Once silent, I swoop down, picking up Ben with a claw and dropping him onto deck to save him the effort of climbing up one of those rope ladders. I calm myself down, letting images of happiness fill my mind as I land on the top deck of the boat, letting light blue smoke envelope me. When I open my eyes, I see myself at the same height as most people on the ship beside me and look down to see human legs and arms. Thank god.
I look up to see people smiling at me as I awkwardly wave before feeling slight heat on my dress. I look down and see a few bits on fire and quickly pat it out. "Ah, shit." I mutter as I do before looking up again awkwardly. Instead of laughing, people cheer as Ben steps forward to the bottom of the stairs as I make my way down.
I bow to him, letting him know that I'm back to myself as I feel Mal beside me. "Ha. So..." I start, rubbing the back of my neck as Mal takes my arm. "I did not know I could do that." I say as Mal laughs. "That makes two of us." Mal says, grinning. "But please...someday you have to teach me." She adds, winking as we laugh together. Ben puts his hand out, waiting for me to take it. "Shall we?" He asks. I put my hand in his, grinning. "We shall." I say. Ben and Mal walk with me back to the middle of the main deck where our friends are. Where Evie is.
They let go, letting me reach the blue haired princess alone as the girl smiles at me. "Hi." She says with a small voice. I take her hand, leaning down to kiss it just as she smirks and kicks water into my face instead. I gasp, never reaching her hand but instead, pulling her to me as I hug her with my now water soaked body. "No!" She shouts, wriggling out of my grasp as I laugh. She ends up escaping and standing in front of me as we smile. I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see Carlos standing there with the crown. Evie's crown.
I take it in my hands, turning back to the girl who smiles wider when she sees it. "Okay so. The announcement I had made earlier was...incorrect." I say, chuckling along with the crowd. "It was under the influence of Uma's love spell." I add. "However....the topic of the announcement is not all wrong." I add. I look Evie directly in the eye, loving the red-brown colour that shines when she looks back at me. "I do, in fact, want to announce my partner. My lover. Let the world know who has stolen my heart." I say.
I hear someone shuffle near me and look to see Chad. "Not you, Chad." I say before he can say anything. I see Evie laugh as Chad scowls. "Then who, huh?" He asks, bitterly. I step forward towards Evie as she blushes at the attention. "For a large chunk of my life, I have had you by my side. You have supported me at my highest and lowest. You didn't even get angry when you found out that....I had planned to run away." I add, hearing a few gasps of surprise. "Yes, I wanted to run away from Auradon. I'm not used to the spotlight and pressure and....wanted to give up." I add before smiling at the girl.
"But you made me stop. You made me rethink the choice and now...I'm here to stay. I promise." I say, reaching the girl. "And in that, I also want to show the world how much you mean to me." I add, lifting the crown slightly so everyone can see.
"I got this crown for you. To show the world that we're together. My colours on you just as your outfits on me. We are one, Evie Grimhilde." I say, seeing tears well in her eyes. "So to the world, I wanted to announce that this girl, Evie Grimhilde, is to be named my Lady of the Court. My partner. My soon-to-be-Queen." I say, grinning as Evie lowers her head slightly, allowing me to place the crown on her head. At that, the crowd cheers. Lonnie and Jane among them as they finally get to find out who I'm with. Ben nods as if his suspicions were confirmed as I pull Evie towards me and kiss her on the lips.
It's as if the world around us fades away, leaving the two of us standing alone in the middle of the ship, hand in hand, arms wrapped around each other as we enjoy each other's presence. Uma tried to tear us apart, but we came back stronger. Powerful.
I pull away, laughing as we stare into each other's eyes as Ben saunters up to us, putting his hand on my shoulder and looking at our friends. "I owe you guys so much." He laughs. "Yeah. Yep." Our friends say. "Just a little bit." Evie says, laughing. "If there is anything that you need, or anything I can do for you...." Ben starts as Evie looks at me, nudging me.
"Actually, Ben." She starts. I nod, facing the King. "Evie and I....well, all of us...have an idea for how we can begin bringing more VKs over from the Isle. To begin freeing my people. Because if Uma said anything right, it's that my people are still trapped." I say. Ben nods, smiling. "That's why I have you as the Queen of the Isle!" He says happily. "Could we, specifically, include a girl I know who would really love to come to Auradon. Drizella's daughter, Dizzy. She's like a little sister to me." Evie says, holding my hand. Ben nods, grinning again. "Then she should come." He says.
"We could make you...a list?" Evie asks, looking at me and Ben. Ben nods again, laughing "That would be perfect." He says. Some guy comes up to us, breaking into our convo. "Uh, Queen Y/N, Lady Mal. We found your spell book below deck. Uma had it." He says, lifting said book into view. I grimace at it as Mal looks at Ben, who looks back at her. "Ooh, uhh..." Mal says, looking at me now. I take it, flipping it over in my hand. "You know, this seems like the kind of thing that belongs in the hands of Fairy Godmother." I say, eyeing Mal who nods. "Fairy Godmother?" She calls out. The fairy appears in front of us, nodding quickly. "That's me, thank you. Mm-hmm." She says walking towards us.
"This....belongs in the museum." I say, handing it over to her. She takes it, nodding. "It does, yes, and I'm gonna take it." She says, latching onto the book. "Go for it." Mal says, laughing. "We're not gonna be needing it anymore." She adds. The fairy walks away and we all turn to each other. I take Evie's hand, pulling her close to me as Mal and Ben do the same. We walk to the front of the boat, turning to look at everyone at the dance today.
I think back to the past 6 months since we got here. All that we've accomplished, been through, got over. It was amazing, and I wouldn't ask for anything else. Even with the water filled deck, the water soaked outfits and hair, the mess that is the boat. We're all smiling and happy about the outcome. And that's all we can hope for.
Ben and I stand next to each other, watching the people of Auradon in front of us. "Looking back at yesterday. I thought I gave it everything. But still there's so much road ahead of me." Ben and I sing together, seeing our loved ones walk beside us. Evie on my right and Mal to his left. "When I looked into your eyes. I guess I didn't recognise. Who we are and all that we can be." Evie sings to me as Mal sings to Ben. Evie takes my hand, pulling me to the right side where people stood as we sang. "Sometimes it's hard to find yourself, but it's worth it in the end. Cause in your heart is where it all begins." We sing as I bow to Ben, turning back to the front and gripping Evie's hand before we both step down and splash the water on our friends.
"We got to be bold, we got to be brave, we got to be free." We sing. I let go of Evie's hands, turning to Lonnie who's near me and splashing her instead. "We got to get loud, Making that change. You got to believe. Whoa'' We sing as I take Evie again. We make a line with Evie and I in the front, Mal and Ben behind us. "We'll look deep inside, and we'll rise up and shine. We can be bold, we can be brave, let everyone see." We sing, dancing with each other while splashing water as I look at Evie, grinning. "It starts with You and Me"
We sing as we all dance apart. "Whoa, whoa. It starts with you and me. Whoa, whoa. It starts with you and me." I see Evie take Carlos and Mal's hand, leading them to the railing on the side as Jay and I approach. "There's something special that I've learned. It's together we can change the world. Everybody's got something they can bring." I hear them sing as I grab Jay and approach them. "When you take a look inside yourself. Do you wish that you were something else?" We sing as I wrap my arms around Evie's shoulders as she leans back onto me. "But who you are is who you need to be." Jay and I sing before Evie turns, taking my hand into hers. "Sometimes it's hard to find yourself, but it's worth it in the end." We sing as I pull her into the middle again, away from the railing.
"'Cause in your heart is where it all begins." We sing as Evie touches her hand to my heart, pushing slightly as we both walk together, grinning at each other before joining the circle that our friend formed with their partners. The order going Carlos, Jane, Mal, Ben, Jay, Lonnie, Evie, Me. All of us join our hands, grinning as we begin walking around in a circle. "We got to be bold, we got to be brave, we got to be free." We sing, lifting our heads. "We got to get loud, making that change." We sing, using our legs to splash each other before we spin, one from each pair swapping with one from the opposite pair.
It ends up with Carlos with Lonnie, Jay with Jane, Mal with Evie as I end up with Ben. We join our hands crossed in front of us before lifting them over our heads and end with them crossed with one arm reaching to the side and one at the back. "You got to believe. Whoa."
We spin while joined together as I grin at the King. "We'll look deep inside, and we'll rise up and shine." We sing as we do before forming a circle again, and joining hands, now in our new order. "We can be bold, we can be brave, let everyone see. It starts with you and me" We sing, now leaving the circle and dancing on our own. I see Evie make her way to the front, the bottom of the stairs as Ben does too.
The two bow to each other, smiling before Mal takes Ben's place. "If we all can do our part. We know that it can be the start. To bring about the difference that we need." The two most important people in my life sing together. I spot Ben and nod to the girls as he nods too. Us two royals walk up, appearing behind our partners as they look at us. "I promise we can work this out. I promise we can see it through." Ben and I sing as I hold Evie's hand from beside her. "Don't you know it's up to me...it's up to me and you." We sing together before running forward and jumping, splashing water everywhere.
We all disband, forming a large ring around Carlos who is in the middle of the deck making a water-angel on the floor. He spins, sitting up and watching as Jane makes her way into the middle, joining the boy. "We got to be bold, we got to be brave, we got to be free." The pair jumps in time with our stomping, effectively splashing each other. "We got to get loud, making that change, you got to believe." We sing as Carlos takes Jane's hands, wrapping them over his shoulders and pulling her away by semi-letting her rest her weight on his back as she lifts a leg, skimming the water as Carlos pulls her away.
Jay jumps and does a side flip before landing in the middle as Lonnie splashes him, joining him. "We'll look deep inside, and we'll rise up and shine." We sing as Lonnie uses Jay as support to dance before Jay leads Lonnie away and Evie runs in. "We can be bold, we can be brave, let everyone see." I grin, seeing her spin around before she stops, looking at me with a smirk before holding her hand out. I grin, stepping in and taking her hand before spinning her into my arms. "It starts with you and me whoa, whoa." I dip her for a second, before letting her stand as she jumps up, making me catch her and lift her in the air before bringing her down again. She takes my hand and we saunter out of the middle together, settling on the side as Mal and Ben step in from opposite ends.
Mal kicks the water at the King, splashing his face the moment he steps forward. "It starts with you and me, whoa, whoa." Ben splashes lightly back before Mal steps forward and jumps, allowing Ben to lift her into the air and spin her. "It starts with you and me" We sing before Evie and I, and the rest of the circle all work together in kicking water, splashing the couple and drenching their outfits as they gape at us. "It starts with you and me"
We all separate again. Evie taking my hand and pulling me to the side as I twirl her. No matter what we do, we're all smiling. No, grinning at each other as we dance. The water adds weight to our outfits, but also somehow lifting weight from our shoulders, making us more carefree since....ever. It was genuinely an amazing night. I see Ben and Mal walk up the stairs before Ben messes with his dad and Mal just laughs.
We all dance the night away. Enjoying each other's company as I watch Ben slide his ring, that Mal had given back, back onto her finger. She grins, looking at me and holding her hand up for me to see. I nod, smiling as Ben then gestures for me to go to them. I take Evie's hand, walking up the stairs and bowing to the King and his Lady before turning around and looking over the people on the boat. Carlos smiles at me, winking before they all spin and jump, ending the night in a splash.
This was a wonderful night, other than Uma's interruption. But overall, Ben got Mal back, Evie and I are officially together, Carlos got the guts to ask Jane out and Jay got Lonnie captain of the team. All in all, it's a great day. And the best is still yet to come, because now? We actually have a plan on how to move forward.
We can finally bring more VKs to Auradon.
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In the Isle
No one pov
Dizzy sweeps the floor after watching the royal cotillion on the old, broken TV in the shop. Still feeling giddy on Evie and others wearing her creations, she blasts music in her headphones to be in her own little world.
That is, until a few royal guards appear at the door and grab her attention. Without a word, one of the guards holds out a paper scroll to the girl and she takes it gingerly.
"His Royal Majesty, King Ben of Auradon and his Counselor, Miss Evie of the Isle, hereby request the pleasure of your company, Dizzy Tremaine, for the current academic year at Auradon Prep." The girl reads excitedly, realising the meaning behind the words.
"Please notify His Majesty's couriers of your response to this request." She then notices a handwritten note scrawled at the bottom of the scroll. "We'd love you to join us at Auradon Prep. Will you come? Signed, King Ben." She reads before squealing and hugging the couriers, which signal them of her decision. Her grandma complains of her noise, but she doesn't care. The excitement and happiness of her dream coming true filling her mind and taking over her thoughts.
It was happening! She'd be free to tackle her dreams.
________________________
Far, far away. Somewhere in the middle of the oceans of Auradon. The familiar sea witch rises to the surface, smirking...at you.
"What? You didn't think this was the end of the story....did you?"
Word Count: 2886