"Phew! Is that it?"

"Not quite. There are two more scenes we need to show."

"This is truly amazing. I mean, eight-hundred and thirty-three pages! The document page has been lagging since page four-fifty-two."

"It's a large story. But a good one, hopefully."

"This is incredible. I had no idea you and Ben had done so much. I feel a lot closer to you guys now."

"I think it was really smart to have Ben narrate the parts he did. He did a really good job. And I think it was almost a great decision to have you narrate your part."

"Chapter 25? That feels like forever ago!"

"Remember how nervous you were?"

"I was nervous when it was happening in real life too! Looking back though, I don't know why I worried. Sheesh."

"Should we finish it off then and call it a day?"

"A day? Ha, ha. We've been working on this for how many months? But yeah, let's finish."

"It's been nice working with you."

"You too, Mal."

Six months later, the castle was in minor upheaval once again. Stewart had taken the day off from the palace when he'd heard while Sophia rushed around the King and Queen's bedroom, more panicked than she'd be on her wedding day. Former King Adam and Queen Belle were hanging around awkwardly in the library as doors were slammed above their heads and people rushed to and fro.

"We have to call a doctor, Mal!" Ben yelled as he paced back and forth from the bathroom to the living room, yanking on his hair and digging his nails into his head.

"I am not calling a doctor so that they can prod and poke me and tell me things my body already knows. They're just going to make me get into bed and I'm not okay with that at this time in the day." Mal said as she balanced on a yoga ball and focused on taking long, deep breaths. The poor girl looked like she'd had a basketball shoved under her shirt. She grimaced as another contraction hit.

"They could get you some medicine! An epidural! Or at least tell us how much longer!" Ben yelled back.

"Ben, I get high on a single Advil" Mal frowned at him. They'd unfortunately found that out a few months ago when Mal discovered she couldn't sleep on her stomach anymore and she'd woken up with horrible knots in her side. Not being exposed to any medicines as a kid was definitely doing her in a pinch. "Can you imagine me on all those things they would chalk me up with? And my mother did this naturally, twice, with no doctors whatsoever. I can handle this." Mal rolled her eyes and rubbed her belly as more waves of pain raced through her.

"You haven't seen a doctor your entire pregnancy." Ben huffed, grabbing the back of the couch in anxiety. "Births are dangerous, Mal. We need to call someone."

"Go ahead and try." Mal challenged with a green flash in her eyes. "I'll lock you and everyone else out. Don't think I won't!"

"You can't have a baby by yourself!" Sophia said in an exasperated tone as she rushed back and forth out of the bedroom, carrying plastic sheets and cushy pillows and lots and lots of water. Mal had already said she didn't want to have the baby on the bed, but Sophia was holding out hopes she'd cave for her family's sake of mind. So far, no good.

"For sure, I can!" Mal rolled her eyes. "Tons of girls do it on the Isle all the time. Elsa did that with Jessie, Pocahontas did that with Thomas Rolfe, Ka-Okee, and her other children, Astrid's planning on doing that when she and Hiccup start having kids, and Helena was born in secret, Sophia. Doctors and people as a whole are not necessary."

"No, they-" Sophia sputtered. She spun on Ben. "Ben, tell your wife she can't have a baby alone!"

"She won't listen to me!" Ben exploded. He and Sophia began to spiral into a debate as Mal rolled her eyes, got up, and walked into the bathroom to get herself a glass of water. Neither of the two noticed as she came back, sat down and crossed her ankles.

Alex, the replacement for Lumiere, peeked inside. "Any luck?" He asked.

"No!" Ben and Sophia screamed at the same time.

Mal shook her head daintily. "No." She informed him. "Probably another few hours."

Alex gave them a thumb's up and disappeared from view. He was still considered 'new' but was familiar enough with the royal family to not be fazed by any of their dramatics. Lumiere had finally retired to spend his last days with Plumette after Ben had taken the throne of Exanton.

Ben rubbed his hands up and down his arms. Sand that had started appearing from the stress flew to the floor. Mal watched it fall in amusement. "If you blow up the room, I don't know if I can spell it clean while I'm in labor." She warned. "You might have to vacuum. "

"I'd be a lot calmer if you would let me call a doctor." Ben shot back.

"That's a lie," Mal retorted, sipping on her water. "You'd just be bombarding him with questions and dancing around me like I'm a little Auradonian princess. 'It's okay Mal,' 'I've got you, Mal'." She mimicked, making her hand form a little hand puppet.

"I'm just worried." Ben sighed. Sophia nodded in agreement beside him.

"Uh-huh." Mal nodded. "And that is why I think it best if you both step outside now, so I can have our baby in peace without you screaming in my ear and dancing around my feet." She set her water glass down on the table beside her.

"What?" Both Sophia and Ben said at the same time with wide eyes.

Mal stood up and began to shoo them to the door. "Go down to the library and tell Belle and Adam that everything is fine, except now I have a headache. Out you go, now."

"You are in labor!" Sophia protested very slowly. "You will need help!"

"I'll unlock the door if that happens." Mal rolled her eyes and pushed her Auradon friend out of the room. "I'm a big girl. Eighteen, married, queen, the hero of Tartarus, all that jazz. You just go and relax until I'm done."

"What happens if something goes wrong?" Sophia protested.

Mal waved her fingers. "Magic, duh." She turned to Ben, who stubbornly folded his arms and planted his feet.

"I'm staying here," he announced.

Mal chuckled. "Uh-huh, and strike me pink while you're at it. Come on, now." She guided him towards the door.

"But- this is my room too!" Ben protested. "And you're my wife and this is my baby too and I'm really worried about you!"

Mal put a hand on his shoulder. "I got this, man. You're just going to give me a migraine with all your worry. Just chill out, take a breather."

"I thought you said you could do anything with me there?" Ben asked, pouting.

"That's right." Mal nodded. "Anything that comes our way, I can battle down with your support. But that doesn't mean I need you in order to do every single thing in my daily life. Breathing? I got that, easy. Running the moors and Isle? I love your advice, but I still go out and do things, Ben. It's easy. And having a baby? It's easy. Just go calm down. I bet you have about another five hours before you're a dad."

"Easy?" Ben sputtered, but the door was closing in his face. He jumped for the knob, but Mal was infinitely quicker than he was. It was already locked from the other side. He heard Mal humming as she walked away on the other side. He and Sophia shared incredulous looks as a green light sealed itself around the wood, preventing him from being able to unlock it using his sand to twist the knob. Alex walked up the hallway, having returned from the library informing Belle and Adam of the situation.

"Mal locked you out?" He asked casually, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Can you believe her?" Ben raged as he gestured wildly to the door.

Alex held up his hands in surrender. "Geesh, man, I don't know how you didn't see this coming. She's been making comments about this for months."

Ben growled and stomped past Alex, muttering all the way to the library.

Five and a half hours later, the door to the bedroom unlocked. Ben had spent a whole half-hour in the library before he came up to fume outside of their door. It had been deathly silent except for the sounds of movies. Mal had been watching Moana. He knew this from the background music alone. He hadn't heard her scream or cry once, but about ten minutes ago he had heard a sound like a little wail. He wasn't sure if it had been Mal, or if he was officially a father, or if it was just his imagination.

The door clicked and Mal appeared in the doorway, looking tired, but relaxed. She was skinny again. Her hips were a little wider than he remembered them being when she'd first gotten pregnant, but overall, she hadn't changed much. Her hair was stringy, sticking to her head and full of sweat. Ben's mouth fell open. "Are they finally-" He started to ask.

"It's a boy," Mal told him with a small smile, leaning against the doorframe. "Born at eleven-fifteen. July twenty-ninth."

A son. He had a son. Ben took a big, deep breath. He started to walk inside, but Mal stopped him with her hand. "Ben." She probed. "July twenty-ninth. You know what that means?"

Ben blinked. "What?" He asked.

"It's been two years since I first came to Auradon as a sixteen-year-old." Mal snorted. "Two years later, I'm officially a mom." She punched his arm lightly.

Ben's eyes grew wide. "Woah." He whispered. "Can I see him?"

"Sure." Mal nodded. "He's in the bedroom. I switched the sheets back before he was born so that we can just go straight to bed."

Ben didn't know how she'd done it, but she had. He went straight into the bedroom. Their sheets were back in place. On the bed was a small child, fast asleep and wrapped up inside of a loose blanket. Ben clasped his hands over his mouth as Mal slipped in the doorframe beside him and went to her side of the bed. She laid down on her belly and kissed the child's head with a fond smile as Ben slowly made his way to look down on his first son.

He was perfect. Tiny with his fingers curled tightly around his blankets and a little white blister in the center of his upper lip. He had most of Mal's features, with his small nose, eyes, mouth, and frame, but Ben could see bits of his father and mother mixed in too, which meant he had to be in there somewhere. He supposed that Mal would see most of his features and he would see most of hers and that's just how it would go.

"Woah." He whispered, pressing his hands to his cheeks in awe. Mal chuckled at him.

The baby didn't have much hair, and Ben could see a pulse throbbing at the top of his head, which he assumed was normal. His hands were a little blue and his skin was wrinkly and pink, but he was still on the list of most beautiful sights of Ben's life, the first few being Mal at their wedding, Mal kissing him on the balcony, Mal telling him she was pregnant, he could go on, but he'd stop there.

"He doesn't have any magic; as I predicted," Mal informed him. "Completely human."

"Can I hold him?" Ben asked. She raised an eyebrow and nodded with a half-smile. Carefully, Ben scooped up the new child into his hands, marveling at how light he was. He balanced his head, remembering what it'd been like to hold Madison back when they'd first gotten her. Mal scooted forward and put another kiss on their son's forehead before pressing a second one to Ben's cheek. "How did you do this?" Ben asked in awe. "You fought a war with him inside you."

"That was for, like, three months." Mal rolled her eyes. "I was barely pregnant."

"You threw up in Pitch's lair." Ben protested.

"Barely pregnant," Mal repeated with a nod. Ben sat down, and she laid her head down on his thigh. He looked over at the clock and stared at the time.

"Did you say he was born at eleven-fifteen?" Ben asked.

"Yeah." Mal nodded with a yawn.

"But that was eighteen minutes ago!" Ben exclaimed, looking down at Mal with a horrified expression. "How do you look so put together? Do you need me to get you anything?"

"Ugh." Mal rolled her eyes and moved away from him. Ben remembered he'd asked the 'forbidden question' too late. "I'm fine. Moana is cool, Snow White's movie stinks. Everything Sophia hauled in here is stuffed in the bathroom. Baby born, non-magical, eleven-fifteen. I'm alive, he's alive, and I'm exhausted. I want to go to bed, but first, we need to name him and weigh him, and I need a glass of water." Mal sat up and ran a hand down the baby's head. "He's actually really amazing." She whispered.

"Was it worth it for you, then?" Ben asked. "I know you hated it in the beginning, but-"

"I'm fine." Mal laughed. "He's... incredible. And I really, really love him." She leaned her head on Ben's shoulder. "I can't wait for our other ones." She whispered.

"Other ones?" Ben smiled, leaning his head on hers.

"Three, right?" Mal asked. "One for Auradon, one for the Isle, and one for the Moors."

"I wasn't sure you'd still be up to it after all this." Ben laughed. Mal shook her head.

"No." She disagreed. "It's okay. Just not right away." She slid off the bed. "Kiss?" She asked.

"And a lot more after that," Ben responded cheekily, taking her head and pressing their mouths together.

"Mhm." Mal rolled her eyes, and they broke apart. She bent down to kiss her baby's head again. "Mommy loves you." She whispered.

Belle, Adam, Sophia, and Stewart crept back into the room slowly as soon as Mal had left. They looked amazed. "Was that really Mal? Walking?" Belle whispered.

Ben snorted and sat back in amazement. "She literally had him twenty minutes ago, got him and her cleaned up, got dressed, walked to the door to get me, and walked back out for a glass of water."

"How?" Adam asked, in shock. "She's eighteen and this is her first baby!"

"Isle women, man." Ben sighed. "They're freaking invincible."

"Thank you." Mal yawned as she slipped around everyone's backs and sat back down on her side of the bed. "No magic." She announced. "Hope you all caught that. If anyone has any feelings other than joy at that revelation, you can go screw yourselves."

The small family members laughed as they crowded around the bed, where Ben held his son and smiled brightly. Mal was busy texting her friends. "11:15, boy." She told them. "Standby for name."

"What are you going to call him?" Stewart asked.

"Jay wanted dude-bro for a boy and dude-sis for a girl." Mal pitched in sarcastically. "Audrey voted Luciodragonit and Aprivelei. And he and Audrey are Godparents, so they technically get a say."

"Well, I am Dad and Dad overrides all godparent claims." Ben vetoed, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

Mal hummed in amusement at Ben flaunting his new title and leaned back on the pillows. "I like Zach." She whispered.

"It's not from a name-base," Sophia mentioned. "Most heroes name their kids with the first letters of the names they're known by. You know, Cinderella, Chad?"

"I don't want him to have a name based off us." Mal yawned. "He's his own person."

"He looks like a Zach," Ben whispered, carefully setting the baby down on the bed in between him and Mal while everyone watched.

"You have any suggestions?" Mal asked softly. She was started to doze off at his side.

"Alec?" He asked.

"We have an Alex in the castle already," Mal whispered.

"You're right." Ben nodded. "To be honest, I just didn't want you to think I was agreeing just because you were the first person who said something decent. I really like Zach. Can we do Marshall or Abraham as a middle name?"

"Zach Marshall Benson." Mal hummed. "Zach Abraham Benson."

"I like Marshall better," Belle whispered. She was without Madison, who had gone to sleep several hours ago. Madison was about to turn one in the coming week.

"Zach Marshall Benson." Mal agreed, dropping her head onto the bed beside her brand-new son.

"We should go find out how much he weighs," Sophia whispered.

"I'll do it." Ben volunteered. "But first, let's get miss Mom to bed." He reached down and ran his fingers through Mal's hair. "She's going to pass out on us."

"She just had a baby," Adam said in a gruff tone.

"Can I hold my grandbaby?" Belle asked, reaching out.

Ben smiled and carefully handed Zach to Belle, who perked up and smiled brightly as she looked down at him. She was officially a grandmother. Mal sat up a little, looking a bit tense as Belle smiled down at the baby. "Don't take him too far!" She called as Belle began to head out into the living room.

Mal's phone was buzzing lightly on the bed beside her. Ben picked it up and sent a text from the lock screen to a group that included Jay and Audrey, the godparents, and Evie, Doug, and Carlos. The text read: "Mal very tired. Name Zach Marshall Benson. Goodnight. -Ben"

Ben crouched down to be eye level with Mal as her eyes fluttered open and closed. "How does it feel?" He asked.

Mal yawned softly, but the small panic in her eyes was still there. "I miss him." She whispered to Ben urgently. "They took my baby away."

Ben smiled and chuckled. "He's just in the living room." He promised her, rubbing little circles on her back. "He's okay."

"I know," Mal grumbled.

"Want to go tell him goodnight before you go to sleep? And I'll put him in his little crib next door and make sure the monitor is on, just like we talked about?" Ben offered.

"The monitor is on your side," Mal grumbled.

"Yeah, that's cause you said he'd be fine and you didn't need to listen to him every minute of both day and night." Ben rolled his eyes. Mal grumbled and swung her legs off the bed.

"Be back." She whispered as she walked to the next room. She swiftly returned, having given her new son another kiss on the head. Ben folded back the covers for her and pulled them up around her shoulders. Even though he knew she could do it, it was still nice to help her out.

"Good job, mom," Ben whispered in her ears. "I'll be right back as soon as Zach is in his room." He stood up and began to turn off the lights.

"Be asleep." Mal slurred. "Hey." Her voice stopped him in his tracks. "I love you."

Ben couldn't help but smile at her tone. "I love you too." He whispered. The only sound that returned his sentiment was the sound of Mal's soft breaths as she faded into unconsciousness.

Years passed. Joy and happiness spread abroad the land. Bad things changed, and good things stayed the same. Days faded to darkness and back again in a lengthy period of peace and happiness that became known as the diamond age of Auradon, with the golden age being the rule of Belle and Adam, the first grand rulers of the United States of Auradon.

Since she and Ben had their magical forms of transportation, they could journey wherever they wanted; whenever they wanted. Mal still visited the moors every month while Ben left the continent for the north, but if they jumped back and forth every now and then, it was okay.

One day, Mal woke up, rolled over and stared at the ceiling, and realized it was January the seventeenth, and she was thirty years old. Fourteen years had passed since she'd first come to Auradon, and twelve years since her first son had been born. Everything was different. Time seemed to be slipping through her fingers.

Everyone had gathered at the palace to celebrate Mal turning another decade. Ben, who was thirty-five now, cried a little when they gathered around in a large circle to recap everything that had happened in the last years. Mal's head spun as her friends remembered things she'd forgotten, or even ignored that they were happening until the moments were far gone.

The Isle of the Lost had petitioned to be renamed The Isle of the Found just before Mal turned twenty. Over the past ten years, they had grown to be a massive production powerhouse, thanks to the hard-working islanders and their extremely determined queen. They had paid back everything they'd borrowed from Auradon and begun to spread across the face of the land until a beautiful modern city stretched out across the entire southern half of the Isle. They produced things for Auradon and occasionally for the moors and the Overlands. Auradon ended up owing a lot of money to the Isle for all the things they manufactured, much to Mal's amusement. Audrey became a key political figure on the Isle, where she petitioned for safety laws, equal opportunity, and all manner of beneficial laws. People were still removed from the city or sometimes banished by Auradon, the Overlands, or even the moors to the northern part of the Isle, but these were rare happenstances compared to all the people who joined the city and helped build it up. The city was named Opulence after a few years. There were no homeless, almost no jobless, and no poverty. The people gave freely of their substance and supported each other, and they were known as the happiest, freest people in the known world, and were completely determined to squash out the old evil ways.

Harry Hook and Uma married on the Isle. Harry received his memories back on the day promised to him by Mal, but they were so painful for him he begged they be taken away again. He made the decision to live without knowing about the Isle before Mal had changed it but shouldered a grudge against Mal for crimes she had committed before she'd become queen, even though he was forever blind to the specifics. Uma had thought about asking for her memories back as well, but once she saw the pain and confusion it caused for Harry had decided it was best to leave the past locked up. She remained friendly with Mal despite the fact Harry suddenly couldn't stand to be near her very long.

Audrey and Jarrett lived on the Isle too, though Audrey traveled back and forth to her kingdom of Auroria every once in a while. She was pregnant with their second kid. Audrey had waited, just like she said she would, and was now well into her thirties. Her young son was only two. She still ruled Auroria from a distance, taught college-level and elementary-level English and French and was an active participant in Isle government.

Meanwhile, the Moorland built up a small city, mostly underground, with one large palace where Mal and Ben would bring their family for vacations. Aside from individual traveling in between the moors and Auradon, the moors tended to stay separate from the other countries. They kept their own traditions, observed their own holidays, and worked for the betterment of their own nation. But having their borders open aided Auradon and the Isle greatly as they began to accept again the magic that had once held no stipulation across the lands.

Far, far above Auradon, the Exanton had begun to heal. They had started recovering the pillaged lands that the villains had overtaken in the Great Overland War, and still paid Auradon and the Moorlands tribute for their services in the war. Jack and Ericka Frost were honorary citizens of all four countries and traveled to and fro as they wished. The Guardian of fun and the spirit of snow tended to centralize their visits to family in Arendelle but still visited the palace often to pay thanks to the royal family there. Most of the other Exanton heroes stayed in the Overland, helping to heal the lands, but Mal wondered if there would come a day where there was free travel between the two lands. It seemed extremely possible, as planes from the city of Municiberg were now being manufactured by the Isle and airports were spreading across Auradon, providing greater transport and helping to connect the large nation.

Lastly, Auradon. Ben had worked hard, traveling around and instigating thousands of changes in Auradon. Thousands of service activities, many new laws passed, and a great example set by the Isle of the Found finally formed Auradon into a unified community. Royals shared wealth, power, and prestige openly with commoners and commoners worked hard to support their governments. With time, there were none in the land who were poor of substance in any area of Auradon. The prophecy bestowed by Adam to Ben finally came true. Under Ben's watchful care, Auradon grew and flourished more than any country (Besides the Isle) had been known to flourish before. On Ben and Mal's tenth anniversary, Auradon news became the first to issue the official statement that King Benjamin was 'by far, the finest and greatest King Auradon will ever have'. No one realized the prophecy had been fulfilled until after it had been printed. Thousands of history books would forever inscribe the same of the King of the Diamond Age of Auradon.

Jay and Lonnie had hit it off quite well in college. They stayed together while he traveled around doing tourney for the official team of Auradon before she convinced him to marry her after they won the country cup for the fourth year in a row. He still worked with tourney while Lonnie coached for smaller groups until the two of them would eventually decide to settle down with their multitudinous savings and start a family.

Carlos and Jane had dated throughout her college years and on the eve of graduation, Carlos had asked her to marry him. They settled in San Fransokyo, where Carlos started a company, taught at his old college, and traveled around Auradon with his wife on the weekends. They had one child and three dogs together.

Evie had held off settling down for a while. She'd gotten a Ph.D. and a business license to spread a business named "Evie's 4 Hearts" around the kingdom, and then Doug had finally convinced her that he was the right guy for her. They had two children together who they balanced with Doug's continuing job as the Castle IT guy, and Evie running a large design company which Dizzy eventually joined her in. Dizzy was engaged to be married to a son of Grumpy next spring. Her adopted brother Ethan would take over the kingdoms of Cinderellasburg and Charmington in her stead.

Sophia and Stewart had married around the time Mal was twenty. Mal had been her maid of honor and Ben had been his best man. Sophia had considered letting Ben walk her down the aisle to complete the traditional circle of it, but in the end, her dad walked her down, and everything was fine. She retired from the palace soon after and she and Stewart made a home for themselves down in Auradon city, from where the Isle of the Found could be seen.

Plumette had passed away with Lumiere standing beside her bed one cold Winter's eve. Lumiere had moved back into the palace to spend his remaining years with the only family he had left. It sounded like a sad ending, but Lumiere held the utmost hope that he would see her again in death.

Adam threw out his back badly and he and Belle decided it best to stay in a localized area after that. They lived in a room beside the library and the family visited them whenever they walked past. Madison was a teenager now, vivacious and free, just like Mal had known she'd be. She ran the halls, flew clumsily, and experimented fully with her magic. She didn't know the former world where magic was forbidden or where villainy lived trapped on the Isle of the Lost. She grew up the adopted daughter of the former king and queen, understanding fully the circumstances she'd come from. She was very close to her sister and her two older brothers, Ben and Jay. Mal thanked the gods every day that Madison would never have to go what she went through.

And finally, the royal family themselves. Mom, Dad, and all three children. Zach Marshall Benson, the oldest, was twelve years old. Mal couldn't believe it. Her first son was almost a teenager. He was in line to become King of all of Auradon, and he was as kind-hearted and sweet as his father before him. Blonde, with green eyes and a mischievous smile, but quiet and thoughtful. He was on a swim team, played guitar, and read a lot.

Their second son was named Tyler James Benson. Mal had had him on December thirteenth, less than two years after Zach had been born. Mal had been nineteen. With his birth, Ben had finally gotten the opportunity to be present during his wife's labor, though Mal still refused a doctor. He took more after his mom (And maybe by extension his grandmother) than his siblings. Wild and crazy, expressive and free, he climbed trees and sang wild and fast songs and performed the same type of magic that Mal, Madison, and Maleficent had been able to perform. He looked like Ben but had Mal's signature purple locks. It made for a very interesting combination. He was only eleven, but it had already been decided between him and his parents that he would one day become King of the Moorlands, and he would live out there on the moors when the time came that he decided he wanted to accept the throne there. Mal had taken it at sixteen, but Tyler wanted to wait a little longer. "Maybe when I'm twenty-two." He'd decided jokingly, figuring he'd probably wait longer than that.

Since Mal had given Ben two children before she'd even turned twenty, she'd made the decision that there needed to be a bit more time in between their next and last child. On April 7th of Mal's twenty-sixth year, she'd given birth to their only girl. Her name was Belle Marie Benson, and she was her father's child with her mother's looks. Thick purple hair and beautiful blue eyes even at her young age of four. She inherited, not her mom's magic, but Ben's dark, sandy fear magic. Marie was going to grow up to be the queen of the Isle of the Lost, the last kingdom of the three. They called her Little Belle to differentiate from Ben's mother.

Ben and Mal focused a lot on what it meant to use their magic for good. Instead of focusing on the heroic parts of their tales, they carefully outlined what Pitch Black had been able to do with fear magic, how Helena had almost killed Ben, and the terror that Maleficent had once wrought upon the land. The kids never feared their magic, but they were expressly warned of everything that could happen if they let their talents rule them, instead of the other way around.

Despite his many successes and his express joy in his kingdom, King Benjamin much preferred being home with his wife and kids to being anywhere else. While Mal traveled in and out of the castle on her way to and from the moors and the Isle, he was the one who stayed home and watched her leave and come back to him every day. Ben was close to every member of his extended family as well, from Dizzy to Jay and Stewart, and he was proud of it. As the years passed, not a day went by that Mal didn't hear from her husband exactly how much he loved each and every one of them, be she in the moors or at home.

And finally, the Queen of Auradon herself. If you'd brought young fifteen-year-old Mal from the Isle and introduced them to each other, they wouldn't know each other. Mal ruled in power, glory, and goodness. The time came where everyone in all four kingdoms – Auradon, Exanton, the Isle and the Moors – accepted her word as gold, even though she wasn't a ruler of two of those countries. People came from all over just to see her. Just to hear the stories of what she'd done from her own lips.

Mal had long since found peace in who she was, but she'd never known what it would feel like to be glorified for the strength of her character. She looked back on the years and was simply blown away by everything that had henceforth happened. It was incredible to her.

Unlike most parents, Mal would admit she took greater pride in her marriage than in her children. Not to mean she didn't adore each of them individually; they were the express products of her love of Ben, and she loved them with all her heart. But with all the things that could have gone wrong and ruined her and Ben forever, she considered it an amazing achievement that they'd survived. Mal spent most of her time being a wife first, and then a mother, and then a ruler, and then a friend. She felt fulfilled in her life and in everything she'd done, yet she still felt like she'd forgotten to do something she should have done many years ago.

As evening fell on her thirtieth birthday and the seniors of their group – Lumiere, Belle, and Adam – began to retire, Mal sipped on her water and listened to her friends talk excitedly about all that had happened, and everything that was coming up. Ben squeezed her shoulders and stood up to take Little Belle, who was falling asleep against Mal's legs, to bed. Tyler was shooting sparks at Zach, who was deflecting them with a book and a hidden smile.

Mal stood and walked over to the balcony of the family room, where everyone had gathered. She looked out over the snow-covered groups and watched the sky turn magnificent shade of purple and red as the temperature began to drop a little further.

Someone put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" Audrey asked.

Mal smiled. "I am." She confirmed.

"How does it feel to be thirty?" Audrey asked, sitting on the rail with a hand crossed around her stomach.

"I feel like… I'm forgetting things that have happened." Mal admitted. "And if I'm forgetting, who's to say everyone won't have forgotten thirty years down the road?"

Audrey laughed. "No one will forget you, Mal. The details may fog, but your story is… expansive."

She and Mal both laughed cheerily. Mal drummed her fingers on the balcony. "Do you think you could help me write it all down?" She asked.

Audrey looked surprised. "Well, I probably could. How long do you think that'd be?"

Mal snorted. "At least eight-hundred pages long." She said sarcastically, not knowing how right she'd end up being.

Audrey laughed alongside her. "Okay. Let's get together tomorrow and you can start from the beginning."

Mal wrinkled her nose. "The beginning… I'd have to start with the war and the Isle of the Lost. And that's like, twenty years before anything even happened."

Audrey jumped off the railing and stood beside Mal. "You could just start with a prologue." She shrugged casually.

Mal raised an eyebrow. "What's a prologue?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a thing you do when you don't want the story to start at the beginning," Audrey said with a content sigh. She began to undo the ponytail her hair was in, running her fingers along her scalp.

Mal considered her words and folded her arms. She looked out to the sunset and watched as the sun began to disappear. Family members continued to chatter in the room behind her. "That sounds… perfect." She exhaled with a smile. Audrey smiled brightly, and Mal chuckled. Behind them, all was well, and everyone was content.

The End. For real. Deleted scenes will be posted in "Descendants OneShots", probably at the end of January.