A/N: I'm not sure if I have all of this aligned timewise and I have too much happening in a too short time frame? But hope you can all overlook this and enjoy this chapter of celebrations and going home. There will be two more chapters besides this one. So getting closer to the end now. They are both written out, and waiting for the wonderful Hookedonapirate to beta read them.
Chapter 19: HopeNadjia had managed to find them all something to wear for the ball. The girls each wore a ballgown style dress; it might be a bit too poofy for Hope's usual style, but the girls all had so much fun dressing up and styling their hair. When they were ready, they joined their men in Sinbad's living room, each wearing stylish dress shirts and what appeared to be old fashioned waistcoats and jackets that looked like they were taken out of a historical romance movie.
Hope grinned as she walked up to her boyfriend and placed a hand on the frilly part of his shirt.
"Don't even—" Rueben warned with a mock glare, but couldn't hide the grin on his lips when he reached down to give her a kiss.
"You look dashing." Hope kissed him back.
Only when someone cleared their throats nearby, did they pull away. Hope rolled her eyes when she noticed her father blatantly staring at them, a sort of twinkle setting in the corner of his eyes. That was new. Hope knew he liked Rueben, but she also knew her father fairly well, and right now, he was acting strange. When she found them in the garden earlier, they both looked guilty of talking about some secret, something they didn't want her to know about.
She squinted her eyes at her father, and when he rubbed his neck and shifted his gaze to his wife, she knew he was hiding something.
"You look very pretty tonight," Rueben whispered, clearly ignoring the odd looks her father gave them.
"Thank you." Hope smiled, tucked her hand in the crock of his elbow and followed their group of friends and family out of the house. They walked to the Palace and were greeted by the guards with bows of respect and thanks.
When they entered the great hall, it was transformed into a colorful display of everything Atlantis had to offer. Long tables were brimming with food and drinks, flower arrangements placed on each table. A musical band was playing gentle waltzes and people were already dancing.
Poseidon was seated at the high table, and when he saw them enter, he rose up and signaled to the musicians to end the song they played. Soon the room went quiet, and Hope shifted closer to Rueben, as much as her poofy dress would allow. It really was very impractical and only needed some slightly more voluminous sleeves to look like the dress her mother and grandmother had tried to force her into at her sweet 16 party. She could endure the dress, but she wasn't sure she was too thrilled by how they would be front and center for the evening. Poseidon was already starting a speech about their heroic adventure, leading them to Atlantis.
While the king still spoke, Hope held tightly onto Rueben's arm. He might still be acting odd this evening, but she imagined it had to be a little unsettling for him to be here. She rested her head on his shoulder as they listened to the words from the king. The audience listened to the story, and Hope noticed how several guests glanced openly at them while their king spoke. Hope tried to plaster on a big smile, while Poseidon wrapped up his speech on a positive note. "So now citizens of Atlantis, I bid you to enjoy the evening. This is a new era for our great city, for everyone." The thundering applause echoed above the crowd, the ceilings so high it was almost difficult to see the top.
Finally, they were shown to their seats at the high table, along with the king. Regina sat next to him, a sign of the newly formed alliance between Atlantis and the United Realms. Hope and Rueben had been placed on the king's other hand and Rueben's parents were seated in front of them, which was nice, as Hope hadn't had much time to talk with them since their arrival. The food was all lined up on the table, and everyone began eating at the king's order.
Atlantis knew how to throw a party. Several hours later, Hope was feeling drowsy with a full belly and maybe a glass too much of wine. But the evening had been a nice ending to their adventure—an adventure she had never seen coming. Their plan had been to explore the United Realms onboard her father's ship. Through some passes of chance and perhaps a little push from fate, they ended up in the forgotten city of Atlantis. Now it would be remembered again, but it might take some time before she would fully understand what had happened.
"Can we go back?" she finally asked Rueben and looked along the table. She noticed Ruby and William seemed to have left too.
"I'm sure we can."
They bid good night to Poseidon who proclaimed he would be there to bid them farewell once they would sail home the next day.
As Rueben and Hope walked slowly through the streets of Atlantis, she glanced up at her boyfriend who suddenly seemed fidgety and nervous. His fingers kept tapping his thigh, and his gaze shifted between looking at her and their surroundings.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Hope asked and nudged his shoulder with hers.
"Hmm?"
"Rueben, I know something is bothering you," she tried again, hoping he would share with her. She didn't like to think he couldn't share things with her. "Talk to me. Please." She stopped their walk and looked at him.
"I'm fine." Rueben shrugged. "I'm just weary and dead tired from everything that has happened today."
"Yeah, we all are." Hope tapped his chest with her finger. "But you're bothered by something. What?"
"Fuck," Rueben mumbled and rubbed his face in his hand, "I'm sorry, I can't. I mean, I won't—" He suddenly grabbed her hand and said, "Come one I want to show you something."
"Okay—" She said hesitantly, but followed him while curiosity bloomed inside of her.
When they reached the garden, he led her to the golden apple tree.
She frowned at him. "I've been here before."
"I know." Rueben placed himself in front of her and rubbed his hands on his thighs; he was acting really strange.
Hope was about to ask him again about his behavior when he found a small box in his pocket and dropped down on one knee.
"What—" Her hands flew to her mouth as realization hit her full force. Was he really…?
"Hope, I know I acted strange tonight. I wanted to plan this a bit better, but it seems as if I can't keep a secret from you." He chuckled and took a deep breath. "The reason for my strange behavior is simple—I want to share the rest of my life with you. I know we share something special between us." He flicked his thumb to the nearby treethem. "This tree is evidence of how strong we are together."
Hope blinked away the tears forming in her eyes as she chuckled. "You did that tree thing all on your own."
"I might have, but you were there with me. You helped me believe I could do it."
Hope nodded in agreement, she felt tears prickling in her eyes.
Rueben took a deep breath and continued. "We're one, just like those combined pendants." Hope reached up and touched the pendants hanging around her neck. She smiled knowingly and nodded for him to continue. "I want to share the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" He flipped the small box open and revealed a silver ring with a small turquoise stone. Around it were some smaller intricate designs she couldn't see clearly at the moment.
Her eyes found his, and through the blurriness of tears, she saw him hold his breath, his eyes focused on her, his brown eyes filled with love and promises of a future together. A future filled with new adventures, new hope and, above all, love.
"YES!" she squealed and flung herself down in his arms, not caring about the dress getting muddy or torn. Her mouth found his lips and they got lost in a deep, passionate kiss that filled her heart with even more love for the man she was going to call her husband one day.
Rueben hugged her close and kept kissing her over and over again, both laughing and giggling and Hope was sure she had never felt this happy in all her life.
When they finally pulled apart, she shifted down on her knees, and realized the corset of the dress was digging into her ribs, but she didn't care right now.
"Give me your hand," He asked, a grin permanently spread over his face as he took her hand in his and placed the old silver ring on her finger.
"This is beautiful," Hope whispered and looked closer at the ring. The engravings beside the ring were the very same symbols of the four elements that were on those stones their friends had stood on when they raised Atlantis. "What? How?" She looked at him in shock. "Where did you find this?"
Rueben smirked. "The same place I found the butterfly pendant." He shrugged and looked a little sheepishly at her.
"Seriously?" Hope gaped at him; she couldn't believe it. "This ring was with the butterfly pendant, the same pendant that was the key element in helping Atlantis." She looked down at the ring on her finger, and her pulse quickened as she tried to comprehend this strange twist of fate, she couldn't believe something like this could happen.
"Yeah, it was strange, but I knew I had to buy it." He pushed away the strand of his hair that had slipped out of his ponytail. "I know we hadn't been dating that long back then, but it all made sense at that moment. Even more now," he swept his hand to the garden around them, "and much more so when all of this happened. I think it was meant to be."
"Even proposing in Atlantis?" she asked with a smirk.
"You prodded it out of me." He fake pouted and grinned. "But honestly, ever since I spoke with your father earlier, all I could think about was giving you that ring."
"Oh, that was the weird conversation you'd with him in Sinbad's garden?" Hope asked with a knowing smile, her eyes blinking at the notion he actually dared to ask her father first. "So I imagine he gave you his blessing?" She touched her ring; even now, her magic seemed to react to the turquoise stone.
"He did. Well, he was trying to make me sweat for a while," he shrugged, took her hand and placed a kiss over her ring, "but he was definitely not opposed to the idea."
"So no threats about disemboweling you if you hurt me or broke my heart?" Hope laughed and crocked her finger, making it look like a hook. "He does have the right tool for that, you know." She winked.
"Tell me about it," Rueben mumbled and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm just relieved you said yes, and yeah, I know the whole setting wasn't all that planned out. But I guess it all makes sense I asked you here—the epicenter of our greatest adventure."
"I do hope we have many more adventures in the future." Hope smiled, cupped his face with her hands and kissed her new fiancé. She liked the sound of their new title and looked forward to seeing what their future would entail.
"Come on, let's go home," Rueben suggested and rose up, helping Hope to her feet. When she winced, he asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"
"Just this stupid corset in this dress. It's trying to dig in between my ribs." She tried to adjust the bodice of her dress, but it didn't help.
"Well let's get home then so I can help you get out of that awful dress, even if it does look rather fetching on you, my love," Rueben whispered and wrapped his arm around her, giving her temple a short kiss.
Hope laughed and followed him to Sinbad's house, where they would sleep for tonight. Tomorrow they would journey back home on the Jolly Roger.
The next day, everyone packed their belongings and said goodbye to Sinbad and Nadjia, then walked to the beach where the crew of Regina's ship had already sent in the long boat. It would sail the group of friends along with both Hope and Rueben's parents to the Jolly Roger. They would follow the royal ship back to Royal City.
Hope looked behind them, the city of Atlantis sparkled in the sunlight, and it was still mind boggling to think that the city hadn't seen the light of days in centuries, until now. By her actions, along with her friend's, they managed to make a forgotten city one to be remembered again.
Poseidon came to the site along with Lexi and several of the people they'd gotten to know over the past few days. Sinbad and his wife were very sad to see them go, and Hope promised they would come visit sometime soon. They'd found new friends here in Atlantis. Everyone hugged, said their goodbyes and finally, they reached Poseidon.
"I hope you have a safe journey home," the king said and bowed in respect. Hope was still trying to get used to having such high royals bow to her. But knowing that she might one day be queen was something she was getting used to.
"Thank you. I'm happy we had the means to help this great city," Hope replied as she tried to keep her face in a poised and composed grimace.
Poseidon nodded, went along and thanked each of her friends. Hope smiled as she watched them each react to the king's words so differently. The guys tried to play it cool and act nonchalant, but she could see that even Damien had a hard time finding the right expression when the king spoke to him.
Finally, they stepped into the waiting boat; another one would take Regina and her entourage to her ship. Hope was happy they would be joined by their parents and looked forward to the journey home. Even if the journey would be shorter with the portal Regina would make once they reached the open waters.
The Jolly Roger was all ready to set sail, and even after Killian insisted he keep the captain's post, William let Killian have the honor of taking them home. William claimed he needed the down time after their Atlantis adventure. Hope imagined they all felt that way, so it was nice to be going home.
As the two ships sailed further out, Hope could see her aunt getting ready to make the portal that would take them home. They all prepared for the portal jump, and once the two ships had sailed through without problems, it was only a short trip home.
Finally, back in Royal City, the Jolly Roger docked at it's usual spot at the royal docks, alongside Regina's ship, everyone pitched in and secured the ship.
"Finally home," Hope sighed as they all disembarked the ship.
"Yeah, it's going to be nice sleeping in my own bed." Rueben whispered, "Perhaps I could invite my fiancé out for a much needed date. It's been forever—"
"You're engaged?" Rose screeched, stomping over to them, her eyes already searching Hope's hand.
"How did you hear that?" Rueben asked in shock. When his eyes found Hope's, she could see the devastation in his eyes. He might have wanted to keep this a secret a bit longer.
"Eh, super wolf hearing," Rose flapped her hands in the air, then pointed at her ear for emphasis.
Hope glanced around and noticed their whole group seemed to have heard Rose's less than subtle announcement. The only person not surprised was her father. She looked at her mother, and the gaping mouth and blank stare indicated that her father hadn't told her anything.
Impressed with her father's ability to keep this a secret, she walked over to them. First, she smiled at her father and whispered, "Thank you."
Killian nodded his head with a knowing smirk that vanished the second his wife slapped his arm
"Seriously?! You knew…you knew our daughter is..." Emma took a deep breath. "My baby Cygnet is going to be married." She blinked a few times as if she were about to cry.
Hope refrained from rolling her eyes at her mother's reaction; she gave her a huge grin instead. "Surprise." She splayed her arms out and made jazz hands. Then her mother flung herself into her arms, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"I'm so happy for you." Her mother almost blubbered into her neck. "You're getting married."
"Okay, Mom, now you're just being super embarrassing." Hope glanced over her shoulder and saw most of her friends doubling over in laughter.
Finally, her father came over and pulled Hope into a hug. "Congrats, my little love." The grin on his face was wide, and as he looked at her, she felt her heart flutter with excitement.
"Thank you, Daddy." She whispered, "Can't believe you could keep this a secret."
"Oh, well I just talked with Rueben yesterday, so it wasn't that long." Killian glanced at Rueben, who now rubbed his neck, looking a little sheepish,
"Well, to be honest, it was very romantic," Hope gushed and told them all where Rueben proposed to her. Both her parents looked at her with big smiles, and as she turned to Rueben, she saw his parents next to him. When Pocahontas and John Smith smiled at her, she walked over to them.
"I knew my boy would ask you, I just had no idea he would do it now, so fast." Pocahontas exclaimed and pulled Hope in for a hug. Hope wrapped her arms around her future mother-in-law. She liked them both from the very first day she met them.
"Thank you, I'm super happy to be part of your family." Hope pulled back and stepped over to give Rueben's father a quick hug.
She then felt Rueben slip his arm around her waist. He smiled and whispered, "I'm sorry, I let the cat out of the bag so soon."
"It's okay. In our circle of family and friends, it's hard to keep a secret for long anyway." She shrugged and looked around her group of friends, who all beamed at them. The girls had strange, dreamy expressions on their faces, and both looked up at their boyfriends with the same dreamy looks. Hope smirked as she silently hoped both would soon find themselves in a similar situation.
When she walked over to talk with her friends, both Gloria and Rose made squealing noises as they hugged her, already making big plans for her wedding.
"Calm down." Hope laughed while she tried to keep up with all the words tumbling out of Rose's mouth.
"I'm just so excited for you guys! I knew you two would be the first to make things official!" Rose exclaimed.
"Make what official?" When Regina's voice interrupted them, everyone watched their queen walk up to them. Her focus was on Hope as she asked again, "What is going on?"
"Well you see, Auntie," Hope blinked a few times, then reached for her fiance's hand, "Rueben asked me to marry him." Then she showed her the ring on her finger, when Regina's eyes landed on the silver ring her eyes boggled and she stepped closer.
"Is that—?" She took Hope's hand in hers, lifting her ring closer and moving her head from side to side, trying to see the ring more fully. "That is—" She looked up at Hope with an astounded look.
"Yeah the four elements," Hope said with a shrug, "I mean, the turquoise stone seems to be following me, a sort of symbol of hope I guess?"
"The turquoise stone is a symbol of hope, and I do think that the stone will be the symbol of your marriage." Regina patted Hope's hand and stepped back.
"Really?" Rueben asked. "So it was some sort of twist of fate leading me to both the pendant and the ring?"
"You bought the ring along with the pendant?" Regina was looking more and more shocked.
"Yeah." Rueben rubbed his neck nervously as he gazed at his queen.
"That cannot be a coincidence, it most certainly can't." Her brows were wrinkled in thought. "It definitely cements that the two of you are true love. That much is certain." She beamed over at Emma and Killian, who both wore similar shocked expressions.
"So, any future kids will be like, third generation of true love?" Emma asked incredulously, "Has that ever happened before?" She looked at Regina for answers, ignoring Hope's gasp when her mother was talking about future kids. Well that would be a talk for another day.
"Not to my knowledge, no," Regina confirmed. "So that will be something to look forward to in the future."
"Yeah well, why don't we get married first before we start planning for kids," Hope interjected with a nervous laughter. Sure, she wanted kids in the future, but right now she wanted to settle into her future life with Rueben.
"Yeah, a royal wedding will be planned. So many official things we need to sort out," Regina began. "We need to make an official announcement—"
"Please don't make a big deal out of this." Hope begged, suddenly realizing why her aunt looked so serious. "I don't want a fancy ball or anything. Please!" She knew she was begging, but remembered how elaborate her 21st birthday turned out to be; she had no desire to repeat that.
"Alright, no engagement party, then," Regina held up her hand, "but you're the future queen, and there should be an official announcement of some sort."
"Yeah, I know, but could we just wait until the actual wedding to go all party planning crazy?" Hope asked, shifting nervously on her feet.
"No one but your grandmother goes party planning crazy." Regina smirked and added, "I will make an official announcement and let you choose the date and everything else."
"Thank you, I know we need to make it grand and everything, but right now, I just want to enjoy my time with my fiancé, and enjoy time alone." She wrapped her arms around Rueben and looked up at him, "I think we all need a little break from all the adventures we've had in the past few weeks." She looked around the group of friends. They all nodded in agreement.
When all this was settled, everyone headed home, and it was not difficult to decide that Rueben would go home together with Hope
Neither one of them wanted to part ways. Hope had to promise her friends she would silence her room so they wouldn't disturb the other two girls and their boyfriends. It was certainly a day to celebrate, but everyone was also tired and wanted to rest.
As Hope snuggled up next to Rueben after their passionate time together, she sighed in contentment. "This is what I want for the rest of my life. You and me, like this, every day from now on and until the end of time."
"Me too," Rueben agreed and kissed her temple.
They fell asleep like this, wrapped up in each other's arms, holding on to the new step in their life. In a way it would be a new adventure but this time they would be making all the calls on what would happen.