Last chapter, guys!

Epilogue

It was almost a year before things were the same in Auradon again. Granted, nothing could ever be exactly the same after the executions and the aftermath that had followed.

In response to Ben's show of loyalty to Auradon, the Council had elected to hold another trial for Ben. Charming's objections to a retrial were ignored. Rather, Charming was unanimously voted off the Council by its other members the following day. The Council claimed he had stepped out of line several times by abusing his power. His actions at the amphitheater had been the last straw. He had acted alone without conferring with the rest of the Council and put everyone in danger of a coup by uncuffing Ben when he could have easily released Maleficent. They counted themselves lucky that Ben had sided with Auradon over his mother or else Charming's stupidity and arrogance could have cost them all much more than one Council member's dismissal.

A week later, Ben's retrial was held in a much calmer and level-headed courtroom than the previous one. He was cleared of all charges, including the murders of the courtroom guards. These were written off as the product of temporary insanity caused by a magic-induced frenzy. With this in mind, the jury agreed that Ben should be allowed to reclaim the throne, but there were some conditions. He would be required to master his magic by practicing daily under the supervision of Fairy Godmother and Mal, since Mal understood their inherited magic best. Also, Ben would be required to see a therapist weekly. Ben happily embraced both of these conditions, knowing both were necessary for his citizens and himself to feel safe in his presence. He doubted he would stop with either the magic practice or the psychologist after the required year of each had expired. He never wanted to be controlled by his magic again, and violent recurring nightmares regarding his parents had started the first night after the executions. Yes, he welcomed both the magic lessons and the therapy gladly.

Likewise, Mal decided to start seeing a therapist. This was not required by anyone but herself. Her guilt over not forgiving Beast before his execution had grown exponentially with the addition of the guilt she felt for initiating her mother's death. In the months following the executions, it was common for Evie to wake up in the middle of the night to find Mal sobbing. Eventually, both Mal and Ben were prescribed antidepressants and sleep medication. In conjunction with their therapy sessions, they slowly saw improvement until they could finally smile at one another in the hallway at school and talk easily at the dinner table.

Yes, after Audrey had gladly moved out of the palace after Ben's retrial, claiming she couldn't handle the pressure of the job at this age anyway, Ben and Mal had started eating dinner together at the palace. They made a routine of this in an effort to pull the last scraps of their family together. At first, they often ate in silence. Sometimes, they inquired about the other's day. Neither seemed able to look at the other for a long time, and it was weeks of this before one of them said something that made the other laugh. At this point, Ben had reached across the table and squeezed Mal's hand. It looked like he wanted to lean across the table and kiss her. Instead, he had withdrawn his hand, and the meal had continued in awkward silence.

Luckily, by the time the anniversary of the executions was approaching, Mal's and Ben's behavior had settled back into easy jibes and laughter. This didn't mean they had fully recovered, but they were doing the best they had all year. The lingering romantic awkwardness had faded after a while. In fact, Mal had been dating Jay for a few weeks by this point. Ben had been on a few dates with Lonnie, but he told his therapist he was hesitant to let anyone close again. His magic was mostly controlled now, but high stress or emotions could still cause an outburst of green flames. He didn't want anyone too close emotionally or physically at the moment for fear of hurting someone else. The murders of the guards still haunted his dreams where he was always the villain. His therapist said these would get better once he started to forgive himself and encouraged his relationship with Lonnie.

Finally, on the day of the anniversary of the executions, Ben visited the graves of Beast and Belle in the early moments of dawn. He cried, laid down flowers, apologized, and said he forgave them. He didn't know that Mal would do the exact same thing in a few hours.

Then, Ben pulled himself together and marched himself to the courthouse in downtown Auradon City. An hour later, he had successfully changed his legal name from Benjamin to Benevolent, just to spite Maleficent since she hated the name she had given him because it was 'sweet' and totally unfitting for a child of hers. Of course, this was just another way he sought to prove he wanted nothing to do with Maleficent's lineage. He would live up to his name and be the good king Auradon deserved.

I had a lot of fun writing this story for you guys! I know this story has gone through periods of no updates for months, but it is finally completed. Thank you so much for sticking with it and continuing to read. My stories would not be possible without you guys as supportive readers and reviewers. But as I said, this story is now complete and will not receive any new updates. If you wish to know when I post new stuff, please give me an author follow and be sure to check out my other stories. For now, keep reading and keep loving life.

Foarrin