As the eleven warriors descended the steps Jane said to their newest rangers Ally and Aziz. "Now I have to warn you this is going to be a lot to take in. It's more…technologically sophisticated than any place in Auradon." The two nodded in understanding and then they all came into the command center.
Fairy Godmother looked up and smiled. "Ah, welcome to the command center." She said happily. "I'm glad that you were able to find some sort of powers to help Jane and the others out. Both of you will certainly be a welcome addition to the team." She looked to Jordan. "And much like Jane you get to take your talents onto the field directly."
"Yeah, I can't wait to see what missions can possibly top what we just went through." The genie girl noted dryly.
Jane went over to the edge of the nearest console and picked up three iPhones. She handed them to Aziz, Ally and Jordan. Each of them again saw their chosen color going up their arms and through their bodies as the gems once again bonded with their holders. "Your iPhones aka morphers." Jane said to them. "You've now been fully added into our part of the morphing grid."
Evie looked over to her chosen sister. Mal had been quiet as of late, and had been the last one to descend the stairs. The blue haired girl could understand why. When they had first come to Auradon she had confessed her mother the Evil Queen scared her a little. Mal had said she wanted her mother to be proud of her, and while Evie doubted that she had expressed everything they now knew that as long as Mal stayed on the side of good that would never happen; in fact she had just all but disowned Mal for choosing good.
Jane walked over to stand next to Doug at a console. "We're scanning Auradon now to see if we can figure out what kind of zord, or zords, that you three have." He told the new rangers and then looked to Jane. "We've even factored in the chance that you could be part of that too." Of all the rangers to have gone to Wonderland starting out, only Jane lacked a zord.
"I hope your mother is alright." Fairy Godmother said to Ally.
The blonde nodded. "She seems to be." She answered. "She's already out again today, but at least she's sticking to Auradon this time. She's having tea."
"With my parents." Lonnie added. "At least their safe…at least as safe as one can get in a place plagued by Paradias."
"There were no attacks from Paradias or Sermaya while we were gone?" Mal asked Fairy Godmother from her place by the exit. While the two new rangers were exploring the command area, with Jane and Jordan helping Doug out, the other five rangers had taken a seat at the bench area. Ben stood by Mal, though it seemed to bring her little comfort recently. Everything seemed to be of little comfort to her recently.
"Nothing from Paradias." Fairy Godmother confirmed. "I was suspicious about that at first and Alpha even had a couple of the ranger teams standing by just in case, but now on reflection I suspect he was waiting for the outcome of Maleficent's trip to Wonderland." If things had worked out it seemed as if Mal's mother had planned to return with Red Queen, Jabberwock, and an army of Card Guard's and mutant wasps to add to Paradias's army of soldiers, monsters, Nerissa and Chad the dark knight.
"We have some evidence that Sermaya has been busy." Doug filled in. "Nothing offensive yet, but from people who work in our near the forested areas it's clear that he's looking for something, probably multiple things."
"Survivors of his own civilization no doubt, like that Chiron guy." Ben supplemented. At one point Sermaya had expressed interest in getting the young king to help rebuild his society but that offer seemed to have been revoked. Now he was the enemy, same as Mal and the rangers.
"They could be anywhere." Audrey agreed with a small frown. "How many of his people were really eliminated? Could we reach a point where we're going to wish that he and his people had never been revived?" She mused.
"It would help if we could get a firm idea of what happened to that civilization in the first place." Lonnie said softly. "Really all we know is that something happened that put him and Chiron and who knows how many others, into some kind of slumber and that it somehow allowed us to rise." It wasn't much to go on and history was understandably lax in that information.
"Hey guys, I'm not feeling well." Mal revealed. It was true; she felt sick inside herself again but not for any physical reasoning. "I'm going to go lie down for a while. If something comes up, give me a call." She started up the stairs with her friends and boyfriend watching. By now Doug and Fairy Godmother had heard about what had happened with Maleficent as well.
Jane's mother looked to Evie, Ben and Audrey; the three who seemed to be closest to her. "Go on." She encouraged. Without another word the two rangers and the knight got up and went to find Mal.
The purple haired girl had already gotten up the stairs and was halfway across camps when she heard Ben call out, "Mal, wait up." For the second time in her life she dreaded seeing Ben; the first time had been just before the coronation when she had been uncertain if she was going to take the magic wand back to her Maleficent or not.
"Mal." She heard Audrey call now and Evie a moment later, "Mal, hang on." She turned to face her three friends, not sure what to expect or how anything would work out.
"I think it's time we talked M." Evie said softly. The look of empathy in her blue haired friend's eyes almost set her flayed nerves ablaze.
"We need to talk about what happened at Wonderland." Ben agreed.
"With Maleficent." Audrey added softly. She took a quick breath. "I know how you must be feeling…" She started out.
Mal wasn't really thinking. Despite the difference between a former friend and a mother she wasn't processing the fact that of all of them only Audrey and Ben had felt rejection from someone they cared about too, making their situations very similar and more so since that person was now working to kill them. She just snapped out, "There's no way you could know what I'm feeling Audrey. Your life is too perfect for that." That seemed to shock her second in command.
Evie tried to reach out. "Mal." She said softly.
Mal held up her hand. "Just stop Evie." She said firmly, almost coldly. "There's really nothing to talk about. What's done is done." She stated simply. "I just need to go for a walk."
"I'll come with you." Ben tried to offer.
"No, Ben." Mal again said almost coldly. "I want go alone. Contrary to popular belief, I don't always need my boyfriend hovering around me." She looked to Audrey and Evie. "Or anyone else for that matter." With that she turned and walked away quickly, before something could crack.
Audrey wasn't even quite sure what happened. She and Mal weren't best friends starting out and really they had only learned to cooperate by necessity, but the familiarity had brought them the sort of closeness that she never would have expected that reaction from Mal. Ben thought it to Audrey's credit that that hadn't resulted in a full on war between the two, like it would have months ago.
"Do you think we should go after her anyway?" Evie asked the two of them.
"No." Audrey said simply. "If she wants to be alone, let her." She took a deep breath. "She needs time to work it all out in her head." She looked into the sky. "Rejection hurts no matter what." She spoke from experience with her friend and with Ben as her former boyfriend. "Sometimes it just has to be worked out alone. For a while any way." She then looked in Mal's direction. "I just hope she realizes when it's time to stop being alone and come to her friends." She turned around to go back to the command center and Evie just barely heard her say, "Even if I'm not one of them." It reminded the blue haired girl that of the three of them who had been affected by Invader of Nightmares, Audrey may have had dealt with it the least.
"It seems as if the little brat has had her feelings all hurt." Chad said with amusement as he watched Mal stalk away from Evie and his former friends. He really wanted to reach through the screen and give Audrey another good slap, maybe more.
"She has the right to be hurt when she's the little rat who betrayed her own mother?" Maleficent asked with amusement. "Such a self-centered little child, and not in a good way." She paced the bridge a little. "I mean if she had stabbed me in the back to take my powers and my throne I could certainly understand it, but to turn into one of those 'pretty pink princesses'." She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh please."
"None the less this sets us up for a very interesting opportunity." Paradias noted with amusement. "So the purple ranger wishes to be all alone. Well I think that we can make that arrangement for her." He said and laughed.
The next day passed, but aside from occasional glimpses of the purple haired girl throughout the school day no one seemed to be able to get near her. Evie had even had a hard time sleeping because Mal had never come back to the dorm room. Not wanting to worry the others even more so she had not told them that but had not had any luck searching for Mal on her own.
"I wish there was something we could do to help her." Lonnie noted softly.
"She's made it clear that she doesn't want our help." Audrey said simply. That proclamation had hurt them all, with the possible exceptions of Jordan and Aziz who hid it well if they were hurt, but Audrey suspected only she, her boyfriend, and her chosen siblings felt that hurt so clearly. Of course the brunette princess had thought that she and Lonnie might have fallen into the chosen sibling category too, but now maybe not so much.
Their iPhones went off, but this wasn't a text or a phone call. This was an automatic monster alert that was programmed to go off since there was almost no way for the command center to be staffed full time since everyone was a student at Auradon Prep, except of course for their headmistress. The screens pulled up an image of a monster that had eyes all over its body. Its mouth was toward the bottom of the body and it seemed to float as it had no legs.
"That is one weird looking monster." Carlos noted.
"More like disgusting." Jordan said. "We need to find Mal."
"We don't have the time for that." Jane reminded them. "We're going to have to go ahead. Mal got the same alert we did." Assuming she has her iPhone with her. Jane added glumly. She hated to think that Mal would forgo her ranger responsibilities but when in pain and despair anything was possible.
"Jane is right." Ben agreed. "Mal will catch up with us." The group stood up and left the school grounds. Ben formed his sword and shield and transformed, Jane took out the magic wand and transformed, and the rest of the team (bar Mal) pulled out their iPhones, input their numbers and transformed.
Finding the monster was easy enough. Not to mention finding his group of soldiers and Chad who was already in the guise of the dark knight. "Looks like you're one short Bennie-Boo." Chad mocked with a laugh.
"That sounds even worse coming from you than it does Audrey or Mal." Jay noted with annoyance.
"Attack." Chad ordered the soldiers and looked to the monster. "Restrict Eyes; prepare to strike as soon as you get your shot." He then followed behind the soldiers. He aimed for Audrey, slashing her across the chest hard. He moved in to continue the attack when Ben got in the way and started to fight him instead.
"Chad really seems to have developed a real dislike for Audrey." Ally noticed as she flung a few of her crystallized cards at a few soldiers. If someone had told her days ago that cards would be a lethal weapon she probably would have scoffed at that. Now she knew that anything could be used as a weapon.
"You don't know the half of it." Lonnie replied to her softly as she took out two soldiers.
Aziz and Jordan ended up fighting back to back, an ironic position considering the friendship between their two families, particularly their fathers. Another group of soldiers moved in and now Ally was helping them to fight as well.
While Ben was clashing with Chad, Jay had made his way to Audrey and helped her. The two of them then returned to helping Lonnie, Carlos and Jane fight. They were discomfited to see that so far Ma hadn't shown up.
Restrict Eyes launched himself up into the air and unleashed a flurry of energy that struck the gold, silver and crystal rangers. They fell back hard. "Have a nice landing rangers?" He asked, an odd sight since his mouth was right where most bipedal creatures had their stomachs. "Allow me to take some of the pressure off." Several of his eyes released a paralyzing flash that seemed to stun the three rangers before a huge inhalation of wind swallowed them up into his mouth.
"That's just nasty." Lonnie noted with disgust.
"Give us back our friends." Audrey demanded of the monster.
"I don't think so." Restrict Eyes responded with a laugh. "But don't worry, I intend for you to join them soon enough."
Chad blocked a strike from Ben, and then slammed his shield into the knight's chest. He fell hard and Chad prepared to bring his sword down on his former friend. "I just keep getting into this position with both you and Audrey, but at least in this position she would be more fun." He said cruelly. "You're just in the way. Good bye old friend."
From out of nowhere Mal, fully transformed, leapt out and kicked him in the chest hard before he could try to finish Ben off. "You know if that's how you view your friends than I am so glad we never got to that point." She said dryly as she struck him hard in the chest with her staff. She then swept the staff down against his legs to knock him off of his feet. She helped her boyfriend up. "Sorry I'm late, I had to fight my way out of the workout center."
Ben nodded. "Don't sweat it." He said and laughed a little at his own lame joke. He was slightly disappointed that Mal hadn't even bothered to tell him it was lame. She turned back to look at the others.
"Where are Jordan, Aziz and Ally?" Mal asked as the two of them approached their team.
"Nice of you to show." Jay couldn't help but get off a bit harshly. Evie sent him a bit of a glare as Audrey tried in vain to hush him.
"Paradias's newest monster absorbed them." Lonnie told the purple ranger simply. "And wants to do the same thing to us."
"Then let's get our friends back and make sure this eye sore is a thing of the past." Mal said.
Restrict Eyes raised its hands and sent out a huge wave of energy compromised of gold, silver and opaque like crystal that struck all of the eight fighters. Both Ben and Mal landed hard separate and apart from the others.
Chad was up now as well as he approached Ben. "Have I mentioned how tired I'm getting of your girlfriend?" He asked.
Ben was just starting to stand up as well. "I think I missed it the first five or six hundred times but I think I'm catching it now." The young king replied sarcastically.
Restrict Eyes released more beams of gold, silver and opaque like crystal at the other rangers followed by the same flash that paralyzed Aziz and the two girls. Then as the attacks sent the other rangers into the air Restrict Eyes turned around and swallowed them up too.
"No!" Mal yelled out as she tried to stand, but lost her balance and fell again.
Chad struck Ben hard and forced him to power down. He glanced over at the purple ranger. "Isn't this what you wanted all along Mal?" He asked with a laugh. "Or at least since you returned to Auradon? To be left alone, to wallow in your misery and despair?" He turned to Ben now who was starting to rise shakily. "Well now you can have your wish."
With a thunderous roar Mal's dragon zord appeared on the screen, releasing what she would almost describe as a dragon's rage, a stream of fire balls that sent Restrict Eyes and Chad flying backwards. Mal was already on her feet and at Ben's side. The two of them got on her zord's back and flew away.
"Fairy Godmother, can you read me?" Mal asked as into her iPhone as Ben leaned against her to catch his breath. "Can you read me?" She repeated.
A faint reply came back. "I can hear you child. We saw what happened to Jane the rangers." She said softly.
"Are they okay?" Mal asked her. "How can I get them back?"
"Their readings are stable for now, it seems to be like some kind of stasis." Fairy Godmother told the purple haired girl. "As for how we get them back…well, I'm sorry to say I don't know how to do that yet."
Mal let out a small sigh. "Keep me informed please." She requested and then hung up. She noticed that Ben seemed to be directing her dragon zord to his castle. "Why are we going to your castle?" She asked him.
"My mother has one of the biggest collections of books in the entire kingdom." Ben answered her. "Even bigger in some respects than Auradon Preps. I thought we could see if we can find anything useful in them."
"Alright." Mal agreed. They made their way to the castle in silence. The dragon zord dropped them off on a balcony to the library before taking off into the skies again to wait for their next move.
"Check the books over there." Ben advised to Mal. "I'll check some of them on the wall by the doors."
"Ben, are you okay?" Mal asked. "Chad looked like he did a number on you."
"I'll be fine." Ben assured her. "His 'number' on me is nothing compared to the number that your mother did to you." He added.
Mal stiffened just a little. "My mother did not beat me up." She reminded him formally.
"Not physically." Ben agreed with a nod as he went over to the books he had said he would look at. "Not in the same way he fights me, or attacks Audrey." The purple haired girl flinched just a bit at the reminder that Chad had taken to striking against the brunette princess every chance he had. "But in your heart, in your soul, Maleficent struck a blow to you rather you want to admit to me, or your best friend, or your chosen sister or not."
Mal frowned as part of her realized he was right. She tried to shove that away. "Let's just find a way to help everyone, okay?" She asked and moved to the area of books she was to look into.
A little bit of time passed. She could hear Ben flipping through pages but words had not been exchanged between the two teens. This was their first lovers quarrel, or as close as they had come to it. She knew that and part of her felt bad about it. The other part…still felt so numb.
Belle had just taken some water up to her son and now set one down for Mal as well. "I've tried to be a good mother to Ben, all of his life." She said conversationally.
Mal couldn't understand where this was leading too. None the less she responded with, "And you've done a great job. He's a good king, a good friend, and a good boyfriend."
Belle sat in front of Mal. "I never told Adam or Ben this, but when I found out I was pregnant with him I was scared." She confessed softly.
Despite herself Mal hesitated and set the book down to look at her. "I asked my mom if at any point she was scared to have me and she said no." She replied. "That she knew everything would be fine despite the fact I never heard her say word one about her parents."
"My mother died when I was young." Belle told her. "I was raised by my father." She smiled faintly. "That was where I got my love of literature from."
Mal frowned again. "I don't know who my father is. I don't have any siblings." She looked to Belle. "Do you have other children besides Ben?"
Belle shook her head. "I'm sorry to say he doesn't." She leaned back a bit. "When I was pregnant with Ben I was so afraid I'd mess up. I never really had my mother around to guide me on anything. I was afraid that I'd somehow mess things up with Ben." She said.
"You didn't." Mal said confidently. "You raised a good son. He's really special to who know him." Her voice softened a bit. "Especially to me."
"Ben told me that something happened in Wonderland. That it hurt you deeply, and as a result it hurt him too." Belle said as she leaned forward and took Mal's hands into her own. "He didn't say what it was though. I hate seeing him in such pain, and I hate seeing it in others."
Mal looked down at the other woman's hands in her own. She searched her memory for any signs of comfort, of affection, from her mother as she grew up. She didn't recall any. She had received more comfort from Evie since they had become friends than she ever had from her mother. She bit her lip and looked down again.
"I'd like to help you if I can." Belle said to her gently. "It might sound weird to say this, but I'd like to help you as your mother would."
"You can't." Mal said a bit too sharply. She expected to get lectured but Ben's mother said nothing and watched her. "It's not possible to help like another person would when that person never did that kind of help." Now Mal leaned back against the couch she sat in. "My mother was a great teacher, she knows history well…but being an actual mother…was another matter entirely."
Belle stayed silent as she let her son's girlfriend work through her thoughts and feelings. Finally Mal continued on. "Evie, Jay, Carlos and I were making cookies not long after coming to Auradon Prep." She wasn't going to mention the love spell she was casting on Ben as the reason for it. "Lonnie came in and after saying it needed chocolate chips, she proceeded to ask us about that. If after a hard day if our parents made us soft, warm cookies with a big glass of milk, and they made us laugh and put everything into perspective." She thought of Lonnie and her friends trapped in Restrict Eyes and had to swallow a lump in her throat.
"I take it that reaction was a mystery to you and your friends." Belle surmised.
Mal nodded. "I told Lonnie it's different where we come from, because it is." She tried to shrug it off but to Belle it was clear that failed. "Lonnie thought that even villains had to love their kids." She bit her lip again. "I…wanted to believe that. Somethings just have to be universal, you know?"
Belle nodded again as she moved from the chair to sit by Mal, feeling they were reaching the heart of the matter now. "I would think so. It's been commented on before that my love got through to make Ben's father the man he is today." She replied softly.
"It's not. Universal I mean." Mal said to her. She remembered joking to her chosen siblings their parents would be disappointed but ultimately proud if they failed to get the wand before having each of them, herself included, face the reality that if they failed they were probably goners. "I'm not sure our parents ever actually loved us. My mother didn't…she..." She stopped to look at Belle. "You know where she is now, right?"
"Adam and I know that Paradias set her free." Belle confirmed for Mal softly. Truth is all of the parents of the rangers knew.
"She was in Wonderland, she helped set up what happened there so long ago." Mal confessed. She was sure Ben had not told anyone about that one, it didn't have to be said technically. "Ever since she came back she kept telling me I was a disappointment to her for turning good, for being that." She nodded to her iPhone that held the essence of her powers. "And she told me it was safe to say she had no daughter." She tried not to cry now as she had then but this time her composure cracked.
"Oh, honey." Belle said soothingly and wrapped the young girl in a hug. She could tell by the purple haired girl's reaction that this sort of affection startled her. She might be used to it from her friends or her boyfriend, but from an adult, one who could arguably hate her, this was something new. "Your mother wasn't right to say that."
"But I disappointed her." Mal said through her tears as she unconsciously wrapped her arms around Belle now. "How can a mother live with that? How does…how does Cinderella live with that?"
Bell kissed the top of her head gently. "A lot of mothers, the good ones, learn to see beyond the current problem to see the core of their children. They make bad decisions sometimes, even our children. But they're good people at their core. As for Cinderella, well she has put a lot more energy into Callie, her young daughter." That surprised Mal, she didn't know that Chad had a younger sister; someone else he had abandoned in consumption by evil. Belle pulled back gently to look into Mal's eyes. "And you are a good example of that. Everything that any mother should be proud of, even one such as Maleficent. This isn't any fault of yours at all."
Mal felt her tears flowing even more now despite any attempt she made to keep them away. "You know, I never said anything to Aurora or to Ben until afterwards, but I always thought Audrey was a little self-absorbed." She said to Mal, making the purple haired girl remember how she snapped at Audrey the other day. "Aurora still always saw the best in her, as a mother always should. And furthermore, it was you and your friends that finally brought out the girl in Audrey that her mother always knew she could be. I would be proud, very proud, to call you my daughter Mal." She declared and kissed her on the forehead lightly.
Mal wiped tears from her eyes. "I…" She was speechless and gathered herself up again. "When I confronted my mother in Wonderland, I had this thought…that I would prefer to make someone like you proud of me over someone like her." She said and then threw her arms around Belle again. "Thank you so much, for making me feel something good, that my own mother never could."
Belle hugged her for a few moments and rubbed her back gently before Mal pulled away. "Thank you." She repeated softly. "But I have some make up to do with my friends, and that starts by getting them out of that bizarre eye creature thing."
The mention of the monster's looks made Belle cock her head. "Eye…I think I have your answer." She told Mal and stood up. "I'll be right back." She promised, placing her hand on Mal's shoulder affectionately before walking out quickly.
Mal felt eyes upon her and looked up to see Ben coming down the stairs. "Was that part of your ingenious plan?" The purple haired girl asked teasingly as she wiped some tears from her cheeks. Her smile was one that Ben was glad to see again.
"No." Ben answered gently as he came over and sat next to her now. "I wish I had thought that far ahead." He took her hands gently in his own and squeezed. "I'm glad my mother got that out of you. It hasn't been that long in reality but it seems that like that had eaten at you for a long time."
Mal leaned back and laid her head on Ben's chest, listening to his heartbeat a moment. "It has." She finally admitted. "That thought has certainly plagued me since we came to Auradon. I can only imagine that it has done the same to my friends, Evie most certainly." She began to play with a couple of his fingers. "That last fight in Wonderland only exacerbated that thought." She looked up at Ben now. "I was so mean to all of you, especially you and Audrey."
"All of our shoulders are here for you and your friends to weep on, or confide in, or whatever." Ben promised. "My mother would say the same thing to you too, something I think you realize now."
"She's a good mother." Mal said. "A good person. I'd be honored to be her daughter."
Ben kissed her forehead gently. "Someday you will be." The young king said softly, he could fully say right now he intended to marry her someday. "But for right now it'll just have to work another way instead."
Mal leaned up then and the two kissed each other softly. "Right now, I'll let it work however it has too." She said after pulling away. She sat up then but still kept a hold of his hand. "First things first; I want our friends back." She declared.
They turned to see Belle walk in. She smiled at her son and his girlfriend, whom she had learned so much about this day. She held up a small golden orb. "This is a jewel called the dragon's eye." She revealed. "If we place this on your staff, it should enhance your powers."
"It's beautiful." Mal said softly and then realized something else. "And priceless. I can't…"
"You can." Belle said to her gently but firmly. "And if you want to save your friends now you must. Now, summon your staff."
Mal nodded as she and her beloved stood. She summoned her staff and Belle placed the jewel above the staff's point. It formed a small oaken topping around the top, like a wind chime in some respects before connecting to the staff. Mal held it up and whispered, "The Dragon Staff."
"Go." Belle said to Mal and Ben. "Free your friends and bring them home." She wrapped both of them in a hug. Ben naturally returned the embrace, but to Belle's slight shock Mal did as well. She then led them to the balcony where somehow Mal's dragon zord had been waiting.
Mal looked to her boyfriend. "Let's get to work." She said confidently. She took out her iPhone and input her numbers, 6319, and transformed. Ben formed his sword and shield and then combined them to transform into Auradon Knight.
Finding them was easy enough as it seemed they had been waiting for Mal and Ben to come back. They both had heard Chad saying something about getting bored and asking Restrict Eye if he could let Audrey come out to play. That pissed both of them off further. "We'd hate to have you bored Chad." Mal said.
"About time you two came back." Restrict Eye said smugly. "Come to join your friends?"
"I've come to join them alright." Mal stated. "In this world." She looked to Ben. "You handle Chad, I got this clown." He nodded in agreement.
"You think you can stop me with the might of all of your friends behind me?" Restrict Eye questioned and unleashed a stream of energy that was in all of her friends colors; red, blue, yellow, black, pink, white, gold, silver and crystal.
The purple ranger dodged the attack. "You have their energies, not their hearts." Mal corrected the creature. "Their hearts are with me, no matter what I may be like on any given day." She lashed out and struck him hard with her new and improved dragon eye staff.
"Fat lot of good that will do you." Eye Restrict said and again tried to unleash the same energy stream at Mal. The purple ranger raised her staff and let it collect in the dragon's eye before turning around and reflecting it straight back at her adversary.
Eye Restrict when flying and as he did so several explosions followed it, ultimately resulting in the release of her friends. Mal was over by their side in a flash. "Are you guys okay?" She asked them.
"That was kind of nasty." Lonnie said to her. "I'd rather not do that again."
Evie didn't know why but something had changed in her friend since she last saw her. "M, are you okay?" She asked her.
Mal looked to her chosen sister. "Just fine, E. Finally me again." She replied, squeezing Audrey's shoulder gently before standing again. "Just sit back and relax. This one is on me."
"You can't take me solo purple ranger." Restrict Eye taunted.
Mal leapt at him, slamming her staff into one of the eyes hard. She then turned around and struck again and then kicked him back hard. She then did something she had never been able to do but had seen Ben do it before; she collected energy into her staff and then leapt at the monster, bringing it down on the him and causing him to fall. As she turned her back on the monster to start toward her friends the monster exploded.
Ben and Chad clashed pretty evenly but the explosion startled Chad as he saw Paradias's latest monster reduced to nothing in a blaze. "Looks like you girlfriend's feeling fine again." He said regretfully. "We'll have to continue this one later." With that he vanished.
Mal was already to her friends. Lonnie laughed a bit. "When did you staff grow an eye?" She asked.
Mal thought about trying to respond to the humor but instead decided on honesty. "Right after I faced the truth." She said. Ben had come back over to them now and they all powered down. She looked at all of her friends, saving her last glance for Audrey and Evie, though Ben was behind both of them. "I was lying to myself about the impact my mother's dismissal…disownment had over me." She said softly.
"It's only natural M." Evie said as she took her hand. "It's never an easy thing to go through something like that." In truth each of the isle kids had considered the strong possibility that they had been disowned by their parent, but until now none of them had had to face that.
"True." Mal allowed and looked to Audrey now. "But I let my emotions get in the way of the truth; that rejection hurts. Regardless of whether it comes from a parent or a friend." She reached out to clasp one of Audrey's hands with her own. "You and Ben were both rejected by Chad for his own stupidity and then I rejected you, Ben and Evie," She looked to the rest of her friends. "All of you really. Just because I was blinded by my feelings. That shouldn't have happened and I'm sorry."
Mal and Evie both reached out and hugged her as Audrey said, "It's okay Mal. I get it, I'd feel devastated if my parents were to reject me." She sometimes silently wondered if an argument could be made that she had done earned that rejection.
"I can't promise I'm over that." Mal said softly to them. "But I will do my best not to shut you guys out." She took a deep breath. "If anything I really need all of you guys, now more than ever."
"We're not going anywhere Mal." Jay promised as he rubbed her arm.
"Far from it." Carlos agreed.
Lonnie gave her a hug now. "We're here for you Mal."
Jane did the same. "Forever."
Jordan rubbed her arm gently now. "We'll all help you through this. Whatever it takes." She promised.
Ally embraced her now. "You helped me with my problems, and I promise I will do what I can to help you with yours." She vowed.
Aziz smiled a bit at her. "Don't worry Mal. We're here for you, just as Lonnie said." He commented.
Mal smiled at them all as she headed toward Ben and wrapped her arms around his. "Thank you." She said to Ben and then to her friends, old and new. "Thank you all."
Together they started back toward Auradon Prep. Lonnie looked to Ben. "I don't what you did, but it worked miracles for Mal. She's on a good start to dealing with the issue."
Ben laughed and kissed Mal on the head gently before saying to Lonnie, "Don't thank me Lonnie. I couldn't give her what she needed to start this recovery. What she needed most," And now he looked at the sky and thought of Belle. "Was a mother's touch."