AN: This is one of my very favorite Disney movies ? (top ten) so I thought I would write for it. Hope you enjoy this first chapter ? Also, this chapter is a little choppy. Sorry, I've had some long shifts at work and feel exhausted.

Playing Around With The Shadow Man

Chapter One

It had been a long eight years since he and Tiana had gotten married as two frogs with many animals surrounding them in awe. It had been such a long time since Naveen had been able to change for the better and Tiana had learned to trust in love and in others and their lives had definitely transformed.

Until one year ago, they had spent most of their time at the restaurant - which was now a celebrated success and had led them to make two more in the US – but had come back to Maldonia when Naveen's father had developed a serious health problem. They had relocated the family here, a family which now consisted of them, their seven year old daughter, Aurelia, and their four year old son, Nathaniel.

It wasn't the ideal life that Tiana had dreamed about and Naveen was attempting to balance things out so that she would be happy, he could follow in the line of his duty, and they would be together. Family was most important to both of them. As Tiana had once said, dreams wouldn't be complete if they weren't with one another.

Naveen sighed as he put down some of the reports on the demographic changes in a new part of the capital. He pushed his hair back and looked sadly over at his guitar. He sighed before leaning back. A little break in the work would be okay, maybe just one song. He wasn't going to just let the fun slip out of his life.

As he stood to pick it up, he heard the doors open quickly and his eyes widened as he saw one of the palace guards holding Nathaniel's weak body in his arms. The little boy was gasping for breath and Naveen was going to question why they had brought him here and not the infirmary until he paused, there was a glowing purple mark on his son's arm, something he had seen at the beginning of that painful journey.

They had destroyed him, hadn't they? Facilier was gone. It had been almost a decade since his death but that was all Naveen could think of as he saw his son's wound.

"Your Highness," the guard said, "we found him like this in the lake. We needed to notify you before…"

"Take him to the infirmary!" Naveen shouted as he pushed his hair back worried that he was responsible for this happening, he had been the one to turn into a frog first and it was him who had gotten Tiana involved. If anything happened to his son then it was his fault. Naveen took slow breaths before looking at the second guard, "let…let his mother know," he said weakly before watching them take his son away. He wanted to be with him but he felt like he needed to be by the lake.

Naveen just had to trust in himself that he was doing this the right way. He needed to track down who had really hurt his child.

…..

…..

Tiana smiled as she sat with Aurelia telling her one of the stories that her mother had told her and Charlotte all those years ago. Due to Tiana's wisdom and work ethic and Naveen's optimism and charisma, the life that they had set out for their children was a promising one and it was because of more than money.

Though money was definitely a factor that was so different from her own childhood, there were many times when Tiana could step back and see Naveen interacting with the two kids and see a reflection of her dad there. He had his definite flaws but he made up for them ten times over and he was a loving father who motivated Tiana to find the happiness in music and arts and dance and let herself lose control to relax.

She had to admit that she had been a stick in the mud at one time but the way that they complimented one another helped for Tiana to appreciate how much she had grown.

"Do you think we'll ever go back home?" Aurelia asked and Tiana paused, turning to look at her daughter.

Tiana sighed before standing up, "I'm not sure when we're going to go back to New Orleans," she told her as she walked over to the window. "Your grandfather is sick and it's important to your father that he's here to learn how to take care of the kingdom and to help your grandmother. I would love to go back to New Orleans but until your grandfather gets…"

"He can stay if he needs to but why do we all have to?" Aurelia asked as she picked up a brush and ran it through her wavy hair. She tried hard to tame the curls in her hair which sometimes felt like she was doing a large gardening project than a simple task. "Can't Dad meet us back in Louisiana?"

"Hon," Tiana sighed as she looked at the two bright stars in the sky and smiled as she thought of Ray and his sacrifice. "If it's important to your father then it's important to me that we all stay together. He has never asked me for much more than for us to be together. I don't want for him to be all by himself. Your father…he has his lonely side too despite how he tries to ignore it."

"He would understand," Aurelia said with a sigh, "Where is Papa anyway?"

"Most likely doing some work and we shouldn't distract him whilst he's working. He gets pretty easily distracted, always has done," Tiana laughed. She watched her daughter thoughtfully. She really did crave to go back to America and Tiana wanted to let her, she missed her old life but being with family mattered more, just like it had done to her daddy.

Tiana went over to sit with her daughter before one of the guards came into the room. Tiana stood, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. They looked worried and Tiana froze as they carried one of Nathaniel's toy boats that he always wanted to sail on the water.

"There's been an emergency with your son, Princess" one of the guards said and Tiana looked at him in horror. She turned to Aurelia who was looking in fear as well.

"Take me to where he is," Tiana told them with her chin raised in order to feel some kind of inner strength. She was scared of what might have happened but until they mentioned death she would try to distract her mind from coming up with the worst possible explanations.

Something about the shadows of the trees was making Naveen remember the bayou. He and Tiana had never told their children about their short-lived amphibian lives. Yet, even though they had tried to run from their past, it had seemed to catch up to them. Naveen took slow breaths before seeing a figure that looked hollow, he approached before realizing that it was a skeleton standing there.

He put a hand on his wrist as he took in the clothing of the man, he should be dead, he most likely was dead. "You thought you would have changed your fashion after all of these years," Naveen spat as he narrowed his eyes, trying to control the anger in him for infecting his child.

"Things never go out of fashion when you're living in madness," Facilier said and Naveen rolled his eyes and looked to the side, laughing bitterly at that. "Your son seemed to be quite curious. Boats, such a dull thing to play with."

"I will make sure you suffer a fate much worse than his if something happens to him," Naveen threatened, the protective nature of his coming out. His anger was rising and he felt justified in it doing so. This wasn't the time to control his emotions.

"Careful," Facilier commented as he held up a pocket watch and opened it to show Nathaniel inside, "His time is nearly up. Now, I would be willing to make a trade with you," he said and Naveen's eyes widened as he paused. "A life for a life," he commented, "I mean, the clock is ticking."

"You want my life?" Naveen asked as it began to rain. He looked at the image of his son remembering how it had been his stupidity as a young man which had started all of this. He couldn't afford to have Tiana suffer through the loss of their son and he would never forgive himself were anything to happen to Nathaniel. "You promise me that my family will be all right," he said nervously. Tiana would hate him for this but that was fine if their son was alive.

"Nothing at all will happen to them, your family is quite safe, your children and your wife if you give your life for them," he said and Naveen felt the rain start to beat down quicker and harder. He took a nervous breath before holding his hand out. The lightning flashed again followed by a roll of thunder and the two shook hands.

As soon as his hand touched Facilier's, Naveen felt a nauseous feeling drawing him to sleep. Was this death? Was he going to die and endure hell for eternity? He couldn't figure out what was happening to him but he could feel the grass below him and then saw the skeleton turn.

"You know what, I'll let you keep that life of yours 'cause there's little good that you can do with it anyway," he commented and Naveen reached out an arm as he felt a rush around him of a world that he couldn't quite figure out any longer. As he tried to see his hand though, he could see that green foot and leg. He had been turned into a frog again?

He heard another crack of thunder and then saw a shadow on the palace wall. It was a body on the ground. Naveen hopped to the side and turned to see what appeared to be his own murdered corpse. He croaked weakly before hearing footsteps. God, the thing looked so real. As he saw some more guards rush towards the body he watched in the shadows.

Maybe it was the best thing for everyone if they believed that he was dead.

"Please," Naveen wished as he looked up at the two bright shining stars. "Please find someone good to take care of her, someone who loves her and the children as much as I do. That will be my wish for Tiana."

End of Chapter One

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated