Rotten to the Core // Descendants 3 / Harry Hook

The Barrier is Down Once and For All

Outside at the entrance to Auradon, Evie noticed Mal and Ben coming. "There they are."

Mal and Ben bowed to the crowd before climbing the stairs to address everyone.

Ben smiled. "Lady Mal and I wanna thank you for celebrating our engagement with us today. I couldn't be happier to call you my queen. So...raise your glasses, to our future queen of Auradon."

Everyone lifted their glass and said, "To our queen of Auradon." Personally, I think us VKs cried it the loudest.

Carlos grinned. "Speech, your specialness!"

"Speech, your fancy one!" Jay called.

Mal's face dropped. "I can't. I can't be queen of Auradon."

What? Mal, what are you saying?

"Mal." Ben said softly.

Mal met his eyes. "I can't turn my back on the Isle. We made a decision to close the barrier forever. And it was my idea. But it's wrong. I've learned...that you can't live in fear...because it doesn't actually protect you from anything." She let out an awkward laugh. "You never know where the bad is gonna come from. And you never know where the heroes are gonna come from either. Without Uma and her pirates, Auradon would be gone. And without Hades...my father..." The crowd let out a surprised gasp. "Audrey would be gone. We are all capable of good and bad, no matter which side of the barrier we come from. And that's why I can't be queen of just Auradon. I have to be queen of the Isle, too. And it's time that we take the barrier down forever."

King Beast frowned. "We can't do that."

Ben turned to his father. "It's up to us, Dad. I choose to be a king who moves forward. It's time for forgiveness. It's time for new beginnings. The barrier will come down!"

The crowd erupted into a loud cheer. "Yes!" Once again, I'm pretty sure us VKs were the loudest.

"Bring it down, Mal." Ben said.

The crowd started applauding and Mal called us VKs up to the balcony. Fairy Godmother gave her a nod.

Mal smiled and said, "To make the world a better place..."

All us original VKs finished, "...we have to do it face to face."

Mal pointed the wand at the Isle and a gold shimmering light shined. The gray cloud over the barrier disappeared and the bridge connected the Isle and Auradon. Mal leaned into Jay and squeezed my hand.

[Break This Down]

A Chinese dragon Mal appeared and some of the VK parents appeared.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to see Harry. He smiled. "Shall we dance, first mate?"

Together, we ran off to dance. Along the line, Emily and Emma walked up to me. Emily smiled. "Maybe you're not so bad, VK. Congrats on the new love."

I returned her smile. "Thank you. You're welcome to the Isle any time. Both of you. I'd love to show you my favorite spots."

The twins exchanged a look and nodded. Emma said, "That sounds great."

Eventually, the crowd dissipated, and only us original VKs remained. We stared out at the Isle.

After a moment, Evie asked, "Do you ever miss them?"

Carlos nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you think they miss us?" Mal wondered.

Carlos met her eyes. "Yeah. Of course."

I smiled. "Why wouldn't they? We're their kids."

Mal placed her fist in the middle. "Cause we're rotten..."

We all placed our fists in the middle, next to hers. "...to the core."

"Hey, last one over the bridge..." Carlos began.

"...is a rotten apple!" We all finished.

We started running across the bridge to the Isle.

In retrospect, I'm glad Mal made the right decision. Not that I doubted she would, of course. See, when you're a child of two places, you can't forget where you came from. We're from the Isle, but we're also from Auradon. And by all that is good, I'm glad that we can go back and forth at will. Because deep down, we're always going to be...

Rotten to the core.

[Emily finally respects Mia, despite that she's a VK.

Do you think there should be a Descendants 4? I personally don't, because I think it wrapped up beautifully. The barrier is down and the VKs can go back and forth. And Descendants wouldn't be the same without Cameron. He brought something to the franchise that can never be replaced.

I think this story was by far my favorite to write. Thanks for following Mia's journey from villain to hero. It's hard to say goodbye to a character you like and I personally really like how her story ended.]