Hello Descendants Lovers! I sincerely and humbly apologize for the extremely long delay. With everything going on, its been very difficult. Our family was down with the Tampa flu a month back but we are better now (We were tested.) But now this COVID-19 has really put a damper on everything. While many of you guys have to be quarantined or are laid off work during this time, I have been deemed an essential manufacturing worker so nothing has really changed for me. As I have said in my previous apologies, my work requires a lot of shift differences and overtime. My shifts are even crazier now and we are having a lot more overtime than usual.

But for those who are still working during this time, especially if you are a doctor, nurse, first responder, grocery store worker, trucker, law enforcement, firefighter, manufacturing, and anyone and everything else that is essential during this difficult time, I just want to say thank you for all you do and all you have to go through. I hope that this will all be over soon, so just hang in there, guys! We are in this together, and together, we will get through this!

But for all those who have to be quarantined or are laid off, I say the same thing. Just hang in there. No one is alone. We are gonna get through this together! But every single person out there, stay safe and well!

With all that being said, let's get back to the story!

The day of the party had arrived, and Mal and Evie had been up early getting ready. Evie was very happy that she didn't have to worry about making the dresses or suits for the party this time. While she enjoyed it all the other times, this was a time she was thankful she didn't have to do it. She wasn't sure if anyone would want her to make anything for them after everything that had happened.

Evie stared at her closet blankly. She was supposed to be picking out what dress she wanted to wear, but she couldn't do anything except let thousands of thoughts rush through her head. Do they all really hate me? Am I overthinking this? Am I overreacting? What if they really knew what really happened? Would they forgive me? Have they already forgiven me? Are they going to forget it ever happened? Because that would be fine with me.

Evie was brought back to reality when she heard Mal walk up behind her. "Trouble deciding?"

"Yep," Evie replied. She was, in fact, having trouble deciding what she wanted to wear.

"Yeah me too. I can't decide whether I want to wear the Corindantion dress or the Cotillion dress," Mal replied, walking back to her bed where two dresses were laid out.

"Actually, I think I can help with that," Evie suddenly remembered when she saw the dress she had been working on only days ago. She grabbed the hanger and carefully pulled the dress out of her closet. "I was saving this for a special occasion, and I think this counts." Evie walked to Mal with the dress in front of her.

The dress almost touched the ground with a small ribbon tied in the middle. The material was a soft velvet with sparkles. The colors of black, green and purple showed up brilliantly with the glitter like sparkles that covered the dress.

Mal let out a gasp and put her hands over her mouth. "Oh, Evie, it's..." Mal was a loss for words. The dress was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen before. She took the dress from Evie and stared it with awe. "Wow. I love it. Thank you," Mal gave her friend a tight hug. Evie returned the hug with a smile. As soon as the friends released, Mal immediately ran to the bathroom to change into the dress.

That had made Evie's day. Seeing Mal happy made her even happier. But it didn't change the fact that she still had nothing to wear. She walked back to her closet and looked again.

A couple of minutes had passed and Mal walked out and revealed herself to Evie. The dress fit perfectly. Evie was almost in tears of how beautiful her friend look. "You look absolutely sensational," Evie told Mal.

"It does look good, doesn't it?" Mal replied as she looked down at the dress. She looked back up at Evie. "Did you decide what to wear yet?"

"Yeah. I think I'll just stick with the dress I wore to the Corindantion," Evie said as she pulled the dress from the closet.

Mal noticed that Evie didn't seem thrilled with the dress she decided to wear. She studied the dress. Although it was a very pretty dress, she wondered if she could do more to it. "Hmm. maybe I can help with something," Mal lifted her hand up. "I won't settle for less, now do something more with this dress." Green magic came from Mal's fingers and flashed on the dress. The dress was soon a darker shade of blue with diamonds bedazzled all over it. It was also a shorter length.

Evie looked at the finished work with amazement. "Perfect."

After Evie changed into her dress, she insisted on doing Mal's makeup before her own. Mal sat patiently as Evie tried to pick which shade of eyeshadow would look the best with her new dress. After five minutes of deciding, she finally chose one and started to apply it. She then applied the mascara. Mal hated mascara but Evie always insisted on it.

Evie then started to put on the blush. She let out a small chuckle. "What?" Mal asked.

"I was just remembering when we were doing this for your first date with Ben. Actually, your first date ever."

Mal let out a small laugh. "Yeah. What a date that was."

Evie recalled Mal telling her about the date when Ben brought her back that day. "Well, at least you know how to swim now."

"Ha-ha," Mal commented sarcastically. Evie formed a smile as she placed the blush brush back in the case and put the case away. She took the lip gloss and used her finger to dab some on Mal's lips.

"E?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Evie closed the lip gloss and waited for Mal's question.

Mal spoke slowly. "When were unconsciousness after the fight, could you hear me?"

Evie took a moment to answer. "Yeah. I heard everything you said."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll be honest, I was tired and weak. I felt so terrible and guilty about what happened. I just wanted to let go. I didn't think anyone would care."

Mal felt tears moisten her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Then I heard something, a voice, calling my name. Your voice," Evie placed her hands and Mal's open palms. Mal gripped them tightly.

"After everything I did, you were still there for me," Evie felt her eyes moisten as well. "You went back to the Isle to save me, you brought me back when I was under the curse, you helped close the barrier so the villains couldn't come and take over. You fought beside me. And you gave me a reason to hold on."

Mal quickly wiped away a tear that escaped her eye. "Yeah, but I didn't do all those things alone, though."

"Yeah, we did help her out quite a bit," a male voice came from the opened door. Mal and Evie recognized it immediately: Jay. He walked into the room and stood by the bed.

"Like a lot," Carlos walked in right after Jay and stood next to him.

"Even though everything was my idea," Mal teased.

"Well, there was no way we were going to let you go back there alone," Jay replied.

"There was no way we were going to let you do any of this alone. And just so you know, Evie, we don't blame you for anything. We know how it really went down."

"Thanks, guys. For everything," Evie said.

"You don't have to thank us. We're a family. We're there for each other no matter what," Jay commented.

"We know you would have done the same for any of us," Carlos said.

"You're right. And you guys are the best family anyone could ask for," Evie stated, looking at Mal, Jay, and Carlos.

Mal, Jay, and Carlos shared glances. Smiles appeared on all of their faces. "And you'll always have us," Jay said.

"We'll always have each other," Carlos said.

"And no matter what happens, we will always be a family," Mal said before reaching her arm out with a closed fist. "Cause we're rotten,"

Evie, Jay, and Carlos soon joined Mal with their fists joining in a circle.

"To the core."

What is the party going to be like? Will everyone still blame Evie for everything, or will something change? Find out in the next update!