Always by your Side - A Descendants Story : REWRITTEN

Chapter 23

"Chad, oh my God, hurry up! You've been in the shower for 20 minutes, we all want some warm water as well," Jay says annoyed.

"I'm sorry that I do want to look good," Chad replies.

"I swear, I'll kill him if he's going to keep this up," Jay says, sitting down at one of the tables.

"Join the club," Evie sighs, chewing on a crust of the bread they got from the pirates this morning.

"Do you think they're going to give us only this bread for the entire day?" Jane asks, finishing her slice of bread.

"I hope not, but I have a gut feeling that we're not getting much more until tonight," Carlos says.

"Does anyone want to play a game with me?" Lonnie asks, holding up a pack of cards one of the pirates gave them.

They spend the rest of the morning playing games of cards and taking turns showering. Meanwhile, Evie does everyone's hair in an attempt to keep herself entertained. The adults are sitting on another table to discuss whatever adults talk about.

And so the days go by slowly but surely. They get a visit from Uma now and then, along with some other pirates. They just like seeing them all miserable, enjoying every minute of their victory. Jay and Lonnie spend a lot of time trying to come up with a plan to get them all out of here and take the pirates down. Without any success, of course, but they're not giving up.

They all develop a daily routine as the days are dragging by. Two weeks have come and gone when they've all just given in to their fate.

"How are you holding up?" Ben asks Mal, sitting down next to her.

Mal sighs and rests her head on his shoulder. "I'm... I'm- alive."

"I know that, but other than that?' he asks. "Are you feeling alright?"

She's silent for a moment. "No."

"You're afraid of-" he tries to ask.

"Yes," she says, feeling a tear escaping her eyes.

"It's going to be fine, okay, it's going to be fine," he tells her, holding her close.

"But- what if it's not?" she sobs. "I'm- I'm almost 6 months along, what if we're going to be stuck here forever? What if I have to- to give birth in here...? I can't do that, Ben... And even if that turns out alright, we can't raise a child in here, locked up just like I was growing up..."

Ben wipes some tears from her face, while resting his head on top of her head. "I'm so sorry..." he sighs, not being able to keep in the tears either.

"It's not your fault we're locked up," she reminds him. "The only one to blame here is Uma..."

"Yeah, but-" he tries to argue.

"No, there is no 'but' here, Ben. It's all on her, nothing about all this is to blame on you," she tells him sternly.

"It doesn't matter who's to blame, the fact is that we're locked up here and that there's no way out," he tells her.

"You're not actually giving up, are you?" she asks him, looking him in the eyes.

"Well, what are we supposed to do then?" he asks her.

"We'll come up with something, we always do, but we can't let that stupid shrimpy win," she says.

"Shrimpy?" Ben questions, chuckling a bit.

"That's what I called her back on the Isle, because she wouldn't stop calling me princess," she explains, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall.