It was a few days after Dracula had proposed to Ericka. Everyone was preparing for the wedding, with Mavis in charge of course. Frank was selected as best man, due to being Dracula's oldest friend. Since Ericka had no living female relatives, she made Mavis maid of honor.
One night, Ericka went looking for Dracula and found him in his bedroom staring at the portrait of him and Martha.
"Is everything okay hon?" Ericka went inside concernedly.
"Yeah...sorta." Dracula admitted. "I really do love you and want to marry you, but I'm afraid that if I do I'll be betraying Martha."
"Ah." Ericka paused to think. "To be honest, I have no idea how Martha feels about us getting married. After all I never knew her. But your friends knew her right? Maybe they'll know what to do."
"You're right, they did know her. And asking their advice is better than spending the rest of our lives worrying about this." Dracula smiled. "Let's go talk to them now."
They went downstairs. Luckily most of the monsters were off doing their own things, and Dracula's oldest friends were playing Uno with Mavis, Dennis, Winnie, and Johnny.
"Oh hey Drac...what's wrong?" Frank asked, noticing Dracula and Ericka's expressions.
Dracula admitted the problem.
"Ericka thought we could talk to you guys about it, since you knew Martha too." He finished.
"Well I say if marrying someone else means you're betraying Martha, then you wouldn't have zinged at all." Frank said.
"Yeah, she'd want you to be happy." Murray added. "She certainly wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life alone. Romance-wise I mean."
"I...suppose you both have good points but..." Dracula hesitated.
"Maybe you could just go back to Castle Lubov." Johnny suggested.
"WHAT?" Frank, Murray, Wayne, and Griffin said with shock.
"Johnny are you nuts, Dracula hasn't been there since...you know..." Wayne said awkwardly.
"I know." Johnny shrugged. "When I first came here Dracula told me what happened to Martha to explain why he was so protective of Mavis. But I was at that castle too, many years ago. And when I was there I felt something, like there was someone still there. I thought it was both the count and his wife's ghosts and their love, since there was this legend about both of them having died in a fire, but after hearing the real story from Drac I realized that it was just Martha haunting the place."
"That's right...I remember you talking about that." Dracula said as everyone else looked stunned. "Well, even if the castle turns out to be completely empty it's still worth a try. We all may as well go, if Martha turns out to be there I'd like her to officially meet Johnny and Dennis."
"What am I, guano?" Vlad frowned.
"Oh yeah, you too. Sorry dad." Dracula said sincerely. "I'm just still getting used to being on good terms with you."
"Well, since we've been separated for centuries I guess I can't blame you for that." Vlad muttered.
"Would you like us to come along? You know, for emotional support?" Frank asked.
"Sure. I think we can easily fly you all over there...it won't be that long of a flight anyway." Dracula agreed. "I'll carry Ericka and Frank, Mavis can carry Johnny and Murray, Dennis can carry Wayne, with Winnie in his arms, and Griffin. Unless you don't mind carrying someone dad."
"I think I can handle hairy here." Vlad said.
"Watch it fangless." Wayne glared.
Vlad glared back, but didn't retort. Secretly even he knew Wayne had made a good comeback.
So they all went outside, and Dracula, Mavis, Dennis, and Vlad switched to bat form and picked up their assigned passengers. Dracula led the way, since he was the only 'bat' who knew where the castle was located.
When they got there, they were actually surprised to see the castle restored. The only proof that there had been a fire was the burnt curtains in the windows.
"Oh yeah, forgot to mention this before: the castle had been turned into a historical landmark, so the town had it restored to make it safer for guided tours." Johnny said.
"Ohhh..." Everyone else said.
Dracula truthfully was a bit touched by this. The restoration almost felt like an apology from the town for what happened, even though the current inhabitants probably still didn't know the real story.
"Well, come on." Johnny cheerfully led the way into the castle.
Everyone else followed less cheerfully. They knew that since Johnny had been here before there was nothing to fear, but they couldn't help feeling a bit hesitant. It was probably just their knowledge of Martha's death though.
They went inside, and saw that the castle still had it's original furnishings. The only inside changes were the additions of cushioned chairs, probably for guests who had to wait for the next tour.
"Huh...that's weird. The castle feels totally empty now." Johnny turned to them with a frown.
Instead of replying, the others widened their eyes as they saw a light shine down behind Johnny.
"Oh wait, there we go. There's someone or something present now." Johnny said before finally noticing everyone else staring. "What?"
The others were too stunned to speak, so Johnny turned around to answer his question...and saw a ghostly woman floating there.
"YIKE!" Johnny jumped back automatically.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." The woman giggled.
The woman of course was...
"M-Martha?" Dracula choked out.
"Yes, it's me. Hello everyone." Martha smiled. "To be honest I actually moved on days ago, but upon learning about your worrying about betraying me I decided to temporarily come back. It's okay dear, I want you to marry Ericka and be happy again. After all, I wouldn't have arranged for you two to meet if I didn't approve." She chuckled.
"What are you talking about, the cruise was Mavis's idea." Griffin pointed out.
"Yeah, thanks to that commercial." Mavis confirmed.
"Well why do you think you couldn't change the channel until after the commercial was over?" Martha winked.
"Well...wait a minute, that's right the channel buttons wouldn't work-" Mavis was stunned. "You did that?"
"Yes, I paid a temporary visit to you and kept the channel buttons from working." Martha smiled. "You see Drac dear, I couldn't move on due to knowing how hurt you were over my death. I wanted you to be happy again, but couldn't figure out how until earlier this year when an angel came down to tell me about Ericka. I was shocked about her being a Van Helsing, but after the angel confirmed that she's your new zing I decided to take a chance. It turns out you can zing more than once, but you can only zing again after a previous one dies."
"Well, that explains why we never knew about zinging more than once before." Wayne shrugged.
"Thank you Martha, I was never truly happy until I fell in love with Dracula." Ericka smiled.
"Of course, I'm just glad things worked out for everyone. Dracula and Mavis especially." Martha smiled back
Mavis suddenly rushed in to hug Martha. Apparently it took her a moment to realize that her mother really was here in the fl- er, ectoplasm. Mavis then started sobbing.
"There there Mavis, I was always with you in your heart." Martha said gently, returning the hug. "But I am glad we can be together now, even if it's for a short while."
Mavis calmed down a bit, wanting to spend that short while talking with her mom instead of crying. She could always cry some more later after her mom leaves.
"Thank you for my 118th birthday present." She smiled.
"Well, I had a feeling that you might want to hear the story of how your father and I met often, so I thought a book version of the story would be a good idea." Martha grinned. "And I knew you would find your zing one day, but I wanted to reassure you of it in case it took you a long time like it took a long time before your father and I finally met. I'm really glad it didn't though, which reminds me." She then turned to Johnny. "Thank you for being good to Dracula and Mavis and improving their lives."
"Aw it was nothing, heck they improved my life as much as I improved theirs so there's no need to thank me." Johnny shrugged humbly with a smile.
"Hi Momma Martha." Dennis smiled.
"Hello Dennis, it's wonderful to meet you in person." Martha smiled.
"Definitely. You did great work, it's a real joy seeing Papa Drac so happy." Dennis smiled.
"Always happy to help out a loved one, even if I have to resort to a little trickery to do it."
"Oh I know all about that." Dennis chuckled; Winnie grinned in agreement.
"Even though sneaking Tinkles to certain locations may harm more than help..." Mavis hinted.
Dennis winced.
"Well, it didn't during the kraken attack." Winnie pointed out, defensively putting an arm around Dennis.
"Why do you think I didn't punish him for sneaking Tinkles onto the cruise?" Mavis smiled.
"Oh yeah..."
"Anyway..." Martha said a little sadly. "I wish I could stay longer, but since I technically already moved on I'm afraid I can't."
She floated over to kiss Dracula on the forehead.
"You go on and enjoy your new life with Ericka now." She smiled.
"I will, and you enjoy heaven for us." Dracula smiled.
"That won't be hard." Martha grinned. "Goodbye everyone, and never forget: I'll always be with all of you in your hearts."
"We won't forget, we promise." Murray smiled.
They all said their goodbyes as Martha dissolved into light and disappeared through the ceiling. They stood there peacefully, enjoying the closure they had just gotten.
"Well..." Dracula smiled gently. "We still have a lot of wedding planning to do."
"More like I have a lot of wedding planning to do." Mavis chuckled.
"Except for my wedding dress and bouquet, you better let me plan them out." Ericka smirked.
"Don't worry, I will." Mavis smirked back.
"However you can help us select the first song for us to dance to during the reception. We're having a hard time deciding on one." Dracula said.
"Of course."
With that, they headed home. The rest of the planning went smoothly, for one thing Ericka was able to find the right wedding dress. It was comfortable - which was her main goal - but still relatively fancy. Selecting the right flowers for her bouquet took a little time, since she wanted to go with unique flowers. She finally decided on moonflowers, night-blooming jasmine, and white chrysanthemum.
The wedding night itself, Mavis and the bridesmaids - Wanda, Eunice, etc - helped Martha with the finishing touches.
"How are you feeling?" Wanda asked.
"Well, a little nervous but otherwise I feel great." Ericka smiled. "After all Martha wants me and Drac to marry, and you can't get a better sign than that."
"Very true." Crystal agreed.
"I only wish dad could be here to walk me down the aisle." Ericka then looked sad.
"At least he's in your heart." Mavis said.
"True, mom too. It's not entirely the same though..."
"I know what you mean..." Mavis trailed off, wondering how she could make Ericka feel better.
There was a knock at the door.
"Now who could that be?" Eunice asked.
"I'll check." Mavis went to open the door a crack...and was surprised. "Mr. Van Helsing?"
"Great-grandpa?" Ericka was also surprised. "I thought you weren't comfortable with being at the wedding."
"Excuse me?" Eunice glared.
"Only because he now feels guilty about the past." Ericka explained.
"Oh. That's different."
"Well..." Abraham hesitated. "To be honest, being your only biological relative made me realize that I should be here for you. And I also remembered that your dad isn't here to walk you down the aisle, so since I raised you I thought that...maybe...?"
Ericka hugged him.
"I would love for you to walk me down the aisle." She said.
Abraham returned the hug.
It was now time to walk down the aisle...and Ericka couldn't help noticing with amusement that Abraham's eyes seemed wet.
"Are you crying?" She whispered with a smile.
"No, I accidentally got some oil in my eyes earlier." Abraham whispered back.
Ericka just continued smiling, knowing otherwise.
Sure enough, when she and Dracula exchanged their vows Abraham actually did start sobbing. Ericka technically was his little girl after all. Dracula gave him a sympathetic smile, remembering how he felt when Mavis married Johnny (after he finally left his coffin that is). Ericka smiled too, she hoped that Abraham being able to overcome his awkwardness enough to come to the wedding meant that he would finally start to interact with the other monsters more.
Then of course it was time for the reception, and again Johnny was the DJ. To Abraham's surprise the 'Macarena' didn't play at all during the whole thing.
"I almost considered it since the others enjoyed dancing to it before." Johnny explained later when Abraham asked him about that. "But Dracula told me that it might be inappropriate since the song nearly caused your death."
"Oh." Abraham said, too touched by the thought to say anything else.
Well, except for a 'thank you' to Dracula later on that is.
"You're welcome great-grandpa." Dracula smiled to Abraham's surprise.
And to his further surprise, Abraham realized that he didn't mind Dracula calling him that.
A.N. I did read on Tropes that Abraham and Ericka might've rigged the commercial for their cruise so that you couldn't change the channel while it was playing, but I loved the idea of Martha having prevented Mavis from changing the channel too much to not use it.
