Very important author's notice at the end of this chapter, please read it.

The five VKs and two AKs existed the Limo after they parked it outside the campus grounds. They walked on the grass in awkward silence.

"I'll bring these swords back to the gym" Lonnie said as she walked off.

Ben tried to talk to Mal, but she kept brushing him off. Jane came up to Ben with usual cheer.

"Ben. There you are. The cotillion tonight" She called "Look, this is the stained-glass window for Mal. Isn't it beautiful, she's going to love it" Jane whispered.

Ben leaned to Mal. "Do you want to cancel?" He said.

"You know what I can come back" Jane said then tried to turn around.

"No, it's fine" Ben said to her. Then went back to Mal "Do whatever you need to do" He said then walked off with Jane.

"We need to talk" Evie said as he took Mal and walked to their room.

"No" A voice called from behind them.

They turned around to see Carlos looking at them sternly, while Hugh and Jay looked at him just as confused as the girls.

"No?" Evie asked confused.

"You guys are always going off in a huddle, whispering your girl talk or whatever. And Jay, Hugh and I are sick of it" Carlos said.

"I'm not" Jay blurted out.

"I kinda am" Hugh said.

Carlos continued, "We're your family too, we've been through a lot, together, we're not stopping that now. Everyone sit"

With that he sat down and his four friends did the same, the snow haired boys words got to them. Carlos just looked at them sheepishly.

"I don't know how to start girl talk" He said

Jay shrugged, "What up?"

Everyone let out a faint laugh at Jay. Everyone but Mal, who finally spoke.

"Well, I'm a mess, I'm such a mess" She sighed. Her voice began to break and eyes watered "I mean, six months ago, I was, you know, I was stealing candy from babies. But now everyone wants me to be this lady of the court and I have no idea how to keep up the act"

"Then don't" Carlos said.

"See? This was dumb" Jay said and tried to get up, but Evie stopped him.

"No it wasn't" she said then held Mal's hand "We're always gonna be the kids from the Isle. I tried to forget it, I really did, but those are our root. And we all did what we had to do to survive. It made us who we are. We're never gonna be like anyone else here, and that's okay. That's okay" Her voice becoming fainter as she tried to hold back some tears.

"And we really can't fake it" Jay agreed.

"And we'll always support each other, no matter what. Like a family" Hugh said, the word family had been ringing in his head since Carlos said it. "I've always been debating whether or not I should call Harry my family or not, I mean my real family. But, I've realized, he's the family I was put with. But you are all the family I choose, the ones I love. The ones who make me, me. We will stay together; always" Hugh smiled a smile of pure bliss.

"Yeah, but Ben.." Mal said before she was cut off by Carlos

"Mal, if Ben doesn't like you for you, then he is not the one. Give him a chance" He said.

"I'm gonna make some changes to your dress, and if you're up to it – only if you're. It will be waiting for you, okay" Evie said

Mal nods, and the five joined in, in a group hug, tears dripping on each other. The other four decided it would be best to give Mal a bit of room after the talk. Before he left, Jay stopped.

"Come to cotillion tonight, alright? If Ben isn't smart enough to love you, and you can't stand another day, I'll drive you back to the Isle myself" He said in serious support, a rarity for Jay. Then gave Mal a reassuring smile and left her to think, and think she did.

When the VKs arrived back in Auradon it was still early in the morning, so they decided to go about there normal day like nothing happened, so they don't arouse suspicion of going back to the Isle. Hugh had put back his sword in his room, then looked at the clock. It was half past one, he always met Melody at this time. He jogged out of his room to the common area where Melody would be waiting for him. When he saw her, he started calling her name again and again the closer he got. Melody turned to him and was confused at the expression on his face, it was a mix of love, determination and a flick of worry.

"Are you alright Hugh?" Melody asked getting up from her seat.

Hugh stood in front of her and looked into her eyes. "Okay, so it's pretty obvious I haven't been honest with you, so let me say it all now" He spoke quickly. "I fought in fighting pits since I was like seven. I've nearly killed people because of it, I might have once or twice. I have an older brother named Harry, we had a falling out, he attacked me, and made a pillar fall on my arm. Then I made the metal arm, and got even better at fighting, so I hurt more people" Hugh continued to confess all his past wrongdoings almost on the one breath, only stopping when Melody placed her hands on his cheeks.

"Hugh, in the nicest way possible, I don't care" she said.

Hugh looked at her confused and afraid.

"It doesn't matter what you did or what happened in the past. Yeah it's good to know how you lost your arm, which is awful but, the past Hugh isn't the one I meet. The Hugh I met was the one who saved me from a shark, the boy who showed me his happy smile shinier than his metal arm. That's the Hugh I fell in love with" She said

"Love?" Hugh asked in joyful disbelief.

"Yes, Love"

"Well I love you too. I can say that now. The son of the greatest pirate to ever live, with only one arm because of his dysfunctional family loves the princess of Atlantica. I love you. I don't just want to tell you it, I want to scream it at the sun and the stars" Hugh said unable to stop smiling, while he felt lighter than air.

"Well you can start by saying it again at the cotillion"

The two looked at each other with the same looks. Then they both leaned in, and shared a passionate, kiss, they felt like fireworks were going off in their stomachs, and it was wonderful.

Jay was the last to get back his dorm after fencing practice. He saw Hugh and Carlos sharing a laugh.

"What?" Jay asked.

"When I got back to the room, I saw Chad in here on the phone" Carlos said. "It was Audrey, and now he's going to Sherwood forest to help her. He's going to miss the cotillion" Carlos' sentence slowly turned into a warm laugh, a laugh all three boys shared.

"Come on and we'll get changed for the thing" Hugh said.

The boys began to get into the outfits Evie made for them.

"Jay, you still going to dance with every girl there?" Hugh asked.

"No, I'm just going to dance with Lonnie" Jay smiled warmly.

Hugh and Carlos smirked similarly and shared a glance at each other.

"Oh quit it. I'm the one who makes jokes about dates and stuff" Jay quipped back. "What about you Carlos? You going with Jane?"

"Yup" Carlos said ecstatic. "I finally did it. I couldn't be happier man"

Jay and Hugh made over exaggerated joyful looks. Carlos laughed at their faces.

"Oh. They grow up so fast" Hugh said trying to hold in his laugh, but couldn't hold it in very long.

"You're going with Melody aren't you?" Carlos asked Hugh.

"Yeah. But it's gonna be different, for good reason though" Hugh answered then paused. "We even kissed like an hour ago"

"Wow. Congratulations" Carlos said, then gave Hugh a quick side-hug.

"Thanks" Hugh said and hugged back

"This is crazy" Jay said through a laugh that came out of nowhere. "I mean look at us, the son's of villains dating princess's and fairy's. Anything really is possible"

The boys all smiled in agreement.

"Mal and Evie aren't the only ones who can find love" Carlos said

"Yeah. Yeah they're not" Hugh smiled thinking about Melody, but then he remembered something important.

"But, remember lads, Mal's relationship is kind of on the rocks, so I know we want too dance with the girls, but we need to be there for Mal. Family comes first" He said.

Jay and Carlos agreed. The three VKs finished getting changed. Wearing their formal attire with still some remnants of Isle still, each wore their respective color. They walked to the dock where the cotillion was being held on the royal cotillon.

Hugh and Melody walked past all the paparazzi, taking picture of all the royals and their dates, and walked onto the deck of the royal yacht. Hugh saw Evie looking out into the sea.

"Evie, you look great" He said as he walked over to her.

"Yeah I know" She joked. "I saw you and Melody together, I guys seriously look so cute" She said very positively.

"Thanks. I saw you and Doug, where is he by the way?"

"Oh, he just went to get some drinks. What about Melody?"

"She went to take some group pictures with all her cousins"

Almost as soon as Hugh stopped talking, trumpets started playing. Hugh, and Evie walked up to the front of the crowd standing near the foot of the staircase, here they rejoined their dates, and found Jay and Carlos. At the top of the stairs stood Lumiere who cleared his throat.

"The future lady Mal" He stepped to the side to reveal Mal, looking as wonderful.

Her four best friends were the first to start clapping and cheering for her. She smiled at her friends and walked down the stairs to them.

"How are you feeling?" Evie asked

"Like I'm going to throw up" Mal said and let out a soft laugh

"That's okay. We're right here with you okay" Evie said as the Hugh, Jay and Carlos stood behind her.

Mal warmly smiled. Then the trumpets were played again.

"King Benjamin" Lumiere said then moved to the side to let Ben walk down the stairs. The crowd cheered for him and bowed, but he had a grave look on his face.

"Go get him" Evie whispered to Mal, and Mal did just that, with a smile of delight.

"Mal., I wish I had time to explain" Ben said grievously.

Then the trumpets rang a third time, everyone looked up at the stairs confused. Then saw a girl with a teal dress, decorated in seashells and her dreadlocks tied into a bun. Uma smiled from the top of the stairs at all the confused witnesses, mouths agape and eyes wide. Ben walked towards her, held her hand and walked her down the remaining stairs as he smiled looking at her. They reached the main deck and stood in front of the crowd. Ben took Uma's hand and kissed her ring, the same ring Mal gave back to Ben when they separated. The couple walked to Mal still holding hands.

"I'm sorry It all happened so fast. Something happened to me when I was on the Isle with Uma. A connection" Ben said then turned to smile sweetly at Uma.

Mal's mouth twitched, she tried to speak but no words left her mouth, except for one word. "What?"

"It was love" Uma said thrilled. "I just. I just realized how alike Ben and I are"

"Yeah we are" Ben giggled, and Uma laughed back.

"You're so beautiful" Ben said to Uma as if they were in their own special world.

"Did you go back for her?" Mal's voice cracked.

"He didn't have to. I dove through the barrier before it closed, and I'm an excellent swimmer" Uma shrugged.

"Yeah you are" Ben complimented.

Uma walked closer to Mal and held her hand, Mal recoiled when she took her hand. "Listen Mal. I just really want to thank you, for everything. I do" She smiled slightly, then embraced Mal in a hug. Mal didn't move, she just continued to breath sharply.

Hugh stepped closer to Ben and whispered to him through his gritted teeth "How could you?. You're lucky you're the king, or I wouldn't be the only one who needs a metal arm"

Ben ignored Hugh, and stepped to Mal. "Don't you see Mal? You knew that we weren't meant to be together. That's why you never said you loved me"

Uma and Ben held each other and began the traditional ballroom dance between the king and his lady. Mal looked at them, her vision became blurry as her eyes watered.

"Not too thrilled I risked my life for him" Carlos said loudly.

"We're with you Mal" Evie said as she wrapped her arm around her friend.

"Come on. Let's get out of here" Jay said.

Mal's friends all helped her leave, she stumbled as she walked. Jane raced up the stairs to get to Lumiere.

"Lumiere, unveil the gift, they need to see it"

Lumiere nodded and signaled for the two men standing next to a large object covered by a blanket. The men took off the blanket and showed Ben's gift. It was a stained-glass portrait of Mal and Ben. Ben was kneeling to Mal, while Mal looked contempt and happy, an image no one had seen in a long time, Mal looked like her old self but with mixes of her new self. Everyone looked at it in awe. Ben walked closer to it, his expression confused.

"Ben did that?" Mal smiled.

"Yeah" Evie said.

Mal's sorrowful tears, changed to ones of love. She walked towards Ben.

"Ben knew who I was all along"

"He loves the real you, Mal" Evie said

"A true love" Mal said faintly.

"Told you" Carlos spoke light heartedly.

"Cover that back up" Uma demanded.

"I will not" Lumiere said strongly.

Uma began to swift her eye around the deck, seeing everyone staring at her. "Why don't you tell everyone you're gift for me Ben" Uma said through a blatantly fake smile.

"I have an announcement" Ben said blankly "Uma will be joining the court tonight as my lady"

"Son" Beast said.

"Not now Dad!" Ben shouted like a feral dog, shocking everyone "So as my gift to her I'm taking the barrier down for good" Everyone gasped and murmured amongst each other. "Fairy godmother, bring the barrier down"

"I most certainly will not"

"I am your king, obey him" Ben snarled.

"Obey him" Uma warned.

"Ben's been spelled" Mal said to herself.

"Ben" Mal walked to him. "look at me"

"no look at me, you love me remember" Uma retorted.

"No you don't. Ben I never told you I loved you because I thought I wasn't good enough. And I thought it was only a matter of time before you realized that yourself" she pointed to the portrait "But, Ben that's me, I'm part Isle and part Auradon"

"Ben eyes over here" Uma scowled

"And Ben, you've always known who we were and who we can be. Ben I know what love feels like now. Ben of course I love you. I've always loved you" Mal pulled Ben close and kissed him with a warm, sweet embrace. In that moment, she left the world disappear and was just left with Ben, it was perfect.

"True loves kiss. Works every time" Evie smirked.

Ben stopped kissing Mal and looked deep into her eyes "Mal" he said, sounding more like his old self.

Uma's eyes darted around the room, she breathed heavily and bit her lip. "Give me that" She leaped at the wand.

"Guards seize her" Fairy godmother said as she stepped back.

Uma ran over to the railing of the ship, and stood atop it, over looking the sea.

"Uma don't" Mal rushed over to her, as all the people on the deck surrounded Uma.

"Uma I know you. You are so much more than just a villain, and you have to believe me because I've been there. Do not let your pride get in the way of something that you really want" Mal said with seriousness in her voice.

Uma's seashell neckless glowed a bright gold. She looked at it then smirked and leaped into the sea. Everyone rushed to the railing to try and spot her.

The water began to slowly swirl and rise, then pick up speed, forming a towering, swirling pillar of water. Then the pillar exploded, throwing water down onto the deck soaking all those on it and knocking a few over. The witnesses on the deck looked up and saw a colossal Uma, the size of a two-story house, in the form of a half woman, half octopus hybrid. Like her mother all those years ago.

"True loves kiss won't defeat this" Uma cackled. "The world will know my name!"

Uma swung one of her tentacles at the ship, narrowly missing most people, but one or two unlucky princes got hit. Mal began to breath heavily, she walked away from the group to an open space. Her eyes opened wider showing the glowing emerald color in her eyes as she looked at Uma, who merely taunted her. Mal's eyes glowed even brighter, and shockingly she was slowly surrounded by purple smoke. The smoke cloud became bigger, as big as the water pillar Uma created. The smoke began to clear, and a dragon's roar could be heard. A purple dragon flew from the smoke, hovered over the water and shot a fireball at Uma. Uma dodged and countered by striking back with her tentacle. The dragon, and the octopus fought, ruthlessly, their fight shock the ship side to side, sending everyone aboard sliding across the deck. Hugh helped his fellow VKs up, they shared a look and knew what they need to do. Hugh ran to the quarterdeck of the ship, when he reached to helm he saw the captain knocked out. Hugh grabbed the helm and fought the waves to steer the ship. While he did this, Evie grabbed any banners, ropes or table cloths she could get.

"Everyone take one, and tie yourself to the ship, you won't fall overboard" Eve shouted.

Jay ran to the guards on the ship who aimed weapons at Uma, some even aimed them at Mal.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jay exclaimed.

"They're monsters, we're doing our job" A guard said.

"That's Mal, just because she's a dragon doesn't mean you need to slay her like one" Jay said as he took the weapons from the guards. "And I know what you're thinking of doing to Uma, I don't care if she's a villain, if you do anything to her, you'll have me to deal with"

Carlos ran to anyone he could find who were pinned by knocked over tables or decorations. He grabbed a large table that pinned three people. He grabbed it and struggled to lift it, he grunted but only lifted it a few inches off the ground. He looked at the scared faces of the pinned. and took a deep breath. With a sudden yank, the table was lifted off the people.

"I can see why Hugh puts his anger into heavy lifting" Carlos said to himself.

As Uma and Mal continued to fight, Ben watched in horror. Ben's head twitched and shifted. He let out a beastly roar in queue with the thunder. He threw off hos blazer and dove into the ocean. He sawm in between Mal and Uma. Hugh tried to turn back the ship to reach him but if he did he would hit Ben.

"Mal, Uma stop" He yelled

Uma laughed "What are you going to do Ben, splash me?" She said with sarcasm.

"This has to stop. This isn't the way, the fighting must stop, nobody wins this way" Ben said with obvious desperation in his voice. "We have to listen and respect each other. It won't be easy, but we have to be brave enough to try. Uma I know you want what's best for the Isle. Help me make a difference" He said as he extended his hand to Uma.

Uma frowned and averted his eyes. She reached out her tentacle and gave the ring back to Ben. She didn't look at anyone's face as she turned and sawm away. Ben frowned and sighed. He reluctantly swam back to the ship, where they let down a rope ladder and he got back on board. Everyone cheered that Ben was alright.

The dragon hovered over the ship and surrounded itself in purple smoke. The cloud shrunk and lowered itself to the deck. The smoke cleared and there stood Mal. Now her gown changed to Mal's favorite and iconic shade of purple, she looked just like her portrait, half Isle, half Auradon. She smiled and enormous smile when she looked at Ben, she bowed to him and he did the same, then they laughed.

Evie ran to her friend and hugged her. "So I did not know I could do that" Mal giggled.

"Me neither" Evie giggled back.

Evie noticed a few embers on Mal's dress and quickly blew it out.

"Shall we" Evie said in a fake posh voice as she raised her hand to shoulder level.

"We shall" Mal said in the same fake posh voice and took her hand.

Evie walked Mal to Ben. When they reached each other, Ben pulled Mal in and kissed her.

"Alright, take it easy" Carlos joked.

Everyone laughed. "I owe you guys so much" Ben said to the five VKs

The VKs all said different forms of "Yeah" and "You really do".

Ben laughed" If there is anything, I can do for you…." Ben said

"Actually, there is" Evie said before Ben finished. "I know a girl who would really love to come to Auradon. It's Drizella's daughter Dizzy. She's like a little sister to me"

"Than she should come" Ben said caringly.

Evie's face light up, "Okay" Evie laughed and squealed.

"Actually" Evie suddenly said "There's a lot of kids who would really love it in Auradon. Kids like us who deserve a second chance. Can I, maybe get you a list" She smiled hopefully.

"Yes! Yes, absolutely, please" Ben said. Everyone clapped at his answer.

"Ben, can I ask something" Hugh said then bit his lip.

"Of course"

"Well, you've meet my brother and I was wondering, if maybe you could get some surveillance on him, or see what he's up t every now and then?" Hugh asked then stepped back slightly and moved his head to the side.

"Definitely" Ben smiled.

Hugh smiled wide and let out a quiet noise of glee. "What, are you going to see where he is so you can attack him?" Jay joked.

"No, I want to see if he's alright" Hugh said as he nodded to himself, realizing what he said was true.

A guard walked up to Mal. "Lady Mal we found this below deck" He said as he handed her, her spell book.

"Uma had it. You know what, this would look great in the museum" She smiled at Evie who smiled back. "Fairy godmother" she called.

Fairy godmother ran up to her, "Yes. Of course. I will definitely take that"

"I'm not gonna be needing it anymore" Mal said.

Ben and Mal looked at each other as if no one else was around. Ben leaned in for a kiss, but Mal kicked the water surrounding their feet and splashed Ben. Ben chuckled and splashed back.

Everyone attending the cotillion danced and sang for the rest of the night, using the water covering the deck to splash one another. They all danced with the people they love, Mal with Ben, Evie with Doug, Jay with Lonnie, Carlos with Jane, and Hugh with Melody. They enjoyed the company of their loves, friends, and family. They were going to be making a new future, but it wouldn't be easy. It would be deadly.

Okay I hate to say this but this will be the end of this story for a while. As you have probably noticed it took me a very long time to get these two chapter out, that's because school and life has been very busy so I have basically no time to write. This isn't the end of this story, I will continue it into descendants 3 but it will take a while. In the mean time until I have more time to focus on this story I think I will write a few one-shots including Hugh, if you'd like to see that please let me know. I was also considering making an original story set in between Descendants 2 and Descendants 3 set in the AU with Hugh as a core VK, so please also let me know if you'd like to see that. Now until I upload again, please, please, please leave a review, not just on this chapter, but on what you thought of the story as a whole so far, what you thought as Hugh as a character and the last two chapter as I have put the most time and effort into them, don't be afraid to be critical. If you don't leave a review that's fine, I'm not trying to pressure you into reviewing, but the reviews genuinely make my day and make me feel wonderful, the reviews also give me more motivation to write. So I'll leave it here for now, but don't worry I will be back, so don't try and miss me too much (lol)