Wes's Perspective
The sound of the stone hitting the floor was magical. But Wes was only getting started. He placed both hands on the railing of the balcony, ring still glowing so bright that it bathed his entire face in red light. "Ignacia." He forgot to will the flames to have his signature green color, but he didn't care. They jumped to life on the stone balcony despite having nothing to burn. "Flammas rampo." The fire sparked and hissed, trailing down the stairwell as it sought out the villains gathered before him.
Some of them were too intimidated to react. Others weren't. He saw Wendell and Ben run up one of the stairways that led up to the balcony and Lonnie run up the other. Or, more accurately, Hook, Gaston, and Shan Yu. "Terrar motus," The stone stairs shifted, each step flattening and rotating into the other until they were an unscalable slide. As the three held onto the balcony, Wes gestured to the railings they clung to. "Calrize." The railings glowed red with heat, causing the villains to scream out in pain and let go, sliding down the stairs.
Wes saw a statue of a glass slipper surrounded by golden sparks fly at him, increasing in size as it flew. "I did it, Mother," Jane's voice squealed happily. Wes held out his arms, crossing his forearms over each other. "Kabo!" The explosion was deafening as the now-huge statue shattered into bits. "Levitrar." The shrapnel floated, suspended in the air, as if gravity now ignored them. When they hovered over the villains, Wes said, "ignacia," and released the spell's hold. Flaming bits of stone dropped from the sky, sending the villains scattering.
There was an odd buzzing sound near Wes's shoulder and he turned to see a little bee fly behind him. He didn't think much of it until he saw the flash of green light and heard a low growl. He spun around to see a green tiger behind him. Wizard, he thought, a stupid Merlin kid. "Levitrar," Wes said, the spell fresh on his mind. The tiger rose into the air weightlessly until he said, "descensum," sending her crashing into the ground. "Terrar meldit," turning the stone as soft as mud, the ground swallowing the tiger. An arrow flew, narrowly missing Wes's shoulder.
He spun around to see Lonnie with a bow in hand, readying another arrow supplied by Jordan's magic-the daughter of the Genie now possessed by Jafar. "Illudio." The illusion was perfect, the wooden bow seeming to turn into a hissing snake right in Shan Yu's hands. He yelled in alarm and threw it to the ground. When he stomped on it, the illusion faded to reveal the bow in its original form, snapped in half. The struggling and growling turned Wes's attention back to the tiger. Without turning around, he waved a hand behind him, saying, "terrar riggít." He heard the stone crack as it became solid again, trapping the tiger halfway in the ground.
Now he was truly able to marvel at what he'd done. The fire had spread throughout the courtyard. It would hiss sparks and spit little fireballs at anyone that came near it. There was near-endless panic and most of the villains and sidekicks that were in the courtyard had fled. Only the bravest or dumbest of them remained. Rose and Anthony-who must be possessed by Jasper and Horace-were balancing to the best of their ability as they used the stair railing to try to climb up to Wes. Wes's gaze landed on a statue and he got a wicked idea.
"Encanta san animata zik rampo." The statue of three dalmatians immediately came to life, each of the stone dogs barking as they ran to Jasper and Horace. They lept up in the air, catching the two by the ankles and pulling them back down. He turned again when he saw purple smoke. Jordan had created a musket and crossbow for Shan Yu and Gaston, who aimed their weapons at him and fired. "Flammas defenza." The flames coating the stairs rose up at his command, burning hot enough to destroy the projectiles in the air. Protected by the red glow of the flames, Wes turned around when he heard a popping noise behind him.
Mother Gothel had appeared beside Rosie Madrigal. Extending and flicking his fingers, Wes said, "Ocksho." A wave of force left his hands. Rosie let go of Gothel's hand, golden light shimmering around her as she teleported somewhere else. Gothel wasn't so lucky, the wave of force flinging her against a door. There was another shimmer of gold light and Rosie appeared again, reaching for Vivianne's limp form. "Flammas motus," a ball of fire flew from the wall of flames. It hurtled toward Rosie and she disappeared again in a shimmer of gold.
Wes checked to see if Vivianne was still around and saw her, still unmoving on the ground. But...he saw that one of the gems on her collar was glowing a bright shade of red. He felt a rush of hope as he remembered what the collar allowed her to do. And, with that, the hatred and anger he felt wavered long enough for Wes's ring to dull. The fatigue from so many spells crashed into him all at once, sending him slumping to the ground. The flames on the stairwell died out, the barking dalmatians going silent. Looking around, he saw the beginnings of a shimmer of gold. He touched Vivianne, saying, "apporime," and the two disappeared in a swirl of smoke.
Vivianne's Perspective
Vivianne woke with a gasp, an odd feeling of pain in her arms. She looked down at her collar and saw that there were only seven red stones left. She looked around at the library, trying to spot or hear anything amiss. She and Wes had taken it over as a new lair after he'd cast the curse. His cauldrons and spellbooks occupied the tables, his potion ingredients displaced most of the books on shelves, and the room still smelled like that awful valerian root Wes used for the ink sigils on the doors and windows. They still glowed a dull green, so the room had to be safe.
Vivianne heard a step and hopped up to her feet, intent on finding Wes. It wasn't hard considering he always smelled like smoke. Following her nose, she found him pacing on the other side of the library, muttering under his breath about it all being "ruined."
"What's ruined?" She asked.
"Everything," Wes said, his usual composure and cool disinterest gone. He was still pacing, holding his ring in one hand and spinning it around between his fingers repeatedly. "The curse, the plan, the entire situation is horrible."
"Why do I only have seven stones left?"
Wes paused his pacing. "Because you caught a giant statue that was flying at me. That makes two lives gone. And it's all for nothing, the parents are still out there and they're very intent on killing us-or, at least, me."
"Then it'll take them seven tries, at least," Vivianne said, leaning against a bookshelf with her arms crossed. She smirked at Wes. "Won't it?"
"The sigils on the door won't last long," Wes said nervously. "I'm running out of pegasus blood and the witches from the Isle are probably clearing out all the valerian in the city at this very moment."
"Good, it smells awful," Vivianne said plainly.
"It smells like one of the most powerful potion ingredients out there-especially for protection spells," Wes said, his voice and temper rising. "Which we could use, considering I'm the primary target of dozens of villains right now. And, I don't know, we're locked in another dome with no way out...unless I can get us out of here."
"What?" Vivianne asked in disbelief. "No way we're just running."
"Best option right now," Wes turned, heading back to the main area of the library. Vivianne followed him indignantly as he explained, "I only need a small rift in the spell to get us through. Or I can send our souls to possess someone on the outside. The latter is the best option if we wanna fly under the radar and let the villains trapped here take the heat from the heroes while we pivot. I'd just need to send my ring and your collar outside the barrier, but that's simple since the barrier only stops people from leaving." He finally got to the shelf housing his spellbooks and pulled one down, flipping through it frantically.
"Or...better idea," Vivianne said. "You're the only one that can break the curse. We go to the heroes and ask for your family's wand, crown, necklace, and a royal hostage in exchange for you breaking the curse and freeing their kids. They'll agree. They're stupid, they actually wanna help other people more than themselves."
"I like your thinking, but no."
"Why-"
"We're exposed now. No element of surprise. Mal, Fairy Godmother, everyone knows who we are and how we operate. With my luck, they'd use a spell to disguise Mal as Audrey, send her as the hostage, and have her hit us with a surprise dragon attack as soon as the spell is broken."
Vivianne's mind worked. "Then tell them you had a change of heart. They'll go easy on you if you do. Get in front of things and pretend you wanna be good. Then we can sneak attack them later."
"Vivianne, I don't trust them. The kindness and mercy thing is a front, you know what they're capable of. Besides, who says I can break the spell?"
"You!" The familiar yelled, her frustration building. "You said that's the reason everyone wants you dead."
Wes picked up one of his crystal balls and threw it at a wall. It shattered into pieces with a loud noise that made Vivianne's ears twitch. "You could glue all those pieces back together, in theory. How easy would that be, Viv?"
"You don't need glue, you have a spell for that," Vivianne said nonchalantly.
"Imagine I didn't," Wes said, pulling at his hair. "That's what breaking a curse is. It takes more focus, concentration, power, everything. It can't be true-loved away-"
"The enchanted lake!" Vivianne exclaimed. "It's enchanted with the power of all the heroes' true love. It can break curses, right?"
Wes paused for a long while. Vivianne smiled, realizing she was right. "I mean, it's second-hand true love...there are limits. And it's very hard to influence with evil magic since it's the antithesis of evil. But, if that were possible, sure. I could just evaporate the lake and have its water rain over Auradon." He tilted his head. "I suppose mist would be better, though, to affect people indoors and underground. But it's all hypothetical and impossible, we're gonna retreat."
"We are not," Vivianne said finitely. When Wes glared at her, she snatched his spellbook added, "because there's a reason I told you to make the library our new home." Wes looked at her expectantly, so she continued, "there's a secret room full of spellbooks. And I just so happen to know one that'll let us trick the lake's magic into working for you."