Chapter Text
As the bombast music from the parade died down and the crowd began to disperse, Helena turned to the group and grinned. With the exception of the near incident this morning between Joffrey and Robb, everyone was getting along just wonderfully. She felt her chest constrict the moment she saw Ariadne hold Barra, snuggling the little girl close when Edric, seemingly out of nowhere, attacked her twin with a hug. Mya then jumped in and before she knew it, her sister was swallowed up in a giant group hug. Bella had a hold of Mya's camera and snapped a shot of the familial love and Helena made a mental note to ask Mya for a copy of that picture. She turned to the person closest to her, which happened to be Arya, and asked where they were planning on going next.
“Oh... uh...” Arya looked around before she poked Sansa in her side, making the auburn-haired Stark sister jump with a yelp.
“Arya!” Sansa protested.
“Helena's asking where we're going next.” Arya rushed ahead before her sister could get another word in, making Helena wonder if these two had ever gone a day without arguing. Then again, Arya seem like she enjoyed a good tongue lashing; and the thing was, she gave as good as she got.
“Oh, well, uhm, Barra said she wants to go on Tower of Terror so, we're gonna go check the wait time for it, just to make sure we can make it for dinner. We don't want to miss our reservation and get charged for “not showing up.” Is there somewhere you would like to go, Helena?” Sansa asked earnestly.
Helena shook her head. “No, just wondering, is all.”
“Oh, okay. Onward then!”
The group shuffled along, with Barra and Ariadne at the helm of the pack. Helena came to stand next to the two Baratheon siblings, who were speaking to each other in hushed tones, Myrcella giving her brother a look of encouragement, whereas Tommen looked as though he was going to puke.
“Are you okay, Tommen? You looked as though you saw a ghost?” Helena asked.
As if he wasn't pale enough, Tommen looked even more sickly at the mention of 'ghosts' but he put on a brave face as he responded, “I'm fine, thank you, Helena. It seems as though I might not have the stomach for... scary rides.”
“Oh, but you seemed to be okay on the last roller-coaster we were on.”
“Roller-coasters are fine. Speed is not really my fear... it's... creepy, scary things. Like... ghost and ghouls and demons and pain worshipping redneck zombies.”
Helena tried her best to not laugh but the sweet young boy looked as though he might faint at the sight of his own shadow. “I'm pretty sure that they don't have zombies at Disneyland.”
“They did at the Haunted Mansion!” He whined. He looked like he might bury his face into his sister's chest and sob but was holding back.
Barely.
“You know those aren't real... right?” Helena tried to explain.
“Extraterrestrial being aren't real but you don't see Hollywood stopping the production of scary alien movies.”
Helena gave him a funny look thinking how that didn't really make a whole lot of sense but hearing the conviction in his voice made her question her judgment. She flicked her gaze over towards Myrcella and saw she too looked as though she was trying to make sense of what her brother said before shrugging and patting her brother on the shoulder.
“But extraterrestrials are real.”
Tommen's steps came to screeching stop. “W-what?” His eyes were filled with true horror. Myrcella shook her head vigorously.
“Yeah. Well, I mean, it's not proven yet but the universe is so vast that it's-”
“So there isn't any proof. Like, hard evidence that they exist right?!” His voice was hard and serious and perhaps slightly deranged but that could just be all in Helena's head.
“Well, no, but it's pretty safe to assume that there are-”
“You don't make assumptions about whether the ocean is solid so you could play hockey on it why would you make an assumption about the existence of aliens?!”
Helena tilted her head in confusion. “Ocean?”
“Tommen thinks that the world is going to go through another ice age and all the ocean is going to freeze over making the whole globe one giant hockey arena.” Myrcella explained.
“Hey, I can dream. We're at Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth. Where dreams come true if you wish upon a star. And where you can have fun without ghosts and zombies popping out at you from behind gravestones!” Tommen said with a huff. Helena nodded diplomatically as the blonde boy took a second to catch his breath. “Now... what were we talking about?”
Helena laughed and saw Myrcella smile sweetly at her brother.
They finally got to the beginning of the line at Tower of Terror and Helena saw that the wait time was 25 minutes. Sansa waved for everyone to join her in the line before saying, “Alright, so the wait time is about 25 minutes. That should be more than enough time for us to get back to the Carthay Circle from this side of CDA to make that 6:00 reservation. Once you get off the ride, wait for us in the Hollywood Tower Hotel gift shop where Tommen and Shireen will be waiting and we'll go there as a group. Everyone got that?”
A variety of murmurs went up in the air as the group split up into two, the larger of the parties getting in line and Tommen and Shireen happily wandering into Bug's Land, which was located right next to Tower of Terror. Helena sidled up to her sister and lightly pinched Barra's cheeks. The little girl let out a high pitched laugh that echoed in the tiny courtyard in front of the ride. As she stood up, Helena felt a chill race down her back. She locked eyes with her sister who saw her shiver and knew what that meant: it was a sign that something bad was going to happen. Helena never knew what exactly but it usually meant something unpleasant.
And today was going so well.
'No. Please. Not today.' she prayed as the door to the hotel's library slid opened.
The ride was short but it didn't go without incident. The group split up into two groups. Gendry, Arya, Robb, Myrcella, Rickon, and Jon went into one group while Helena, Barra, Ariadne, Mya, Bella, Sansa, and Bran went to the other. Everything was fine when they entered the library at first. The video on the screen lit up the darkened room and before long the group was settling in but the moment the thunder clapped and the lights went out, a earsplitting scream rang across the room.
Helena knew that instant that something was wrong.
Mya's voice broke through the confusion as the lights came back on. “Barra. Barra, sweetie, what's wrong?”
“I'm not Barra.” A young girl's voice came from the crowd. It most definitely did not come from Barra.
Bella looked around frantically. “Barra? Barra, where are you?” Ariadne was next to start panicking. “Barra? Barra?”
Helena felt like the all the air supply in the entire world disappeared. She was sure every single member of their group was feeling the same in that moment, if the looks of panic etched across her sister's face and Bella's face were any indication; they were probably the calmest of everyone and if they were starting to worry, then it was safe assume they all were going to loose their shit.
Bran was closest to Helena, confusion was etched on his face just like everyone else as the group was shuffled out of the room so that the next batch of guest can come into the room. Sansa walked up to one of the staff members and told them the situation in the calmest tone she could muster from what Helena could tell.
The staff member directed them towards the exit and as they all waited to be helped by park security, Sansa's phone let out a sound similar to that of a flute playing around wind chimes. She brought her phone out of her bag and saw it was a text message. “Oh my gods...”
Bran looked at her with concern. “What's the matter?”
“He's got her...” Sansa gasped.
“Who?”
“Joffrey.”
Sansa turned the phone around there was a picture of a very concerned Barra and a smug looking Joffrey. Helena felt her world come slamming down like a soccer ball to the face. Her entire being was numb and was trying not to think of all the horrific scenarios of what that little monster could do to her. Her family was the one who had signed Barra out that morning and it was technically Helena and Ariadne's responsibility. They promised their parents this morning that they would look after Barra like she was their real sister. And now, Helena could not imagine all the shame that she would feel if anything actually happened to their sweet half-sister.
Finally, without her knowing, everyone was gathering around Sansa to look at the picture that Joff had sent to Sansa, trying to figure out where they were so that they could narrow down the possibility of their location. But before they could shoot off any ideas, Sansa recieved another message, this time it was from Myrcella asking why was Barra with Joff.
“He must have texted both of you. There was no way he could have been sure that you were going to be with together and he wanted to make sure that-”
“I knew that he had her. Oh my gods, Mya! What are we going to do? If he does anything to Barra because of me-”
“You cannot think like that! You are not to blame if something happens to her. No one is blaming you.” Mya shot everyone there a pointed look, as if to dare anyone to challenge her on that point but no one did.
“Yeah,” Helena added awkwardly.
Bella piped up then. “Don't worry Sansa, Barra'll be fine. She's a smart girl, she can take care of herself.”
Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy.
“Barra is 7 years old, Bella. I don't think that constitutes as someone who can take care of themselves-”
Bella shrugged. “Why not? I was 7 when I picked my first pocket. When I was 7 I was able to walk down the street and point out every single man who was cheating on his wife. Trust me... don't underestimate 7 year-olds.”
Sansa tried to understand but with the way her face pinched in confusion, Helena knew there was no way she would see it the way Bella did. “Well you and Barra are different. She didn't grow up like you did-”
Bella's eyes narrowed. “No... but she grew up in an orphanage. In all honesty, that's just as bad.”
Mya shook her head, probably trying to keep this all from exploding into an all out fight. “Okay, first off, Sansa... contact Myrcella and tell her the situation. Tell her, that we are on this already and that we're gonna find-”
But before Mya could continue, Sansa's phone twinkled again and this time another photo came through. This time it was of Barra throwing up a peace sign with someone in the background being dragged away by Disneyland's security guards.
“Is that... is that Joffrey? How did she...?” Sansa looked up at everyone in complete shock. She called Joffrey's phone and Barra's sweet voice came filtering in from the other line. “Barra? Barra, sweetie, are you okay? … Oh, thank heavens! Okay, can you tell me where you are?... You're in the front of the Tower ride? Okay, is there an adult there with you?... a police man? Okay, sweetie, that's fine. Could you tell the nice police man if you could go and wait for us in the gift shop? Could you do that for me?... Thank you, Barra. I'll be right there, okay?”
Before Sansa could finish her instructions though, Bella was the first one to bolt in the direction of the Hollywood Hotel Gift Shop.
Bran smiled sheepishly. “I guess she was more worried than she let on.”
When Tommen and Shireen joined them a few minutes later, they all regrouped and Ariadne realized for the first time she felt whole again. It was so strange. Before now, she would only feel incomplete when she was away from Helena for prolonged periods of time. But now, after being with this group of wonderful people, she would have been happy to spend the rest of her life in a big house living with all of them.
Especially with how everyone was situated around the long table under the pretty lights woven into the beams of the awning, Ariadne would have been content to spend the rest of the evening there. The group seated themselves, the younger boys fighting over where they were to sit, with most of the girls just falling into place wherever there was an opening.
With the exception of Ariadne and Helena who took to sitting at the heads of the table. By default, they would naturally sit next to each other but that evening they were pulled to opposite ends of the table by various members of their family.
They hardly even put up a fight.
Helena looked at the other end of the table, where her sister was chatting happily with Edric and Myrcella. Adne was waving her fork in the air as she told them a story, her face animated. Helena smiled to herself. She was quite the storyteller, as Helena knew very well.
She took another bite of her Skuna Bay salmon, which was just another scrumptious selection of their evening meal. Mya would be paying a fortune for this dinner, she thought absently, before remembering suddenly that it would probably be Robert who picked up the tab. Well, that would be just fine then. Maybe she’d even order dessert. Those pictures on the menu had had her mouth watering instantly.
But despite the wonderful meal, Helena couldn’t help thinking something was off. Maybe it was the shifty glances the others kept throwing at each other when they thought she wasn’t looking. Maybe it was how Sansa kept getting up to “go to the restroom” nearly every five minutes. Something just wasn’t right – but what?
“You alright?”
The voice startled her out of her thoughts. Helena looked to her right to see the youngest Stark sister looking at her shrewdly.
She smiled, a little too brightly. “Just fine!”
Arya only raised an eyebrow, a faint grin pulling at the corner of her mouth. Helena sighed.
“I just … does something seem weird to you?”
“Weird like what happened earlier with Joffrey and Barra?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. Everyone seems like they’re … anxious. For something.” She bit her lip. “Nevermind. I probably sound crazy.”
To her surprise, though, Arya had a full-blown sneaky grin on her face. “Maybe not that crazy.”
Before she could ask what that meant, she heard hushed whispers and murmurs throughout their party and the restaurant. Ariadne’s jaw had dropped as she stared at something off to the side, and Helena shifted to follow her gaze. She dropped her fork.
A cart being pushed by two waiters, accompanied by a smug-looking Sansa Stark, was headed their way. On it sat an enormous three-layer cake with white frosting and chocolate trim. From where she sat, Helena could see there was a bright design on the top-most tier as well. She found her hands were clasped over her mouth as it was wheeled over, and slowly, with the help of Robb and Gendry and the two waiters, shifted onto the table.
Ariadne’s tearful expression stared back at her from across the table, while the others clapped and high-fived joyously, thrilled at pulling off their surprise. Sansa cleared her throat.
“Today happens to be the birthday of two very special young ladies here,” she said loudly. “Miss Ariadne,” she gestured to one end of the table, “and Miss Helena.” She pointed at Helena. “Would it be possible for us to have some help in singing them ‘Happy Birthday’?”
Bella and Edric started almost immediately, horribly off-key, and were joined loudly by Arya, Rickon and Bran moments later. The chorus continued as the others joined in - some softly, some loudly – and soon enough the rest of the patrons were singing as well. Helena started laughing somewhere in the middle, unable to stop as they all kept going, right to the end. Adne had tears running down her face.
By the time everyone was done, Helena was on her feet and on her way to Sansa. Ariadne had the same idea, and between them they sandwiched her in a fierce hug before making their way to the other members at the table. Arya winked as she gave her a hug, laughing a little as Helena whispered, “You are a very sneaky lot.”
Mya gave her a warm hug, kissing her on the cheek before letting go. “Enjoy this. You both deserve it,” she said.
Helena gave her a watery smile in reply.
When they had hugged and thanked everyone as much as possible, they both walked to the cake and picked up the knives on either side. They could see the top clearly now. In bright red icing, “Happy Birthday Helena and Ariadne!” had been written in a lovely script. The words were decorated by small flowers made of blue and green icing. With equally happy grins, they sliced into the cake together, and everyone cheered again. Then Mya and Sansa had shooed them aside, beginning to carve up the cake and serve it to everyone, once the twins had first bite.
The chocolate cake was crumbly and delicious, tasting even better with the vanilla frosting. Helena now realized there was a caramel drizzle on top of the frosting, adding to the decadence. She grinned as they all devoured the cake eagerly, muffled noises of approval sounding all around the table. After licking the final crumbs from her fork, she looked over at Ariadne, who looked back. Adne gave her a small nod, and Helena cleared her throat expectantly.
The chatter at their table died down, all heads swiveling between her and her sister. It was Ariadne who spoke.
“What you have done for us today goes beyond anything we could have ever expected. The dinner, the surprise cake, but most importantly having all of you here to share it. We both are very thankful to have met you all today.”
Her voice dipped slightly as she finished, but she stuck her chin out in defiance. Helena could practically hear her sister’s internal chanting: I will not cry, I will not cry.
Edric reached out to grasp Adne’s hand, squeezing tightly. “I know we all feel the same. But I’m afraid we’re not done with the surprises quite yet.” He grinned.
Ariadne simply looked at him in shock, while Helena’s gaze traveled straight to Sansa.
The redhead gave her a dazzling smile in return before yelling, “PRESENTS!”
The twins sat in stunned silence as the others cheered again, reaching under their benches to yank out colorful gift bags.
Helena recovered first. “This is too much,” she protested, only to be shushed by countless voices.
“Like I said before, you girls deserve it,” Mya said firmly.
Edric pushed one of the larger bags over to Adne. Wide-eyed, she only stared at the bag and then back at him until he placed her hand on the handle. “Well, go on!” He urged.
Ariadne stood, peering into the bag. With shaking fingers, she pushed aside the crushed, colorful tissue paper to pull out a box. And promptly sat down hard. Helena’s mouth stretched into a wondering smile as she saw the Beauty and Beast tea set in her sister’s hands.
Then Arya was nudging a bag towards her, and Helena couldn’t help but be curious. At Arya’s reassuring glance, she thrust her hand into the bag. Her fingers touched soft fabric, and moments later she pulled out a Christmas tree-shaped hat, followed by a matching scarf and gloves with a variety of Disney characters on them. She squealed, sending the others into laughter, while Ariadne smiled, a tear trailing down her cheek.
“Keep digging,” Edric told her.
So she reached back into the bag, surprised to feel paper at the bottom.
A gasp rang across the table as Helena froze, her hand still in the bag. She looked up to see everyone’s eyes on Myrcella, whose face was as bright red as the shirt she was wearing. “Sorry,” she squeaked as she turned to send Robb a death glare. He, sitting next to her, pulled up his hand to cover his growing smirk. Helena narrowed her eyes at them but Robb shook his head and just chuckled.
Deciding she was not going to get to the bottom of that mystery, Helena pulled out two slips of paper. Reading them, she looked up excitedly at Edric. “Face painting lessons?!”
Edric looked back at the birthday girl as the tension in the air dissipated. He shrugged nonchalantly, though it was obvious how thrilled he was that she liked the gift. “You seemed so into it earlier. Thought you might like to give it a go.”
“Get over here,” Helena stood and pulled him into a hug as soon as he was close enough. When she turned her back, she missed him giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up to Bella. She and Adne rifled through the rest of their gifts, their tears and laughter mingling at the sheer amount of love they felt.
Filled to the brim with their delicious dinner, the group decided to go on their final ride before waiting to line up and watch the firework spectacular show later that evening on Main Street. Mickey's Fun Wheel had a moderate line, and everyone was more or less kept to themselves, each were either lost in thought or simply too tired from the long day, coupled with food coma. Ariadne smiled at Helena, who was happily looking at their hoard of treasures. It had been too long since she had seen her younger sister so happy and that thought made her immensely sad. She wished that their family was better off, so that Ariadne could spoil her younger sister in every way possible. But perhaps in the future, when their father would look their way...
Her thoughts were cut short by Jon and Bella arguing behind them once again. Helena looked up from the large bag of gifts and looked over Ariadne's shoulder, worriedly. “They aren't going to kill each other are they?”
Ariadne looked at the older Stark and their beautiful half-sister fondly and thought how perfect these two would be for each other. “No. I wouldn't be surprised if they were to start dating after today though.”
Helena's face scrunched up in utter confusion, “How do you figure that?”
Ariadne shrugged before saying, “I just have a sense for these things.”
Her sister rolled her eyes but still smirked, “Meaning you're a hopeless romantic.”
Ariadne laughed. “Yes, I suppose I am. But if the situation didn't actually suggest such a possibility for romance, I wouldn't even suggest it.”
Helena hooted a short laugh at that. “I don't even see how these two could possibly stand each other, let alone date each other. They've been trying to bite each others' heads off all day.”
“Well, maybe they just need a little push in the right direction. Would you like to test that theory?”
Helena quirked her eyebrow up. “What did you have in mind?”
Ariadne smiled wickedly before turning to the group. “Hey, guys. We have a final request from you all. We were wondering if for this last ride, Helena and I get to choose who everyone sits with.”
Mya, who was standing the closest to them, narrowed her eyes suspiciously, as if she could smell a plan being plotted, “Okay... why though?”
Ariadne shrugged before she smiled innocently, “Oh... just to shake things up a bit.”
Helena smiled at her sister's deception, knowing that the group would definitely give in since they haven't requested for anything else the entire day, despite it being their birthdays.
Mya looked back at everyone else, and sure enough they all agreed to the request, albeit a bit cautiously. Ariadne smiled sweetly at the group. “Awesome. Okay, first up will be Sansa and Mya.” Mya smiled at Sansa as they locked elbows with each other and climbed onto the Ferris Wheel cart.
“Next will be Arya and Gendry.”
Robb and Jon glared at Ariadne, but she was feigning obliviousness as she happily watched the two bicker when Gendry said 'after you, m'lady' in which Arya retorted with a swift punch in the gut.
'Aww, they're so adorable.' Ariadne thought as she turned back to the rest of the group. “Next will be Edric, Tommen, and Bran.” The three of them happily boarded the next cart that came by, more excited to get on board rather than the fact that there were together.
“Next, Shireen and Rickon.” Shireen shyly glanced over at Rickon, who was scratching the back of his head nervously, before walking forward to board the incoming cart. Rickon followed but not without shooting the twins a look that said, 'What did I ever do to you?'
Ariadne smiled at him in return, thinking to herself that he'll thank her for that one day. Turning back to the remaining four, her smile turned predatory.They all will thank me one day.
“Finally, Robb and Myrcella in one and Bella and Jon in the other one. We'll take the last one with Barra.”
Bella quickly protested, “No it's okay. I'll take Barra. You can go with Jon.”
Jon smirked, “Why, Bella, what are you suggesting? Don't tell me you don't want to sit with me.”
“No, that's exactly what I am suggesting.”
Helena shook her head. “Sorry, Bella, but we haven't had the chance to spend any quality time with Barra at all. Hurry, we don't want to hold up the line.”
“Yeah, don't hold up the line, Bella.” Jon teased.
“Shut up, Stark, or you're gonna get a mouthful of these Jimmy Choo wedges.” Bella warned as they climbed into their cart.
Robb gestured for Myrcella to climb in taking her hand to steady her, as the cart swung precariously back and forth. “Careful, my lady.”
Myrcella, unable to hide her blush, tried to return her breathing back to normal, “I'm fine. Just get in.”
Robb looked a bit too smug as he said, “My pleasure.”
Helena picked up Barra, whose eyes began to droop as they climbed into their caged cart, Ariadne following closely behind. “You sure this was a good idea?”
Ariadne quietly smiled at her scheming plan and nodded curtly, “Yes, this is most definitely the best idea I've had yet.”