With how emotional she has been for the last day, Mal decided to do the one thing she's been thinking about for that entire week.

She was going home.

And she was going to do it with the purple scooter she received a few hours prior.

You see, after Ben had gifted the one-seated vehicle to her, the fairy searched her mother's spell-book to see if there were any kind of transportation spells. Within the first minute of looking, Mal found an enchantment that could be used on any type of vehicles, which gave her the idea to use it on her new scooter. It was almost like she was being given various signs that she needed to go home.

Her breakdown in front Ben was the last straw.

After running away from her problems with Ben, Mal headed straight for her dorm room. After changing into an outfit more like her old 'VK' style, she collected a few of her essential belongings—spell-book, sketch-book, and the picture of her precious daughter—before leaving behind a note meant for Ben along with his gold ring. She needed to clear her mind and take a breather. She can't exactly do that when she had a constant reminder of . . . a love she couldn't fully have.

Or at least . . . a love that she could taint with her mental problems.

Once she believed she had everything, Mal escaped from the school before anyone could see her. With a little bit of time and a little bit of fairy magic, Mal was back on the Isle of the Lost by Friday's sunrise.

The first thing Mal did was head to her old hideout to get some rest. After being awake for the past two days in a row, the fairy was both physically and mentally drained. The last thing Mal wanted was to faint right when she was reunited with her daughter. No, she wanted to be well rested so she could catch-up for the time that they've been apart.

But there were a couple things she needed to do first.

After sleeping through nearly the entire day, Mal finally made her way through the decrepit island streets and approached the double doors of a small, shabby salon. A weathered sign above the doors displayed a giant pair of scissors and a perfume bottle bearing the words 'Lady Tremaine's Curl Up and Dye'.

What?

Hades didn't say whether or not Mallory liked her mother's Auradon hairstyle, so the best thing for Mal to do was have her hair changed back. All Mal wants is for her daughter to be happy and if trying to go back to her old self made Lory happy, then so be it.

Anything was worth seeing her beloved daughter's smile and affectionate laughter.

Gazing around to make sure no one was watching her, Mal crept through the peeling paint door, careful to not make a sound.

The salon had pipes and wires exposed in the ceiling, hair dryers made with botched-together pieces of machinery, and steaming glass vials with colorful dyes percolating, running through a system of pipes over a bathtub. To top it all off, the entire place—from the walls, where cracked mirrors hang, to each janky mismatched salon chair—was splattered with streaks of every shade of bright neon dye.

The girl sweeping the colorful salon didn't hear Mal enter, so she continued moving like she was ballroom dancing with the broom. Dizzy, the daughter of Drizella, had on large gold-painted headphones embellished with tiny flowers and pearly metallic beads. She wore a multicolored dress and cat-eye shaped glasses. Each of her nails were painted a different color. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun with the ends bright neon pink.

Dizzy turned in the middle of her 'dance', jumping in surprise when she finally noticed the fairy standing a few feet away. "Mal!" the young teenager exclaimed, her freckled face lighting up as she pulled off her headphones. "Is Evie back too?"

Mal scoffed at the question, knowing her second best friend would never willingly come home like she had. "As if," the fairy retorted as she gazed around the salon. "I, uh, forgot that you guys don't open till midnight. The place looks great; love the splash of colors. I can definitely tell you were the one who decorated."

Dizzy beamed proudly at compliment. She worked really hard on making the place seem more whimsical and friendly. Hearing the praise from the older teenager that she truly respected made Dizzy grateful that she didn't second guess herself during the decoration process—which consisted of closing the salon for three days, much to the disapproval of her grandmother. Speaking of Lady Tremaine . . .

"So what's your work load?" Mal wondered as she eyed Dizzy's apron and the pile of hair she swept moments before. "Has your grandmother given you any customers yet or do you still have the usual chores?"

"That and a witch here and there," Dizzy answered with a careless shrug. "She's letting me do more since she's been busy mending toddler-sized dresses. They look like they were made from Celia's old clothes, but they have a splash of your color scheme. I've asked Grammy who she made them for, but she insists they're for no one. She says she's just bored during her planning period at school, but I think the Facilier's are having another baby and they're hoping for a girl. Celia's acting clueless about it."

"I wouldn't pry too hard," Mal slightly scolded, but her heart warmed at the thought of the two villains helping her little girl like they promised. "Maybe they are keeping her, or him, a secret so they don't get their hopes up along with everyone else. Miscarriages are very common. Your Aunt Anastasia had one a few years ago."

"I remember." Dizzy sighed softly at the memory of her relative being so devastated about her loss. "She hasn't been the same since. She was hoping for a little girl too."

In hopes of changing the subject, Mal wondered, "Dizzy, you used to do Evie's hair, right?"

"I dyed it before all of you left," Dizzy confirmed with a happy smile. "I suggested the darker blue so her black hair could blend better. Those hair-dyes in Auradon aren't working with her beauty. The color is too light, and her hair is frizzy mess now!"

Snickering at the young girl's enthusiastic opinion, Mal questioned, "Do you have any ideas for me? I'm wanting to go back to my old look, if you think that's possible."

"Hmm . . ." Dizzy sized up the fairy, pondering all of the ideas she could do. After having Mal sit in a nearby salon chair, the younger teenager lifted a strand of the blond hair. "Washed-out blond with purple tips? You can't see where your face ends or your hair begins!"

Spinning the fairy in the chair for the fun of it, Dizzy leaned against it with a mischievous smile. "How far will you let me go?"

"As far as you need to," Mal reassured with a calm smile. "All I want is for me to feel like me again before I became . . . sick, or at least the best that you can do. I will be grateful with any changes you can make."

"Yay!" Dizzy cheered, excited that a customer would let her do whatever she wished. Rushing to a table just out of arms reach, she opened and closed the blades of a rusty garden shears before twirling toward Mal, who had a nervous smile on her face.

First task Dizzy did was cut off the purple tips with the garden shears. The aspiring cosmetologist knew she couldn't match her hair-dyes with the fairy's natural purple hair, so the tips had to go. Cutting the tips of her hair was actually beneficial since it rid Mal of all of her split ends and dead ends.

Next, Dizzy dyed Mal's hair to a color that was similar to her natural color. Since the sink wasn't working properly—stupid goblins—they had to do the process in the bathtub. Dizzy had to keep her laughter under control since Mal looked so silly bent over the bathtub with purple dye stuck to her forehead.

Then, Dizzy pinned the newly dyed strands in soda cans so the color could set a little longer. With that done, Mal had to sit under a dryer to dry her hair. Once that was done, Dizzy did final touch-ups on trimming the fairy's hair.

Finally—after nearly three hours of work—Dizzy spun Mal around in the salon chair for the big reveal.

With a bright smile on her lips, Mal dramatically hopped out of the chair to peer into the cracked fragments of the shattered mirror that hanged on the wall. Her newly lavender hair reached just below her shoulders, just like before she had her daughter. Mal beamed, her sparkling green eyes twinkling below new bluntly cut bangs.

"Heeey." Mal smiled approvingly at her reflection. "There I am."

The fairy turned to her favorite hairstylist. Sporting the biggest smile imaginable, Dizzy cheered proudly, "Viola!"

"Voila," Mal agreed. Pulling out half of her cash, she held out the small folded stack to the young teenager.

Dizzy clutched chest in disbelief, having only seen that kind of money on the television screen. "Is that real?"

"Of course," Mal insisted as she gave a genuine smile. "And it's all yours. You earned it for the terrific job you did. I am definitely coming back."

Giggling happy, Dizzy carefully took the money from Mal's hand. Instead of skipping to the register, Dizzy scurried upstairs to the living space to show her grandmother the foreign money. Shaking her head in amusement, Mal was about to leave, until . . .

"Well, well, well."

Tensing up at the familiar voice that haunted her nightmares, Mal reluctantly turned around to face the monster that destroyed her mental status. "Harry."

Harry Hook grinned maliciously at the fairy he hasn't seen in years. "What a nice surprise."

"Still running errands for Uma?" Mal taunted to pull off the façade that she wasn't affected by his presence. "Or do you get to keep what you steal?"

His smile only grew wider at his words. Harry made a step toward her, but Mal stepped back to keep the distance between them. The sick bastard had the audacity to snicker at her reaction.

"Just WAIT until Uma hears you're back." Harry let his eyes roam up and down her body, almost like he was trying to remember what she looked like on the night he took advantage of her. "She's never going to give back your old territory."

"I don't care about that," Mal retorted bitterly with a snarl on her delicate features. "I came back for my daughter. Our daughter."

Harry's smile was quickly replaced with a scowl. "This again? I already told you I'm not claiming her. She's not mine."

"You're not calling her 'it' anymore," Mal noted carefully and cautiously. "Does that mean you are finally feeling guilty for what you did?"

"Why won't you let it go?"

"Because you raped me!" Mal exclaimed as best as she could through a whisper so little Dizzy couldn't hear her. "You forced me to drink until I was completely wasted. You took advantage of me for your disgusting pleasure. I was fourteen! I had Mallory at fifteen!"

"Have you told any of your Auradon friends about your daughter—"

"Evie and Carlos don't even know about her," Mal snapped angrily. "Jay is the only one in Auradon that knows about my daughter."

Harry raised a suspicious eyebrow at the phrasing. "But someone else knows about our amazing one-night stand?"

"You mean my awful night in hell?" Mal corrected stubbornly, though she sighed in annoyance. "My boyfriend knew something happened, but not the specifics. He did everything to make sure I was comfortable with our relationship, yet I was so traumatized by what you did that I couldn't make it work. I think he could be the one, but it will take me years to find out because I can't get over what you did. Besides, I can't ruin his life like you ruined mine."

Harry scoffed at the fairy's pathetic rant. "Yeah, right. You're probably whoring yourself out to that worthless king and you don't want to admit it—"

POW!

Without realizing what was happening, Harry lost his breath as he felt a sudden, immense pain in his stomach. As the pirate moved to clutch his abdomen, someone grabbed his arm and swung him over the cash register counter, knocking him and various objects to the ground.

As Harry tried to comprehend the pain and what the fuck happened to him, Mal towered over him with a scowl on her pasty features. "I don't care if you one day feel guilty for what you did to me," Mal informed as her eyes flashed green to show her anger and her raw power. "You will never be allowed near my daughter. Stay away from me. Stay away from Mallory. If you come near either one of us, I'll use your own hook to castrate you and then shove it so far up your ass that you might feel the same pain that you inflicted on me."

Mal crouched to the fallen pirate's height to seem more threatening. "Disrespect my boyfriend again," she warned maliciously, "and I'll use your hook to cut out your tongue so you can no longer speak ill of my king again."

Fearful for his life, Harry scrambled to his feet before running out of the salon like a coward with his tail between his legs.

At that moment, Dizzy rushed downstairs to see what caused the noise. The first thing the young teenager noticed was the mess on the ground, causing her to sigh in annoyance. "Great," she commented sarcastically. "More sweeping."