Here is the next chapter! I was not expecting this chapter to be over 4600 words long or that I would finish it within two days.

So last chapter was obviously horrible since it took nearly six hours of it being posted before someone reviewed. Usually I get a new review within ten minutes of a chapter being posted. SOMEHOW: I got over the usual amount of views on that day. It was actually the most views I've ever received in one day: 2.75K views.

I was going to post this chapter a day early to make up for it, but then I got an idea that would make a king show off his firey hair and another king's 'beastly' rage. I promise you this chapter is definitely better than the one before. It has better detail, a much longer length, and hopefully has you at the edge of your seat by the time it ends. I wasn't going to have the first part, but I thought, 'What the hell? They may like it.'

Once again, don't forget to vote on my poll! The two options with the most votes will be the ones that I work on. I am up to 30 users now that have voted! From the looks of it now, I will have to start a story and continue another. The voting will end once the epilogue(s) is/are posted.

Enjoy.

In the early morning hours, Hades was tending to his wife, who still laid on her stomach on the makeshift cot in the living room, when he heard a peculiar knock on their door. The main reason that it was so unusual was the time. No one in their right mind would be up at this early only hour. The only reason the couple was awake was because Maleficent's back started hurting worse, causing her to wake from her slumber.

The knocking on became urgent the second round. With a disgruntle sigh, Hades kissed his beloved wife's forehead before answering the door. The god raised an eyebrow in curiosity when he saw his great-niece and god-daughter standing at the entrance with four Auradon guards behind them.

"Morning?" Hades greeted in confusion. "Did you two get in so much trouble that you've come to me for help again?"

"We aren't the ones in trouble this time," Celia corrected with a soft, depressing sigh. "Audrey fell victim to her own sleeping curse and is slipping away."

"Why should I care?" The immortal retorted as he crossed his arms stubbornly. "Her jealous rage nearly killed my daughter. This is karma looking for a little pay-back. Why should I interfere?"

"Uncle, please," Uma begged, something she would have never done before. "Mal asked us to come to you for help. She says you are the only one that can save Audrey. Will you help her, for your Mali?"

Groaning in frustration at his niece using his little girl against him, Hades insisted doggedly, "I can't leave the island, not yet. I promised my wife I wouldn't leave the Isle of the Lost without her."

"Aidoneus. . ."

Stepping away from the entrance, Hades quickly strolled to his wife, kneeling so he was the same height as her. Maleficent turned her head to the side so she could smile lovingly at her husband. "Go to our baby girl," she cooed ever so softly. "If her burns are going to be as bad as you predict, then she will need you too. Go to Auradon to help her. You can decide there if you want to help Audrey."

"I can stay with Maleficent until you return," Uma suggested before her uncle could decide. "I have some Enchanted Lake water for her to drink. And Celia can get Cruella if you feel more comfortable with her watching your wife."

Pondering on the idea for a moment or two, Hades adverted his gaze back to Maleficent, who was smiling expectantly. Sighing in defeat, he wondered, "Anything you want me to tell our baby girl?"

"Just tell her I love her," Maleficent requested, almost like she already thought the scenario through. "And give her a forehead kiss for me."

During the mid-morning, a looming black SUV pulled into the circular drive of Auradon Prep. Four commanding officers of the Auradon Royal Guard stepped out of the vehicle with one opening the rear door, flanked by the other three in case something was to happen. Hades reluctantly emerged next, the sound of chains hitting the pavement with a clank.

Upstairs in the dorm room, Audrey looked like a prissy princess with her pink gown and long brushed hair, though she still laid stiff and lifeless on her bed. Holding her grand-daughter's hand, Queen Leah sat by bedside with grief overtaking her while her husband—the horrible King Stefan—stood at her side with a comforting hand on her shoulder. Fairy Godmother and Queen Belle stood courteously on the other side while King Beast impatiently paced the rug that was placed a few feet away.

At the foot of the bed, Queen Aurora watched her daughter's sleeping figure, remembering how she was in the same state nearly twenty-three years ago. Her husband, King Philip, had business to attend elsewhere—none of the others realizing he was using this opportunity to sneak into his in-law's castle to free a captive—so Mal kindly stood by Aurora's side to help console her.

It wasn't dramatic to say Mal has seen better days. Though her cousin did her best to heal the burns all over her body, Mal's skin still felt like it was burning from the inside. The pain worsened whenever the fabric of her clothing rubbed against her skin, so she opted to wear a subdued lavender shirt with a tasteful pale gold skirt, which essentially exposed the burns on her legs and her forearms.

Mal's purple hair was neatly pulled back into a low ponytail with a dragon barrette keeping it in place. Since everyone was so focused on the ill princess, Mal was the only one that noticed her hair magically falling out of its original hairdo and changing so it now fell below her shoulders with braids on both sides meeting at the back, her dragon barrette pinning them to place.

Mal allowed the tiniest of smiles to grace her lips as someone knocked on the dorm-room door, knowing exactly who the perpetrator was. In the next moment, her smile turned into a horrified frown after King Beast opened the door.

Hades stood towering the doorway with a guard on each side of him. Once the officers escorted him into the room, the 'audience' had a better view of his confinements. The guards had placed him in a full body shackle that had a piece around his neck that connected to his cuffed hands and his shackled legs. To make it worse, the chains just 'happened' to be made out of iron, so his beloved daughter couldn't help without hurting herself.

Mal couldn't stop the tear that dripped down her cheek from seeing such a terrifying sight. Her whole body quivered as she tried her hardest to contain her overwhelming emotions. After everything she's gone through in the last twenty-four hours, Mal wasn't sure how long it would be before she broke at seeing her father in such a state.

Meanwhile, King Ben, who had been silently standing by the bay window, fumed at seeing how his guards disrespected his queen's father, his future father-in-law.

"Unchain him," Ben ordered his guards with anger evident in his tone. "Now."

King Beast took a cautious step toward his child. "Son, we can't tru—"

"NOW!" Ben repeated ferociously, much to the horror of his parents and the amusement of the immortal.

Fearful of what their king would do to them if they disobeyed, the guards went to work on freeing the 'prisoner'. In the matter of seconds, the god was free, but no sooner than he started to rub his wrist, his daughter plowed into him, burying her head into his chest. Hades embraced his daughter, kissing her forehead to help comfort her. With them being so close to one another, everyone could see the unmistakable family resemblance.

After taking a few moments to compose herself, Mal reluctantly broke the embrace, but kept her arm wrapped around her father's as she stood to his side, holding his hand as she did so. "Thank you for coming," she mumbled as she rested her head against his arm.

"I didn't have much choice," Hades complained with another quick kiss to the top of her forehead. "It was either I help you or I stay on the Isle to be left alone with three women—well, two women and a froggie—who would have been disappointed in me."

Hades raised his gaze to look at the woman he has never met in person, but still knew nearly everything about. "Hello, Beasty," he greeted with a small nod. "It's nice to finally meet you. Your godmother has told me a lot about you."

"Don't call her that!" King Stefan demanded as he stupidly approached the god, standing only ten feet away from him.

Hades raised a curious eyebrow at the outburst. "It's just a name that her godmother gave her," he commented calmly. "Mal's godmother, Cruella de Vil, calls her 'Bertha' and Cruella calls her other god-daughter 'Shrimpy'. I call Celia, my god-daughter, 'Miss Froggie'. Meanwhile, you should watch your tone when speaking to me."

"I can speak however I wish!" King Stefan retorted snobbishly. "I am king—"

"As am I," Hades reminded with a glare, "and a god. I am the god and King of the Underworld and my beautiful daughter here is the Princess of the Underworld, which means the two us already outrank you and the rest of your family. My job in the Underworld is to judge the souls on their past to see if they deserve to live in your mortal version of heaven and hell. If I were you, I would tread lightly and speak to me with a little more respect. You are already on my bad side for what you did to my wife. You don't want to make things worse for yourself."

King Stefan seemed a little puzzled and surprised by the immortal's words. "Your wife?" He repeated in feign forgetfulness. "Who's that and what did I supposedly do to her?"

"Maleficent," Hades enunciated like the old man was thick-headed. "In a little over two months, we will be celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary. You used her weakness against her—"

"If you are a powerful god, then what is your weakness?"

"My wife and daughter," Hades answered automatically, taking a mental note that Stefan was trying to avoid the subject all together.

"Why tell me that?"

Hades's glare sharpened as he growled venomously, "Because I'll kill you before you even think about exploiting it."

"Daddy," Mal cooed so softly that only her father could hear her. "Please, don't do anything reckless. You are not a villain, remember?"

Exhaling a breath of air to release his frustration and maintain his temper, Hades reverted his attention back to King Stefan as he wondered, "Why should I help you? You used an iron chain to forcefully remove my wife's wings."

"Maleficent never had wings," Queen Leah denied not too convincingly. "She lied to you."

"Are you sure?" When the older retired royal couple nodded in confirmation, Hades shook his head in amusement. "Well, now I know I can add lying to the list of things you've done."

"What do you mean?" Fairy Godmother wondered quite curiously. "Do you have proof?

Instead of answering immediately, Hades reached into his leather jacket for a certain object. The next moment, the others could see the back of an old, worn-out photograph. "For a wedding gift, my wife took a picture of her in her wedding dress," he revealed as he flipped the image around for everyone to see. "Are you telling me she faked this?"

In the picture, Maleficent wore her figure-hugging wedding dress with her back facing the camera while she gazed over her shoulder to look at the camera. The dress had a large V-shaped opening on the back, revealing the small black numbs that protruded from her back, which was where her wings used to be.

"Those wounds never healed completely," Hades informed as he carefully placed the precious picture in its original spot. "If rubbed the wrong way, the wounds will open up to cause her grief. She couldn't have caused these on her own."

"There's no proof that I did it." King Stefan insisted stubbornly, refusing to admit his crimes. "You have no witnesses!"

"Actually, there are two," Mal claimed as she rubbed her head slightly against her father's arm to try to keep him calm. "When I retrieved my mother's scepter from the Isle of the Doomed a few years ago, I was able to see you ripping her wings off her back. My mother told me that Diaval had seen the whole scene as well, but he didn't tell her until a couple years later. What exactly happened to the raven?"

"How should I know?" King Stefan retorted on the verge of a disrespectful tone. "I haven't seen him in years."

"Quit lying!" Queen Aurora demanded with a disbelieving shake of her head. "After Maleficent fainted, Diaval transformed from the massive dragon back into a miniscule raven. You had your guards capture and hold him captive in case my godmother ever returned."

Mal's jaw dropped at the new information. "He did what?" she questioned rhetorically. "Is Diaval even alive now?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Aurora claimed with a soft sigh. "And yes, he is still alive because of Maleficent. Since she transformed him into a man a handful of times, Diaval adapted the average lifespan of a human. In fact . . ." The queen trailed off as she checked her mobile device for the new message. "My husband just found Diaval locked in a cage in the dungeon of my biological parents' castle. He is bringing him to King Ben's castle as we speak."

"I'll ask you again," Hades declared to Stefan as he tried to get everyone focused back on the main situation at hand, "why should I help you after everything you put my family through? I assure you I will have no remorse for letting the girl rot away like she is now. I've dealt worse punishments than that in the Underworld. I doubt she will learn a lesson from this experience."

"Daddy," Mal chided softly so he would gaze down at her. "I know this won't change Audrey either, but will you help her for me, your Baby Girl? I promise, you won't regret it."

Studding the pleading expression on his daughter's face, Hades sighed with reluctant assent. He held out his hand as expectantly. "Ember, Mali."

Smiling happily at his cooperation, Mal gladly handed over the magical object to her father. Once it was in his possession, the tips of Hades's blue mohawk burst into flames, making his hairstyle more massive than it already was. Despite the tense atmosphere it created, Mal snickered at the action. "I am so glad we tricked Mom into letting you have a mohawk," she teased good-naturedly. "That was exactly how I imagined it as a little girl."

A small smirk wormed onto the god's lips as he focused on his daughter. Lightly taking her face in his hands—the ember glowing against the paleness of her cheek—Hades carefully tilted Mal's head up so he could get a better look at the burns on her neck. Hades found himself grateful that his little brother—Poseidon, not Zeus—intervened when it came to help his daughter. Before, Hades feared that the burns would leave behind a scar if he healed them. Now, he was positive that he could make the burns fade without leaving a trace of it being there in the first place.

"What are you doing?" King Stefan demanded arrogantly. "You're supposed to help my grand-daughter—"

"My daughter comes first," Hades retorted nonchalantly as he kept a trained eye on the neck.

"Your bitch can wait!"

Now, the next few moments afterwards happened so fast that no one saw it coming. To be perfectly fair, a majority were distracted by how Hades's flaming hair suddenly changed from a semi-pale blue to a deep, blistering red as his calm expression turned to one that wanted to kill. Mal actually felt momentarily scared of her father, having never seen the color change before, but warned about it many times before as a little girl.

However, Hades wasn't the one that had grabbed the old man by his throat, slowly tightening his grip as he threatened to choke the life out of him. None believed that King Ben had enough animosity to do such a horrible thing, yet he proved them wrong.

I know, you probably don't believe me either. May I remind you that he was turned into a beast not so long ago? Though the spell, curse, or whatever you want to call it was broken, Ben still had some effects from it, which was his shortened temper and semi-ability to transform into a beast.

In fact, at that very moment, his hand was that of a monster's. His claws were digging into King Stefan's throat, ready to draw blood at any second.

"Disrespect my queen or her father one more time," Ben growled menacingly as he tightened his grip ever so slightly to get his point across, "and you won't be the only king that got away with murder."

King Ben dropped his grasp at the next moment, causing King Stefan to gasp air. The situation felt momentarily under control, until the rest noticed that Hades's hair was still red, which meant he was still furious. While he was glaring at the old king, some noticed that his behavior was affecting the ember, which was slowly starting to turn the same red color as his hair.

"Daddy," Mal cooed softly yet sweetly to calm her father. "Please, leave him be for now."

Hades didn't want to listen to his daughter. He wanted to send that bastard of a king to Tartarus so he could live out his days in fear, just like his wife had for so long.

Before he could do such a thing, a big flash of lightning appeared outside the window, followed by a booming thunder. His brother, Zeus, was warning him to not take things too far, or possibly to not doing anything reckless. Either way, when Hades demeanor didn't change, there was another lightning strike and loud thunder. If his wife wasn't without him on the Isle, Hades would have killed the mortal regardless of his brother's warning. Alas, his wife was afraid of thunderstorms, and killing the tyrant king would have made the lightning and thunder continue for weeks or possibly months.

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling, Hades's temper went back in check, his hair and ember reverting to their original blue color.

Turning his head toward his daughter, Hades let the ember touch her cheek once again before placing the lightest kiss on the center of her forehead. Mal couldn't help the faintest of gasps that escaped her lips when the heat from her skin finally dissipated. The burns faded away to nothing, showing off her pale flawless skin. The only thing that remained was the wound on her hand from the month prior, though all that was left from it was a small scar in the center of her palm.

Knowing he would lose his motivation to help her, Hades reluctantly walked to the foot of the bed, ready to use the magical object in a different manner. He held the glowing ember above Audrey and swirled it dramatically through the air, like he was about to cast a spell. Under Hades's command, the ember emitted a dark whirlpool of colors, pulsating shafts of colored light through the room.

With a flash of brilliant blue light, Audrey lifted from the bed like she was in a trance—Hades using that moment to slip the ember into his pocket without the others seeing. She gazed around the room with a false look of shame on her face, though her expression flickered to fear for a moment when she barely glimpsed at a slightly angered Ben. "I'm so sorry," she apologized insincerely. "I—I didn't mean to—"

"Save it," Ben spat unsympathetically. "You knew exactly what you were doing. You stole the crown before you took the scepter, nearly killed my queen, spelled some citizens to sleep and others to stone, turned me into a beast, had iron knights attack my queen and friends, and kidnapped little Celia. I gave you a chance for a lesser punishment, yet you didn't take it. Since you were so desperate to be queen, the first part of your punishment is having your royal status removed."

"You can't do that!" King Stefan argued defensively.

"I am the king of this entire kingdom," Ben reminded almost heartlessly as he spared him a pitiless glance. "I am the only one that has the authority to do such a thing. In fact, your status as 'king' will be removed as well. You killed your predecessor, inhumanly removed a fairy's wings, attempted to hide your dark past, disrespected the Queen of the Isle on more than one occasion, and so many that I can't possibly list."

King Ben paused momentarily as the perfect punishment suddenly clicked in his mind. "You imprisoned Diaval in your dungeon for nearly twenty-three years," he recalled correctly. "It is only fitting that you spend the next twenty-three years in that very same dungeon and be treated exactly how you treated Diaval during his captivity. Your family will only be able to visit once a year and you will be given no updates about them, though I doubt you would mind since you are so selfish and heartless."

Next, Ben turned to glare at the old retired queen. "Don't think I've forgotten about you Queen Leah," he insisted. "In fact, I should be calling you 'Leah' now since your status as 'queen' will be removed as well."

Leah's jaw dropped at the announcement. "But I've done nothing wrong!"

"You are responsible for injuring my queen during our graduation," King Ben accused as his glare hardened, "and for tampering with the evidence. You should tread very carefully since I discovered a few hours ago that the man I hired to fix the evidence was hired by you so you wouldn't be caught. Luckily, one of my friends happens to be a technology genius and fixed the footage within ten minutes, which shows you swapping the frame for one that would be deadly to my queen."

"Along with you no longer being queen, you will no longer live in your castle," King Ben declared before the punished could speak their opinion. "You will spend the rest of your days in the very cottage that your daughter was raised in. You will have to do everything for yourself, which ranges from the cooking, the cleaning, and growing your own food. Out of pity, you will be given everything you need to start your garden and two month's supply of food. The only time you can leave the cottage is to visit your husband, but you will be allowed no visitors. Of course, your husband will join you in your solitary confinement after his twenty-three years in the dungeon are over. If I discover that the three pixies try to help you in any way, they will be punished as well."

Finally, Ben reverted his attention back to Audrey, who looked fearful for her life. "You are going to learn some respect for the Isle of the Lost and its citizens," he deduced. "Instead of taking classes, you will spend the rest of the summer helping to clean up the island with a few volunteers. You will do anything and everything to help make the islanders' life better, which will mainly be sorting out the trash that's been sent there from Auradon. Since you will be working all summer, you will have to take the fall classes in order to graduate. Knowing that you've been cut off financially from your parents, you will have to work to pay off the tuition and dorm fees. The work will range from cleaning the kitchen for the cooks, cleaning every restroom—both men's and women's, cleaning the sports equipment, basically every job you ridiculed people for having over the years, and trust me, the list is quite large.

"Once you finally graduate, you will be given similar living arrangements as your grandmother," Ben continued without missing a beat. "The only difference is you will be living in exile on the Isle of the Lost."

"What!" Audrey exclaimed dramatically as she looked to her mother for help. "Mom, are you going to let him do this?"

"All of you did this to yourself," Queen Aurora commented quite coldly. "You made your bed. Now you must lie in it."

Finding himself somewhat amused that the trio of punished villains had their mouths hanging slightly open at the shocking comment, King Ben ordered, "You have one hour to say good-bye to one another before your punishment begins. Audrey, you have the same hour to pack your things before you are kicked out of this dorm room and placed into a much smaller one. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to."

The 'other business' was merely walking with his queen and his future father-in-law to the vehicle that would return Hades to his home with his wife. In fact, the immortal was telling the 'newly' engaged couple about his plan for his twentieth anniversary gift for his wife.

"That sounds wonderful!" Mal encouraged excitedly, practically teeming with joy at the idea.

"Would you mind me doing that?" Hades wondered as they reluctantly grew closer to the SUV that was parked a few hundred yards away from them. "I don't want to want to overstep."

"It's fine with us," Ben reassured. "And I'm sure she will like your gift more than she will Mal's."

"Hey, Mom hasn't seen him in years. I'm pretty sure mine will be more of a surprise," Mal teased with a smile, though the smile slowly faded when she checked a message on her phone. "Speaking of which, they finally made it."

"Then I won't keep you." Hades insisted as he kissed his daughter's forehead lovingly one last time. "We love you, Mali. We'll see you in a few days."

A short while later, a married couple and an engaged couple were mostly alone in the comforts of King Ben's office. Mal had her attention focused on the cage sitting on her fiance's desk. Exhaling a breath of nervousness, she raised her hand, which began to glow a yellowish color.

"Into a man."