...
"It is not length of life, but depth of life that matters."
...
Thankfully, Mal's bout of dazed unconscious wasn't lengthy as she came to with a gasp. She had been moved in her blackness, from the office into what appeared to be an extra room. Mal was tucked neatly into a worn reclining chair, a ratty red quilt draped over her shoulders. Blinking groggily, the Dragon Girl's stomach lurched. Carlos was at the ready with a bucket as she hurled into it's plastic confines, leaning against it's rim similarly to being hungover.
"Oh god, I dunno know what happened but it sucked."
"Just take it easy for a minute," Carlos said, holding back her hair as she continued to spit into the bottom of the bucket, "what happened?"
"Facilier's black magic," Mal grumbled, placing the bucket by the chair and wiping her mouth with the back of a sleeve, "what a trip,"
"I've never heard you scream like that," Carlos insisted, causing Mal's brows to furrow.
"I wasn't screaming." She said, leaning forward on her knees as she nudged the ratty blanket aside, "that was Audrey."
"No, it was you too." Carlos confirmed for a second time, "we practically had to keep Evie from breaking down the door, she was so worried."
"Where is Evie, anyway?"
"She's in the other room with Audrey..."
"Great," moving to get to her feet, Mal felt the magical hangover in her brain as she stumbled. Carlos's arms quickly wrapped around her body, keeping her from going nose first into the floor
"Woah, you should get more rest Mal."
"I'm fine. Just a little off centered." Forcing away her daze, Mal focused on her feet. Soon enough she was wobbling without help into the hall and into the next room. Jay stood guard by the doorway, while Evie sat in a chair next to a small cot. Similar to Mal, Audrey had been given a bucket.
"Mal," Evie greeted, her hand kept
on Audrey's as the girl snoozed off Facilier's magical 'cure', "how are you feeling?"
"A bit hungover," the Dragon Girl admitted, sitting backwards on a chair as she exhaled tiredly, "what happened?"
"I dunno." Evie admitted, "there was screaming, and when we came back in both of you were completely unconscious. What did you see in there?"
"Honestly? I dunno if what I saw was real. It was...trippy. I could hear Audrey screaming, and Facilier laughing, and Carlos said I screamed..."
"You did," Evie said with a nod, "I've never heard you scream..."
"That's cause I don'tscream." Mal snipped, huffing irritably as a headache began to blossom in the front of her skull, "it honestly feels like something's just been yanked out of me."
"But why would yoube affected by any sort of black magic?" Evie questioned, only to turn slightly as Audrey groaned heavily from her covers, "hold on, Mal."
Pulling the Princesses hair back, Evie pushed the bucket into Audrey's arms. Immediately she wretched into it, whimpering in pain as Evie rubbed her shoulders, "that's it, let it all out."
Mal winced, remembering her own unfortunate memory with the bucket as Audrey groaned again.
"...that's so gross..." she croaked, lifting her head to look at Mal from across the bed. The long scar in her face was now a light pink color, healing and fading slowly. A rose colored tint had returned to her cheeks, and her perspiration had dried. The only thing Mal noticed in her face was the milky blue color her bad eye had taken on. It almost looked like frosted glass, unseeing from under the scar.
"C'mon Audrey, rest a bit more." Pulling the bucket out of Audrey's arms and setting it aside, Evie pushed the girl back down to the bed as she fell asleep almost instantly.
"At least she seems to be getting better." Mal mumbled, rubbing her forehead tiredly as Evie nodded. No more words were exchanged between them as Doctor Facilier waltzed into the bedroom, two pendants in his grip.
"Ah, my friends told me you had come back to us," he spoke as smoothly as before, "welcome."
"What...happened in there?" Mal asked the man, still frowning, "was any of it even real?"
"I dunno, child. All I know is that this is some of the wickedest stuff I've ever come across." Holding out a pendant for Mal to take, it was made of wood and was etched with deep markings that glowed a vicious green.
"What's this?"
Holding the item in her hand, Mal watched Facilier lay the second across Audrey's chest, clipping it behind her hair.
"Talisman, to keep that gnarly stuff away. If I wasn't tryin' to get off this rock, I might use such amazing power for ma own line of work."
"You mean I wasn't imagining it when...when stuff came out of my chest?"
"Nope." Hands on his hips, Facilier shrugged nonchalantly, "Whomever's done this magic, got both y'all good. But you only had some residual magic in ya'." Nodding towards the bed, Audrey had rolled over and was curled up on her side, "doll face ov'r there got the brunt of the hit. Surprised me that she didn' drop dead once it got into her."
"What exactly is the magic?" Evie asked curiously, leaning back against the nearby wall as Facilier pulled a necklace of bones from under his shirt. Removing one of the charms, he tossed it to the blue haired girl, who in turn tossed it to Mal. The item looked to be some sort of claw. Holding it in her hand, she glanced at Audrey.
"The night she came to us," Mal mused aloud, "Audrey said she'd been attacked by something that looked like an animal."
"Oh lil' bird, not jus' any animal." Catching the claw, Facilier hooked it back around his neck, "a beast." The whole room flinched as the voodoo man straightened his sleeves, "A monster among monsters. She," pointing at Audrey again, Facilier shook his head, "should be dead, jus' like her grandmama. I dunno what she's got protectin' her, but it's more powerful then even me."
A silence descended on the room as Facilier sighed again, "she should be comin' back to our world soon. Y'all can stay here for the night. But I wanna spend some time wit' ma daughter first."
"Go ahead," Mal insisted, "Celia will be happy to see you. We'll be out of your hair by tomorrow."
Pulling another small bag of coins from her pocket, Mal was surprised as the voodoo man waved it away.
"Not yet, lil' bird. Y'all might need those in the future. A night wit' ma girl is enough to pay for yer' boarding."
"Thank you," Mal said gratefully, nodding at the man as he sauntered out and Jay shut the door. "this might be tricky."
"Why?" Carlos asked, falling down into a chair and kicking up his boots, "Ben knows you're gone, right? He's still trusts you."
"I don't know that for sure," Mal mumbled, nibbling at her thumbnail.
"Just send Lumiere back to Auradon to tell Ben we're staying the night," Jay suggested, "we won't be leaving till tomorrow anyway, right? He can just...come get us in the morning."
"Jay...you're brilliant."
Standing up to head outside, Mal stopped short as Audrey sat up on her own. It had been days since her eyes had truly been alert, or eye, at this point. Hands outstretched in front of her, Mal could tell she was testing out her vision.
"It's gone," Evie said softly to the young Princess, who gently touched her cheek, waving a hand in front of it, "I'm sorry,"
"...I'm...I..."
"Don't speak," Mal said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, "just rest. You're safe here with us,"
"What-what happened?"
"You...you were dying, Audrey," Evie admitted truthfully, "the monster that attacked you that night? It was enchanted. You were under a curse."
"And...now?"
"We're on the Isle of the Lost," Mal explained, "Dr. Facilier managed to pull the enchantment out of you. He says you'll recover."
"How long have I been asleep?" Audrey asked, a sudden edge to her tone as Mal and Evie glanced at one another.
"A few days," Evie answered, only to take Audrey by the shoulders as she tried to leave the bed, "oh no, no you're not strong enough."
"But we...we have to go back. Ben...he's going to..."
"Audrey, calm down." Helping Evie force the Princess back into bed, Carlos and Jay were on their feet now too as the girls hands quivered, "what are you talking about?"
"In my cell...I-I overheard Ben taking to Beast. He has some kind of plan involving the Isle and Auradon. Mal, he says he's going to...to..." lip quivering, Audrey shook her head, "he's going to poison the Kingdom."
"What?"
All four VK's said this at the same time as Audrey dropped her head into her hands, Evie desperately trying to calm her as Mal's thoughts turned dark. Why would Ben poison his own people?
"Evie. Evie I need the compendium."
Holding out her hands, the blue haired girl removed the book out of her bag as Mal caught it and resized it. Flipping open the pages, the Dragon Girl felt the boys come to observe over her shoulder. Ben's page hadn't changed, nor had the page regarding the Queen. But as Mal flipped, her hand stopped on the next empty spot. Slowly, the image of an apple painted with a poison skull appeared over what looked to be Beast's Castle.
"She's right," Mal told Evie, who had passed the Princess the bucket again as she held it weakly between her arms, "we need a battle plan..."
"Mal wait, there's another page."
Glancing down at Carlos's words, Mal lifted her hand as a new illustration appeared beside the Apple.
"Are those explosions?" Jay asked, seemingly puzzled as Mal squinted at the image.
"This is the Isle," she said, "look, there's the harbor tower."
"What does it mean?"
Not knowing for sure, Mal shook the compendium until the flattened map of the Isle she had stolen fell out onto the table. Unfolding it, the red marks we're prominent as her eyes scanned. Dragging a finger between the small red boxes, Mal frowned deeply.
"I think this is part of Ben's plan," the Dragon girl told her friends, tracing a perimeter of boxes around the whole isle.
"You're saying this is a...what, detonation map?" Jay asked, even more puzzled as Mal nodded hesitantly.
"Yeah. But setting charges like these wouldn't bring down the barrier. Why go to so much effort to do this?"
Glancing around the room, there were only shrugs as Mal sighed, "ok. Guys, keep watch here, especially on the compendium. We need to make sure we know when something changes. Evie, take care of Audrey. I'll be back."
"Where are you going?" Evie asked, rubbing Audrey's back as she threw up again and groaned.
"We are fighting against something bigger then us. I need to ask Lumiere to tell Ben that we are staying the night. Then, I need to find my...dad." Wincing at the word, Evie nodded in understanding.
"Mal."
Audrey's weak voice caused the dragon girl to stop as a hand came to brush against her own, "Cor boni concilii statue tecum non est enim tibi aliud pluris illo."
Though thou hast ever so many counselors, yet do not forsake the counsel of thy own soul.Mal smiled at that proverb. If her mother had ever given her anything useful, it had to be the book of Latin proverbs. Squeezing Audrey's hand back, Mal nodded.
"Dum spiro, spero." Mal told her, the Princess smiling through her exhaustion as the dragon girl left the room to complete her task, allowing the proverb to sit heavy in her mind.
As long as I breathe, I hope.
...
"A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sailto take us there, but a guiding light whose LOVE shows us the way."
...
"...what?"
Audrey's weak voice was a mere rasp. Leaning in the shadowy doorway, Mal felt her chest constrict in pain. Aurora and Phillip's deaths were truly a tragedy, for all of them and Auradon. But nothing could compare to what Audrey herself must have been feeling. Clutching the extra barrier remote Lumiere had given her close to her chest, Mal pursed her lips as the young Princess (now the only heir to Auroria's throne) collapsed down from the bed and onto her knees.
She grasped her heart with both hands, tears rolling down her face as a piercing scream of grief ripped through the room. It chilled them all to the very core. Mal hadn't planned to come back to the apartment so soon after her leaving, but she didn't want to carry the barrier remote around the Isle. Walking in on the discovery of Audrey's parents deaths made the fire in her gut flare into her eyes. This was Ben's doing. Her fiancé; the boy she thought to marry. He had murdered Audrey's family to keep himself safe from his curse. And though the Princess hadn't been her favorite person before now, Mal couldn't help but reach out her sympathy anyway. She wanted to make Audrey's hurt go away.
Not able to stay in the room as Audrey's cries rocked her, the Dragon Girl made quick eye contact with Evie and left the remote on the table. 'For emergencies' Lumiere had told her upon his departure. Whisking herself down the stairs and out the door, Mal found the nearest wall and fell against it. Her own cries burned her throat, a shaking hand covering her lips. How could the man she loved do this to someone? It was beyond cruel, beyond even what they did on the Isle. It was pure evil. It wasn't Ben. It couldn't be.
"Mal?"
Glancing up, Celia was standing over her. Her innocent face was crumpled in confusion, lips pulled down, "are you ok?"
"No. No I'm not." Shaking her head, Mal wiped at her nose with a hand, "this is all so beyond me, Celia. I had everything under control, now it's gone."
Too young to really understand, Celia just stuck out her hand.
"It'll work itself out Mal, you're certainly not alone. Come on, Evie said you wanted to visit Hades."
"You know where he is?" Mal asked curiously, taking the invitation for assistance as she was pulled to her feet, "how?"
"I'm his errand rat." Celia explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I know where his lair is. I can get you in."
"I knew it was a good idea to bring you," Mal chuckled, poking at her semi-swollen eyes as her tears faded for the moment, "thanks."
"Sure. Come on,"
The trip to Hades underground wasn't too long, but they kept to the shadows anyway. Mal let Celia lead, fighting back her urge to take control of the situation as they wandered deeper and deeper underground. They caught Hades sleeping on his sofa, eyes hidden under dark shades as Mal exhaled shakily through her nose.
"The ember is there." Celia whispered, pointing to the nightstand where the blue rock sat glowing softly. Swallowing her fear, Mal crept behind Hades (god of Death), practically on her hands and knees. Of course it was just her luck that Hades woke up just as she was reaching for the ember.
"What are you doing here."
His voice was deep, head raising slightly as Celia appeared from the darkness.
"I noticed..." she began, glancing at Mal worriedly as she pulled something from inside her jacket, "you were running low on canned corn."
Tossing the appeared item to Hades, Mal reached for the ember only to gasp as a hand wrapped around her wrist.
"Well, well..." tuning to her, Hades blue eyes sparkled in the lowlight.
"H-ey dad,"
"Stealing is a sin, you know," Hades said, pulling the ember out of Mal's grip as she huffed angrily, "especially from a god."
"You're no god here," Mal hissed at the man. He had left her after all when she was a babe. But, she didn't have time to do a whole song and dance about their broken relationship, "I need the ember."
"You need the ember," Hades drawled, "and why would I give it to you?"
"Because you want off the isle, right? You want to play God again?"
"I think that's what everybody wants." Hades admitted, kicking his shoes up on the end table, "tell me what's going on that has you scrambling into the lair of an estranged father. Does it have something to do with your...King, perhaps?"
Mal clenched her fists in anger as Hades shook his head, "I've seen you both on the news. I knew he was no good the minute I set eyes on him."
"Ben plans to poison Auradon," Mal explained hesitantly, "I need the ember to see if I can cure him."
"There's no cure powerful enough to expunge the blood he would have on his hands." Hades hissed, "again, why would I give my most precious possession to you."
"I'll destroy the barrier. You'll be free."
"No you won't."
"Yes, I will," facing Hades head on, the man's eyebrow raised, "I need the ember, dad. Or else all of us— in Auradon or on the Isle — are going to be in trouble. I'm willing to do anything to fix this mess."
Staring at one another for a long time, Mal could practically feel the tension suffocating her. Shifting, Hades held up his ember to look at it.
"It won't do everything for you," he said, "not like it will for me. You get it?"
"Yes."
"And don't get it wet. If you do? Game over."
"I understand, Dad."
"I expect you to hold up your end of the deal." Passing the ember to Mal's awaiting hands, she clutched it tightly as though it held all answers to the universe, "if you don't...well. When I do get out, I'll be sure your soul is the first through my gate."
The last word came as a snarl, Hades lowering his sunglasses back down over his eyes as he shifted to a more comfortable position on the sofa, "now get out. I'm tired."
Nodding, Mal dragged Celia out with her. Neither of them breathed until they were out from underground.
"God's, he's even worse then I remember." Mal breathed, "talk about cranky."
"Yeah, he's like that."
"Come on, we need to get back."
Nodding, Celia kept close to Mal's side as they made their way back to Facilier's Arcade. They were just heading in when Evie ran out, breathing heavily.
"Mal!" Running to her purple haired friend, Evie grabbed her arms worriedly, "did Audrey pass by you?"
"What? No. E, what happened?"
"The guys were both asleep. I went out to empty the buckets. I was only gone for a few minutes..."
"E, what happened?"
"Audrey is gone, Mal."
"What?" Brows furrowing, Mal shook her head, "why would she do that? She can't go anywhere."
Staring at the daughter of the Evil Queen, Mal immediately facepalmed, "she used the remote."
"She's still weak, Mal. I'm not sure how she plans on getting back to Auradon..."
"We'll find her."
"How? She's already outside the barrier. By the time Lumiere gets here — if he gets here at all — it'll be too late. "
Pursing her lips, Mal groaned in frustration as she ran a fast comb of fingers through her curls.
"There's only one other VK on the outside who we may be able to get in contact with from here." She said, nodding to the boys as they jogged out into the night.
"So?" Jay breathed, "what's the plan?"
"Harbor district," Mal said simply, all of the other VK's frowning as the Dragon Girl sighed unhappily, "we need to try and make a deal with some pirates."
...
...
A/N: Hey all! Rose here. Firstly, I want to apologize for how short this chapter is compared to Chapter 4. I really want to give Uma and her crew most of a chapter, so I decided to cut this one a bit short. For all of you people out there who are unhappy with the way I portrayed Hades, I wasn't pleased with how little development he got in D3. I'm not planning on making him an enemy of Mal, but they certainly won't be all lovey-dovey after a single dance number like in the movie. I do plan on including him later on so no worries. Thanks all for reading, and until next time my lovelies :)