Ignite

Chapter 2: The Royals

Hey guys. Sorry about taking so long. Idk, there were so many ideas I had. Whatever. Here's the thing. Fucking send me a message.

The annoyance present in his eyes was only tempered by the softly snoring figure of his sister as Alyzeus glared at Cordelia for once again asking the dreaded phrase "Are we there yet?" He grit his teeth and thanked his ancestors for his seemingly infinite tolerance and hissed softly, "Cordy, no, we are not there yet. Even the next time you ask we won't be there yet. This is, like, the billionth time you've asked. Stop it," his voice teetered off into a whine with his last declaration. Cordelia smiled and stared back at her dear brother; as soon as she went to open her mouth, Icarius interrupted the argument that would've ensued and shushed Cordelia while giving a sympathetic smile to Alyzeus.

"Cordy, we're going to arrive at the castle soon. Why don't you take a small nap while we wait so you aren't tired when you meet your new friends? Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" Icarius suggested. Cordelia, turning her wide eyes to her father, nodded ferociously and lay her head against the window to nap. Alyzeus, seeing the reason in his father's suggestion, also lay his head against the wall of their carriage. Soon, all three children were asleep and the two smiled in adoration. "Aster, do you think that they'll get along with the nobles? Cordelia is too standoffish, Rowena is too shy, and Alyzeus is too bookish to enjoy running outside. What if they won't make any-" he was cut off by Asterodia, who placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Cari, I'm sure our children will fit right in with everyone. Rowena can meet more people and make friends, Alyzeus can read in the grand library, and Cordelia can be a troublemaker with new people. Really. The demon king has sons around their age, so we have two generations of friends."

Icarius smiled and nodded his head in affirmation. "I'm sure that the King and Queen will be very happy to see us," he said with a humorous tone. "Sleep darling. We'll need a lot of energy to contain the kids.

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Zelos sprinted though the hallways, palace attendant chasing after him. If I don't come to the grand hall, then I won't need to meet anyone new. Girls are annoying. All they do is cry, he thought as he rapidly ascended the stairs to the main level of the palace. As he reached the entrance to the garden, he catches sight of his brothers. He rushes over to the duo, still unaware of his presence. "Gor, Tiph, what are you guys doing over there? Have you seen mom and dad? Don't you know that people are coming over?" he shouted, flailing his arms. As he reached the fountain where they were, he stops, eyes darting around, looking for the aforementioned parents.

Anaxagoras shook his head in amusement as Tiphys quickly quieted his brother.

"Ze, don't you know that the new people are mom and dad's friends? I heard they have a brother that's two years older than Nax." Tiphys whispered. Zelos' eyes widened comically upon hearing this.

"Older than Gor? But Gor is soooooo old!" Zelos exclaimed, prompting an offended Anaxagoras to tickle Zelos.

"Old? Who are you calling old, ZeZe? I'm the coolest person you know." He then turns to Tiphys. "Phys, I heard they're already here. Should we go greet them?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "I heard that there's gonna be a big party for them because they were friends with all the nobles."

Hearing this, Tiphys perked up. "You mean we get to see Lycaon and Melampus?"

"Exactly" Anaxagoras grinned.

"Hey! Stop it!" Zelos whined. "You guys will leave me alone again and go talk to them and I'll have to sit with mom and dad. I wanna hang out with you guys too!" he exclaimed.

"Ze, why don't you make fri-" Tiphys was cut off by rapid footsteps followed by a shout in the distance. The three brothers looked up in shock as two little girls burst through the door, followed by an older boy.

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"Cordelia! I told you not to run so fast. Look, Rowena is crying now." Alyzeus scolded his sister, oblivious to the presence of the princes. He then turned to Rowena who had a tight grip on his hand and was quietly crying. "Rowie, why are you crying? What happened? Cordy just ran really quickly. Did something scare you?" Rowena's only response was to cry even harder.

"I-I was w-waiting for C-Cordy to s-s-stop, but she didn't a-and I tr-ripped and r-ripped my dress and l-lost m-m-my flowers" she hiccuped pitifully.

Cordelia finally decide that this was the most opportune moment to voice her opinions and gleefully said, "Rowie, don't cry. Your flowers were ugly and the dress was so hard to run in. See! Now you can run comfortably and you don't have a keep track of your flowers. I did you a favor." Cordelia smiled proudly once she had said this and continued, much to the displeasure of Alyzeus. "See, if you were wearing pants like I am, you wouldn't have such trouble walking around. Really, it's your fault. I don't see why you're angry with me."

"CORDELIA, YOU MEANIE!" Rowena shouted as she started for the door, sobbing even hard than before. Alyzeus' head swiveled between his younger sisters, petrified in shock at Rowena's yelling. Cordelia quickly realized the distress in her sister and ran to one of the rose bushed and plucked the flower from the bush and handed it to the teary Rowena. Rowena sniffled but saw her sister's flower and stopped crying. "I-It's okay Cordy. I-I know you didn't mean it." Rowena smiled as Cordelia put the flower in her hair like her mother had done before they arrived to the palace.

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"She took mom's flowers! She took them!" Zelos whisper-shrieked. "Who even do they think they are to take mom's flowers? What do we do?" Anaxagoras and Tiphys stared at the intruders, weighing the possibilities.

"Ze, Nax, do you think we can beat them up? That will get them to return mom's flowers for sure." Tiphys suggested.

"Why don't we go ask them who they are and ask why they are here. Getting into the courtyard should take a lot of work for someone to sneak into." Anaxagoras calm suggested.

Zelos decided to take this suggestion into his own hands and loudly exclaimed, "Hey! Give me back my mom's flowers!" He ran up to the little girl that had been crying and snatched the flower out of her hair and pushed her back. Her purple eyes welled up in tears and the older boy started to shout.

"Hey! What did you just do?" he yelled in confusion. Before he could ask Zelos anything else, they all saw a blur of black hair and a purple shirt as the other girl who had taken the flowers suddenly appeared in front of Zelos. Zelos backed away in surprise as Anaxagoras and Tiphys made their way to stand with their brother.

"Hey, you! Say you're sorry to Rowie" she shouted. Zelos smiled mockingly and looked at this 'Rowie' girl.

"What makes you think that I'll apo-" his word were cut of as he suddenly felt a fist connect with his face and his brother shout for him. His last thoughts were 'a girl punched me! A girl! She's the first girl to ever hit me!' before he passed out.