Hiya Descendants!
Another week, another update :)
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RL gets hard sometimes.
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-Dark-
What was this?
She stares at the sparking wand in confusion as apprehension floods her.
Why was she feeling-
It felt so familiar.
She closes her eyes.
This feeling.
Why would-
How?
How was Fairy Godmother's wand, goodness incarnate, making her feel so-
The energy was so-
The pain-
Suffering.
Sadness.
And so, so, so much more.
-evil?
Her jaw tenses as she grips the wand tighter and swallows hard.
No, that couldn't be right.
She opens her eyes and quickly looks around the room.
The gold and blue.
The unfamiliar faces staring at her in fear.
With trepidation.
In horror.
The whole church felt so, so still.
What were they afraid-
Her.
They were afraid of her.
A shiver runs down her spine.
Shit.
She glares at the wand as her hand tightens.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
What the shit had she been thinking.
This had been so stupid.
Like T level stupid.
What the fuck was she supposed to do with a temper tantrum-ing wand.
And for damn sure the stupid thing was throwing a fucking fit.
Like it was begging to fly from her hands.
Or was she just wishing she could throw it away?
Like it could sense that she was evil or something.
Or was she sensing something in the wand?
It was hard to tell with so much going on around her.
So much happening between her and the stupid wand.
Dumb. This was so fucking dumb.
And yet-
There was just something so…
Haunting.
It was the only word she could think of.
The only way she could describe what she was getting from the wand.
Haunting.
Aching.
And so fucking familiar.
But it was just an undercurrent, something there but just out of reach.
Something buried under wild energy arching between her and the wand.
A low growl of frustration leaves her throat. The only thing she could even begin to compare this energy to was when she went eye to eye with her mother.
But this wasn't her mother.
This was a stupid embued fucking stick.
A stick that made her eyes burn and her heart heavy while she struggled through her own internal war.
No!
She snarls with a stomp of her foot.
No way in fuck was she losing a battle of wills to a dumb fucking stick.
She jumps when a crack of energy sounds.
That wasn't her.
She wasn't directing the magic.
She could hear the voices around her.
Shouting? Whispering?
She couldn't tell.
Some voices sounded urgent.
Some panicked.
But only one was perfectly calm and trusting.
"It's okay, Mal. You stopped it."
Ben.
She blinks as she searches for his calming hazel eyes, her hands now shaking for a whole new reason. "But is it, though?" She grimaces at her own squeak.
"You did great, Mal. It's okay. Just, are you okay?" Ben asks as he takes a slow step towards her.
"I mean," She breathes out as she eyes the blur of people staring at her. Like fuck was she admitting to being scared shit less. "Yes?"
"I'm glad. Just, stay still, Dear One, you're in control, but try not to move." Fairy Godmother smiles as she slips around the King's protective stance.
"Done." She nods as she looks at Fairy Godmother as if it would make her collect the stupid thing faster. "Fix-it." She hisses between clenched teeth, hoping no one could hear her.
"You're doing so well." Fairy Godmother smiles as she walks down the steps towards her, "Just breathe for me, okay. I'll take it. We just have to do this slowly, okay?"
"Of fucking course we do." She grounds through grit teeth.
"I'm so proud of you, being able to take hold of it when it was in such chaos," Fairy Godmother smiles tensely, "we are going to have a long talk after this about where you are magically, but until then, we're just breathing."
"You fucking breathe." She glares. She could still feel the magic thrumming under her hands, like tiny little pinpricks running up her arms and throughout her entire body.
Stabbing at her eyes and lungs.
Crowding her heart.
And, she didn't like it.
Like at all.
"Oh, Dear One, you need to breathe too."
Five more steps and then like six feet. Then she wouldn't have to deal with this stupid stick anymore.
The stick, the sadness seeping into her bones, or the collective tension of everyone in the whole damn cathedral staring at her.
"Take it and I will!"
"That's fair. Just- Just keep doing what you're doing, Mal."
Great. "Like I have a choice."
Fairy Godmother's tight look of concentration falters slightly when the corner of her lips twitch. "It's going to be okay, Mal, I promise. You've got control. You've stopped it from churning in chaos and hurting people. You're okay, and so are brave-"
Everything in the room goes cold as a small noise slowly gets louder.
Slowly morphs from a garble to a wicked laugh she was only all too familiar with.
"Are you fucking serious!?" She groans as she instinctively tightens her grip on the wand and pulls it closer, holding it protectively to her chest as she steps back.
How!?
Why!?
Did it fucking matter?
They were fucked.
They were all so very fucked.
She glances behind her as green smoke enters through the hole in the ceiling left by the wand.
How?
She looks for her pack, sighing when she meets Jay's eyes.
Part of her was happy to see him looking as terrified as she felt.
The rest of her?
The rest of her was flooding with ice.
Her stomach drops as the smoke swirls down to the floor beside her.
She'd never seen this, but she knew- How could she not?
Her mother had escaped and was actually here.
Her worst fucking nightmare coming to life.
"I'm baaaaaaaaack!"
Her heart skips a beat as she slowly begins to turn.
Shit. Shit. Fucking shit.
She didn't want to do this.
She so didn't want to fucking do this.
Face this.
Deal with it.
Be between it.
"Maleficent." The King takes a deep breath as he stands up straighter.
"Well, duh, I mean-" Maleficent snorts, "Who else were you expecting King of Beasts?"
Her mother turns to her and laughs, "This guy, am I right?" Her laughter continues, broken by her nasally snorts.
Her eyes narrow as her shoulders straighten with confidence she didn't feel, "Quoting Senior now, Mother?"
Maleficent glares, "You're funny, though I'll explain why you're not later. Now, wand me."
She looks down at the wand in her hands.
What the fuck was she supposed to do?
Oh shit.
How the hell did these kids always end up in the worst situations?
He wasn't an idiot. He'd been able to tell from the bits of conversations he'd had with all of Jay's pack that they had a different plan when they first arrived.
One that included the wand.
And now here they were, or at least here Mal was, holding one of the most dangerous magical weapons in her untrained hands.
And now, here Maleficent was too.
He'd never seen her, but he'd have to be an idiot to not know who that was.
Nothing scared Mal like the thought of her mother. And he'd never seen Mal this scared.
He'd managed to get a better grip on Jay after Lonnie's tumble into him, but now Jay was struggling even harder against him.
"Mal needs me!" Jay shouts as he turns glassy eyes back on him, "That's the leader of the damn Isle up there. I can't let her face that alone."
No.
No. He couldn't let Jay go deal with that.
Couldn't let him run into danger when everyone else was trying to run away from it.
Kai damn it!
Somebody has to help.
How many times had he said that?
Had all of them said that?
Somebody has to help.
Fuck!
"Damn it." He breathes as he slowly releases Jay against all better instincts. "Don't you fuckin' die!"
"Thanks." Jay manages to whisper before he rolls to his feet and takes off running.
"CHIBI-CHAN! SCARY GIRL! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!" Hiro leaps over the divider after them.
Lonnie jumps right behind him.
And then Doug.
"Fuck!" Nani growls before she starts running after the pack of kids with Lilo on her tail.
"Kai damnit!" He groans as he slaps his palm against a pillar before he follows.
This was not what he was expecting today.
Cake. Hopefully.
Champagne. Maybe?
Obnoxious niceties. Certainly.
Nani and him escaping back to the beach house to set up Jay's room.
For damn sure.
Running-
No-
Chasing a group of children to certain death with half his family?
Nope, never even crossed his mind.
But what was he supposed to do when Jay turned back, nearly in tears, begging to be let go so Mal didn't have to be alone with her mother?
He didn't want to keep Jay from doing what he believed was right.
Protect him?
Yes.
Abso-fucking-lutely.
But-
There would be no level of counseling to stave off that level of resentment.
Able to help Mal or not, if something happened to her and he hadn't even tried?
No.
Jay would never recover from that.
So then, here they were, rushing towards the cackling woman with horns and a dress that was just a little too tight.
While the citizens of Auradon-
Wisely?
Cowardly?
-were running away.
Something whistles as it flies overhead.
Nope, nevermind.
That had definitely been an arrow.
It looked like Roy's father was here.
So then-
"One o' One! You get back here!"
Ah, there he is.
Great. Seven children.
Eight including his brother-in-law.
His sister.
His WIFE
All running.
Towards death.
"What is this? Just give me the wand, give me the damn wand!"
"Oh," Mal snaps. "Fuck you."
"Drop your damn attitude and give me the damn wand. I will have my revenge! And you will like it." Maleficent holds her hand out, "Or else. Now. Give. Mother. The damn wand."
"Or what? You'll ground me?" Mal rolls her eyes, "Ha! Please."
"Oh, you'll wish all I will do is ground you." Maleficent turns her attention from her daughter-
Oh no.
"You're only brave because you've got this motley group of idiots running to your defense. When did you get so soft? Men? Really?" Maleficent rolls her eyes before she flicks her wrist.
His eyes widen as he's lifted off his feet.
Him and everyone else who'd been running towards her.
Towards Mal.
Before he can do more than look around, they're all hurled back the way they'd come from.
"As if we need a man to save us. Anyone really. Puh-lease, I raised you better than to need help."
He grunts in pain as he lands, rolling to a stop only when he crunches into a pillar.
He gulps in air, doing his best to convince his lungs they were fine.
Wind knocked, but fine.
Nothing worse than a bad wipe-out.
Hiro had been tossed back over the handrail separating their section from the reporters.
He could just make out Lilo's wild hair on the other side of a pillar.
Nani looked like she was scrambling to get to-
"FUCK!" Jay hisses as he looks back at him, his eyes sweeping the rest of the wall before he pulls himself to his feet. "You, you gotta get everyone outta here."
"Damn it! We're so talking about this later." He shoots back before he turns his glare on Hiro, puts his fingers to his lips, and lets out an ear-piercing whistle.
Maleficent laughs, "Oh, worried about others now, are we?" She snorts as she taps her staff against the ground, "Didn't you learn anything on the Isle, you little shits? Caring is weakness."
Shit.
He grimaces as he hears one slam after another, followed by screams of terror.
When he turns, he finds the doors and windows barred shut.
Next to him he hears Jay sigh, the sound slow and pain-filled, "Just, just keep everyone back. Please."
"Mother!" Mal growls. "This is between us and this stupid fucking stick-" She glares at Maleficient's staff. "Sticks. Stupid fucking sticks."
In any other situation, he would have laughed.
"Let them the fuck out!" She shouts as she braces, two hands wrapped around the wand as another burst of magic sweeps the room.
The doors fly open.
"That's not how this works, and you know it." Maleficent glares before she taps her staff against the floor.
Everything slams shut again.
"You've betrayed me with these people. I can see it."
The woman smiles, though he wasn't sure he'd ever seen such an empty expression before.
It sends chills down his spine as Jay slinks towards her, keeping low to the ground as if he were stalking her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Hiro whispering frantically with Carlos.
"Was it just one smile from a pretty boy? Was that all it took to forget how this is their fault you grew up on the Isle? They're the enemy. They don't care about you or anyone else. Just themselves and their perfect Kingdom." The woman huffs, "Now, stop stalling and give me the wand."
"Actually, I think it was the fact that I've seen you scared shit-less." Mal smiles cruelly. "By a fucking idiot.'
"What are you talking about, you ungrateful bitch."
"Now, now, mother," Mal snorts, "Your denial is showing."
"Denial? You- This is the thanks I get for sending your worthless ass to Auradon?"
"No! That is more than enough, you horrible Fairy. Dark or not, even for you, that is uncalled for." Fairy Godmother glares as she rushes to Mal's side.
"Finally," Mal rolls her eyes as she thrusts the wand at Fairy Godmother.
"Bibbity," Fairy Godmother waves her wands, "Boppity-"
"Oh, Boo-hoo!" Maleficent sneers before she slams the staff to the ground.
Oh fucking-
Everyone was frozen
Everyone but- He eyes Jay, Carlos, Evie, and Mal.
"Come here, all of you pathetic excuses for villains, time for a lesson you seem to be forgetting. MAL!" Maleficent demands as she snatches the wand from Fairy Godmother's unmoving hand.
Shit.
Maleficent holds the wand above her head, and slowly Jay, Carlos, and Evie begin to slide across the room towards her.
He wanted to move.
Wanted to stop the painful struggle.
The panic in Carlos's eyes.
The fear in Evie's.
The dread in Jay's.
He wanted to grip all of them and not let go.
Wanted to protect them from the gleeful look on Maleficent's face.
Fuck.
How powerful was this woman?
Mal turns to look at the others with a scowl before she stomps her foot and extends her hand.
It was hard to hear what she was saying over everyone's low moan now that more people realized they couldn't move.
The look on Maleficent's face as she stared at her empty hand would have been priceless-
Keyword, would.
But at the moment, his heart seemed to stop dead in his chest.
"STOP IT!" Mal demands with a-
Roar?
It certainly sounded like it.
More importantly, it felt like it was reverberating through his chest.
Her pupils turn into almost cat-like slits that make his heart skip a beat.
What in Kai's blue sea was happening?
"Oh, did you learn something new while you were playing with your stupid little princeling and these-" Maleficent looks around before her lip curls, "Ugh, people. Humans. Mal Bertha, I taught you eviler than this. Humans are-" The woman growls- "Just look at them."
She walks over to where Ben was frozen, standing protectively in front of his mother, "He's nothing! Nothing! Just a fun little distraction on your road to rule." She slaps his face, for all the good hitting a statue would do.
"He's nothing-"
"Stop!" Mal demands again, this time her voice trembling with anger.
No. That wasn't anger-
"Mal?"
Oh no.
Carlos no.
Sheer worry was the only thing that could have made Carlos speak up at a time like this. And while he was glad to know he wasn't the only one seeing what was happening with Mal-
"Carlos," Mal turns in concern.
Wrong move.
"I see I have more work to do." Maleficent grumbles as she struts towards Carlos, "More to teach you about your flaws and being soft."
"Jay! Evie!" Mal growls as she throws the wand to Jay before she tackles her mother to the floor. "Don't you dare touch my Pup!" She slams her fist into her mother's jaw.
He would have smiled at the look on Jay's face as he jumps between Maleficent and Carlos.
At the determined pride he saw shining there.
How many times had Maleficent beaten Mal down?
How satisfying was it to get even one good hit in on her?
How satisfying was that for Jay to see?
"E!" Jay slams the wand into Evie's hand, "Not magic, but you are-"
"Not fairy?" Evie rolls her eyes, "But-" She kicks off her heels before she winks at him. "I've got you." She grabs Carlos's arm before they both take off.
"Well, I guess I should be proud of you, actually having the balls to stand up to me for once in your pathetic, half-human life." Maleficent staggers to her feet before she wipes a hand across her blood-streaked lips, "But right now, I just want to get this lesson over with. These people mean so much to you? Fine, I can work with that."
Smoke begins to gather around Maleficent.
He watches in horror, frozen against a pillar as a dragon-
A Kai-damn dragon!
-takes the fairy's place.
"Are you fucking serious!" Mal groans as she looks up in fear.
Her eyes widen before she turns to Jay, "Move-"
Her scream pierces the air.
His heart stops when he sees the green-bellied dragon swish its tail, lashing out at Jay to send him flying once more.
Mal shakes her head as she pulls one heel off and chucks it, hitting the dragon right beneath the eye, before the second smacks it in the snout. "Fuck you, Mother! Leave my friends alone, you fucking cunt!"
Purple smoke rises around Mal, who looked just as shocked and scared as he felt.
The angry vortex consumes her, obscuring her completely as her scream morphs into a terrifying roar.
What.
The.
Hell.
"Mal?" He hears Jay's shocked gasp beside him.
A smaller, purple-bellied dragon turns, its head tilting like a confused dog before it raises a giant clawed paw to look at it.
"You're a fucking dragon, Mal!" Jay cheers as he limps into sight, "Kick her ass!"
Maleficent roars, but even he could see her take a surprised step back.
"I'll-" Jay sighs as he looks around the room, "do what I can?" His eyes linger on him.
Mal nods before she turns to her mother.
A smile turns at the green-bellied dragon's lips.
Like a cat about to eat a canary.
Her tail curls around the king before she lifts him off the ground.
No.
Oh no!
Jay's eyes widen as his hands ball into fists at his sides.
Maleficent brings the king to her lips and lets out an ominous puff of smoke.
Oh, JFC guys.
This one was intense.
Hopefully?
I mean, we wrote it, and I was hanging on the edge of my seat.
I know I asked you in the last Chap *Eyes narrow thoughtfully* maybe? But what do you guys think is happening with the wand?
Why is it eliciting such strong emotions?
Anyone got any guesses?
Luckily we love Joss Whedon and take his quote to heart. "Make it grim, make it dark, but for the love of God, make it funny." I mean, it's not verbatim but still general philosophy we swear by.
Aka, all those stick comments.
Switching to David's PoV was just a no-brainer for us.
How did you guys like his newfound Dad reflexes?
LoLz threatening to kill your kid if they die
Man is fucking terrified.
Were you guys expecting Mal to turn into a dragon so quickly?
We thought it just made sense, did you guys?
LoLz Mal's pointing out her mother is scared of T.
Lolz Maleficent's reaction to it.
Side note, it's so fucking dumb when action scenes keep girls in heels. Seriously. Who the fuck can actually be aware of their sitch, while also trying not to trip over themselves?
Fave quote;
No way in fuck was she losing a battle of wills to a dumb fucking stick.
What was yours?
Much love and appreciation,
-Twisted