"I'm glad you made it there in time Miranda." Fairy Godmother said on the screen they had gotten working. They had patched in the new monitor in the command center so that they could have visual communication as well. They could see Doug, Jordan, Ally, Aziz, Jane and Grant as well. It was clear the command center was coming together nicely. "And I'm glad to see you're all okay too."
"Where are Alex and Ellie?" Jordan asked them now.
"Spending some time with their mothers." Mal answered, she had Amy and Evie sitting next to her on the couch. Ben stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. "We'll spend another day or so helping out to get Arendelle going again before returning home."
"The sooner the better." Aziz said. "We miss you guys. And quite honestly we're defenseless here." Fairy Godmother had already told them that Donnie, April, Rockwell, and the visiting rangers had had to return to their Earth as they had trouble brewing there. Tommy had promised to keep them all informed and also promised to let them know if they needed help.
"And Dude really misses you Carlos." Jane said as she glanced at the little dog sitting beside one of the consoles in the command center. "I've been taking really good care of him though."
"Thanks Jane." Carlos said with a smile. "I appreciate it a lot."
"Who would have thought that you four would be performing humanitarian aid?" Jordan teased with a smirk at Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay. She could leave Amy out of it; this didn't surprise the genie girl much after she had gotten to know her.
"Them?" Audrey questioned with a laugh of her own. "Who would have thought I'd be performing this kind of humanitarian aid?" She admitted.
"The times have certainly changed all of you." Fairy Godmother said to them. "Though for the better at least."
"Your parents are already arranging a nice family dinner for all of us in Auradon upon your return." Ally said to Ben. "Snow White, Rose Red, Aurora, Mulan, Wendy, Callie, Whitney, They're all working on it right now."
Evie laughed a little. "I don't think we need such a lavish affair." She said.
Audrey swatted her arm gently. "Speak for yourself." She joked.
"I can't wait to see everyone again." Amy now said with a smile. "I miss you guys all so much, and I miss them too."
"I just wish we could have been able to say goodbye to the others." Lonnie said. "I hope we can see them again soon and thank them for all they did for us." They had told Fairy Godmother what they had felt when fighting the Ice Queen. She didn't know how to explain it precisely but like them she seemed to agree it had been a good thing.
"I hate to ask this, but…" Jordan bit her lip. "Will Alex and Ellie be coming back with you guys?"
Amy bit her lip. In truth she had wondered that as well. Their family and their kingdom seemed to need them now more than ever. It only made sense to her that they might choose to stay behind.
Miranda seemed equally uncertain about that answer. "Well, we don't know exactly." She confessed and then tried to shake it off. "But they haven't said anything to us about not coming back or anything."
"They'll make whatever decision they think is right." Fairy Godmother said to them all. "And all we can do is support whatever decision they make."
"Of course." Mal agreed. She glanced first at Audrey, then at Evie, and then finally looked up at Ben. Then she looked back to the screen. "We better let you go. We still have a lot to try to do before we leave to come home."
"Of course. Take care." Fairy Godmother said to them. The screen went blank.
The purple haired girl gently patted Ben's hand and then stood up, going to where the screen was. Then she turned to her friends; Audrey, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Lonnie, Will Miranda, Amy, Ben, Aquiella and Melody. "We need to talk." She said to them softly.
The last thing that Kristoff expected to see was Arendelle being rebuilt upon his return. He had expected to see Anna waiting for him at the docks and she had not disappointed as she ran up to him and kissed him on the lips lovingly. Elsa's presence was a bit of a surprise but not unexpected. What was unexpected was to see his niece Ellie and his son Alex there. "Hey dad." Alex said when he came forward.
"Hey Alex." Kristoff said as he shook his a bit. Father and son embraced then and then he shook his head again. "Weren't you two off at Auradon Prep, or did I miss a memo again?" He asked.
Elsa laughed a bit. "No, you didn't miss a memo." She said to her brother in law lightly. "Just everything else." She gestured around them. "It will however explain what happened to Arendelle."
"Yeah, I was going to ask about that one." Kristoff said as he placed his hand on Sven II's head. Ellie happily took the reins of the reindeer as they started in. "What did happen here anyway?"
And so Anna and Elsa started to explain to him all that happened. The appearance of their mysterious guest in Arendelle who told them about the upcoming invasion without mentioning she was the ring leader of it. Anna mentioned her attempts to ingratiate herself to Elsa and how much it annoyed her, drawing a small giggle from Elsa and Ellie. They told him about the night of the invasion that left Anna running to their children.
At that point Elsa told her sister and the children what they didn't know. The Ice Queen's decision to force her to work for them rather than imprison or kill her by allowing some mysterious organism, presumably from the ice barrier, to meld with her and make her into her most lethal general Icesha.
Anna recalled as much as she could about trying to get to Auradon, including the mystery life form that had helped her and somehow delivered her to Auradon. She couldn't help but recall the pride she felt at seeing her son and niece with their friends and their desire to help free Arendelle from the Ice Queen and all of her forces.
"So is this ice barrier thing still a problem?" Kristoff asked after Ellie and Alex recalled their recent fights against the Ice Queen and her generals.
"We don't know." Elsa answered honestly. "We're going to step up patrols in case something slipped by us or is still out there. Or is still ready to show up."
What they didn't see were Mal and the others approaching. Amy flinched at the comment they had overheard. For Amy it made what was to come that much easier to accept, if not to like. "Hey speaking of." Anna finally noticed. "Hey guys." She called out.
"Is everything okay?" Elsa asked them.
"Everything in Auradon is fine." Ben answered the Queen. "We just wanted to give Fairy Godmother an update on what was going on." He placed his arm around Mal's shoulders and hugged her close to him. "Our friends took off toward home, some kind of emergency. Hopefully it's nothing big though."
"Is the command center active? Do our friends have their powers back?" Alex asked now.
"The command center is good." Amy said to him a bit shyly. He noticed though she could not meet his eyes, and that seemed a bit weird to him. She was usually pretty good about that with him and Mal. "And Doug says the rest of the team should be up in by the end of tomorrow."
"Finally, we'll be back at full strength." Ellie said. She looked to Miranda. "Would have been nice if you weren't the only one who got to play late hero to the party huh?" She teased the red headed Scotts girl.
"Yes, that's true." She had to admit. "Though we still made it work rather well."
Alex and Ellie made the introductions to Kristoff. Finally Alex placed his hand on Amy's hand and said, "And this is Amy, the younger daughter of Maleficent. But she is absolutely nothing like her mother at all. She's sweet, and kind, and caring." He squeezed her hand softly. "She's a really great girl dad."
Mal tried hard not to snicker. Not because of Alex's assessment as he was right about all that he had said. She had found it humorous that it sounded very much like a son trying to win a dad's approval of his girlfriend. It made her wonder if Ben had ever tried to sell Adam about her.
"Thank you for helping my family." Kristoff said as he smiled at all of them, especially Amy. "Glad you could help my friends when I wasn't here."
"Don't feel bad about that." Anna said to him as she squeezed his arm reassuringly. "You were needed elsewhere, and it was very helpful." Then she frowned a bit. "Besides realistically odds are you would have been captured just like everyone else."
"Or turned against the world like I was." Elsa added softly. Ellie hugged her mother gently. "Or Olaf for that matter."
"Where is the little guy anyway?" Kristoff wondered.
"He wanted to go to the mountains." Elsa answered. "You see it wasn't just Arendelle that was affected; it was just affected the most. The Ice Guards were hunting Marshmallow, probably to turn him against the world too if they had succeeded."
"And that monster Ice Queen sent after me to try to bring me back." Anna added. "I wonder what she had planned for me if our favorite rangers hadn't stopped them from taking me back."
"I'm glad we didn't have to find out." Jay said pointedly.
"Hey, if you really want to help out though, we still have lots of rebuilding to do." Anna said to Kristoff.
He nodded. "Whatever it takes." He said.
Mal found it kind of refreshing to see people working together like this. The truth was not only was it not like this on the Isle of the Lost but even under normal circumstances people didn't usually work that well together.
Ellie had just finished helping to get the fountain in the middle of town fixed and running again. She leaned back and took a deep breath of relief and then looked up to see Miranda lean down next to her with a bottle of apple juice. "Thanks." She said as she took it and opened it up to take a sip.
"Anytime." Miranda said as she sat down next to her.
"I saw you helping with the wall that that Snowrachnid thing destroyed." Ellie noted as she rubbed her neck gently. "I don't know how you handle that kind of strain. I could barely manage the fountain."
Miranda laughed a bit. "I helped my uncles maintain the walls around the castle growing up. It was kind of like preparation for this in a roundabout way." She answered. "I was definitely not the normal princess growing up. For a while I was worried about that until my grandmother told me exactly how my mother was at my age."
"I can only imagine." Ellie said with a giggle. She took a small drink of her juice again. "My mom too tried to raise me the opposite of how she was raised." Ellie revealed. "Mom told me that when she and Aunt Anna were younger they got along really well. Then one night she had accidently injured her with her powers and from then on she tried to suppress her powers. And my grandparents didn't stop her, they even encouraged her."
Miranda had to think about that a moment. She tried to imagine her grandparents or her mother trying to suppress who she was when she was growing up, doubly more as her mother had been so similar to her. "Sounds kind of bad if ye ask me." She admitted.
"It was all concern for Aunt Anna's life and mom's future. I mean, they couldn't know how mom would eventually be accepted by the people like she is now." Ellie replied. "And it did still nearly kill Aunt Anna not long after the coronation."
"None of our parents were ever rangers," Miranda reflected softly. "And yet they still faced their own set of challenges."
"Those challenges would make them who they are, the people we've come to know and love." Ellie replied. "And it's helped to shape us into what we've become." She looked over at Miranda now. "You came all the way from Auradon on your own to help me, help us rescue my mother and save Arendelle. That speaks a volume about you that I don't personally think you understand yet." The blonde confessed.
"Don't sell yourself short." Miranda chided her gently. "I came out here with my powers. Ye came out here without any powers to keep ye safe. Alex too." She placed her hand gently on Ellie's arm. "That takes a certain something too."
Mal, Amy, Alex, Ben and Evie were part of the group responsible for putting the meeting hall back together where they had had their final stand against the Ice Queen. "I think I'm going to make a painting of the cold fire when I have some free time." Mal revealed to them. She then looked to Alex. "Maybe we can convince your mom and aunt to put it up in here, kind of as a symbol for its part in helping to restore your kingdom."
"I don't see a problem with that." Alex said with a small laugh. He went over to help Amy lift up one of the side table, which if he recalled right had been knocked down when Ben had been hit by Grunard after they had discovered the cold fire had been found but before realizing Elsa was the one who had found it and subsequently released it on Ice Queen to allow the rangers to destroy her.
"Thank you." Amy said to him shyly. Again she didn't seem able to meet his eyes. "Maybe Mal is right and I should try to eat better, put some meat on my bones." She said in an effort to try to stay busy. "That way I can lift things like this side table."
In truth Alex thought it might be healthier for her. No person beyond their pre-teens should be one hundred pounds soaking wet after all. But he wasn't going to tell her that, not if that was a battle her older twin sister had been fighting and basically losing for who knows how long. It didn't erase this simple truth though; "I think you look perfect just the way you are." He told her.
Amy felt her cheek getting a bit warm at the comment. She had to turn around to pick up the scattered scarves that had fallen off the table to try to stop Alex from seeing her blush. She didn't even know what to say but the prince of Arendelle heard her try to sputter out a response.
"Tongue tied?" Alex asked her with a smile in his voice.
"I…sorry." Amy said lamely.
"It's alright." Alex promised her.
"Hey Alex." Ben called out. They turned to see the young king standing by the main table with two of the guards. "Can you give us a hand here? We're going to try to get this thing back up to its upright position…and hope that it stays intact." He said.
"Sure, be there in a sec." Alex called back and placed his hand gently on Amy's shoulder. "It'll be alright Amy. I promise." He said to her and then walked away.
Mal and Evie came over and kneeled down beside Amy. "Are you okay?" Mal asked her softly as she placed her hand on her sister's back.
She looked over at her twin sister and the purple haired girl could see the tears glistening in her eyes. "I'll be okay Mal." Amy replied softly. "I just hate that we have to do this. I…I really like him."
Evie stroked her hair softly. "I know sweetie, I know." She said softly. "I wish there was another way to keep Arendelle safe."
"Maybe someday soon…" Mal started before she let the thought go and hugged her sister closely.
They day wore on and Arendelle was slowly getting closer to what it had been before Ice Queen and the ice barrier denizens invaded the kingdom. The team met Anna, Elsa and Kristoff for dinner though it was pretty clear to Elsa that most of them didn't seem to have much of an appetite for some reason, which was odd considering that they had spent most of the day working hard manual labor. Jay and Carlos ate pretty well though.
"Is everything okay you guys?" Anna now asked them.
"Just tired." Audrey said softly. "Aside from the obvious we don't normally work this hard."
"We're pretty sure there's something about the transformation experience that gives us extra energy." Melody added kind of lamely as she reached for her glass of water. "That we don't get during normal work."
"Huh, I never really thought of anything like that. I mean it does feel different when we transform but actual additions of energy seem…" Carlos said absently before Evie nudged his leg hard with her own to keep him quiet.
Elsa noticed that Amy couldn't meet Alex's eyes, and in fact she seemed to be spending most of the time staring down at the table. What was even weirder was that she had made sure Amy had gotten French fries and chicken strips with strawberry soda, which Belle had said was one of her favorites. She had also contacted Merida and found out the girl liked teriyaki pork chops and cheesy mashed potatoes and yet she had hardly eaten at all either.
Truth be told though, Elsa had taken time to contact all of the one-time princesses, may now queens, to let them know she was alright and to find out what their children liked. She had not been surprised to find Belle knew Amy and Mal's favorite foods but had been slightly surprised to know that Jasmine had known what Jay liked. Of course for Evie she had had to contact Snow White. Jane had provided her with Carlos's favorite food.
To the adults surprise they had all declined dessert and soon afterwards decided they should call it a night and try to catch up on sleep. They left as Anna, Elsa and Kristoff stayed behind.
"Did we miss something?" Kristoff asked his wife and sister in law.
Anna bit her lip in thought. "I don't think so." She mused as she picked up her mug of hot chocolate and took a sip. "I guess they really could just be tired. All the fighting they went through just to save Arendelle, and then to help us start to rebuild. It has to be exhausting."
"Yes, but I feel like it might be more than that." Elsa replied as she leaned back in her chair with her own mug of hot chocolate. "I look at them, and it seems as if Alex and Ellie are just as lost as we are. If it was simple exhaustion then why would they be acting differently? I also remember seeing Amy and Alex interacting in Atlantica, and it was far different from how it is now."
"I remember it too, but from our journey here to Arendelle." Anna said.
"Maybe they're worried about leaving Arendelle undefended if there is any chance anything from ice barrier realm is still here or could come through?" Kristoff suggested to them. "I mean they had to pull out a lot of stops to win and they won't be here next time."
Elsa raised her mug to her lips and took a small sip, and then her eyes widened as an idea hit her. She set it down and stood up. "I just had a thought." She looked to her sister. "Come on Anna. We need to have a talk with our children."
Jay had found a small space on the roof top and was practicing his katas, something Leonardo had taught him while they had been visiting Auradon after Maleficent had tried to deprive the team of both their powers and their magic. He heard Mal, Evie, Audrey and Carlos approaching long before he saw them. "Not to stealthy guys." He said with a halfhearted joke.
"Oh, shut up Jay." Mal said a bit irritably before sighing. "Sorry."
"Don't be." Jay said to her. "I get it."
"Guys, are we sure this is the right thing to do?" Audrey asked as she leaned against the railing. A little too close to the edge in Jay's opinion. "I mean…just look at us."
Evie leaned against one of the small pillars. "Look at Amy. She can't seem to keep focus on anything. She ate even less than usual. She's just not being her perky self." She added as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Even Miranda seems rather out of it." Carlos added.
Mal sighed. "I know that." She said. "But what else are we supposed to do?" She asked as she looked at them. "Arendelle needs this. I don't need Queen Elsa or Princess Anna to say anything to think about the fact that the ice barrier realm could still be a threat, and they need the protection here."
Jay looked to Mal. He could see how restless she was. "Care to spar?" He asked her. The purple haired girl nodded and they spent a couple hours exchanging punches as their friends watched.
Then Audrey narrowed her eyes just a little in amusement. "How often do you four sneak out to be on our own?" She asked them.
"Not too often." Evie told her. "The first night we were in Auradon, after we failed to retrieve the wand." That was no secret to anyone anymore, at least to those who were part of the Auradon ranger team. "Not long after we decided to stay in Auradon. The day we all became rangers."
"Discussing me no doubt." Audrey interrupted simply.
Evie looked a little embarrassed about it. "Yeah. It was before we really got to know each other. The four of us managed to get along well for the most part but we barely knew you and at that time it hadn't been long ago that we'd been having problems with each other." She admitted.
"Don't feel bad." Audrey said to her. "That first night I wrote a diary dictating all the ways I thought that my partnership with all of you could go wrong, and some of them were far from generous." She confessed and then she patted Evie's arm gently. "But I haven't written in that thing for a long long time."
"The last time we did something like this was also about you." Evie replied. "But for different reasons. It was after things went south with Chad and we were worried about you and Ben. Especially since he hurt you so much to get where he is now."
"After I turned Jay down for the first date." Audrey said with a small frown. She remembered it well and as much as she hated to say it she knew what Chad had done to her so far would haunt her for years to come. She only hoped nothing worse would happen that would make it even harder for her to get past.
"We don't blame you." Evie promised her. "We all understand. Some of us more than others, I admit." She sighed a bit. "Things were never pretty on the isle, but Amy and I were pretty…undervalued around there unless Mal and Jay were around to say otherwise."
Audrey sighed in understanding and the two girls stood together in companionable silence for a few minutes as they watched Mal work out her frustrations by sparring with Jay, who could easily handle her strength without powers to back either of them up.
Finally Mal stopped and let out a breath. "Okay, I need to catch a shower and then we should all try to get some sleep so we can leave in the morning." She said. They all agreed with her and returned inside the castle.
Amy had barely slept and was wide awake and as ready as she could ever be when Mal came for her the next morning. Mal, Audrey, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Lonnie, Ben, Amy, Will, Miranda, Melody and Aquiella left the castle.
They had just left the gates of the town of Arendelle where they received a shock. Ellie and Alex were sitting there waiting for them. "Well, I guess mom was right." Ellie remarked a bit coolly. "You were going to leave us behind."
"It's not what it looks like." Lonnie said to them.
"So you weren't trying to leave us behind?" Alex inquired.
"Yes, we were trying to leave you behind." Mal admitted. "We had to. Arendelle needs to be protected from any ice barrier stuff remaining here and it needs its ruling family intact during this crucial time."
"As intact as it can be anyway you mean." Ellie corrected them.
"We didn't mean…" Aquiella started.
"I know what you meant." Ellie promised her. "But that isn't your call guys. Auradon, and the world, needs us to stay with you." She looked at them all now, her gaze stopping at Miranda. "We need to stay with all of you."
"She's right." Alex agreed as he looked at them all. His gaze stopped at Mal and Amy. "This is where we belong."
"Jane said they're going to have a teleportation system at Billy's suggestion." Ellie now said. "If Arendelle or our parents need us we can be back here with a snap if we need to."
Amy found her voice. "That also means you could stay here…and you could come back if you needed to." She said softly.
"We're still enrolled students." Alex pointed out. "And I for one am not okay with dropping all of my classes."
"Neither am I." Ellie said. "Looks like you're stuck with us for another few years at least."
The rangers all looked at each other. Then Ben said, "Are you sure? I know how I would feel if this was Auradon and my parents were talking about."
"You also know this is your friends you're talking about too." Alex replied. "You would go with the best compromise. And that's what we have to do."
Mal sighed. "We're sorry. It's just…we might have been wrong but we thought it was the best thing for you and your kingdom, to have you return." She said.
"And what about what's best for you guys?" Alex asked as he looked at Amy. "And best for the world?" Now he looked at all of them. "We're a team, and that will never change."
"Alright then, team." Mal said. "It's time to go home."
As they approached the two of them Amy stepped up to Alex and threw her arms around his neck, then leaned up on the very tips of her toes and kissed him gently on the lips. He felt his arms wrapping around her back, lifting her up very gently as he pressed her body against his.
Mal gave them a minute and then just because she could she then cleared her throat loudly, making the two of them end their kiss with a small blush on Alex's cheeks and a full on blush on Amy's cheeks. "When you two are done." The purple haired girl teased them. That made the rest of them laugh just a little bit.
"Come on you guys, time to go home." Audrey declared.
As they started toward Auradon Ben approached Alex and said teasingly, "Dude, we need to have a conversation…"