Descendant's Consequences

Truth

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We keep running; I ignore them the entire way. When I get there, we see Mal punching through a window to an exhibit. "Mal!" Ben screams. She doesn't turn. She opens the door and step forward, her hand raising and poised towards the spinning wheel. "Mal?" Ben calls.

I tackle her to the ground, keeping her hand from touching the spindle. I tear off the talisman and throw it to Carlos. "Mal, wake up!" I shake her, snapping behind her ears again. Her eyes slowly dim to look up at me. "Mal?"

"J-jay?" she asks. I nod and let out a laugh. "Wh-where are we?" she breathes.

Ben rushes over after a moment and Mal's eyes widen. She arches as pain rushes through her. I push Ben back to protect him as her magic lashes out at me again. "Mal, it's okay, you're okay. We're gonna get you back, alright?"

Ben sits back up and leans over Mal, making her look at him. "Mal," he starts. "You just focus on breathing, alright? Stay with us, okay?"

He leans down, putting his arms under Mal's knees and behind her back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~❶Ben❶~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Fairy Godmother drove to the museum while the rest of us ran there. Mal was trying to touch her mother's spindle. Jay tackled her and now I'm carrying her back to Fairy Godmother's car. She rests in my lap, constantly moving to get comfortable; the impossible task. When we get her back to the nurse's office, Mal's starting to whimper as the pain worsens. Jay cuffs her to the bed, pulling the blanket up to her neck.

I grab Jay's arm when he's done, dragging him away from her and slamming her into the wall. "What the heck is going on?! You said curse; what curse?!"

Jay looks back at Mal, then back at me. "Call everyone here; I'm not saying this too many times."

"No, you're going to tell me what's going on. Right now!" I demand. Jay stays silent, just staring at me. I sigh and look back at Fairy Godmother. "Can you call Evie, Jane, Audrey, Doug and Lonnie here, please?"

Fairy Godmother nods and teleports the group here. They're standing in their pajamas, exhausted.

"What's going on?" Audrey asks.

Lonnie walks forward and takes Mal's hand. "What's wrong with Mal? I thought you guys said that she would be alright."

"Ben, when did you get back?" Doug asks.

"What is happening to her?" I demand. "You're going to tell us now!"

"B-ben," Mal breathes. I turn back to look at her. She shakes her head slightly. "My- my choice. Don't bl-blame him."

I look back at Jay as he sits down. "What does she mean?"

"Two days after you left, this started," Jay explains. "It wasn't constant and she wasn't in any pain. She would just enter a trance like state and try to leave. She knew what was happening but she didn't want to tell anyone or let anyone worry. She made me promise not to tell anyone. As her birthday approached, it got worse. It became a constant. Her magic was the only thing keeping her from giving in to the urges the curse was giving her."

"You're skipping around the truth," I interrupt. "What is this curse?"

"When Mal was a little kid, she wasn't always trying to be evil; she only started trying to follow her mother's footsteps when her mother told her-" Jay pauses for a moment and looks at Mal. She nods slight. "The only reason she fought for the wand was because she was terrified of Maleficent."

"Again you're-" Ben starts but Jay interrupts.

"He's getting there, okay?! Remembering what happened on that horror house of an island isn't easy!" Carlos screams. "Just give him a second."

We all stare at him. "When all this is over, I want an explanation as to what that was supposed to mean," I start, trying to stay calm. "Jay-"

"Her mother cursed her. "Before the sun sets on her eighteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel- and die.""

Audrey looks confused. "Well then why not let her prick her finger?" she asks. We all look at her. "What? If she pricks her finger, Ben can just kiss her and wake her up; like what happened with my parents."

Jay shakes his head. "That's not what happened. When Maleficent cursed your mother, Merryweather still had a chance to give her gift. Merryweather changed the curse to be if Aurora pricked her finger, she would fall into a slumber until true love's kiss woke her up. Maleficent's original curse was to kill Aurora on her sixteenth birthday. Mal spent weeks searching when we first got here and time before it got bad to try to find the counter but she came up with nothing. Even then, she didn't want anyone to know what was happening. If we didn't just have such a close call, she probably still wouldn't want you all to know."

"We need to figure out how to counter the curse, right?" Audrey asks. "I can go call my parents- oh, and my aunts!"

"Aunts?" Jay asks. "Aurora and Phillip don't have sisters."

"No, Aunt Flora, Aunt Fauna, and Aunt Merryweather. They were the ones that originally changed the curse, right? Maybe they know what to do."

I nod and look over at Mal. Jay speaks up next. "For now, we need to let Mal get as much rest as possible. Most of her energy is being used to keep the curse at bay. Most of all, absolutely no magic suppressors. Her magic is the only thing that is keeping the curse from controlling her."

"Someone needs to be with her at all times, help her to stay in control and calm down," Fairy Godmother says. "I suggest that Ben is always here with her but someone else is here with them so Ben can also rest. He seems to be the one that calms her down the fastest."

I nod. "If I could just run and grab something more comfortable than a suit, I'll stay here for as long as she is."

Jay nods. "Carlos, can you-"

"I got it."

"Wait a minute," Lonnie says. "The curse said by sunset on her eighteenth birthday, right? Shouldn't the curse be broken since it wasn't fulfilled?"

"No one has ever evaded a curse," I say. "At least not recorded. This is the only time that it's ever happened. For all we know, the curse could take a different route and instead just take her from us at some random time."

""Before the sun sets on her eighteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel- and die."," Jay reminds. "We better figure this out- and fast."

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