[4] Phoenix | Descendants 3

THIRTY-ONE: The Path Forward

Later that day, night had fallen in the reawakened kingdom of Auradon. Mal drags her feet towards the front door of Evie's house. Earlier in the day, Morpheus had freed Audrey from her curse on Hades' orders. It had certainly taken one item of their plate, but the King and future queen still had a lot to worry about.

But now, it was time for rest. Using her spare key, the dark fairy entered the house. Inside, Uma, Harry, Evie, Jay, Gil, and Carlos were gathered in the living room. The TV was the only source of light in the room, drinks and remnants of Jane's birthday cake laid out on the table in front of them.

"Ugh," groaned the dark fairy, plopping down on the couch next to Jay. The son of Jafar said nothing, merely handing a plate with a slice of Jane's cake. The girl hummed in appreciation, taking a bite of the cake.

Uma chuckled, "You look terrible."

But Mal paid the comment no mind, too tired to do much less but finish this slice of cake. "Thank you."

"Why do you look so bad?"

"Because things still aren't back to normal yet."

Gil looked away from the television, confused. "But we saved the day."

"Right and we also woke up an entire kingdom that was asleep for days. Time didn't stop when the curse was cast, it kept on moving without Auradon. That's time, money, services lost kingdom wide. And that's not to mention the fact that the heir to the Aurorian throne cast that spell. People, including the gods, are going to want her to answer for what she's done. But the Aurorian royal family, nobles, and anyone else on their side are definitely going to be against that. But Hades made it clear that the gods won't allow her to walk away from this with a slap on the wrist. It's a social, political, and economic nightmare."

No matter which way they looked, Ben and Mal did not have an easy task before them. They had to help bring an entire kingdom back up to speed with the rest of the world. And with that, they had to figure out what that meant for schools, jobs, government offices, etc. And all of this is on top of the fact that Audrey had yet to be dealt an appropriate punishment for her actions, which only worsened the already messy situation.

People's daily lives were disrupted, innocents robbed of time that they would never get back. They wanted answers to their long list of questions. Fear, anger, confusion and anxiety ran rampant through all of Auradon and beyond. And it is Ben and Mal's jobs as rulers to lead their people through this difficult time.

Mal shakes her head, stopping herself from thinking any further about politics and taking a big bite of cake. A few moments later, Helena came walking down the stairs.

"Alright, the kids are down for count," The Greek girl states, taking a seat beside Evie.

"How are they?" asks the blue haired princess.

"Still shaken up, confused and angry about everything. I asked Morpheus to make sure they have peaceful dreams, so at least they'll be having a good night's sleep."

Uma laughed lightly at the mention of the lesser god. "And to think we've met five gods throughout all of this."

Helena looked down at her glowing hands. Now was as good a time as ever to tell them. "Six," she corrected, looking up to find everyone else already looking at her. "And you're in the room with one right now."

There was a brief pause before Evie turned to her, taking the brunette princess' hands in her own. "We know."

"Wait, what?"