Has it been a month already? To be honest, I was having a bit of a writer's block for this chapter (and doing things for college) and so this chapter has arrived after a month and a half. On the bright side, I got it finished just before Christmas and it's a bit longer than usual, too. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. But befoe that, here are my replies to your reviews:

CaptainMansBabyGirl: Here's the next chapter.

Katymint: I am glad you like it. I hope I can please you with the chapters that are left of this story. Thanks for reviewing!

PurpleNicole531: Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, that's pretty much what'll happen. We'll just have to wait for their reactions and what'll happen once they've walked into the trap. Hadrian's just a pessimist and quite niilistic, too. We'll see what happens to them when they go into combat. Some characters we've met/passed by are on the list, though not all. It'd be sad if this story ended with Maleficent winning, isn't it?

Enjoy!

-Writer207

The next day, Philip dropped Mal and Carlos of at the first base, wishing them good luck. he wouldn't stay – Mal would call him and some others when the deed was done. They didn't want the daughter of Grimhilde and the son of Jafar to suspect anything. So, for the moment, Mal and Carlos walked to the center of the first base on their own.

For mal, it was a callback to the time she had spent in this camp before its buildings and its inhabitants were destroyed and slaughtered. This place had a high value for her, since this was where she started to realize she didn't have to be evil to feel good about things. There was just one downside to returning to this place: seeing the ruins brought back the memories of those terrible beasts, sent by Maleficent to spread chaos and to kill.

For Carlos, it was the very first time he walked on this ground. To him, this was an impressive sight, and he could only imagine what it could've been like before the inhabitants left and before the camp was destroyed. "Wow," he said, looking around, "What did this?"

"My mother," Mal answered, "She let the monsters in the dungeon loose here." Carlos nodded, looking around at the place. Mal didn't describe the beasts for him – Carlos had always been the person to see before believing in it. these ruins were the proof something had happened, and Maleficent couldn't have done this on her own with so many deceased.

After a fairly short walk, the two arrived at the scene where it would happen. It was once the Camp Square, used for many activities such as outdoor lunch (if the weather allowed it) and magic lessons. This was the most central point of this base, which is where Carlos told Evie and Jay to go to. He chose a spot to stand, central in the Square, not too close to any of the destroyed buildings.

Carlos folded his arms and he and Mal started waiting for Evie and Jay to arrive. At one point, he looked at Mal. "Don't you have to hide?"

"Not yet," Mal said. this has been a subject of discussion. Carlos wanted her to hide from the beginning, Mal wanted to stay next to him if his attempt to make them believe him failed. They'd sooner believe Mal, anyway.

"Hey," Carlos said, "All I'm saying is that they expect just me, not you and me. You can strike from somewhere else, but not from next to me. They'll see it coming." Mal sighed. Carlos had a point. Eventually, she could agree with him.

"Fine," she said, "If you need me, I'm over there." Mal walked to the side, to the nearest ruins. From this position, she could clearly see Carlos, but had no idea whether she could see Evie and Jay when they arrived.

They had to wait ten minutes before Jay and Evie showed up. Carlos saw them arrive sooner than Mal could, since her view was blocked by some ruins. Carlos took a deep breath, ready to talk arrogantly at the two visitors. None of them realized the four of them were finally back together after so long.

Evie and Jay stopped walking when they were about eight yards away from them, just outside of Mal's sight. She leaned a bit to the right, giving her perfect view of the situation, but with risk to be spotted by the two visitors.

"Evie, Jay," Carlos said – he looked primarily at Evie, "So you came after all."

"Of course we did," Jay said, "I have to admit, you did quite well." He added a smile to it. The others knew Jay wasn't being completely honest. Out of everything he could say, he'd never smile like that when he is telling the truth for a change. Mal decided to wait to trap the two. The sooner the better, of course, but still she waited. She was curious how Carlos would handle the situation.

Carlos shrugged. "I just did something neither of you could ever think of," he said. When he was finished talking, he smiled evilly at them. "So, are you ready to swear loyalty to me?" For a split second, Mal thought Carlos was going to betray her. He never would try to become a good person – at least, not for this moment – and had only stayed because he needed a place to stay while he was going through some sort of existential crisis.

"Did you do this?" Evie asked him, looking around in amazement and fascination. Mal had to duck away to avoid being seen. Carlos did not answer her question, he just repeated his own.

"First you show me the wand," Jay said, "and then we'll talk." But Carlos shook his head.

"I'm not stupid," he said, folding his arms, "I haven't brought it."

"So you don't have it, then?" Jay asked him. He was trying to provoke Carlos, to make him show it, to prove it was worth coming down here for. Carlos shot an annoyed look at the two.

"I do have it," he said, "I just didn't think it would be wise to bring it here. Knowing you two, Evie would distract me while you'd take it from me. I won't let that happen."

"I knew it," Jay then said as a response to the news, "this was a waste of time." He turned around, ready to walk away from the boy. Mal was faster than him, though – she cast the spell quickly, effectively trapping them in a force field dome, the same spell she used to prevent her mother from finding the wand.

At first, Evie and Jay had no idea what was going on, taken aback by the sudden action. Mal came out of her hiding spot and once the two saw her, they tried to understand what her motives were. She noticed their positions inside their nearly invisible cage – inside any cage – reflected their personality well. Evie stood at the side, hoping to be released by the next guy who'd come across her. Jay stood in the middle, waiting for a chance to force his way out and not losing any energy in the process.

"What are you doing?" Evie asked her when Mal had walked closed to them.

"I'm sorry," Mal said, "but I can't let you leave."

Jay shook his head disapprovingly. "Tell me this is just to make the resistance believe you're with them." Mal looked at Carlos, who shrugged at her. She then looked back at Jay, giving him no answer. Jay huffed. "I can't believe it… the daughter of Maleficent, actually good."

"We are not our parents," Mal said. They have lived with their parents all their lives, with evil being part of their education from day one in the hopes of having an heir to continue the evil family name. they should have the choice to stay with them, should be able to choose between good and evil. It was something Mal broke away from, something Henry broke away from on his own, something Carlos is struggling to break away from.

Jay scoffed. "Yeah, you're obviously not," he said, then turned his head to Carlos. "Hey, Carlos? Can I still rely on you?"

Carlos shrugged. "It's complicated," he said, "All I know is that I'm not going back to mom."

Jay looked around, saw each face – Carlos, Evie, Mal. So long ago, when he came back from the Southern Isles, he had never thought he'd ever be in this particular situation. He never thought he'd be Mal's prisoner. He did expect that Carlos would just stand and watch and that Evie would stand by his own side, facing Carlos and Mal together.

"So that's it," Jay said, "One stupid plan tears us apart. I never thought you'd be the one to be good one day." Mal nodded in agreement. Jay didn't see it, however – he turned his back to the group and folded his arms, still listening to the conversation.

"Me neither," she admitted. If you told her two months ago she'd be a good guy, working against her mother, she would've laughed and spat in the face of whoever dared to suggest she'd be opposing her mother with the alliance.

"How does it feel like?" Evie asked her, "Becoming good?" There was no animosity in her voice – she just wanted to know where it went wrong with her best friend.

"You don't notice it until it's too late," Mal responded, even though she has a dual feeling about it. Goodness came slowly, carefully creeping inside until you were a good person – yet, goodness also hit you hard and unexpectedly. She had the best experience with the first choice, so that's what she told Evie.

"What was it?" the Princess then asked her, "What made the difference? Sympathy? Empathy? Love?" Mal nodded in response, not willing to give any specific answers. The three definitely played a big role, the one bigger than the other. Yet, she still froze slightly when Evie mentioned 'love'. It reminded her of what happened to Henry, especially since Evie said it. she could not keep that a secret. Evie had to know what happened to her fiancé.

"Evie, there's something we have to tell you," she said. in the corner of her eye, she saw how nervous, how tense he became. She knew he'd rather not have her say what had happened. He didn't want the truth to be out there, he didn't want Evie to hate him, no matter how much she emotionally hurt him in the past.

"We found Henry," he blurted out before Mal could give her own twist to it. Evie's eyes lit up when she heard this great news.

"Where?" she asked then at the moment, Jay turned around as well. Finally Evie's pen-pal had been found, so he was interested to know where he's been.

"At the alliance," Mal told her, "He ran away from home to join it. he wanted to be good, not evil."

Evie seemed a bit disappointed, though not too much. "Really?" she said. Mal nodded in confirmation. Before she could further explain herself, Carlos spoke again.

"He's dead."

Evie's hope was destroyed as easily as it came, replaced by despair and sadness. Jay raised an eyebrow when he noticed how she reacted.

"What?' she said, taking a few steps away from them. She could barely believe her ears, didn't want to believe them. And Jay was surprised – she never was sad when one of the "victims" she'd made fall in love with her died.

"He died," Mal said – she'd wanted to bring the news softly, to ease her into it. Carlos blurting it out doesn't really help her achieve that. "It happened a few days ago. He didn't suffer – it was peaceful." Evie placed a hand at her mouth and sank through her knees, starting to sob and cry. Mal came closer to the force field and placed her hand on it, wishing she could get closer. Yet, she couldn't lift the force field – Jay would run away – but she did want to be there, she did want to comfort her. Jay definitely wasn't making any real attempts. He just walked up to her, stood beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Mal turned her head to Carlos and saw he looked at her, grateful for not telling her his bomb killed Henry. Mal nodded at him. Evie didn't have to know Carlos killed her fiancé. In the other scenario, if Carlos hadn't built a bomb, Henry would've died because of Evie's poison – it would have made her the murderess, something she couldn't bear to hear either.

Eventually, Evie moved again. She took the magic mirror in her hand and spoke to it, asked it something Carlos and Mal couldn't quite hear. Not much later, they could hear a voice coming out of the mirror. Mal froze – it was Henry's voice.

"Good luck," he said. Mal remembered those words – that's the last he told her. it was quiet for some time, but Henry wasn't finished there. No, because apparently, he had been talking to himself during his final moments.

"Here I am, then," Henry said, "dying. Why am I even talking? Nobody'll hear me." He took a deep breath. "Hey Evie. It's me. I'm a dead man. I can't ever see you again, neither will you see me. No, don't cry. Your face is too beautiful for tears." Evie smiled briefly – even post mortem, he managed to make her smile.

"I just wanted you to know that, if you ever hear this, I chose this. I chose to be a good person. Nobody forced me. It's okay, it's fine. I wanted this, not what my father wanted for me. I'm dying on my own terms and that's okay."

There was a short pause, causing the four to think Henry was done talking. Yet, there was more, and Henry spoke. "Now, listen carefully," he continued, "Run like hell, because you always need to. Laugh at everything, because it's always funny. Never be cruel and never be cowardly. And if you ever are, always make amends. Never play damsel when you can be the hero. Never be evil when your heart tells you to be good. I know you – you'll remember this. I have to go now," His voice cracked as he spoke the following words. "Goodbye. I love you."

Silence fell. Henry had nothing more to say to her. Carlos and Mal waited for any other sound to come out, like the explosion. Fortunately, the mirror stopped broadcasting Henry's last words when he was done talking. They didn't have to explain why they could hear an explosion.

"I'm sorry, Evie," Mal said. Evie stood up and walked up to the force field and leaned on it when she reached it. Mal placed her hand where Evie's was on the other side. Carlos finally decided to walk a bit closer, coming towards them.

"Me too. I truly am," he said, speaking sincere words. He sighed. "It looks like you'll have to find a new fiancé." Mal glared at him in the way Evie could not at this moment – you don't make comments like that in this kind of situation! – and Carlos backed away from them. He had not yet forgotten what had happened the last time she glared at him like that.

Evie continued mourning, though there weren't a lot of tears anymore. Carlos stayed away and kept his mouth shut. Mal stayed close to Evie to comfort her. Jay just watched her, feeling confusion, shock and, above all, betrayal.

"Fiancé?" he eventually said, "What are you talking about?" Carlos and Mal exchanged looks as Evie turned her head to Jay, unable to explain it at that moment. she hasn't told him yet… the two thought.

"Oh no," Jay said when they all stayed silent, "I'm not gonna let this slide. Evie, you were getting married?"

Evie nodded, taking a deep breath. "It was arranged," she said, "We'd marry the next time he visited."

"But he never came back," Jay said. His voice turned colder, less friendly than the tone he usually used to talk to them. "no, he ran away. And while you waited for him to show up, you thought it'd be fun to mess with me." He looked at her with abhorrence.

"No," Evie said, "That was never my intention."

"Don't lie," he said, "I've seen you do it many times before. When were you going to tell me? On your wedding day?" Evie didn't answer – instead, she looked at the ground. Jay sighed and rolled his eyes. "You know, I always believed we'd stick together, no matter what happened. You and my against the world." Jay adopted one of his usual postures, hiding his sadness behind furiousness.

"That can still happen," Evie said, taking a step in his direction. "Jay—"

"No," he said, taking a bigger step away from her. "No, you stay back!"

Evie looked at him, confused. "What?"

"You stay back!" Jay repeated, "Do you really think you can fall into my arms, cry your heart out and that I'll forgive you?" He said it with such tactlessness, so sharp-tongued, so unscrupulously he surprised the three others. They knew he could talk like that, they just never thought he'd use that voice and tone against them.

"I didn't want to marry," Evie shouted at him, losing her cool for a second.

"Yeah?" Jay said, "Well, it looks like you cared about him. That's a first, caring for a boy you've only met once! you never cry like that when the others died, and you've known them longer than him."

"Of course I cared," Evie said, "I'd have to spend the rest of my life with him."

"So you were going to leave us?" Jay said, "Leave me? To go live with him?" Whatever would have happened if they married, Jay believed Evie would have to leave them and go with Henry to the Southern Isles. Maybe that's what would've happened, but they'd never know.

"Not by choice," Evie explained, "I'd come to visit you regularly."

"You mean once or twice a year? It's a long way to the Southern Isles, you can't just come over," Jay said. His voice grew meaner with every phrase, his eyes more furious and his facial expression madder. For the first time since long, the three slowly started to fear he might do something to Evie.

"She couldn't stop it," Mal then said, sticking her neck out for her best friend.

Jay turned his head and pointed at Mal. "You stay out of this, Mal! It's none of your business!"

"C'mon, Jay." He turned his head away from Mal to Carlos, who stood there with folded arms and a shaking head. Jay started shaking his head as well.

"You too?" he said, wondering why Carlos decided to let him down at this moment. He looked at the three – they were all staring at him, wondering what his next move may be. "I see…" he eventually said, "I've been siding with the wrong people all my life. You're all against me."

"We're not," Mal said, "we're really not."

"Show it!" Jay said. "Prove it! Let me out!"

"I can't," Mal said. If Jay got out of there, he could return home and request to see Maleficent. He'd always been the one brave enough to talk to her directly. And if he could talk to Maleficent, he would tell her about Mal's switch from evil to good. Maleficent would hate it so much, she'd torture her daughter into complying, never letting her go somewhere independently again. Mal would be a prisoner, at her mother's mercy – her mother didn't have much mercy anyway?

Jay turned his head to Carlos, saying his name, telling him to let him go. Carlos shook his head.

"Sorry," he said, "Mal controls it. Not me."

Jay didn't look at Evie anymore asking for support. If he ever though to get it, he didn't get it in the way he wanted it. This final act of betrayal – their unwillingness to let him go – drove him mad.

"Traitors!" he yelled, "You should've stayed evil!"

"Well, technically—" Carlos began, but had no chance of finishing what he wanted to say.

"You shut up!" Jay yelled at him.

"Calm down," Mal said, but Jay shook his head.

"I am calm," he shouted, "I've never been calmer in my life."

"Jay…" He didn't turn his head to Evie, but still listened to her. She was trying to reason with him, yet he believed she was trying to wind him around her fingers again. "Please… don't do this?"

He shook his head, turned his head to Evie. He remained in that position for not too long before approaching her with a furious look in his eyes, with clenched fists.

"You cannot influence me any longer, you little—" He didn't stop talking, but none of them paid attention to what he said. they rather focused on Jay punching Evie in her face. She fell back on the ground, her back hitting the force field and her hands at her face. Mal immediately took action and removed the force field dome, giving both Carlos and Mal access to Evie and Jay. Mal tried to help Evie sit straight, but Jay had another idea: he punched Mal in the stomach. She bent over and fell on her knees. When she lifted her head, she could see Jay was running away from them, closely followed by Carlos.

Carlos ran as fast as he could, trying to keep up with Jay. Yet, he was not as used to running as Jay and he didn't have a condition like Jay's. The distance between them grew bigger with every second, with Jay possibly running faster or Carlos running slower. Eventually, Jay turned to the right and once Carlos reached that point, Jay was gone. Carlos slowed down, taking his time to look around, to see whether Jay was hiding somewhere or not. yet, the more he looked around, the more certain he was about losing Jay.

Eventually, Carlos gave up. He did all he could do. Jay was gone, so Evie needed him now. Well, she needed someone to support her, whether it was him or not. He walked back to them and discovered he wasn't too far away from the girls. Sooner than expected, he found Mal sitting next to Evie.

"Where's Jay?" Mal asked him when she saw him come closer. He shrugged.

"I dunno," he said. "Sorry, he got away."

"This is my fault," Evie then said. "We wouldn't be in this mess if I'd told him about Henry."

"Don't blame yourself," Carlos said. "If you want someone to be mad at, be mad at me. I didn't know you hadn't told him yet. And I could've been more tactful." Evie nodded, smiled at the two. At least she knew she could always count on Mal and Carlos, no matter their allegiance.

"You can come with us if you want," Mal eventually said. Evie turned her head to her, looking a bit confused.

"To the resistance?" You could clearly hear the hesitation in her voice. "Won't they keep me as a prisoner?" Mal shrugged – she had no idea how much freedom they'd give her. The plan was to keep her (and Jay) as a prisoner, but how much space would they give her? Was the whole area in Neverland too big for her?

"They're not treating me as a prisoner," Carlos said and Mal nodded in agreement, looking at the boy.

"No since you realized dogs aren't that bad," she said and Evie looked confused at Carlos – if there's one thing she never thought possible, it was Carlos thinking dogs weren't that bad. She decided to ask about it at a later time.

"Anyway…" Mal continued, "If you try not to do anything evil and behave, you can stay with us. I'll have to stick with you for a month before you're free to go."

"Is that how it works?" Evie wondered and Mal nodded.

"Usually," she responded. "They'll probably want me to keep an eye on you. I'm just here because I already have to keep an eye on Carlos." Evie didn't immediately decide whether to take the offer or not, thinking about all possibilities. Eventually, she nodded.

"Okay," she said, "I'll do it."

"Great," Carlos said, "Welcome to the resistance. The more the merrier." He and Mal helped Evie stand and they walked away from the center, away to the place where Philip would pick them up again. They reached the spot within five minutes. They got ready to go back to Neverland and Mal sent Philip the message.

"Will I be good after I leave?" Evie asked her before they would go back. Mal shrugged.

"I really don't know," she said. The second she was done talking, Philip picked them up and they left this place, for good this time.