Chapter 2.23 Dress Up and Happiness

"Please, please, please." Alyssa repeated, sighing.

These two minutes seemed to last forever. It seemed like an eternity, and not just one hundred and twenty seconds. She was fairly sure the packet said two minutes, or was it three? It was probably two... Yeah, she remembered seeing the number two on there, she thinks.
She couldn't help but marvel in the irony of it all. The one time in her life she wanted a baby and was ready for one (she did love the children she did already have, but they were all surprises), nothing was happening.
After the two minutes (she thinks), she felt that familiar twang of disappointment when the test came back negative, and she tossed the test in the bin, fed up.

She sighed and sat down on the toilet, irritated. She didn't get why it was taking as long this time. Did it take this long the previous times? Or was it because she wasn't actually expecting it the previous times that it seemed to be taking longer this time around? She frowned, wondering why it wasn't happening right away.

She shook her head slightly, and had to remember that it wasn't like her and Tyler had been trying for a baby for all too long. She was acting crazy right now, expecting it to happen right away. She just hoped that it wouldn't take all too much longer though.
"Mommy!" She heard Melody calling her, and quickly got up and went into her daughter's room.

Alyssa went into Melody's room and saw her youngest daughter making a fuss while in her crib. "Gotta tear down. Tear down!" She chanted, trying to scratch at her crib.
She sighed, and went over and picked Melody up. "You're out, no tearing down needed." She smiled at her. "And you won't have to tear down any cribs any more, Birthday Girl." Alyssa grinned at Melody. It was her's and Ashton's birthday today.

"Cake!" Melody grinned. evidently that was the thing she was most excited about when aging up. "Cake! Cake!" She then giggled, happy.
Alyssa smiled at her, "You'll have to wait a little while before you get your cake though. We have to get dressed first, and Ashton's goes first because he's older." She broke the news gently to Melody, who wasn't all too please.
"Unfair." She grumbled.

Much to Melody's annoyance, Ashton did indeed go first for his birthday. Tyler helped him blow out the candles. Alyssa and Belle cheered for him while Melody sulked over the unfairness of it all.

After Ashton, it was finally Miss Sulky's turn. Melody squealed with delight when she saw the pretty cake and pretty candles. It was so pretty, and didn't have icky bees on it like how Ashton's cake had.

"I want to play a game." Melody said outright, going over to Ashton after cake. "We're going to play dress up, and you get to be the evil dinosaur."
"I uh... I don't really want to." He murmured, standing up for himself and up to her. "Why don't you get Belle to?" He suggested.
"She already is, and what do you suggest instead?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, I know you love dinosaurs because there's one on your shirt."
"Maybe video games?" He suggested, smiling. He'd much more prefer that than doing something girly like dress up!

"You're so boring!" She accused. "B-u-r-r-i-n-g! Boring!" She tried her hardest to spell boring. She was fairly sure that was right, sounded right...
"That's not how you spell boring. It's one r and an o." He pointed out, rather cautiously. His sister was usually always the boss of the two of them, but he didn't want to play a silly girls game.
"That spells burong." Melody made a face, clearly not understanding what Ashton meant. "I know that's not right." She huffed, and went off to do her own thing as did he.

"What are we going to do now?" Belle asked, frowning. "We can't have two princesses and no bad guy! That's boring." She sighed. "I'm staying as the princess though. I was born first." She folded her arms, finding that to be a suitable reason, also it wasn't her idea so she should get dibs.
Melody frowned. "Well, I'm not being the evil one, I like being a princess." She huffed. Stupid Ashton. Why couldn't he play with? How very boring!

But then Melody heard Nathaniel playing with the doll house, which gave her an idea. "Wasn't there a bear costume in there?" She asked.
"Yeah, but it's way too small. It would never fit either of us." Belle pointed out, frowning.
Melody grinned. "I know. Get it out, I have an idea."

"I'm not so sure..." Belle mused, pursing her lips and seeing what the subject of the sister's interest looks like on it's own without anything else in the way.

"I like it." Melody smiled. "Seeing as though Ashton's being boring!" She called loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm not playing dress up!" He called back. 

"I think it's an improvement though." Melody smiled, proud of what she's done.

Nathaniel was rather confused about what was going on, and he wasn't all too keen on the bear head on his head. He didn't like the shoes neither, hence why he refused to wear them. Apart from that, it wasn't so bad. It was warm and snug in the costume though. He liked it too.

"Well, Princess Belle." Melody started, putting on her best princess voice. "I am not so sure what to do with the bad, town wrecking bear."

"Neither am I, Princess Melody." Belle agreed, putting on her princess voice. "I think we should be nice to him and let him go but make him promise to not destroy the village again." Belle smiled softly.

Nathaniel gave his best scary growl, just like how a bear really would.

Princess Melody laughed at what her sister had said. "You can not be serious. That is the opposite of what we must do! Off with his head I say! Off with it!" She announced, wafting her hand in the air.

Belle frowned. "That's not very-"

"But Princess Melody, surely you can not do that!" Melody put on a different voice, and then she scoffed. "Why, of course I can. For I am your princess!" She spoke normally again, and Belle narrowed her eyes. It was as if her sister was talking and playing all on her own, without her nor Nathaniel.

Belle watched as her little sister walked off. How weird. Did Melody not want to play for real? She seemed too wrapped up in her own world to even notice her and Nathaniel anymore.

"I must protect Melotopia! And every single Melotopian out there!" She announced to her adoring crowd, even though there was no one actually there.

Belle narrowed her eyes at Melody. She's weird.

Alyssa looked at Tyler doubtfully. "Can you even see any stars in the daylight?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Well, besides the sun, of course." She murmured, correcting herself.

"Kinda." He seemed mostly focused on the telescope, not fully taking in her presence, even though she was only a few feet away from him. "The brighter and closer ones, yeah, but not so much the further away stars." He pulled away from the telescope, and went over to her. "So, did you come out here specifically to say that?" He asked, his hands brushing over her hips.

"So what if I did?" She teased, grinning. She laughed lightly, "It wasn't though. I just wanted to spend a little time with you." She shrugged simply. "That, and it's going to be autumn soon and I don't want to waste it when the weather's warm." 

"Are you sure the kids being on their own is a good idea though?" He asked, glancing at the back door.

"They're literally a few feet away. The fireplace hasn't been working for years, the oven's off and they know to stay away. They're all occupied doing their own things too. There is absolutely nothing to worry about." She smiled. 

"So, your all mine?" He grinned at her, his hands moving from her hips to around her waist.

"I'm all yours, at least until any of them start arguing." Alyssa had her money on Melody being in the fight. She was certainly the most headstrong of all of her children. 

"So I have you for all of five minutes?" He joked. 

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head and smiling. "Ha ha. They're not that bad, you know." She grinned. 

It partly did amaze her how she still sometimes got butterflies whenever she spoke to him. Wait, was it butterflies? It didn't really feel like it. It felt like something completely different now she thought about it. She quickly pulled out of the embrace, a hand going over her mouth. Definitely not butterflies. She considered the bathroom, but quickly ruled it out. She went to the edge of the porch and leaned over the side of the fence, and threw up. 

Tyler honestly felt rather awkward when she was throwing up. He would have held her hair back, if the day before she didn't snap at him for touching her. He had learned the hard way that an angry Alyssa was a scary Alyssa. He couldn't help but wonder though, "Are you sure the test was negative?" He asked. What else could have caused her sickness?

"Pretty sure." She grumbled in response, and winced when she pulled away from the fence. Wasn't pretty what she did. She turned to face him, but still kept a slight distance. "Kinda sure at least." 

Tyler narrowed his eyes."Kinda sure?" He asked, wondering how she could only be kinda sure. "Why only kinda sure?"

"Well, I couldn't remember if I had to wait two minutes or three." She looked up while trying to remember. "I think it was two, or was it three...? I'm pretty sure it was two, I only waited two." She trailed off, mumbling.

He shook his head slightly, finding it amusing how ditsy Alyssa could be sometimes despite how clever she was. "How about you take another one? And this time remembering how long you have to wait."

She couldn't help but feel a little  bit more optimistic this time around. It probably was just a bad idea, in case it was negative yet again. Still, she did think that there was something different this time around.

Alyssa obviously couldn't help but grin when it came back positive. She knew that this would probably be her last baby. Five seemed like a good number of kids to have.

She heard Tyler knock on the bathroom door. "Lyss? Is everything alright? You know that if it's negative we can still just keep trying." She then grinned at the thought of telling him. She left the bathroom, and kissed him deeply.

"It was positive." She explained briefly, smiling widely.

He returned the broad smile. "Positive?" He asked, making sure he did hear right.

She nodded in response."We're having a baby." She was still beaming, and he kissed her  once again. 

Both of them were extremely happy about this, of course.

It seemed as if happiness was just a general theme going over Dragon Valley that day, and the following night. Melancholia wasn't sure whether is was because of the waxing gibbon, and the approaching full moon, or whether it was because the last piece of her plan (that was in her control) was put into action.

"Are you sure this is wise?" She heard that annoying brat ask behind her, and she simply rolled her eyes at his incompetence. 

\In appearance, there was  no difference in their ages. But she was much older, and in more power than he could even dream of having. She sighed softly, "Do you think I've not thought this through, Worm?" She asked, turning to him.

"I-I'm not suggesting that at all, Queen." He tried to defend himself,

"Really? Because it sounds like you are." She approached him, glaring. One of her nails went under his chin, tilting his head up as she judged his weakness. She let go, smiling cruelly at her pathetic henchman. She really should have chose someone else... "You know that your doubt upsets me."

Her hand swiftly moved to slap him. her face clearly not amused. "Pathetic. The fact you even dare to challenge me is foolish, and you can't even commit to the follow through. How very pathetic, and spineless. Like a worm." She smiled slightly, getting the connection. No smile ever made by Melancholia was ever a nice one though. "Your doubt also makes me wonder if you even care about your own kind. Maybe I should rip those puke coloured wings off your back, slowly and painfully." She grinned, picturing it. Suffering was something that pleased her truly. There was nothing better than the screams of a worm who very much so deserved it. She walked back to where she was, not wanting to bother looking at the worm much longer.

Melancholia sighed. "Besides, it's not like anyone is going to stop me. We all want the same thing. We all want our revenge, don't we? Against that little witch." Her blood boiled just thinking of it. That witch that killed one of her own. One of her best followers, one that she taught through and through. It almost made her feel sad to think of her dear friend Elli's death. 

"So, what are your plans?" The worm asked quietly, and Melancholia grinned. She knew why he was quieter this time. Fear. Fear was her greatest tool, her perfect and preferred tool.

She laughed lightly, "I don't go telling my plans to everyone, but seeing as though you're a special little worm, I'll tell you."

"At first, I considered drowning. A witches death for a witch. That, or a hanging. But then, apart from the fact I would be pulling too much attention to myself, it wasn't right. It wouldn't hurt her enough. I want that damn bitch to hurt." She growled, glaring at the body of water in front of her. She dug her nails into her arms to keep her anger at least under some control. She didn't want to go rogue yet. She knew it would be more rewarding when her plan was in it's full action.

"Then it hit me. The bitch has a family. She has her own kids, and a husband and a sister and brother." Pesky mortals and their love of families. Melancholia never saw the purpose. Why teach little snot-nose brats a new skill when you could easily just take one with the skill already? "Anyway, I figured it would hurt more to hurt a loved one. Wouldn't it? I mean, what would you do if something happened to me? Your Queen?"

"Worst thing in the world." The worm answered, rehearsed of course to him, but Melancholia was too wrapped up in her own plans and her own thoughts. She barely noticed it was there.

"Exactly. An extreme tragedy. No one would ever get over it, and we're superior. But all the others are simply just too weak to even deal with grief. Witches particularly are bad at it. So, I'm not going to hit her, I'm going to hit her precious family. But then I remembered her husband and spawn are all vampires." She sighed. They were easily the most powerful of all the supernaturals. "So, I'll aim for her family in particular. I was thinking the sister." She smiled wickedly at her plans.

"I won't tell you everything worm. That'll just be boring. I'll paint you a word picture though. Grief, breakup, bad dreams, guilt, strain, divorce, suicide." She listed the words, playing out her plan in her head. Of course, Melancholia knew she'd have to do a little bit of work in it, but her cards should fall once placed in order.

She grinned. She was going to get her revenge for Elli's death.

Chapter 2.22 Discussion                                                                               

Chapter 2.24 Hide No Seek

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AN: Ah, I remember how much I love writing Antagonists. I made Melancholia look all pretty mostly because of the irony of her being evil. I considered making her dark and twisted out an in, but why not have poison in a pretty pink wrapper? ;) Her worm is one of the Dragon Valley people turned fairy. I think I'm going to keep her worm as a fairy, just in case I need him again.

Also, I think I should say the last two rolls. Alyssa's number of children was 5, and the fifth one is going to be heir. Also, the other secondary help is Freelance Scientist, which was why Tyler was stargazing during the day. According to google, it is actually possible to see stars if the telescope is good enough. But still, night is better.

I've almost ignored what's happened in the rest of this chapter, whoops. Melody has the insane trait, which is why she's talking to herself, and seems to almost live and constantly refer to her world (Melotopia).

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like my brand new antagonist. I happen to absolutely adore her name (I wanted to call Melody Melancholia, but it was too dark and dreary for Alyssa's tastes.)