Stealing the Black Cauldron///A Descendants Applyfic///CLOSED

Chapter Fourteen: Falling From the Sky and Into Jail

CJ remembered when he was eight and Hannah was seven, and the two were playing in the backyard of the cottage.

He hadn't started covering up his wings yet, and Hannah didn't speak- she didn't until she was ten.

Wanting to impress her, CJ told her to watch as he climbed up a tree. With confidence he lacked now, he threw himself off the branches and flew.

He was airborne for a full minute, longer than he ever had before. It was exhilarating and incredible, and for the first time in his life, he felt like he could be worth something. Despite what his father would tell him.

Then he fell all the way to the dirt, his back slamming into the ground.

The air left his lungs and he was left gagging and wheezing for air. That was the first time he cried in front of Hannah, sobs coming out in choked coughs.

She had held him the whole time as he did, just trying to get him to breathe.

And hearing that, he felt the same as he had those seven years ago. Air out of his lungs in a moment, his throat dry and his eyes burning.

He was terrified, because he knew Hannah.

He knew the bruised and shaky girl that held him when he cried that day. That believed in those stupid stories about wishing on stars and dreams coming true. That would sneak out to sit on the rooftop by herself when her father was screaming and raging through the house. That nursed the scared, one-toothed bat back to help and named him Gumbie

That had finally, finally shouted at her father when he hurt those she loved.

He knew that she wouldn't let him hurt them.

And she did just that, standing between her friends and her father. "I will not do that." Her voice was bitter and poisonous.

The King's grotesque smile twisted into a glare much more fitting for his face. "I see..."

Hannah reached for a sharp quartz stone she had left on the windowsill. She caught a glance of Gracie shaking her head. But still, she grabbed it and threw it at the King.

The stone hit his head, making him stumble back as dark, thick, chunky... blood(?) dripped from his head. "You little..." The cottage rumbled with the rage in his voice.

He launched forward, grabbing the girl and throwing her into the wall. She let out a shout and fell onto the floor.

"YOU DON'T DARE DISOBEY ME."

Hannah looked at her friends, struggling to push herself up. 'Run,' she mouthed.

They didn't, instead reaching for her and pulling her up to them. "Get to Auradon." CJ said, his voice strained.

"Don't stop running until you get there." Gracie added, pleading as she pointed off the barrier.

"But-"

"We'll be fine." He promised. "Just get out. We'll stall him, so get help."

Hannah felt her throat close up, but he nodded. "Okay..." She glanced back at her father for just a second more, then ran faster than she ever had before.

Past the busted windows and beaten roads, the empty shops and rat paths.

She didn't stop when she ran past the barrier, feeling her feet hit the bridge with a painful force. And when Auradon came to sight, she felt more scared than before.

Her foot caught on a stone and she fell to the ground.

'What was all of this for?' She thought.

She assumed she heard shouting, but everything felt like it was ringing. Guards and students all crowding around to see the pathetic sight, but she didn't even notice.

She could make out faint words in the buzzing in her ears. "Thief" and "prison" and things like that- all meaningless and numb.

"Run..." She mouthed, a hopeless plea to her friends that were so far away. It was only when someone grabbed her arms that she broke out of the static around her. She looked at the guard who was pulling her up and dragging her to the castle.

She didn't fight or scream- at least, she didn't register if she did. She wanted to ask for help, or for someone to get her friends and get them out of the Isle. But she knew that wasn't possible. Especially not being surrounded by people who probably hated her more than they did before.

Hannah stumbled a bit as she was deposited into a cell, the door slamming behind her.

~~~

"So," Gracie shouted as she bolted past a corner of the street with CJ by her side.

"He doesn't have a body to put in the Cauldron." She continued. "So we should be fine!"

CJ looked at her, his eyes unsure. "People died here, and I don't think he's against grave-robbing!" He called back. Gracie cursed under her breath.

"We are so screwed!" Gracie shouted, stopping her run to catch her breath. She stumbled back, hitting a wall and nearly falling over.

CJ looked back. "How far do you think we've got until he sends... something after us?" He asked, his voice strained and dry.

Gracie felt the ground rumbled under her feet. "Five seconds. I think he's found a grave."

The deathless warriors breaking the ground underneath them, crawling and writhing to the dying sunlight, confirmed their fears.

(Sorry for the short chapter!)