After the Palpatine event, which was what everyone called it, things went back to normal, for the most part. Ben had to meet with the council to discuss everything that happened and to undo the damage that Palpatine did to Auradon. With the help of Agathe and Fairy Godmother, all the damage from the clone army and the armada reverted back to normal. Some of the council members were a little upset that Ben lied about who he truly was, but with the help of Agathe, Ben was able to calm those people down and explain that he was still the king that they knew.
Chad had to do some therapy because of him being possessed by Palpatine. Ben even had some one on ones with him and answered any questions Chad wanted to ask. Ben understood about having something evil in your head as Palpatine was the one whispering dark thoughts into Ben's head for mostly his entire previous life. He explained that Palpatine just took advantage of him when he was dealing with his broken heart. Chad understood and even spoke to Audrey about it and he promised that he would work on moving on from her.
Speaking of Audrey, her family wasn't entirely excited about Harry being her true love, especially her grandmother. But Queen Aurora was the one who supported her daughter and said that true love can work in mysterious ways. That caused her father to relax and her grandmother to back off. Harry wasn't used to the royal treatment, but Audrey was there every step of the way to help him. And she promised him that he could take her sailing on Uma's ship anytime he wanted.
Winter semester at Auradon Prep started a week after the Palpatine event. The reporters kept wanting to talk to Ben and Mal while on school grounds, but Fairy Godmother shooed them away like always. But some of the students wanted to talk to Ben and Mal about their Force powers and the royal couple just wanted to be left alone. Because of that, Mal joined Ben more often for his royal duties, even though Mal had to anyway as she was going to be crowned Queen in a few months.
Whenever they did feel like they had to hide from the world, they went into Ben's secret room. Sure the Force spirits weren't around anymore, which Ben secretly missed but was also secretly relieved that he didn't have 7 spirits in his head anymore, it was just the droids. Plus Chewie sometimes as Ben knew that Chewie wanted to spend some time in his Wookiee form, even though he had gotten use to his dog form over the years. Ben and Mal would practice their saber skills and their Force skills. Sometimes, they would fight each other with their lightsabers and get so into it that they would subconsciously turn into Ben Solo and Rey without realizing it. C-3PO pointed it out after the first time it happened and suggested, "Perhaps you started to slip into your old ways and subconsciously called upon your old selves." "Perhaps," Ben said. "I didn't mean to," Rey said. "It just happened." A few seconds later, they became King Ben and Mal again.
Ben did ask Mal if she wanted to continue using the name Mal or if she wanted to legally change it to Rey. Mal thought about it and said, "Like I have said, I am both Mal and Rey. One and the same. You were lucky that your parents named you Ben. Even though my father calls me Rey, everyone else in Auradon, thanks to my mother, calls me Mal. I don't want to confuse them." "I will call you both," Ben said. "In public, I'll call you Mal. But in private, you're Rey to me." "Sounds fair," Mal said. "Even Evie, Carlos, and Jay won't call me Rey, which I understand. This entire situation is still weird though." Ben hugged her and said, "I know. But like you said, you are Rey of Jakku and Mal of the Isle. Just like I am King Ben of Auradon and Ben Solo. Two different sides of one person."
He pulled away and said, "How about a suggestion? When I first got my memories back and Force connection, I was still a 7 year old on the outside, even though inside I was an adult. I slowly started to merge the two together. And because I was a 7 year old, I had little kid tendencies. So, maybe you can start being both little by little. It will show people, even our friends, that you are still the Mal that they know, but with some new quirks. Besides, some of those quirks leaked through before your reawakening anyway." Mal thought about it and realized that Ben was right. Her survivor instincts, her caring for others, her connection with magic, even though it was not the Force, and her warrior mentality. She realized that she had attributes from her old self in her new life. She looked up at Ben and said, "I guess you're right when I think about it. Thanks, babe." Ben leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips and said, "That's my girl."
Wedding planning was coming along as Mal met with Evie several times to go over flowers, the cake, and her wedding dress. Mal also told Evie that she was to be her maid of honor. Evie cried and hugged Mal super tight. Evie showed her three possible wedding cakes and Mal chose a cloudberry cake with zepherian vanilla bean that had flowers and strawberries on the outside. Evie tried showing her different designs for the dress but Mal eventually decided on a ballgown dress of flowing satin, shimmering chiffon, and purple.
The ban on magic was eventually lifted all together and many of the magical items that were in the museum were returned to their owners, the trident included. Obviously the villain items were kept there, especially those belonging to villains that still had to be imprisoned on the Isle as they proved that they showed no signs of changing. Except Maleficent, who was still a lizard, as she now was being watched by Hades, who enjoyed every minute of it, as he got to let loose on the lizard about how horrible a wife she was, and the little lizard could do nothing about it.
The second semester of senior year went by fast. Jay and Carlos were still on the Swords and Shields team with Lonnie as captain, and Harry and Gil joined the team, with some members like Chad not joining the team as they wanted to do other things during their senior year. Chad even gave his spot to Harry personally as Harry proved to be the better sword fighter and to show Harry that he had no hard feelings about Harry dating Audrey.
The end of senior year came with a whirlwind of events. There was a scavenger hunt led by King Ben and Chad ended up being the winner as one of the tasks of the scavenger hunt was to kiss a prince and Chad kissed his hand, while no one else could find a prince, as Ben was a king thus not counting, and Chad won. Instead of being upset that Chad won, everyone congratulated him as he deserved it after what happened to him during the new year. Fairy Godmother hosted a senior's ball and Ben and Mal led everyone in a dancing contest with Carlos and Jane being the winners.
The graduation ceremony came and went smoothly. Mal, Ben, Evie, Doug, Carlos, Jane, Jay, Lonnie, Audrey, Chad, Uma, Harry, and Gil were among the graduating class and were all happy that high school was over. Celia, Dizzy, and the twins were amongst the audience clapping for the seniors. Ben gave the valedictorian speech with Mal at his side. The senior class celebrated well into the night, and of course, songs and dance numbers were a plenty, much to Ben's amusement. Even Mal, now that she had her memories back, realized that this was a strange world indeed for song and dance numbers to be a normal occurrence. Despite the fact that she did them all the time before she was reawakened by the Force.
Lonnie was going to attend university in Sherwood Forest. Jay was debating if he should follow her there as the university was offering a full scholarship for Tourney, or if he should take a gap year so he and Gil could explore the world. He and Lonnie talked about it and Jay decided to go to university in Sherwood Forest with Lonnie and he would go exploring during breaks with Gil.
Carlos was going to college in Auradon in a pre-vet program. Jane was offered to go to a school for fairies as she had fairy blood in her thanks to her mother, but she turned it down so that she could attend college with Carlos. Dude obviously went with them.
Evie debated whether or not she would attend college as her business was going extremely well and she was making enough money for her to finally upgrade for the castle of her dreams. Doug was going to attend college in Auradon and was still going to help with Evie's business with the finances. So Evie compromised by doing a hybrid system, she would take some in person classes and some classes online so that she still had time for her business.
Audrey decided not to go to college as she was nearing the time of her coronation as Queen of Auroria. The same went for Chad as soon he would be crowned king of Cinderellasburg. This was actually the case for a lot of the royals so many of them didn't need to attend college.
Uma chose not to attend college as she was now part of the royal council and the ambassador for the Isle. Plus she said that she wouldn't fit in at college. The same was with Harry. So he either spent time with Uma helping on the council or spent time with Audrey. He was actually trying to work up the nerve and propose to Audrey as he was told about the standard of needing to ask her dad for permission but surprisingly it was Queen Aurora who sat down with Harry one day and gave her blessing for Harry to marry her daughter. Harry was planning to take Audrey out sailing and propose to her out at sea. Gil went ahead and started his travels with Jay around the world and then went out on his own when Jay needed to return to Auradon.
Ben and Mal were finishing up wedding preparations with Evie and Belle during the summer and went on a summer tour to the different kingdoms. Their birthdays fell on a weekend and instead of having a giant ball, since Ben and Mal weren't really fans of them and because their wedding was the very next weekend, they decided to invite a few of their friends to the castle and have a birthday weekend with them. Mal gave Ben a journal where he could practice calligraphy as Ben wanted to start picking up a skill he had in his previous life. Ben gave Mal a beautiful diamond necklace and the diamond was enchanted to change color based on what mood Mal was in. Mal gave Ben a passionate kiss in response and muttered, "I love you Ben." Ben chuckled and said, "I love you Rey."
The day of the wedding arrived. The ceremony was held in the same church that Ben was coronated in. Ben and Mal didn't want a big wedding party so they just had the best man, Doug, and the maid of honor, Evie, up at the altar with them. Ben was decked out in his royal suit and crown. He was excited but nervous as he wanted everything to be perfect and couldn't wait for Mal to finally become his queen. The doors opened and Mal stood there in her purple and white wedding dress, Hades standing next to her, ready to escort her down the aisle. Ben's eyes started to tear up as Mal and Hades walked down the aisle. They reached Ben and Hades gave Mal to him, giving him a "I'm watching you" look before turning away and sitting next to Ben's parents. Fairy Godmother officiated the wedding and placed the Queen's crown on Mal's head as the wedding and coronation were happening at the same time. Ben and Mal could feel each other's emotions through the Force as both felt so happy to finally have this moment happen. Fairy Godmother barely got the final words out before Ben pulled Mal into a passionate kiss in front of the audience, who clapped wildly.
The reception took place in the rose garden at Ben's castle. Ben and Mal arrived later than everyone else and were welcomed with shouts of, "All hail King Ben and Queen Mal!". Ben led Mal onto the dance floor to led her through their first dance as a married couple. Music played in the background as Ben and Mal danced their waltz. Hades stood off at the side next to Adam and Belle. Belle cried a little and said, "Adam, our boy is all grown up. And he found his true love. It's so beautiful." "I agree," Adam said. "Me too," Hades added. "I am just happy that my Rey of sunshine is happy."
"I couldn't agree with you more." The three adults turned and saw Agathe standing next to them. "Don't mind me," Agathe said. "I am just popping in for a little bit. Just wanted to see that my job is complete with Ben and Rey. It seems that the wish is fulfilled. And the couple can finally have their second chance at life." She then chuckled and said, "It seems they are so into each other that they don't notice the obvious." "What obvious?" Adam asked. Agathe pointed to the couple and Adam, Belle, and Hades, along with all the other guests that King Ben and Queen Mal were no longer dancing around, but Ben Solo and Rey. Ben was dressed in an Alderran royal suit and Rey was dressed in a dress someone would have worn in Naboo. They continued their dance, oblivious to everyone around them.
Rey finally noticed and whispered, "I think we subconsciously shifted forms. As now I am seeing your black hair from before." Ben chuckled and whispered, "I wondered why your hair wasn't purple anymore. I'm just so happy that I don't care. You are beautiful, both sides of you." Rey giggled and said, "You are handsome. Both sides of you." Ben then leaned more in and whispered, "I could think of a few things we could do tonight in both forms." Rey blushed at that, but whispered back, "I can too. And I can't wait."
They shifted back into King Ben and Queen Mal and continued to dance as Ben whispered, "So, has your wish been fulfilled? Did we finally get our happily ever after?" Mal nodded and said, "We did. But's not just our happily every after. It's also our happy beginning." Ben smiled as he and Mal danced around the dance floor and they both started to sing, the other guests joining in later on,
(Mal)
Tomorrow is uncertain
Who knows what it will bring?
(Ben)
But one thing is for sure, love
With you I have everything
(Ben and Mal)
A happily ever after
Is the way these stories go
(Mal)
Used to think that's what I wanted
But now I finally know
There's no storm we can't outrun
(Ben)
We will always find the sun
(Ben and Mal)
Leave the past and all its scars
A happy beginning now is ours
We celebrate together
A longtime wish come true
What makes it even better
Today our story starts anew
Let villains cast their curses
We can overcome them all
If we stand strong together
There's no way we can fall
(Everyone)
There's no storm we can't outrun
We will always find the sun
Leave the past and all its scars
A happy beginning now is ours
When we're facing endless night
Take my hand and join the fight
Past the clouds, we'll find the stars
A happy beginning now is ours
There's no storms we can't outrun
We will always find the sun
Leave the past and all its scars
A happy beginning now is ours
When we're facing endless night
Take my hand and join the fight
A happy beginning now is ours
A happy beginning now is ours
Ben and Mal kissed passionately as the guests clapped and cheered for the happy couple. The dyad felt the Force beaming around them and felt the Force spirits whisper their congrats. Ben pulled away and leaned his forehead against Mal's and whispered, "To a happy beginning." Mal whispered back, "To a happily ever after."
