Descendants 4

2

After Gil has stopped threatening Victoria with hugs Uma and her go into town for some tea and cake.

"There is one thing I haven't mentioned" Victoria says as their cake arrives, the server bows as she leaves

"Oh my god you're pregnant!!" Uma yells loudly and dramatically, the other customers turn to look but seeing their queen they turn around again.

"Of course not!" Victoria says wide eyed "why would you say such a thing?"

"I'm sorry I just freaked out" Uma says taking a big bite out of her dessert, three layered devils cake.

"Well I'm not" Victoria assures her, her own heart is still pounding "I don't want kids, you know that"

"I know but I just thought since Daniel and love and all that" Uma says swallowing

"Daniel doesn't want kids either" Victoria says, at least not now she thinks but she doesn't say that "no, what I wanted to tell you is that Evie wrote to me this morning" Uma stares at her expectantly her cake forgotten for a moment, the mood has changed, whatever Victoria is about to say doesn't sound like good news.

"Carlos is sick" Victoria says at last taking a sip of her tea and holding back tears with every ounce of strength possible. She hasn't said those words out loud until now and the weight of them is staggering.

"What's wrong?" Uma asks dead serious and completely focused

"The doctors aren't entirely sure but they say it's not treatable" Victoria continues "they've got him on pain medication and Evie says he seems normal most of the time but he does have some bad days in which he can't get up from bed"

"What about magic?" Uma asks "use that stupid fairies wand or ask the other side for help" Victoria shakes her head

"You know magic has always been dangerous and unstable when used on humans" Victoria sighs finishing her cup "the other side won't help either their powers aren't meant for that sort of thing, curing I mean, they're more destructive and I doubt they would give me the power even if they had it. Even then I don't know if I could trust it"

"There has to be something" Uma frowns, she puts her head in her hands and thinks. After a few seconds she perks up her eyes bright with an idea

"Hades"

"Hades?" Victoria frowns "how can he help? He's not even the god of death, that's Thanatos. Hades basically does the paperwork"

"But if one god exists then the others must too" Uma starts "think about it, Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, all of them, they must exist"

"But what if Hades isn't a god? What if he just has really powerful magic?" Victoria asks trying hard not get her hopes up

"You've felt him Victoria you know he's different" Uma pushes "he's not human"

"How can we even test if he's human?" Victoria asks standing abruptly, Uma follows her as they walk down the street "even if he is a god, why would he help us?"

"Because we gave him his daughter back" Uma smiles "think about it, if it weren't for us Mal would've never made up with him, thanks to us he got a second chance" Victoria rubs her head and closes her eyes briefly

"Do you think Ben will let us?" She says finally

"You are a queen, since when do you have to ask permission?" Uma scoffs

"Since we're talking about the king of another land with whom I'll be dealing with" Victoria barks at her "because if I want to stay on his good side and have his support for our growing Queendom I have to follow the rules, those stupid rules" Uma stays quiet, she knows Victoria is right but what good is all this power if you still have to ask permission? She takes a few calming breaths before realizing something

"Mal is queen" Uma purs "she has just as much power as Ben, and she's one of us. She'll never let Carlos die, she has what it takes to use Hades to our advantage" Victoria turns to her and grins wickedly

"You're a goddamn genius"

The two of them walk back to the dock, a plan forming between them.

"Scout the path to the Isle and Auradon as fast as you can I want to make sure there are no surprises when we make our trip" Victoria orders, Uma salutes and climbs onto the ship barking orders before her feet touch the deck. Victoria turns around and heads back to the castle.

She writes Evie back, vaguely informing her of the plan and letting her know she'll be visiting soon to check up on Carlos.

"Busy day?" Daniel asks appearing behind Victoria as she sends the letter in a plume of smoke

"Lots of news" Victoria says and leans back into his arms

"Good news?" Daniel asks and frowns when she shakes her head "what happened?" this time Victoria can't stop the tears, she doesn't want to, not with Daniel. Victoria turns around and starts crying into his chest

"Victoria what's wrong?" He asks worried "what's the news?"

"Carlos is sick" she cries "he's sick and there's nothing we can do" Daniel is quiet, Victoria starts to get worried until she feels his own chest shake with tears.

"Oh my god" he mumbles and just hugs her tighter as they both cry.

"There's nothing to be done?" Daniel asks once he's able to speak, Victoria steps back and shakes her head, they both wipe away their tears even though new ones appear.

"Magic is too unstable on humans and the doctors have no cure" Victoria says

"There has to be something" Daniel shakes his head. Carlos can't be sick, he's always so happy and full of life, this is a cruel joke and he won't stand for it.

"What about the gods?" Daniel asks surprising Victoria "if Hades is a god then others have to exist right? Apollo is the god of medicine and Thanatos of death. We can bargain, get a cure" Victoria stares at him completely speechless

"I'll talk to Ben I'll convince him. We will do whatever it takes Victoria I promise you that" Daniel has a cold determined look in his eye which makes him seem a bit unsettling. Victoria always knew he had a dark side and not so ethical ideas, he married her didn't he? But she'd never seen it before, not like this.

"I love you so much" is all Victoria manages to say before hugging him so tight he can't breath "I love you so much you don't even know"

"I sure hope so we are married" he jokes, she rolls her eyes and playfully pushes him

"We thought of Hades too" Victoria explains "but I love seeing your dark side" Daniel laughs

"Thank you" he mock bows "write to Evie or Ben, let them know we're going to be arriving in a few days"

"You'll come with me?" Victoria asks a bit surprised

"Of course" he smiles "hopefully it won't take long and the Queendom is built on strong pillars it will function without us for a while"

"We have work to do" Victoria breaths in deeply and they both get to work.