Madder than a Hatter (Descendants)

Regret and Reminiscence (Edited)

Audrey and I were silently teleported directly behind Ben, who stood behind his desk, giving orders to a footman.

"Find out if anyone has seen Audrey!" he shouted. Almost immediately, he added, "And find out if she has a list of demands!"

The footman nodded and ran out the door.

Ben sat down in his chair with a sigh, rubbing at his face, and Audrey took her cue like the perfect villain.

"Just one," she sighed.

"Huh!" Ben cried, jolting up from his seat and staring at us both in disbelief.

"I demand my life back," Audrey continued. I sort of stepped behind her, cowering a little, although I was at least five inches taller than she was, so I couldn't really hide. "I have a proposition," she added, stepping closer to Ben. "I'll wake everybody up right now, under one..." She reached out and took Ben's hand. "Itty-bitty condition, Benny-boo." She ran her fingers up his jacket and placed her hand on his shoulder. Then she brushed the hair from his face in almost a sweet manner. "Make me your queen, and we'll rule side by side."

Ben reached up to cover her hand with his own, staring into her eyes. She smiled confidently. Then he pulled her hand down, and asked concernedly, "Did someone put a spell on you?"

Her smile died in an instant.

"Just tell me who and-"

"You'll what?" she interrupted. "Marry them?" Low blow, but he did kind of deserve it. He recoiled slightly, and even further when she let out a high-pitched, manic giggle. She turned around and walked back towards me, slinging and arm around my shoulder. "Most people get dumped because they aren't good enough. I wasn't bad enough. How do you like me now, Benny-boo?" She giggled again and spun around, showing off her dress.

Ben said, "I like the old Audrey better," and took a few stupid steps closer. "She wouldn't wanna hurt Auradon. Just give me the scepter, and I'll forgive you." He moved closer, and Audrey quickly moved it away from him, holding it directly in front of me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I commented. "She means business."

"You'll forgive me?" Audrey asked, barely-concealed rage in her voice. It became a snarl when she said, "I don't think so. Sleeping is too good for you." She waved the scepter at him. I closed my eyes again.

When I opened them, Ben was on the ground, and Audrey was marching out the doors. I followed behind her.

"Sleeping is too good for Auradon!" Audrey cried angrily, raising the scepter again. A pink flash of light burst from it, hurting my eyes. I had the feeling something very bad had just happened.

I missed Uma. She was a villain, too, but at least she wasn't wild crazy, and she actually cared about her crew. Also, I was still head over heels for her, and would've totally married her if she asked me to.

Sure, we argued a bunch, but it was good-natured arguing over whether a person deserved to walk the plank or get hung upside-down by their boots, stuff like that. I was a loose string that she wouldn't tie up, and everyone knows that loose strings are to be tied up or cut off.

Which makes this sound weirdly ominous. It wasn't, I promise.

I once overheard an argument between her and Harry about me when I was crawling through the rafters of her bar to surprise her with a rare piece of fresh fruit I'd arm-wrestled Gil for.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, huh?" Harry had snapped. "Is that what this is? She has got to go and you know it, Uma. For the good of the crew, for our future, you have to get rid of her."

It didn't take more than three brain cells to figure out that the topic of the conversation was me.

"She's not an enemy, Harry," Uma had replied, eyes flashing. "And last time I checked, I was the captain, not you. If you have something to say, say it to my face."

That shut him up pretty quickly. It was clear he had a whole bunch more he wanted to say, but couldn't, for fear of shuffling off this mortal coil at the hands of one (1) Captain Uma. The disagreements were always pretty heated with them, like melt-your-face-off-if-you-stand-too-close hot.

Uma had turned away from him, placing her hands on the bar as if to steady herself. "What does that even mean, anyway? 'Get rid of her.' You want me to throw her out of the crow's nest or something?" That had happened to me, but not at her hands, it was because of my own stupidity. "Turn her into a- a polyp, like my mom used to do? I'm not going to be my mom, Harry-" her voice was dangerously close to cracking- "because if I am, then I'm not better than her. She deserves an eternity here; I don't."

I had never brought up the conversation to her, but things were a little different between us after that.

I missed her so much. I hoped she was doing okay, wherever she was.

Audrey had teleported us away from the office, to the Fairy Cottage, where Flora, Fauna, and Merriwether had hidden her mom, and she was staring deeply into the scepter, watching Mal and the others like some kind of creeper, while the spineless loser and I hung back awkwardly.

"How did Mal break my spell?" she growled, which let me know that Mal had managed to break her spell.

"I don't know," the spineless loser said.

Audrey grabbed a bowl of apples off the table beside her, dumped out all the apples, and held up the bowl threateningly. "And what is Uma doing here?"

My heart began to beat a little faster.

"Hey, no no no no no!" the spineless loser shouted, but it didn't matter, because Audrey threw the bowl at him anyway. He ducked, of course, and it shattered against the door.

She stalked towards him. "Come clean, Chad!" she demanded, as he cowered on the floor. "Where are they going?"

"I don't know!" he shouted. "I don't know, okay? I can go check for you, how about that?" He began to crawl towards the door, down on his hands and knees.

"Stay!" Audrey shouted.

He froze in a somewhat comical position.

She walked over to him and began to stroke his hair, which was a little weird. "It's about to get a little ugly."

The spineless loser stopped looking like he was enjoying the head scratches and looked up at her. She began to giggle quietly.

"Uh, please don't do that to me," I said, gesturing towards the dog boy. "Any of it, thank you."

Audrey just laughed harder.