Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Epilogue - Penguin
Author's Note: If you are reading this from a computer, I strongly suggest opening another tab and playing "Penguin" by Christina Perri. I listened to that over and over again while writing this. But if you're reading this from a phone or iPod, hopefully you know the song. Enjoy! :)
Love like this may come once,
baby it's fate,
like a soul mate,
he's your penguin,
baby it's fate, baby it's fate,
not luck...
Mason smiled proudly as his beautiful daughter froliced gracefully down the isle. She wore a ruffly white knee length dress that gave her a tutu-like skirt, paired with shiny silver cowgirl boots, her choice of course. Two soft pink flowers were braided into her dark curly hair. Her eyes were shinning. She whispered a soft spell as she gently threw the yellow and magenta rose petals out of the basket, magically making them sparkle and twirl gracefully before hitting the ground. Mason chuckled. On an ordinary occasion, they wouldn't have allowed her to use magic without permission; Alex was surprisingly pretty strict about Leah's powers. But this was no ordinary occasion. In fact, it was a very special occasion.
All eyes turned to the back. Mason's heart skipped a beat. There she was. The most most beautiful, wonderful, magical girl he had ever laid eyes on. His Alex.
Esscorted by her teary-eyed father, Alex smiled modestly as everyone before her gasped. She wore a soft shimery white dress that flowed to the floor liked a princess in a children's story book. The bottom hem was coated in different colored paint splatter, custom made by Harper. It was her best friend's wedding, after all; it had to be Alex-ized.
Not wanting a repeat of the day before's wedding rehearsal trip, she gently raised the bottom of her dress, revealing her while rinestone studded converse. Typical Alex. Her hair was mostly down and curled, but the top layer was french braided, similar to Leah's. But instead of flowers, a small shiney tiara was rested in front of the braid. She wasn't all up for that idea, but with Harper and Theresa's persuasion, it tied the whole thing together. Alex was absolutely stunning.
She made her way down the isle, the entire audience gapping and dropping their jaws at her beauty. She looked up at her Jerry, who was smiling with a single tear sliding down his cheek. He kissed the top of her forehead and released her hand as she faced Mason. They entertwined their fingers and smiled like the same lovestruck teens they were before. She looked behind her where her bridesmaids (Hannah and Hailey, with Harper as the maid of honor) were standing. Leah stood holding Harper's hand, smiling proudly at her mother. Behind Mason was Bastian and Max as his groomsmen, and Justin, very honored to be the best man. None of this would've been possible without him, after all. Ink stood next to Justin, holding a white pillow with two rings.
Chancellor Rootie Tootietootie flipped open a tiny booklet. "We are gathered here today," he read monotonously, "To witness the renewed vows of Mason Edmund Greyback and Alexandra Margarita Russo-"
"Greybeck!" Everyone from the audience to the wedding party yelled at him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting to that!" He scoffed, then muttered, "No need to get your panties in a wad. Anyhoo," he flipped a couple of pages. "Okay, here we go. Do you, Alex take Mason to be your lawful wedded husband, for better or worse, in sickness and in health," His voiced trailed off in Alex's mind. She smiled happily, a single tear escaping her eye. She couldn't help it. All the bad stuff was over now. Her family was finally free.
"...til death do you part?..Again?"
She smiled up into the eyes of her true love. "I do." she said softly.
"Mason, do you take Alex to be-"
"I do." he interrupted, smiling at her. She laughed as Rootie rolled his eyes.
He slammed the book shut. "Alrighty then, I now pronounce you man-wolf and wife-wizard. You may kiss the bride."
Mason smiled. He pulled Alex close and pressed his lips against hers, making the audience whoop and holler.
"Blehh," Leah gagged, covering her eyes. Ink agreed with a "Gross! Ughh!" after sheilding himself. Professor Crumbs, seated in the front row, chuckled at thr kids. He snapped his fingers. A sparkly explosion of fireworks shot into the sky, letting glittery dust fall upon the couple. They broke the kiss and looked into the sky, instantly starting to laugh. Leah squealed with delight clashed in between her parents. Alex laughed and lifted her onto her hip, planting a kiss on her cheek. Mason wrapped his arms around his family as they looked up at the exploding display in the sky.
Not long after, everyone made their way to the food. One table was full of crumpets, cressants, scones, various fruits, and other traditional British food. The other side was loaded with pickles, candy, buscuits, and "loose corn". It was very obvious who decided on what, but the main focus was on the beautiful five layer cake. The icing was a smooth white with yellow, pink, and blue flowers on every layer. It also had faint silver glitter and two penguins holding hands as the topper. The cake was spontainious and random, which fitted perfectly with their relationship.
As Mason and Alex were getting ready to cut the cake, a loud crash came from behind them. Everyone froze.
"Yeah that's right! You better run, Ignatius Keaton!" Leah laughed loudly. Ink dashes across the yard and ducked behind a table, followed by Leah chucking biscuits in his direction.
"Leah Nicole!" Mason called, grabbing her by the waist to keep her from running. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"He threw a cupcake at me!" She exclaimed, guesturing to the blue icing on her cheek and neck. A devilish smirk grew on Alex's face. Evil plan commencing in five..four..three..two..
"That doesn't mean-" he scolded.
"Oh, Mason?" Alex interrupted. He turned to answer, but ended up with a fist full of cake smacked into the side of his face. The guests gasped.
Alex clapped her icing coated hands and let out her mocking snicker. Mason laughed casually, digging his hand into the bottom layer and attempting to throw some back at her. She ducked, sending the cake flying into the back of Harper's head. Alex covered her dropped jaw and watched her her best friend dart her eyes. Harper picked up the large serving spoon of corn and flung it in a random direction, landing in the middle of Justin's shirt. Everyone dashed to the food tables.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Alex and Mason cried loudly. Desserts and icing flew in all directions, along with everyone shrieking and laughing. Alex snickered, flinging a pickle into the side of Max's face. It was better than in the movies! She took Mason's hands and leaned in for a kiss. He dodged her by turning his head at the last second, coating her mouth and nose in the icing she had thrown at him to start the war. All she could do was laugh.
"Ladies! Over here!" Theresa called while everyone finnished cleaning themselves up. It was helpful that most of the guests were wizards. Mortals, werewolves, and former wizards: not so much.
"It's time for Alex to throw the boquet!" she continued, guesturing all the girls towards her daughter. Max flashed her a serious glance. Alex gave him a wink, remembering the discussion the had earlier. She turned her back to everyone, closed her eyes, and tossed the boquet into the air. She quickly jerked her want out of the straps of her dress ans zapped the flowers. Harper dove for them, but they zoomed right past her and landed right in Hailey's unexpecting arms. She blushed.
"Rats." Harper muttered, snapping her fingers as she stood back next to Justin. He smiled softly and didn't even hesitate to reach for her hand. Her eyes widened with shock. She gave him a beaming smile, heart pounding inside her chest.
Still surprised by the boquet incident, Hailey felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to face Max.
"Can I ask you something?" he begged seriously.
"Uh, sure Max." She replied equally as nervous. The boquet fell to the ground as Max got down on one knee.
"Hailey Oliver, from the moment I met you I knew you were special. You saw through all my clueless moments and ignored all of my weird smells. I never in a million years would've thought I would have someone like you one day sometime, if that makes any sense." He nervously opened a tiny blue box, revealing a diamond ring.
"I-I'm not very good at these kinds of things, but, Hailey will you marry me?"
Tears welled up in her eyes. She was speechless. Well, except for three words.
"Yes, you goob!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. The crowd around them aplauded. He lifted her off the ground and spun her in the air.
Caught up in the sweet Hallmark moment, Alex snapped back to Earth when she also felt a light tap on her shoulder.
"May I have this dance, love?" Mason asked, offering her his hand.
She smiled. "Why of course you may," she replied, mimmicking his accent playfully. She curtsied dramatically as he lead her to the dance floor.
Can you find the time
to let your lover love you?
He only wants to show you,
the things he wants to learn to,
the hardest parts, you'll get through,
and in the end,
you'll have your best friend...
"This song's about penguins!" Leah exclaimed. Alex glanced behind her to find the peas in a pod playing by the speakers.
"Are you my penguin?" Ink asked with a laugh.
"Only if you're my penguin!" Leah laughed, obviously neither of them understood the meaning of the song.
"Remember what you told me about penguins?" Mason asked Alex, snapping her out of her focus on the kids.
"They stay together for the rest of their lives, like soulmates," she smiled. She glanced at the duo, who were waddling around the dance floor, squawking their best penguin impressions. It took her a minute to put two and two together. "Oh my goodness, Mason!" she exclaimed with laughter.
Professor Crumbs walked over to the children. "Leah, I have something for you." he told her. He pulled something shimmery out of his robe and handed it to her. Her eyes lit up as Alex gasped.
She wiped her eyes, "My baby has her first wand." she breathed. She watched as Leah excitedly waved the silver wand around in all directions.
"You really did it this time, love." Mason smiled.
She gave him a quizzical glance. "What do you mean?"
"Look around you. Everything here today is possible because of you. Because you never gave up on us. Our family is safe and our daughter is happy. Justin may have given you his powers, but if it wasn't for your determination and belief in true love, it wouldn't have happened. It's all thanks to you." He kissed the top of her head. "You're amazing, Alexandra."
She dramatically flipped her hair. "Well saving the world not, not twice, but three times might have helped with the 'anything's possible' statement," she laughed. "But I think you and Leah might have had something to do with it."
He glanced into her eyes, getting lost in the dark brown sea. "You definitly saved my world." He smiled.
"You big cheeseball," she laughed and rested her head on his shoulder as they swayed to the music.
Love like this, is all I want,
Baby we're fate,
Love like this may come once,
Baby we're fate,
Like a soulmate,
You're my penguin,
Baby we're fate...
Leah dashed to her parent's side.
"Look what Professor Crumbs gave me!" she squealed, proudly displaying her glittering silver wand. Alex glanced at Crumbs. He smiled and winked.
"Here, honey," Alex smiled. "Try this." She slipped the wand into Leah's white cowgirl boot, smiling at the memories. Mason swung her onto his hip, wrapping his arms around both of them.
"I love you guys," Leah smiled, resting her head on Mason's shoulder.
...baby it's fate, not luck.
The End.
Aw, did anyone else get a warm fuzzy feeling during this one? I sure did! Well..all good things must come to an end. But, good things come to those who wait. Meaning, yes. I will most likely be doing the sequel. Like I said, you'll have to wait a bit. But I think you might like it. :)
Thank you guys so much. All of your feedback really pushed me to actually finnish this. Did you know that this is the second story I've ever finnished in my whole life? The first was in third grade. It sucked eggs. But especially to those who have stuck with me since before the double-digit chapters. Witnessing the changes of my writing style, toughing it out through my long harsh writer's block moments, and reminding me to update when I forgot completely about it. Thank you so much. This may be just some fanfic to some of you, but it's more to me. It proved that I am a good writer and I can complete a story. This is like a whole chapter of my life that took nearly a year to complete. And who knows? Maybe in a few years, you'll see me again, only with my name on the cover of a bestseller. Only time will tell.
And if any of you want to have a little fun before I get around to posting a preview of the sequel, leave me any questions about the story, inspiration, writing, anything that you want to know, and I'll post a Q & A. (my OCD is kicking in and its killing me to leave this at 29 chapters. It HAS to be an even number or multiple of five for some reason) but review what you thought and a question or two or three or a hundred.
Thanks, so so so much.
~ Shay Denney.