A/N: So here we are. It's been more than six months, but I've absolutely loved every moment I've spent working on this fic. It all started with those little words "we're cursed" back in November, and I honestly can't believe how far this has gone. It's been really really great.

To those lovely people who have left reviews on this story, I honestly can't thank you enough. You all are so kind and wonderful, and the encouragement and enthusiasm that I've gotten from you guys has been amazing. You've all genuinely made this story better, and I'm so incredibly grateful for each and every one of you.

Thank you so much for reading, and please enjoy.

A year to the day that Maveth and his men chased the cavalry back to the palace, the kingdom of King Coulson found itself back in front of the palace for a much happier occasion: the wedding of Prince Leopold Fitz Coulson and his best friend Lady Jemma Simmons.

It had been a whirlwind of a year for everyone. The queen had instantly recovered from her mysterious illness when Jemma, Fitz, and the Cavalry trapped Maveth in the monolith. After remembering Fitz, the king had run through the palace and found his wife out of bed and smiling for the first time in months.

Mack had been reunited with Lady Mackenzie and Lance with Bobbi, and gone were the days of campaigns of indeterminate length off into the far reaches of the kingdom. A significant amount of damage had been inflicted on a few villages, so the first priority after defeating Maveth was helping them rebuild. The King sent the cavalrymen out in smaller groups for only a week or two at a time, making sure that no man was away from his loved ones for too long.

The majority of the cavalry who had been separated from the King's group as Maveth chased them through the countryside returned the following day, having gotten lost and mixed in with Grant's men during the confusion. A cheer went up among them as they discovered that Maveth was gone and that he would never return.

Fitz wanted May and Ladies Weaver, Hill, and Romanoff to be commended for their bravery and their invaluable help in defeating Maveth with the monolith, but May insisted that they had no desire to draw attention to themselves.

"We work best in the shadows," May had said as her fellow soldiers nodded along.

Fitz and the King respected their wishes, but that didn't stop Fitz from spreading a rumor throughout the cavalry that Maveth had only been defeated because of the Cavalry, that elite group led by the woman who had saved the kingdom nearly seventeen years ago. The lore around May grew, and Fitz knew by small smiles that this was perfectly acceptable to May.

Daisy had been shocked by her brother's betrayal, but all their friends were there to help her through it. The excitement of Fitz and Jemma reuniting and promptly getting engaged were enough to distract her for a few days, but as soon as reality began to sink in, Lincoln was waiting to take her hand so they could deal with the consequences together.

With Grant's death, Daisy was now Queen of her kingdom, and Fitz could think of nothing more fitting. She was kind and fair, caring deeply for the needs of her people, and strong and resolute, protecting her kingdom from any threats inside or outside. From the day Fitz had met her, Daisy had given him the impression that she would make an amazing ruler, and Fitz's feeling quickly proved correct. Daisy became one of the most well loved queens in her kingdom's history, and she and King Coulson were able to preserve peace all across the land.

Mack, Lady Mackenzie, and Lincoln accompanied Daisy back to her palace a week after Maveth was defeated to help her settle in and figure out her place as queen. When Mack and Lady Mackenzie returned a month later without Mack's squire, they brought with them an invitation to a wedding: Daisy and Lincoln were to be married in the summer, after Daisy's sixteenth birthday, as soon as proper preparations could be made.

Daisy had wanted a double wedding with Fitz and Jemma, but Daisy was queen now, and she and Lincoln had been engaged for far too long to wait any more time. And so, exactly two years to the day that Daisy and Lincoln had reunited at the banquet, Daisy and Lincoln were married at her palace, surrounded by all their friends and Daisy's entire kingdom.

There was some gossip questioning Queen Daisy's judgment in marrying a common squire, but Daisy didn't pay even the slightest bit of attention. She and Lincoln were destined to be together, and it wasn't long before the entire kingdom realized how blissfully in love the Queen and her fiancé and then husband were. Their story was embellished more and more – their first meeting, their courtship, their reunion – their forbidden love becoming more legend than reality. Children in Daisy's kingdom for decades and even centuries were told stories of their great and mighty Queen who married a humble squire for love and was the happiest woman in all the land.

As for Fitz, the weeks after the curse was lifted were filled with laughter with his friends at how well Fitz had pretended not to know them, gratitude that Fitz had come back to the palace and stayed even when he had lost everything, and arguments over whether or not anyone had actually remembered Fitz at all before the curse was lifted (Fitz knew no one had except Jemma at the last moment and perhaps Dame Isobel who said nothing but had been eerily able to understand Fitz that afternoon in the lab after Jemma and Will had gotten engaged).

Best of all had been Fitz's reunion with his parents.

"I can't believe we forgot you, Leo," the King had said up on the ramparts, hugging his son tightly.

"It's not your fault," Fitz had brushed it off easily. "You let me stay here; you trusted me."

"That's just who you are, Leo," the Queen had said, running her hand through Fitz's hair, her eyes full of tears. "You, my son, are genuine, trustworthy, and resilient. We would be nothing without you, Leo. You saved me."

"I'm so proud of you, son" his father said, squeezing Fitz's shoulder.

"Thank you, Father," Fitz said, standing up straighter and smiling up at his parents.

The King beamed at him for a moment before raising his eyebrows. "So, all this time it's been Jemma?"

Fitz looked down sheepishly. "Who else could it have been?"

The King laughed. "Who else indeed. I can't believe I didn't see it. Your mother tells me it's been going on for quite some time, right under my nose."

"I'm sorry, I-"

But Fitz's apology was interrupted by more laughter from his father. "Oh, Fitz, Jemma is certainly the only girl in the world for you, and I feel quite the fool for never noticing. I'm so glad for both of you, and I give you both all of my blessings."

Fitz had turned to Jemma as his father spoke and found his fiancée listening intently, a brilliant smile lighting up her face. Fitz had taken her hand and pulled her back toward him where both of his parents embraced her and welcomed her to the family.

"As though you weren't part of it already," the Queen said, beaming, as she pressed a kiss to Jemma's forehead.

Fitz hugged Jemma to his side. "I told you my father would be pleased," he whispered, grinning smugly.

Jemma slapped playfully at his arm and kissed his cheek.

A few days after Fitz asked Jemma to marry him on the ramparts, the pair were back working together in the lab by themselves. They really should have been accompanied by a chaperone, but all convention had long been thrown out the window. Jemma was so focused on the experiment she working on, she didn't notice that Fitz moved away from her, but when she finally turned to ask a question, she found Fitz kneeling down, staring up at her holding the ring that his grandfather had given his grandmother. Jemma called him silly and daft for proposing twice but she said yes with the widest of smiles on her face before throwing her arms around him and kissing him deeply.

From time to time, Fitz would catch Jemma thinking about Will and the months she and Fitz were apart. Fitz assured her over and over that he didn't blame her for anything she had said or done. Instead, he told her about how important she had been for those months, how she had given him hope when he had none with a smile or a certain look in her eyes that told Fitz that maybe his Jemma could come back to him. It was difficult, but those horrible months gradually became distant memories, unimportant in comparison to the joy that followed them.

Weeks passed and then months. Buildings were repaired, families healed, the forge was rebuilt. Little by little, things in the kingdom were returning to normal. In August, Fitz turned seventeen, and Jemma followed twenty-three days later. Their friends threw them a joint birthday and engagement party, a small ball for just their friends and families. Fitz was able to dance the whole night with Jemma, and he confessed to her afterwards that he had grown to rather like balls after all.

The official engagement announcement prompted a flurry of questions about the wedding, but Fitz and Jemma had decided that they wanted to wait until spring and hold the ceremony outdoors, which had the additional benefit of giving their parents, and the entire kingdom, time to prepare for the big day. The kingdom, of course, included the group of girls around Fitz and Jemma's age who had attended Daisy's birthday ball and were astounded that Fitz would choose someone as "unaccomplished" as Jemma to be his wife, but the majority of the kingdom found Jemma just as perfect and lovely as Fitz did, and anyone who even spent a few moments with the pair of them knew that they were destined to be together. It was true love, after all.

The ceremony was beautiful. Jemma, in a flowing gown with a train fit for a future queen, clutching a bouquet of wildflowers from the field behind the palace, was escorted down the aisle by a beaming Sir John and was given away to a Fitz who couldn't take his eyes off her.

And as they kissed for the first time as man and wife, a cheer came up from the crowd. Fitz and Jemma looked out at all the important people in their lives – their parents, Mack and Lady Mackenzie, Bobbi and Lance, Daisy and Lincoln, Dame Isobel – all of them smiling up at Fitz and Jemma, and they couldn't help but smile too. It had been a long road, but they both knew it was more than worth it.

"I love you so much, Jemma," Fitz said later as the pair stood alone on the ramparts overlooking the crowd, the sun setting in the distance, Fitz's arm around his wife.

"I love you too, Fitz," Jemma replied, sighing contentedly. "It's odd to think this all began with a curse."

Fitz raised his eyebrows. "I don't think I'd say it began with a curse exactly," he said pensively. "We were destined to be together, curse or no curse. It's true love, Jemma."

Jemma laughed and shook her head, pressing a kiss to Fitz's jawline. "You make it sound as though we're in some sort of fairytale."

Fitz smiled down at her. "I don't know. This certainly feels like a happily ever after."

And as Jemma tilted her head up to capture his lips with hers, Fitz knew that it was.

A/N: Reviews are incredibly appreciated. Thank you so much for reading. You guys are the best.