Chapter 8
A/N: Okay I meant to put this on Chapter 6. Frozen 2 is not canon in my story. I didn't watch it until after I write Chapter 5 and really don't feel like rewriting Blue Flames Rise to fit Frozen 2. Onto the story!
The magic surrounds the sisters until they can't see anything happening. A sinle white cord of energy connects their foreheads. Identical emerald eyes rolling back as Mal enters Hadley's mind. The inside was absolute chaos. Fractured memories spiraling past the misted form of Mal that appeared on what appeared to be cracked concrete. The mind appearing in the form of a destroyed city. A nuclear wasteland. "Now I get why she said to abandon all hope. I expected darkness, a cave maybe. But not a wasteland."
"Elyse expected this. When she was here. I showed her some of my memories. Would you like to see?" A mist form of Hadley comments as she materializes in front of Mal. "You can hop out at any time."
"What kinds of memories?" Mal asks as she watches another fragmented memory flies past. "Why are there so many broken memories? Do you have a bad memory or something?"
"I don't want to remember everything. Elyse and the Cricket called it repression," Hadley answers as she reaches out and touches a memory passing by. Making it stop moving. "This one is a full one. I have nightmares about the first half still. This is your chance to back out," she says quietly.
"If it helps me understand you, I'll watch it," Mal says touching Hadley's shoulder, going into the memory.
A/N: Okay, normally I wouldn't put an author's note partway through a chapter, but what is about to come up alludes to a rape. Feel free to skip past it, I'll put another author's note when it's over.
They were back on the Isle. Inside of Gaston's Tavern. A twelve-year-old Hadley was standing in front of Gaston Jr and Gaston the Third. Staring them down. "You will not go after Mal. If you want to hurt her, you'll have to go through me," she says trying to not sound nervous. She was easily half the size of the twins.
"The runt is good enough. We can use her to send a message to the big, bad Mal," Gaston Jr considers. Sharing a smirk with his twin.
Hadley clenches a fist and punches Gaston Jr in the chin. Not dealing any damage.
"Feisty! Just the way I like a girl," Gaston the Third sneers as he grabs Hadley's arm and forces it behind her back. Dislocating her shoulder. The small girl struggling to get free as she is shoved against a wall and pinned there. "Come on, Gaston. Let's have some fun."
A/N: Okay the allusion is over. This is why it was a rated M story even though I refuse to write it all out. On with the story!
Gil wandered into the tavern an hour later and spots a crumpled Hadley on the floor. Clothing wrinkled and askewed. "Hadley! Did my brothers attack you?" the kind boy asks as he picks up the smaller girl. When she nods, he carried her out and heads towards the Bargain Castle. "Let's get you to Mal. You're in her gang, right?"
"She threw me to the side again. Said she doesn't need anyone," Hadley says quietly, not fighting being carried by the older boy.
"I'll take you to Uma. Mal threw her away, too," Gil says as he changes directions and heads to the docks. Once they get to Ursula's Chip Shop, Gil sets Hadley down at a table before fetching the daughter of Ursula.
"Gil said that Mal rejected you, and yet you protected her. Why?" the young sea witch asks as she sits across from the demi-goddess.
"Even though I have been tossed to the side, Mal is still my sister. She would never protect me, but I wasn't about to let those… monsters take advantage of her. She doesn't deserve that. No one does," Hadley whispers. Not looking up at Uma to meet her in the eyes.
"I'm building up a crew. I need loyalty like yours. We can be better than Mal. I protect my own, and you'd do the same. Are you in?" the young sea witch asks as Hadley looks up to look her in the eyes.
"I'm in," Hadley says as her eyes glow faintly.
The memory pulls away as the sisters reappear in the bleak place. Hadley turned away from Mal, expecting either pity or anger. Not wanting to deal with either.
"How many times did you protect me before joining Uma?" Mal asks after a moment. Her anger over Hadley working for her rival now diminished. Guilt over not protecting her little sister replacing it.
"In that way? Once before, twice after. I miscarried all three times. Uma and Gil protected me as I'd recover from it," Hadley answers as she watches more fragmented memories fly past them.
"Why didn't you tell me? I would have protected you…" Mal says as she puts a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"I tried. You told me to get lost. I never bothered going to you the third time," Hadley says shaking Mal's hand off of her. "Do you want to see another memory?"
"I don't need to. I've treated you like shit for just trying to survive. I truly am sorry," Mal says before taking Hadley's hand. The two of them leaving Hadley's mind and returning to the rock trolls.
"Did the spell help?" Grandpappy asks as the girls stand up from where they collapsed on the grass.
"It did. Thank you," Mal says before heading back over to Setanta. Climbing on after Hadley. "Hopefully we see each other again one day."
"Bye Grandpappy!" Hadley says before clicking her tongue. The noble steed starting to move down the mountain until they reach an outlook. "How are you holding up?"
"How do you live with the memories?" Mal asks as she climbs off the horse. Hadley having already gotten off and sat down on the grass.
"I just try to not think about it. Sometimes I don't sleep at night. I'm in therapy now, Cinderella got me in contact with her therapist," Hadley answers as she lays back in the grass. Starting to hum The Next Right Thing under her breath.
Mal starts to hum along as she sits down next to her younger sister. Slowly starting to sing. "I've seen dark before, but not this. This is cold. This is empty."
"The life I know is over. The lights are out. Hello darkness… I'm ready to succumb," Hadley sings along as she turns away from her older sister. "I follow you around. I always have"
"But you've gone to a place I cannot find," Mal sings along, deciding to let her little sister take the lead.
"This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down. But a voice whispers in my mind…"
"You are lost, hope is gone but you must go on and do the next right thing."
"Can there be a day beyond this night? I don't know anymore what is true. I can't find my direction, I'm all alone. The only star that guided me was you. How to rise from the floor, when it's not you I'm rising for?"
"Just do the next right thing. Take a step, step again."
"It's all I can do… the next right thing… I won't look far ahead. It's too much for me to take…" Hadley sings as she sits up and hugs her knees to her chest. Chin on top of her kneecaps. Unshed tears forming in her eyes.
Mal moves to sit in front of Hadleyas she picks up the song. "But break it down to this next breath, this next step. This next choice is one that I can make. So I'll walk through this night, stumbling blindly toward the light and do the next right thing. And with the dawn, what comes then when it's clear that everything will never be the same again? Then I'll make the choice, to hear that voice, and do the next right thing." The older girl pulls Hadley into a tight hug as the younger girl lets the tears fall. "I haven't been a good sister to you. I will get better. For now on, I will protect you."