Dark Times

Battle of the mind

Mal and Rashid were in the White Queen's garden when the girl felt a terrible pain in her chest and had to stop walking.

"Mal, what's up?"

Rashid went over to her, trying to check if everything was all right.

"Call... call... ask... the guys."

She said between several attempts to breathe normally. It took Rashid a while, but he understood that she needed to get news from the fairy kingdom.

"Okay." He teleported into the bedroom, leaving Mal still kneeling in pain. But he was back in seconds. "No one answers the calls and Clarion is out of my magic range."

"We need to get back."

She said, trying to get up.

"You can't."

"What? Nobody's the boss of me."

"Hey, listen to me, if something had happened I'm sure they would have come running to warn you. And I honestly think the Fairy Queen and Helena have enough power to take care of whatever it is, besides Agatha can't enter the kingdom if that's what you're worried about."

"I..."

She was about to argue against it, but was interrupted.

"If you insist, I'll be forced to do something I really don't want to do."

"Seriously, Rashid, you don't..."

She laughed at the possibility of him doing anything against her, but was surprised when she was hit by a blow that sent her crashing to the ground.

"What did it say? Battle stance, Maleficent."

"You know that's not my name."

If it was anger he wanted to cause her, he was succeeding.

"Really? You look like her, although she knew how to use magic and..."

She threw a strong spell in his direction, returning the blow.

"Don't compare me to her again."

"Okay, let's make it interesting. Déformez la vision et voyez vos peurs au même endroit. Seulement vous regardez le pire des scénarios."

He recited a spell in French, one of the things he had learned from some magicians.

*Distort your vision and see your fears in the same place. Only you are looking at the worst possible scenario.

"French? Really, Rachid?" Mal rebutted before receiving a pewter dusting in his eyes. "What the shit, Rashid?" She asked, trying to clear her eyes of the dust that seemed to have gotten inside them.

"Open your eyes and tell me what you see?"

As he opened his intense green eyes, what he saw had nothing to do with the garden of seconds before.

"What kind of joke is that, Rashid?"

It was not often that Mal found himself afraid of something and as he looked at where he was, his heartbeat quickened.

"What do you see? Where are you?"

"Island, on Uma's ship..." His eyes searched for more information to say, but his fear was greater. It wasn't just the pirate ship, it was worse than that. Ben was tied up and about to be thrown off the plank, Evie and the boys with swords around their necks and... their parents? It was the Vk's parents threatening them with guns. "What spell is that?"

"It makes you see your worst fears in a worse place."

"So, we're back years ago, on Uma's ship?"

"Why does a ship make you afraid?"