And in the End I'd do it all Again: Book four

Opening the Barrier a Happily Ever After (Mel's Pov)

Today is the day of the engagement party and I'm standing with ben waiting for our que to come out. Lumiere looks out at the crowd, looks back at us and then smile and nods. I take a deep breath and smile widely as ben and I walk out arm in arm, waving with our other hands. We walk up to the balcony and wait for the applause to stop before ben starts. "Lady Melrose and I would like to thank you for celebrating our engagement with us today. I couldn't be prouder or happier to call you my Queen. So... raise your glasses. To our future Queen of Auradon." Ben says raising a glass. "To our Queen of Auradon!" "To our Queen of Auradon!" The crowd shouts raising their glasses. I look out at the people and see dizzy, the sanderson cousins, CJ and the smee twins looking up with grins on their faces. I start to think about celia, uma and hans jr. "Speech your royal specialness." "Yeah speech oh fancy one." Jay and carlos shout, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I can't. I can't be Queen of Auradon." I stutter, and the people gasp. "Mel?" Ben starts in a confused and hurt tone.

"I can't turn my back on the Isle. The council made a decision... to close the barrier forever. And thought that it was for the best. But it's wrong. I've learned... that you can't live in fear... because it doesn't actually protect you from anything. You never know where the bad is gonna come from. And you never know where the heroes are gonna come from either. Without Uma and her pirates, Auradon would be gone. And without Hades... someone I thought was my father... Audrey would be gone. We are all capable of good and bad, no matter which side of the barrier we come from. And that's why I can't be Queen of just Auradon. I have to be Queen of the Isle, too. And it's time that we take the barrier down forever." I continue looking ben in the eyes with a smile. "We can't do that." Adam says and ben turns to look at him. "It's up to us dad. I chose to be a king who moves forward. It's time for forgiveness. It's time for new beginnings. The barrier will come down!" He announces to the crowd and then turns to me. "Bring it down beautiful." He says softly to me and fg hands me her wand. I gesture for the original vk's to come up with me and we break down the barrier together. Once the barrier is down I hand fg her wand back with a hug and take ben's hand in mine. We meet them halfway and walk them into auradon, welcoming them with bows and curtsies. And then we get the party started.

"You know what, you really came through." Uma says while we dance with harry, evie and doug. "I try to." I reply with a grin. Suddenly audrey bumps into harry, who catches her and smiles shyly. "Hi." He says and she replies back, "Hi." I smirk and place my hands on each of their shoulders. "Harry hook meet my cousin audrey. Audrey, my good friend harry hook." They smile at each other and she twirls and pulls him off to the dance floor. I watch with a grin on my face and my other friends come up with grins. "Hi, you're hair is really pretty." Travis says to uma and I look at nate who immediately smirks and lightly nudges travis into uma. "Sorry, umm. My name's travis." Travis introduces with a stutter. "Uma." Travis smiles and asks if she wants to dance. They go out onto the dance floor and my friends and I talk for a little bit before they see hades and leave me to talk to him. At this point mal jay and ben have come over and both boys look nervous. "Am I invited to the wedding?" He asks holding his arms out. "Hi dad." jay says and I laugh at him. Mal runs over and hugs him. I follow close behind but not before calming ben's nerves. "You've got nothing to be nervous about he's gonna like you." I assure him but he gulps and I turn to hades and hug him.

After the party's over and everyone has gone, only carlos, jay, evie, mal and I are left. We stand hand in hand looking at the bridge to the isle. "Do you ever miss them?" Evie asks. "Yeah." Carlos replies. "You think they miss us?" Mal asks and we share a light laugh. "Yeah of course." Carlos answers again. "Cause we're rotten-" mal starts holding her hand out. "To the core." The rest of us reply, putting out hands in the middle with mal's. "Hey last one there is a rotten apple." Jay shouts and the rest of them take off running. "No fair!" I call out as I waddle behind them. They slow down and walk with me to the place we grew up. We stand outside staring at the door. "Well, are we ready for this?" I ask looking at the others. "No but we'll do it anyway." Mal says taking my hand in hers. Jay opens the door and gestures for us to go through. We get in the place and find that it's quiet, unusually quiet.

"Welcome back." Mom's voice speaks and We turn to see her and the others sitting at the old table together. "We were wondering how long it would take you to come see us." Eq adds and they stand in unison. "Come here evilette come and tell me about your fashion business I heard about." Eq tells evie with open arms. "And you what are you doing nowadays boy?" Curella asks carlos, walking over and slinging an arm around him, leading him to the couch. "So I know about mel's love life, but what about yours mal? Anyone catch your fancy?" Mom asks, nudging mal in the side. Mal blushes and nods. "Really who? Do I know him?" Mom raises her eyebrows in surprise, not expecting mal to say yes. "Uh, actually... It's jay and we're engaged as well." Mal answers. "Oh, well show me the ring." Mom says gesturing to mal's left hand. Mal looks shocked at mom's reaction. She takes her leather glove off her hand and shows mom the ring. "It's beautiful, and your style as well. He must know you well." Mom comments looking down at the ring. "He bought it with money he earned from working." Mal gushes with a smile on her face.

We get so carried away while talking that we don't notice its night time until ben calls to ask if I'm at. "We should get going, you should come with." Mal says to mom as we get ready to go. "Oh I don't know kiddo, the last time I was there I tried to take over the kingdom. I don't think that they'd be too happy seeing my face." She says sheepishly. "They'll forgive you. They are really good at that." I assure her with a soft smile. "Besides, my daughter's gonna need her grandma in her life." I add and she scoffs. "I'm not that old." She mumbles before nodding. "Alright, I'll go then. But I haven't seen either of your father's in ages so don't expect it to be anything but awkward." We walk back to auradon with our parents. Ben, my dad, hades and ben's parents are waiting for us. "Oh, um hello." Bell greets when she sees mom standing awkwardly beside me. Mom waves lightly and says, "Long time no see." "About seventeen years long." Dad jokes with a smirk. "Dad." I groan with a fond smile on my face. "Dad? Oh so this is your real dad kiddo?" I nod at hades and he holds his hand out to dad. "Hello, nice to meet you." Dad says taking hades hand and shaking it. "Yeah, right back at you man." Hades replies. "Let's all go back to the castle and eat, rather than stand here the rest of the night." Bell suggests.

We laugh and talk though dinner, mom surprisingly being civil and getting along with everyone. "Well I'm stuffed. Thanks for the meal but I should be getting back to my place." Hades comments. "You could stay with me. I've got a cottage on a lake and it's pretty empty. You and maleficent should come stay with me." Dad suggests and mom and hades both start to object. "Come on, you'll be close by for the wedding." I plead. "And that way the baby can have both grandparents there for her." Bell adds. "Baby? You're knocked up?" Hades asks giving ben a death glare. Ben swallows, scared of what hades will do to him but he nods as I say yes. "You knocked her up?" "Dad! If you act like this with with mel, I don't wanna know how you'll act when I start a family..." Mal says and hades cools down. "Alright, I'm cool, I'm cool." He takes a deep breath and continues, "Congrats, you two. You're gonna be great parents." I smile at him and he smiles awkwardly back. He then turns to mal and quirks his eyebrow in confusion. "So what do you mean when you start a family? I didn't know you were considering it, I mean with who?" Hades asks. "Well..." Mal trails off and jay gulps in terror. "I'm actually engaged, to jay." Mal gestures to jay who goes wide eyed in fear and waves at hades awkwardly. "Oh, well then, congrats. And you better treat her like the princess of the underworld that she is or else you and I are gonna have a few words."

Jay nods with a terrified expression on his face saying, "I wouldn't think of doing anything less." and hades looks pleased at the answer. "So what do you say, are you willing to come stay with me?" Dad asks, changing the subject back to staying with him. "I'm down for it." Hades says and looks at mom. "I don't see why not." mom answers and looks at me with a small smile. I smile back and take ben's hand under the table.