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"A toast!", he proclaimed. "To my beautiful daughter Holly! May God bless you with all of the joys in life, equal to the joy He bestowed upon me the day you were born!"

"To Holly!" The small group replied in unison. With that they all clinked glasses, and drank the champagne. The party consisted of five people aboard a large private yacht. They were gathering in a small lounge area.

"You're all going make me cry." Said Holly as she started to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I couldn't be more proud of you sweetheart." Her father told her. "It's not everyday that someone graduates high school. Not only that, but as valedictorian."

"Brains and beauty are such a rare combination." Her stepmother Alicia added.

"You would know." A cold snarky voice replied. Everyone turned to see Holly's mother with a cold smug expression on her face. She stood there with her glass of champagne, as she shot her ex-husband and his young wife a look that could bring down an elephant.

"Do you have something to say Vivian?", he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Oh nothing, Roger." She replied sarcastically. "What could I possibly add to this momentous occasion? I mean it's not like I have the resources that you have to buy our daughter's love. I mean taking your private yacht into the middle of the ocean so you wouldn't be breaking any laws, when you serve your eighteen year old champagne. I mean most parents would just serve it to them this one night, and just not inform the local authorities. But not you Roger, no we have to go all the way out into international waters!"

"Mom Please!", cried Holly.

"Vivian!" Roger began. "You're drunk! Now I know you and I haven't gotten along in years, but I was willing to put all of that aside for Holly's sake. I'm making an effort, I wish you could do the same."

"Don't act so high, and mighty!" Vivian said with a sarcastic chuckle. "It's easy to live in the magic kingdom when you're married to Minnie Mouse over there. Boy Alicia I hope you had the brains, unlike me, to get a prenup. Because if he decides he wants a new trophy, you could end up like me. You know, broke, and without your children's custody. In fact if I were you I wouldn't have any children. You wouldn't want to mess up that perfect little figure of yours!"

"Enough Vivian, I left you more than enough to live on!" He replied in anger. "And you know it! If you hadn't drunk most of it, or snorted it up your nose, you'd still have plenty to live on! And I would have gladly shared joint custody of James, and Holly if I didn't have to worry about how their mother was going to behave!"

"Well maybe if I hadn't always tried to be the perfect little high society wife, I wouldn't have needed to escape reality!" She exclaimed in anger. "And when I was always your loyal wife, and trying to be the perfect mother to your children, you were off fucking that gold digging whore!"

"That's it Vivian!" exclaimed Roger. "I will not have you talk about my wife like that!"

"Go to hell, Roger!" Vivian Cried. "You and your little piece of jailbait can go-!"

"PLEASE STOP!" Cried Holly. "I can't take it anymore!" She had enough, and she ran out of there as quickly as she could. As she made her way outside to starboard side of the ship, she stared int the night's sky. Holly thought about her parents during her childhood. There wasn't a time in her life when she could ever remember them getting along. Her brother James was five years older than her, and even he couldn't remember a time like that either.

Then about five years ago, everything came to a head. For years her mother had developed a cocaine, and alcohol addiction. Her father even tried to work with their mother to get her some help. But her mother had just grown more bitter, and resentful over the years. And when it comes to addiction, you can't help someone unless they actually want to help themselves. So it wasn't really all that big of a surprise when their father informed everyone that he was leaving their mother for a younger woman.

Oh maybe it was unfair to put most of the blame on their mother. After all with their father being CEO of a major corporation, he tended to have little time for the family. Their mother feeling ignored by their father all the time, turned to self medication. When he finally realized there was a problem, it was too late. Their mother had become angry and bitter. After feeling defeated, their father eventually found comfort int the arms of another woman.

If there was any consolation in all of this, it was that he had learned to be a more active father in his children's lives. It also helped him to be a better husband, but with Alicia. It was too late to save his marriage to their mother, before he finally realized the harm he was actually causing in their marriage.

At first, his marriage to Alicia was shocking. He was thirty-five, and Alicia was twenty-three at the time. In fact she was closer to James's age then her father's. But Alicia, and her father really did love one another. Alicia was only ten years older Holly, so she really couldn't completely fill in the gap of a mother that Holly was lacking in her life. But it did help to have someone who could fill the role of a big sister.

As Holly was lost in her thoughts, she continued to look over the starboard. She couldn't help but but become entranced by the super moon as it shone over the ocean.

She was eighteen now, but had spent most of her time studying. Sure she went on a few dates, but she had yet to meet her Prince Charming. But what would it even take to meet him? Would her relationship be like her dad's and her mother's? Or would it be like her dad's and Alicia's? And if were to be the latter, would she also have to go through a bad relationship first?

"Hey Holly Hobby!" A voice cried out to her. "Whatcha doing out here all by yourself?" Holly turned around and saw her brother staring at her with a goofy grin on is face.

"You know I hate that nickname." She replied.

"That's why I call you that.", he told her. "You always bother the one's you love."

"Well in that case I guess mom, and dad must really adore one another." She quipped back.

"Are you alright?", he asked.

"No." She replied feeling sorrow. "This day started out great, and then mom had to ruin it. Why does she have to drink all of the time? I honestly thought her coming here tonight, after dad invited her, was a step in the right direction for our relationship. But all it did was cause more arguments. I know I shouldn't feel mad at dad, I mean mom did drag him to his breaking point. But I wish he could have avoided engaging her."

"I know." Replied James. "Mom has her problems, she doesn't mean to. She has a incurable disease. However if she wanted to, she could treat it. But nothing can be done until she wants to seek help. If we try to force her to go, it's not going to work."

"I know." Replied Holly. "And don't get me wrong, I love Alicia. I do think she's good for dad, and I swear I thank God every night that he has someone special like her in his life. But—,"

"But a small part of you wishes the mom and dad were still married, and that we could have been a family." He interrupted.

"How did you know?" She asked.

"Because a part of me feels the same way." He told her.

"Wow." She replied. "And I thought I was the only one who wished for fairy tales."

"Well," he began. "The thing about fairy tales is that they rarely tell you what happens after, '...and they lived happily ever after!' I mean I'm sure that each Princess that marries one of the Charming brother's has a great life, but my guess is that they had their share of lover's quarrels."

"Well in mom, and dad's case they've had a few lover's apocalypses." She replied.

"Well, that's true." He told her. 'Look I know your eighteen now, and maybe you're too old for this speech. But I think everyone needs to hear it, no mater how old you get. Mom and dad may hate each other, but that doesn't mean they don't love us. And when mom finally gets her act together, she'll realize that she loves us too. But at least we know Dad and Alicia know that they love us. And if you repeat this I will deny it, but I love you too."

"Thanks Jiminy." She replied with a sarcastic smile.

"You're welcome Miss Hobby." He Replied. With that they both looked at one another, and smiled. They soon were locked in loving embrace. Holly could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I don't think I could survive with out you." She whispered in his ear.

"Don't say that." he replied. "Because no one knows how life is going to turn out. Despite our usual sibling rivalries growing up, you mean more to me than anything in this world. You're my little sister. You're stronger than you know. Just promise me that always be able to take care of yourself, even if God forbid anything would ever happen to me. Promise me that, and I know you'll always be okay."

"I don't even want to think about that." she replied.

"Holly please promise me." He demanded.

"Okay, I promise." She replied. "Now can we move on, and forget about it that conversation. I don't need anymore negativity right now."

"Okay." He told her reassuringly. "Well, I'm going to see if the tension at your graduation party has eased at all. You coming with?"

"In a little bit." She replied. "I just need to get myself completely together first, before I go back into the lion's den."

"Okay sis." He said. "I'll see you in a bit."

As he walked away, she went back to staring out at the moonlight. At this point, it was better than going back into the war zone.

"Hey!" She heard a voice say. As she turned around she saw her stepmother Alicia, coming towards her. She was a beautiful woman in her late twenties, with black hair. She also had large ice blue eyes. They could be almost hypnotic. No wonder her father was so enamored with her.

"Hey." Said Holly as she smiled back. "What are you doing out here?"

"Your father sent me to look for you." She replied. "He wasn't sure if you were angry at him. Plus he thought you could use a friend right now."

"I feel like I'm a horrible person." Holly replied.

"Why?" Asked Alicia, as she furrowed her brow.

"My father's a billionaire, and CEO of a Fortune 500 company." Said Holly. "And here I am cry my eyes out on his yacht, while looking out over beautiful moonlit ocean. I guess in the scheme of things, I feel like I have no right to feel sorry for myself."

"There is a huge difference between being hurt, and feeling sorry for yourself." Alicia responded. "And no one has the right to tell some one how to feel. If they did, I wouldn't have fallen in love with your father."

Holly looked at her, and smiled. They then shared a caring embrace, as Holly whispered in her ear.

"And your not marrying my father would have been a bad thing."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As they were swimming through the ocean, they couldn't help but notice the large boat floating in the water.

"I would think humans would know better by now." Said the one observer.

"Humans who travel in waters were they don't belong, usually drown." Replied the other. "But I am curious brother. Before we make any rash decision of what to do about this intrusion in our waters, let see what kind of two tailed vermin we are dealing with?"

As the got a closer look, they were in awe of the vision before them. There were two beautiful women locked in an embrace.

"My, my, my, brother," said the first observer. "Look what we have come upon, a couple of goddesses from the world above. Normally I don't care for humans, but these two make quite the exception."

"Which one do you want?" Asked his brother. "The golden haired goddess, or the onyx haired one?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "It's so hard to chose, both are of exceptional beauty. But I'll take the golden haired one. Besides, we're brother's, we share everything."

"Okay then", said his brother, "You can tame yours, and I can tame mine. The when they learn their place, we can share them. Since we need to breed anyway, it would be in our best interest for each of us to breed both of them."

"But what if they each already have someone?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter." Said his brother. "Soon they will be the only ones on board that boat to be left alive."

"You know they will hate us, right?", he asked.

"Maybe at first." His brother replied. "But we'll take good care of them. After a while, they will be begging for our love. We'll help them get over their inferior companions. Then they will know what an honor it is to be loved by a pair of Cecaelias, a pair of octomen."

"And they will be honored to bare our offspring. Then, once our numbers start to multiply. We will be able to defeat the last Atlantan, the last merman."