"We have located Diablo."
Mal's head snapped up from where she'd fallen asleep on Ben's arm, not wasting any time as she rushed to meet the three older women the second they came through the door. "Tell me where he is."
All three fairies shared a glance before Merriweather took the lead. "Bald Mountain…almost a week's journey on horseback. Three in a car…"
Mal touched the golden dragon around her throat. "How about flying?"
Everyone appeared confused, but the three fairies knew exactly what she was talking about. "The magic that it would take to do what you asking…it is not Good magic. It will consume you, it will twist your mind until only the worst parts are left."
"Mal…what is she talking about?" Belle was looking at her, her eyes concerned.
"The Dragon's Eye…Maleficent's scepter...allows the wielder to transform into a dragon at will. A dragon born of the scepter will be consumed with anger, rage, pain… Nothing good of the person will remain while in this form." Merriweather spoke in an ominous tone. "You will not be the good person you want to be."
"Mal…" Belle put a hand to her mouth.
"Don't try to tell it's the wrong thing to do…or that I don't have to do it." She pointed at the ever worsening Ben. "He will die if I don't. He can't die!"
"Ben wouldn't want you to do this for him." Belle reasoned, hazel eyes shining like her son's did. "He wouldn't ask you to endanger yourself."
"He is the King! He is more needed than me…" Mal turned to Ben, remembering everyone's joyous smiles and congratulations at his coronation, how his father told him he'd be a great King, how he smiled at her as walked down the aisle to claim his crown… In a rare public showing of emotion, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. She closed her eyes, breathing in his familiar cologne and hoped that she would still care for him when everything was over. A single tear trailed down her cheek as she turned to face the fairies. "Take me to the scepter."
Walking past her friends, they all wore identical expressions of disbelief and sadness. Evie had tears creating black trails down her face and she was clutching the apple pendent around her neck tightly. Jay's dark eyes were watery as he clenched his jaw and Carlos…he looked like a kicked puppy.
She walked up to Evie and took her by the shoulders. "Tell Ben I did this for him. Tell him I lo-" Love…the word died in her throat. She'd never told him that she loved him. She'd been afraid to say it, to admit to him what she hadn't admitted to herself until just now. She loved Ben…
"Mal…" Evie's lip quivered.
"Just tell him for me." Mal didn't wait to see if she nodded as she followed the three fairies to the carriage that would take them to the Cultural Museum. She spun the ring around her finger, not looking at any of them during the long ride. She followed them silently to a vault below the museum and watched as they opened the safe with a complicated spell.
There, she was led down a dark passage way and into a large cavern, where the scepter lay on a stone table covered in protective runes. It took the three of then about a minute for the runes to dissolve back into the rock. "You've really spared no expense."
"The Dragon's Eye should've never been on the Isle of the Lost in the first place." This was Flora, who then waved her up. "Come on dear."
Daughter of Maleficent…take your birthright…
A voice whispered in her mind, her hand hovering over the carved wood. Mal looked up at the three fairies and before she grabbed it, said, "If I turn on anyone…take me down."
Merriweather's stern face softened at the request, but she didn't seem surprised as she replied, "Of course."
Mal took a breath and brought the faces of Evie, Carlos, Jay, Ben, Belle…anyone and everyone she ever cared to the front of her mind before curling her fingers around the scepter.
Revenge on the fairies…revenge on them all…
She could feel the dark energy seep into her, feel it pulling out every ugly feeling she'd ever had against anyone. Grinding her teeth, she picked it up and began the walk up to the surface, aware of the three fairies with their wands at the ready.
Let the King die and you will be Queen…Queen of Auradon…
NO! Ben's laugh echoed in her ears, the ghost of his lips pressed to her skin, his arms around her… It took everything Mal had to shove the whispering voice to the darkest corner of her mind as she walked into the courtyard, his ring shining in the sunlight. Closing her eyes, she took one last deep breath and concentrated on the form she wanted to take.
The transformation wasn't instantaneous and Mal let out a cry of pain as her spine lengthen out with a crack, every bone doing the same as she sank to her knees. She felt her face stretch out into a narrow muzzle and her teeth sharpen into fangs, ebony scales quickly covering what was once pale skin. Talons now dug into the ground as her wings unfurled with a snap.
She swung her head around, disoriented for a moment. Everything was louder, brighter… Mal looked down at the fairies who couldn't help but take hesitant steps back with their wands raised. Merriweather looked up at her. "Concentrate on Ben…take revenge on the man who did this to him."
The word 'revenge' was like a trigger and suddenly everything snapped into focus. The power of the Dragon's Eye pulsed within her chest as the muscles in her powerful legs bunched and she launched into the air with a loud roar. She didn't look back as she rose higher and higher…ignoring the whispering voice that told her to burn the castle to the ground. She would take out Diablo and save Ben, even if it meant she died trying.
