The Descendants; The Return of the Unnamed

It had to be another trick

Ellion pondered over the last time he'd seen Alice. Wondering even now who she really was. Who the mystery girl was.  Ellion didn't know who the mystery girl was, or if she was anything like the one he'd fallen for. And he wondered whether whoever Alice truly was, would he still love her? Would he even get the chance to know her?

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Alice had shoved him back into the group and Tanith latched onto him as Alice screamed for them to go but beams of energy burst from Doran and all over the cavern, rebounding against the walls and Valkyrie, Dexter, Skulduggery, Tanith, Ghastly and himself had to throw themselves out of the way of the sizzling energy as Fletcher teleported and the other four were gone. Alice's sacrifice was for nothing.

"Of course, I knew you wouldn't come entirely willingly without some sort of a push, Alice. It would have been too easy for a loyal girl like you." Hansard said bitterly and nodded to Myra. "But I really wished you weren't so devoted to your friends, however fake they may be."

The redheaded assassin strolled forward and circled Alice, twirling her two chines ring daggers around her fingers. Alice reared her wings but as soon as she took a swipe at Myra and left her right side unguarded Myra ducked and lurched forward with a wide slash, opening up Alice's side. The brunette cried out and clutched at her side, wings going limp.

"No!" Ellion yelled, still confused at his conflicting emotions for Alice. "Stop!"

"Alice Edgley, you will come with us. Either by your choice or by force so I'd advise you to take the easy option." Hansard threatened and she pulled her hand away from her side to see it covered with scarlet blood.

She mended the skin together with her magic, coaxing the atoms back together one by one. When she was healed she stood and Myra hauled her back over to Hansard's side by the scruff of her neck. She didn't resist. She just stood and watched as the rest of the mages bombarded Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Dexter, Tanith, Ghastly, and Ellion with colourful streams of magic. Skulduggery pulled up a solid air barrier to protect them as they tried to find a way to escape this situation. Skulduggery looked to Valkyrie and from the calculating expression on her face, Ellion was sure Alice knew what they were saying as they communicated through sheer expressions. Without Alice, Valkyrie and her sister couldn't bond their magic together to destroy the Unnamed's body. They're only chance left was to escape somehow. There was no hope left stop the Unnamed from being resurrected.

Alice looked to Vivi who was watching the exchange intently, muttering about rainbow death to Mortice who she had pulled out of a portal...a portal! That was it! Vivi could open up a portal and they could escape. Of course, Alice and Vivi would be punished for it, but would Alice think it was worth it to save her friends? She would be punished already either way. The Alice he thought he knew would have no qualms about her decision.

So Alice yelled out. "Vivi, open a portal to the Sanctuary for them! Now!"

The black haired-beauty didn't even hesitate to look at her sister before she tilted her head and a portal opened. Alice cried out in pain as nails dug into the back of her neck and blood spilled, but she looked up to connect eyes with Valkyrie who was a host of conflicting emotions.

Myra was screaming at Vivi to close the portal but the girl was loyal only to Alice and would never go against her word, even if it meant losing her life. 'Go', Alice mouthed but as soon as Ellion moved to leave Doran was swinging his hammer fist at Vivi's head and she dropped to the floor like dead weight, the portal closing with her eyes as she lost consciousness. He felt the hope dwindling in his chest vanish. It was their last chance of getting out of there.

"Nice try, Alice. I have to say your defiance is a minor issue, but I'm sure we'll get past that with a refreshed prescription of pills and a talk about where your loyalties lie." Hansard crooned into her ear and he slid past her as darkness overcame him.

A presence filled the cavern. One so powerful that they all could tell Hansard was no longer in control, but the Unnamed stood before them and fear struck through him as he watched the Unnamed's host body raise his arms up to Skulduggery's wall of air and bring it down as easily as drawing shower curtains aside. The energy beams sizzled as they hit the walls and the mages under assault dodged to avoid the mass onslaught. But the dense evil in the cave left, like a cloud floating away to reveal the clear sky again, and Hansard raised his hand. A signal for the firing squad to stop, and they did.

"What are you doing! We have them right where we want them and you let them live!" Myra snarled at her brother, throwing Alice to the rocky ground and stalking over to him.

He ignored her fury and only nodded to Sean who breathed out a foul gas directed toward the cornered mages. Ellion knew the gas as soon as he saw it. It was the same thing that Sean and Kitana had used to knock them out at the Keep. He started off just feeling dizzy but soon he collapsed to the floor, and all thoughts slipped from his mind as he dropped out cold.

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Ellion was confused. Alice had betrayed them only to risk her life by trying to save them afterward. Everything he knew was a lie but why would she turn back after all that. She was a spy. A double-agent. A liar. It had to be another trick to mess with his heart and head. She really knew how to torture him while he sat there in his cell enveloped by darkness, and not just the literal kind.