Chapter Text
It was a long trek back to the blimp without the jeep, but with the insanity of the night's events, everyone could agree that it was easy enough.
It also took a few trips to successfully bring them all back up to the blimp. Mavis was transformed back into her vampire-self first and, with her dad’s help in their bat forms, they had to grab everyone one by one to make the flight up to the gondola until finally they were safely on board and out of the rest of the jungle's dangers. Voices buzzed in excitement as Mavis approached the center of the ship with the Monsterfication ray in hand. She turned it on, switching the ray to its ‘Make Monster’ setting and looked up.
“Okay,” she said. “Are we ready?”
Eunice, Wanda, Crystal, Mandy, Dennis, and Winnie all lined up in front of her without a moment to spare.
“Fire away Mavis!” Mandy assured.
Mavis lifted the beam, but was stopped abruptly when Eunice screamed out, “WAAAIT!!” The woman puffed up her hair again, snapped one last quick selfie, and then pocketed her phone. “Okay, okay, now you can go ahead!”
Mavis just laughed to herself in spite of her aunt and zapped the four women and two children. The red beam enveloped them and successfully turned them back into their regular monster selves. Mandy got her bandages back. Crystal was nowhere to be seen, save for her glasses. Wanda and Winnie regrew all of their deep, gray fur. Dennis’s fangs popped back out. And Eunice’s stitches were back in their place. At last, all was returned to the way it was.
“Wooo-hooo!” Murray cried out in joy. He took Mandy by the hand, twirled her around once, and reeled her in so they were hip to hip. “Now there’s my hot date!” Mandy giggled, and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“Mom!” the wolf pups all cried, swarming Wanda with licks and nuzzles all over. The mother werewolf laughed and embraced her many children, Wayne smiling at the reunion.
“Yay, we’re back!” Dennis and Winnie cheered, the happy children giving each other high-fives and running off to play.
“Crystal!” Griffin exclaimed, coming up to his invisible girlfriend. “I gotta say, you looked pretty good as a human.”
Crystal's glasses bobbed up and down as she nodded. “Yeah, but it’s a lot easier to get around when you’re invisible. Plus, you don’t have to worry about all these extra clothes.” With that, she grabbed the hem of her temporary tablecloth dress and tugged the garment off, tossing it to the side of the blimp floor.
Griffin was glad that she could not see the high blush that rose in his cheeks. “Yes, I hear you on that,” was all he said in agreement.
Only Eunice remained a little bit sad at the transformation back. Frank noticed, and put a reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, honey,” he said. “You’ve still got stitches in all the right places.”
Eunice smiled. “Awww, Fraaaank…” She grabbed him by the necktie and yanked him toward her, peppering his face with kisses and leaving bright red lipstick marks in her wake. The blushing Stein’s face grew a darker shade of blue as a lovestruck grin spread across his face.
Toward the front of the ship, at the blimp’s steering wheel, Dracula was guiding the great zeppelin across the sky and back home. Ericka was by his side, reeling over everything that had happened.
“I was really a 300-foot giant monster?” she asked, for the third time.
“Yes, darling. It was quite scary actually,” Dracula admitted.
Ericka stared at him in surprise. “You? Afraid? I thought the Lord of Darkness would practically be immune to fear!”
“Not the way it was,” he said with a shudder as he remembered her ferocity. Then he relaxed and gave her a smile. “At least I have you all back to normal,” he said with relief.
“Yeah…” Ericka replied, a little bit pensive. “You know, it was pretty fun being a monster, actually. I wonder…” she picked up the Monsterfication ray and examined the gem at the end of it. “Maybe my great-grandfather could make some kind of adjustment where I can be monster, but still have my personality. Not have it go all haywire like it did.”
She looked up at him to see how he would consider the thought, but Dracula was shaking his head. “No, no, sweetheart. I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
"Come on, honey, not even the fangs? Those are pretty cool. You can at least make me a vampire, right?"
Drac chuckled. "I might consider it in the future. But for now, I'd like to enjoy my adorable little human wife for just a little while longer."
Ericka giggled. "Hey, I'm not that little!"
Drac laughed. "Whatever you say, my love." She raised an eyebrow at him but did not argue the matter any further as he had leaned in to kiss her, smooching her soft pink lips. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly.
Mavis watched from a little further inside the blimp, strangely satisfied to see her father and Ericka together and so content. Johnny put a comforting hand on her shoulder for reassurance.
"Go on, hon," he encouraged, gesturing to the pair. "They're all alone. Now's your chance."
Mavis took a deep breath and nodded. Her husband was right. It was time to tie up all of the loose ends.
She walked up to them, fidgeting with her fingers and keeping her gaze averted until one of them took notice of her. Ericka broke away from their little bubble of affection first, and saw the girl. She pushed Drac and his puckered lips back before he could steal another kiss.
“Drac!” she giggled. “Stop it! Really, Mavis is here and she wants to talk.”
“Oh, whoops! Sorry!” Drac apologized, then he turned his attention fully toward Mavis. “Hey, honeybat!" he said brightly.
"Hi Dad, hi Ericka," she said, nodding to each of them, her voice barely audible. She bit her lip nervously as she tried to think of how to start this conversation. A touchy topic that she knew was still very fresh in their minds, but had to be addressed regardless if they ever wanted to make progress.
"Um… back there…. at the Crystal Cave…” she started hesitantly, “What I said to you, Ericka… I hope you didn't think it was just a big load of bat-poop… because it wasn't." She dared to look up at them and gauge their reaction before continuing. They both remained silent, expressions unreadable. She pressed on.
“I really did mean what I said. I meant it from the bottom of my heart. Stake it, and hope to die,” she added, making the motions with her hands. “You are part of my family Ericka. Our family,” Mavis said, gesturing out to the monsters on board who were chatting among each other. “And… I’m sorry that it took me so long to actually realize it.”
Mavis dropped her gaze and looked down at her shoes. Ericka leaned forward to grab her hand, drawing her attention back up. She gave a soft smile.
“It’s okay, Mavis. I know that this change is a bit difficult. It’s difficult for me, too. Of course, I never want to be a monster-hunter again, but before your Dad” - she reached out and with her other hand and clamped it around his - “it was all I ever knew. Now, I’m not even sure what the future holds for us. But, whatever happens, I promise that we will always have each other and our family.”
“And the hotel!” Drac added, squeezing her hand.
Ericka giggled. “Yes, and the hotel.”
Mavis smiled, and upon hearing Ericka’s words, remembered something important. A subject that had been briefly mentioned in passing when Mavis’s lie unraveled in front of everyone around the campfire. “Yeah, about the hotel…”
Drac and Ericka looked at her curiously as she began speaking. They could tell by her tone that something wanted to say something important, though they didn't know what. She continued.
“There’s… something I want to ask you. Look, I uh, I know that a lot has happened these past few days. But I was hoping, if you guys still had the thought in mind, that since you’re, you know, married and all now, I think the hotel is… is… “
Mavis’s eyes widened as she, for the first time since entering back to Transylvania, looked out of the window. And what she saw made her gape in horror. “Is, DESTROYED!!”
“What?!” Drac cried. He raced over to the gondola window and to his terror saw that what Mavis had said was indeed true. Hotel Transylvania now only remained a smoking husk of rubble and debris, a few charred remains of its former glory hanging above the blackened landscape. The building itself was nothing more than a pile of bricks and ash, completely and utterly destroyed. It didn’t matter; all he could do was stare at the sight with shock and dread on his face, unable to process anything else at this moment.
The monsters ran up to the window and gasped at the mess before them.
“Woah! What happened?” Johnny asked.
Thundering footsteps sounded in response. Out of the smoke, silhouetted by the dim firelight of some of the flames that licked below, came Van Helsing’s pet guinea pig, Gigi. She was much much bigger than the last time Drac had laid eyes on her, her fur even more matted, her horns even longer, and her sharp teeth jutting out menacingly from her jaw. Her red eyes glowed threateningly as she tossed her head back and let out an earth-shattering roar into the night sky, shaking everything from the inside of the blimp’s gondola and sending shivers down everyone’s spine. Then, as if nothing had happened, she nibbled at a broken piece of the hotel as though it were a mere chew toy meant to entertain her.
Dracula was still dumbfounded.
“My… my… my HOTEL!!!!!” he bellowed. His puzzled shock quickly turned into a boiling rage. In an instant, he shapeshifted into a bat, grabbed the Monsterfication ray, and zipped outside the blimp as fast as his little bat wings could carry him. He aimed the ray at the giant guinea pig, all the while ranting about his property.
“MY HOTEL MY HOTEL MY HOTEL, MY HOOOTTEEELLL!!!!”
The Monsterficaiton ray’s beam zapped Gigi, turning her from the giant beast she was right back into her diminutive little rodent state. Without all her additional monster features, the creature was nothing more than a regular little housepet. She gave a squeak and scurried away among the rocks.
Dracula in the meantime landed in his humanoid form in front of the remains. The anger had fizzled down, replaced again by that shock he had felt earlier. “My hotel…” he whispered.
His hotel - his most prized possession, his most cherished work, his life-long dream, his sanctuary from the outside world and home for him and his friends and family - it was completely gone. He looked among the mess, trying to distinguish all of the broken pieces. A splintered desk phone lay on the ground, torn clean in two with the curling cord hanging loosely from it. A doorknob ripped from its frame, the knob itself crushed to a useless pile of metal. A calling bell smashed beyond recognition in the wreckage. Destroyed. Ruined. Gone. Just like that. His home was no more.
Behind him, the blimp had landed. Drac’s Mavis, Johnny, Ericka, and the rest of the monsters piled out but approached the grounds with slow, cautious steps. They were just as stunned to see what had happened as well and took it all in.
Then, a couple of the broken stone slabs shifted. All eyes immediately turned to the source of the noise, and they saw Tinkles and the hotel dogs rise out of the rubble. Tinkles barked happily when he saw Drac, and then lolled his tongue out, dropping what he had been holding inside his mouth. It fell to the ground in a clatter of metal, and then got itself upright. It was Van Helsing! He was covered in dog slobber, and a little less than pleased to be so. He grimaced and shook himself, fixing the little military helmet that was still on his head. Looking up at the Count, Van Helsing spoke before the vampire could say anything to him.
"I can assure you, Dracula, that this is not my doing! It was Gigi! She broke free of the piping that you guys left her in, and just went on a rampage all throughout after that! It was impossible to stop her, so we had to evacuate everyone from the hotel before they wound up getting caught in…” He paused awkwardly, and gestured out to the destruction. “This.”
Dracula shook his head. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to tell Van Helsing what it felt like to lose such a valuable piece of himself with the loss of his hotel. He wanted to say that this was exactly the kind of thing he would expect when leaving Van Helsing in charge. But he didn’t say anything. He simply did not have the energy to. So instead, he sighed, closing his eyes and slumping his shoulders in defeat. It was over. Ericka walked to her husband, wrapping her arm around him and holding him close, his sadness washing over her as well like a tidal wave.
Mavis stared long and hard at her father, pitying him immensely. The hotel had been her home, too. She remembered how hard he had worked with his construction team to get it right, remembered how she and her father would take flights as bats while it was being built to see its progress. And she would always remember that first day that it opened. Mavis herself got to cut the ribbon, her dad hugging her little shoulders as his friends happily entered to see what he had made for them. She also remembered how many times her father, unaware of Mavis having listened, would approach her mother’s portrait and whisper his promises to her of the hotel, promising to keep their daughter safe along with any monster that needed the security. But now it seemed that it was no more. She took a step forward, stepping on an object underneath her foot. She looked down, picked it up, and with a gasp realized what it was. The sight of it made her regain a little bit of confidence despite the devastation surrounding them.
Maybe, she thought, it doesn’t have to end this way.
When she had regained her senses, Mavis calmly approached her father and Ericka. She spoke softly to him. “Dad… I’m really sorry about what happened.” He turned to look at her, and her heart broke at the sight of tears welling in his eyes. Still, she continued talking. “But… maybe I can fix it for you.”
She held out the object in her hands, and Dracula looked at it. It was the key of the hotel, long and thick with a bat-shaped head at one end and the square-like ridges that would go into the keyhole on the other.
Dracula looked back up at her, distress clear on his face.
“But Mavy,” he began. “The hotel, it’s okay honeybat, I can rebuild it myself, it’s not a problem - “
“No, Dad,” Mavis interrupted firmly. She planted her feet on the ground and stared her father straight in the eyes. “You’re married again. You’ve run this hotel and have handled its ups and downs for so, so long. And if it’s anyone who deserves a break, it’s you.” She held up the key, running her fingers along it. "You built it once, Dad. Now please, let me rebuild it for you."
Dracula stared at her, his expression filled with mixed emotions. A part of him wanted to refuse the offer. He had been the owner of the hotel, and as owner, it was his responsibility to take care of it. But another part, a bigger part that had been slowly but surely growing inside him since Ericka had first even become his girlfriend, felt compelled to accept. Mavis, his daughter, was more than ready to take over the duties if she herself felt ready. She had proven on many occasions to love working there and helping the guests and staff be happy. And, with her actions today that solidified her trust with Ericka, he knew that she could be the one to take over.
After some time, he finally nodded, smiling sadly. He then reached over to gently grab his daughter’s shoulder. “Okay,” he said, voice still wavering slightly from the emotion. “If you really think that you can handle everything… Then go ahead. Build the hotel for me. Just… promise me something."
Mavis nodded quickly. "Of course, Dad. Anything."
He paused, searching her face carefully. "Rebuild the hotel the way you want to. It's yours now. You and Johnny's. And I promise that I'll love it no matter how it turns out."
"Are you sure?" Mavis asked.
Drac smiled warmly. "It's time for a new chapter... in both our lives." Ericka intertwined her fingers with Drac’s, and Johnny came up to copy the action with Mavis. With the hotel key in her hand, she and her husband as owners, and Drac and Ericka about to set off to enjoy their retirement, Mavis felt lighter than she ever did before. A new sense of excitement spread throughout her body, bringing a smile to her face. This was her future now. One where she knew her father would be safe, where she and Ericka would have peace, and, most importantly, one where they all were happy together.
And she couldn't wait to get it started.