The sunlight streamed into Ally's room and for a moment she turned around to try to avoid it before realizing it was best not too. It was probably better to get the day started. Just because it was a Saturday didn't mean that there wasn't stuff to be done. She sat up, stretching her arms and arching her back to work out the muscles before she reached for her iPhone. She saw a text from Aziz saying that he was going to be in the weight room when and she could find him there when she was ready for breakfast. She sent a text to Evie to let her know she would meet her so they could work on their designs for their classes in a few hours before getting out of bed and getting ready to go.
She found Aziz right where he said he would be, doing curls. She couldn't help but watch him appreciatively for a moment before saying, in her lilting British accent, "Good Morning."
He smiled at her. "Hey, sweetie." He replied, making her blush faintly. She walked in and sat down on the bench across from him. "Sleep well?"
"Well enough." Ally replied. "I'll have to meet Evie to work on our project in a few hours."
Aziz nodded. "Sounds right. Ben wants to have a quick Tourney practice so I have to meet him, Carlos, and Jay on the field about that time." He revealed as he finished up. "Don't know if Audrey is going to have cheer practice at that time but I guess it will have to be without Evie."
"I doubt she intended too." Ally admitted. "I think she wanted to be there to watch Jay without being distracted." She giggled a little. "Not that that's not a distraction in itself for her." She sure knew she wouldn't mind being out there to watch Aziz and was sure Mal would be there too then.
Jay set the weights down. "Give me a moment to clean up and then we can head for breakfast." He requested as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
She smiled through the kiss. "Take your time." She replied. It didn't take more than a few minutes though for Aziz to return. He took the blonde's hand and then together they made their way to the commons area to get breakfast.
That was when things started to get weird.
At first it seemed normal enough. Audrey and Ben walked into the commons together. That was normal enough as everyone knew they had been friends since they were young, and in fact most people knew the young king had gotten the nickname Bennie-Boo because of his uninspired Halloween costume he had worn the year after they had met. As they had grown up they had gotten together, mostly out of obligation as both had confessed to recently, but had broken up shortly after Mal and the others had arrived. For a minute Audrey had been upset about that until realizing that on a personal level she wasn't that worried about and she then had started a relationship with Jay despite his lack of royal status. The two of longtime friends had remained such to this day, unlike Chad.
They had also been friends with Ally and Aziz for a couple of years now and it was no surprise to have them come over. "Do you mind if we join you?" Ben asked them.
They exchange brief glances. It was supposed to be a date of sorts, but they also knew the risks to coming to the commons too. "Sure, go ahead." Aziz said. As the two sat he asked, "Where's Mal and Jay?"
At first Ally thought she must be seeing things as the two looked at the couple confused. Then Audrey cocked her head a little. "Who?" She asked.
"Not funny Audrey." Aziz said more harshly then he intended too. "I don't what Jay did to piss you off but it's not Mal's fault and you shouldn't be playing stupid games." But Ally saw genuine confusion in that question.
It was confirmed when Ben added, "Take it easy there man." He held up a calming hand. "We have no idea what you're talking about here."
"Who's Jay and why would he have made me angry?" Audrey asked, though had become a bit defensive herself after being snapped at for no reason as far as she knew.
"You really don't remember Mal? Your girlfriend?" Ally asked Ben softly.
Ben shook his head and laughed a little. "You know Audrey's been my girlfriend for a couple of years now." He reminded them both. They both exchanged glances with each other.
Ally took our her iPhone to send a text to the others, sure that some spell had been placed under the two. "Oh, that looks so cool." Audrey noted with glee as she saw the side of the iPhone. "And it glows, with that little effect thing on top. Where did you get that?" She asked.
The two exchanged glances again. "You don't have one?" Aziz questioned now. "Like that, except say in a reddish tint."
Audrey shook her head. "No. Even if I did why would mine be red?" She replied and then shrugged. "Well maybe it would be. I mean it does represent fire and passion." She laughed a bit and kissed Ben on the cheek.
Ally was sure Mal would be upset about this one, and wasn't entirely sure Jay would be okay with this either. But she got no texts back at all; not from any of the isle kids, not from Lonnie or Jordan or Will. No one. "We better get to the command center." The blonde said.
"The what?" Ben asked.
That brought them up short yet again. "You know, the place we go to when we have problems of a particular nature." Aziz said. "We've spent more time there recently then we have classes or the Tourney field in the last couple of months."
Ben shook his head. "Dude, I think you better skip practice today. I think the sun's having a crazy effect on you." He noted.
"Maybe I should meet Evie early today." Ally noted diplomatically. "Care to escort me Aziz?" She asked. For a non-royal girl she knew how to play the part.
"Evie?" Audrey asked again in confusion. "Are you sure you two are feeling okay?" Ally hadn't been a ranger as long as some of them had but she could read people pretty well and knew Audrey wasn't lying when she said not to know Evie; even in the early days most of her problems had been with Mal more so than the others.
They then saw Chad come into the commons himself. He smiled and came to the table, sitting next to Audrey.
"What is he doing here?" Aziz demanded to know.
"You mean our friend?" Audrey asked him with a mixture of concern and irritation. Ally could understand why from the brunette's perspective since this all seemed normal to everyone but the two of them.
"What's wrong Aziz?" Chad asked him, seeming concerned even as he placed his hand on Audrey's lower back. Ally couldn't tell if this was real or fake. She had to place her hand around his arm to stop him from attacking Chad.
"Time to take a walk with me." Ally said to Aziz. "We'll catch you later." They quickly turned to walk away.
"See you later guys." Chad called out amiably.
As soon as they had taken a dozen steps away Aziz hissed, "What is going on here? They don't know Mal, Jay or Evie. I assume the same about Carlos too. Chad is here and Audrey acts like it's nothing." He gestured to the iPhone in Audrey's hand. "They've never seen that before even though Audrey has one just like it."
"And I'm not getting a text back from anyone either." Ally added softly. "I know Jane, Lonnie and Evie don't turn their iPhones off."
The two of them quickly made their way to the classroom where Remedial Goodness 101 had been held and started toward the wall that would lead to the command center only to find it didn't move. "What?" Ally whispered as Aziz started to run his hands against the wall.
"Wh-what are you guys doing here?" They heard a voice ask. They turned to see Jane had come into the classroom now. Two things were immediately different that they could see. The first was that she wore her hair in the same fashion, sort to speak, that she had before Mal and the others had shown up. The second was that the confidence she seemed to have acquired in the tenure as group technician and white ranger had literally disappeared. "You guys really shouldn't be here." She added meekly.
"Didn't this wall used to move?" Aziz asked her.
Ally saw for an instant as if Jane were ready to panic, as if she knew it should. But she quickly recovered. "No, of course not." She replied nervously. "Why would a wall move?"
Ally held up her iPhone. "Do you remember this?" She asked the girl softly.
Jane felt dizzy a moment as she had the fleeting thought that she felt she had invented it. Then that feeling subsided. "It's an iPhone." Jane answered simply. "Pretty looking too, but I've never seen that on the market before."
Aziz repressed a sigh and he took Ally's hand. "Guess we were mistaken, sorry." He said to Jane and the two of them left the classroom. As soon as they were far enough away he asked, "Why doesn't she remember the things she built for us?"
"Something is very wrong here." Ally said. "We have to find Jordan. She might have an idea about it."
Aziz shook his head. "Ally, Jordan won't remember about this either." He reminded her firmly. "And before the ranger thing Jordan and I barely got along despite growing up together, she won't be to receptive to us."
"We have to make her receptive then." Ally responded. "Something is wrong here and we're the only ones who know it." She wondered why that was. Yet another reason to find Jordan. "We have to find a way to convince her that something is wrong."
They faced another problem, they weren't even sure Jordan was on campus. Being a genie she could theoretically go anywhere she wanted as long as it wasn't during school hours and even then it was on her honor not do leave during that time. On a weekend she could have gone home to Agrabah or anywhere else for that matter. She had started doing that less and less as she became part of the group, but as of right now there was no group to speak of.
Luckily they were able to catch up to Jordan as he was leaving the library. When Aziz called out to her she gave him a dispassionate wave and barely even glanced at Ally. The blonde had forgotten how much being part of the group had improved her social skills.
"Jordan we need to talk." Aziz said to her.
Jordan laughed a little. "Oh, we do huh?" She asked with unamused humor. She leaned against the wall. "Alright, dazzle me."
Ally held up her iPhone. "You don't happen to have one of these, do you?" She asked.
"Everyone has a phone." Jordan said and started to dismiss the question when she got a closer look at it. "But not everyone has such a unique little item in it." She looked to Ally. "A Wonderland trinket perhaps?"
"Something like that." Aziz said to her as he took out his own iPhone. "And you should have one too, in a gold color."
Jordan laughed. "Right. Like I'd be caught in Wonderland with you two." She said with a small amount of derision.
Aziz felt himself tense up. He'd forgotten how much of a pain she could be. "It's true. We went there to help Ally find her mother when she disappeared there. We went with Audrey, Ben, Lonnie, Carlos, Jay, Evie and Mal." He insisted.
Jordan looked at him curiously. "First off, Audrey and I wouldn't be around each other unless school required it. Second off, who are those last four?" She said. It made Ally realize how lucky they all had been to become rangers, it had literally changed all of their lives for the better despite the problems with Paradias and even Chad.
"Can I ask a hypothetical question of you?" Ally asked as she waved her iPhone in the palm of her hand a bit.
"Sure, why not." Jordan replied with a roll of her eyes. "I love games after all.
"Let's say that Aziz and I woke up, confident that you would know exactly what we were talking about; from the time in Wonderland to knowing who Mal, Jay, Evie and Carlos were." She said and Jordan rolled her eyes but nodded. "Now let's say that we know you should have this in a gold color." Again she indicated the iPhone. "And that we know that Mal should be dating Ben and that Audrey should be dating Jay. That we know that Jane should have different hair right now. That we have bigger problems than school. But all of that has vanished for everyone else but the two of us." She leaned forward a bit. "What would cause that?"
"Dementia." Jordan said with a slight smirk before frowning as if she had a thought, but then it flittered away. She sighed a bit and tried to think seriously about it. "A really powerful spell could do it, but I mean really powerful." She brought her hands out high. "I mean my dad kind of powerful. Or like Maleficent powerful if she weren't trapped on the Isle of the Lost."
"Maleficent." Aziz muttered. "Of course it had to be her." He turned to Ally. "And she might have had Nerissa and even Paradias to help her."
"More delusional people?" Jordan asked wearily.
"They're real." Ally insisted. "And in fact Nerissa is the one who cursed Ben's father into the Beast so long ago." Jordan frowned a bit in thought and Ally pressed; "So why would that spell remove four of our friends from Auradon and erase everyone's powers and memories but ours?"
Jordan again rolled her eyes but thought about it seriously. "It would have be a time altering spell…something really strong that reversed everything after a critical event." She mused as she placed a hand under her chin in thought. "The only way I could think of to escape that kind of spell would be if whatever happened here is something that would have stayed the same in your theoretical little universe." She surmised.
Ally and Aziz took a small amount of pleasure in that realization. "We would have ended up dating even if we hadn't become Power Rangers." Aziz said with a small smile as he ran his hand gently down the blonde's arm, making her shiver slightly in delight. Then he looked to Jordan as the genie girl caught what he said. "Yes, we're power rangers. And so are you. You should have been the gold ranger, just as I am the silver ranger and Ally is the crystal ranger."
They could see doubt in Jordan's eyes but they couldn't tell if it was about what they were saying or about what the hypothetical scenario had implied. Finally she shook her head. "Alright, prove it. Power up or something." She demanded.
Ally glanced around and then she input her numbers into her iPhone but nothing happened. Jordan seemed a bit smug about that one. Aziz realized what happened. "The command center was never activated, so neither were our powers." He stated.
"Yeah, whatever." Jordan said with a wave of her hand. "Later." She brushed by them and turned the corner.
"What now?" Ally asked Aziz softly. "How do we get our friends back?"
"That was an interesting lesson." They heard from behind them. They turned to see Chad leaning against a wall. "Every spell has its flaw I suppose. So you two slipped right by on account of your little love fest." He formed the blade of Maledict in his hands. "But you have no powers so you're defenseless. Let's see what the authorities think when you show up dead." With that he slashed at Ally but Aziz pushed her out of the way and barely grabbed onto his wrist. Chad lashed out and kicked him in the chest hard, then brought his elbow down on the back of Aziz's head.
Jordan was still chucking internally as she marveled at the imagination Aziz and his girlfriend seemed to have. A whole other world where she was friends with Audrey and Aziz and four isle kids and them being power rangers. Then Jordan paused. How did she know anything about isle kids, Ally and Aziz had never said word one about that.
She gasped as she felt something strong, powerful, even malevolent nearby. She thought she saw fire and walls breaking and heard the laughing of the damned. Then in a flash she saw Ally and Aziz helping students into the gym to protect from an attack. She saw a flash of magic she used to stop a knight from killing Doug and Jane. She saw the holographic image of Alpha 5 talking before opening of the chamber in the caves that had led to the gems.
Jordan felt tears in her eyes for a brief moment before forcing them away. "No way…they did it." She whispered. "Or almost anyway. " She looked down and took out her gold iPhone, seeing the attempted summons from Ally. And then she remembered the feeling; Maledict's blade. "No." She gasped.
She dropped her books and turned around the corner just as Chad shot his fist hard into Ally's chest and sent her flying against the wall hard. "Which one of you powerless fools should I kill first?" He wondered as he put the blade under Ally's throat.
"You know, I forgot to mention the spell could be broken by intense recollections." Jordan said. Chad looked to her in surprise and realized that the spell no longer affected the genie girl. "Good memories, bad memories. Or in my case; surges of power." With that she unleashed a magical surge that Chad was only able to block because he did so with Maledict's blade. He immediately took off.
"Jordan?" Ally asked softly. The genie girl came over and gave her a tight hug. Ally responded. "I'm glad you remember."
"Me too." Jordan replied, hoping the tears hadn't returned. She let Ally go and shook Aziz awake When he sat up she hugged him, which took him by surprise too. "I'm glad I remember both of you."
"What changed?" Aziz asked.
"Chad did." Jordan answered. "When he took out his new toy the evil radiating from it shot my memories into overdrive. I remember everything." She took both of their hands in hers and squeezed. "We have to reverse that spell. We have to rebuild this team."
"How do we do that?" Ally asked her. "Aziz and I have tried to talk to everyone, except Lonnie so far. We haven't seen her."
"Do you think Will is here?" Aziz wondered suddenly. "If we never became rangers Sermaya was never awakened and his village was never invaded." He looked between the two girls. "Will, Whitney and their mother never had to come here."
"We can always have him brought here." Jordan said. "Look, to reverse this spell we have to rebuild the team." She started.
"We got that already." Aziz told her.
"Listen." Jordan insisted. "As the rangers, we are the most effected, along with anyone else who was close, like Doug and Fairy Godmother." They all started to stand up now. "Also Ben's parents, specifically Belle and Snow White. But this trickles down hill. Anyone who has ever encountered them has forgotten them but a memory jog won't work like it did for me. Like it will for those close."
"So we have to reassemble the team and then force Maleficent to break the spell." Ally deduced.
Jordan nodded. "We have to get the teams memories back again, and then we have to go to the Isle of the Lost and bring Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos back." She declared.
"Don't suppose a simple potion will work." Ally mused.
"No." Jordan answered. "We're going to have to go about it another way." She thought a second. "Let's have everyone we can meet in the classroom that leads to the command center. We have to jog memories there."
First the three of them approached Fairy Godmother and asked if they could hold a meeting in the classroom. She didn't see a problem with that and didn't even know why she was consulted until Jordan asked that she be there as well. Using the PA system Fairy Godmother asked Jane, Ben, Audrey, and Lonnie to report to the that classroom. They weren't surprised to find that Will was not enrolled but Jordan quickly convinced her to have Will brought there as quickly as possible.
Jane was already in the classroom naturally. She had come to do some work on the command center as her mother had requested for the day when they had to call upon their powers. She didn't know that time had already long come thanks to Maleficent's spell. She was surprised to see the three of them with her mother.
"Forgot to mention Jane's hair had changed back." Jordan said to Aziz softly.
"Thought it was kind of obvious." He remarked to her.
Ben and Lonnie showed up easily enough, giving each other friendly greetings. They still had not been as close to each other pre ranger times as they had been afterwards.
"Where's Audrey?" Ally asked.
"She's on her way." Lonnie said. "What's going on here?"
"We can start without her." Aziz said. He looked to Jordan.
"First things first." She said and looked to Jane and Fairy Godmother. "We know about the command center underneath this class room and we know about the ranger powers that you constructed with help from Zordon a long time ago, all so that Auradon could be defended against by the forces of evil" She informed them bluntly. She glanced at Ben. "Among other things."
"How do you know about that?" Fairy Godmother asked her sternly.
"Because we're also power rangers." Ally said as she showed her the iPhone that Audrey had commented upon earlier. Aziz and Jordan followed suit. "Our powers were discovered in Wonderland though, not made here."
Lonnie burst out laughing a moment before calming herself. "Power rangers?" She asked amused. "You have got to be joking."
"Not at all." Jordan said to her simply. "In fact you were the second Auradon kid here to become a power ranger, right after Audrey."
Lonnie and Ben laughed a little. "Audrey?" Ben asked. "Look, no offense to her or anything but Audrey is not the kind of girl who would go out of her way to fight evil. She exploded when I suggested giving kids from the Isle of the Lost a chance."
"This is insane, I'm out of here." Lonnie declared. "There's no way any of this is true."
"Actually." The one word from Fairy Godmother stopped the Asian princess from leaving. "An ancient evil named Paradias did attack not long after Adam created the United States of Auradon. The only way we beat him back was thanks to wizard named Zordon, who then helped us start developing a way to repel him if he ever returned." She set her hand on Jane's shoulders. "My daughter and I, along with Doug have been working on to make it ready ever since."
"The command center." Aziz filled in for them.
"But it didn't work." Jane said. "Or I mean it hasn't gotten off the ground." She looked to Lonnie. "Hypothetically you can take on the most recent one I've made, the pink ranger powers. But aside from Ben who we thought could be the red ranger, we have no other real candidates here."
Aziz wondered briefly why he, Ally and Jordan weren't in the running originally but decided based on how things worked out not to pursue that.
"I get it now." Jordan said. She looked to Ben. "The spell that was cast. For whatever reason you decided not to give kids from the Isle of the Lost a chance here. You never made your decree; Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos never came here, never chose good, and never filled in those gaps in the ranger line." She let out an irritated sigh. "Maleficent thought this one through all right."
"Maleficent?" Fairy Godmother questioned. "She's on the Isle too Jordan."
"Jordan, we have to get memories restored already." Aziz said to her softly.
The genie girl grimaced as she realized one way to bring back Fairy Godmother's memories. She looked to her. "You've already admitted the past, but here's a cold fact of reality. We received help from other power rangers a few times. The first time we did that, the red ranger Andros told us that Zordon had died to save his universe."
"What?" Fairy Godmother asked, seemingly surprised to hear that. Jane's hand touched her mother's shoulder in comfort, just as she had that fateful day when she had really learned that Zordon was dead and it all came rushing back to her. Including the fact that her daughter had grown into a brave and confident young woman as a result of these adventures. She looked back and saw none of that now.
"Do you remember?" Ally asked her.
Fairy Godmother nodded. "I remember everything." She replied softly. "Maleficent couldn't have done this on her own. Nerissa and Paradias had to have helped her with the spell."
"Does that mean they're telling the truth mom?" Jane asked her.
Fairy Godmother nodded. "It's true Jane. They took a lot from us just now. We need to get that back." With that she magically drew the magic wand to her, which had been found its way back in the glass case without being used a power conductor. "Except two of you don't need iPhones to morph. You are one of them, my dear." She offered Jane the magic wand. "This is what you use to become the white ranger."
"And you can cast some amazing spells with that too." Jordan said. "You've been a huge asset to the team since it was first formed. You became a really amazing person throughout the entire ordeal."
Jane hesitantly reached up for the wand. Then she stopped, thinking she didn't deserve that. Then an unfamiliar masculine voice seemed to tell her to do it. "Car…" She started to says softly and then stopped herself. She didn't know anyone with that name.
"Carlos." Her mother filled in for her as she held the wand out. "One of your closest friends here, and I think you might just think a bit more of him than that."
Something felt familiar. "Carlos…" She said again softly and laid her hand on top of the wand, then picked it up. She felt it all come back; the first time she had gotten the wand to defeat Crimson Sage and free those trapped during parent night. She saw herself with times she had spent with Carlos and her friends, saw the changes she had gone through for the first time without living them to realize things had changed for her a great deal and pretty much for the better. What she didn't see that everyone else did was that the magic responded to the return of her memories, giving her the hairstyle that Mal had created for her.
"Are you with us?" Ally asked her gently.
"Yes." Jane said as she wiped some tears that had suddenly collected in her eyes. "I can't believe we forgot." She added quietly.
"But we're remembering." Jordan said to her. "Because what we all have is too strong to be completely erased."
Lonnie had stepped up to Jane's side and touched her shoulder. "What happened?" She couldn't deny the physical change she had seen in her friend.
"Lonnie, we forgot them." Jane said to her. "Our friends. Mal, Jay, Evie…Carlos. They tried to take them away from us so they could our world."
"I don't understand." Lonnie replied. Then they heard a sound and turned to see a couple of campus security people bring Will into the room. He had been kind of protesting it until he turned to see Lonnie and the two caught sight of each other.
"Love at first sight, again." Jordan noted a bit smugly. "Lonnie, this is Will."
"Hello." Lonnie said a bit shyly. "What brings you here?"
"Wish I knew." Will answered honestly. Like the rest of the team his memory had been erased as well. He smiled broadly. "But I can't say I'm disappointed with who I'm seeing right now." He reached out for her hand and grasped it gently.
It came back to both of them. Will watching as Lonnie fought against Chakara one on one in the forest as the pink ranger. He was beating her and Will jumped in to save her heedless of the danger. The time they spent waiting for the boat to Agrabah. For the first time Lonnie could see what Will had done to get the green and gray ranger powers. Will untying her from her bindings at the castle in the black sands. Will could see Lonnie as she showed up to defend Audrey from the very first monster they had ever fought, back when Paradias had decided to isolate the one non-isle ranger among them at that time.
"Looks like you two aren't the only ones whose love will help conquer that spell." Jordan noted to Ally and Aziz as the pink and green iPhones appeared in their free hands. Lonnie threw her arms around Will, and he returned the hug. After a moment she turned away and faced Ben, though she was still crying a little.
"Lonnie?" Ben asked puzzled.
"Jane is right. They really did a number on us." She revealed. "Taking the memories of our friends and loved ones." She took a step closer to Ben now. "You know for the most part we've had Audrey to link us together." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "But recently you were there to help me work through learning that Will was made to work against us. You used your own love for Mal to make me realize mine for Will."
"Lonnie, you know that I'm with Audrey…" Ben started.
"No, you're not. You're not supposed to be." Lonnie replied. "You're supposed to be with Mal. She's supposed to be with Jay." She laughed a little. "Some of the isle kids aren't as bad as they pretend to be, but we're one of the 'rotten' kids too, rather we want to see it or not. But you saw that before all of us." She squeezed his shoulder. "Think about it Ben. Think about the girl with the purple hair and the devilish smile. The girl who preferred to choose good and be with you over being evil. Think of Mal."
Ben seemed to react at the mention of purple hair. He had never told anyone about the dream that had lead him to think about the decree for the isle kids. He had seen Mal in a dream several times beforehand, feeling attracted to her each and every time. Suddenly he remembered it all as well, the first day he had met her when they had come to Auradon. Their first date at the enchanted lake where she had gotten worried about him and come into the water despite the fact she couldn't swim herself. How gorgeous she looked at his coronation as she accepted his ring and declared she wanted to be with him.
He remembered the turmoil he felt when Mal had become a ranger but he couldn't. The pride he felt to see her do it. The shame he felt when Nerissa made him battle her and his friends as the evil knight before they had finally freed them. And it wasn't just Mal he remembered now as he thought of the friendship he had formed with Jay and Carlos. How he and Audrey had fallen into the camaraderie they had when they were younger before getting together out of expectation.
"Mal." Ben whispered. As he did so the outline of the shield and sword appeared around him before vanishing again. Unlike the wand and the iPhones they did not stick around unless being summoned. He shook his head. "How could I forget her?"
"The same way we all did." Will said to him reassuringly. "By a magical force. A magical force that we all beat to remember those we care for."
Ben looked up at him. "Yeah. You're right." He agreed. Then gasped. "Audrey, she doesn't remember. And Chad is here."
"What?" Lonnie gasped in fright. This was the first she had heard about that. "We have to get to her before his façade cracks and he goes after her." She had a horrible feeling. "If it's not too late."
"Will, Aziz, we have to find Audrey now." Ben said as he got up and the two guys moved to either side of him. "After I know she's safe we're going to the Isle of the Lost to bring Mal and our friend's home."
Jane was already revealing the stairs to the command center. "I hope Maleficent didn't mess with the rest of our systems." She mused. "Those won't be nearly as easy to bring back as our memories were?"
"You call that easy?" Aziz questioned as he followed the two guys out.
As the girls descended the steps Ally looked to Jordan. "Get a potion ready just in case." She advised. "Just in case the guys don't find Audrey in time."
The three boys raced through the halls, several times being told to slow down. They also nearly got stopped by another monitor who questioned Will's presence at the school and only a command to let it go by Ben prevented any problems. They had gone through most of the school and had only heard from Ruby, the daughter of Rapunzel that Chad had asked Audrey to come with him to one of the storage rooms in the gymnasium that they finally knew where to look.
They came in just as he hurled Audrey to the floor hard. Her right arm had been snapped at the elbow, her right eye was swollen shut and blood ran from her lower lip. The sleeve of her dress had been torn and she had blood on her knees.
Ben moved in and swung at Chad, giving him a good right hand to his former friend's face. "Get away from her right now."
"Take it easy. We were just messing around." He said. "It was all her idea."
"You can save it." Aziz spat. "They already know now."
Chad frowned. "That sucks." He shook his head. "Thanks to you and bizarre girl you've ruined a lot of our fun now." With that he used the sword to vanish.
"Audrey." Ben knelt beside his best friend. "What happened?" He wasn't sure how much she remembered.
Audrey shuddered a bit. She was having a hard time working through the pain, though surprisingly she found it easier than expected. "He…he said he needed to talk to me in private." She whispered softly. "He brought me here and…and he tried to kiss me, but I told him no, that I was with…" She struggled as if trying to fill in a name there.
Ben knew what she should be saying right now. "With me." He tried to fill in.
"Yes…no…" She sighed. "I'm with someone, but I don't…" She shook her head. "He told me he was tired of me denying him." Will handed Ben a cloth which he used to start cleaning her lip. "He kissed me, and I pushed against him." She shivered a little. "He bit my lip hard."
"When Jay finds out he's going to kill him." Aziz stated.
"Jay…" Audrey whispered and shook her head. "That…name…" She shook her head again, trying to sort through all the thoughts in her head. "Chad, he's…he's hit me before…" She whispered. "I kneed him in the stomach, though that wasn't where I was aiming for." That drew a small chuckle from Will and Ben. "He tossed me, scraped up my knees." She looked down at her bloodied knees. "I tried to run and he broke my arm." She raised her hand to her eye. "I don't even know when this happened." She flinched in pain.
"Enough of that." Ben said and he lifted her into his arms, making sure her broken arm was not against him. "Let's get you to the command center."
"Infirmary…" Audrey whispered as she was fighting to not pass out without the adrenaline of fear in her system. Something seemed to click in her mind. "Mal…Evie…Jay, where is he? I want J…" She lost the battle, though they saw the red iPhone appear on the floor, which Will picked up.
Ally was glad that Jordan had went ahead and made the potion when they came in with a badly beaten Audrey. Aziz looked more than ready to curse up a storm but Ally placed her hands on his and squeezed gently.
"We were too late." Ben said. "He probably was waiting for a chance to get Audrey alone. I went to the locker room to change for the Tourney meet. Then that call for us over the speakers."
"Which he had when we called you on the PA system." Fairy Godmother added grimly. "He must have grabbed her before she could make her way here. That's why she never showed up."
"She remembers." Ben said softly though as Will set the iPhone on the table. "And she's going to feel as bad as we do about what happened."
"Jordan, go with Ben and make the arrangements for you all to leave for the isle." Fairy Godmother said. "We need everyone back if this is going to work." She knew they wouldn't be well received on the isle by the populace but they didn't have a choice.
On the Isle of the Lost, Evie met Carlos at a small place that they could get food from before heading off to the shop where Jay tended with his father Jafar, by which meant often stealing items from the shop. Then they would go meet the other two girls as they prepared for the next task at hand. Maleficent had a very specific task for the them.