Descendants – Better Together

Chapter Six: It's Like The Fog Has Lifted

As soon as she made it out into the courtyard, Emily pulled a Pokeball out of her bag and pressed the button on it, sending Beauty out. The flames from her mane lit up the area around them as Emily got on her back.

"Excuse me, ma'am, may I ask where you're going?" asked one of the guards, looking at her. "It's rather late."

"A few loose ends to tie up in the Gothel case," said Emily, looking at the guard. "They're time sensitive as well, I gotta go now."

"Do you need a lantern?" he asked, with a smile.

Emily rolled her eyes before saying "Well, it's not like I have a flaming horse with me or anything." She shook her head. "Of course I don't need a bloody lantern." She kicked Beauty gently and set her moving. Heading out of the gates.

Half an hour later, she was stood outside the tower. She clicked her fingers and in a poof of smoke a quiver filled with arrows appeared on her back and a bow appeared in her hand. Beauty looked at her trainer and neighed, making Emily smile as she nocked an arrow. "Let's hope I still have this," she said, before firing the arrow at the still open window. A steel rope flew out the back of it, as the arrow lodged itself in the top of the window. "I'll be right back, Beaut, don't go anyway." She pressed a button on the bow and started flying upwards, the steel rope retracting.

She did a three point landing as she flew in the window. "Let's see what you were hiding here, Gothel," said Emily, smirking as she looked around. It was a familiar sight, looking a lot like it had in the film, the only thing that was different was the surprisingly modern TV in the corner. And the pile of DVDs next to it, So Random and the TV show of Bolt in with them. She immediately made her way over to the DVDs and ran her hand over them. "Huh, I guess some things change…" She shook her head. "Right, not here to check these. Here for the jammer."

There was a brief silence as she looked around the room again, before spotting a book that looked slightly out of place in the bookshelf and immediately made her way over. "Let's see what else you're hiding, Gothel." She reached for the book, and pulled on it. Causing the bookshelf to move slightly. Revealing a small alcove that held a very familiar device, the signal jammer. Emily grinned, before grabbing an arrow from her quiver. There was a brief moment of silence, before she stabbed the jammer with the arrow. There was an explosion and she stepped out of the alcove with a smile as she reached for her phone. "And fixed. Hopefully everyone in town'll thank me for it." She looked around the room again before returning to exploring it.

Later that morning, back in the castle, Rose frowned as she felt the space next to her was empty. Her frown deepened when she didn't see Emily in the room. She immediately sat up, a worried look in her eyes, and looked around the room. "Oh Em…" she said, sighing as she noticed the pad of paper. She got out of bed and walked over to it. "Gone to break the jammer, be back by breakfast. Oh Em…" As she said that, her phone buzzed from where it was stashed on the side table, waking the four Pokemon.

Bella immediately started looking around before frowning when she couldn't find Emily. "Pika pi?" she asked, running up to Rose. "Pikachu?"

"Momma will be back soon, Bella," said Rose, with a smile as she grabbed her phone from the side. "She just popped out to do something." Bella nodded as she settled herself on the table. Rose looked at her phone and smiled. "Actually, momma is in the courtyard, and she's got us breakfast. I'm gonna get dressed and then we can go see her."

Rose smiled as she walked out into the courtyard with the four Pokemon behind her, to find Emily leaning against a wall while eating a pretzel. "Did you find the Jammer?" asked Rose, looking at her girlfriend. "Or did you just need to clear your head?"

"Both," said Emily, holding out a brown bag. "I picked up a pretzel for you as well, and a Pan Au Chocolat for Bella." Bella's head perked up as she heard the word chocolate, and she made grabbing motions with her paws. Emily immediately grinned and pulled a Pan Au Chocolat from the bag, which she handed to Bella. "I see you're my friend again."

"Pika!" said Bella, grinning as she jumped onto Emily's shoulder. Before biting into her Pan Au Chocolat.

"So, what else did you find while you were at the tower?" asked Rose, as she took the bag from Emily.

Emily laughed before saying "Gothel didn't let Rapunzel watch anything live, but she did have a lot of DVDs. And books. Lots and lots of books… Nothing history related but cool none the less."

"Interesting," said Rose, nodding. Before biting into her pretzel.

"It really was," said Emily, smiling, as she made her way over to Rose. "We should probably go inside, see how Rapunzel is."

Rose nodded before following Emily into the castle.

As soon as they stepped into the entrance hall, they saw Ben walking down the stairs with Evie. "Hey you two," said Ben, smiling. "Coming down for breakfast?"

"I went into town and grabbed me and Rose some pretzels," said Emily, with a smile. "I couldn't sleep last night so I returned to the tower to work out where the signal jammer was." She turned to Ben and Evie. "I broke it. Signal should be fine again in the forest, a little spotty here and there but, well, that's just natural for a forest." She looked at Rose. "Right, Guppy? I'm remembering correctly, right? From that trip we took to that forest for survival training?"

"Yeah, you're remembering correctly," said Rose, with a smile of her own. Before shaking her head. "I still remember Frank and Lenny's reaction when they saw the Spy-Pod you snuck in."

"Frank totally didn't need to throw it into the river though," said Emily, shaking her own head. "Good thing they're waterproof, but it took me forever to dry off."

"There was a very nice view afterwards though," said Rose, smirking as she looked at her girlfriend. "It's still very much burned in my memory. I think about it a lot…"

"You think about me a lot, huh?" asked Emily, raising her eyebrow. "Why'd you need to think about me when you have the real thing, huh?"

"We're not together all day, are we?" asked Rose, looking at Emily. Before remembering where they were, and that Ben and Evie were looking at them with amused smiles on their lips. "Sorry, we get carried away sometimes."

"It's alright," said Evie, looking at Rose with a smile. "You two are cute together." She took Ben's hand. "Ben and I are going on a walk later, but I think Mal wants to talk to you. She's in our room. It's the room across from yours."

"We'll head right up then," said Emily, nodding as she took Rose's hand. They said their goodbyes and then went their separate ways, with Emily and Rose and their Pokemon heading up the stairs.

Mal was waiting on the bed when they got to the room, the door had been left open and she looked uncharacteristically nervous. "Evie said you wanted to speak to us, Mal?" said Emily, with a reassuring smile. "Is this about yesterday?"

"It wasn't a real date, was it?" said Mal, looking up at the two. "I know you said it counted, but you…" She looked at Emily with a frown. "You went running off, so it can't have been a proper date." Mal stood up, nerves briefly flittered over her features before she schooled them. "I want to take you on a proper date. Corona has some great romantic restaurants, and a really nice art gallery… If you want to, that is."

Rose noticed Emily looking at her and she gave Mal a smile before saying "We both quite like art, that sounds really nice."

"We'll need to find somebody to babysit Bella and these guys though," said Emily, looking at Mal. "But we'd love to do that. That does sound really fun."

Mal grinned before taking her phone out and typing something. "I'll ask Evie if she and Ben will keep an eye on them for you."

Ten minutes later, they were sat in the room, watching Bella and Mel chase each other. Lupa and Cerberus were curled up together in the corner. Three half-full food bowls sat next to the Canine Pokemon. "Hey guys," said Ben, walking in with Evie behind him. "I hear you need some babysitters."

"Mal wants to take us on a date, so yeah, we need some babysitters," said Emily, with a smile. "Just be aware that Bella is a handful, and Lupa and Cerberus still need their walk…" She winced slightly when the two Canine Pokemon perked up, before she looked at Ben again. "Just take them to a clearing and let them run wild for a bit, it should tire them out. Bella and Mel will want to join them, you can let them but make sure to take their outfits off. Bella will definitely fight it, but just inform her that her dress will get dirty and I'm not gonna be there to clean it." Ben nodded, as Emily reached into her bag and pulled out a book named 'The Very Hungry Caterpie'. "This is her favourite book, if she gets a little pouty, give her a small bit of chocolate and read this to her. Mel will probably join her." She smiled as Ben took the book, before she reached into her bag again. "Actually, you can probably give her one of these." She handed him the bag of chocolate buttons, causing his eyes to go wide. The bag was cold, somehow. "Just the one though, more than one and she goes slightly hyper… And you do not want a hyper Pikachu if you want to keep your hair how it currently is."

"Hey, Em, Mal says the Art Galley is opening soon, we should go," said Rose, stepping over to Emily. "Bella will be fine with these two." She took Emily's hand and smiled. "I know this is the first time we're leaving Bella with somebody, but this is Ben and Evie. They're gonna be fine."

"We'll call if anything happens," said Evie, stepping over to join Ben. "But I assure you, nothing will happen. Bella and the others will be fine, we'll make sure of that."

Emily nodded before taking a deep breath, before looking over at Bella. She was still chasing Mel, only to stop when Emily called her over.

Soon enough, Emily, Rose and Mal were walking into the Corona Art Gallery. After paying at the entrance, the three made their into the exhibit. "You weren't kidding when you said the art here was great," said Rose, looking at a statue of a partially naked woman made from marble. "This is amazing."

"Kinda looks like Daisy," said Emily, stepping over. At Rose's raised eyebrow Emily chuckled. "You realise we all share a changing room in the base, right? And in P.E."

Rose shook her head before tilting her head as she looked at the statue. "You're right, it does kinda look like Daisy…" she said, frowning. "Dammit, Em, now I can't unsee it. And that is not an image I wanted."

"Why not? Daisy's hot," said Emily, smirking. "I certainly wouldn't say no if she asked us…"

"Um, who's Daisy?" asked Mal, reminding the two she was still there. And that this wasn't just their date. They turned to see her looking slightly lost. "Is she one of your friends?"

"She was part of our team back when we were in our world," said Rose, smiling as she looked at Mal. "And one of our friends, when we weren't at school."

"Ah," said Mal, nodding. "Cool."

"So, why don't you show us some of your favourite art here?" said Emily, looking at Mal with a smile. "You probably know this stuff better than us."

Mal immediately grinned as she began pointing to a nearby piece of art before launching into an excited lecture about it. Emily and Rose shared a smile before following Mal.

Soon enough, Mal was talking about a statue of a man and woman while Emily was fidgeting with her pocket. "Mal, where are the bathrooms?" she asked, looking at Mal. "I need to go…"

"They're just around the corner," said Mal, smiling as she looked at Emily and pointed. "Should be marked."

Emily nodded and smiled. "Thanks," she said, looking at Mal before walking off.

The moment she was out of sight of Mal and Rose, she pulled out her phone and took a seat on the nearby bench. Just in time for it to buzz, a video sent by Ben. She laughed as she opened it to see Bella, sans her dress surprisingly, playing in the courtyard with Lupa, Cerberus and Mel, who was also sans her outfit. Bella looked like she was having fun.

She smiled, the video was great but she still needed a verbal confirmation, so she quickly scrolled through her contacts, stopping on Ben's name. There was a brief hesitation before she pressed the call button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello Emily," came Ben's voice, through the speaker. "Bella is fine, by the way. I sent you that video to show you."

"I know, I just…" started Emily, trailing off. Before taking a deep breath. "She's my baby girl, I get to worry. This is the first time we've left her with anybody… How are the others?"

"Tiring themselves out right now," said Ben, making Emily smile. "You were right about Bella not wanting to take her dress off, but Evie managed to sweet talk her. Mel was easier, she was practically taking them off herself."

"Yeah, Mel likes her clothes, but she also doesn't mind taking them off," said Emily, smiling. She took a deep breath. "Can we keep this phone call between us? Rose and Mal think I went to the bathroom." She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "Look at me, I've become one of those parents I see on TV… The ones that can't go on a date without ringing up the babysitters to see if their kids alright…" She let out a small smile. "I should get back to the girls, tell Bella her momma loves her."

"Of course," said Ben, making Emily smile as she stood up and they said their goodbyes.

She quickly put her phone away and walked off.

She found Mal and Rose looking at a landscape of the sea at sunset, with a boat with the Coronan Symbol on it's sail. "This was painted by the royal painter," said Mal, smiling. "She set up at the highest point of the castle for a month and painted this."

"It's amazing," said Emily, smiling at she slipped between the two. "It really feels like we're looking at a sunset."

"Yeah," said Rose, nodding. Before looking at Emily. "So, how's Bella?"

Emily's eyes went wide before she said "She's doing great. Evie apparently managed to sweet talk her into taking off her dress. Ben sent a video if you wanna see it." She reached into her pocket and took out her phone.

Rose smiled as Mal lent over as well, as Emily played the video.

An hour later, they were stood in front of a portrait of a man in a nice suit, at the back of the gallery. "Who's this?" asked Emily, looking at it. "He seems important. Got a big portrait, at least."

"Carsten Schmid the third," said Mal, with a small smile. "He owns this gallery."

"Fair enough," said Emily, smiling. "It's a great painting. Not one of the best in here, but great."

"Don't let Schmid hear that," said Mal, smirking. "He's got a very big head about his portrait."

Rose and Emily laughed before they both noticed a landscape of the Corona forest across the room. "That one looks amazing," said Emily, walking over to it. "I always enjoyed a good forest landscape."

"You can even see a deer," said Rose, pointing at the painting. "And is that a rabbit…"

"Huh, this one's new," said Mal, as she joined them. "I haven't seen this one before. It's very good though, one of the best landscapes I've seen in a while."

Emily and Rose shared a look between each other as Rose said "The last time I saw a landscape like this there was a Winter Sawsbuck in it and the trees were barren. It was a winter scene."

Mal nodded, even if she didn't know what a Sawsbuck was, before pulling her phone out. "Hey, the restaurant opens in twenty minutes," she said, smiling. "Shall we go on a walk? There's not much left to see here now."

"Sure, a walk sounds fun," said Emily, nodding. "I didn't get to see much of the city when I was coming in. Nor this morning… It was very dark…"

"Yeah, a walk would be fun," said Rose, smiling as she took Emily's hand. Before dropping it quickly and holding her hand out for Mal. Mal seemed surprised for a moment before taking the outstretched hand, as Emily took the other hand.

"Are you two alright?" asked Mal, as they sat on a bench in a park near to the art gallery. She was sat between Rose and Emily. "You've been slightly subdued for the whole date… The only time you were anywhere close to your normal selves was when you were talking about Bella earlier."

"Really?" asked Emily, frowning. "You noticed?"

"I'm not stupid, guys," said Mal, shaking her head. "Body language is the first thing I learnt to read on the Isle. It helped me learn when not to talk to Mother." She sighed as she looked at the sky. "It took me way too long to work out that that's not mothers should act…"

"Mother's don't always know best, even if they think they do," said Emily, nodding. "You know, mine didn't tell me who my father is. It took my grandfather coming to Auradon to tell me."

"That guy with the eye-patch is your grandfather?" asked Mal, gasping. "Oh wow, amazing." She shook her head as she looked at the two. "But seriously, what is wrong with you two? Are you not enjoying yourselves?" She frowned. "We can call it early if you want…"

"No, no," said Rose, quickly. "We're really enjoying ourselves, Mal. It's just…"

"We noticed you looked lost when we were talking about Daisy earlier and we both remembered that it wasn't just the two of us on a date…" said Emily, looking at Mal with a smile. "Rose and I have been together for practically five years at this point, we've got some things to unlearn when it comes to dating."

"Five years, really?" asked Mal, surprised. "That's a long time… You met when you were eleven?"

"Fourteen," said Rose, smiling. "We spent three years in Pokearth, and we didn't age at all while there." She shook her head. "I'm still not sure why…"

"Put it down to the Olympians, they're usually to blame," said Emily, shrugging. "But yeah, we have a lot of date etiquette to relearn and I think it's gonna take a while. I prom…" She trailed off as she began sniffing the air. "Do you smell pretzels? I smell pretzels… Fresh pretzels."

"You and that nose," said Rose, as she watched Emily stand up. Before shaking her head. "You and that stomach." Emily stuck her tongue out before turning around and sniffing the air again, before making her way out of the park. Rose sighed before looking at Mal and saying "I'm sorry, Mal, but I don't think we're gonna get to the restaurant. Once Emily gets something in her head, we're not stopping till she gets a pretzel." She stood up. "We should probably follow her." She held out her hand for Mal, who nodded and took it before they followed Emily out of the park.

They found Emily at a Pretzel Cart on the street outside the park, with a pretzel in hand and a brown bag in the other while talking to the man behind the cart. "Hey guys," she said, grinning as she saw Rose and Mal walking towards them. She held up the bag. "Got you some pretzels if you want them. If not, more for me."

"We have the restaurant in like five minutes, Em," said Rose, looking at her. "We don't all have your appetite."

"Actually, a pretzel does sound nicer than the restaurant," said Mal, with a smile. "Street food is usually the best food."

Emily grinned before handing the bag over to Mal. "These are some of the best pretzels I've had."

Rose shook her head with a smile as Mal handed her the bag. She took it and grabbed one of the pretzels, noticing it was still warm. "These must be some impressive pretzels then," said Rose, looking at Emily. "Considering we'd go to that shop in town every week and practically buy them out of their pretzels. And I'm pretty sure I heard you say those were some of the best pretzels you've ever had."

"Those were pretty good, but these are so much better," said Emily, smirking. "I'm pretty sure pretzels were originally made here."

"You realise that nobody can agree where pretzels were originally made, right?" asked Rose, raising an eyebrow. "They just agree that they're European in nature."

Mal frowned before saying "European?"

"It's what we called the continent our island country was in," said Emily, smiling. "I'm pretty sure this planet had a Europe twenty one years ago but the world was merged and now it's just Auradon." She bit into her pretzel and swallowed before saying "Why don't we continue our walk? This is fun."

Mal and Rose nodded, before following Emily away from the Pretzel Cart.