(A/N- After months of not publishing a story I finally get around to publishing one. I was working on another story, but this idea came into my head and I just had to put that one on hold to write this one. I wanted to write about how blocking Ariel and Melody off from the sea affected the rest of their family. I guess that that's what I was trying to do with this story, so if it seems like it's going off topic, it's not really. Just give it a chance.)

He didn't know how to feel about this. Of course, he felt happy, thrilled, and ecstatic. The day that he had waited ten years for had finally came. Soon, his whole family might be able to be together again if all things went right, but he still felt plenty of fear.

What if the witch was near? No one knew what she was capable of. Would she come after the rest of his family? It was a miracle that she didn't come and threaten the rest of them while she still had the chance. She could have easily snuck in and done something bad to one of his grandchildren or daughters.

Of course, past fear, there was doubt. He waited ten, long years for this. It didn't feel like it was happening. Well, it felt real. It did feel like it was happening. There was just this doubt that what he wanted―what everyone wanted―wasn't gonna happen. That there would be no happy end to this.

But there had to be because they had hope. Hope would get them through this. What they dreamed about would happen. It had to. It just had to.

The sound of water moving broke Triton out of his thoughts as his oldest daughter entered the throne room.

She swam up to him. "Good morning, father. If this is about how Alana should give Callie a more serious punishment for sneaking out late at night, I completely agree. I was not the one whotold her to beach her for just one night. I personally think that it should be longer."

"Yes, Attina. I agree too, but that's not why I called you here," Triton responded. He had bigger matters on his hands than a disobedient granddaughter.

"Oh. What is it then?" Attina asked, noting the serious tone in his voice. Something was wrong. Something worse than discussing punishments for one of her nieces. Much worse.

"Morgana was sighted last night," her father replied simply. It was all he could manage to get out.

"What? Was anyone hurt? Did they catch her?" Attina truly was shocked. After all of these years that witch finally decided to show her wretched face.

With a heavy sigh he replied, "No. She was spotted out by the kelp farms, and by the time the guards were able to get there, she vanished again. Luckily she didn't hurt anyone."

"Oh," Attina let out a sad sigh as well. She was hoping for better news, not that this wasn't the best news that she's received in the past ten years on this matter. perhaps now they were closer to catching her. "But why now, after all of these years, would she decide to show up?"

"Well, the only thing that I can think of is that she wants to state her place. To warn us that she's still out there. That she's still threatening us… and Melody," the king replied.

"Her tenth birthday's coming up," Attina stated.

"Yes. At the tenth year mark, she wants to restate her place," Triton said as he got up from his throne, unable to sit any longer.

"Does the public know yet? Or the rest of the family?" the princess inquired.

"I'm going to address the public next after I meet with the guards for an update. While I do that, can you round up the rest of the family so we can tell them? I want them to know before the public." the sea king asked. They deserved to know first. The public had most likely heard rumors of the sighting anyway.

Immediately after Morgana threaten his precious granddaughter, the grandfather sent out a manhunt to find her. However, she was never found, and after weeks and weeks of searching they finally had to quit because the guards couldn't keep focusing on only one thing when they were needed for many other tasks. Yes, people did still keep a watchful eye out in case there was a sign of her, but it turn into what some people might call, a cold case.

"Yes, father," Attina agreed. She was the oldest, so of course she took the responsibility. "Do you want everyone?"

"Yes,"

"Even the children?" she asked. They usually tried to keep the kids out of the more difficult news like this.

"Even the children. I need to warn them not to leave the palace," he confirmed. Morgana had already threatened one member of his family. He didn't need her threatening another. Triton was gonna make sure that the rest of his family was protected this time, unlike the last. The grandchildren often listened to him a bit better than they did to their parents. He wondered if this was the case for Melody, too. He remembered how Ariel was though, and was sure Melody would be just like her.

With this, Attina nodded and then headed off to round up the rest of her family while her father left to retrieve the update. Hopefully he would come back with hopeful news that the guards had found her or at least that they had a lead on her. Either way, she just wanted good news so she could see her little sister again.

"Mommy, what do you think grandpa wants to tell us?" a little mergirl with blonde hair sitting on her mother's lap said.

"I don't know, Shelly," Andrina replied, running her fingers through her youngest daughters tangled hair, typical for a toddler.

"Maybe it's about how Callie snuck out at night with friends," Andrina's oldest nephew said.

"Hmp!" Callie said, punching her older cousin's arm over hearing this. "For the future king of Atlantica, you sure are a jerk!"

"Stop teasing your cousin, Caspian," Attina scolded her son. "That's no way for a prince to act."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't even call you a prince!" his twin sister, Rhode, said. Callie was one of her favorite cousins and Caspian was her least favorite sibling. Of course she would take Callie's side.

"Hey! You can't bully me around!"

"Yes, I can. I'm seven whole minutes older than you," she replied, sticking out her tongue.

"Enough, you two. Stop it," scolded their mother. Her oldest children could never get along. If only they could be more like their younger sister, Amira. She was such an angelfish.

"But she started it! You should beach her!" Caspian pointed towards his sister.

"Did not! You were acting all-"

The fighting and other chatter in the room stop immediately once they heard the sea king enter and clear his throat. Then, all of the kids scrambled to get into their respected seats next to their parents, all suddenly became well behaved in front of their grandfather. Well, all except Caspian and Rhode, who were still quietly throwing insults towards each other.

The youngest, Shelly, was the first to speak up, not sensing the serious mood that the room had suddenly acquired.

"Hello, grandpa!" she waved innocently.

Triton smiled at his youngest granddaughter's enthusiasm. He could use some of that energy today. "Good morning, Shelly."

The others, of course, knew that there was something serious going on. "What's this about, Daddy? Did something happen?" Alana asked. Attina didn't explain the reason of the meeting

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about. There's been a sighting of Morgana," the grandfather replied.

There was a collection of gasps in the room followed by many questioned.

"What happened?"

"Did they capture her?"

"Do Ariel and Eric know yet?"

He knew he would be able to answer all of those questions―all until a small voice asked one from the back of the room.

"Do we get to meet Melody now?" Shelly asked, her little, innocent voice filling the room.

Triton's face fell. He couldn't blame his youngest granddaughter for asking that question. She was only four, after all, but did she really have to ask that question? It crushed everyone's heart to even think about Ariel and Melody, especially Triton's. He deeply missed his youngest daughter and his granddaughter that only he only got to meet for a few precious moments.

The whole mood in the room shifted from serious to very somber. Andrina hugged her daughter on her lap, taking it onto herself to answer the question.

"We don't know, sweetie. We'll, uh, just have to wait and see," she said, not knowing what else to say to her young daughter who didn't really understand the situation. Many of the younger children didn't fully understand the situation, unlike the older ones. However, they did understand that they wouldn't be able to see their aunt or cousin anytime soon for now.

That's when Triton unexpectedly spoke up, "I've sent another manhunt out. They're searching the whole ocean looking for her. All we can do is hope for the best and hope that we can find and imprison her." Hope. All he could do was hope.

"But for now," the king continued, "I want all of you to stay inside the palace. I want everyone safe. We don't know if she's crazy enough to go after the rest of you."

"But I have a sponge ball tournament this afternoon," Aquata's oldest daughter, Raine, complained.

Triton sighed. It was always hard to keep all sixteen grandchildren in check. Wait. No, just fifteen. Ariel and Eric have to keep Melody in check themselves.

"I'm sorry, Raine, but you'll have to miss it. It'll probably be postponed, anyway. I'm going to order anyone who isn't helping with the search to stay in their homes for extra safety precautions," he explained.

"Fine," the seven-year-old slumped back into her seat.

"I'm assuming that you have yet to formally tell the public. Would you like Attina's and my help?" William, Attina husband, said.

Triton smiled at his son-in-law. He really liked William. He was a prince from the adjacent kingdom, Oceano, and he was a great guy. Triton knew that he would make a great ruler one day when Attina takes over the throne. William was a great father and husband already anyways. He was one of the favorite men that his daughters chose to marry, not that he didn't like the others. A few of them just took a little longer to learn to like.

"That would be great, William. Thank you," he sincerely respond. He was glad that he wouldn't have to do it alone with just the captain of the guard. The captain was just so arrogant that he got on his nerves a lot, and it wouldn't take much to blow his fuse today.

"Does Ariel and Eric know yet?" Alana asked, curious as to what her younger sister and brother-in-law knew yet.

"Not yet. I want to wait until we have definite proof of where this situation stands. I don't want to raise their hopes, yet," Triton replied. He didn't want them to get them all hopeful just to crush it if they couldn't find Morgana. He would send someone, most likely Sebastian, up to the surface to tell them of the recent events once it all blows over with the good or bad news.

He turned towards the rest of his family, "That'll be all for now. I'll see you at dinner. Be safe," he turned back towards Attina and her husband and nodded, signaling their time to go.

Attina got up and turned to her two oldest. "You two be good now, okay? Behave for your aunts and uncles and watch after your little sister, please."

"Fine," Caspian and Rhode said simultaneously with a groan, crossing their arms over their chests. Amira, however, just giggled. She loved seeing her siblings fuss over having to keep an eye on her.

Attina kissed her kids on the top of their heads, and then left with William, hand in hand. Then, the other members of the family slowly headed out of the room.

"Come on, Amira. Let's go find something to do," Caspian sighed leaving the room.

"I'm bored," Amira groaned, throwing her stuffed starfish on the ground.

"Don't throw things, Amira," Caspian scolded.

"She's right. I'm bored, too. If I have to play another game of chess with Mr. Cheating Fins, I'll die," Rhode said. Caspian had already moved extra pieces when she wasn't looking multiple times.

"Hey! This was your idea, so don't yell at me," Caspian complained.

Everyone was bored. Rhode and Caspian had played countless games of chess, a game that their father had taught them at a young age, and Amira played with her stuffed animals as long as a kid could play with them before they got bored, which really wasn't long.

"Can we go to the play room?" Amira asked. The play room was a room that was filled with toys and activities that could keep the children occupied.

The room was created back when their mother and aunts were kids. Since they had so many daughters Athena and Triton decided to create a room for them to occupy themselves in, while they managed to get work done. The room was deserted for a while when the girls grew up, but now with so many children, it was back in action.

"Ewe, no! Uncle Stevie and Aunt Adella are watching the little kids in there. Rhode and I don't need babysitting since we're nine. Anyways, we're suppose to be watching you," Caspian complained.

"Caspian! Stop bossing her around!" Rhode scolded. She was tired of her twin's bossy attitude. He thought he was everything since he was going to become king one day.

"Yeah!" Amira exclaimed. "Stop bossing me around."

"You're not that much older than me, Rhode. You can't boss me around!"

"Is everyone okay in here?" Alana stuck her head in the door along with her two daughters, Arabella and Callie.

"Yes, Aunt Alana," Rhode said sweetly. "We're just f-"

"They were bossing me around like I'm still a little guppy!" Amira pointed an accusing finger towards her older siblings.

"Ugh, guys seriously? Again? What did your mother say?" Alana asked. She felt bad for Attina and William some times for having such asserted kids, but what could she say? She had a rebellious seven year old child.

Before they had the chance to make up some response, Arabella spoke up.

"Hey, Amira, want to come with us?"

"Yeah!" Callie exclaimed. "We're going to play makeover!"

"Can I?!" Amira exclaimed before picking up her favorite stuffed starfish and swimming out of the room and leaving with her cousins and aunt.

"Well, I'm out of here," Caspian said. "I've had enough of you!"

"Good!" Rhode spat. "I was gonna go hang out with Raine anyway! I'm sure she's bummed about her fin ball tournament and needs some cheering up."

And with that they left to go somewhere where the other wasn't.

The two girls were in the casual family room just finishing some last minute homework they had put off until the end of the weekend. It had been Rhodes idea to get away from the rest of their annoying family. Raine was bummed about missing her tournament, but she quickly got over it once she realized she could get to spend some quality time with her favorite older cousin.

Raine shut her textbook. "Rhode?"

"Yeah," her cousin mumbled back, more focused on getting her math done.

"Do you think that we'll ever get to meet Melody," Raine curiously asked her older cousin.

This peaked Rhode's interest. She lifted her head from her textbook and looked towards her cousin with a sad look. She may not be one of the adults, but she was definitely old enough to understand the situation. Since Raine was only two years younger than her, she figured it wouldn't hurt for her to understand too.

"I don't think we ever will," she simply stated. It was a fact that she didn't want to believe herself, but yet somehow she felt as though it was true. This was the only sighting of Morgana in the past ten years. Imagine how much longer it will be until the next sighting if they don't catch her now.

"What?" Raine cried. She didn't believe it. They had to be able to meet their cousin. They just needed that last piece to make their family complete. She had dreamt of that day forever.

"I know. I don't want to believe it myself, but think about it. Morgana's smart. She knows that if she stays out of the way she won't get caught, but the threat she placed will be enough to scare Aunt Ariel to not let Melody near the sea to meet us," the young princess painfully explained.

"But grandfather kept saying that there was still hope they'll catch the witch. We have to believe that, right?" Raine asked.

Rhode knew that her grandfather was crushed from not being able to see his daughter and granddaughter in years. He was the one who always had hope. He was the one who was always in denial believing that the grand day would have to come.

She, however, wasn't sure if there was still hope.

She sighed. Hope was all that they had, though. It wasn't much, but at least it was something.

"Right."

Attina swam through the palace halls with her husband. Things seemed to be under control. The public seemed understanding of the news and were willing to help with the search, her father and the captain of the guards actually got somewhat along with each other, and more search parties were being sent out. Well, things didn't completely go she hoped for. Morgana still wasn't found.

But that didn't mean anything, yet. So what if Morgana wasn't found yet? They've only been searching for a few hours. She was hiding. Yeah, that's it. She was just hiding and it would take the guards a little while until they found her.

No matter what, she was going to see her baby sister again. No matter what.

The crown princess stopped swimming and was knocked out of her thoughts by a familiar pair of arms wrapping around her shoulders.

"Hey, how are you doing?" William asked. He knew this was tough for her. She really missed her little sister and her first niece who she only got to see once.

"I'm fine. I just have to go get these orders figured out and give them to the captain. It'll just take a couple minutes," she nudged him away.

"Attina, wait. Calm down." her husband said, going after her.

"Calm down?! How am I supposed to stay calm when no one has any idea of what will happen! Maybe this damn witch will be found and we'll get the rest of our family back. Or maybe she won't, and it will be forever until we can see them again! I have work to do!" She went to swim away.

"Attina! Stop! Just stop!" William grabbed her wrist. "This is what you do. You're just like your father. Whenever something goes wrong or you don't know what to do, you submerge yourself in work. It's not healthy, Attina!"

"Well, what else am I supposed to do then? Just sit around comforting my family like I always do? That's what I did when mom died, and I still couldn't bring her back. At least maybe I can try and bring Ariel and Melody back," Attina said as she collapsed into her husband's open arms. They were always opened for her.

"That's what you do, though. It's what you're good at, honey. You are the glue that holds this family together. No one can keep us together and calm like you can," William said, brushing her hair out of her face.

That's exactly what she was. In the eleven years of marriage, William had seen her keep the family together from when Adella and Alana had miscarriages both within just a few short months of each other to the time when Arista's youngest child fell gravely ill. He saw his wife pull the family through so much, and he had faith in her that she could pull them through again, no matter the outcome.

"So I should go find my sisters then, huh?" Attina said slowly, taking in her husband's words. He always knew what to do. That's why she loved him.

"I think that's a great idea. I'll find those papers and send them to the captain," William said.

"Thanks, honey. Have I ever told you you're the best?" Attina teased.

"All the time," William teased back. "Now, go hold them together."

Attina gave him a short, peck on the cheek before heading off to find her sisters. She knew they were feeling just as bad as she was. They were all close to Ariel even though she was always the odd one out as a child, so to speak. She was always out and about on an adventure and never spent much time with them. Then of course, she became human and left, but they still always loved each other.

And they all missed Melody, too. They barely even saw her, let alone got to hold her. Of course now she was too old to be held. Attina sighed. She was already ten years old. Ten years. They missed ten years of Ariel, Eric, and Melody's life, all because of that damn witch.

She was brought of her thoughts when she heard voices coming from the nearby parlor.

"How do you think Daddy's doing?"

"He's doing pretty badly, but I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him since the family meeting. No one really has. He's been distant. He really only communicated with Attina and William."

"This isn't fair. Ariel is our sister. We shouldn't be kept out of information, just because we aren't next in line for the throne."

Attina swam into the room to find Arista and Aquata talking.

"Hey," Attina greeted casually. "What's going on?"

"Did you here anything about Morgana yet? How's Daddy doing?" Aquata asked eagerly.

"They haven't found her yet, but the search parties went out not so long ago. We have to give them a chance to actually look," the oldest replied.

"And Daddy?" Arista asked.

Attina sighed. "Father could be doing better. We have to remember how horrible this is for him. He's waited for this day for years, but I think he hoped it would happen differently. He probably hoped that she would be found right away and thrown in jail, but instead there's a huge manhunt out for her first, with no sure evidence that she'll be caught, but he still thinks she'll be found."

"He's lost in the reality that all will be fine, isn't he?" Aquata asked. She knew her father and this is exactly how he handles these types of things. He pushes himself into denial, trying to believe that everything will work out fine, even when the chances are slim.

"Yes, but that's not what he's doing," Attina tried to cover up the harsh reality that not even she wanted to believe. "He just has hope. He's optimistic, just like we should be."

"So we have to believe that they'll catch Morgana and we'll get to see Ariel and Eric again, right?" Arista asked.

Attina sat next to her younger sister and pulled her into a hug, which she gladly accepted. Even in their late twenties and early thirties, Attina was always there as a motherly figure at times. She truly did hold this family together.

"We'll see them again, don't worry," Attina comforted her little sister, just like her husband said. It felt bad to not actually be doing anything directly with the search for Morgana, but at least this did feel like she was making a difference.

"I hope it's soon, because Eric turns big the three-o in a few months. What I would give to hear him complain about becoming old. Remember his twentieth birthday. He was complaining that he was starting to feel old. I don't get it, I mean, he's still really young," Aquata said.

"You've got to remember that he's already a king. It's a hard and stressful job. He thinks he's going to start to go gray early like father," Attina answered.

"I miss him. I hope he's taking care of Ariel and Melody," Arista said. Eric became sort of like a brother to the sisters.

"I'm sure he is. He loves them both," Attina replied. It was no secret how much Eric loved Ariel, but you could tell that he loves Melody, too. She's his little girl and nothing was going to happen to her as long as he's around. That was obvious when he saved her the first time Morgana attacked.

"Well, he sure has his hands full if Melody is anything like Ariel," Aquata stated and laughed along with her other sisters.

"Yeah," Aquata said in a sad tone. She remembered how crazy Ariel could be on her adventures and how much trouble she caused, but how she had a way to lighten the family up, even by getting in trouble.

"Come here," The oldest princess said and opened her arms again, which Aquata gladly received, as well as Arista.

And together they held each other hoping for the only news that could make them feel better, but for now, this would have to do.

No. No, no, no. No!

This wasn't the real news. The captain was just pulling his fins. She couldn't have just vanished… again.

"I'm sorry, but we've searched everywhere. She couldn't have gotten too far, but none of the search parties found anything. Not even a clue. There's no lead. We have to call the search off," the captain told the sea king.

"Are you sure you can't keep looking? It's only been two days!" Triton asked. They all had hoped that this was it. That this was the day that he got his daughter and granddaughter back.

"We practically have all of the guards out searching and even some extra civilians, but the guards have other duties. People have other jobs. Life has to go on, even in the mist of a tragedy," the captain said, sincerely sorry for his king. No father should have to go through this.

"No, we can't stop looking. It will-" Triton looked for a way to defend his hope, "it will make Atlantica look like we just give up easily."

"No," the captain retorted. "It will look like we don't get caught up in in past. That we keep moving forward. That's what we have to do. We can't leave the kingdom vulnerable to other disasters. I'm sure she'll try to strike again and when she does, we'll catch her for sure."

The sea king sighed. As king, he had a duty to always put the kingdom first, before himself, before the things he wanted, and even before his own family sometimes. The kingdom was his top priority, even bigger than trying to fulfill his dream.

Even when his hope was running low, Triton had to make sure that the kingdom was still full of it.

"Very well. Call off the search, but I still want the guards on high alert," Triton commanded. He would be damned it the sea witch would touch another one of his grandchildren.

"A wise decision, Your Majesty. I'll send out the order immediately and make sure that the guards are back in their normal routine by nightfall. Good day," and with that the captain headed off to give his orders.

Triton suck back down into his seat. They were so close, but ended up so far away. How could this have happened?

They had spotted her. All they had to do was track her down, and he guards were sent out not long after Morgana was first spotted. How could she have gotten away so quickly?

She must have magic. Powerful magic.

That's okay, though. They have hope…

They had hope.

Was it really all gone now? They had waited ten whole years for something like this to happen, but the moment let them down. Who knows how long it will take for another sighting to occur again.

It could be another ten years until Morgana was sighted again, and who knows if they'll catch her then? Who knows if he'd ever get to see his daughter and granddaughter again?

Triton picked up the picture of Melody that he had left sitting on the arm of his throne and ran his finger down the side of it.

He hadn't seen his oldest grandchild since she was a baby. Melody was his very first grandchild and he didn't even get the chance to be a grandfather to her. He didn't get to spoil her with presents on her birthday or tell her stories from when her mother was a young, adventurous mermaid, and because of Morgana, he could never be sure if he ever would.

And with that, he completely lost hope.

FYI, I changed Bettina's name to Rhode after going back and editing this because I didn't like. Rhode means daughter of Poseidon, so it relates better anyway.