cordelia walked through the forest, searching high and low for celia. for the second time that day, she had wandered through the enchanted forest alone. which got her thinking, she should have stayed with them? maybe then she wouldn't be walking through the forest alone, late at night.
"cords?" she heard a small voice say. cordelia snapped her head around to see celia, sitting at the bottom of a tree her head in her hands.
"celia!" she exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief. "how are you feeling?" cordelia asked, sitting besides the girl, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. celia tensed up, before melting into the hug and wrapping her arms around her.
celia sniffled, resting her head on cordelia's shoulder. "i don't know." the girl, muttered her voice breaking as she spoke.
"i'm so sorry, i, i know that doesn't change anything but i'm really sorry. i wish, mal had told me so i could of tried to change her mind. i would of tried, so hard." the blonde rambled, trying to somehow apologise for the heart breaking news.
celia let out a small chuckled. "i know you would of," she hugged the blonde even tighter. "thank you for letting me come here, and get the chance to live here in auradon."
"oh, celia," cordelia said, her voice breaking as she spoke. "you don't need to thank me. thank you for trusting us enough to come." the two girls held each other tightly, enjoying each others presence.
~
"uma!" mal yelled, running up to uma and harry who happened to still be searching for gil. "uma. stop, please! stop. i need your help, we have a chance if we do this together."
uma stopped and turned around, looking at mal with hurt, sorrowful eyes. "your friends kick you to the curb?" uma paused, not giving mal a chance to answer. "good."
"ben saw something in you and today, uma, i saw it too." mal begged, with pleading eyes. "you care, uma, you care about everybody and auradon is worth saving. help us, please."
"you talk pretty, but, she's already made up her mind." harry said, quietly.
"you brought this on yourself, mal. you figure out how to fix it. let's go." uma said, bitterly before she and harry walked off.
meanwhile, audrey had managed to find celia and cordelia. "well, well, well, what do we have here?" her voice lingered, while she circled around them waving the scepter around. "cords, we really have to stop meeting like this."
"what do you want audrey?" cordelia sighed, grabbing a hold of celia's hand trying to keep her calm.
"you managed to escape." audrey paused, leaving the girl confused. "they all turned to stone but you ran off. what a friend you are? what a good girlfriend you are, leaving your boyfriend to turn to stone." she saw cordelia's face change to guilt, audrey letting out a cackle. "oh, how i love being evil."
"why did you do that audrey!? they're just trying to help you." cordelia spoke in a low, hurt voice.
"i don't need help!" she screamed, stopping her foot. "i don't need your help or their help! i'm evi-"
"your not evil." cordelia said, cutting her off. "you know your not evil." celia held the girls hand firmly, watching the scene unfold.
"you have got to stop telling me that!" she screamed, waving her scepter around the blonde and before she knew it a pain rushed through her chest, making cordelia fold and clench her chest.
"what did you do to her?!" celia yelled, her voice sounding urgent as she tried to help cordelia resting a hand on her back.
"oh, nothing." audrey laughed, looking at celia with a hum. "come with me." she demanded, but when celia shook her head, audrey ran forward grabbing her hand and disappearing into a puff a vibrant pink smoke, taking celia with her.
"no!"
~
the thunder clashed loudly, making mal look up at the bright pink streaks in the sky. "help me, mal!" celia's voice screamed.
"yeah!" audrey laughed, evilly. "save your little friend, mal!"
mal's eyes turned their bright green, purple smoke surrounding her and disappearing to reveal mal in her dragon state. she flew about the castle, trying to find celia. "help me, mal!" she spotted the girl on top of one of the castle turrets with audrey.
in a rage of anger, mal blew fire at audrey. who seemed unphased, sending a bolt of what seemed to be a spell or curse at her, which she dodged and blew another stream of fire at her.
audrey laughed, grabbing celia and holding her close. "careful not to fry your little vk buddy."
meanwhile, uma and harry were witnessing the whole thing rushing towards the castle. "woah!" they both exclaimed, watching the scene unfold.
"she doesn't stand a chance without the ember." uma stated, harry silently agreeing. "come on!"
"help me, mal!" celia shouted, trying to encourage mal to keep going.
"hold still, you little brat!" audrey barked in celia's face, but she managed to slip from her grip and running into the corner of the building.
uma grabbed a hold of her necklace, holding it in the palm of her hand. "stronger together, i'm right here, mal!" she yelled, catching mal's attention. mal lowered closer to uma, letting her words set in. "regain your might and ignite. i'm right here, girl, i'm right here. regain your might and ignite!"
the ember regained its spark, glowing a vibrant blue. "yes!" harry and uma exclaimed, mal sent them a grateful smile and flew back up to where celia was being held.
"you want a piece of this? huh?!" audrey growled, waving the scepter in her face.
"no! no!" celia yelled, covering her face with her hands and hiding herself in the corner.
behind audrey, mal appeared with the glowing ember in her hand. audrey laughed, sending a curse mal's way but mal stopped it with the ember.
"come on, mal!"
the ember out powered the scepter and audrey fell to the floor. celia got up, breathing heavily while mal returned back. "mal!" celia gasped, running over to her.
"oh, celia." mal said, sighing a sigh of relief wrapping her arms around celia. "it's okay, i've got you."
mal slowly let go of celia and walked closer to audrey, placing a hand on her cheek. "audrey?" she placed the ember at the bottom of her chin, praying the magic would heal. "oh, no."
meanwhile, cordelia had managed to get out of the forest slowly but surely. when suddenly the restricting pain from her chest begin to vanish, she let out a happy gasp taking a deep breath in. she had no idea what audrey had done to her, but she knew it had to be some sort of evil spell.
looking up cordelia saw mal, as a dragon. "oh, no!" cordelia gasped and began walking as fast as she could towards the castle. although, whatever spell audrey had put on her was magically beginning to disappear, her chest still felt tight and somewhat restricting so she knew running was out of the picture.
