Chapter 23: It's Going Down
The VKs and kids of Auradon begin their preparation for battle. Jay gets in touch with Lonnie and the two gather as many swords and other battle equipment as they can. Doug and Dizzy hurry to the chemistry lab and begin making several smoke bombs to use for cover. Jane texts as many of her friends as she can to meet the group at the Beast statue in front of the school in less than fifteen minutes. They had been told what had happened to Ben and that no one could tell any of the teachers for fear of Ben's life.
Mal stands in front of one of the mirrors in their dorm room. She can see her eyes lighting up green again and she's unable to control it.
"Just try to keep it in check," Evie says, appearing behind her best friend and putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "If we can get Ben back peacefully, let's do it. Save the dragon routine as the last resort.
Mal turns to face her sister. The daughter of the Evil Queen can see the anger in Mal's eyes, trying to mask the sadness she feels deep inside. Evie knew that her bestie is hurting, a lot, not only had she and Ben just broken up but now his life is in jeopardy, again. She lets out a deep sigh and hugs Mal with all her strength.
"Why does it seem every time we break up, something happens to him?" the daughter of Maleficent asks.
"It could be the universe saying that you two should stay together," Evie mutters with a small smirk.
The purple-haired teen frowns and fights back a few tears.
"I know that him suspending you hurt…"
"More than you'll ever know."
"But was it really his choice? From what you told me, he was pressured into it by Fairy Godmother and Grumpy. You said that he outwardly refused at first…"
"But he still did it," Mal snarls, trying to fight back the tears.
"It was obviously the most difficult decision he'd ever make," Evie says.
"How can you know that? You weren't there, you don't know anything."
"You're right, I don't know anything about it, but I know you and I can tell without a shadow of a doubt that you still love him and you didn't want to break up with him. Your anger got the better of you and you spoke before you knew what you were saying."
"No, I didn't!" Mal denies strongly, trying to keep her anger in check. "After I saw that he picked Auradon over me like he always does I knew we couldn't be together, so I decided to end it before we both got hurt."
"Both… or just you?" Evie inquires, raising her eyebrow.
Mal opens her mouth to protest even more, but the pain of parting with Ben again is too much, so no words come out. She lets the tears fall from her eyes again. She wishes beyond everything that Ben hadn't picked Auradon over their love, suspending her from the school and her home. She knew that she had lied to him about the book, and that did not help, but he still crumbled to the pressure of adults and hurt her. She felt like ending their relationship was the best thing to do… it saved her from further heartbreak. She'd felt a broken heart before, but not nearly as severely as now. It hurt so badly, and she just wanted the pain to stop… she wished that Ben was there to…
She realizes that she needs Ben to feel comforted and safe. Not even Evie, Carlos, and Jay could help her heal, she needed him, she needed her true love… but her angry and hurt feeling were holding her back, preventing her from being happy, from feeling love again. She doesn't know how this happens or fully understands its meaning, but she can't think about it right now.
She wipes the tears from her eyes; she knew this was the wrong time to realize this, just before they were going into battle against her worst enemy. She sucks in her feelings, trying to channel them inwards to put on a brave face. Uma cannot see her weakness for her boyfriend…ex-boyfriend? No doubt the pirate captain would try to exploit it and use it against them. She puts on her bravest face, ready to move forward.
"It's okay," Evie says gently. "We'll deal with this after we get him back and kick Uma out of Auradon."
"Why are you so convinced that Ben and I are meant to be?" Mal asks.
"Because I know love when I see it," Evie says cryptically. "As a princess who's always longed for a Prince Charming, I know and understand it than most people would."
"How does longing for a prince…"
Their conversation is cut off when Carlos enters the room.
"You guys ready? It's almost time."
"Yeah," Mal says, she grabs Evie's hand tightly. "We're ready."
…
The VKs go down to the Beast statue and are shocked by the number of students who have shown up. Lonnie and Jay stand in front of the long line of kids from Auradon, handing out weapons and preparing everyone for the coming fight.
There are two sets of twins present, Whitney and Simon White as well as Paige and Patrick Pan, they all stood together as if being twins would give them an advantage. Tallia cracked her knuckles, excited for what was happening next. Ally stood with her best friend, looking a little nervous with Ruby and Anxelin, daughters of Rapunzel. Jordan, the daughter of Genie has her lamp tucked under her arm in case she needed it. Herkie, son of Hercules and Megara stood with Pin, son of Pinocchio, and Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine. Other students included Li Shang Jr, Lonnie's older brother, Tia, daughter of Tiana and Naveen, Robbie, the son of Robin Hood, Melody, her cousin Arabella, and all seven dwarf sons including Gordon and Double D. Freddie Facilier is present too, she has several voodoo spells and tricks up her sleeve in case things went south with the pirates. To the group's surprise, Audrey and Chad are also amongst the group. This shocks Mal and the others because, for one thing, Audrey was a very prissy princess and had likely never seen a sword in her life. Mal is also wary that the daughter of Aurora and Prince Phillip would want to try and get Ben back by rescuing him. Chad is also a shock considering he'd been the one bad mouthing the VKs and he'd rather surrender than actually fight anyone. Then again, he was on the Swords and Shields team, so his swordsmanship was welcomed as long as he didn't break a nail.
"Does everyone have a sword?" Lonnie asks.
"Do you have a bow and arrows?" Robbie asks. "I work better with those."
"Sorry Rob," Jay says. "This is a swords fight. You don't bring a bow to a sword fight."
"Is it true we're going up against pirates?" Melody asks.
"Is Harry Hook going to be there?" Paige asks.
"Can I get a shot at his ugly head?" Tallia asks.
"All right everyone listen up," Evie demands, using her queenly authority to cipher the questions. "King Ben has been kidnapped by Uma and her band of pirates, known as the War Frats. She wants Mal to come and face her, but it's also likely that these pirates want to take over Auradon."
"So, we're standing our ground," Jane says, coming up to stand with Carlos.
"We're not going to fight unless we absolutely have to," Carlos adds. He gives a sharp look at Chad knowing his arrogance and desire to be the hero could cause this very problem.
"We're going to see what Uma wants and get Ben back, hopefully in that order," Mal adds, trying to sound authoritative in front of the group.
"Also, we're giving everyone smoke bombs," Doug says, as he and Dizzy appear from seemingly out of nowhere. They begin handing out the coloured bombs to every student who is present.
"If you get into trouble, just throw them on the ground, they can give you enough cover to escape," Dizzy adds, trying to put on a brave face despite how anxious she feels inside.
"It's best to stay behind the VKs and Lonnie," Jay says. "We've dealt with these guys before and we know how they fight."
"We're here to protect Auradon and Ben, nothing else," Jane says firmly. She holds a sword in her hand, which seems so foreign to everyone as the sweet and innocent daughter of Fairy Godmother now looks like a warrior.
"Don't underestimate them and above all, don't do anything stupid," Carlos says, giving another direct look at Chad.
"Why does everyone keep looking at me?" the son of Prince Charming and Cinderella asks, but no one answers as Mal notices they have five minutes to get to the beach.
She, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Dizzy, Lonnie, Jane, and Doug all turn and begin leading the group of students towards the beach. Mal sucks in a deep breath and Evie pats her sister's shoulder.
"We can do it," she says confidently. "We'll get him back."
"Whatever happens with Uma, this ends tonight."
Please Review. I included characters from the show, the books and a few made up ones as well.