Edit: I recorded it guys! It's on a spare YouTube account, and listed above. Note that I'm not the best singer, but I don't have any, like, training or whatever. Hope anyone bothering to listen enjoys!

(Author's Note: In this chapter is something I'm extremely proud of. I hope you enjoy it!)

(Took me like three days to even get the right sound from it... haha)

My parents wanted me to stay with them on the North Mountain, but I needed to be back. Ben and Mal's engagement party is in a few days, and I think everyone could use a little joy right now. 

At this moment, nothing's really going on. The party's tomorrow, and I'm alone in what used to be mine and Brit's dorm room. Her side of the room is empty, and kind of sad-looking now that it's not covered in posters of her favorite movies and books.

I'm laying on my stomach on my bed, Sera's journal open in front of me and my colored pencils scattered around it. Mal gave them to me when she found out I liked drawing in black-and-white. She told me that color makes everything better, which is something I never thought I'd hear from her.

But for the first time, I can't think of a single thing to draw. I never really drew before the VK's, and it doesn't feel like I can now that they're gone.

All my mind can focus on is the barrier. Every part of my heart aches when I think about the Isle of the Lost. I never thought I'd miss the Villain Kids.

Two years ago, the mere thought of the barrier opening made my skin crawl. Now, when I think about how those kids looked not so long ago, I smile. So many kids there will never get to experience the magic of Auradon.

But the Isle is amazing, too. So many people here won't ever see the good side of that island.

What could I have done differently? What could I have changed? Can I do something now, to stop all of this?

I stare at my journal. The quote for today was "People say nothing is impossible. But I do nothing every day".

Arson probably picked this one.

Normally this quote would make me imagine stuffed toys dancing around a picnic table, a fat bear tossing a stick into a river, and an adorable donkey moping about the world.

But today it makes me think. The phrase "nothing is impossible" quite literally could be taken the way Pooh takes it. That could be why Arson likes that movie so much. The animals have such strange logic, and yet it makes perfect sense coming from them.

I wonder if anyone ever tries to be more like Winnie the Pooh.

I push myself up into a sitting position, twirling a blue pencil in my fingers. What if I didn't have to see the world through the eyes of everyone around me? What if it didn't matter what the world sees that I can't? What if none of us cared about that? What if we could see things the way children do, a world shining with possibilities?

What if we could change for the better?

I stand, moving to the window and looking outside at the driveway in front of the Beast statue. ♫My story started with a Queen's ice, and Lord's flame♫ I hold up a hand with each phrase, one shimmering with snow and the other with fire.

♫And a King's choice to change♫ In my mind, I watch the limo arriving with Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, though I didn't know their names at the time.

♫So when the four chose good♫

♫And they could finally proclaim♫

♫A Happily Ever After♫ I sing, my mind flashing now to our fists connecting together in a lopsided starfish-type thing at Ben's coronation.

♫Is your choice to end, or start♫

♫A Happily Ever After♫

♫Is following your heart♫ I put my hand over my own heart, turning away from the window in a quick spin.

♫It didn't matter to them♫

♫That this wasn't the story they started with♫

♫It only mattered in the end♫

♫That this was... their Happily Ever After♫

They came here planning to follow what they'd been told all their lives---that they were rotten to the core. But they changed their minds. They changed their lives.

And they're not the only ones. I changed a lot, too.

♫I'll always protect the world I love♫ I move toward my door, spinning in a circle with my hands stretched out, palms open.

♫And when push comes to shove♫

♫When I understand my shadow and fire♫ I stop, considering the blue flames flickering on my fingertips.

♫The world will know what I'm made of!♫ I fling my hands down, a ring of fire erupting around me joyfully.

♫My Happily Ever After♫

♫Wasn't what I thought I wanted♫

♫But my Happily Ever After♫

♫Is so much more than I ever dreamed!♫

♫It shouldn't have mattered so much to me♫

♫That this wasn't the story I was given♫ I whirl my fingers in the air, a storm of ice combined with shadows blasting around my room, whipping through my hair.

♫But what finally set me free♫

♫Was the life I chose, the life I'm living!♫ The storm breaks on the word 'living', coming to a calm rest around my feet.

♫My Happily Ever After!♫

I pause, looking at my hands. My pale, jewelry-covered, one-gloved, blue-nail-polished hands that are so very different from what I was before Carlos, Mal, Evie, and Jay.

♫Before I made that choice, I thought my world was going under♫ With one hand, I close my fist, trapping my powers inside.

♫But when I used my voice, I heard myself as a crash of thunder!♫ I open my palm again, my powers dancing around me. All of them, not only what I held back years ago.

Everyone has powers, whether they're magic or not. I trapped myself when I was younger. I didn't trust people. I wasn't myself. I didn't let myself act kind, and funny, and daring, and protective, and all the other things that make up my heart.

♫My world, my life, my laws♫ I sing, covering my heart with my hand on each word, thumping against my chest to my own music.

♫I don't care what I caused♫

♫Or what I left behind, so long ago-o-o-o!♫ I hold the note out, leaning forward ever so much, one hand extended while the other covers my heart, the feeling inside my chest building with each second.

♫My Happily Ever After!♫

♫Is what I live right now♫ My hands gesture around me, emphasizing each word.

♫And my Happily Ever After♫

♫Is not why I live, but how♫

♫And I choose to live my life♫

♫For those I love around me♫

♫And I choose to live my life♫

I spread my hands wide, closing my eyes and imagining every person I love and trust. My parents, rulers over the cold and the invisible. My friends, the group of misfits that bonded together in the worst of times. Even the ones who started out as my enemies. Sera. Arson. Maira. Endora. Audrey. Even Uma and Harry.

♫For my home, my heart, my family!♫

The image of Uma and Harry is replaced by a barrier, and I open my eyes, looking far out into the distance. The cloud hanging over the Isle. The shimmering yellow barrier just visible in the fading light.

♫But if this is to be the ending of our tale♫

♫I wonder... Is my story doomed to fail?♫

♫Without our worlds joined♫

♫Will we fall... Or prevail?♫ I hold the note, backing away slowly from the window until the backs of my knees hit my bed and I sit down hard. By the empty notebook page. My pencils. And the journal I've filled with my own joy over the past months.

My heart pounds with hope, a smile growing quickly on my face, so fast I press my hands against my skin to suppress a laugh.

Nothing is impossible.

Let's make the impossible happen, then. 

________________________________

TA-DA!!!! I WROTE A SONG!!!

A bad song, one that...um...kinda stinks. BUT I WROTE IT!!!

I KNOW the title sounds like "My Once Upon a Time". But it was unintentional, and I really couldn't bear to change it after I realized the similarity. It fits Ellie so well, really capturing the caring, brave, sarcastic, funny, clever, trusting essence that makes up the daughter of the Snow Queen. 

(It's also been pointed out that it sounds like "Life After Happily Ever After" from Rapunzel's tangled Adventure. XD That was unintentional as well)

But all seriousness. I LOVE "Happily Ever After" and I can't stop singing it in my head. I can't give you guys an actual recording, so just imagine it however you want. But make sure it sounds like a... um... I don't know how to word this. It's a very pretty, drawn-out, slow song that kind of mirrors "If Only" "Speechless" and "Life After Happily Ever After" in the way that slow, pretty, uplifting songs do. Yeah. 

I don't know anything about music. So just... make a tune! 

I hope you liked it as much as I do. I wrote a song! Still geeking over that. Eek!