Descendants//𝐸𝐿𝐼 𝐻𝒜𝐿𝐸

𝖘𝖎𝖝

"It's good to see you, Mom! I didn't know it was already 10 a.m. tomorrow!" Ruby says with heavy sarcasm, walking toward her mom.

"I... I forgot," Lydia stammers, the first thing that comes to her mind as she fumbles for an excuse.

"Mom, you didn't tell me you were fucking here." Ruby's anger rises, the words sharp and pointed. "How could you lie to my face in front of all these people who can tell you're lying? Pathetic."

"I can explain," Lydia starts, but Ruby doesn't give her a chance.

Ruby raises an eyebrow, her expression flat. She knows her mother's excuses will be hollow, so she cuts her off. "Wow... some things never change." She turns away and walks toward Eli and Scott.

Scott, Malia, and Eli stand off to the side, awkwardly glancing around. The tension is thick in the air, and they can all feel the undercurrent of anger and sadness swirling between mother and daughter.

"You've gotten really big," Scott says, attempting to change the subject, his voice friendly but unsure.

"Yeah, I was three the last time you saw me," Eli replies with a dry chuckle, but Ruby stays silent, still too angry to speak.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lydia asks, her eyes narrowing as she focuses on Ruby.

"I was kinda wondering the same thing," Eli says, gesturing with his hands in a way that Ruby can't help but smile at. She loves how effortlessly he avoids direct answers. Lydia notices, her gaze sharpening—so, Ruby does like him.

"Hiking. Can't you tell? Perfect day for it," Malia chimes in, her tone annoyingly casual, pointing out the obvious.

"We know what you're looking for... the tree, right?" Eli asks, raising an eyebrow. They all nod. "The huge stump, like twenty feet wide?"

Lydia turns to him, intrigued. "You know how to find it?"

"Kind of..." Eli shrugs nonchalantly, but Ruby can tell he's being evasive. He could tell a whole story without making that gesture, but it's almost like he's playing with them.

"Yeah, kind of," Ruby mimics sarcastically. "You can? Or not? It's really simple." She rolls her eyes in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm with Ruby on this one," Malia says, backing him up.

Aunt Malia is Ruby's favorite. They share the same attitude, and Ruby can always count on her to have her back.

"Look, I sleepwalk. I don't even know why, but I've just been doing it for the last few months," Eli explains, shrugging like it's no big deal.

"Really?" Ruby asks, surprised, and Eli nods. "I didn't know that," she admits with a shrug.

"I used to wake up in the woods too," Scott adds, a quiet confession.

"After you were bitten by Peter, right?" Eli asks, his tone suddenly serious.

"Yeah, in the woods, late at night. And now we're doing the same thing... Isn't this ironic?" Ruby's words spill out rapidly, her mind racing.

"We have those," Malia says, extending her claws as if to prove a point.

"Right..." Ruby murmurs to herself, processing the strange parallels in silence.

"What about the tree?" Malia interrupts, tired of all the talk and ready to focus on the task at hand.

"It's not far from here," Eli says, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.

Ruby stays quiet, but a weird sense of familiarity tugs at her. It's like she's dreamed about this place before, but she can't quite remember what happened.