ariel finally spoke with Belle after much insistence from Cinderella. Ben stood with his father, King Eric, and King Phillip and that spoke about upcoming events in their kingdoms. Mal and Evie stood by one another and talking in whisper. Chad and Audrey joined their parents, but occasionally spoke with each other.

Serena was left, watching her daughter having fun. It wasn't often that Athena got to play with other kids her own age. It was a refreshing site to see. Everyone was civil with one another. No one had made any rude remarks. Thank the Gods her mother wasn't acted out. Though, Serena appreciated that her mother just wanted to protect her and her daughter, but at times it felt suffocating.

"Quite the shindig, huh?" Serena looks to her left and sees that Jay had joined her side.

"I guess, I don't know. I've been to hundreds of dinner parties so it really just feels the same." Serena says. Jay smiles at her and sighs.

"This is my first. We don't exactly have fancy dinner parties on the isle." Jay recalls. Serena smiles at him.

"Well then maybe I'll just drag you to the ones I go to. You'd  probably make them less boring."

"I can't imagine someone like yourself every being bored in your life." Jay says. Serena tilted her head to the side in question.

"Someone like me?"

"You're a princess. I'd imagine you'd be invited to balls and special events all around the world." Serena playfully scoffed.
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"Then you'd be surprised how isolated I've been."

"Like in the past four years?"

"More like my entire life. My mother likes to base her youth onto my life. She wasn't allowed freed, she was kept under the sea and under careful watch. Then she met my dad and she went to a sea witch to trade her tail for legs."

"Tail?"

"Mermaid tail. My mom's a mermaid." Serena watches Jay's eyes widen and turned to look at the red haired queen. Ariel was laughing at something Snow White told her.  Serena silent laughs at Jay's shocked face. "It's not as bizarre as you think. My "aunt" and "uncle" were once turned into frogs and constantly being hunted by something during that time. King Adam was turned to a beast. There is a great story about a man who was turned to a bear. My mom turned into a human."

"I'm amazed by your family's story. What's next? On your dad's side he is secretly related to the Gods of Olympus? I've been reading books about them and heard one of those Greek gods have other a hundred children."

"Interested guess, but no. At least not in my dad's side. If your interested you can take a look at the god of the sea."

"What's good about him?"

"Find out and see." Serena teases. Jay crosses his arms.

"So your parents defeated a sea witch, that wouldn't happen to be Ursula, right?"

"It is." Ariel was the one to respond, joining her daughter and Jay after seeing how close they were. "She took my voice in exchange for legs. She tried to cheat me out of the deal and steal my father tridon, so my husband stabbed her with a ship."

Ariel recalls her past and looks to her grown up daughter, Melody talking with Cinderella.

"Then she had my sister, Melody. They were threatened by another sea witch." Serena says. Ariel looks back to her younger daughter and nods.

"Ah yes, Morgana. She attempted to kill my daughter when we went to introduce her to my family."

"That resulted in my mom keeping Melody inside four walls at all times and away from the ocean."

"Why?" Jay asks.

"Morgana escaped at the time, I couldn't take the chance and have Melody roaming around in the ocean."

"You did it for her safety. That's more than what I've seen from parents of the island." Jay says without thinking. For the first time, Ariel smiles at one of the V.K.s. Jay looks at Serena who looks back at his with a smile on her own face. He chuckles nervously "What?"

"Tell us about your family, Jay." Ariel replies, curious to know how someone on the island lives.

"Well, it's just me and dad. My mother died when I was a baby." Jay answers. Ariel haves him a sad smile, knowing all too well the loss.

"That's something we share in common. I lost my own mother at a young age. Pirates. My kind swam up to the surface to celebrate my parents' anniversary when they came. They took our instruments, treasures, and many lives. My father blamed himself and took his angry out on humans. A majority of mine and my sisters' childhood was sent under the sea and never knowing land." Ariel explains. Suddenly she loses her smile when staring at something behind her daughter, or rather someone.

"Hey, whatcha talking about?" Ben asks, joining the small group. Ariel walks away back to her friend. Serena faves an apologetic look towards Ben.

"Did you know her mom is a mermaid?" Jay asks, trying to steer away from Ariel's sudden coldness. Ben smiles and nods.

"Oh yeah. When we were kids, we'd always go swimming at the beach and her tail would appear. King Triton would be there too, lifting us out of the water so we'd splash. Those might be the best parts on my childhood." Ben recalls and looks at Serena.

"Or perhaps the times we'd sneak into the kitchen and eat all the mini cakes Mrs. Potts would have prepared." Serena recalls. Ben laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulder. It felt comfortable to Ben, to felt right. Serena stiffens a bit but tried relax.

"Or when we'd go to the reef to collect seashells." Ben adds.

"Or going to the Seaside Festival and playing with my cousins at the time." Both of them laughed at the fond memories, Serena forgot that Ben's arm was around her.

"Dinner is served!" Mal's voice booms. Ben and Serna looked away from each other and stepped away to give each other space. A tiny hand grabbed Serena's and dragged her off.

"You can sit next to me, mama." Athena says.

Both Ben and Jay stood there, staring after Serena. A few people were not keen to it.






ARIEL AND JAY HAVING A SORT OF HEART-TO-HEART SCENE. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?

SUMMER IS HERE! HOPEFULLY MORE TIME TO WRITE!

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