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

Ch. 12 - And so we meet.

"A date is a date. Some progress was made, but not enough." Mal muttered under her breath as Evie nudged a cup of pudding over to her, and the blue haired girl rolled her eyes, "But at least some progress was made." "How many more dates till we can cut to the actual thing?" Mal growled, tugging on her hair in distress that she would have to spend more time with Ben until he finally decided to ask her to be his girlfriend.

"None, if you had spelled him." Evie knew Mal was about to argue back, so she raised her hand, stopping Mal, "And yes, I know, you're probably not going to anyway. What, are you afraid of being unable to reverse the spell on him after that? Isn't it worse now though? He's genuinely falling for you." The silence from Mal proved that she had indeed not given that much of a thought, but even as she opened her mouth to argue, Ben appeared beside them both, "Hey."

"Hey." Mal changed her open mouth into a quick reply, "Aren't you having lessons now?" "No. I have a meeting later, but Fairy Godmother asked me to bring a message to you." "Go on." Mal slurped her pudding, the sweetness of the chocolate still unusual to her taste buds, and Ben stole a bite of her pudding, much to her surprise, before he smiled at her, "Fairy G managed to invite someone for a talk during your Remedial Goodness lesson. And it's specially for the VKs." "What, it's Remedial Goodness 1001 now? Is 101 not enough?" Mal jested, but Ben frowned, "Mal, not that." "I get it, I get it." She nodded dismissively, "We'll be sure to turn up...punctually."

"And I'll see you after school for homework." Ben grinned at her joke about punctuality, "Punctually."

But when he left, Mal felt her heart squeeze, uncomfortably and nervously, something it had never done before.

Has your smile always been this mischievous, Ben?

Or did you swallow a magnet when you were younger?

Why...how...

Am I attracted to you?

...

"Yes! Mal! Ben got the message to you guys rather quickly, I see?"

Other than Mal, who had afforded a baring of her teeth, the rest of them were smiling at Fairy Godmother, naturally.

What has gotten into them all???

"Yes. A memo of a pep talk." Mal shrugged her bag off her shoulder onto a nearby chair, and the rest followed her lead, sitting down consecutively down the row. "Indeed! In fact, I thought that you four might like it very much. Especially some of you..."

Had it been her imagination, or had Fairy G gazed at her a little longer than needed?

"Of course. Thank you for this...treat." Mal thanked the fairy with a tone that lacked much heart, and even as Fairy Godmother scurried off, Evie already turned to Mal, "What was that about?"

"Dunno." Mal answered, her eyes roaming instead to the door behind them, wondering if the speaker would appear from the doors, but Carlos's scream and Evie's jerk of surprise turned her head back to the front of the class quickly enough to see a column of brilliant blue, before a familiar figure appeared. Curiosity piqued, Mal became awfully behaved, and just as Jay had been about to make a comment about Hades's entrance, Mal threw him a look of "shut up".

"Do I need to introduce myself?" Hades summoned himself a chair lazily, and Evie snickered by her ear, "No magic, eh? Guess it doesn't apply to the Olympians." "You're Hades." Carlos stammered, cutting the god off, and Hades sent him a bored look, "Well, thank you for saving me a breath...aren't I glad?" "Weren't you on the Isle?" Evie questioned in interest, wondering how they had pulled a villain off the Isle for a talk, and Hades merely summoned himself a mojito, "Reformed villain, required for duty, blah blah blah. Haven't you wondered why dead souls aren't floating around, assuming you all thought I was stuck on the Isle?"

"You weren't on the Isle. You left after a few years or so." Mal shared her insider info, and suddenly, Hades's eyes were fixated on only her, while his obsidian-gold eyes bore into her emerald ones. "I did. You've been talking to Ben, Mali." Hades answered coolly, his demeanor sliding off him slowly, and Mal's eyes widened at what he had called her, before she demanded, "You know my name. How?"

"I know a lot of things, your name is just one of them." Hades fished his haughtiness back, "That's enough. I'm here to talk about how..." He trailed off, glancing to the floor briefly. He couldn't bear it; having to treat his own daughter, his flesh and blood,, like any of those strangers he met. She wasn't them. She was someone he had once had, and someone he had lost. And someone who reminded him of someone else he had also lost. A spitting image of her mother, Hades felt a crack in his heart deepen as his thoughts traced back to Maleficent, to her kind green gaze, to her lips, the only ones that ever fit with his.

"Sir? You're burning the stage." Came a squeaky voice, and Hades looked up to see that his flames had turned orange and now began to run free across the parquet floor. He was about to pull them back, but Mal had moved her wrist, and a jolt ran through the ancient god as her magic met his, and he knew she had felt it from the way her eyes had widened, when their magic had met.

The flames went out.

"M, you okay?" Evie had been close enough to hear the small gasp from Mal, but it was useless. Mal could not hear her. A new feeling ran through her, flaming and burning to the extent that it felt cold. Everything about her magic had changed, from the way she used to move her fingers to use them, from the way she needed movement to spark it.

And suddenly, she felt old. Much older. Like a being that had existed for centuries, and had only just returned to its original glory.

"Who are you?" Mal exhaled, her eyes containing nothing but confusion as she held his gaze, and she asked - no, she was questioning him - for an answer. "Hades. I'm Hades. Lord of the Underworld." The god answered steadily, cutting off the tension as he avoided looking at her altogether, "All I am here to do is to tell you that yes, your parents, the so-called villains, all have done their wrongs. They made their choice and landed down that road. You are given your chances now. You make yours now. You know the consequence is being booted off to the Isle. You won't have a chance to leave it, and even if you do, it will be for the sole purpose of serving Auradon."

"You make your choice each day you are here. And one wrong move is all you have to pay for your one way ticket back to the Isle..."

"So what will it be?"

...

"Sir! Hades! Wait!"

The right thing to have done was to just disappear there and then, and not have any more chances for interaction with his daughter.

But since when was he, Hades, a sucker for goodness?

"Please," The first time she had said this to anyone, and it had been to this man, this god, she did not know, "Please, who are you? What relation do you have with me?" "I wasn't aware we had any relation." Hades wheeled around on his heel, his height simply towering over his daughter, but even as he gazed down at her, his heart softened, "Mal." "You're lying." Mal shook her head, recognising the look in his eyes. The god might have been good at lying, but Mal herself knew all the signs of it, and even if he was not, she would have been equally insistent, "You know something! Something that no one is telling me!"

"And it should stay that way. For your safety." Hades growled, the last three words slipping by accident, and he saw the 'Aha!' look in her eyes, before everything was hidden by a calm look that glassed over them at once, and Mal folded her arms coolly, "And what would a man who has no relations to me at all care about my safety?" "It's not all about you, Mal." The god seemed passive, a flash of anger and infinite sorrow in his eyes, "Say hi to Ben for me when you can. I have a few things that I want to clarify with him about."

And with the air of someone who had not lost, and yet had not won, Hades stalked off into the distance, leaving Mal standing, feeling more alone than ever.

It's not just about me, is it?

Then who else is it about?

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