Stained Glass Breaks and So Do Hearts

Fairy Godpuppy

"Celia!" Mal and Uma called out at the same time running directly towards where the screaming was coming from. The guilt they all felt was unspoken. This was one of the kids they brought over and swore to protect. Mal's fury filled expression was almost as malefic as Maleficent's. Ben was bristled and hunched a bit, his inner beast ready to unleash itself. Uma looked positively wicked and vengeful. Carlos was the only one of the three however, who wasn't angry but sad. While they all felt guilt, Carlos, for the first time couldn't bring himself to be angry. The De Vil rage and fury that once boiled his blood and was enough to survive off of, wasn't present, and he didn't know why. All he felt was sorrow and fear.

Bounding up castle steps brought them directly to the roof, following the screams. Audrey had Celia cornered and was ready to spell her when she was distracted by Mal turning into her dragon form and roaring at her.

"Come to save your little VK buddy?!" Audrey taunted, the purest of evil grins on her face, eyes wild with power and revenge. Carlos however, only saw the pain in her eyes and bitterness in her smile. This isn't Audrey, was all he could think to himself.

"Help me Mal!" Celia cried, dashing to another corner to avoid a blast of pink crackling lightning.

"Hold still you runt!" Audrey hissed before turning back to Mal. With the ember in her claw, Mal sent out her magic as she did with Uma not long ago. Audrey matched it with Maleficent's staff at first but slowly began to lose. As her defeat became evident, Audrey pulled Fairy Godmother's wand out adding golden sparkles to the dueling magics. The magics collided and evened out. The powers of Mal and Hades, matched by the powers of Maleficent and Fairy Godmother. If it were not a lethal show of force, the display would be awe-inspiring. Such strong magics and colors filling the darkened evening sky, painting everything in shades of blue, purple, green, pink and gold.

"Give up Audrey! You can't win this!" Uma called, ready to add her own magic to aid Mal. She snapped the golden seashell from her necklace and held it aloft, as the magic swirled from it, gathering briefly, Carlos snatched the shell from her hand. It was as if all time stopped as everyone was briefly staring at the De Vil. He gripped the shell only begging this would work. He held his hand out commandingly.

"And now I command, wand to my hand!" Mimicking Mal from the coronation. Carlos knew he had no magic alone, but with the seashell, he would at least have a chance. A change to stop this. At first nothing happened, but the wand slipped from Audrey's fingers and into Carlos' hand. He gasped and smiled, proud of himself for a moment before swishing it as fairy godmother had done, pointing it at the torrents of magic colliding before him. "BIPPITY BOPPITY BOO!" The words were foreign to him but the magics stopped, both Mal and Audrey turning on him. Carlos held the wand threateningly.

"ENOUGH!" Carlos yelled, his voice rattling even himself to his rotten little core. "All this fighting, all this is doing is hurting more people. Audrey. I know you are in there somewhere. I know you are hurting, I know you are bitter, but you can't let that control you. Remember why you are hurting to begin with. Your pride is bruised, and your heart is broken. I am sorry that we took Ben away from you. I am so sorry that we hurt you but don't let revenge blind you. Look at Celia." Carlos' voice was trembling with sincerity and emotion, Audrey seemed sobered, looking at Celia who looked beyond terrified. "You don't even know this girl and you threatened her. You aren't like this Audrey. You are good. You are good Audrey." Carlos had tears pricking his eyes, as did Ben. A silence settled over them, just watching the battle happen on Audrey's face and eyes as she wrestled with the power. Finally, she let go of the scepter, it clattered to the ground.

Wasting no time, Celia sprinted to Uma, hugging her tightly as Mal shifted back into a human, knowing it best not to touch the Scepter herself. Ben and Carlos approached Audrey, just in time for her eyes to blaze green, the echo of the curse of Maleficent's scepter reaching their ears and Audrey falling into Carlos and Ben's arms. The magic of the scepter was undone and all those put to sleep and turned to stone were made normal again.

The two boys carried Audrey to her dorm and placed her in bed. Mal and Uma even changed her into some of her sleeping attire with their magic, for privacy reasons.

"That was really good what you did Pup..." Ben said, looking even more guilty than before.

"That was pretty smart of you. You sure you are a VK and not an AK?" Mal winked teasing as they waited for Audrey's family and the king and queen to arrive.

"Thank you, but it doesn't matter if we can't save Audrey... What is happening to her?" Carlos asked, pained. Audrey lay barely breathing, all the color to her and all the warmth in her slowly fading.

"Maleficent cursed her scepter to kill anyone who wasn't her to death. The only thing that can save her... is Hades Ember... but I don't have full command of the Ember. I'm not him. We need Hades." Mal's face contorted in a type of pain none of them fully understood.

"Absolutely not. He started this whole mess in the first place." Ben's voice commanded sounding much like his father. "He wouldn't do it anyway."

"He might do it for me... Hades is... My father." Her voice was full of pain and frustration. Carlos nodded but Uma and Ben both seemed stunned.

"I guess I'll send the guards to go round him up..." Ben said stepping out of the room. Uma looked between Carlos and Mal before clearing her throat.

"I'm gonna get something to drink." She slipped out of the room, leaving Carlos and Mal to just look at each other, knowing the conversation was going to have to happen.

"I'm sorry about Ben, Mal. You should have told me, you can always trust me. Why didn't you?" Carlos' frown was almost a pout, but it wasn't as cute as usual.

"I didn't wanna do what we are doing now. I knew how much you loved him, and I couldn't ruin that. I love you, Carlos. You are the closest thing I have to family and I would never want to jeopardize your happiness." She came over to hug him and Carlos smiled, still sad.

"I love you too Mal. You are family to me too. Your happiness matters to me too though... I understand why you didn't tell me before but, in the future, no more secrets. Please." They both chuckled a bit and Mal nodded, the two just hugging it out for a long moment.

"Speaking of secrets, do you think Uma is into girls?" Mal asked making Carlos laugh.

"Girl, that seawitch wanted to have every tentacle of hers on you earlier... I think she does." He laughed harder as Mal elbowed him. The two shared a sibling-like laugh before going back to their places, Carlos texting everyone to fill them in.