Here is the next chapter!
This chapter will be used to speed up and summarize the events of "Descendants 2". After this chapter, it will cut straight to the Core Four, Ben, and Lonnie returning to Auradon; maybe even so far as Cotillion. You will find out my decision next chapter.
Like I said before, the first part of this chapter will summarize some of the events while the second part is a conversation between a great-niece and a great-uncle. It will be a nice touch to help explain a character's attempt at something during Cotillion.
Enjoy.
Later that evening, Cruella walked through the front entrance of the Bargain Castle unannounced like she would do in the old days.
"Hades!" Cruella called as she walked further into the home. "Little Celia told me you needed to talk to me about something? There's something I need to tell you about our kids while I'm here."
"You're not gonna greet me?" A certain someone wondered teasingly. "I thought I was your best friend."
Hurrying toward the direction of where the voice came from, Cruella gasped at seeing her old friend. "Malef!" she greeted in surprise. "What are you doing here? How are you here?"
Maleficent, who was laying against her husband on the couch with his tight grip still on her, smiled at her friend's reaction. "It's a long story," she claimed as she nestled her head against her husband's shoulder like she used to do. "I'll tell you it later, but just in case you see her, Mal's back on the Isle."
"I already knew that," Cruella claimed as she grabbed a chair from the kitchen table to sit in the living room. "Carlos told me."
Hades raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "He's back on the island too?"
"Not right now," Cruella corrected with a slight huff. "On the way here, I bumped into him and Jay while they were on their way to the Auradon limo that they hid. Carlos couldn't talk long, but he caught me up to speed on their situation."
"Is someone in trouble?" Maleficent questioned as she raised her head slightly.
"Yes, the King of Auradon," Cruella answered seriously. "You probably already know that him and Bertha got into a fight and Bertha ran away from Auradon. Just an hour ago, King Ben, Carlos, Jay, and Evie came to here to bring Bertha back to Auradon. King Ben and Bertha talked alone for a few minutes in the four's old hideout. King Ben came out alone saying that Bertha wasn't going to come back."
"Let me guess," Hades insisted with an annoyed sigh. "Someone king-napped the king? Who would be dumb enough to do that?"
"My other god-daughter," Cruella revealed. "Apparently on the way to their hideout, Carlos and his friends had bumped into Gil, who most likely told Shrimpy about the three of them and the king being on the Isle. Shrimpy had her pirate crew kidnap the king when the three weren't looking."
"So why are Carlos and Jay going back to Auradon?" Maleficent questioned.
"Bertha lost a bet with Shrimpy," Cruella explained knowingly. "They arm-wrestled one another at Ursula's restaurant. If Bertha won, King Ben was free to go. If Shrimpy won, then she wanted the wand. Bertha unfortunately lost and now has to bring the wand to Shrimpy's ship tomorrow. However, Carlos and Jay went back to Auradon to create a fake wand instead for the exchange. After they hand over the fake wand, they plan on creating a diversion so they can escape."
"I thought Carlos couldn't talk long?" Maleficent teased good-naturedly. "It sounded like you two talked for nearly an hour."
"I wish we could have," Cruella admitted with a soft sigh. "Before he had to leave, Carlos promised he would talk to me soon, he said he loved the suit I made for him, and he told me that loved me. That was the first time he has ever said that to me."
Pondering on an idea or two, Hades stood from the couch as he requested, "Cruella, can you keep Maleficent company for the next hour or so?"
Reluctantly, Maleficent for herself straighten to a sit up position when her husband moved away from her. "Babe, where you going?"
"To talk to our niece."
Many were surprised to see Hades walking through the pirate side of the Isle of the Lost. The last time anyone has seen him on that side was over six months ago when he last had dinner with his wife and Cruella at Ursula's restaurant.
Speaking of Ursula's restaurant, that is exactly where Hades went after his left his home. He had a feeling that there would be a huge fight tomorrow, but believed he could prevent it by speaking with Uma, Ursula's daughter.
Hades crossed the dock with his footsteps sounding heavy on the wood, which drew the attention of the pirates lounging around on barrels and surrounding platforms. Hades stopped in front of the rotten storefront for a moment to take in the scene he hasn't seen in so long.
A plaque reading URSULA'S FISH AND CHIPS and featuring Ursula the sea witch in her glory days hung outside the restaurant while painted wooden tentacles spiraled out of both sides of the building. The paint had faded, but the whites of Ursula's eyes still glowed in the gloom. Below the plaque was a sign that read YOU'LL TAKE IT HOW I MAKE IT!
Hades sauntered through the seaweed-green swinging doors of the diner to enter the eatery, which was filled with slovenly scalawags hunched over mismatched tables. The place stank of rotten fish, which fit the filthy aesthetic: splintered dock beams, smashed lobster traps, old waterlogged organ, and chandeliers made out of steering wheels.
It was a wonder why Hades and Maleficent continued to eat at such a disgusting establishment. Maybe because they ate for free because they were family.
As Hades walked further into the building, a teenage girl with long turquoise hair walked out from the back room before plopping trays of food in front of a group of hungry pirates.
The girl wore a turquoise leather jacket with fringe epaulets, a fringe skirt, and a brown pirate's hat with starfish embroidered on it. She was every bit a pirate punk and also the spitting image of her sea witch mother, Ursula—back in the day, of course. She wore Ursula's gold nautilus shell on a gold chain, though the necklace had no powers on the Isle of the Lost, where magic was forbidden and obsolete.
"Uma?" Hades called to catch the girl's attention. "Do you have a moment?"
Upon hearing her name, Uma slightly perked up at seeing the god. "Hades," she greeted with a curious eyebrow raise. "You just missed your daughter. I'm sure you heard she's back on the Isle by now."
"We need to talk," Hades demanded as he came closer, ignoring the looks of the spiteful pirates. "In the back. Now."
Uma scoffed at his sudden change in attitude. "I don't have to listen to you."
"Yes, you do," the god retorted forcefully with a stern glare. "I'm your uncle—"
"Great uncle," Uma corrected while still interrupting him. "You're my mother's uncle—"
"But still your uncle," Hades reminded as he stopped just a foot in front of his niece, towering over her by nearly a foot and a half. He gestured to the kitchen door angrily. "You will do as I say. Go to the back. NOW!"
Not wanting to show her fear at seeing the god's temper, Uma nonchalantly walked toward the kitchen area, throwing her apron on the bar as she went. Hades trailed close behind her, ready to grab her if she decided to run.
Walking through the kitchen, the two continued through the back door, which led to a dark alleyway between the restaurant and another building. No one else was in sight, making it the perfect place to talk in private.
Closing the door securely behind him, Hades interrogated rhetorically, "You kidnapped the King of Auradon? What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Freedom!" Uma shouted back, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. "I thought by holding him captive, I could manipulate him into doing what I wanted, which was freeing everyone from this island. Even if my conservation with him doesn't work, I will still have the wand tomorrow."
"Except it will be a fake," Hades revealed without a second thought. "Mali and her friends are going to give you a dummy wand when you trade for King Ben."
"Oh?" Uma tilted her head in mock curiosity. "Did your princess tell you that?"
"Before he left for Auradon to create the phony wand, Carlos told Cruella while she was heading to my home," Hades explained knowingly. "You're getting caught in a trick when you don't have to."
"Why tell me this, Uncle Hades?" Uma wondered as she reverted back to calling him what she used to. "If I do end up believing you, you're still betraying your daughter."
"Actually, I'm helping her," Hades claimed before he let out an aggravated sigh. "Zeus, your other uncle, told me years and years ago that the barrier would be brought down when Mali became engaged to a king in Auradon."
"And you think that king is King Ben," Uma assumed, though she sounded unconvinced. "Why should I believe that?"
"Look at the facts," Hades insisted as he started to get more frustrated. "Mali is currently dating King Ben. The royal Cotillion tomorrow is being held for her. That is the first step before becoming officially and royally engaged."
Uma shook her head in amusement. "I think you are just trying to convince yourself that Zeus didn't lie to you."
"I'm trying to help you," Hades corrected as he stressed once again, "You are doing this for nothing."
"I don't need your help," Uma retorted bitterly. "And I don't need your daughter's help either. I plan on bringing down the barrier on my own, even if it breaks my cousin's heart in the process."