Pɾιɳƈҽʂʂ σϝ ƚԋҽ Dαɱɳҽԃ

ȶʀօʊɮʟɛɖ աǟȶɛʀֆ

"Well, you girls have to calm your nerves and show everyone down there that it doesn't matter what side of the bridge we came from," Hadie said referring to the news cast from earlier in the week. He leaned down and gave both of his sisters a kiss on the cheeks then reached out to hold his sisters' hands and gave them both a supportive squeeze. Both squeezed back. He looked at Mal, "It doesn't need to be perfect for anyone but you two. It's your day. Enjoy it, yeah."

She gave him a half smile and nodded moving in to hug him tightly. He hugged her back before letting go and waving them off to go join the others on deck.

Holly pushed a piece of Mal's hair back into her bun, "are you ready?"

Mal shook her head nervously, "Not really no." She hopped a bit and flapped her hand, "but I'm gonna do it."

"And you're gonna kill it," Holly assured with a smile. She could see the beginnings of nervous tears welling in her sisters' eyes, "Wanna do it together?"

Mal tilted her head, loose strands from her bun falling in her face, she whipped her eyes carefully so as not to smudge her make up, "I'm pretty sure that's against the rules."

Holly rolled her eyes with a smirk, a hint of the old Holly in there, the Holly that loved causing trouble, that one that thrived in chaos and havoc. "Since when have we ever cared about the rules?"

~~~

The horns blew at the top of the stairs, "It's starting," Lonnie told Ginny and Harry excitedly leading them to their friends in the crowd.

Lumiere walked up to the top of the steps. "Presenting Princess Holly," a spotlight shone on the top of the steps but instead of just Holly walking out Mal stepped out with her one hand holding her sisters and the other holding the hem of her dress. The elders in the crowd gasped at the display. They were breaking tradition; the future queen was not supposed to come out with a mere lady of the court. They were definitely also upset about Holly's status being acknowledged. Jay hid a small smile; Holly was their rock, something told him that whatever she did tonight would change Mal's mind about leaving. Lumiere barely even blinked, "and the future Lady Mal." He had met Holly a number of times and bore witness to her lack of regard to tradition in favor of the emotional and physical needs of others; she would make a fine queen one day.

Holly kept a tight hold on Mal's hand, and they walked down the steps together. Holly's gaze swept over the crowd and landed at the bottom of the steps. She fully expected the first couple there. Philip and Aurora, while Leah and Audrey had been mean and downright nasty to Mal, they had always been kind, accepting and considerate. Philip would walk up a few steps and take Mal's hand leading her down the rest of the way as was customary.

They were doing this at a time When Belle and Adam were out town, it was intentionally scheduled around this time so that they didn't have the chance to intervene. Holly didn't expect anyone to walk her down the stairs and she was fine with that so long as she was in Ben's embrace when he arrived. However, her gaze landed on the couple standing next to Aurora and Philip. She hadn't expected to see them... Well ever.

Everyone was standing a little aways from them but still acting like their attendance was completely normal. Well maybe it was considering that their children went to school here like ordinary mortals, and the fact that their future queen was a demigoddess.

Philip and Heracles walked up to the two girls, The mortal Prince taking Mal's free hand and the immortal Prince taking Holly's. "You both look wonderful," Philip told them.

Holly smiled at him, "Thank you sir."

Mal placed a hand on the golden lace on her red dress, "Oh thank you."