"...Mother?" (A Descendants × Hadeficent story)

Ch.8 - Hello, Auradon

Back to present...

"Welcome to Auradon."

Mal felt her cheeks sore and painful from all the smiling she'd had to do. "M, you're frowning again." Evie reminded, the blue-haired girl's smile looking rather more natural than her friend's, and Mal scowled as a few giggling Auradonian girls passed her by, "What're you giggling at?" "It's natural for them to giggle." Doug supplied, his eyes darting onto Evie every few seconds, and mysteriously never landing on Mal, and the dwarf's son cleared his throat, "They giggle over everything."

"Any profit yet?" Jay suddenly appeared, and Mal jerked her bag strap slightly, before she narrowed her eyes, "Yeah. Hand my spray paint back now, Jay." "My pleasure." Jay grinned, tossing the can to her with a quick flip of it, and even as he almost slipped off again, Mal yanked him back, her hand tight on his wrist, "My coin pouch too." "How'd you know?" Jay spoke sourly as he pulled the pouch from a hidden pocket in his vest, and Mal snorted as she pulled her backpack to her front, "I learnt from the best."

"Wait..." Doug paused, his hand suddenly reaching to his wrist, "My watch...?"

It was too late; Jay had already slipped away, and Doug gave an exasperated sigh, "Seriously guys? I am the only person helping you all!" "Hmm. But we didn't ask for it." Mal pushed him away brusquely, checking her nails for any chips of polish, and Evie offered him a dazzling smile, before she chased after the purple head that was almost buried in the lunch crowd.

"Uhm..." Came a softer voice, and Doug turned to realise that there was still the small boy, Carlos, who just stuffed another peanut cup — Doug would've been shocked as to where the boy got it from if it wasn't pretty obvious that they had been hidden in his sleeves, since the white and black cuffs were now covered in brown — into his mouth, "If you don't mind..." "What is it?" Doug asked, not unkindly, and Carlos swallowed the peanut butter cup, "Can you show me the way to the science labs?"

"Oh." Doug smiled, nodding his head, "You do have science later, right. That is in...uhh...oh." His wrist was still uncovered; now he couldn't tell the time. With a groan, Doug pulled out his phone, and he gave the smaller boy a smile, "In three hours' time."

Only to realise Carlos had pulled a watch out from his back pocket hesitantly.

"I think this might be yours, sorry."

...

"M, I'm going out. Do you want anything?" Evie pulled a purse from her sleeve, shaking a few coins into her purse, but Mal waved her away, "No, shoo. I need to figure out how to get the spells in my mum's spell book working." "Right. Then we'll rendezvous for the wand-stealing adventure." Evie clapped her hands together, earning a glare from Mal, "What, you want the whole of Auradon to know?"

"Whoopsies." Evie sighed, stepping out of the room, shutting the door behind her, and even as Mal stared at the flowery-patterned curtains, wondering how she should change its pattern to something more of her liking, a crash of thunder was heard, and she jumped up slightly as the lightning streaked across the sky, "And I thought only the Isle had storms."

Mal...

"What was that?" Her purple head bobbed up at once, and Mal could see the glow of her eyes reflected by the standing mirror Evie had left on her sewing table. The winds were alive, blowing through the windows and pulling the curtains away, and Mal retreated to the door as a strike of lightning seemingly struck right outside her dormitory room. "What in the name of Beast is happening?" Mal growled, moving closer to the windows, and she reached a single hand out, attempting to pull the window back shut.

It all happened so quickly; a bolt of lightning struck her outstretched arm, and Mal only had enough time to blink before a searing heat scorched through her veins, begging to be let free. "What the-?" Mal almost cursed, but the mysterious power surging in her veins started to get to her head, and Mal found herself forced to her knees. 'Mal...no...' The winds howled, as though battling with the streaks of lightning that aimed at her like missiles, 'Don't let them...don't let it control you...'

"Don't let what control me?" She barely managed to grit through her teeth, but it all became clear when she staggered back to her feet and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

My eyes!

But how?

They were green. Well, yes, they were always green. But the green, no matter how vivid, had never ensnared the black of her pupils — they had always been equal. But now they did. The green of her irises had spread to her irises, making them an unearthly golden green, and at the edge of her eyes, something seemed to be leaking out. Mal had thought they were mucus, but when she pulled her finger away, it vanished. Could it be?

"Magic. My magic is going out of control." Mal muttered to herself, scurrying back to her bed in a hurry, her hands fumbling for her spell book, "Where is it? Something...there must be something..."

The clock tower rag, signifying that it had reached an hour. And just as the bells ended, Mal found just the page, something that would perhaps be enough to expel her magic and yet be harmless to everyone else —

"Time stop; turn the clock back to the top...?"

The sudden gust of wind shook the room, causing the spell book to fall out of her hands, and even as the wind ceased, Mal looked at the clock on the table — it had gone back by 15 minutes mysteriously. But no sooner than her sighing did Evie come rushing back through the door, and Mal frowned at once. Wait, why didn't the spell bring Evie back in the first place? "I'm a witch. Spells don't affect me." Evie stared at Mal, unsure what to say, before she closed the door, "So would you kindly mind explaining why I suddenly found myself in a setting that was what was there perhaps, fifteen minutes ago?"

"A storm. My magic went out of control." Mal spoke stoutly, her eyes still staring out of the window, as though she expected the storm to start again, and Evie didn't seem to believe her: "How come?"

But all she answered was perhaps the most truthful thing she had said ever since she set foot in this foreign land of Auradon.

"I don't know, E. I have no absolute idea."

...

The plan failed; she should have known. It would really be a joke if it had worked, with Fairy Godmother's wand being a single artefact that could bring doom upon all just by being touched, and with Jay being a mutt, once again only thinking of getting the big score first instead of what might presently have been in his way. A commendable attitude, perhaps, but a hindrance when used in the wrong way.

"So what're we going to do?" Evie asked sleepily as she collapsed on her poster bed, while Mal brooded over the day's events, "School...sounds fun. Maybe let's not steal the wand...they can't come after us anyway..." "...Are you serious, E?" Mal spoke up after a stretch of silence, but there was no response. "E?" Mal turned over, only to find that Evie had already fallen asleep, and with a sigh, the girl sat up slowly, glancing at the silver orb in the sky.

"Was that really you, Mother?" Mal whispered, pressing her hand to her chest, where her heart thumped softly, caged up in her ribs, like how she had been caged on the Isle for 16 years. Did that wax figure really come to life? "Will you forgive me if I fail you again? Like how I failed with your staff?" Mal moved closer to the windows, which opened a small crack to allow for ventilation.

"Will you?" The girl repeated, shutting her eyelids on those green eyes, and even as she drifted off to slumber, the night air seemed to still.

And no one heard the scream in the distance, coming from the south of Auradon.

•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•