Chapter Text
Third Person POV:
The sun was shining high in the sky that morning, with no trace of the storm that had swept through the area. Parting the leaves, a red panda looked out over the beach. “What a night, what a storm.” He commented, right before a purple peacock popped its head up.
“You got that right, I was nearly blown out of our tree.” Walking out of cover, the duo made their way along the sandy shoreline, spotting something rather shiny sticking out of the ground.
“What do you make of that?” The red panda asked, curious about the object. Examining it closer, the peacock saw not but his own reflection inside the object.
“Oh, gorgeous!” The peacock, enamored by such a sight, failed to notice the eye roll the red panda had given him.
“It’s a pretty thing, yes.” The panda spoke, hoping to pull the peacock away from the object long enough to talk to him.
Turning his head, the peacock simply smiled at the panda. “I was talking about me.” He stated, presenting his feathers to the panda. “Vil, prince of peacocks!” Another eye roll was granted before the panda gave a half-hearted bow to Vil. Closing his feathers, Vil continued down the beachline, spotting another shiny object, this one much larger than the previous. “Oh! Better and better.”
Encroaching upon the object, Vil flipped open the latches, allowing the object’s top to be pushed backwards. Looking inside, Vil spotted multiple rings of gold and proceeded to waste no time attempting to fit them all around his neck.
The panda simply shook his head playfully before spotting something rather… unique further down the shoreline. It was some cloth, draped over a broken log, but that wasn’t what caught his eye. “Vil.” He demanded, hoping the peacock would follow behind him.
“Hold your seahorses, Riddle,” Vil responded, still trying to fit more rings of gold around his neck. When Riddle called his name a second time, he simply looked up with annoyance. “Alright, alright. I’m coming.” Skipping across the sand, Vil caught up with Riddle. “What could be so important that I–” Finally, the peacock spotted what Riddle was so captivated by. A creature lay in the sand, with pale flesh and white fur that only sat atop its head.
Examining the being, Riddle noticed soft breaths escaping the creature’s nose. “It’s alive.” He commented softly, not wanting to disturb the creature's rest.
“Good. When it wakes up, it can swim back to wherever it came from.” Vil stated bluntly, clearly not caring about the mystery creature.
Riddle, however, did not leave the creature’s side; instead, he felt a kinship of sorts. “We have to help it.” These simple words were enough to stop Vil in his tracks.
Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Vil turns back to Riddle and the creature. “We’re going to regret this. And when we do, remember, it was your idea.” The peacock stated before walking back over to help Riddle.
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Ten years had passed, not that any of them knew how to keep track of time. The once small creature has since grown, now sporting longer limbs and longer hair atop his head. Now draped in a white cloth tied around his body, the creature runs down the shoreline, a baby elephant trailing behind him. “Haha! Come on, Deuce!” He shouted towards the elephant.
“Wait up, Ver!” Deuce replied, trying to keep pace as they both enjoyed the sound of the ocean waves.
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(AN: You see that line? Means a song’s about to start, so better get used to it. “Italized Quotes” for Ver’s lines, “Bolded Quotes” for Vil’s lines, “Underlined Quotes” for Riddle’s lines, “Bolded-Underlined Quotes” for Deuce, and finally, (Bolded Parentheses) to describe what’s going on around them. U got all that? Cool, on with the song!)
“Here on my island, the sea says hello~! Dolphins are waving wherever I go~!”
(Ver skips along the shoreline, waving as a few dolphins jump out of the water in time with his singing)
“There’s a song on the breeze, and a home in the trees~!”
(Now standing in his treetop home, we can see that it’s decorated with island flowers and a few stray pieces of fabric)
“Friends I can talk with whenever I please~!”
(Ver sits on a branch with Vil and Riddle on each side of him, with Riddle looking up with a smile on his face)
“Here on my island, the playgrounds are great~!”
“Slide every slide~!”
“And you don’t have to wait~!”
(Riddle slides down Deuce’s trunk, landing in the ocean with a nice splash)
“There’s so much to be seen~!”
“From our new trampoline~!”
(Jumping high into the air, the four of them look around the island, taking in the sights)
“Finding adventure’s our daily routine~!”
(With that, Ver tosses a pointed stick at some bananas hanging from a tree, knocking them down and spearing a coconut in the process)
“Birds and Bananas~!”
“And comfy cabanas~!”
“And shell-covered vases to fill~!”
(Riddle catches the bananas that Ver knocked down, Vil relaxes under the sun, and Ver places a few island flowers into a coconut husk covered in shells)
“Coconut glasses~!”
“And mint with molasses~!”
“And pineapple patties to grill~! Mwah~!”
(Deuce pours a mint and chocolate mixture into Riddle’s coconut shell as Vil tosses some pineapple slices on a rock to bake in the sun)
“Here on my island, there’s nothing but fun~!”
“Vines you can swing from~!”
“A nap in the sun~!”
(Ver twirls around his tree home as Riddle passes by on a vine. Above lies Vil, who was getting comfy under the sun yet again.
“There are mud pies to make~!”
“There are branches to shake~!”
(Deuce grabs a clump of mud and places it on a rock while Riddle shakes a few mangos off a branch for Ver to catch)
“Treasures await any road that you take~!”
(Parting the leaves, the group looks around, deciding where to go next)
“I’ll take the high path~!”
“And I’ll take the low path~!”
“And I’ll take the path through the sky~!”
(The group splits off, taking their respective paths as they look for something fun)
“I’ll jump the river~!”
“And I’ll climb the mountain~!”
“And I’ll stay here, guarding the pie~!”
(Ver skips across the river as Riddle scales a nearby tree, leaving Deuce alone to… eat the pie. Yep, he ate it.)
(The four of them, all smiles, head up to a nearby cliff next to the island’s main waterfall. Riddle and Vil jump off first, landing in the water with a splash. Ver is next, doing a nice front flip in the air before hitting the water. Last was Deuce, doing a nice cannonball that the others had to swim out of the way of.)
“Here on our island, the days are a dream~! Hanging together, we work as a team~! And the magic extends for our family of friends~!
“Here on our island, the fun never ends~~!”
(The song closes out, with all of them jumping into the ocean and Vil saying the last in was a rotten papaya)
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Nighttime soon fell after a fun day exploring. Firefly danced across the sky as Ver, Riddle, and Vil all slept peacefully up in their tree. Lying at the base, however, a certain elephant wasn’t having as pleasant dreams as the rest. Mumbling to himself in his sleep, poor Deuce starts instinctively kicking, his foot colliding with the trunk of the tree. The sheer strength of the kick was enough to not only wake everyone up but also knock both Riddle and Vil out of the tree.
Finding the source of the problem, Vil just shook his head at the sleeping elephant. “Someone doesn’t care about my beauty sleep.” With that, he flew his way back up to his personal branch.
Ver, having climbed down from the tree, gently woke Deuce up from his nightmare. Once awake, Deuce stood up, looking at Ver. “Did… did I wake you?” He asked, feeling guilty and still a bit on edge.
“Don’t worry, it’s alright,” Ver replied, trying to calm the elephant down.
“Easy for you to say,” Vil spoke down from his branch. “You’re not the one who has to rearrange hundreds of feathers.” Spreading his tail feathers out, Vil got to work moving them back into place.
Deuce just let out a sigh before starting to walk away from the tree. “I’ll just stay up for a while. Probably all night.” With his head hanging low, Deuce made his way to a cliffside to gaze at the stars.
Ver walked over to join him, resting a hand on Deuce’s back. “I’ll stay up with you.” He said, smiling at the young elephant, which prompted Deuce to smile back. Looking up at the stars together, Ver pointed to a few particularly bright ones. “There’s your star, and mine, and Riddle’s, and Vil’s!” Each star, or stars in Vil’s case, was slotted nicely next to each other.
“We’re all together.” Deuce smiled, leaning into Ver’s touch. “Can… can you sing me the goodnight song again?” He asked Ver, finally feeling calmer. With a soft nod, Ver cleared his throat.
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“Sun goes down, and we are here together~ Fireflies glow like a thousand charms~”
(Ver starts singing the lullaby to Deuce, looking up as fireflies dance in the sky around them)
“Stay with me, and you can dream forever~ Right here in my arms~ Tonight~”
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“Where’d you learn that song again?” Deuce asked, his eyes drooping thanks to the relaxing melody.
Ver simply shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve just always known it.” With that, the two begin walking side by side, following a group of fireflies that seemed to act as their guides.
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“It’s magic when you are here beside me~ Close your eyes, and let me hold you tight~”
(They arrive back at the tree, and Deuce lies down as Ver continues to sing to him)
“Everything that I could ever need is right here in my arms~ Tonight~”
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Deuce looks up at Ver with tired eyes and a smile. “Can you sing me the other part too?”
“Alright, but you know I don’t remember all the words,” Ver says, looking back up at the night sky.
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“Lalala~ Lalala~ Stars begin to climb~ Lalala~ Lalala~ La La La Lala~~”
(Finishing the melody, Ver rests a hand on Deuce’s head as a shooting star crosses the sky)
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Looking back down at the young elephant, Ver was happy to see him sleeping soundly, even letting out a few light snores. “Goodnight, Deuce.” With that, Ver climbs back up the tree to get some sleep himself.
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Off the coast of the island, a boat sails by, carrying a rather enthusiastic passenger. “Whoa! Land ho!” He excitedly shouts to the crew on deck, who promptly turn the ship towards the island in the distance.
Naturally, a big ship isn’t hard to spot when it’s out in the open seas. Ver and his family looked on as the ship slowly crept closer. “I’ve never seen a floating island before,” Vil commented, intrigued by this new specimen out in the water.
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(AN: Last song… for this chapter lol. There’s an additional voice in this one, and he will be indicated by “Italized-Underlined Quotes”, and yes, I am running out of ways to differentiate voices, sue me.)
(The energetic boy climbs the rigging on the side of the ship, looking out over the water as the ship grows closer to the island)
“Nothing beats a brand new shore~! Streaming into view~! After weeks upon the waves~! The thrill of somewhere new~!”
(Hopping back down to the main deck, the boy gets into the rowboat and finally touches down on the beach)
“All the riches of the world~! Can’t compare to these~!”
(Parting the leaves ever so slightly, Ver watches in a mixture of curiosity and caution as the boy looks around the beachline)
“Golden sand, and silver clouds~! The fragrant island breeze~!"
(Without waiting for the other boy he was traveling with, he skipped off into the greenery, looking around the place with awe)
“What will I discover next? It’s a mystery~! Different every day~! There’s so much to do and learn and touch and hear and see~! Just a step away~!”
(The mysterious visitor passes by Ver and his family without even noticing, far too focused on everything else)
“It has no trunk~”
“It has no tail~”
“It’s not a fish~”
“It’s not a whale~”
“It has no feathers I can see~”
“I have to say it looks like… me~”
(Watching from hiding, Ver finds himself wanting to get closer to the mysterious being)
“It must be bad~”
“It can’t be good~”
“Let’s run and hide~”
“I think we should~!”
“Just close your eyes, it goes away~!”
“This doesn’t happen every day~!”
(Ver takes this chance to slip away as his family watches with concern in their eyes, and he follows after the enthusiastic creature.)
“Feeling the excitement grow~! Every single stride~!
(Ver peeks his head out from behind some leaves, smiling at the sight of a creature so similar to himself)
“Sun above and earth beloOOOO–”
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Ver could only gasp as he watched the two creatures stumble and start rapidly falling down the hillside. The two slid down, eventually landing at the bottom of the hill after getting a face full of leaves. The enthusiastic boy sits up, laughing at the situation. “Haha! The fast way to see the island!”
He stands up, offering a hand to his friend who landed next to him. His friend, once standing upright, looks around the area they landed in. “Hm. Deep shadows, overhanging foliage. This is the ideal place for–”
“Crocodiles.” The energetic boy cuts him off with a panicked whisper. Looking down, the two were surrounded on all sides by three vicious crocs. The two tried to back up slowly, but it didn’t help that they didn’t have much room in the first place. Acting quickly, the boy with metal around his eyes grabbed a stick and lodged it in the open jaw of one of the crocs, but it was quickly snapped in half. “Heh, point for him.”
Now, with backs against the wall, it looked like all was lost. “Sebek! Baul! Kiki! That’s enough.” Ver shouted, swinging in from a vine to talk the crocs down. Narrowing his eyes, Ver spotted another croc who just appeared. “Fang! Don’t even think about it!”
Shocked to see that the crocs were actually listening to him, the two beings could only ask the obvious. “Is he talking… to the crocodiles?”
“No, not even a little piece.” Ver laughed, smiling at the crocs. “Now swim along. Thank you.” With that, all the crocodiles were gone, and the two mystery beings could only look at Ver in confusion. “Sorry about that. We don’t get many visitors,” He admitted, examining the two before him. “Who are you?”
“...Who are you?”
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Who Am I?