Who's up for some cute fluff without pretty much any plot?!

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Chapter 21 (Nya)

One year ago, Temple of Airjitzu

"An' that wun." Abby, already tucked into her bed for the night, points at the stuffed green dragon (a present from Lloyd). "An'-"

"I think that's enough friends for tonight, otherwise you won't have any space yourself." I tell her, putting the requested plushie next to her – and between the two dozen other soft toys which are already occupying two thirds of the bed. "Maybe the other ones can have their turn tomorrow."

I place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Now, which bedtime story would you like me to read you tonight?" I enquire. The bookshelf in Abby's room is bursting with storybooks, and I feel like I have read every single one of them at least a hundred times.

"No book." Abby shakes her head. "Own stowy." She demands.

"You mean like grandpa Ray's stories about the dragons?" She loves my dad's tales. But to my surprise, she shakes her head again.

"No." She states firmly. "Own stowy, like uncle Kai."

"Uhm..." I say, having no clue as to what she means. Last night, when I was on a girls' night out with Skylor, Seliel and PIXAL, my brother was babysitting my daughter. "What kind of story did uncle Kai tell you?"

"Oooh." Her blue eyes widen. "It was 'bout a han'some young blacksmith. He an' his fwiends had to save the kingdom fwom some evil elves and gingabweadmen, and they were helped by the pink ice fairy an' a red samuwai. And then he married the bootiful pwincess from a fawaway island."

I can's suppress a little chuckle. That's very much like Kai, to make himself the hero in his own stories and retell some of our (real and imaginary) early battles as a fairy tale.

Although... on second thought, this isn't a bad idea after all. Our adventures do make some pretty good stories I guess. So, let's see...

"Once upon a time..." I start. "There was a king. He was very old and very wise. And, apart from his kingdom, there were two things that he loved the most – his tea and his daughter, the lovely princess. But one day, the princess was taken by the king's evil brother, the ruler of the Underworld. He locked her up in a tiny dark cell, and nobody would talk to her for days."

"The poor pwincess." Abby states. "I don' like the Unde'world."

"Neither do I." I agree. It was one of the worst times of my life, especially as I didn't know how my brother was doing in the meantime – or even if he was still alive.

"Anyway, the king chose four of his men – the most skilled blacksmith, the-"

"Is it the same blacksmith from uncle Kai's stowy?" Abby interrupts me.

I smile at her. "I think it is." I nod. "And then there was also the king's strongest guard, his wittiest inventor, and the smartest one of his advisors. And he sent those four young men of a quest. They had to find the four golden-" I pause for a moment to think. "-the four golden stars. Only the light of all four stars combined together would be strong enough to defeat the Darkness of the Underworld. But in order to find the stars, the four knights had to search the whole kingdom – they travelled to the North, the South, the East, and to the West. Each of these weap- uhm, stars was guarded by a dragon, and these dragons then helped the four knight to cross over into the Underworld."

"Like the dwagons in grampa Ray's stowies." Abby excitedly claps her hands.

"Exactly." I smile. "So the four knights took the stars to the Underworld, defeated the king's evil brother and saved the princess."

"Awww, I like that." Abby smiles tiredly. "An' then?"

"The king had promised that, if they managed to bring the princess home, he would give her hand to one of the knights."

"What does that mean?" My little angel mumbles sleepily.

"It means that one of them would marry the princess." I explain. "But he was a very wise king, so he let his daughter choose for herself. She chose the inventor, because she liked to build things herself."

I place a gentle kiss on my lightly snoring daughter's forehead, before I finish with a sad smile.

"And they lived happily ever after."

Present Day, Temple of Airjitzu

"An' Mr Cuddlywoomps." Abby demands, tucked into her bed.

"Here he is." Jay hands her his old teddy bear – but not before he's given him a little hug himself – and Abby happily takes the light blue soft toy into her outstretched arms.

"Do you want daddy to read you a story tonight, sweetheart?" I ask my little girl.

"No." She shakes her head. "I wunt daddy to tell me a stowy."

"That means you have to make up your own story." I explain to my confused ex-boyfriend. And I add. "It was Kai's fault, he's started it."

"But mummy has the best stowies." Abby says. "Like the naughty boy who wannet candy, or the Golden Pwince who had to battle an evil wizard and free his daddy fwom a howwible curse, or the team of Arci-... Acca-"

"Archaeologists." I help her out.

"Arologists who needed to find the four tusk blades an' stop the baaad purple elephant. And my favourite is the one of the Pwincess in the Underwo'ld."

That one has come a long way from when I first told it. With each time (and there have been many), I've added more details to the story.

"The Princess in the Underworld?" Jay winks at me. "I might have an idea where this is going..."

"Oooh, you do?" Abby's eyes light up. "Then maybe mummy can tell it to both of us, an' you can help her?"

"Sure." He smiles, sitting down on the edge of her bed, while I take the chair next to it.

"Once upon a time..." I begin, brushing my hand through our daughter's brunette hair. "There was a king. He was very old and very wise."

"And I think he had a long, white beard." Jay adds with a chuckle.

"He indeed had." I nod. "And ruled his people with a firm but just hand. Apart from his kingdom, there were two things that he loved very much – his tea and his daughter, the lovely princess."

"The princess was the prettiest girl anyone had ever seen." Jay remarks. "With her ebony hair and her eyes of chocolate. But it wasn't just her looks that everyone admired her for, for she was kind, smart, brave, very strong, and let's not forget incredibly stubborn."

"Well, but all these qualities didn't help her-" I continue, a light blush dusting my cheeks. "when, one day, she was kidnapped by her uncle, the king's evil brother who was the ruler of the Underworld. He locked the poor princess up in a tiny, dark, humid-"

"An' smelly." Abby pipes up.

"And incredibly smelly cell." I scrunch my face. "But that wasn't even the worst thing. What she hated the most was that she was all on her own, without any news about her father, and sometimes, whole days went by without anybody talking to her at all."

While I was describing the conditions of my imprisonment, Jay has taken one of my hands into his; he gives it a little squeeze.

"That sounds horrible." He says. "I never knew how much the brave princess had to endure."

"Well, luckily there was a shimmer of hope for her." I flash him a grateful smile. "Because there was a way to save her - the four Golden Stars that, when combined, would shine so bright that they could even beat the Darkness of the Underworld. But these Stars were hidden in different parts of the kingdom, and only the wise, old king-"

"-with the long white beard-"

"had the map with their location. He chose four of his best men – the most skilled blacksmith became the red Knight -"

"In uncle Kai's story, he also fought some evil elves and ginnabweadmen. An' he married a pwincess fwom a fawaway island." Abby supplies some background information to his character.

"I see." Jay laughs. "And I bet one of them was a super strong warrior."

"Yes, the black Knight was the strongest man among the royal guards." I inform him. "The king's smartest advisor became the white Knight, and finally there was the blue Knight, the kingdom's wittiest inventor."

"Who also liked model building and dabbled in poetry." Jay boasts.

"And I've heard rumours that he had been the first one in his Little Scouts group to get his knot badge." I smirk at him.

"Yeahhh, I've heard that too..." Jay sheepishly rubs his neck.

"Anyway, the king sent these four brave Knights on a quest to find the four Golden Stars. And maybe daddy can tell you how they found them?"

"Sure." Jay says. "The first one was hidden in a deeeeep underground cave. And in order to retrieve it, the four brave knights had to defeat an army of skeletons. They were badly outnumbered, but just when things were looking really, really bad for them, they unlocked an ancient technique called Sp- uhm Starjitzu and absolutely destroyed the skeleton army."

"Wow." Abby gasps, stifling a yawn.

"Are you tired, sweetie?" I ask. "We can continue tomorrow."

I'd rather not finish this story in front of Jay, because-"

"No." She replies firmly. "I wanna hear about the other stars, and daddy needs to hear how the princess and the blue Knight got married and lived happilyevafter..."

"They did?" Jay raises an eyebrow at me.

Yup, that's why.

"This is fairy tale." I whisper apologetically. "They always do."

"Daddy, pwease tell me 'bout the other stars." Abby requests.

"Sure, Abby." He turns back to her. "The second Star was frozen in a glacier, far, far up in the North; the next one was hidden in the ruins of an old temple, high up in the sky. Luckily, they had the witty inventor who made them some wings."

"Oooh." Abby gasps. "That's cool."

"It really was." Jay smiles fondly at the memory. "And the final Star was inside an active volcano so they needed some very strong armour made by the blacksmith."

"Each of these stars was protected by a mighty dragon." I take over again. "But once these dragons realised that the knights were the good guys, they became great friends and even helped them cross over into the Underworld."

"That's not a faiwy tale, dwagons really can twavel between Realms." Little Miss Smarty Pants informs her father.

"I see." Jay smiles at her. "And what happened in the Underworld?"

"The four Knights combined the four Golden Stars into the Star of Creation, defeated the king's evil brother and saved the lovely princess." I explain in brief. It's already getting late, and we'll have to get up early tomorrow so no need to go into too much detail.

"An' the wise old king was vewy happy." Abby adds.

"Yes, and because the four Knights had proven that they were the best men in the whole kingdom, he wanted one of them to marry his daughter and become the next king. But he was not only a wise king, but also a loving father, so he let the princess choose for herself which of them she wanted to be with."

"And she chose the blue Knight, because it was her favowit colour." Abby chimes in.

"And because she also liked to build things. The couple had a lovely daughter, and when the old kind eventually passed, they became the next King and Queen and ruled their kingdom for many, many years to come. And they all lived happily ever after."

"The end." Abby concludes. "You like it, daddy."

"It was a wonderful story." Jay replies.

"It is, isn't it?" Abby beams at him.

"And a very long story, so it's time for you to sleep now. Especially as you need to be fit for our trip to Mega Monster Amusement Park tomorrow." I kiss her cheek. "Good night, sweetheart."

"Good night mummy." Abby replies, cuddling her teddy. "An' good night daddy."

"Good night Abby." He places a kiss on her forehead, while I switch on the baby monitor, and we leave the room together.

"I am sorry." I apologise, as we are walking along the corridor. "I should have gone for a different story."

"Don't worry, it's fine." Jay reassures me. "Abby wanted this one. And, as you've said, it's just a fairy tale."

But of course, we both know that it isn't.

"So, are you also coming downstairs?" I ask him, in an attempt to move on from the rather sensitive subject. "Or are you tired as well?" I wink at him.

It has been a long day. After working his way through his own things, Abby insisted that Jay would also have a look at - and of course admire – three boxes worth of her 'art', which took them most of the morning. Following lunch with the whole team, Kai and Lloyd then tortured Jay with (i.e. trained him in) Airjitzu. The former blue Ninja did surprisingly well for his first time. But then, he used to be the best one in Spinjitzu, so it's actually not surprising at all.

"No, I'm still good." He assures me. "I'm just gonna go upstairs and quickly call my parents." He chuckles. "Well, knowing my parents, it's probably not gonna be that quick."

"Okay." I nod. "Please say hi to them for me."

"Will do." He places a chaste kiss on my blushing cheek. "I'll join you afterwards."

I stay and watch as he climbs up the stairs to the second floor.

Sometimes, fairy tales do come true. I think.

But most times, they just don't.