Austin leads them to an island. One which, Ally is almost positive, isn't on any maps she's ever seen. Granted, as they fly over it, it seems to be quite a small island, but Scientists are very thorough in everything they do, including cartography.
"Welcome home," Austin says when he sets them all down on the beach.
"You relocated to an island?" Dez asks.
"We made an island. A little Earth magic goes a long way."
"You do realize that somewhere in this ocean is an underwater nation of Magicians whose queen wants you dead," Ally points out.
"We're far enough away," Austin assures her. "Now come on, it's time for the tour!"
He takes Ally's hand and leads the three Scientists up the beach and over some sand dunes. On the other side, the familiar Magician town is bustling with activity, as if it never left the clearing in the woods.
"We're still kinda settling in, but it wasn't too hard to transfer everything over with everyone working together," Austin says. He squeezes Ally's hand. "Thanks to you, we were able to get out in time without a problem."
She smiles a little and allows her mind to wander as Austin starts showing Trish and Dez around the town. Around their new home.
Her heart pangs at the loss of her old life as a Scientist. Even though the Magicians were starting to tolerate her when she left, it's hard to imagine they'll be fine with her bringing two more Scientists into their community and trying to make a home. Especially now that she's in a relationship with their most powerful Magician.
Then again, Austin is a bit of an outcast, too. Their relationship may not even have an effect on how the people feel about her. But hopefully since Austin managed to save the entire town from a Scientist raid, he'll be more welcomed in their society. And if he's welcomed, maybe she'll be welcomed, too. She was just as instrumental as he was in saving them, after all.
When Austin brings them to his parents' house to end the tour, Ally gets irrationally nervous. She stayed with his parents for over a week before she and Austin went on their journey to save Dez, but somehow seeing them again now feels different. She glances over at Austin as he opens the door.
"Guess who's alive?" he calls into the house.
"Austin?" his mother says as she rushes in to greet them. Her smile lights up the room, and Austin releases Ally's hand to hug his mother.
"I told you everything would be fine," he says, but Ally can see his arms tighten around his mother.
Mimi pulls away and examines Austin's face, turning it in every direction. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
"He didn't even go in the prison," Trish scoffs, rolling her eyes. "I was the one who did all the hard work."
Dez frowns. "Uh, we were the actual prisoners," he reminds her, gesturing between himself and Ally.
Austin laughs a little and swipes his hand across his face. It almost looks like he's scratching an itch, but Ally knows better. "Mom, this is Trish. She helped me with the prison break."
"I have many questions," Trish says.
Mimi laughs and shakes Trish's hand. "You Scientists always do. It's wonderful to meet you." Then she looks at Dez and pulls him in for a tight hug. "I'm so sorry all of this happened to you, honey."
"It's okay," he says, hugging her back. "I was the idiot who became best friends with a Magician."
When Mimi turns her gaze to Ally, she can't help but try to stand up a little straighter. But Mimi's relieved smile doesn't leave her face, and she pulls Ally into a hug, too.
"Thank you for keeping Austin safe," she says quietly. "For saving all of us."
"I'm sorry for the things I said before, and for trying to turn you in," Ally says.
Mimi pulls away, but before she can say anything, the door opens and Austin's father walks into the house. Ally hardly registers that someone comes in after him before there's a squeal and a pair of arms wraps around her waist.
"Ally!" Daisy exclaims, squeezing her tighter. "I knew you'd come back!"
"Daisy, Dad, this is Trish," Austin says among the chaos after hugging his father.
"Does that mean you're Dez?" Daisy asks, looking up at the redhead. Dez nods, so Daisy grins and hugs him, too.
"We've only got one guest room, but we'll find a bed for all of you," Mimi promises.
"Someone can have my room!" Daisy offers. "They'll be grown-ups soon anyway, so I can stay in your room until they leave. Then I don't have to run down the hall to your room when I have nightmares, 'cause I'll already be there."
"That's very sweet of you, Daisy," Mimi says.
"Ally and I can share my room," Austin adds, and everyone looks at them with raised eyebrows. She feels her cheeks heat up as Mimi smiles.
"This is a new development," Mike says. He trains his eyes on Ally, probably reading her mind, but he inclines his head in what she thinks is approval. At least it's proof her feelings are real.
"Don't be weird," Austin says. "It's not like we're gonna do anything."
Dez frowns. "You'd rather share with her than me?" Trish jabs him with an elbow. "Hey!"
"If I wake up and she isn't there, I'll probably panic thinking she's still in the Vault. And who knows what my magic will do then," Austin says with a shrug, draping an arm around Ally's shoulders. "Plus, no offense buddy, but she smells a lot better than you do."
"I guess that's fair," Dez sighs. Then he smiles. "It's okay, that just means I get my own room!"
"Right, well, while you guys kinda settle in, me and Ally are gonna go…anywhere that isn't here," Austin says, and then he takes Ally's hand and drags her out of the house before anyone can protest.
"That felt rude," Ally says as they wander back to the beach.
"Probably because it was. But I just didn't want my parents asking embarrassing questions about how we got together."
Ally takes a deep breath and stops, slowly pulling her hand out of his. "We should talk."
He frowns, his eyebrows scrunching together. "What's wrong?" he asks.
She searches his eyes, trying to steal a little bit of his courage and openness for herself. "I'm afraid that now that Dez is safe, we're going to fall apart."
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, we don't really have much in common. The only thing really connecting us before was saving Dez."
"We have that whole adventure in common."
"You know what I mean. You think Scientists are boring. You can't love someone who bores you, and now that we aren't risking our lives anymore, I'm going to bore you."
Austin sighs. "Ally, I didn't fall in love with you because we were about to die every day. I fell in love with you because of who you are. You don't bore me."
"You've said before that Scientists are boring."
"In general, yeah. But you, Ally Dawson, could never bore me."
"You can't possibly know that."
He shrugs. "Sure I can."
"You have magic, Austin."
"So do you."
"I'm fairly certain I don't."
Austin smiles a little. "You may not be able to read minds or shapeshift or fly, but you have your own kind of magic." He takes her hand again. "You're the smartest person I've ever met—"
"I'm the smartest person most people have ever met."
He grins and kisses her cheek. "You're kind."
"If you hadn't literally kidnapped me, I would've gotten you and an entire village of innocent Magicians killed."
He kisses her other cheek, and she closes her eyes, leaning into the brush of his lips. "But you didn't. And you ended up risking your life to save all of us—very stupidly, actually, especially for how smart you're supposed to be. So, you know, I think we can all look past that first impression."
"I like the things you're saying," she sighs, the weight that's been sitting on her chest since they arrived here beginning to lift.
He laughs and takes her other hand. "You're beautiful. Even after a week in an underground secret prison. And you're brave, and honest, and you care about people more than you give yourself credit for."
She opens her eyes, and the way he's looking at her is enough to lift that weight in her chest completely. "Maybe we will be okay," she says.
"I'm not done yet," he replies, but his grin is bigger than before as he wraps his arms around her waist. "You told me I sometimes make your brain go a little useless?" She nods. "Well, my brain already can't do much compared to yours, but, for what it's worth, you make my brain go pretty useless, too."
She smiles a little. "It's kind of nice, not thinking so much. When I'm with you, my mind just kind of…" She releases a deep exhale and relaxes her shoulders in an attempt to show him the peace he brings her. Of course, it wasn't always that way, but she has a feeling he knows that already.
"My mind does the opposite," he says. "When I'm with you, you're all I think about. That's bad, right?"
She drapes her arms around his neck. "If it is, I don't care. Maybe we just need that week alone you promised. You know, without all the distractions, like our friend's imprisonment and almost dying every day."
He kisses her, his hands warm on her back. "As soon as everything is settled here, we're going to some other country where we won't be on the Most Wanted list, and no more sleeping on the ground. Fancy hotel with room service, and a nice bed, and one of those showers with the jets and super hot water."
"Sounds perfect."
"It will be." He kisses her again. "And a week is the minimum. After everything we've been through, we deserve as long as we want." She nods, her cheeks heating as his eyes darken. "And I intend to take my sweet time."
She swallows and pushes him away gently, fanning her face and laughing a little. "You can't say things like that," she says. "How am I supposed to go back to your parents' house, where your dad could literally read my mind at any moment, with that playing in my head on loop?"
"My dad is gonna steer clear. He doesn't even like using his powers, anyway." Then Austin smiles again. "On loop?" he asks.
"That's not a good thing," she says, although her giggle betrays her.
Austin looks around. "I mean, we could, you know, take off for a few hours. Maybe scope out a place for when we actually take that vacation."
"That will definitely make it worse."
"Okay, well, I'm not even a Telepath, but I can literally see your mind in the gutter right now. So it really can't get much worse."
Her cheeks heat again. "I can't really argue with that."
He grins. "You probably could if you tried."
"Fine. I don't want to argue with that."
"You, not wanting to argue with me? That's definitely a first."
"We're wasting precious time," she reminds him.
He kisses her, and between one breath and the next, they're gone.
i'm sorry this ending is shitty and you deserve better after so long but it's been like 4 years and i'm so sick of having this story unfinished it'll be much better when i publish it as an original novel one day i promise anyway thanks for reading and sticking w me all these years i love u