(co-written by O)
As the group were making their way towards the castle, they saw the fae realm bustling with fairies of many ages and while some were flying around, others were walking or just going about their daily business. There were many homes that they saw fairies living in and a few fairy children playing outside and having fun. One green haired woman seemed to be looking at the quartet more than usual as a big smile grew on her face.
"Well now, I think I know a Moreland boy when I see one. Is that little Chase Moreland I see coming up to my house?" The green haired woman asked.
"Uh yeah, it's me. You're Spark's mother, right? Sorry, you look a little different than when I usually see you when you sometimes visit Connor and Spark's house." Chase said as the woman smiled and nodded.
"If you mean I look good for my age, thank you very much." Spark's mother, Nova said to the group.
"Why don't you all come inside for a minute? I was just going out to say hello to my neighbors, but I think my kids would love seeing you and all your friends." Nova said.
"Well, we're actually on our way to the castle, but I think a little meet and greet wouldn't hurt." Chase said as he looked at his friends who all nodded in agreement.
"Great! Oh, I can't wait for Arion to see how much you've grown." Nova said as they all entered Nova's house.
"Arion, everyone, we've got a special guest here!" Nova said calling out to her family as Arion came out first to see Chase and had a big smile on his face.
"Is this Jacob Moreland's youngest?" Arion said coming over to look over the young man. "Heh, you're the spitting image of your father. Looks like you've also got his muscles to boot." Arion said patting Chase's shoulders."
"Oh! Where are my manners, who are your friends Chase?" Nova asked with a little laugh.
"This is my best friend and fellow demon hunter partner Aaron Harris. He's also a kintaro and grandson of Lord Tatsu and Lady Shizen of the kitsune." Chase said as Aaron nodded with a smile to Arion and Nova.
"Oh yes, we've heard tales of their accomplishments. We also heard that their grandchildren helped to end the civil war that was going on over there." Nova recalled.
"Yeah, that was actually my siblings, not me. Chase and I were a little....preoccupied, plus meeting these two." Aaron explained motioning towards Nyx and Andromeda.
"Who are these lovely young ladies you've got with you?" Arion asked.
"These are the princesses of the Tepes family, and our girlfriends. This is Andromeda, she and I first found each other in the woods by my home." Chase explained gently holding Andromeda's hand as she smiled remembering their first meeting.
"And this beautiful girl here is Nyx, I met her at her at a ball held by her parents. We....had our first dance together there and it was...certainly something." Aaron said as Nyx chuckled a little.
"A dance huh? Even if you're not fairy related I would've thought you danced the rite of spring." Nova said as she and Arion both laughed.
"Oh, laugh it up. It's all happiness and sunshine until you wake up and you look like you swallowed a watermelon." A woman said who walked up to Arion and Nova holding her belly which was quite pregnant and had her hair tied up and was wearing glasses while a young human man stood next to her holding her shoulder.
"Honey, try to be nice to them. I know you're having a little emotional issues right now due your pregnancy but that's no reason to be rude." Nova said patting the woman on her shoulder.
"Emotional? I'm emotional? Of course I'm emotional right now, look at me! I'M AS BIG AS A WHALE, AND I'M HIDEOUS!" The pregnant woman said as she angrily shouted before beginning to cry.
"So...uh....hi there. I'm Deacon, and this is my beautifully pregnant wife Star. She's Spark's sister." Deacon said introducing himself.
"It's nice to meet you." Star said through her tears as she and Deacon went to sit down.
"Deacon and Star met some time after Spark and Connor were dating. Star used to be the older sister of Spark, but met Deacon who was younger than her at the time and like many fairies who fall in love, she changed to match his age. Of course, she realized a little late that he was younger. Still, after a time, the two of them grew closer and eventually married. Deacon was a little surprised to find out the woman he was in love with was a fairy but....like my other daughter and her husband, those two are deeply in love with each other." Arion said.
Star had settled down and stopped crying now as she rubbed her belly while Deacon put his hand on Star's belly patting it as Star batted her eyes at Deacon before kissing him gently at first but then her kissing became more passionate.
"She's also pregnant with triplets meaning I'm going to have seven grandchildren and I'm so exicted for it!" Nova said with glee.
"Yes, they're so happy, while I'm miserable." A male voice said from the kitchen as the group saw a young man drinking from a glass cup with a bottle next to him.
"Ah, that's our son Zephyr. He's become a musical celebrity in the fae realm releasing a few instrumental albums over the years. But lately he's been having a little....writer's block." Nova explained.
"It's not just a writer's block, I need....inspiration. I've been all over the fae realm and have had zero luck in finding anything that has inspired me, it's all just so...drab. I've seen it before, and it's all so boring." Zephyr groaned putting his hands to his head.
Andromeda suddenly had an idea come to her as she pulled Chase over to Zephyr.
"Maybe your next piece of music could be inspired by us?" Andromeda suggested as Zephyr looked at the two of them and shook his head.
"Sorry, but two humans falling in love just isn't as inspiring as it used to be." Zephyr said shaking his head.
"But I'm not human, I'm actually a princess. Princess Andromeda Tepes of the Tepes vampire family to be exact. Chase Moreland is my boyfriend and as you can probably imagine it took....some time before our families came to agree to our relationship." Andromeda said holding Chase's hand firmly as he smiled at Andromeda.
"A demon hunter boy falling in love with the daughter of a vampire lord? That's incredible! Hold on, I need to write this down, it could be....something with European music mixed with American music, yes that would be something...." Zephyr mumbled as he frantically wrote down some notes.
Nyx took a moment thinking she could chime in too alongside her sister with Aaron.
"You could also have some music inspired by me and Aaron. I'm Princess Nyx Tepes, the other daughter of the vampire lord and my boyfriend is related to the kitsune royalty." Nyx suggested as Zephyr's smile grew even larger now.
"This is incredible! I have two new ideas for compositions! Oh, I have so much to write down. Now I have a European music mixed with Japanese music, Oh, I can't wait to start writing the music down. You said you're related to the kitsune lord and lady? So does that make you royalty as well?" Zephyr asked.
"Well....not exactly see my mom...that is my mom who's Japanese is their daughter who's also the daughter of humans and...." Aaron tried to explain before Zephyr held up his hand.
"Forget it! I've already made up my mind, the grandson prince of the kitsune royals fall in love with the princess of the vampire lord. Stories take liberties and the same goes for music as well." Zephyr said as he went to go write out his story and the music.
Just as Zephyr had left, the door to the house opened and another young fairy man stepped inside with a fairy woman following behind him. The girl they noticed had white hair and her eyes were different colors.
"Mom, Dad, Talia and I had an incredible sale down at the art studio. I sold at least 7 of my paintings today." The young man said walking past the quartet.
"That's great Cosmo! What about you Talia? Did anyone buy one of your paintings?" Nova asked.
"Yeah, quite a few actually. I'm a little disappointed though, I haven't made a new painting in a while. I just have to be in the right mood to paint a new one." Talia sighed as Cosmo brought the girl close to him by her shoulder.
"It's okay, art takes time, and people can wait. Besides, your art is always as beautiful as you are." Cosmo said as Talia gave him a kiss on the cheek as a thank you.
"By the way, this is Cosmo and his girlfriend Talia. Cosmo, this young man is Chase Moreland." Arion said to his son as Cosmo shook Chase's hand.
"Whoa, you look a lot like Connor, except more muscles on you. These guys friends of yours too?" Cosmo asked looking to the others.
"Yeah, my friend Aaron and his girlfriend Nyx, and my own girlfriend Andromeda." Chase said introducing the others to Cosmo.
"Cool, Talia and I met some years back when she came to my studio when I was just starting out with my shop. She and I started talking about art and before I knew it, I had a business partner and a partner in life." Cosmo said as Talia nodded with a smile.
"Well, we'd certainly like to stay longer, but we need to go and see the queen and princess on an important matter." Andromeda said reminding them that they had to see Sarah at the castle.
"Going to see the royalty, huh? Well before you see them, stop by Midna's shop. It's right by the capital and I'm pretty sure she's there with her husband." Arion said.
"Mom, is Midna more beautiful than I am right now?" Star asked sounding a little worried.
"You and her are just as beautiful to me as you always have been. Even when you went through a little awkward geek phase." Nova said with a chuckle as Andromeda heard this and had a little idea come to her.
"Well, it was nice seeing all of you, take care." Chase said as he and the others waved them goodbye and Spark's family waved goodbye back.
Outside of Spark's home, Andromeda stopped for a moment.
"Something wrong?" Chase asked.
"Yeah, listen, I'm....I'm sorry about not telling you about the whole height thing when we came to the fae realm, but I think I know how to make it up to you." Andromeda said.
"You do?"
"Yeah, see you weren't the only one who went through an awkward phase of puberty." Andromeda said taking out her phone and pulling up a picture of herself younger looking at least 13, but with messy hair and a few pimples on her face.
"Is that...you?" Chase asked surprised but also noticeably holding back a little laugh.
"Yeah, it is. You can go ahead and laugh, I know I look awkward. It's called being a teenager. I know I seem like I always try to look my best and I do. But when Nyx and I became teenagers...oh boy, you wouldn't believe how we were. We were so emotional and our parents could hardly deal with us. Luckily gram gram and miss Cheyenne were there to help them and us deal with it." Andromeda explained.
Chase now got out his phone and pulled up a picture of him when he was around 13. Andromeda was stunned by what she saw. Chase, her hulking, handsome boyfriend barely entering his teens. He certainly didn't look anything like he did presently. This boy was surprisingly on a basketball team, adorned in his uniform for what must have been a team photo. He also happened to be the shortest one on the team.
"Well...you certainly look....cute." Andromeda said trying to be nice.
"It's okay, you can say I didn't look my best. You could also say I look like a dork." Chase encouraged her.
"I wouldn't say that" Andromeda said. "In fact I'm pretty sure 13 year old me would've had a major crush on you."
"Thanks and I'm pretty sure 13 year old me would've been petrified to talk with you." Chase replied back as Andromeda looked a little surprised before beginning to chuckle as did Chase and they both had a little laugh before they both embraced each other and Chase gave Andromeda a gentle kiss.
"I'm sorry I got mad at you before." Chase apologized.
"It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." Andromeda apologized in turn.
"So....do you want to show me your teenage photo?" Aaron asked as Nyx raised her eyebrow at Aaron.
"You know what? Maybe you can show me when you want to." Aaron said as the four of them now proceeded onwards towards the capital.
They soon stopped by Spark's sister Midna's shop as they went inside they saw an array of incredible looking items inside the store that looked incredible and beautiful.
"Welcome to Midna's, I'm Midna, please be careful with anything you see and....wait a minute, is that you Connor?" Midna said looking carefully at Chase.
"No, uh, no Midna, I'm Chase, Connor's younger brother." Chase explained to Midna.
"Oh that's right. I sometimes forget how many of you Moreland boys there are. What brings you to the fae realm?" Midna now asked Chase and the others.
"My friend Aaron and our girlfriends are going to the capital to see the queen and princess on an important matter." Chase explained.
"Well you must be if you dressed up all fancy like that. My husband and I haven't really had any real reason to visit the capital. We've just been busy with each other here." Midna said as she motioned towards her husband who had a beard on him and was wearing a backwards hat on his head.
"Nice to meet you, uh....what's your name sir?" Aaron said nodding towards the fairy.
"This is Kevyn, he and I have been married since....well, we met at Spark's wedding. My parents invited him thinking I would like him. I did and the more we got to talk with one another, the more we fell in love." Midna explained.
"You must be very happy to have found her." Nyx said with a smile towards Kevyn who just nodded.
"Does....does he speak much?" Andromeda asked.
"Oh yes, he speaks. He just prefers to speak when he thinks there's an important matter to say." Midna explained.
"I understand. Well, we shouldn't keep you from running your shop. We've really got to see the princess, I want her and I to try and.....fix a mistake that was made in the past." Chase said.
Kevyn then stood up and looked directly towards Chase before clearing his throat.
"It doesn't matter the time or the place, any mistake can be mended with the right words." Kevyn said as Chase nodded thanking the man for his word before the four of them left and now proceeded onwards towards the capital of the fae realm to see the queen and princess.