Here is the next chapter, which is short once again! I wanted to publish this before "Descendants 2" comes on today so this could linger in your mind while your watching—if any of you decided to watch the marathon today.

This is where things start to get a little interesting.

This chapter is also the beginning stage of changing how the story ends. For those of you who were asking for something to be 'returned', this is where it starts.

Enjoy.

Strolling through the marketplace once they opened in the early morning, Hades couldn't help over-hearing a couple henchmen's conversation. One claimed to have seen someone on a purple scooter drive through the magical barrier. The other said to have seen a hunchbacked person wearing a blackish-green tattered cloak stagger through the dark alleyways toward the Bargain Castle—Maleficent's and Hades's home.

Together, the henchmen speculated that the rider of the scooter brought the disfigured human to the Isle of the Lost because the Auradonians believed that he or she was too ugly to live amongst them.

Honestly, Hades wouldn't put it past the kings and queens of the mainland to do such a thing. Mortals, especially royalty, were vain about their appearance. They could have gone behind King Ben's back in a sort of treason. Although . . . something was odd about the henchmen's story.

Why would the mysterious person head straight for his home?

And how would they know where to go?

With that thought still lingering in his mind, Hades continued to begrudgingly shop for groceries for the day. On Fridays, he does the shopping while the rest of the week he has Celia Facilier—the daughter of Dr. Facilier, the Voodoo Man—do it for him.

You see, after he no longer had his wife or daughter on the Isle of the Lost, Hades lost the desire to go out or do anything, though he was forced to continue judging souls. One day, Celia offered to be his 'errand rat', as she put it. For the last six months, Celia has been doing small chores for him so he wouldn't have to. Due to her do all sorts of errands for the god, Celia is the only that knows the location of his lair—

Which will be useful at another time.

As of now, Hades was walking back to technically his wife's home when he heard more rumors about a mysterious figure heading toward the same place again. Someone else claimed they saw that same person enter the Bargain Castle with no trouble. Hades found that quite suspicious since—during the beginning stages of his relationship—he installed three locks so no one could break in. Cruella had a key, but had stopped coming over six months ago after the issue at Coronation. Mal used to have a key, but she left it at her home before leaving for Auradon. That only left—

No . . .

It couldn't be her.

Or could it?

Practically running to his family's home, Hades noticed that the door had been left slightly ajar by whoever broke in. It didn't appear as though they broke the lock. In fact, it looked like the person had used a key to get in, which meant . . .

Entering his home, Hades quietly closed the door behind him to not alert the trespasser. Upon seeing at first glance that everything was still in place, his suspicion of who the intruder was grew.

"Hello?" Hades called out as he sat the groceries on a nearby chair. "Who's there?"

There was no immediate answer. He could faintly hear the sound of settling furniture, yet he couldn't see anyone at the moment. "Just come out," Hades ordered calmly as he took a few cautious steps forward. "No harm will come to you if you show yourself."

"There you go again," teased a very familiar voice, one that Hades hasn't heard in a few months, "trying to act like a 'mighty god' when you are really a big softie inside."

Hades held his breath at the statement. He didn't want to. He was afraid that any kind of movement would shatter the hope he had gain or turn this reality into a dream.

From his perspective, Hades could now see into the living room. On the couch, laid a semi-frail figure with enormous horns protruding from her head, with her long brown luscious hair falling around her shoulders to the small of her back. The mysterious person slowly, carefully, and cautiously lifted herself up to a sitting position, using up all of her energy to do so.

Giving herself a moment to catch her breath, the 'mystery' person smiled at her husband. "Hello, Aidoneus."

Charging into the living room, Hades fell to his knees as he swallowed his wife in an enormous hug. He buried his face into her stomach in a vain attempt to hide his emotions from her, though it didn't really help that she could feel him shuddering and sobbing into her.

Snickering softly, Maleficent ran her fingers through her husband's hair as she teased once again, "Looks like someone's happy to see me."

When Hades lifted his head, Maleficent could see the tears of happiness streaming down his cheeks as he choked back a sob. "How are you here?" He interrogated as he held her even tighter. "I thought you were still a lizard!"

"It's a long story," Maleficent insisted as she wiped away his tears lovingly. "To put it simply, the spell I placed on myself was broken when I crossed over the barrier. If I had casted it with my scepter or your ember, I would still be a lizard since those objects are more powerful than any spell casted by the magic wand."

"But how?" Hades questioned incredulously. "How are you on the Isle?"

Maleficent sighed softly, knowing her husband wouldn't be pleased with the explanation. "There was a fight between Mal and Ben," she began slowly so her husband wouldn't lose his temper. "Mal felt as though she didn't belong in Auradon, so she returned home . . . to the Isle of the Lost. Neither Ben nor her friends know she's here."

Hades began to stand. "I'll go talk to her—"

"No," Maleficent denied as she tugged her husband's arm to make him fall back to his knees. "Don't. If you talk to her, or if she even sees you, Mal will want to stay. If we want the barrier to be removed permanently, like your brother told us it would, we have to keep her from staying on the Isle."

"How in the world are we supposed to do that?"

To his surprise, Maleficent shrugged in uncertainty. "Wait until her friends notice she's gone?" she assumed. "They will come back to the Isle for her and bring her back to Auradon."

Hades raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What are we supposed to do then?"

Maleficent smiled as she caressed her husband's cheek lovingly. "For now, I want you to hold me a while longer," she cooed tenderly, "and give me a 'welcome home' kiss."

As soon as she finished stating her request, Hades surged forward, giving his wife a kiss that showed just how much he truly missed her—

Making Maleficent grateful to be home with her husband.