Hook Me Harry!

Goodbye my Lover, Goodbye my Friend.

It was dark.

Mal had lent me some of her old Isle clothes. I was wearing my typical black jeans and boots but now had on a tight black leather vest and a torn grey leather jacket. I see Mal waiting by the water on her scooter and hurry over, slinging my backpack higher up on my shoulder.

"Hop on" She says, handing me a helmet. 

"Are you sure about this Mal?" I checked as I slid onto the seat behind her. Mal turned, looking at me with her piercing eyes. "Not having second thoughts on me are you?" she asked, her brow raising skeptically.

"No, it's just... Everything you're leaving behind..." I gently put my arm on her shoulder. Mal pulls her spell book from her pack and looks back behind me as if she could see the castle through the dense forest. 

"There is nothing there for me to leave behind," she says quietly and turns back to her book. 

Finding the page she needed she reads a spell out loud. "Noble steed proud and fair you shall take me anywhere!" All of a sudden the scooter lifts off the ground. Mal revved the engine letting out a whoop. I let out a small squeal and grabbed tightly onto Mal as we went whizzing forward. Off the bank and across the water. Towards the Isle. Towards my new life.

The air rushes past me, beating on the helmet I am now happy to be wearing. The smooth lapping sea of Auradon becomes rougher the closer to the Isle we get. White foamy caps form at the waves' crests and there is a fine mist of salty spray that I can feel on my skin. My mind wanders to what creatures could be lurking in the depths. 

My thoughts are interrupted by a shout. 

"Mal! Willow! Stop!" I whipped my head around in surprise. A boat was following us! Even worse, a boat adorned with the royal crest, flying the Auradonian flag was following us! It was Ben. The sight of him made my heart sink. Just as I was so close to getting what I had always dreamed of; a life far away from people like him. 

But how did king goody goody know we had run away? It must have been... "Evie and Carlos!" Mal says angrily, finishing my train of thought. She slows slightly, the motor getting quieter so we can hear Ben's shouts. 

"Come on Mal, you don't have to do this. Come home with me." Ben said.

"The Isle is my home!" Mal yelled, speeding up slightly. 

"What about us? What about what we have?" Ben yells.

"What we had Ben. Please, I know... I know about you and Carlos" Mal screams back. "I know you love him and I am happy for you two, I just don't want to be a part of a charade. I need to be me."

Carlos and Ben? My heart quickens. Surely not? Ben, who left a string of ex-girlfriends wherever he went? No wonder Mal didn't want to bring her Isle friends or Ben along with her when she left. No wonder she had to get away. As if she was reading my thoughts the bike sped up. We zoomed forward leaving the boat behind. 

The bike started shaking violently as Mal pushed it to its limits. The shore was coming closer alarmingly fast. "Slow down!" I yelled in her ear.

"No! I'm not going back." She yelled back. The bike began shaking more violently, it's rear fishtailing. Suddenly there was a loud bang. The bike shook and swerved and before I knew it I was free falling down towards the water. Catching a glimpse of the thick black smoke coming from the bike's rear just before I hit the water... hard.

My breath was knocked from under me, and my eyesight went dark for a second. I began sinking slowly down into the dark. 

Suddenly, the water above me lit up in orange light as a huge explosion pierced the darkness.

As if awoken I began swimming up towards the surface. I was so far down, my lungs burning. Paddling my feet harder I finally broke through and took a breath of salty air. 

I couldn't stay to catch my breath. I needed to move, to find Mal, to get away from Ben. I began swimming as fast as I could to the shore. I clambered up onto the rocky beach and looked back. In the confusion no one had noticed me fall off the bike. I watched Ben and his guards frantically search the water where the bike had gone down. Hiding behind a rock to avoid being seen I tried to gather my thoughts. Where was Mal? Was she ok? What if she wasn't? What if they caught me? Could I go on without her?  A scrape on the rocks nearby stopped my thoughts in their tracks and I tensed, waiting to fight my way out. The image of having to sit through another one of Fairy Godbothers lectures about responsibility, and another one after that flashes before my eyes. A life full of obedience and quiet and boredom. Of being trapped. I cannot let these imaginings become my reality. Just as I'm about to turn and run I hear my name.

"Willow.." a hoarse voice calls. Carefully peering around the rocks I see it's Mal. Her body is burned and blistered beyond recognition but I recognize her purple clothes which have melted onto her skin. The smell of burning fabric and flesh reaches my nose and I cringe. She's in bad shape. Her proximity to the blast was clear in her condition. She's not going to make it.

I rush over to her, pull her out of the water and hold her in my arms. She is as close of a friend as I had in Auradon and I can't stop the tears from coming. "Leave me!" Mal urges weakly. I hesitate. It's clear there's nothing I can do to help her, but can I really bring myself to abandon her in her final moments? 

"First rule of life on the Isle..." Mal stops mid-sentence, coughing up blood. "...you can't look out for anyone but yourself." She finishes weakly. She lets out one final, shaky breath, and I watch as her once vibrant green eyes go still. She died in my fucking arms. As I cradle her lifeless body I brush a hand across her eyes allowing them to fall shut. I let out a sob, suddenly overcome with guilt. This is all my fault. I planted the idea of escape in Mal's head, if it wasn't for me she would still be alive! I was too impulsive, too eager to leave my pathetic life behind that I went along with a desperate plan without any thought of consequences.

I'm startled out of my thoughts by the sound of shouts. Peering back I see Ben and his men finally reach the shore. "I'm sorry Mal." I whisper sadly. Leaving her body on the beach is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but if I don't make a break for it now I'll be caught by Ben and the royal guard and Mal's sacrifice will be for nothing.

I rush up the rocks to the small makeshift houses at the top. I can see a wave of horror wash over him as his eyes focus on Mal... or what was left of her. "Mal!" He screams as he hovers over her lifeless body, pain evident in his voice. I guess he did love her after all, even if it wasn't in the way she needed. 

Wiping a tear away from my eye I stand up. No matter what happened I am here now. I refuse to let anything stop me from living my life, even my closest friend dying in my arms. I turned around and ran up the shore and slid between the makeshift houses into the heart of the Isle.