Later on that day, we decided to go after Ariel. The pirates wouldn't be bothering Peter and his Lost Boys anymore, so the war was considered over. They kept their promise of helping us whenever we needed it. First, we had to get a ship, to sail after them. After a long debate (we're talking to hours) we figured that we should probably just go out and look for one. It couldn't be too hard. It wasn't, as it turned out. We all boarded the ship we'd found and Peter immediately took to the wheel. Melody came with us because when she was out of the water, she had legs again.

"So, what are we doing here, exactly?" asked Melody.

"We're going after Ariel, like you insisted and is the right thing to do," I replied.

"But do you have a plan?"

"Umm…Why do people always ask me if I have a plan? I'm not the leader here, go ask Peter!"

She did, but not even he had a plan. I sat down below deck, waiting for us to get where we were going. Rapunzel came down with me and we both sat together.

"Ever since you showed up, it's been nothing but rush, rush, rush all the time," said Rapunzel with a laugh. "I mean, there was the Mist, Derek died, the kiss, the hobogoblins, the camp battle, everyone dying, Mickey's castle, Jack going all sugar high and now we're sailing off to rescue a bunch of mermaids. Is it just me, or is that a lot?"

"That is a lot. What about when you ran away?" I asked. We laughed together for a minute before I finally worked up the nerve to ask the question that had been bugging me ever since she'd come back. "Rapunzel, what really happened when you ran away?"

"I already told you." She saw my eyes and sighed. "All right, fine, I'll tell you the real story, but you had better not go running to tell everyone about it."

"I won't, just get on with the story."

"Okay, keep your shirt on. When I got back, Mother was really angry with me."

"What for?" I interrupted.

"Because I wasn't actually allowed to leave. I ran away. If I hadn't I would have been stuck in that tower forever. Don't act all surprised, I'm not all murals and songs."

"I know, but still!"

"Shh! Do you want me to tell you or not? Okay, so she was mad at me and she insisted that I never again leave the tower and probably would have removed the window if it hadn't been impossible to do so. I listened to her for a few days because I was angry. I didn't want to go back to school and there was virtually nowhere else for me to go. I met Pascal, he's a chameleon, and he became my only friend. So after three days, I was just minding my own business, baking pies, when Eugene just climbs in through the window carrying a satchel. He freaked me out so much, I bonked him on the head with a frying pan and just stuffed him in my closet. Then I looked through his satchel. Inside was my crown and his wanted poster."

"HIS WANTED POSTER?!" I yelled so loud that they heard me above the deck and I gave Rapunzel a heart attack.

"Okay, you are taking this story much too seriously. Let me give you the fast version. I bribed Eugene into taking me to go see the lanterns, we had a few run-ins, we kind of fell in love, we saw the lanterns, the two guys Eugene had abandoned to the guards showed up, they tried to kidnap me, Mother showed up, she brought me home, I had a series of epiphanies, I realized that I was the kingdom's Lost Princess, I realized my mother had kidnapped me as a baby for my hair, I told Mother she couldn't use my hair anymore, she tied me up, Eugene came back, she threw him my hair, he climbed up, she stabbed him, I agreed to do whatever Mother wanted as long as she let me heal him, she did, he cut my hair off so I couldn't throw my life away, Mother crumbled to dust, Eugene died, one of my tears revived him, we kissed, we went to the castle, I got my real parents back, I found out about the hobogoblins, and we left for camp that very day."

She had said all that so fast, she had to catch her breath when she was over. I had understood her, but she had gone really fast. And not a moment too soon. We heard a bunch of clamoring and shouts coming from above. We both looked at each other and then ran straight above deck. We were sailing close enough to the Jolly Roger to throw ropes across and climb over. I frosted over the ropes and everyone looked at me like 'WTF?'

"Just leave it to me. I'll take care of it. Be right back," I flew onto the deck of the other ship and all the pirates fell to my feet, groveling.

"Give me the mermaids and nobody has to get hurt," I said in a menacing voice. They did so without argument.

When Ariel was on our ship, Melody ran over faster than humanely possible. It seems to me that almost all of my friends from school could run faster than was humanely possible. They held each other and cried for a few minutes. Then Melody held Ariel at arm's length and looked into her eyes.

"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" asked Melody.

"No, I'm fine," she looked up at me. "Looks like you saved the day again Vanessa."

"I guess I did. I have a habit of saving people when they're in trouble," I laughed.

"We should head home and tell Dad," said Melody. She and Ariel stood up and jumped straight over the side. They were fine, of course, but it still gave me a heart attack. Then they poked their heads out of the water. "We'll tell Dad! Anytime you need a mermaid's help or anything under the sea, just call us!"

I had a tiny bit of difficulty hearing her, but I did, so it was all good. I waved and we sailed on. It turns out we were pretty far out to sea, so we had at least three hours of sailing to do.

"So, two missions accomplished in one day. We're getting good at this," said Jack. I turned around and there he was. "I mean, we killed Hook and saved Ariel, all in one day."

"What are you talking about, we? I did all of that single-handedly. None of you did anything," I said teasingly. He grabbed me with one arm and gave me a noogie with the other.

"Then maybe I'm just lucky. Nobody else gets to brag." We were both laughing by then and I broke free. "I mean, you're my girlfriend and you just did all that in one day."

"Yeah, I did. I do a lot of things," I laughed. Then I heard a soft whisper coming from above me. I smiled and looked back at Jack. "I can do this."

I spread my arms out to my sides and was surrounded by a bunch of sparkles. I gathered some of them up in my hands and I shaped them into some kind of toy. It was a teddy bear. The sparkles vanished and I handed it to Jack. He looked at me with a look of wonder, and that's when I realized that I had the ability to create wonder too. I could make toys! I felt so good, I just wanted to dance. I wanted to dance with all my friends.

"We should have a dance," I said suddenly. The look of wonder in Jack's eyes vanished.

"What? Why?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Why not? We've been fighting almost nonstop ever since that hobogoblin attacked me at school. We need a break."

"I'm sorry; I just don't think we have the time for anything like that."

He handed me the bear and walked away. I looked down at it sadly and it exploded into sparkles again.

"I'd have a dance with you," said a guy's voice behind me. I turned around. It was Terence. "It sounds like it would be a lot of fun."

We smiled. We split up and searched the ship for anything vaguely decoration-like. I searched for snacks. I found a big barrel of root beer and a few cakes. The cakes may have been extremely old, but they weren't stale or moldy, so I set them out and hoped they weren't poisoned or something. Terence found light and an old record player. Someone would have to turn the handle the whole time, but someone would do it. I made some lights (I can do that too, apparently) and we strung them around. We rounded up our friends and Kida agreed to turn the handle on the record player for us. Everyone else danced around. About halfway in, someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around and Terence held his hand out to me. I laughed and took it. We danced together for a few songs. It was a lot of fun, but there was one important piece missing from it. That piece sat up in the robin's nest and watched the whole time. Can you guess what that piece was? Exactly.