Warming Hearts

A New and Happy Beginning Part One

Warming Hearts

A/N: Finally, it's done! This is the last chapter of this story, and I loved how it turned out, even though it was such a doozy. I thank all of you readers who loved this story.

Now, let us come to the amazing conclusion of Chapter 25. Roll it!

Chapter 25

A New and Happy Beginning

Part One

About two weeks later, a most grand and glorious ball was held in honor of Dawn's return to society after so long, along with a few surprise announcements. Salvia took care of the invitations to the nobility while Ash and Dawn decided to invite some of his old friends, personally telling them that he will be there, even Candice in Snowpoint City.

During that time, everyone got the castle ready for guests for the first time since Ash had first arrived months before. But even then, the castle wasn't in the best condition. Though it was restored to its former glory, things still had to be perfect. Floors were polished, the furniture was dusted, and the chandeliers were cleaned until they were practically sparkling in the sunlight.

The servants seemed to be much happier in their work, now that everything was back to normal. Well, minus Dawn's bad attitude from before. Now, thanks to Delia and the chagrin of Ash, she actually helped them with the servants' work. Ash didn't mind helping them, but he was only disdained because his mother asked him to help, and mostly with her in the royal gardens. Dawn laughed out loud at her love's horrified face when his mother asked him to help her and Leona spruce up the gardens, and he quickly offered himself to help elsewhere.

Ash was super excited for Dawn to finally meet his friends, especially since he had a feeling that most of them would really like her. Dawn was much more nervous, however. These were her love's friends that he had known for years and most of them were like family to him. But Ash assured her that everything would be fine, knowing that things could only get better for them from then on.

But now, two weeks later, the clean and pristine ballroom was almost filled to its full capacity with guests; both noble and common. Even the castle servants were invited to attend as honored guests themselves, much to their delight. Leona was wearing a nice cream orange dress with bold green trim while Kenny wore a simple teal suit. Zoey wore a cream dress with lime green trim and MJ wore a cute purple dress, her hair tied up in a braid. Paris wore a sky blue dress similar to her usual one, but it had sleeves and went down to her feet.

Standing near the front of the room were Ash and his mother, being the guests of honor for the most special occasion. Delia wore a simple white gown with a sweetheart neckline that Paris had made for her and her hair was actually down. Ash was wearing a simple black tuxedo, his untamed raven hair devoid of any hat.

Ash's eyes wandered around to see if he could see his friends anywhere in the ballroom. Finally, he saw Brock, Misty, May, and Max all standing together in a small huddle. Brock was wearing a dark blue tuxedo with a black bow tie at the collar. Misty wore a light blue dress that faded to aquamarine at the bottom of it and it had a slit in the skirt up to her knee. May wore a lavender gown with her hair having twin gold hair clips on both sides. Max wore a dark green suit with a velvet red bow tie.

Then, Ash soon saw Iris and Cilan standing next to each other near one of the many buffet tables on the other side of the ballroom. Cilan was wearing a much more formal tuxedo than what he'd worn during their journey in Unova and Iris was wearing a lime green gown that reminded him of what she'd worn when she was looking for payback against those beauty-obsessed women for insulting her Emolga. That memory made him lightly blush, for that was another serious blow to his masculine pride. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen ever again.