Audrey lifted the scepter toward the sky, causing bolts of pink lightning to shoot from the dark clouds toward the ground.
Pandora and some of the others dove out of the way just in time for the lightning to hit the earth. Cracks formed and grew in the ground, and from them enormous thorn vines the size of trees shot toward the sky. They grew and spread out across the lawn. The teenagers scrambled out of the way of the thorns, but it was so large and widespread it easily surrounded and separated the group, leaving them weakened and vulnerable.
Everyone who had swords started hacking away at the vines, trying to clear a path, but it seemed whenever they cut a vine down more grew in it's place.
Pandora didn't have a sword or any weapon. And she was trapped into a small pocket, surrounded on all sides by the vines and thorns. Every move she seemed to make just caused her to get nicked and poked by the thorns until she was covered in bloody scratches.
Through the wall of vines she saw a cloud of purple smoke rise toward the sky until an enormous dragon flew into the air. Mal. She started flying circles in the air. Pandora guessed she couldn't breathe fire at Audrey because Celia was probably still stuck in the middle. But that was merely a guess, since the thorns hid her view. So, Mal was breathing fire onto the small ember in her clawed hand, but it didn't appear to be doing any good.
More bolts of pink lightning shot from the sky, but instead of growing more vines they just seemed to be destroying what they hit. A tree nearby was struck and cracked, toppling to the ground. Pandora could hear shouts and screams as the lightning hit the ground near her friends.
"We're pinned down!" Aaron called over the vines. "We can't fight like this!"
Pandora was on the verge of panicking as the vines continued closing in on her, giving her almost no room to move without being cut up by the thorns. Then, an idea popped into her head.
Ducking down into a crouch, she pressed her palms flat to the ground. She could instantly sense the thousands of little life forces of the thorns. They were dark and unnatural, not like other living things. These vines weren't meant to be alive. But that didn't change the fact that they were life forces.
She grasped some of the life forces with her powers and pulled. She tugged and yanked the life forces into her very being, but hesitated after a moment. She certainly didn't want all of that darkness in her, even if it might not effect her.
Changing her strategy slightly, she focused on the vines giving the others the most trouble, pulling the life forces from them and directing them out to other plants and trees in the surrounding forest.
Jay paused for a moment when he noticed the vines surrounding him seemed to retreat slightly. He watched for a moment before realizing the vines around him were shrinking, shriveling away until it was clear they were dead. A glance around showed it happening all around him, but not to all the vines. The others were finally becoming visible as the vines started to shrink and die. Did Mal defeat Audrey already? He didn't think so, since he could still see her flying around above them.
Then, a path cleared to his right and he caught sight of Pandora. She was crouched down with her eyes closed and hands to the ground. She was doing it.
Grinning, Jay went back to attacking the vines, trying to get a clear path to Audrey so maybe he could help Mal.
Nearby, Uma and Harry were doing the same, trying to clear a way through the vines so they could help Mal and save Celia. They were both finally able to clear the vines, their clothes ripped and bodies scratched from the thorns, just in time to see Audrey shoot a bolt of lightning from the scepter. It struck Mal at the base of her wing, sending her crashing to the ground.
Uma knew what she had to do. She wasn't sure how, but she just knew it would work. Rushing to the large dragon as it struggled to stand, Uma pulled her shell out from under her jacket. She used her shell to revive the ember, and Mal flew back into the air, more determined than ever to end this.
Jay looked up into the dark sky in time to see Mal shoot a blue sort of lightning from the ember, which crashed into a similar bolt of pink lightning that likely came from Audrey and the scepter. The two bolts collided in a burst of light and power.
But more lightning was still shooting from the sky, hitting the ground around them. Despite that distraction, almost everyone was cheering Mal on as she appeared to be gaining ground on Audrey.
Jay's cheers faltered when a bolt hit the ground a little too close to him for comfort, making the hairs on his arm stand on end. Then, his eyes were drawn to Pandora again. She seemed to be in her own world, eyes closed as she continued destroying the vines which seemed to be withering away more and more by the second. But in focusing so much on her task, she seemed dangerously unaware of the bolts hitting the ground mere feet from her.
Growing more worried, Jay starting slicing his sword through the vines, making his way toward her as a precaution. Unfortunately, he didn't reach her in time.
A bolt of pink lightning shot from the sky and struck Jay right in the chest.
Pandora's powers flowed more smoothly than they ever had as she pulled the life from the vines and directed it out into the forest to be put to good use. She was so focused that nothing else seemed to exist. Until she felt something hit her in the chest. Not a real something, but more powerful than just a feeling. Her powers could feel something very wrong and they stuttered to a stop. Something was wrong. Someone was hurt. Someone was dying.
Pandora's eyes flew open, her hands jerking off the grass as she searched frantically around her. She barely even noticed just how much of a difference she'd made with the vines, which had shriveled away until they were next to harmless. Her eyes focused almost instantly on the still form sprawled on the ground several feet from her.
(Meanwhile, in the Underworld)
It was dark and dreary, dark clouds constantly hovering in the Underworld. Three forms stood waiting patiently in a cavernous stone room that was decorated with skeletons of creatures.
One of the forms, a slender, green-skinned old hag in a black cloak, Clotho, gasped in delight.
"It's time!" she grinned, yanking the single brown eye the three Fates shared from Atropos' single eye socket. However, the third sister, Lachesis, elbowed Clotho sharply and stole the eye from her. Holding out her hand, the eye floated from her palm and up into the air, where it transformed into a glowing white orb. The orb faded from white into an image of the present. A boy, the son of the villain Jafar, lay unconscious and dying on the ground, his heart growing weaker and weaker.
"Lachesis," Atropos grinned deviously, "the Thread of Life, if you will."
Said sister held the long Thread of Life out between her hands, holding it steady. It was time for another mortal to die. Oh, how they loved this job. With no wars in the past couple decades, they didn't get to do this as often as they used to. So they looked eagerly to the end of each life. And they were rarely wrong or disappointed.
After all, they knew everything.
"Hold it steady." Atropos ordered, her stout form stood between her sisters. She held the pair of large, weathered scissors open, the thin thread resting between the sharp blades.
"Any second." Clotho grinned, eagerly looking between the glowing orb and the Thread they were about to cut.
It was time for another life to end.
(Back in Auradon)
Terror lurched in Pandora's chest as she scrambled to her feet, only to practically dive back to the ground as Jay's side. Her hand instinctively went to his neck, pushing his collar down to feel for a pulse. She felt it against her fingers, there but weak.
"Jay? Jay! Guys!" she screamed, her eyes moving frantically around in search of some help. She saw Mal crouched over Audrey's body near the castle, several people gathering around her. At her scream, everyone turned to her before they all raced across the lawn toward her.
Mal was at Pandora's side first, kneeling in the grass and feeling under Jay's jaw for a pulse.
"No." Mal murmured, fear sparking in her green eyes. She couldn't lose Jay. He was one of her best friends, practically her brother. He couldn't die.
Her fingers clenched around the ember in her hand, and Hades' voice echoed in her mind.
"You're only half Hades. The ember won't do everything for you that it does for me."
"What if there's two halves?"
Mal's eyes snapped to Pandora, who was kneeling next to her. Her sister was staring fearfully down at Jay. As if she felt Mal's eyes, she looked up and her blue eyes met Mal's green.
Mal took a deep breath, holding her hand out so Pandora could see the ember in her palm.
"I'm only half Hades." she whispered so only Pandora could hear her. "I don't think I can save him."
Pandora's eyes narrowed thoughtfully at the ember before looking back up at Mal.
"But I'm the other half." she whispered, both in answer and understanding.
Mal nodded once tensely.
Taking a deep breath, Pandora clasped Mal's hand in her own, pressing the ember between their palms. At the touch, it was as if a deep understanding of the magic they held in their hands flowed into their souls. They both instantly knew what to do.
They pressed their clasped hands to Jay's chest, the back of Mal's hand with Pandora's fingers touching the leather of Jay's jacket. Then, Pandora pressed her other palm flat to the ground in front of her, her eyes closing in concentration.
She instantly felt the hundreds of life forces deep within the earth and pulled some of them to her. They then flowed into her hand, up her arm, through her soul, and out into her other hand. When the life forces met the ember in their hands, she felt the flare of power strengthen, the ember growing warm in her palm. Mal breathed in sharply at the strength of the power, which they both felt flowing in their veins. Neither had felt power like this before. They literally held lives in their hands.
Taking a deep breath, Pandora gently pushed the power into Jay's chest, where she could feel his heartbeat slowing by the second. However, the power flowed into Jay's heart, strengthening it and slowly, beat by beat, bring it back to full strength.
Jay's body lurched with a gasp, causing Mal and Pandora to jerk back in shock. Everyone stared hopefully.
Jay's eyes were wide, and he breathed heavily as he looked around frantically. Finally, his eyes landed on Mal, and then Pandora still kneeling next to him. He gradually relaxed into the ground, looking tired.
"Are you okay?" Mal asked him.
"How do you feel?" Pandora added worriedly.
"Honestly? A little green." Jay joked, smirking tiredly up at Pandora at the joke. Several people snorted or chuckled, more in relief that he was okay than actual amusement at Jay's pathetic joke.
Mal smiled slightly in relief before she remembered Audrey. She knew that using the ember and their powers had left her and Pandora tired. Bringing someone back from the brink of death took a lot of energy. She doubted they had the energy to save Audrey like they had Jay. Plus she wasn't sure if they even could save Audrey like they had Jay. Jay had been struck down by the scepter's power. But Audrey had likely been struck down not only by the ember's power but also some backlash of the scepter's power. Mal wasn't sure she could save Audrey even with Pandora's powers and the ember.
They needed help.
Pushing herself to her feet, Mal glanced among her friends before focusing on Ben, whose smile faded as he glanced from her to Audrey's still form across the lawn, as if thinking the same thing as Mal.
"You should call your parents. And Fairy Godmother." Mal suggested to him quietly as Pandora and Carlos helped Jay stand up. "I don't know if we have the power to save Audrey. But I know someone who might."
Ben nodded, pulling out his phone as they headed back toward Audrey.
Pandora stayed at Jay's side, though she didn't offer to help him walk. She had a feeling that would be embarrassing for someone like him. But she was there just in case.
"Hey, Dora." Jay whispered when everyone was far enough away they couldn't hear. "Thank you." he told her genuinely, smiling at her.
Pandora smiled back, lowering her eyes in embarrassment. "I'm just glad you're okay. And that this is all over."
Jay hummed in agreement, subtly brushing the back of his hand against hers as they walked. "The life and death struggle part, and saving Auradon, yeah, I'm glad that part's over. But I hope the rest of it isn't."
Pandora wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement.
(Back in the Underworld)
The blades shut on the Thread, but the Thread didn't cut.
The three Fates stared in shock.
"What happened?" Clotho complained, stepping closer while Atropos tried again and again to cut the Thread but to no avail.
"Not again!" Lachesis whined, remembering the last time this happened.
"But he's no God!" Clotho complained, stomping her foot. The last time this happened it happened to Hercules. They couldn't cut his Thread because he was a God. But this boy, the son of a lowly villain, was no God. So why couldn't they cut his stupid Thread?!
"Look at this!" Lachesis had pulled the Thread close to her empty eye sockets to inspect it. Now she held it out to show her find to her sisters.
The Thread was a normal mortal's Thread. But a glowing green thread that resembled a vine had wound itself around the ordinary Thread, protecting it from their scissors.
This mortal wouldn't die today.
"Oh, phooey!" Atropos complained.
"No fair!" Lachesis whined.
Those Gods ruined all their fun.
AN: Whew, that was fun. I hope everyone liked this chapter, and my changes to the battle. I took some inspiration from Sleeping Beauty. And special thanks to Domitia Ivory, who suggested back in chapter 7 that I add in the Fates to this story, which also inspired part of this chapter. I hope it's to your satisfaction.
Please review and let me know what you all thought! I love hearing from you all!