For a few minutes, silence overtakes everyone. Eventually, Ash, Serena, Holly, Brock, General Wulfric, and Cilan slowly get up before everyone else does. They look around to see the beanstalk completely gone and far in the countryside, Calem lies on the ground lifeless. Serena lets out a sigh before she turns to Ash and pulls him into a tight hug while laying her head on his shoulder.

"It's finally over," she says in relief.

"Yes, Serena," Ash says as he hugs the woman he loves and pets her head gently. "We won."

Instantly, General Wulfric, Cilan, the handmaidens and the counselors let out a deafening cheer as they jump and dance together in celebration. Brock and Holly laugh happily as the tall man lifts the auburn-haired woman up and spins her around before putting her down so that they can kiss passionately. Even Ash and Serena pull their heads back to look at each other with their eyes full of love before they lean in for a tender kiss.

"I love you, my beloved hero," Serena says.

"I love you too, my beauteous queen," Ash says while caressing Serena's cheek. "There will never be a day where I will stop loving you."

Serena's ocean blue eye glimmer with joy once more and the two of them lean in for a deeper kiss until...

"Ash! Brock!"

Everyone stops celebrating to see Iris running towards them with a frantic look while carrying Maynor on her back with a back pouch. Ash and Brock smile as they see their friend run over to them.

"Are you guys alright?" She asks worryingly. "I was coming come from the market with Maynor and saw the beanstalk break apart and someone falling off it and -"

Suddenly, Iris' voice dies in her throat when she sees a familiar honey blonde woman with her arms around her raven-haired friend. The purple-haired woman's eyes widen in shock as Serena gives her a warm smile.

"Y-y-your Majesty?!" Iris asks frantically.  

"Hello, Iris," Serena says happily. "It's wonderful to see you again."

"B-b-b-but if you're here then...then..." Iris says before she loses her voice and turns around to see Holly giving her a friendly smile while she and Brock are still in each other's arms and General Wulfric giving her a smirk. But the purple-haired woman stops turning when she sees a skinny man with green hair staring at her intently. The married couple stand still for a moment before Iris' eyes start to water and her mouth quivers uncontrollably. She whimpers as she slowly moves her legs toward her husband.

"Ci...Ci-c-c-ci-Cilan?" She manages to say.

Cilan's eyes light up and a smile forms on his face as he runs over to his wife. By the time they are only a couple feet away, Iris' legs give in and Cilan catches her in time leaving them in kneeling position as Iris begins crying hysterically on Cilan's chest while grabbing him by the shirt with both hands.

"CILA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAN!" Iris wails as she holds on to her husband who wraps his arms around her and lays his head on top of hers, struggling not to cry himself.

"I-Iris," he manages to say back as he holds on to his emotional wife.

Eventually, Iris lifts her head to look upon Cilan for a moment and pulls him in for a kiss by his shirt. As soon as they part, the purple-haired woman suddenly wraps her arms around her husband's neck and pulls his head down to her height before smothering his face with kisses all over his face. When she finishes, she stares at Cilan with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Tell me this isn't a dream," she whimpers. "Please tell me you really are here and I'm not going to wake up and realize that you're still dead."

Cilan smiles as he looks deep into Iris' eyes that are already red from her tears.

"As surely as The Lord lives, my dear Iris, this is no dream," he says caressing her cheek. "I am very much alive and you will never see another day without me for as long as we live."

Iris smiles and looks like she's getting ready to cry again.

"Oh Cilan!" she says while squeezing her husband's head affectionately. "My Cilan!"

Cilan smiles and hugs his wife back. The moment is soon interrupted, however, when a soft coo is heard from behind Iris.

"Uh... is there a baby around here?" Cilan asks confused.

Iris suddenly remembers that Maynor is still on her back pouch and smiles brightly as she releases Cilan from her possessive headlock. Ash and Brock smile at each other knowing what's about to happen as Iris takes off her pouch, picks up the child and holds it in front of her husband.

"Cilan, this is your son," she says proudly before turning to look at the thirteen-month-old boy. "Maynor, this is your papa."

All eyes are on Cilian who stares at Maynor in shock. The minstrel would instantly doubt that what his wife said is true were it not for the toddler unmistakably having Cilian's shining green hair and eyes and Iris' dark skin. Iris hands Maynor to his father who slowly stands up with his eyes never leaving the little boy.

"I...I...I have a boy," Cilian manages to say before turning to Iris. "I have a boy."

Iris' smile grows as she quickly stands up and nods.

"Yes," she says. "Yes, you have a boy."

Cilan begins to chuckle in disbelief before he begins to happily laugh out loud, lift Maynor up and spin in joy.

"I have a son!" He yells. "I have a son! I have a little boy! I'm a papa! I'm a papa!"

Maynor laughs along with his father, amused by his little ride before Cilan lowers his son and turns to everyone excitedly.

"Everyone, I'm a father!" he exclaims hysterically! "I've had a son the entire time we were captured and now I finally got to meet him! Your Highness, I'm a daddy!"

"Yes, Cilan, I can see that you're a daddy," Serena says giggling at her minstrel's enthusiasm.

Cilan continues to laugh with glee before he turns to Iris and gives her a sad smile.

"Oh my darling," he says walking over to her and stroking her cheek with his free hand. "I'm so sorry I was not there for you when you -"

"Stop it, Cilan," Iris says as she hugs the arm that is caressing her cheek. "You're here now and we have so much of our little Maynor's life ahead of us."

Cilan smiles at his wife and they lean in for another kiss. Ash and Serena smile at each other, happy to have witnessed their reunion.

"Hey, look over there!"  A handmaiden suddenly says pointing in the opposite direction from everyone.

The whole group turns around in confusion until they look down the hill and to their surprise see Lumiose Castle standing tall and proud in its original spot in Lumiose City. They all look in amazement as the harp who is being held by one of the counselors gasps in surprise.

"I don't believe what I am seeing," it says. "The castle is brought back to its original place. It's as if Madame Venus and Calem never did anything with it."

The people cheer in joy to see the castle back in its rightful place. Serena smiles at the sight while Ash holds her from behind.

"After almost two years of being trapped in my own castle, it can finally be home again...our home," she says softly so that only Ash can hear her.

"I know," Ash says before he kisses Serena's shoulder.

Serena smiles with her eyes closed at the feel of her future husband's lips before she opens them and frowns noticing the many houses boarded up in the city.

"Why are many of the houses boarded up and abandoned?" She asks worryingly.

Ash frowns remembering the way things have been since the day of Serena's disappearance.

"Much has happened to our kingdom since you left," he says. "The country has all but collapsed without you."

The Queen frowns sadly, heartbroken to hear what has become of her kingdom. Ash frowns knowing what is on her mind before he gets an idea.

"Hey, harp, is it possible that all that giant gold and jewelry where we found you still in the treasury?" He asks.

"I do not see why they wouldn't, as there was no spell or any other sort of magic that would have kept them from being taken down here with the castle," the harp answers. "And if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then yes, that gold will be more than enough to fix up your kingdom and bring back your people."

Serena's eyes light up and she turns around to face Ash.

"That's right," she says excitedly. "They brought their wealth to the castle. Ash, you're brilliant!"

Ash blushes lightly as Serena plants a firm kiss on his cheek. She hugs him tightly while everyone else smiles before they begin running towards the castle, excited to enter it in its rightful spot. The Queen and her esquire stay behind as Ash hugs Serena back and admire the view of their castle in its proper spot.

"So..." Ash begins. "When are you thinking we should get married?"

Serena beams before she lays her head on his shoulder and sighs.

"Under better circumstances with our kingdom, I would have it that we get married in two months just in time for my next birthday," she says. "Alas, I think it's best to wait until Kalos is back in order with all of its people back before we can have the grand wedding that I've always wanted us to have."

Ash nods in understanding as he strokes Serena's honey blonde hair.

"Well, we waited this long to be together," he says. "I think I can survive to wait a little while longer to be married as long as you stay by my side."

Serena smiles as she squeezes the raven-haired man and closes her eyes in bliss.

"I wouldn't want it any other way, my dearest Ash," she says softly. "No other way at all."

************************************************************************************

That night, Calem's body was burned since there was to way to properly bury him before he began to decay. Meanwhile, Brock and Holly were not as willing to wait as Ash and Serena are to be bonded in holy matrimony. The day after the group properly settled back into the castle, the long engaged couple found the nearest available church to have a small wedding. It wasn't long after that, that Holly was found to be with child much to the newlyweds' indescribable joy. Cilan was quick to learn the ropes of being a parent devotedly with Iris and together they became blissfully happy with Maynor and Iris found herself to be pregnant again not long after Holly did.

True to Ash and the harp's predictions, all the wealth that Madame Venus and Calem brought to the castle is still there and they began to use a mere fraction of it to spread the news to all Kalosians who left that Queen Serena is alive and they can return to their home kingdom. Many were hesitant, but when the others who stayed traveled with the messenger to testify that their beloved queen is alive, those who left happily hopped on ships funded by Her Majesty herself to return to their homes and aided her in bringing their country back to its former glory. Within months, all the people of Kalos have returned to their homeland and Kalos has started to become more prosperous than before with the Queen's newfound wealth.

Thus the time came for the announcement of the grand wedding of Queen Serena and her newly appointed knight, Sir Ash. The people were thrilled to learn that their queen is going to be united with the man she loves. And so on the ides of October, the day finally came for Serena and Ash to marry.

Ash struggles to stay still as he stands by the altar with a priest standing at the center and Brock standing next to him as his best man. The chapel is jam-packed with people as they are waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Ash, calm down," Brock says chuckling in amusement.

"I can't," Ash whines childishly. "I feel so nervous and yet so eager at the same time."

Brock smirks and shakes his head before he pats Ash on the back.

"Don't worry, buddy," he says. "Once it starts everything will fall into place. Take it from a married man."

"What are you talking about?" Ash rebukes. "You didn't have to wait to see Holly walk down the aisle at all. You two just waited until the priest came back with his bible and you two were married within five minutes."

Brock chuckles nervously, knowing that his friend is right. Then he turns to Holly who is sitting at the front row with General Wulfric, Cilan, Maynor, and Iris, both woman having large bellies to show how far they are in their pregnancies. The tall man blows a kiss to his wife who flirtatiously returns the favor. Ash shakes his head in amusement before he finds his heart leaping at the sound of the organ piano playing and everyone in the audience standing up and turning to the other side of the chapel.

As the organ piano plays the wedding march, three little girls dressed in pink dresses walk down the aisle dropping flower petals on the floor. Then, Serena comes in wearing an extravagant wedding dress and a large veil over her head covering her face. Even though Ash can't see her blue eyes through the veil as she walks down the aisle, Ash begins to feel calm knowing that his bride is here at last. When she makes it to the altar, Ash lifts her veil to show Serena beaming with happiness before they turn around to face the priest. After the song ends, the audience sits down and the priest begins his speech.

Much of what the priest says during the first couple of minutes is a blur for Ash. All he paid attention to was hearing the priest talk about how wonderful it is to have people in love purely bonded in holy matrimony as The Lord intended. Finally, the priest turns to him and asks if he takes Serena to be his wife and with a toothy grin he answers, "I do." Then the priest turns to Serena asking if she takes Ash to be her husband and she turns to Ash with love glowing in her eyes and says, "I do." Ash's heart leaps at the sound of those two words before the priest calls for everyone to bow their heads for a prayer and once he finishes it, he looks at the bride and the groom with a sincere smile.

"By the power invested in me and in the name of The Father, and The Son, and the Holy Spirit, I now pronounce you husband and wife," he announces before saying to Ash, "You may kiss your bride."

Even after having many kisses with the woman he deeply loves since the day of Madame Venus and Calem's defeat, Ash feels butterflies in his stomach knowing this will be his first time with Serena as his wife. Nevertheless, he takes a step closer to his honey blonde bride and caresses her cheek lovingly with his eyes glued to hers before he leans in for the kiss.

The audience cheers with thunderous applause as Serena wraps her arms around her husband to deepen their kiss. When they part, they stare at each other's eyes once more before they embrace with all their might with Serena laughing loudly in joy. They then walk down the aisle with Serena holding Ash's arm and make their way to the nearest balcony were thousands of Kalos citizens are waiting outside to scream and shout with joy. The queen and her husband happily wave to their subjects as trumpets are sounded and people are waving Kalos flags and banners and fireworks are exploding high over Lumiose Castle.

"Look at all of them cheering for you," Ash says smiling at his wife.

"No, they're cheering for us," Serena corrects. "Don't forget that they know what you have done to bring me, Holly, Cilan, General Wulfric and the others back to our home and they know how much you love me. They are just as happy that I am yours now as they are that you are finally mine."

Ash smiles as he and Serena turn around and happily kiss in front if their people. The crowd cheers even louder at the sight of the newlyweds' affection.

Eventually, the sun starts set and the wedding feast begins. People are dancing in merriment to the music played by a group of minstrels led by Cilan. Ash and Serena are at their table watching as Ash stuffs himself with food much to his wife's amusement. Brock and Holly dance carefully in a spot away from the other people dancing knowing that Holly cannot move much so far into her pregnancy. Despite that, the two are happy to dance together for their friends while occasionally looking down at Holly's belly and smile, excited to see their child. Eventually, Cilan told his band to take over so that can teach Maynor to dance as best as a father can teach an almost two-year-old boy. Iris watches and encourages her son while her hand is on her pregnant belly and her mind is also excited to meet her second child together with her husband.

After an hour or so of people dancing while Ash, and Serena, and some of the other people feast, Serena stands up and claps her hands for attention.

"Alright everyone," she begins. "Before the festivities can continue, I would like for you to be seated as I have my first dance with my husband."

Ash who has just finished eating a large slice of pie turns to his bride in surprise. He chuckles nervously before he wipes his face with a napkin and follows Serena to the dance floor. Before they get into dancing positions, however, Serena turns to their audience and clears her throat.

"I would like for the minstrels to hold their music for this occasion," she announces. "For you see, when Lumiose Castle was in the land of the clouds, it was also filled with a certain special form of magic where music can come out of thin air and people can gain the urge to sing. I bring this up because I have discovered over the past few months that some of that magic remains."

Ash, Brock, Holly, Cilan, Iris, General Wulfric, and everyone else look at their queen either confused or surprised before she continues.

"Thus, with the help of the magical harp that we brought with us, I have discovered a way to control it and use it for this occasion," Serena says before she turns to Ash and strokes his cheek with a sweet smile. "For as we dance, I want to sing a song to my husband that expresses how much he means to me no matter where he came from and what his title was or is now."

Ash's heart flutters at her kind words before Serena waves her hand and the soft sound of unknown musical instruments begin to emerge out of nowhere. Serena takes Ash's left hand and holds it up while putting her left hand on his shoulder. Ash smiles as he places his free hand on her waist and they slowly begin to dance to the rhythm of the song. Serena closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she opens them and sings with her beautiful voice that her husband loves so much.

https://youtu.be/mWCHDdd6pQ8

    Here comes trouble
    No mistaking
    I'd know you anywhere
    I could sail to the ends of the ocean and
    Find you waiting there

    I've been searching and searching
    Near and far
    Searching and searching
    And there you are
    Our wishes share a star

    I choose you
    I choose you
    What else can I do?
    We're just too good together to part
    What we've shared from the start
    Feels like one beating heart
    I choose you
    I choose you

    Hello, stranger
    Don't I know you?
    Nice to see you my friend
    Did we just scale the top of a mountain, and
    Fly back home again?

I've been looking and looking
    High and low
    Looking and looking
    And...what d'ya know?
    Just like long ago

    I choose you
    I choose you
    What else can I do?
    We're just too good together to part
    What we've shared from the start
    Feels like one beating heart
    I choose you
    I choose you

    I choose you
    I choose you
    On to journeys anew
    With the wonderful friends that I've found
    As the planet spins around
    We're eternally bound
    I choose you
    I choose you

Even though Serena finished singing, the music continues to play and thus the queen and her husband continue to dance for another minute or so. Ash's heart has fully melted by this point and when the music ends he and Serena stop dancing and he pulls her in for the most heartfelt and passionate kiss yet. Despite everyone clapping for the couple, he hears Serena softly moan in pleasure as she smiles, wraps her arms around him and kisses him back.

And so, the festivities continue with everyone dancing along with their queen and her knighted husband for another hour or so until night has fully fallen and everyone leaves to go to bed. Ash and Serena, however, return to the balcony to watch the moon shining brightly over their kingdom with Ash holding his beauteous wife from behind and she, in turn, strokes his face fondly.

"So, not that titles mean much like we agreed, but with only one of us as official royalty, what would that legally make our children?" He asks out if slight curiosity.

Serena giggles lightly and a soft blush appears on her cheeks at the thought of children before she answers.

"Probably princes and princesses since they still have royal blood," she says. "But they can be whatever they wish to be as they get older."

"Sounds perfect," Ash says before kissing Serena's cheek. "Though I like the idea of one becoming a king or queen as kind and wise as their mother."

Serena giggles again before turning her head to face her husband.

"And I'd love to see one become a knight as courageous and dashing as their father," she says. "I can even imagine all of them wanting to become knights at some point in their lives after hearing the story of their father rescuing their mother from an evil plot in the land of the clouds."

This time, it is Ash's turn to blush before he shakes it off and looks back at his wife.

"Whatever future lies ahead have, I can't wait to spend all of it with you," he says softly.

Serena's eyes glimmer as she wraps her arm around Ash's head.

"Neither can I, my darling," she says. "Neither can I."

With that, the two of them lean in for another kiss and they go back to looking at the moonlight for a little while longer before going inside. Unknown to either of them, the bearded man is hiding in the castle courtyard having watched them from his hiding place, writing on his book with a pleased grin.

"Well done, Sir Ash," he says as he closes the book. "Well done indeed."

Without another word, the bearded man sneaks out of the castle grounds and starts heading on his way knowing that raven-haired man, his loving wife, and their friends are going to live happily ever after.

The end.

And that is another lovely amourshipping story finished! Booya! I must admit that this turn out to be a much shorter story than I expected, but I'm glad it's written and done and I can get going on more stories for you guys to enjoy.

As to what those stories are... There is a mixture of possibilities.

I think my main focus for the moment is going to be riding a Sparity story for a contest on fimfiction.net that will be based on the Makoto Shinkai film one of my all-time favorite films, The Garden of Words. As for amourshipping stories, I have been thinking about writing an amourshipping body swap story which will actually take place in the X&Y series. This one will take a while before I start getting ready to publish since it will mostly take place between after Clement leaves for Lumiose City to prepare for his battle with Ash all the way to some point at the end of the series. It's probably going to be my longest amourshipping story yet by a landslide, so, unfortunately, it's going to be a while before I start publishing chapters for you guys to enjoy. Other than that, I've been thinking about writing an amourshipping version of The Nutcracker that I will hope to completely finish and published during Christmas time.

So yeah, a lot of stories to work on in very little time on top of a whole bunch of personal stuff I got going on with me moving into my dad's childhood home and hoping to use that time to grow more as a person while creating more content for all of you. So until then, thank you as always for reading, the Lord be with you, have a great day, and as the paper priest from both the story and the 1974 Jack and the Beanstalk asks...ARE YOU HAPPY?

*cue creepy wedding music from the film*