Copied and pasted straight from my rough draft, this has zero editing and didn't make it into the final story.
There was thirty minutes until the new year began, and Ben and Mal were dressed in their finest as they walked down the entrance hall together in Beast's castle, two days later. Belle, Adam, Madison, Lumiere, Plumette, Sophia, Stewart, Jay, Carlos, Evie, Ella, Dizzy, Erick, Ericka, Jack, Elsa, Jessie, Jarrett and Audrey were all gathered outside the doors, fixing last-minute gowns and greeting each other with wide smiles. Dizzy was spinning in a blue and red dress with a golden crown tucked into her curls, and Jarrett was fidgeting as Audrey adjusted his tie for the ninth time, keeping her hands on his chest with a sultry smile.
As Mal hit the bottom of the stairs with Ben at her side, Jay, Evie, and Carlos appeared out of nowhere.
"You look lovely." Evie sighed as she bent down to pull out the flounce in Mal's skirt.
"You really outdid yourself, E." Carlos muttered as he smiled at their old friend. Mal was wearing an A-line purple dress that she was trying hard not to stumble in. As Evie pulled the flounce out further, Mal prayed that Evie wouldn't notice she was wearing tennis shoes underneath her skirts. Ben was wearing his second-nicest dark suit, with the first being the one he'd married Mal in. The most striking thing about Mal wasn't her short hair, which almost matched Belle's, or the dress. Rather, it was the small swell that Mal was actively guarding around her waist that marked her as nearly three months into her first pregnancy.
"You look like you're sporting a little weight there, Mal." Jay teased as he helped Mal through the crowd and to the door. Ben let her hand go with a smile as Evie began to fix him up and assure his crown was firmly on his head.
"Ugh, blame the pineapple." Mal rolled her eyes with a happy smile. "I've been craving that crap like crazy. My mouth has been begging for mercy."
Audrey laughed as Mal passed. "It's good, you can't deny!" Jarrett smiled shyly and kissed her cheek while her head was turned.
Mal took Madison from Belle and held her up for Jay to see. Jay's eyes lit up as he tickled the smiling child under her chin. Madison laughed and giggled.
"She's getting so big!" He commented.
"Six months old." Mal agreed. "She can hold her own bottle, sit all by herself, and she's started to babble."
As if Mal's words had triggered a reaction in the small girl, Madison began to coo. "Aba-ah-du…" She babbled as she stuffed her little fist into her mouth. Mal laughed.
"Belle says she's finally as big as Ben was as a newborn." Mal told Jay. "Crazy, huh?"
"Sheesh." Jay said, looking back and forth between Madison and Mal. "You'd better hope your kid gets your genes, so you don't die during childbirth."
Mal scoffed. "As if anything could kill me." She said, handing Madison back to Belle. "I'll lay down my life when I'm ready and feel like it."
Jay laughed. And Mal bumped him with her hip. "What about you?" She asked. Jay blushed. "I've been seeing this girl… she just came back to Auradon Accelerated from the war. Do you know Lonnie?"
"Lonnie?" Ben asked, coming up behind Mal and putting his arms around her. "Mulan and Shang's girl?"
"Wow, look at you, Jay." Mal smiled. "That's great."
"I'm not the only one." Jay straightened up. "Carlos asked the Fairy Godmother's girl out. Jane? She came with all her classmates from Auradon Prep to look at campus and they hit it off. And Evie asked your IT guy, Doug, for help, and now he's also helping her start an on-campus business where she designs and makes clothes for people. She's calling it Evie's 4 hearts."
Mal's face dropped. "Evie's four hearts?" She asked.
Jay nodded. "You know, because there's four of us. Her, me, Carlos…" He took Mal's hand and squeezed it. "And you."
Mal smiled. Her eyes were a little wet, but no one said anything as she wiped them away. "I love it." She said. "What a wonderful name.
"Are we ready?" Sophia asked as she peered outside. "There's twenty minutes left. Ben, Mal, are you planning on talking to the press at all?"
"Yeah." Mal nodded before Ben could answer. "It's the end of the war and a brand-new year. We both have a few things prepared."
Ben nodded and patted his pocket, where the rustle of papers could be heard.
Lumiere cleared his throat. "I would like to say something before the doors open." He told everyone. The room quieted as Lumiere brushed invisible dust off of himself. "Living in the palace and serving Adam's father, and then Adam, and then Belle and their son Ben has been a joy. Not always was it easy, and I will pick my human form over my candelabra prison every day, but a joy, nonetheless. However, as many of you have been so kind as to point out, I am taking on years." Lumiere held his hand out to Belle and fell to his knees. "Ma chère," He murmured, kissing her hand. "It is time for me to take my retirement. I wish to spend the remainder of my days with my lovely Plumette, however numbered those days may be."
Belle's eyes filled with tears. "Of course, Lumiere, but please, visit often. You've been here ever since I came here as a young girl. The palace won't be the same without you. Is there any way I can help you on your way?"
"No." Lumiere shook his head. "But I am greatly endowed by your presence whenever you enter the room." He flicked Madison on the nose lightly. "Be good, young one." He whispered.
Lumiere took his place by the doors and opened them for those inside, presumably for the last time. Mal was holding back tears as she shook Lumiere's hand and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Good luck." She whispered.
Lumiere smiled and cupped her cheek. "I won't need it. And neither will you, Queen Mal."
Ben took her arm as Lumiere announced to the crowd outside: "Please rise for their royal highnesses, King Ben and Queen Mal of Auradon, the Isle, and the Moorlands! Returned war veterans and heroes of Tartarus!"
Ben took Mal's hand and squeezed it before he led her out into an array of flashing cameras. A large, beautiful moon was rising outside. Almost two hundred people were gathered for a party on the grounds below. Reporters were gathering at the base of the porch. As Lumiere announced everyone behind them, Ben and Mal made their way to the reporters. Mal was pleasantly surprised to see Elias standing in the crowd. "Elias!" She smiled, reaching out and shaking his hand. "You're here!"
"Aye!" He agreed. "Care to spare a few words for me?"
"Go ahead." Mal affirmed. "Be a shark." She winked, and cameras flashed.
Elias laughed. "I should probably ask if you have anything prepared first, yes?"
Mal laughed as Ben slipped her paper into her hands. She unfolded it and cleared her throat. "I hope you have a video feed going." She told the reporters. "Because you're not going to want to miss a single word of this."
Cameras zoomed in and the reporters shushed each other loudly. Mal smiled. "We've been keeping secrets." She announced. "But all that is over now. Many of you have wondered why I was brought here, where I came from, and why everything was so rushed while we were all staying so quiet. The truth is, the castle knew almost nothing about me until Ben went in for his preliminary checks for the kingdom, and it was discovered my mother had attempted to recreate a soul bond in the form of a blood anchor. She had cursed him so that he could nary become king, nor could he have any power of crown unless I was also given ruling power over Auradon. The palace, assuming my mother had already told me everything and we had been waiting for this day for years, hauled me off of the Isle to keep me captive inside the palace until they figure out what to do. Coming to Auradon, I feared torture, exile, and even execution. No one was quite sure what to do with me once I arrived, though."
Mal paused to ensure she still had the reporter's attention as she continued to read. "I became queen with zero power because they still didn't know what kind of person I was. Throughout it all, Ben had the upmost faith in me. He was the first person who thought I would be able to make something extraordinary out of me. Many nights were spent staying up talking, laughing, and watching old Auradon hero movies."
Mal flipped her paper over. "The curse was loosened last June, and I was given the option to abdicate my throne, give up the responsibilities and go home if I wanted. I chose to stay because I couldn't imagine a life without the man I'd come to love. Or rather, I could imagine it, and I didn't want it. Then, a little over a month ago, when Ben was captured by the villains on the Overland, I ventured up there and found that a magical girl with poisonous magic had scratched him, and he was starting to die by magical poisoning, the same thing that took my mother. When I brought him back to Auradon, he was hours from death. Rapunzel, Fairy Godmother and I teamed up to accomplish something that had never before been accomplished, and we forced the magic in his system to turn itself around. Fairy Godmother's magical wand was melted in the process. When it was over Ben- well, I'll let him tell you that part." She and Ben shared a smirk.
"And finally, last week, when we ventured into Tartarus, Ben was forced to leave me behind to die." Mal felt her eyes well up with tears and her hands began to shake. "I had used all of the magic at my disposal and I had managed to melt Eris, the goddess of discord, into a fiery prison. I had no energy as Ben tried to pull me through the gates of Tartarus only to discover Eris had sealed the barrier. I could not travel through without sand magic and could not be turned into sand without killing our baby in the process. We both knew there was nothing we could do. He could have stayed behind, but we both would have died to no avail. I begged Ben to come back to Auradon, take a new wife, and find his happiness again, without any curses pressuring him. He left for help, and I dropped to the earth, knowing I was about to die.
"But when I woke up, the strongest feeling I'd ever had overtook me, and I knew I needed to go back to him. It didn't matter that it was impossible for me to leave, because I'd already accomplish far more than one impossible task. Using Eris's sand magic, I managed to make it out of her realm and sealed the border to Tartarus, only to find Ben, who had tried to return for me." Mal took his hand and squeezed it tightly as she used her other hand to fold her paper back up. "I truly know we can do anything together." She told him. "And I? I can do anything with your support." She leaned up, and they shared a kiss in front of the cameras. Ben put a hand around her waist and pulled another paper out of his pocket.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" He started, clearing his throat. "I have an announcement. Something that will change Auradon. Before that, I want to thank you all for adapting so well to the changes I instituted before leaving. There were lots of questions, but all of you followed through with orders and began to develop very unique systems, answering each of your own questions one by one. I expected to come back to a week's worth of work, but my parents gladly informed me that everything had worked out, and there was not a soul unhappy with the changes."
Ben ran a hand through his hair. The dark-light division in his hair was more visible than ever before in the moonlight.
"Five minutes to new year!" Someone shouted in the distance.
"Better hurry." Ben muttered. "Now, before I make the announcement, you must all understand that this has been in the works since before I was king. However, it became increasingly pressing with the war and… what happened with my magical poisoning." Ben fumbled his paper and swallowed. Mal put a hand on his shoulder. "I had accepted the fact I was going to die when Mal decided that I wasn't allowed to leave her behind. I don't remember a lot, but I remember that I felt like there was living fire underneath my skin, and I felt her forehead against mine. We shared memories, guys. I saw everything we'd put her through, and I shared things that had happened to me in my youth and growing up. And when I woke up, I have changed. My skin's a little paler than it used to be. My hair, as many of you have noticed but kindly said nothing to me about, now has two shades that somehow split an inch from my scalp. My eyes are darker, and I now have long scars across my chest from where I was clawed. Black dragon skin formed over the scars from Mal's magic, and none of these things will ever go away. But the most pressing thing is-" Ben held out his hand. His customary sandstorm appeared in his hand and people screamed and gasped in surprise. "I have magic." Ben admitted. "It's not a bad thing, it's not an evil thing. It's just a thing. Mal told me that magic doesn't change who you are at heart. And it doesn't. I'm still the same person. Now, leading from that, it's time for me to announce a very important permanent change to Auradon's laws."
Across the gardens, where the guests couldn't hear Ben speaking, someone began a count down. "Fifteen! Fourteen! Thirteen!"
Others joined in the countdown as Ben rushed to finish up. "We have decided to abolish the laws forbidding Magic that were instituted twenty-five years ago. Auradon is magical once more!"
As reporters erupted into questions and cameras began to flash more hurriedly, the countdown grew in volume. "Five! Four!"
Ben and Mal linked arms and joined in as reporters continued to try and ask questions. Poor Elias looked absolutely done.
"Three! Two! One!" A horn went off, and fireworks filled the sky. Ben took Mal's chin and brought her mouth up to his. As people screamed and cheered and began to wish each other a happy new year, Ben kissed his wife under a full moon. She took his crown off his head and fished around in her curls for her crown before she leaned into his shoulder. They watched the midnight festivities begin, saw Stewart drop to his knees and offer a ring to Sophia, and not for the first time, Mal felt a surge of pride. "We did it." She whispered. "This is like a massive chain-reaction."
Ben put his arms around her and rubbed his thumbs on her stomach. "Let's not let it stop now. We're almost there." He promised.
Mal raised her eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" She asked. "This feels an awful lot like a happily-ever-after to me."
"I thought that villains didn't get happily-ever-afters?" Ben asked.
Mal snorted. "It's a good thing Auradonians get them. Mind if I stick around and filch off of yours?"
Ben smiled. "Without a doubt."
They kissed again. All was well.