𝑰'𝑽𝑬 𝑮𝑶𝑻 𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 - 𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑪𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟖

When Evie took it upon herself to give Mal an entire wardrobe upgrade, down to her hair, Mal had put up the fight of a lifetime to be able to keep her old clothes from the Isle. If nothing else, the articles of clothing had sentimental value. Sometimes, she'd pull out her old purple leather jacket with the green dragon heart on the back and just stare at it. She'd stare and she'd long for a time when her biggest problem in life was who she got to target next. Which life she'd spend her day ruining.

For three months, the jacket was a painful reminder of what she'd had. One of the last physical remnants of the life she missed so dearly. Mal thought about putting it back on a million different times, desperate to feel the comfort of the leather against her skin. But before she got that far, she'd tuck it away in her closet once more, and her security detail would be ushering her off to the next duty she had to fulfill.

She never thought the day would come where she'd get to wear that beloved jacket once more. Where she knew for certain that putting on the jacket meant one thing; she was going home.

And yet, here she was.

Her 'security detail', which had now been replaced with moles and lackeys all working for Leah or Genie in some capacity, stood in her room, patiently waiting for Mal to finish gathering her things. There was a soft knock on the door that drew all attention in the room. One of the guards held up a hand, then leaned over to look through the peephole.

After a beat, he nodded softly, then pulled the door open, and Jay was ushered into the room, duffel bag in hand as his eyes glimmered with excitement. Mal breathed out a relieved laugh at the sight, and then Jay was striding forward and wrapping Mal into a bear hug that nearly cut off her circulation.

Mal grunted softly, then laughed, patting Jay's back softly. He pulled away from the hug after a long moment, holding Mal at her shoulders as he beamed. "You ready for this?" he asked softly.

Mal couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. "I've been ready for three months, genius," she shot back teasingly. Jay chuckled, squeezing her shoulders comfortingly, then releasing her so she could finish gathering her things.

Since arriving in Auradon, Mal had left her materialistic tendencies behind. Everything she longed for was still on the Isle anyway. Thankfully, that meant her checklist of belongings was fairly short.

Her mother's spell book.

Her sketchbook.

Her old Isle clothes.

A few handfuls of jewelry she could pawn off or trade to get back on her feet.

And that just about covered it.

Mal huffed giddily before zipping up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She slipped a hand into her pants pocket for a second, feeling around before finally locating what she was looking for. When she finally felt the small device, she grinned, retrieving the hard drive and holding it out to the nearest guard.

"Here," she said. "One 'confession of sorts', as promised. It's password encrypted, too, just like Leah asked."

The guard did nothing but nod, taking the drive from Mal's hand. With that final matter settled, Mal turned to face the rest of the guards in the room, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"So," she breathed, folding her arms across her chest. "Which one of you is getting us the hell out of here?"

~~~

In true Isle fashion, it was nothing more than another gloomy, miserable day. Like it had been for the last 20 years, the dark cloud that sat just above the Isle barrier was unmoving, providing nothing but grey skies and a slight breeze.