Hey guys! I know the duel came unexpectedly, especially since most of you probably thought the battle would start. Well, it's officially started. Let's see how this one will end, shall we? And it's quite long, too, and that right before the premiere of Descendants 2! (Are you just as excited as I am?) But before we start, here are my replies to your reviews:
Jay-Wow: Thanks for reviewing! Yep, Maleficent's definitely a cruel woman. She definitely isn't to be underestimated. But now, it's battle time!
Kingson24601: Yeah, drama... what would life be without it? Either way, such a confrontation was inevitable. Thanks for reviewing!
Mustang52: Thanks for reviewing! Well, someone had to die, right? What's a story like this without casualties? Well, time to go into the battle.
PurpleNicole531: Yes, the irony is strong with this one. He never was one of my favorites either, but it was quite fun to write him. He still sort of impacts the story, particularly in Philip's parts for obvious reasons. But yeah, it's time for the battle now! Thanks for reviewing!
Enjoy!
-Writer207
Philip ran as fast as he could. He could not care about anything else out there and was only vaguely aware of the civilians behind him and the hirelings in front of him. All that was on his mind, was Chad. At one point, he noticed the people behind him were now running right next to him. He did not think it through too much, but still realized he had been running more slowly – but still at a steady pace – to allow them to catch up with him and even pass him in the process.
Right before the hirelings and first row of villagers were about to clash, Maleficent released the beasts and they, too, ran towards the battle. Mere seconds later, the two parties collided and the fight really began.
An idea came to mind. As Philip sped up, he ditched the red cape and hat – it would only make him more recognizable to anyone who would see him. And to get to Chad without anything hindering him, it probably would be best to stay unrecognized. He just dropped them onto the ground, realizing but not caring that people could always stumble over them.
Philip ran past the people, avoided attacks from the beasts. Usually the hirelings let him pass for reasons unknown. The beasts would try to grab him, but soon they would find an easier, less agile target that did want to fight. Philip's way was easy – maybe too easy, but he could not care less about the consequences of what he was doing.
Then Philip saw him. Amidst the fights, he spotted Chad. The battles here were fierce, but he only had eyes for Chad and not for anyone or anything that could strike or kill him. He did not run the last few steps – he walked, going slower with every passing step. He fell to his knees when he was one step away and could barely hold back the tears.
Chad was staring at the sky with an empty gaze. His father's sword was still stuck in his stomach and there was blood everywhere in that area. He reached out for him, but could not hold it together anymore when he finally gripped onto Chad's armor. And in that moment, he knew he could not let him go. Not yet. Not now, not here, not like this.
When he looked up, he saw one of the hirelings thought to make an easy kill out of him. His mistake. Philip drew his sword and with one swift move, he stabbed the guy in his leg, forcing him on his knees and then slicing the hireling's throat. The hireling fell over, on Chad. Philip pushed the now dead man off of his surrogate son.
Philip grabbed Chad's jacket and held it tightly. Then, he muttered the transportation spell to go back to Neverland. Yes, there were medics at their side of the battlefield, but he needed ingredients that he knew Doug had storied in Neverland. So that was where he'd go, so that was where he would attempt and hopefully be successful in saving Chad's life.
Within seconds, Philip and Chad had left the battlefield, not leaving anything behind but Philip's red cape and hat.
They had no choice but to run with their supporters. Mal knew Maleficent had probably set this up. Her mother couldn't have known it would have been Chad to come up front – she guessed Maleficent had hoped that Philip would fight the duel. Mal had no idea whether Maleficent had known that Chad and Audrey fighting would get Philip's attention and that it would make him miserable, no matter the outcome.
And now they were running alongside the crowd, though not exactly ready to face Maleficent yet – but then again, when were they ever going to be ready? The beasts were released right before the opposing sides would collide, but it did not impact the civilians at all, as they still were unafraid to run into battle.
The two parties ran into one another and the battle erupted. It was nothing like anything they had imagined. The three had heard stories from their parents and mentors, stories about the battles they had fought and the scars they gained. They had seen some destruction themselves, too, but none of that matched what they now saw happening in front of them. The beasts and hirelings were merciless, but so were the civilians. All that anger and fear, built up inside them for so long, turned them into fighting machines, into the warriors of their generations, the warriors their generation so badly needed, warriors who would help take their freedom and country back. From behind, the archers had shot their first arrows into the opposing 'army', taking down a few hirelings already and enraging some of the beasts. The support from behind encouraged the warriors to go into the fight with hope and courage, knowing they can rely on their support.
Ben, Mal and Lonnie ran past hordes of people, trying to avoid conflict as much as possible. Lonnie ran up front, making the way for Ben and Mal. Mal was at the end of the row, protecting Ben from all sides with quickly casted spells. Luckily, nobody attacked them from the back yet.
They tried to run, but they changed directions every few yards. This slowed them down, as well as having to jump over some bodies already – it was hard to tell whether these people were alive. There were screams everywhere, both from the masses charging into battle, but more prominently from the hurt and injured. In addition to this, they also heard the beast's growls and the noise of the weapons. It looked horrible, too.
At one point, a beast jumped in front of them and growled at them. ben, Mal and Lonnie came to a hat and stared at the beast. Somehow, they appeared even taller now they confronted it directly, blood dripping from its jaws. The seven-feet-tall beast already had some arrows stuck in its skin and some people had already hit it a few times with blunt and sharp weapons alike – as was clear by the scars in its skin already –, making this particular beast extremely angry.
Lonnie immediately positioned herself to fight it and Mal protectively stepped in front of him. Neither were sure what would go down, but all three were terrified. But they at least had to try to survive this obstacle and go to Maleficent as quickly as they possibly could.
Something hit its snout and soon after this, the big stone that had hit him fell to the ground. It surprised the trio and infuriated the beast even further. It also caused them to look around and see who had done this. The three saw Hadrian in the nearby distance, a confident look on his face and throwing another rock at the beast, hitting it in its ear.
"Hey, assbutt!" Hadrian shouted at it. The beast forgot all about Mal, Ben and Lonnie and instead decided to go after Hadrian. The boy took a knife in his hands, ready for the confrontation. The beast jumped on top of the demigod and as Hadrian wrestled with it, Ben, Lonnie and Mal took their chance and ran. They couldn't get Hadrian out of their mind and the sacrifice he made – there was no way this beast wouldn't kill him.
The last part of their journey was fairly easy, compared to what they had to pass. Mal had to look behind every few seconds to make sure one of the beasts hadn't seen them – they practically passed all of them – and there were more bodies here than people standing. They'd officially passed most of the battlefield. At least fifty yards behind the fight, Maleficent was watching the fight progress, staff in one hand. With the three coming closer, though, her attention shifted to her daughter and the two teenagers that accompanied her.
Maleficent let them approach. She had to, Mal figured. If she didn't want them to come closer, they would be forced to stay back or would be killed. The trio came closer until they stopped walking at ten yards away from the villainess. That was closer than Mal expected, and so she suspected her mother was up to something. She couldn't figure out what it was her mother was trying to do.
"Mal. You're back," Maleficent said with a feigned happy tone in her voice. "It's good to see you. See you've got some prisoners. But, off course, you have something I need. Give me the wand." Maleficent extended her hand to them, expecting Mal to come closer and hand it over. But Mal shook her head.
"No," she said. No, they are not prisoners. No, I do not have the wand. No, you're not really happy to see me – you're only happy because you think I have the wand. "I don't have it," she continued. She did not stop looking at her mother. She already guessed how Maleficent would react, but she would definitely be furious.
The feigned smile on Maleficent's face disappeared. This small change transformed her into the terrifying image of her everyone had learned to fear. This small change let everyone who saw it know that you had to run or die – there was no in-between.
There was no time to prepare. With one blast from the staff, she flung Lonnie back at least a hundred yards. She hit the ground somewhere in the raging battle. Mal had time to whisper a protective spell under her breath before her mother blasted her. Mal only fell back a couple of yards. Maleficent then sent a blast in Ben's direction, who lifted his arms to cover his face and protect it.
But there came no impact. Ben slowly lowered his arms again and he noticed Maleficent was lying on the ground herself. A magic blast, Ben thought, so he didn't get hurt. He believed the blast must've rebounded and hit Maleficent. He ran over to Mal and helped her stand up again. By the time this had happened, Maleficent too stood up again. She was looking over the battlefield, which caused Mal to glance back for a few moments as well. She could not see what was going on back there, but there were considerably less beasts running around and maybe, just maybe the alliance was winning this fight, though it was hard to see.
Maleficent turned her attention back to Ben. "You used the wand, haven't you?" she said, "You clever boy."
"Mother, stop it," Mal then said. "You're losing. Surrender now." She had no idea whether this was true, but if Maleficent believed it, they might just win through this deceit. But her mother was clever, too.
"Or what?" Maleficent snarled, "You're going to stop me? Oh Mal, Mal, Mal…" she shook her head, "You do not get to threaten me."
With a swift movement, she threw something at them. it was impossible to tell what she threw, as it moved at such a high speed, probably going faster than it usually should. Maleficent could have enhanced the speed with dark magic. Yet, only seconds after she'd thrown it, Ben grabbed his side. Mal immediately turned to him and her eyes widened. There was a knife stuck in his side, and some blood dripped out of the wound it caused. He soon sank to his knees and his face grew paler with every passing second.
"Ben!" she exclaimed, worried about her health. She now wished she had paid more attention to those healing incantations when she was studying magic with Philip. Ben tried to pull it out, but Mal stopped him. It must hurt, yes, but if there's one thing Mal learned when she was a villain, it was that leaving a blade in someone's body, it would effectively block most of the blood from flowing out of the wound.
"Such a shame," Maleficent said, and Mal turned her head back to her mother. "You could have been a great villain."
Mal shook her head. "That is not who I am anymore," she said, now more convinced than ever that she really was no villain anymore.
"I realize that," Maleficent said, "But I don't have to agree with it. Now, let's end this." Her attention went back to the fighting parties on the battlefield behind the two teenagers. Then the metamorphosis began. Maleficent grew in size and her skin turned into a sickening mix of purple and black. Skin got replaced by scaled and as the transformation continued, the form she was taking was getting more terrifying and enormous until the mass actually took a distinctive form.
Once she was done, Maleficent roared and Mal's eyes widened in fear. She had turned into a dragon.
One arrow, then another and another, one following the last one as quickly as possible. Carlos reloaded the crossbow as quickly and effectively as he could and fired the arrow into the air. He did not stop to watch and see it land, as he did not need to witness how every one of those arrows found its way to a victim. He usually aimed for the beasts, but if someone – civilians and hirelings alike – found themselves on the arrow's path, he wouldn't complain or cry either.
On both his sides, other bowmen were trying their hardest not to hit anyone that fought for their side. Some were confident, but others were clearly hesitant. Carlos could hear them thinking: what the hell am I doing here? But there was no going back now – they were here. Carlos wouldn't stop them if they decided to run, but in his eyes, if they knew they were going to doubt, they shouldn't have come at all. It's best to be determined and not to question what you're doing.
Carlos reloaded the crossbow and looked over the battlefield. Within seconds he's found his next victim: one of the beasts. This particular one already had some arrows sticking out of it. with a swift move, he fired the arrow to it and reloaded the crossbow again. When he was almost done, he did see how his arrow – he was pretty certain it was his arrow – hit the beast in its eye. I'm good, he thought to himself, before looking for a next target.
He quickly found him. Jay was running around near the beast Carlos had just struck him, killing whoever he could kill. Carlos did not take his eyes off of him as not to lose him in the ever-shifting crowd. He lifted his crossbow and was ready to fire it off.
Carlos hesitated. C'mon, then! Carlos told himself. You've done this before, it's not that hard. Except that it was hard this time. It was Jay – they had been friends for a long time. Sure, Jay was evil and everyone he was fighting was evil as well… but wouldn't he just be the same as them if he continued killing?
He decided to ignore that voice inside his head and fired at Jay. This time, he did watch the arrow's trajectory and eventual striking of Jay. It got stuck in his right arm, rendering said arm useless. Carlos smiled – he'd hit an important nerve. Jay looked up at the archers, but Carlos doubted Jay would know it was him – he was wearing what most people around him were wearing and had decided to cover up his white hair to stay inconspicuous. He reloaded the crossbow and fired a second arrow at Jay, which hit him in his other arm.
Jay then decided to retreat, as the boy ran away from the battlefield to his own side. Having arrows pierced in both arms was not exactly very helpful during a battle and had to hurt like hell. A smirk appeared on Carlos' face, and he went back to firing arrows at those beasts.
Carlos spotted Audrey in the crowd, and he knew exactly what to do. Every time she would show up at Maleficent's castle, they both ignored each other. The way she acted had been enough for him to instantly hate her. he did not hesitate to fire an arrow in her direction.
Audrey raised her arm at the right moment. the arrow penetrated her upper arm instead of her head, as he initially intended. Furious at his own mistake, he took another arrow to reload the crossbow again. He would make sure she would not leave the battlefield alive.
At the other side of the battlefield, something was growing and mutating. Maleficent, Carlos thought. Even though she hadn't completely turned yet, everyone knew what was happening. If he did not have enough self-restraint, he would've shat his pants. The people around him could not contain their fear. Many screams erupted and most, if not everyone, turned around and ran away. Most archers were feeling the same.
"Hey!" Carlos yelled. This drew the attention of the bowmen. "What are you doing? Grab some arrows and do your job!"
"But…" one of them stammered, "B-But Maleficent…"
"… only ever turns into a dragon as a last resort," Carlos interrupted her, "Someone down there must've pissed her off. Trust me, she's too busy with whoever's challenged her down there. Now, grab some arrows and kill those sons of bitches now you have a clear shot!" As the civilians ran away in fear, it now was easier to spot the hirelings and to hit them and the beast without coincidentally being afraid to hit a friend.
Carlos did not know whether it had been his confidence or his shouting that did the trick, but it worked – the bowmen that heard him went back to their post, though still afraid of what Maleficent may do. He couldn't blame them – he almost shat his pants, too, but he held it in. it was in everyone's best interests to keep up appearances and hope they didn't notice he was afraid, too.
But her dragon form apparently wasn't enough for her. No, she just had to go and breathe fire at the army down below as well, scaring the bowmen even more.
Back at Neverland, Doug was treating some of his first patients today. From what he had heard from them, he kind of knew how the battle was going, but that was not important to him – the most important thing was that they needed treatment and they needed it fast. There were just three patients here, two of them already having been here before the battle, and the number would certainly rise throughout the day.
Along with some of Doug's students, Evie was in the infirmary as well. They had decided to let her hang around in the infirmary at the last minute – that way, her guards could go and fight in the battle as well. They did give her one condition: Evie was not allowed to touch anything or do anything or even to say anything. She found herself sitting on one of the beds in the infirmary and so watched Doug treat those patients.
It was quiet for a while. Doug walked back into the room with some herbs in his hands. Evie caught a glimpse of both and shook her head, rolling her eyes. Did they really believe combining purgatorphyta and wolfsbane and giving it to someone would help that person recover? She herself frequently used them, especially purgatorphyta, in her poisons.
Doug was grinding them and Evie tilted her head. Should she tell him it wouldn't work at all? She did not particularly want to help them, but she could not stand the misuse of herbs. And she was told not to say anything – if she did, she risked being thrown into the cell again. As far as she was concerned, anything was better than that uncomfortable cell.
Well, the answer was clear. She had told herself she would try to be 'good' – or, at least, to be less evil. She had told herself to take little steps, one at a time. Maybe it was time to take that first step, to be less selfish. It could be time to save a life instead of waste one. Or at least to prevent Doug from using the wrong herbs for healing.
"Don't give that to her," Evie eventually just said. it startled the boy so much, he almost dropped the bowl with the mix and almost jumped up. He then turned his head to her, a shocked expression on his face. maybe he had already forgotten she was here.
"What?" he said. Evie raised an eyebrow – she was already surprised he did not say anything to remind her to be quiet or a 'shut up'.
"That combination is lethal," she told him. Doug quickly glanced at it before turning back at Evie, skeptical about her claim.
"How do I know you're not lying?" Dou asked her.
"I'm sure you've used that combination before. tell me, how many died after you gave them that?"
"I…" Doug said, but he trailed off. He hesitated, thought about it. Evie did not actually know how many had passed away because she wasn't there, but the expression on Doug' face and the realization in his eyes told her it had to be a lot.
"Thought so," Evie said. "You can keep the wolfsbane – it doesn't do that much harm. If you add a bit of windroot. That'll help ease the pain."
"Are you sure about that?" Doug then asked her. He seemed genuinely interested, though still a bit skeptical, and was worried. Evie nodded.
"Yes, I am," she said, "It'll work immediately, but you might want to hurry." She turned her head to the patient, who was groaning in pain now. Doug immediately reacted, left to get the right ngredients. Not much later, he returned with the right ingredients, grinded them, added water to it and then gave it to the woman once she was sitting up.
After receiving the medicine, she lay back down on the bed. Her breathing became more regular and after a short while, she was completely relaxed but not asleep. A smile appeared on his face and he sighed in relief, overjoyed that it actually worked and that Evie hadn't deceived him. He turned to her.
"Thank you," he said and Evie smiled at him – it wasn't an evil smile.
"You're welcome," she said, and Doug went back to doing his job and checked the woman just in case. He didn't know she only said that because she knew that's how people expressed that whatever they did wasn't a problem and was gladly done. The smile faded away. She was confused – this may be the first time she genuinely smiled at a guy, and that included the time she spent with Carlos and Jay. Not only because of Doug – she did suspect he played a role as well – but because she actually saved someone. That's another first. And she liked it.
Maybe this was what she should be doing. Maybe this was what she had to use her skills for. Maybe no more seducing and potions, but healing and saving people. This one instance gave her a better feeling than anything she'd ever done before. when this battle's really over and people trusted her, she should really give it a try.
Then, out of the blue, Philip appeared. Evie jumped up from the bed and Doug ran back inside this room. They watched him sit on his knees next to Chad, who was laying on the ground with a sword stuck in his chest. Evie's eyes widened, but Doug looked more alarmed, was more in shock.
"Chad…" Doug said.
"Do you have some pyreroot and criusplume shell?" Philip asked him, ignoring Doug's shocked reaction. The medic did not immediately react, was still staring at Chad and the empty gaze in his eyes.
"Doug!" Philip yelled his name, snapping him out of it.
"Yeah," Doug responded, and he walked out of the room to the herb closet. Evie stayed behind with Philip and Chad. Evie decided not to ask him what had happened and who killed Chad – look at him, he's definitely dead. Someone would tell her once the fight was over. There would always be one person who could tell her exactly what had happened. For some reason, she felt guilty. Maybe, just maybe, it could've been her who set him on this path to death. It could have also been
Philip got up from his knees and walked over to the small closet in this room. after opening a few drawers, he found what he was looking for: a piece of chalk. He walked back at Chad and right next to him, on the ground, started to draw something. It was unclear what he was trying to draw, and it wasn't exactly easy to draw on the wooden planks, but Philip managed to do it. All Evie could recognize after a while was a circle, in which Philip chalked weird symbols Evie had trouble recognizing, though they looked familiar.
Doug returned with the pyreroot and criusplume shell Philip demanded. "Here you go," he said, handing them over. Philip took them out of Doug's hands without as much as a thank you. He finished his weird pentagram drawing with the symbols and starting using the herbs to further complete it, even pushing a bit of the root in Chad's hand. Doug looked at it and frowned.
"What are you doing?" He asked Philip, but the man did not respond to the question. He either had not heard Doug or he just ignored the medic in this instance. Doug took a step closer to take an even closer look at the drawing, to try and figure out what he was doing.
Only when the drawing was finished, Doug's eyes widened in realization. He shook his head in shock. "Philip, don't," he said, "You can't…"
"I have to," Philip interrupted the boy, cheeks still stained with the tears from before. "I have to try."
"I am not letting you kill yourself," Doug said. only when Evie heard this comment, she recognized the drawing. It stood in a spell book she once peeked in, a spell book of dark magic. When the symbols are drawn correctly and the incantation's just rightly pronounced, you can bring someone back from the dead. But there was a price to pay for this resurrection – your own life. The very first sentence literally translated to 'a life for a life'.
Philip was trying to bring Chad back by trading his own life for his.
"It'll bring Chad back," Philip said stubbornly.
"It can't guarantee Chad will survive his wounds," Doug said, now starting to sound rather desperate. "He'll still have them, he'll probably die again."
Philip looked up at Doug from his drawing. He tried to say something, but there came no sound out of his mouth. Then, he looked back at his deceased surrogate son.
"Philip, please," Doug continued, hoping he was finally getting through to him, "I can't save Chad – not with these wounds. And I am not letting you die. I'm not letting you kill yourself." He stopped talking and waited what would happen. Evie, too, wondered what Philip was going to do now.
Philip did not really move and he hesitated. Tears welled up in his eyes again and soon, he cried. Doug approached him to pat him on the back, in support of what had happened, looking at Chad with a sad look in his eyes. As for Evie, she sat back down on the bed and the best thing she could do was to just watch and not to do anything else, seeing how Philip broke down in tears.
Mal watched in horror as her mother breathed fire into the fighting masses. It was hard to see what exactly was going down forty yards behind them, but it was clear she did not make a distinction between the enemy and her own allies. At least three beasts ran off, their fur still burning. Many more people screamed in pain and ago, the fire eating away their clothes, hair and skin. For a few moments, they forgot what they were here for and wished fiercely for some water and a chance to put out the fire.
"She's gonna kill them all," Ben whispered, staring at the monster in horror, still clutching his wound. Yes, she is, Mal thought in agreement. Knowing her mother, she probably would make a statement by destroying not just the civilian army, but also the three nearest villages. Once she was done, Maleficent would have turned over two thousand people into ashes, of which half had nothing to do with the alliance's actions.
Right when her mother was about to fly off and breathe some more fire at the army, Mal stood up and confidently looked at her mother. "No," she said, looking at Maleficent's face. The villainess turned her head and glared with those glowing green eyes straight at her daughter.
A spell came to Mal's mind, a spell she had read in one of the spell books Philip had lent her during the training. It was a very dangerous spell with various effects and since she was feeling a bit evil back then, she memorized it – even though she was already quite good at that time. The spell was one for 'revenge', as the spell book stated, and required the spellcaster to look at the person they wanted to curse and recite the spell. The effects were 'random', and watching them take effect was optional.
Mal took a deep breath. She had no idea whether this would work, but she had to try something. If not, a lot of people were going to die. And so she watched her mother and recited the spell. Maleficent could barely hear her – or that's what Mal thought. Once the villainess knew what Mal was attempting to do, she took a deep breath and then breathed out some flames, going straight for Mal.
But the flames never burned her. Ben had taken his opportunity to move. He now was sitting right in front of Mal, between her and her mother, and effectively blocked the flames. Magical dragon, magical flames. They had no effect on him, and so he protected Mal by acting as a shield against her mother's magic.
Mal continued to recite the spell. Maleficent, furious that she couldn't burn Mal, roared in anger and then came straight for her daughter, reaching out to her and ready to strike them both (but especially Mal) with her claws.
As soon as Mal spoke the last word, her mother stopped in her movements. Mal wanted to look away, but she couldn't. Maleficent was shrinking in size. Her form did not change and even when she the dragon was human-sized and had lost its wings, it continued to shrink. Eventually, there only was a small lizard left. It stood very still, until it ran away into the bushes.
"What just happened?" Ben asked her, confused at what Mal had been trying to do.
"I think I turned my mother into a lizard," she responded. She hoped her mother was really a lizard now, with no memories of her previous life. It would be better for everyone. and if she could remember everything, Mal could only hope her mother would have no way to become human again.
Mal turned to the battlefield. She could not see what the hirelings were up to, but the beasts all ran or walked away, though some of them still attacked the villagers if they were provoked by them. As Maleficent controlled them and now they were showing free will, it was safe to say Maleficent was a lizard now. Maleficent is no more. A smile appeared on Mal's face.
"We won," she said. Mal wondered how things ended up being like this. Just two months ago, two short months ago, she would not have believed this would ever happen and she definitely would not believe that she would be defeating her mother and turning her into a lizard.
"Great," Ben said, "Can you get me to Doug now?" There was a pained expression on his face and the wound probably still hurt like hell. It definitely required medical attention. Mal nodded.
"Sure," she said. The euphoria and shock of what she'd done made her temporarily forget about the pain Ben had to be in. Without further hesitation, Mal transported them to Neverland. They landed right inside the infirmary. Mal helped Ben onto one of the beds while Doug walked in.
"Knife to the side," Mal said, "don't know if it had been drenched in something." Doug nodded as he took in all that information. He walked over to the large closet at the other side of the room, took out some medical instruments and then walked back to them.
"And Maleficent?" Doug asked her.
"She's gone," Mal said. She left Ben so that Doug could properly do his job without her standing in the way, but she stayed in the room. At that moment, she felt like she could finally breathe calmly again. She was calm, too, like she hadn't been in a very long time.
It's over, she thought, and a grin appeared on her face. It's done. I'm free.