"When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?"
Thunder; it's all Mal could hear. Her chest ached as if she'd been struck down by the butt of a club. She lay on her back in a field of absolute chaos, the sky angry, flickering with pink lightning. A gauzy haze had fallen over Auroria, thick with the smell of brimstone, fire and hell.
Not quite remembering what had happened, Mal sat up. She let her hips pivot, green eyes trailing around the battlefield. It was bare, badly scorched but still steaming. The daughter of Maleficent could still hear the war going on somewhere in the distance, but it sounded a bit underwater. Slowly rising to her feet, the sleeves of her shirt had been torn off, as had its bottom hem. Her jeans were shredded, boots scuffed and stained with mud (or blood, but Mal didn't want to think about it).
"...Mal!"
Turning slightly again only to nearly fall over from dizziness, a horse was galloping across the field towards her. It took a long moment for the teen to recognize Jane, and with her was Evie. They were both in armor, and carried swords. Dropping to the grass before the horse really stopped moving, Evie took Mal in a bone crushing hug, "I'm so glad you're not dead."
"...E?" Blinking once, twice, she finally returned the hug, "I thought I told you to stay at the castle."
"Somethings changed," Jane spoke up, still on the horse as she weakly tried to calm it down.
"I just knew something had to have happened. Are you ok?"
"I...can't remember anything." Mal admitted with a shake of her head, "I ran into battle with the others, Carlos and Jay were with me I think. But..." shrugging as to visualize her lack of memory from there, Evie pursed her lips.
"Mal, we have to move fast." Removing the compendium from inside the satchel she carried, Evie flung it open. The pages swirled and moved around in Mal's eyes, making her queasy. But she swallowed the risen bile and focused. It was an image of their battle. Audrey had what looked to be Dragon Eye plunged into Ben's chest, the sky shattering around them from the strength of the blow.
"She...kills him?" Mal croaked, frowning. Sure she wasn't in love with Ben anymore, but something still tugged painfully inside her gut. Watching Evie flick the page, there is nothing but fire. Fire everywhere, "oh no."
"We need to stop her," Jane insisted, "take this Mal, it should help you regain some of your strength."
Barely catching the small vial tossed from horseback, Mal lifted the tube to stare at it. Purple...how fitting. Not questioning what it was, the girl popped the small cork and drank. The magic took a minute to kick in, but as it did, Mal's mind cleared of its concussion induced fog. Looking around at the scorched portion of the field again, she nodded.
"This was me." She announced thickly, sighing painfully as she placed both hands on her hips, "I...I did this."
"Mal, we need to get going." Evie insisted, shoving the book back into her bag, "and we aren't staying behind this time."
"Well you're already here," Mal chuckled darkly to herself. No amount of hair dye and sequins could squash her sense of dark humor, "knock em' dead, E. I'll try and find Audrey and Ben from the air."
"We'll try and find the boys." Hoisting herself elegantly up behind Jane again, the fairy gave a small nod before snapping the reigns. And as quickly as they had appeared from the fog, they vanished into nothing. Watching the shadow disappear, Mal had to take a long calming breath. She had scorched this field, and no doubt many of Auradon's military with it.
Closing her eyes, knowing her mother would be so damn proud, Mal screamed in anger as she transformed. Her dragon felt like a breath of fresh air as she once again took to the sky. The view was bleak, though Mal couldn't help but imagine it was a beautiful day somewhere beyond the war. Huffing tiredly and soaring on the stale winds, Mal finally saw the battle again. People against people, friends against friends. Swords glistened and bodies fell with every passing moment.
Mal could see kids from the isle and kids from Auradon, slain in honor and glory. Those left behind fought with all of their might, hitting the deck knowingly as Mal spit her fire to create hot and impassable barriers. It wasn't long before she felt the whizzing of arrows by her neck, and soon she was forced to land amongst a barrage of spears. Using her tail and wings as a shield, Mal knocked the Auradonian guards to their feet. Some went flying, while others were smart enough to duck and cover.
Forced to transform back into herself out of pure exhaustion and lack of focus, Mal was without much protection as she mumbled spells left and right, sending people flying in every direction. The fog was mixing with her own smoke now, creating a darkened, sandpaper like haze. And Mal relied on her instincts to toss and kick and claw her way forward.
She sensed the arrow at her back too late.
It was a split second of searing hot fear, but no pain came. In a blur of black and blue, she was taken fully off her feet. Staring at black pants and studded boots, Mal's head tilted upwards.
"You and your bright ideas!" Hades snapped angrily, not releasing his control of the chariot which they now rumbled in across the battle.
"Dad?"
"The one and only."
Too shocked for words, Mal could only lay between her father's feet where she had been grabbed, desperately trying to slow her stuttering heart.
"...you said you wouldn't come!" Mal croaked after a moment, having to yell to be heard at the speed they were moving, "you said you didn't want to fight a human's war!"
"Yeah well, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Meeting your mother being one of them," Feeling a hand grab her by the back of the collar, Mal was set back on her feet awkwardly at her fathers back, "watching you pass into hell, that's not a mistake I wanted to make this time."
"I'm grateful, really. But can you save Ben?"
"I'm a whole lot less worried about him then I am about your Princess, Mal." Hades quipped, pulling the horses to make a hard turn to avoid a body pile, "I don't know what it is, but we both have crazy tastes in women. Must be genetic."
"Dad! Can we do something!"
Grabbing onto the edges of the chariot as they made a donut in the dirt, Hades pulled them into a massive tussle. The sounds of metal against the vehicle made Mal wince as they left a trail of bloody destruction in their wake.
"I had a chat with Facilier before I left the island. He said he gave one one of his talismans, used it to pull the holding curse off you and your girlfriend?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, ramp up the power using my ember and bing-bang you've got a portable spell catcher! A little bit of his blood, and it's bye-bye beasty!"
Staring at her dad as his hair left a blue flaming trail, Mal reached to her collar. The wooden artifact still hung here, and the ember buzzed warmly in her pocket. It couldn't possibly be that easy? "Like I said though Mal, I'm not worried about your ex. I'm worried about your girlfriend."
Glancing up as there was a bright flash and crack from nearby, Mal's eyes were drawn to a clearing fast approaching. Ben, seven feet tall and covered in hair and claws and teeth roared in anger. Audrey, draped in darkness lashed out at him from the ground with her brambles and flame. Not far beyond, Mal finally found where the boys had ended up.
They seemed to be holding out, now having Evie and Jane to back them. But Lonnie, her body still, lay in the grass within their protection. Damn it.
"I can bring you in close. But it's up to you to get the job done, kiddo."
"That's all I need, Dad."
"Every moment was a precious thing, having in it the essence of finality."
Mal wasn't really one who looked to the future, she had always looked to the past for the answers. She wallowed and swelled about in her own hatred and self-pity for too long to know what the future could possibly hold. It was something her mother had so lovingly instilled in her; how to hate. But staring at the two monsters fighting on the battlefield, lighting crackling about their heads as the sound of thunder and sword and shield drowned out their screams, Mal couldn't find it in her to hate either of them.
Fairy Godmther would have been proud; the daughter of Maleficent, unable to hate. Her mother was seething, wherever she ended up. But Mal supposed this was the true power of 'goodness', the ability to stand in the worst possible place and still see someone who could be redeemed. Ben and Audrey, they were two sides of the same coin. Cursed, whipped and bred to be who they were by circumstance, and just a touch of magic. At the beginning, Mal had felt betrayed by Ben, until she learned the truth. And it was not her, for once in her short life, who had let the hatred consume her. Knowing how little time she had to do what had to be done, Mal ripped the necklace from her throat. Holding it and the ember in the same hand, the amount of power which seeped from the combination was stupid.
"Ok, this is your stop!"
Feeling Hades jerk the chariot to one side, they skidded across the clearing in a cloud of dust and an explosion of sparks. Time itself seemed to stand still as Mal rolled onto the ground. She heard Ben's huge claw swipe above her head, moving the air just short of her scalp. He smelled like rage and bear, his fur dark and matted from days of darkness. This man was not Ben, Mal knew that well enough.
"Mal! Behind you!"
Hearing Jay's voice slice through the chaos, Mal had enough mind to outstretch a hand. With a burst of power, Audrey (who had been approaching from behind) was thrown down into the grass with a thud. Beast roared with the thunder, swiping and clawing at her with his full power. Using what little agility she had, the daughter of Maleficent avoided him. In a fairytale, she could simply call her ex-lovers name. He'd pause just as he was to strike her down, and in his eyes would be the lost, scared little prince. But this was no fairytale, not anymore, and Mal had to keep focused to survive. Seeing a blur of red and dark armor out of the corner of her eye, the monster towered over her with a massive, gaping maw. And just as his muscular arm came down, she hit the dirt.
Jay soared over her back, sword poised and gleaming in the lowlight. For a moment, Mal thought Ben had been impaled. But as his form stumbled back with a cry, and her friend was thrown aside not dissimilar to Audrey, Mal had to act quicker than she ever had before. Scrambling back to her feet, she leapt to stand on Ben's chest. He was startled enough not to immediately swipe as she pressed the hand carrying the talisman and ember to his furry torso. For a moment nothing happened, and she worried her father lied, or was wrong about this working to release her ex-boyfriend. But after a few long seconds, the wooden amulet began to glow. It drank the blood like a sponge, green lines becoming crimson. Eventually the ember kicked in too, burning her palm as Ben roared in anger and pain.
For a moment, it was just them in the clearing. There was no war, no death, just them like it had been since she had left the Isle of the Lost. Fur began to shrivel up like burnt grass before fading away, claws, muzzle and teeth retreated with a deafening silence, and Mal was once again standing over a man. He was torn up and scarred, sandy hair disheveled and eyes closed. There was a round burn on his chest where Mal had held the ember. But he was alive, once again himself.
"M-Mal…" his voice was hoarse and weak, a hand coming to clutch the side of her ankle, "...you...b-broke the spell…"
But she didn't feel relief. After all of this time and work, all of these deaths she had turned him back; shattered the spell. Yet her heart did not soar, she did not weep with joy. Because a presence blacker than the darkest of night had risen from the grass. Mal hadn't noticed, but the fighting had stopped. Swords were quiet, from both sides. A silence had taken over the battleground, the only tell tale sounds of the army being hundreds of haggard, exhausted breaths.
"Audrey…" Mal croaked, stepping away from Ben whose arm fell limply to the dirt. The Queen of Thorns was still, her face an emotionless facade of nothing. Dragon Eye was held protectively in her grip, it's bottom half broken off in the battle of wills, "the spell is broken. You don't have to do this."
Extending a hand, Mal knew in her mind this wasn't going to work. Audrey had told her as such before the battle had begun - she had promised they would fall together. Looking at it now, that was going to break Mal's heart more than Ben ever had. Not wanting the war to start all over again, Mal let Audrey pass her towards the fallen king.
"...Jay…" Mal croaked, having to look away from Audrey with tears in her eyes as she nodded to her friend, now standing at the edge of the clearing, "I need to borrow that."
"Do what you need to do, Mal," he responded, passing over the sword still in his grip, "end this...for all of us."
Nodding shallowly, the daughter of Maleficent accepted the blade. As she did this, Audrey hovered over Ben like a shadow.
"King Benjamin Florian Beast, of Auradon." She announced aloud, taking her staff in both hands as she raised it into the air, "you have committed the greatest of treason against all of our people. And I, Audrey Rose of Auroria, sentence you to die."
Ben's eyes were open, and he croaked out a scream as the Queen of Thorns carried out her sentence. Mal was ready to take her own swing, to finish this quickly, but stopped short. Audrey's arms had stilled. Her entire body shivered, the tip of her staff mere centimeters from her enemies chest. Jerkily, she tried again to kill the King. But as though something were holding her, she simply couldn't. Try after try, becoming more and more weak with each passing moment, Mal fell her sword in confusion and awe.
Dragon Eye squealed in anger, it's pink stone flashing and flickering with power. The glassy surface began to shatter, a long crack extending from it's tip, down into the shaft. The artifact began to angrily vibrate, the veins in the Princess of Auroria's hands flaming white from mere contact as her jaw clenched and her eyes, both of them, flickered in and out of darkness.
Audrey was fighting her own curse.
Then, as if something had finally broken, Mal was blinded by a flash of white light. She felt a pair of arms grab her by the waist, dragging her away as there was a shockwave of power. Mal could feel the scepter shatter under the force, breaking into a million pieces. When the light faded away, and the shock had dissipated, the sky was once again blue. A soft breeze picked up, tossing Mal's hair. Hades had her against his chest, strong arms releasing slowly as she stood from the ground. She saw her friends rise as well, their heads popping out of the grass cautiously. Only now did Mal feel her chest unclench, and a long breath leave her throat.
Stumbling weakly ahead towards the clearing, two figures lay bare backed in the dirt. Ben, breathing hard and bleeding, but alive. And Audrey, white hair practically glowing like a halo, scars rippling so softly as pale fingers made tracks in the dirt. Mal ran to her, fell to her knees before the Princess confused and desperate and stupidly joyful all at the same time.
"Audrey? Auds? Hey... can you hear me?"
Glancing up painfully, Mal's heart lurched. Pale, sightless eyes stared past her into the oblivion. And in the middle of a field, the daughter of Maleficent held the daughter of Aurora as she shattered.