Crossing the Bridge

Chapter 3

[The scene opens on a shot of a fish tank with a spindle, a fridge with magnets spelling out revenge and a lizard sitting on a large chair.

"Ah, what a beautiful sight," Hades said with a small smirk at his ex-wife's misfortune.

"Dear, be nice," Persephone told her husband but couldn't stop a small smile at the sight of lizard Maleficent.

In front of the tank stood a sign that said 'Don't feed my mom!'

"What do you feed the mistress of evil who got turned into a lizard?" Macaria asked, looking over at her cousin.

"Apparently the same thing a regular lizard eats," Mal told her with a shrug. "However, if mom ever regained her human form, I'd rather there not be another reason for her hate me. Turning her into a lizard was bad enough, never mind ruining her figure."

As the camera zooms in on the lizard, she hisses. The camera cuts over to Mal getting fitted for her Cotillion gown.]

Hades' smirk faded as he saw Mal in her Cotillion gown. Yes it was cheesy to think but it was hard to imagine her as anything other than the small baby he foolishly left with Maleficent when he made his break for freedom. She and Hadie could have grown up together.

Maybe it was better though—she didn't need the pressure of being both Maleficent's daughter and Hades.

Zeus looked over at his brother and sighed upon seeing the look on his face. It was the same way he had felt upon finding Hercules again. Proud and yet regretful that so much time had been wasted between them.

"You look gorgeous Mal!" Kitty exclaimed, looking at the dress.

"You and I have different definitions of gorgeous, then," Uma snarked, rolling her eyes as Chad shot a glare at Uma.

"Oh!" Mal exclaimed as Evie adjusted her shoulders back and then zipped up the dress. "Okay Evie, I can not breathe."

"That's not good," Cinderella said, looking over at Mal. "If the dress is too tight, she might faint at Cotillion."

"Well, you can breathe after Cotillion," Evie said, holding up Mal's left arm and adjusting a bit of the dress.

"Um...I'm pretty sure breathing is something everyone needs to do at every moment of every day," Robin Fitzherbert pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Besides, there's no way her schedule isn't jammed packed with things afterwards," Audrey told them, shaking her head. "Mine usually was, plus I had to juggle cheer practice and school work on top of it."

"Well, I sincerely doubt that," Mal said, brushing a bit of her hair out of her face. "I have at least twenty more events directly behind it and I can't even remember what a single one of them is."

"See!"

"No one was doubting you Audrey," Phillip Jr said, giving his older sister a look as if he was questioning her sanity.

"Oh. Right."

"Impeccable," Evie said, kissing her hands after fluffing the bottom of the dress. Mal looked forward, as if annoyed that her best friend wasn't listening to her and caught sight of her leather jacket.

"Evie, did you even hear what Mal said?" Carlos asked, looking at his best friend. He was beginning to understand why Mal had been so flustered when she arrived to his room. Evie didn't respond but looked down a little, ashamed. She had been so focused on the dress that she hadn't heard her best friend's question.

"I love that jacket," Rowyn whispered to Rose. "I'd love to have one like it."

"Me too! Ooh, you think Mal would create one if we paid her?"