Chapter Twenty-Five: Marry Me

"Make way for the king!" someone cried, and the crowd in the street parted the best it could to allow passage. Emmet perked up as his father approached, smiling brightly.

"I thought I would find you here," Sirius muttered in fond exasperation. "Enjoying yourself?"

"I am! Are you joining us?"

"Seeing as I got forcefully evicted from my study, I figured I might as well." Emmet let out a giggle. Sirius glanced down at the plate Emmet held, piled high with pastries, and snagged one for himself. The prince snickered softly. "Mm. These are good. So. Are we going to be having any more incidents in the future?"

"No," Emmet said. "I think I've had enough adventure to last me a lifetime. No more leaving the palace without a proper escort."

"Now? Now you listen to me?" He sighed at the sheepish grin Emmet gave him. "I suppose some lessons can only be learned the hard way."

"…I'm sorry I made you worry so much."

Sirius took Emmet's plate, setting it aside before pulling him close. "It was for a good cause," he allowed. "I'm- I'm proud of you, for being able to find a peaceful solution."

"Well I didn't do it all by myself. Princess Lotte really isn't so bad after all."

Sirius smirked at him. "But you still don't want to marry her."

"I don't think she really wants to marry me either," the prince admitted.

"Would that be because someone else has caught my son's eye?" Emmet chewed his lip. "A certain pirate captain, perhaps?"

Emmet blushed deeply, hiding his face in his father's shoulder. "I didn't think you'd notice," came his muffled reply.

"Goodness, Emmet, give me some credit, I'm not that oblivious. Nor are you as good at hiding it as you seem to think." He chuckled softly at the embarrassed whimper Emmet gave.

"You're not mad…?"

"Mad?"

"That's it's not a princess that I like. Or at least someone from one of the noble families…"

Sirius sighed softly, gently rubbing his back. "No, Emmet. I'm not mad."

"What are you thinking, then?"

"How much work it's going to take to get this one passed- oof!" he wheezed as Emmet's hug tightened considerably. "Emmet. Air."

Metalbeard had left the day after they'd returned to Bricksport, bringing his family back with him when he returned once more. The Callaghans waited at the docks to meet the captain's wife and children, each family thrilled to no longer be the only ones.

"Much as I knew leaving my flock for Jonas was the right thing to do, I must admit, I've missed being part of one," Pearl said as she was greeted by Ma and Pa.

"It's been the same for us," Ma agreed. "But at least now we're no longer alone." And true to Cary's word, there were many others ready to welcome them to Bricksport.

Benny and Emmet argued over the old shipwright's house for weeks before finally coming to the agreement that the former pirate would pay only half the asking price (Cary's estimate that the prince would try to just give it to him had been spot on, but Benny refused to be given the place for free). Benny was quick to move in and set up after that though, immediately getting to work under Metalbeard's guidance.

Lucy immediately signed up to join the navy, and was placed under the Callaghans' guidance to learn the rules and regulations during her probationary period before being granted the rank of captain again. It was a difficult adjustment to make, after a relatively rule-free life as a pirate, but she was determined to prove her worth. After months of hard work she was finally rewarded with a ship- one of Benny's first- and her old crew. It would still be several years before any of them were granted citizenship, but at least it felt like they were making progress.

With careful work, the twins' wings were slowly being restored. Benny was in awe. May had been right about them being cranky at being denied the skies for such a long period of time, though. It really tried Benny's patience sometimes- a lot of the time, really- and often resulted in shouting matches that would have one or both of them storming off to cool down alone, but he stubbornly remained by their side through it all.

(And making up afterwards was always enjoyable.)

By the time the winter holidays rolled around, it was as though they'd never been hurt at all. It had taken more than half a year, but their wings were fully restored, and Benny was thrilled when their plumage came back every bit as beautiful as it was before. A test lap around the palace had restored their good mood as well, much to Benny's relief.

The shipwright was at the palace preparing to present his latest designs to the king when Emmet had let out an excited shout and promptly dragged him, and everyone else he could get ahold of, out into the gardens. Benny had thought it looked like it would snow when he'd left home, but he was surprised to find how hard it was coming down in such a short time. If his meeting with King Sirius ran long, and the snow kept falling at its current rate, he would likely wind up having to stay the night. Not that he would complain. He watched as Lucy shook her head, unable to hide her smile as the prince tried to catch the big, fluffy flakes on his tongue, and halfway debated joining Emmet.

Alastar glanced over his shoulder at a tug on their wings to see May pulling one out as far as it would stretch, practiced fingers gently raking through the feathers. "And what, may I ask, are you doing?"

"Admiring my handiwork," she replied with a grin. Alastar laughed. "They fledged back out really well, you can't even tell there's any scarring."

"You have a talent, my dear."

"Does she ever," Benny agreed as he sidled up to them, gently tugging the siren's wings around himself and grinning up at them. "You keep me warm," he said at Alastar's amused look.

"You guys are disgustingly cute," Rex snarked. "Seriously, when's the wedding?"

"You know, we were actually thinking sometime next spring, maybe mid-May-" Benny rambled, and Cary laughed.

"Generally one of us has to ask first," he reminded. The shipwright smirked at him.

"You want to?"

Rex threw his head back and laughed as Emmet gasped, scandalized. "Benny, you can't do it that way! It's gotta be romantic, and you have to have a ring and- and get down on one knee-"

"I've got this," Cary interrupted, drawing everyone's attention to himself.

"Cary…?" Benny asked, tilting his head as the siren reached around to the back of one wing, carefully plucking out a blue feather. "Are you…"

"Sirens don't have fancy ceremonies. We don't speak our vows, as we know better than most the true worth of words. Now do we require grand demonstrations. We prove our love and our loyalty through the choices we make, the small actions we perform every day. And it would be enough for me to see you wear this, to know that every day you choose me, the same as I choose you." He took Benny's hand, carefully placing the feather in his open palm.

Benny swallowed thickly, staring down at it. "That explains… so much…" He closed his hand around the feather, giving them a watery smile. "Okay."

The moment was interrupted by Emmet's loud sniffling. Lucy rubbed his back as he wiped at his eyes, making a valiant effort not to start giggling. "Wait- were we just witnesses to a siren wedding?" Rex asked, giving the pair an utterly bemused look. Benny snorted and buried his face in Cary's shoulder to muffle his own laughter. Cary smirked, holding him close.

"You know His Majesty is going to be very mad you did this without him present, right?" Mayhem pointed out, grinning at them. "Congratulations, by the way."

"Oh gosh that's right, Father's going to be so disappointed…"

"It was rather spur of the moment," Cary admitted.

"But you've obviously been thinking about it for a while," Lucy teased.

"It was perfect," Benny murmured. "Maybe we can still do a human-style ceremony, though?"

"It won't be the same," Emmet protested, pouting.

"It won't," another voice agreed, and the group turned to see Sirius standing a few feet away, arms folded across his chest and giving the lot of them a disapproving look. "Though I suppose as long as I get to see you tie the feather into his hair, I'll be satisfied."

Benny glanced up to see Cary smiling back at him. "Then I suppose I should let you do the honors." He offered the feather back to him, and tried not to snicker at the ticklish feeling as Cary fastened it into place at his right temple. "How do I look?"

"It suits you," Rex admitted.

Sirius nodded his agreement, then wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. "Can we take this inside now? It's cold out here."