"EIRENE!" The guardian sister's voice booms through the skies, as a dark cloud, falls on the western kingdom, lightning striking the trees and houses, burning the ground as it passes.
"COME OUT EIRENE, WE HAVE YOU NOW," they say, passing through the town, the sound of the blasting thunder masking the cries of terror of the western people.
"THIS COULD ALL STOP, IF YOU JUST SHOW YOUR SELF," they say striking at another house, only remaining its ashes after.
"I have to go," Eirene says with a weak voice, standing up to fall again.
"You can't go like this" the little prince says, catching her in his arms.
"If I don't they will kill everyone," she says, trying to stand up again.
"And if you do, they will kill you," the tall boy says.
"It's rather me than innocent people," she says, struggling out of the little prince's arms.
"No, we won't let you die, we can fight them," the tall boy says, lifting his fist up to his chest.
"No, we can't," the little prince says, as the tall boy drops his hands, "but we can lure them out of here, keep the people away from danger," the little prince says, as the doctor and the little boy followed by his brown friend enter the room.
"The kingdom is under attack, we have to move!" Snow says, taking the girl in his arms and ushering them out.
"Take her to Zuba, the guardians want her and we will lure them out of here," the little prince says to the doctor, as they follow close behind, holding the little boy's arms as he runs to the winged creature.
"And then what?" The doctor asks, as they approach Zuba, already lying on the ground as he waits for them to climb on.
"I don't know, we just have to take her away from here, and the kingdom from their attack," the little prince says, helping the little boy up the creature as another thunder hits the ground, closer this time.
"No, they will kill you. We need to separate them, when a guardian stays away from their sisters for long they lost their strength, and is easier to kill them" the doctor explains, putting the brown dog on the creature's back as the thunder strikes again.
"How can we separate them?" The tall boy asks, setting down on Zuba, and taking Rufus in his arms. The good boy sits quietly, tucked in the tall boy's legs.
"We create a diversion, confuse them," the doctor says, as he climbs up the creature and it soars to the sky, "go to the western kingdom castle, We need the southern royals," He says, as Zuba blasts through the sky to the western kingdom castle.
**
"What's going on?" Allega asks, panic going through her veins.
"We are under attack," the twins say, standing from the floor they have fallen, "everybody listens up, go to the underground warehouse in the central square! NOW WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" The twins call out to the people in the small ice cream shop, as everyone rushes out the doors, following the crowd running to the central square.
"Where is everyone going?" Allega asks her eyes following the crowd of people running in a specific direction.
"The central square, our brother prepared for times like this, and has an underground warehouse to protect the people from danger," the twins say, running outside, going in the opposite direction to the crowd.
"And where are we going?" Allega asks, following behind her two new friends.
"We have to make sure everyone makes it to the warehouse, then we will transport back to the castle, we will be safe there," the twins say, running around the town looking for casualties.
"Okay, girls wait!" Allega says, catching the twins, and stopping them, "we'll cover more ground if we split, you go that way" allega says pointing to their left, "and I'll go that way" she says pointing to their right, "Let's meet back here to go to the castle" she says, as the twin's nod at her sprinting to their left, and allega to the right.
The three girls run across town, shouting for people that might be left behind, looking around for others to help.
"HELLO! IS ANYBODY HERE?" The twins scream as they round up the street making a circle back to their meeting place.
The twins arrive at the meeting point, the thunder from the drafting back cloud the only sound heard. Lightning strikes, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! and in the small window of silence the twins hear the distant scream of their new friend.
"ALLEGA!" They call out sprinting to the right, running to the screaming girl.
They reach the corner, a mass of concrete blocks blocking their way, the lightning seeming to destroy the wall of the building landing in masses of concrete blocks and rubbles in the streets. They blink and they are at the other side of the blockage, as they are starting to run again, they hear their friends scream from behind them.
"Alli?" They call out to the mass of rubble, throwing the rubble away.
"Help me" the girl quietly calls out, whimpering in pain.
"HOLD ON!" They say, hastily pulling the rubble away, "can you transform into something smaller?" They ask, struggling with the big mass of rock.
"I can't, it will crush me before I can move away," she says, whimpering softly.
"What about something bigger?" The girls chant finally dropping the big concrete block from the mass.
"I can't do that too, there are big bars pointed at me, if I turn to something big they will drive further in and kill me," she says, almost in tears.
"Hold on Allie! We're getting help!" They say before disappearing to dust, appearing in the castle halls, "where are the southern princes?" They ask the guard running away, leaving for the tunnel under the castles they guessed.
"They are outside the yard, looking for the missing princess" the guard replies, "we should get you both to safety," the guard says, as the twins disappear, arriving at the castle courtyard.
The twins look around the courtyard, missing the southern princes, they quietly listen, searching for their voices when a voice calls out from the forest, distant and quiet, causing them to sprint through the woods, following the brother's voices.
"ALLEGA! THIS ISNT FUNNY ANYMORE! IT NEVER WAS!" Achillies says, running through the forest, looking for his little sister.
"ALLEGA COME OUT! WE ARE NOT MAD ANYMORE!" Achilles calls out again, as an eagle lands and squawks over him, Andreas changing form mid-air, landing on the ground with a thud.
"I saw no sight of her in the forest, where could she be?" Andreas asks, joining his brother.
"She's in town, she is stuck, she needs help," the twins say sprinting to the two brothers, grabbing them by their arms they appear next to the rubble Allega was stuck in.
"What? Where did you take us?" Andreas asks, acid pouring from his voice.
"She is stuck, in here," the twins say, pointing at the mass of rubble, seeing the brother's confused expression they call out to the girl, "ALLEGA! YOUR BROTHERS ARE HERE," they say, being met with silence they call put again, "ALLEGA!"
"Okay, that's enough," Andreas says, hastily pulling the two girls by their shoulders so they could face him, "what did you do? Why would she be here?"
"We went to the forest to hide, for hide and seek, then we came here to have fun and we bought clothes, new hair and new shoes then we went on the swings..." the twins explain, before Andreas cuts them off.
"Get to the point!" He screams at their faces, sending a slight tremble through their body.
"We were looking for casualties, when we heard her scream, we came to look for her and she is under this rubble," they say, pointing to the mass of concrete blocks behind them.
"Your lying," Andreas says, his glare burning through the girl's heads.
"No, we're not," they say, as they hear a distant bark from the distance, they turn to see the brown dog, "Mr. Dog! Go to the center square!" The twins say to the brown creature as it continues to bark at them.
"Hey! I'm talking to you here!" Andreas says, pulling the girl's attention back to him.
"Turn into a big creature and pull those blocks away and save her!" The twins say, almost in tears.
"Hey, Andreas let's calm down, let go of them," Achillies says, grabbing his brother's arms, gripping tight on the twin's shoulders.
They look away hearing a whimper coming from beside them, the brown dog scuffing at the small tiara on the ground, he whimpers to gain their attention.
"That's Allie's," the twins say, eyes falling on the tiara the brown dog scuffing with his nose, "where is Allie Mr. Dog?" The twins say as the dog barks taking the tiara in his mouth, and sprinting away from the scene.
"He knows where Allie is," the twins say, smiling at the two brothers, before disappearing from the eldest strong grip, which left a bruise mark on their pale skin, running after the brown dog, with the two brothers in toe.
"Where are you going?" Achilles calls out to the girls as they disappear and appear next to the sprinting dog, following him close behind.
"He is taking us to Allie" the twins call out rounding up a corner, where they see their new friend lying on the ground, as Mr. Snow wraps a bandage on her arms, from the stabs with the building bars, "Allie" they softly whisper, as the girl beams at them.
"V, Sabi," Allega says spreading her left arm, the good one, ushering them over for a hug.
The twins run to the girl, squeezing her in a big hug, "you scared us, don't ever do that again" they whisper, earning a nod from the girl.
"Allega!" Achillies calls out running to the girl and joining the group hug.
"Achi" allega calls out, her arm going over the boy's waist.
"Allega!" Andreas calls out running to the other side of her hand, inspecting the injury Mr. Snow is cleaning, "what happened?" He asks, looking at the girl now released from the hugs.
"Well, I was coming back to the cafe, after I did a roundup and found no civilians, but lightning struck the building as I was running past it and I was stuck under the concrete rubble, stuck" she replies, "then, v and Sabi came to help me, but the rocks were too heavy, and they left to get help, I was assuming you. So I waited, but these people just lifted the rocks and got me out of there. He is a doctor, his name is snow, he's helping with the bar injury on my arm" she says, nodding toward the doctor, earning a warm smile and a small bow to greet them.
"Thank you," Andreas says to the doctor, then turns to the twins, "Thank you...and I'm sorry" He says, earning a chest punch from Allega.
"What did you do to my friends?" Allega asks, scolding her older brother.
"FRIENDS?!" The twins squeak, jumping up and down with excitement and grabbing onto the girl's arms.
"Hey" the tall boy calls out, as they make their way into the small corner alley, "Woah, a lot of royals," He says, grasping at the crowd in front of him, before his eyes fall on the twins, as Veronica waves at him, "hi" He breathes out, looking her at her as his mouth erupts in a big smile, "wow, you look like..."
"Please don't say your future wife" Allega grunts, rolling her eyes.
"I wasn't going to say that!" The tall boy says to the girl, before turning back to the twin, "I was going to say, you look beautiful and refreshing like the morning sun" He says with a smile, red building on the girl's cheeks as she smiles back at him.
"Ugh! That's so much worse" the little prince says, handing the bandages to the doctor, earning a glare from his friend.
*****
Zuba wafts through the sky, going for the western kingdom castle. They pass the deserted town, no life seen around, "where are the people?" Craig asks the doctor, the absence of people worrying him.
"The king prepared for times like this, there is an underground warehouse in the central square of the town, every citizen would be hiding there now" the doctor replies, "I hope no one was left behind" He mumbles to himself, looking over the group.
"I can check," the little prince says, as his eyes gleam red, he keeps quiet for a while before the light goes from his red eyes, "there is someone stuck there," He says pointing to the far right.
"We should help them, lead Zuba to them," the tall boy says, patting the trembling brown dog's head.
"Zuba! To the right!" The little prince says, as his eyes gleam red, sending the girl's location to the winged creature.
Zuba lands on the street, as the two boys and the doctor land on the ground, looking around the street for the missed civilian. "You two go to the castle, try to find the southern royals, and bring them here with you" the little prince instructs the left on the creature's back.
"But what about Rufus?" The little boy asks, grabbing on Eirene's punk gown.
"We need him to sniff for things for us" the doctor explains, patting at the boy's golden hair.
"What about you?" The little boy asks, his shimmering eyes gleaming at the doctor, softening his heart more,
*he is just a kid* Mr. Snow thought, before smiling back at the boy, "I might need to help, if they are hurt" He says, giving the boy's arms a peck, "you should go, I will see you soon, okay Frankie?" The doctor asks the little boy, as he nods his head thoroughly.
"Don't go too" the little boy says, swallowing down the lump in his throat, hugging the doctor with all his strength.
"Come back here if you don't find them, I will talk with Zuba and he will find us," the little prince says, tapping at the creature's back, as Zuba softly rumbles in understanding.
"Let's go" the little prince ushers them forward, following the sound in his head, "she's in here," He says, as his eyes glow brighter red, his hair illuminating red glow, the rubbles lift as one, the girl in a pink dress lying sprawled on the ground.
"Who are you?" The princess asks, struggling to stand up before the doctor and the tall boy scatter to help her up.
"Don't say that" the tall boy whispers to the girl, "that's Arthur's favorite question" He says, as the doctor carries her away from the rubble and his friend drops the rocks on the bare land, his glowing red light fading slowly.
"My name is Arthur Splitzerd, son of Edward Splitzerd, future king of the eastern kingdom," the little prince says, as the three-run over to the small alley by the corner.
"Eastern kingdom? The sky kingdom, eastern kingdom?" She asks eyes gaping at the boy with red eyes, "if I didn't just see you pick up a pile of rocks with your mind, I would have never believed you" she says, as the doctor sets her down on a lone table by the side, pulling it to the center of the small alley.
"Well it's a good thing you were under it too, or else he would just be showing off" the tall boy comments, earning a glare from the girl.
"Your arm is injured" the doctor comments examining her right arm, a small gash from the construction bar.
"Oh it's nothing, it doesn't hurt much," she says as the doctor, exchanging warm smiles.
*****
"SON OF A BI..." Achilles clasps his hands over the girl's mouth, her curses and screams muffled by the boy's hands, as the doctor pours water on the wound, stabbing the dirt with cotton wools.
"This will hurt just a little," the doctor says, as he tightly wraps the bandage around her arms, as her screams get louder.
"I know how you feel, my leg was hurt and snowman helped with the bandage and it hurt like a bitch, but of course, mine was a deep gash, like two or three and yours is just a small single cut, and I can't help but think you might be exaggerating," the tall boy says, causing the girl to sit up reaching for the boy's collar, eyes blazing fire by his words, saying 'I'll show you pain'. Achillies grabs hold of his sister pulling her away from the tall boy, as the redhead moves away slowly, a smirk on his lips, going g to his friend and the southern prince older prince talking by the side of the alley.
"We need your help," the little prince says to the southern prince.
"If they can detect her, how would they believe it's her, in our disguise," Andreas asks, glancing at the newly joined by the conversation.
"They can't track her if she is awake, they knew where she was because she fainted then went to a coma, weakening her powers, but now that she is awake, they won't be able to tell which one is the real Eirene and will follow each one" the little prince explains the plan, "when one guardian goes after the other Eirenewe will make them believe all the guardians are following them with illusions too,
driving them alone and once we have them singularly we can defeat them easily" the little prince explains, looking at the unchanging expression on the prince's face.
"Okay, I think that this will work. But how would we defeat them after we separate them?" The prince asks.
"We play with them, tire them out. that way it will be easier to take each of them down" Craig chips in, earning the two prince's attention.
"We can't kill a guardian" the southern princes explain, "we need them or Ladon will fall into shambles"
"Not necessarily" the doctor cuts in, joining the small crowd, finishing Allega's wound, "once a guardian dies, the pollen of life in the central world gives birth to their successors. So even if we kill them now, they will be reborn soon after"
"Okay then, let's do it," the southern prince says, nodding over at his siblings for confirmation, both replaying back, "Allega can you use your gifts?" Andreas asks the girl, as her form changes instantly, mirroring his striking features, wavy hair, and blue eyes with a small stable on his chiseled jaw.
"Sir, yes sir" she mocks salutes, earning a giggle from the twins and her younger brother idly standing by her side.
"Okay. Let's move" Andreas says, ignoring the girl's tactics to annoy him.
"Okay, I will call Zuba over," the little prince says, as his eyes gleamed rea followed by a roar from their winged friend.
"Who?" Achilles asks, helping Allega down the table ad they make their way to the street. The group stands out as the great creature sours past them, all ducking to avoid his closeness, as he lands on the empty streets. "Oh. That's a big bird" Achilles says, reaching over for his sister's hand, which she gladly takes.
"Okay, here's the plan" the little prince begins, as the group joins in the circle, listening for the boy's plan.
**
"Okay is everybody in position?" The little prince's voice sounds through the small walkie-talkies.
"In position, Copy" Allega's voice sends through the small box, as she stands on the east side of the town.
"Going down now, copy," Eirene says, looking over to the tall boy, which in turn gives her a big goofy grin, that she returns with a dry smile. As Zuba makes his last stop, dropping her on the west edge of the town.
"Yes, in position. Copy" Achilles says as he made his way to the south edge of the town.
"Copy" Andresa says curtly, standing idly on the north side of the town.
"Okay," He says, giving the tall boy a curt nod, before he responds in the walkie-talkies, "you know the plan"
As soon as the little prince's voice sounds through the small box, everyone starts moving. The southern royals' form changes instantly, imitating the giant winged creature's form, they flap their wings as they rise to the sky, stopping at mid-air all three siblings roar loudly, signaling the start of part one on plan A.
As the sound of the creature's loud roar splits through the skies Eirene rises to the sky, stopping in mid-air her hands glow as she casts an invisibility spell on all the southern royal siblings and then herself.
"Bringing them now," the little prince says, looking back at the tall boy and the western royals twins, as they head towards the dark looming cloud destroying the western grounds as it passes them.
"VICTORIA! SABRINA!" A voice loudly calls out, from the Forests below gaining the four's attention. The twins look down to see their two brothers appearing and disappearing all through the forest, screaming for their names.
"CAMERON! THEO!" The two girls call out, as the two brothers appear by the creek in the forest looking around them for the girls, "UP HERE!" The twins say again, gaining their brother's attention before they both appear before her on the winged creature's back.
"What the heck is this? Why are you on this thing?" Cameron asks the two girls as soon as they arrive on Zuba's back.
"And who the hell are you?" Theodore's question is directed to the two boys up front.
"Oh, boy. Here we go again" the tall boy softly says, anticipating his friend's response.
"My name is Arthur Splitzerd, son of Edward Splitzerd, future king of the eastern kingdom," the little prince says, finishing with a small wave to the two western royals, earning a wave in response from the King and a raised eyebrow from the prince.
"And hi, I'm Craig, Craig Thoderous," the tall boy says, waving back at the two royals.
"Nice to meet you, prince Arthur and Craig. Why are we flying to that cloud that's destroying my kingdom, with my little sisters?" The king asks his gaze dropping to his little sisters at the end, as they give him a sheepish smile.
"We are trying to gain the guardian's attention back to the town square" the little prince replies, earning a raised eyebrow from both western royals now.
"And why would we do that?" Prince Cameron asks dumbfounded by the little prince's response.
"So we can separate them, the guardians are unstoppable together, but separately they can be defeated" the little prince explains.
"Okay, that's a good plan. But how do you plan to separate them by taking them to the town square?" The king asks his gaze dropping now to the fast-approaching dark cloud, driving all their attention to the looming dark cloud, and on top of it the 4 sisters' guardians.
"Excuse me western royals, may I enter your mind for a moment?" the little prince asks, turning back to the quickly approaching dark cloud, as his eyes gleam red without waiting for their reply.
As the little prince explains their full plan to the western royals, Zuba reaches the dark cloud and the sister's guardians, stopping just in front of them.
"Young prince and his trusty friend, Craig" the night guardian calls out as the creature reaches them, "and look sisters they brought the western royals too, even the hidden twin princesses"
"Althea" the little prince shortly responds, "we ask you kindly to leave the west kingdom, leave and stop your attack"
"And if we refuse?" The woman dressed in black responded, looking over to her three sisters, their eyes borrowed on their guests on the winged creature.
"Then we come to compensate," the little prince says gaining all the sister's attention.
"Compensate? Compensate how?" The guardian of the light asks.
"We know you're looking for the 5th guardian, the guardian of gifts and magic, Eirene," the little prince says, pulling out a small necklace, and dangling it in the air. The sister's guardians watch as the small necklace gleams, as the light hits the colorful emerald.
"Where did you get that?" The guardian of the creatures of the skies and the land asks, her hand going to her wrists where an identical stone, but this one with golden light instead of the colorful one the little prince is holding.
"We know where you can find her, she is hiding. There is an underground warehouse in the town square, the king built it to keep the people from harm in such attacks, she is hiding there" the little prince replies, throwing the necklace to the night guardian.
"The town hideout, huh?" The night guardian asks, catching the necklace and inspecting its colorful stone.
"Eirene, always the coward" the guardian of the land and skies replies, mirroring red eyes staring back at her.
"We will not forget this young prince" the guardian of the day responds, as the dark cloud leaves for the town square.
With the guardians back to them, the king speaks up, "now what?"
"Now, we fight," the little prince says, as the twins grab the tall boy's hands, disappearing before appearing again taking hold of the little prince's hands and disappearing once again, then appearing on the creature's back.
"I've taken the red boy to the edge of the river between the castle forest and the town forest, Allie will drive one of the guardians there and she will fight them alongside the red boy" the twins hastily explain, "I've taken the prince to the edge of the ocean between the west kingdom and the lost kingdom of the east, the guardian of magic and gifts will lure the other guardian there and they will fight her together"
"Okay, then I guess each of us will go to the edge of the north and south oceans and help the south brothers," the prince says, looking at his brother with s small shrug.
"And you take this creature back to the castle and stay there," the king says, pointing his finger at the twins.
"But, we want to help!" The two protest as the king click his tongue, stopping their rant.
"You will go to the castle and you will hide, you will not fight this battle. You are the princesses of the western kingdom" the king says, disappearing into the air.
"Go to the castle," the prince says, disappearing along with his brother.
The twins freeze at their brother's words, floating in midair with the winged creature. "No," they say their grip on each other tightening, "princesses should fight," they say looking at each other, "Zuba, go to the castle" they instruct the winged creature as they disappear into thin air, appearing next to the tall boy, earning a jump of surprise from him.
"Oh, hi," the little prince says, waving at the girl only two meters away from him, earning a wave back from both the twins, "You've come to help?" The little prince asks the twins, jumping up and down his newly healed leg, thanks to Eirene's light magic.
"Yes, what's the plan?" The twins ask, looking around the densely populated trees in the forest.
"Well, we hide and once Eirene comes here with the other guardian in tow we will hit her with this. oh! did you take rufus to craig?" The little prince asks, rising up with the big, light-blast, gun in his arms.
"Yes we handed him to his arms" the twins says, nodding fiercely.
"Great, now we wait" the little prince says, looking around them, to the big clearing beside the ocean.
"Okay," they say, before taking the boy's hands and appearing on top of the trees, masked inside the leaves, "we will change your positions, on every blast, so the guardian can never know where it came from," the twins say, as thunder strikes behind them.
"They are here, stay low," The little prince says, crouching on the tree branch, grabbing the twin's hands to lower with him. The sudden contact between Sabrina and the little prince drives red to build on their faces, before they hastily let go, earning a snicker from Sabrina.
The trio waits there in silence as the sound of thunder grows, signaling the approaching guardian of the earth and skies and their friend guardian of magic and gifts.
"Stop running Eirene!" The woman in red says as she throws another lightning toward the guardian of magic and gifts, missing her by a beat.
"Well, stop throwing lightning at me!" Eirene calls back, twisting in the air as she flies backward facing her sister's guardian, she throws a ball of light at her, as the woman in red ducks avoiding it.
The guardian of the earth and skies grunts in anger, as another lightning goes for the guardian of magic and gifts, which Eirene avoids by teleporting away from the strike.
"Missed, again!" Eirene taunts the guardian of skies and land, earning another frustrated groan from her sister.
The two guardians reach the edge of the forest, next to the wide clearing by the edge of the ocean, as Eirene descended to the ground, landing gently, followed by her sister. The two guardians stare down for a second before the guardian of land and skies smirks at her sister.
"I got you now, sister" the guardian of land and sky, spats at the last word.
"On the contrary sister, it is I who got you where I want you," she says, as her bodies multiply, in seconds the guardian of magic and gifts surrounds the guardian of earth and skies, thousands of her figures around her, "or should I say, we?" The crowd chants, changing her form to each sister guardians.