AN: So apparently I uploaded wrong... Disregard the chapter that was here if you've already read this. I have no idea what happened but I was probably being stupid since I uploaded right before I left for my sister's soccer game. My apologies!

So anyway! This is looking to be the last chapter. Thank you guys for all your reads and reviews! Be sure and tell me how you liked the end :D

The marriage took place not a week later. Matthew and Gillian said they would love each other through sickness and health, and the whole kingdom cheered, and there was a grand party, just as is expected of any royal wedding—no matter that a few scant days ago, the whole kingdom had been living in fear of the very man they wished every happiness to now. Even the queen had ceased to think of Matthew as an abomination the moment she laid eyes on his now-human face.

Gillian had learned to keep her hands to herself over the last few days—after the queen had made it perfectly clear that it was disgraceful for a princess to act in such a manner in public—in private was another matter altogether, apparently—so she had not made Matthew feel odd since the night he became human. Alfred had promised to explain that after the wedding, and Matthew was looking forward to understanding. Human emotions were harder to control and comprehend than those of a lindorm. A cold-blooded creature could not feel as keenly as a person, even if he had a person buried inside him underneath a few layers of scales. Gillian made him feel more than anybody else, and that—among everything else about her—was why he loved her. She had made him human, in more ways than one.

She was snuggled under his arm now, as they watched the after-wedding ball from a dais set with four thrones. Alfred and their mother occupied the other two, watching the festivities with satisfaction. After a moment, Alfred stood and announced that, now that he was able to find a wife, he was going to ask someone to dance. Soon he was twirling around a raven-haired beauty with deep brown eyes, laughing away as she blushed.

An unexpected visitor turned up not long after—the soothsayer. He bowed on one knee with a fist to the floor. His blond hair was now shot with gray, but his green eyes were as fiery as ever. "My congratulations, Majesties."

Gillian rose from under Matthew's arm and threw herself down the steps of the dais and into the soothsayer's arms. "Thank you," she said fervently. "We owe all of this to you. A thousand times, thank you."

Matthew rose and offered his thanks as well. "It really is you to whom we owe our happiness. You have my thanks."

Kirkland smiled. "You flatter me, Majesties."

Francine rose as well, but she was a thunderhead. "You lied to me," she snapped. "You told me if I ate two onions, I would give birth to twin boys! Not a boy and a monster!"

Gillian had murder in her eyes when she stood, but Matthew forestalled her with a hand to her forearm. He hoped to convey with his eyes his thoughts—not having his telepathy anymore was inconvenient at times. His mother would never truly understand what he had gone through; even if she loved the man he was now, she would never accept the monster he had been.

His new wife calmed at his touch, and wound her fingers through his. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too." He blushed slightly, and she laughed.

Meanwhile, Kirkland lifted his gaze insolently to the queen's, making her color at his effrontery. "You would have, Your Highness—" he managed to make her title seem an insult "—had you simply peeled both of the onions."

For once, the queen was speechless. The soothsayer murmured his congratulations to the new royal couple once more, and vanished into the crowd.

Matthew mounted the dais again, tugging Gillian along behind. "Do not let him make you feel bad, Mother," he said soothingly. "If I had never been a lindorm, I never would have met Gillian." He smiled down at his beautiful wife. She had been right, though—she really was prettier naked. Maybe she would take off her dress for him again later.

To his shock, tears gathered at the edge of Gillian's brilliant ruby-red eyes. Matthew did not have much experience with crying, but Alfred had told him that it was something humans did when they were sad. "What did I say?" he yelped in horror, swiping at her tears with his thumb. "Please, do not cry!"

Unexpectedly, she kissed him, silencing his babbling consolation. He could see heaven when their lips met, a happiness he had never dreamed of. One well worth living through twenty years as a lindorm for.

"Yes," she said when she pulled back. "And that was worth it all."

AN: And they lived happily ever after~

This fic was the first in a series. I'm going to be writing fanfics based on fairy tales! The next is going to be a GerIta version of The Little Mermaid, so keep an eye out for that! Thanks so much for all the love, everyone, and all of you get virtual pasta for sticking with me to the end! *Italy hands out pasta to everyone, Ve~ing as he does*

Italy: Ve~! Be sure and read about me and Germany next, okay?

Me: But you'll be a girl.

Italy: *poofs into fem! form* Say wha? Why do I have to be a girl?

Me: Ariel's a girl! Duh!

Italy: Oh…

Me: But look on the bright side, now I can write you all romantically with Germany since I don't write yaoi!

Italy: Yay~!