The Prophecy of Auradon: A Descendants Story

Six: Journey To Neverland

As we get off the boat, Hades approaches us.
"Hey pumpkin." He says.
"Hey dad. What are you doing here?" Mal asks.
"Can't a dad just come to see his daughter?" He asks.
"Yes, but I doubt that's the only reason." Mal says hugging her dad.
"Fine. You caught me. I have a message for Pandora." Hades takes a breath. He looks at me.
"What's up?" I ask.
"Your father. He asked me to tell you this when you were old enough. I was able to gather that you were going to go searching for him. He asked me to tell you that you must go to Neverland." Hades says.
"I haven't been to Neverland in a really long time." I say.
"Well Panda you were born there." Carlos points out.
"It's just...a hard place to go back to." I say. Hades looks at us.
"You'll find what your looking for there." He says.
"We weren't planning on going there. For obvious reasons." Harry says defensively. Hades nods.
"But you must." He says.
"He's right." I say.
"Come on then. Let's get you all home." He says. We head back to my treehouse. Mal, Evie and Celia go with Hades. Dizzy goes home, and Carlos and Jay stay behind.
"Pandora." Gil says.
"Yeah Gil?" I ask.
"Why were you alone with Harry on the beach?" He asks. Harry starts to say something but I interject.
"We were just goofing around. I went down there to blow off steam after the events of Cotillion." I say.
"Are you sure?" Gil asks.
"Gil stop it." Uma says.
"Gil just say what's on your mind." I say raising my voice.
"Fine. I think Harry is a threat to our relationship. So if you want to be my forever, you have to stop hanging out with him. In fact I don't even want you talking to him." Gil snaps at us. Harry gets up and storms out.
"Gil you jerk!" Uma says.
"You're making me choose?" I ask.
"Yeah. Basically." He says. He stands up.
"I'll be in town. Make your decision soon." He says. He walks out the door without looking at me. Uma sits there stunned. I run out the door, back to the place where Harry and I first talked. I collapse on the ground and cry. How could I possibly choose between two of the most important people in my life? I shake my head. I curl myself up into a ball and cry. I look at the ring. I start to realize that maybe I made a mistake saying yes to Gil. I don't love him like I thought I did. After what feels like an eternity I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up.
"Harry what are you doing here?" I sob. He sits down beside me and pulls into his chest. He says nothing.
"I was looking for you." He says finally.
"I wanna marry Gil." I say in a tone even I wouldn't believe if I heard it.
"Then I guess I don't need to look for you anymore do I?" He asks with tears in his eyes.
"But, I can't be with him if it means I don't get to see you." I continue.
"Pandora I'm always here for you. I'll be by your side for as long as I live." He says smiling. I look into his eyes.
"Harry..." I say. We just look at each other. I hold his face in my hands and our foreheads touch. He looks at me.
"You are everything to me. You gave me a reason to smile again, to live again. Pandora, I think I love you." Harry leans close to my lips.
"I know I love you Harry." I say. As our lips are about to touch, Uma walks up to us.
"I knew you two were more than friends!" She says.
"Uma" I giggle.
"I approve." She says. She signs to Harry that she's got an eye on him.
"Now for the hard part. Uma you know we're leaving to look for my father." I say.
"Yeah I know." She says. I take her hands.
"We're leaving at sundown." I say.
"Be careful. I love you girl." Uma hugs me tight.
"I love you too, and now we gotta tell Gil..." I say.
"This should be good." Uma says. We walk over to the restaurant where Gil was eating his usual snack of hard boiled eggs. He sees us and frowns.  Harry and Uma give us space.
"I see you've made a decision." He says.
"I wish I didn't have to Gil. You both mean a lot to me, but I'm not just gonna ditch Harry so we can be together, and I just don't love you like I thought I did," I say as tears form in my eyes. I can tell he sees the pain I'm in.
"What are you saying?" He asks. Tears now form in his eyes.
"I can't marry you Gil." I say. I take the ring off and put it back in his hand.
"Wow..." He says now full on crying.
"I'm sorry." I say. He pockets the ring and heads for the exit.
"Whatever Pandora." He says as he leaves. I wipe my tears. Uma comes over to me.
"He'll get over it. We're going over to Hades' place. Mal wants to see you before you go." Uma says.
"Okay, lets go." I say as we walk downtown. We walk into Hades' lair to see Mal and Evie sitting on the couch. Dizzy and Celia are sitting on a love seat opposite them. They motion for us to come sit.
"What's up guys?" I ask.
"We just wanted to see you before you and Harry leave." Evie says.
"Yeah. What's going on there?" Mal asks smirking.
"Well....I don't know. I mean Gil and I broke up because he got all mad that I was friends with Harry, and Harry and I had a moment before Uma interrupted us." I say.
"Oops" Uma smiles.
"But I don't know. I just know that I love Harry, a lot." I say.
"That's how I feel about Doug. I miss him." Evie says.
"Jay and I went to the arcade today and played games for hours. The best part was that I could just let loose and be myself with him. He's not like Ben at all." Mal fiddles with her gloves and smiles.
"Omg! You like Jay!" Evie says with a gasp and a squeal.
"We had pizza and our hands touched. Then he put his arm around me. It was...sweet" Mal smiles again.
"Girl you got it bad" Uma says.
"I know how that feels." I say.
"I guess I do have feelings for Jay." Mal says.
"I knew it!" Evie says. Celia looks at us.
"They kept making googley eyes at each other. It was gross." She says. We laugh. Dizzy is silent. I've never known her to be silent.
"Dizzy, you okay?" I ask.
"I miss Chad. I never had siblings so having him around was fun and he cared about me. And I miss Tonka. I really like him." Dizzy says burying her eyes with her glasses.
"We'll go back some day. I promise." I say. Harry, Jay, and Carlos enter the lair.
"Pandora it's almost time." Harry says. We all stand up and head to the dock.
"Pandora please be careful, and come back. Please." Carlos says hugging me tight.
"I will Los. I promise. I'll make sure you see Jane and Dude again." I say hugging him back.
"Sounds good." He says.
"Here. Take this. Just in case. Just take it out of the pouch before you use it." Jay smirks. He hands me a dagger. His dagger.
"Shut up! I love you weirdo." I say punching his shoulder and hugging him. He hugs me back.
"We'll hold down the fort here. I hope you find him." Evie says gesturing to her, Uma, and Mal. Mal and Evie both hug me. Dizzy and Celia hug me too.
"I'll find that idiot and talk some sense into him. Come back to me girl." Uma hugs me. I hug her back and her necklace lights up.
"That's weird." She says. I turn to dizzy.
"Tonka wanted me to give you this. He threw it to me as we were leaving." I say. I produce a small necklace from my pocket. It was a silver and blue locket in the shape of a heart with a castle etched into the front. Inside was a picture of Dizzy and Tonka at cotillion.
"Thank you Panda." She hugs me.
"We should go." Harry says. I take his hand. I turn to face Mal as we walk off.
"Mal, follow your heart." I say as I reveal that I'm holding Harry's hand.
"I will." She says smiling at Jay. She takes his hand and intertwines their fingers and he smiles back at her. I smile and Harry and I head down to the boat. As he is getting everything ready, I realize my necklace isn't around my neck anymore.
"Harry I'll be right back." I say hopping back onto the dock.
"Hurry." He calls. I retrace my steps and find the necklace near the boat house. I pick it up and look at it. I notice a shadow moving and look up.
"Gil what are you doing here?" I ask looking back down.
"Unlike you, I can't just not say goodbye." He says looking at me. I see the pain in his eyes without even looking at him.
"You know, I'm leaving for who knows how long, and the worst part of it is that I can't even look at you right now. My best friend. How messed up is that?" I say.
"I-"
"Just leave Gil." I say cutting him off.
"Goodbye Pandora..." He says. He turns around and walks away. As soon as I'm sure he's gone I head for the boat.
"Everything okay?" Harry asks as we sit down below deck.
"Yeah, I just saw Gil as I went to look for my necklace." I say.
"Why did you go back for it?" Harry asks.
"Because it's one of my favorite things and Gil gave it to me. Plus look at the center." I point to the fire opal.
"Just like your hair. Your real hair." Harry smiles.
"Exactly" I say. Harry sets a course for Neverland and off we go.
"We should get some sleep." He says. I nod. He takes his jacket off and his hook. He puts them on the table adjacent to the bed. He takes off his shirt so he's in his ripped white tank top. I kick off my shoes and jacket and slip into the bed next to him. It was a big bed despite the boat not being that big. He pulls me in close and kisses my forehead. Then he takes my hands in his and wraps his arms around me.
"Goodnight my princess." He says.
"Goodnight my Hooky." I say back. I kiss his cheek and we both fall asleep. The next morning Harry and I have breakfast and lemonade.
"Are you worried?" Harry asks.
"I don't know. My father wasn't exactly the type to welcome his daughter with open arms." I say. He kisses my forehead.
"I'll be with you. Always." He says. Suddenly the boat hits a bump. Harry goes to check on it.
"Land ho!" He says.
"Dork." I say stepping out into the light. That's when I see it. It's so barren, so isolated, and so gloomy. It looks as if the land has been poisoned.
"Here we are." Harry says. I walk up to him and grab his waist. I hug him tight.
"Neverland. My birthplace." I say. Harry takes my hand.
"Are you ready?" He asks.
"As I'll ever be." I say. We both step off the boat.
"Then let's go find your father." Harry says.
"This place...it's like someone drained the life out of it." I say. The wind blows and I hear what sounds like cackling and feet running across the dirt. For the first time in my life, I wish I was anywhere but home.