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Before making it to their final destination, Jane pulled Rosalie away from the pirate. "So, when did that happen?"
"Umm," Rosalie stalled. "Remember when I went to the Isle?"
"Rose!" Jane exclaimed (as quietly as possible), right before finishing their trek to Evie's castle. The princess shook her head lightly before realizing the group of people they had finally come across.
The daughter of Rapunzel ran straight to Evie and Doug. "I'm so glad you guys are okay," she chimed.
In the midst of the eye of the storm, Evie caught a certain Harry Hook never leaving his eyes off of a certain Rosalie Fitzherbert. She kept a smile to herself.
"I always knew you'd be part of the solution," Ben nodded gratefully at Uma.
That solution was going to Fairy Cottage in hopes of finding Audrey, while Jane, Doug, and Gil went off to find Fairy Godmother. Rosalie wished the three of them good luck before the rest of them began another journey.
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After failing to find Audrey and releasing a terrified Chad Charming from Fairy Cottage, the group of heroes set forth to find Audrey once and for all.
"Let's get this Audrey chick taken care of already," Uma said, lightning the mood. "What do you say, girls? Time to wrap things up?"
"You know, someday, you're gonna have to tell me how you guys all got teamed up," Ben beamed proudly.
"Actually," Evie spoke up, "Mal promised to let all the kids off the Isle once this is over."
Rosalie smiled hopefully over to Harry, who returned the favor. It was due time for change, and this was only the beginning.
Suddenly, Mal halted in the middle of the forest, and from where this looked like it was going...
"I have to tell you guys something."
...change was still far ahead.
"I lied to you," Mal admitted.
"What do you mean?" Jay questioned.
"The kids won't be coming off the Isle. The program is shut down. And the barrier... will be closed for good."
"For Auradon's safety," Ben confirmed.
Rosalie could feel her heart breaking.
Uma took a step up to Mal. "Hold up. So we're saving your precious people and your behinds for a lie?" She shook her head. "I knew it was a mistake to trust you. You're always out for yourself."
"And you, King Benny..." Harry trailed, inching closer to the King, "you're probably just gonna throw us all back inside."
Out of all of them, it was Celia, Dr. Facilier's daughter, who was the most broken. "You know what? I actually thought you were brave. You're nothing but a chicken. Too scared to tell me I was never gonna see - my dad again."
With that, Celia threw Hades' ember, the only thing strong enough to combat with Maleficent's scepter, into water, and ran off.
"Celia! No! No," Mal cried. "Regain your might and ignite!" she tried to spell, but to no avail. It was no good.
"Bummer." Uma held up her necklace, which wasn't glowing with magic either. She motioned over to Harry. "Let's go find Gil and leave them all to rot."
With one final look back at Rosalie and without a single word, Harry was off.
Mal tried to call out to them but, again, to no avail. "Evie... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I just... I thought that... I was afraid to tell you. I thought I was gonna lose my best friend. But I had to do something. I had to protect Auradon."
"Closing the barrier was your idea?" Evie asked in disbelief.
"I did it for us," Mal defended. "I did it for our life that we have here now."
"For our life? What about the kids that we left behind on that island? The kids that we promised? We were their only hope." Evie's voice shrank with every word. "I thought you were gonna stand up for the VKs."
Rosalie couldn't bear to hear this.
"But instead, you lied to them. And you lied to Jay. And you lied to Carlos. And you lied to me. We're your family."
"Evie, come on. I had no choice!"
"You had no choice, Mal?" Rosalie burst out, voice shaking. "You knew as well as I did that those kids are worth believing in."
Her heart beat loudly against her chest.
"You made a promise and you let them down. I can't even look at you right now."
With that, Rosalie ran off with hot tears in her eyes. She heard a clap of thunder behind her. She didn't dare look back. She just kept running and running until she couldn't run anymore.
She felt like her entire world was spinning.
When she finally caught glimpse of her surroundings, she was no longer running away from Fairy Cottage, but she was standing at the top of Auradon Prep.
Rosalie felt the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She knew exactly who she was in the company of.
And now? Now wasn't the time to back down from a fight.
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hi life has been hectic but if there's anything I'm gonna do, it's eventually finish this book! :) things have been overwhelming but thank you all for making me smile with frying pan alliances and a wedding?? wow my IMPACT. wishing you all the absolute best, wherever you are :)
