Secret in the Heart ||Descendants|| (♡Ben)

21

I let out a sigh once I walk through the door and into our hiding place. The familiarity making me feel at home. I walk around for a bit looking at all the paintings on the wall that Mal made. Bringing back memories. Then I see my own reflection in the window. I look at myself. Blond hair. The wig needs to go. I nod and walk out of our hiding place and towards Lady Tremaine's curl up & dye. When I arrive the door is closed and there is a sign at the door. Closed until midnight the sign says. Right, I forgot that. I look around and see that no one is paying attention to me. I open the door and close it behind me. I walk through the plastic flaps that divide the entrance and the working space. I look around. The place still looks the same with all the paint splashed everywhere. I see Dizzy sweeping the floor while she is listening to music on her headphones. She twirls around as she sweeps up the hair that lies on the ground. Then she looks up and spots me. "Kara!" she says and she takes of her headphones. She walks towards me and hugs me. I hug her back. She pulls back and looks behind me. "Is Evie back, too?" she asks. I chuckle. "As if." I say. Her smile falls a bit. "I, um, forgot that you guys don't open till midnight." I say as I try to take her mind of off Evie. She nods. "Place looks good." I say and she chuckles as she looks around. "So, what's the deal? Has your grandmother given you any customers yet?" I ask. "Ah, just a witch here and there. Mostly it's a lot of scrubbing and scouring and sweeping. Lots and lots of sweeping." she says. I frown. "Sounds like the old Cinderella treatment." I say. "Yeah. She's gone from wicked stepmother to wicked grandmother." she says. "That's not really much of a switch." I say and we both laugh.
    "Dizzy, can you help me?" I ask. "With what?" she asks. "With this." I say as I tilt up my hair and let it fall back down. Her mouth drops open. "How did they do it?" she asks full of disbelief. "Don't worry, they aren't more skilled than you are. It's a wig." I say. "Ahh. Well, that's cheating." she says and I laugh. "Can you spare the time?" I ask. "Always." she says as she squeals excitedly. She grabs my hand and leads me towards the chair. "Oh, what is this?" Dizzy asks as she sees my light pink painted nails. "Bored to Death Pink?" she asks and she spins me around. "Hmm. How far can I go?" she asks. "Do your thing." I say and I smile at her. "Okay, well let's start with the wig." she says and she starts to take all the pins out of my hair, which pin the wig to my head. Then she takes the wig off and throws it on the ground. It's like a weight gets lifted off my head. She takes all the pins out of my hair that keep it in place so there wouldn't come any strands out from under the wig. When she takes the last pin out my hair it falls down to my waist. "Wow." I say. "I didn't realize that it had grown to such a length." I say. "How about we go a bit shorter?" Dizzy asks. "Do what you want to do girl." I say. "I am sure you will love it." she says. "I know I will." I say and she starts cutting and styling my hair. Then she removes the pink nail polish and replaces it with black. "This is so much better." I say as I look at them. "I know right?!" she says. Then she dries my hair and curls it. She spins the chair towards the broken mirror. I get out of the chair and look into one of the broken pieces. I touch it and play around with it. My silver hair is back and it reaches to just above my shoulders. It is wavy and very bouncy. I smile. I really like this look. "There I am." I say. "Voilà!" Dizzy says. "Come here." I say and pull her in for a hug. "Thank you so much Dizzy." I say. "Of course!" she says as she hugs me back. When we let go I walk over to my bag and pull some money out of it. Knowing that it is more than that she normally gets. "For me?" she asks. "Yes. You earned it." I say. She giggles and walks over to the cash desk. She puts it away and I swing my bag over my shoulder. "Thank you Dizzy." I say. She smiles and I walk out of the shop.
    I stand in front of the closed door and look out in the dirty streets. What am I going to do now? What can I do now that I am here? I mean I have all the time in the world right now. Freedom. Then I feel the weight of my bag. Of course, now that I am here I can find out more about my parents. And there is one person that comes to my mind. My father's best friend.
~
Ben sits in his office working on some business for Cotillion. "Debra." he says. "Yes, Your Majesty." the voice of a woman says over the speaker. "Can you ask Lumiere to call me regarding Cotillion?" Ben asks Debra. "Yes, sir." she says. "Thank you." he says and writes something down. Then somebody knocks on the door and it opens. "Ben." Evie says. "Evie?" he says as he looks up and takes out his earpiece. "Come on in." he says as he stands up from his chair and smiles at her. Evie steps inside and closes the door behind her. She looks at Ben with a sad face. "Kara's gone back to the Isle." Evie says. Ben's smile falls. Evie walks towards his desk, which behind he is standing. She gives him a sad smile as she stops in front of him and hands him the note. Ben looks at the note, not knowing what to feel like. "Ben." Evie says. He looks up at her but then he sees his ring in Evie's hand. His mouth slightly falls open. He takes the ring from her. Then he opens the note and starts reading it. After he reads the note he crumples it in his hands and takes a few ragged breaths and looks around. "This is my fault." he says. "This is my fault. I blew it." he says as he points at himself. Evie looks down at the desk. "She'd been under so much pressure lately and instead of being understanding, I just went all beast on her." he says as he slams down his hands on the table. Evie lets out a sigh. "I have to go there and apologize. I have to go there and beg her to come back." he says. "Ben, you'll never find her." Evie says. Ben sigs and walks towards the window. "You need to know the Isle and how it works, and..." Evie says. She thinks a second. "You have to take me with you." she says. "Yes." Ben says as he turns around with hope in his voice. "Uh..." he stars as he sees Evie's insecure face. "Are you sure?" he asks. "Yeah." Evie says nodding. She looks outside the window. "She's my best friend." she says with a small smile as a few memories of the two of them flash through her mind. She turns around and takes a few steps back towards the door. "And we'll bring the boys and Mal, too, because there is safety in numbers and none of us is really too popular over there right now. "Thank you." Ben says. "But let's get two things straight." Evie says as she turns back around to face Ben. "You have to promise me that I won't get stuck there again." she says. "I promise." Ben says. "And there's no way you're going looking like that." she says as she looks him up and down. Ben looks a bit insecure and pulls down his shirt.
~
I walk towards the entrance of his cave. 'Get lost!' wooden letters above the gate spell. On the gate itself, there is a scull made of wood. To the side there also is a sign which says 'beware of dog!' with a painting of a three-headed dog. I walk towards the gate and try to open it, but it won't budge. I look and see a keyhole. Why would he lock his front door? Everyone is already afraid of him. "Hades!" I yell and hear my voice echo through the cave. "Come on, I need to talk to you about my father." I say. "And why would you want to talk about him." someone behind me says. I turn around and see Hades standing behind me. He has blue hair that stands on a big cowlick on his head. He is wearing black leather pants, with a black T-shirt and some kind of black leather cape. It starts out as a sleeveless leather jacket, and at the front it stops at his waist, but at the back it falls down in two long flaps. "I need to know where he has hidden something of his." I say. "And why do you think that I know where that is?" he asks as he opens the gate with a key. "Because you were friends." I say. "Is that so?" he asks. "Come on Hades. My father spoke about you all the time." I say. "Kara." he says. "That's me." I say. "Well, follow me in." he says with an evil smile. I swallow and follow him inside. We walk into something that seems like a mine. There stands this kind of bike which moves over the train track. "Are you serious?" I ask as he steps upon it. "Yes, I am. Now get on." he says. I sigh and get on the thing behind him. We start to cycle together. To say that walking would be faster is an understatement. When we finally arrive we walk into a man cave. There are random things scattered around this multi-level living space. The only thing that makes sense is the couch that stands in the middle of the room. "Love what you have done to the place." I say as I follow him down the stairs towards the couch. "Save it." he says.
    "Okay so my father told me that you were friends." I say. "Yes." he says. "So I want to ask you something. Do you kno-" I start. "What happened to him anyway?" he asks, a hint of a smile on his lips. I look at him angrily. "You know what happened." I say. "No, I don't. Wasn't invited to the funeral." he says. "That's because I didn't have the chance to bury him." I say. "Oh." he says with an innocent voice. "You know that he got sick and that he walked out one day." I say. He raises his eyebrows but still has a smug look on his face. "I need to know where it is." I say. "Why? You know that there only comes bad out of it." he says. "I need it to know what happened okay." I say. "How old were you when he disappeared?" he asks. I roll my eyes. I know that he helped my father. I realized it when I saw that smug look on his face. I mean how could he when he has a daughter of his own. I mean yes, he hasn't spoken to her in like forever but still. Why can't she imagine what a daughter can go through when she loses her father. "Six." I say. "Oew. Your youth must have sucked." he says. Music starts to play. "Yeah. Well,
R.I.P. to my youth" I start the song.
"And you could call this the funeral
I'm just telling the truth" I walk towards him.
"And you can play this at my funeral
If I don't know where that dagger is hidden
Then I might go to hell and there ain't no stopping
Might be a sinner and I might be a saint
I'd like to be proud, but somehow I'm ashamed" I sing as I get in his face to make my point clear that I really need the dagger.
"Sweet little baby in a world full of pain
I gotta be honest, I don't know if I could take it" He sings as he uses his hand as a fan to cool him down like he is really stressing.
"Everybody's talking, but what's anybody saying?" He sings and he puts his hands on his ears as if to shield him from many voices who are talking to him.
"Dad said if I really want to, then I can change, yeah" I sing as I shove him in the shoulder for mocking me.
"R.I.P. to your youth" He sings.
"If you really listen, then this is to you
Hades, there is only so much I can do
Tough for you to witness it but it was for me too" I say as I look at him desperately trying to get him to understand.
"I'm using white lighters to see what's in front of me" I sing.
"R.I.P. to your youth" He sings and smiles at me.
"And you could call this the funeral
I'm just telling the truth, yeah
You can play this at my funeral
Tell your daughter don't cry and don't be sad" I sing trying to get Mal into this so he will feel some kind of sympathy.
"I will be in hell with my dad
Close my eyes and then cross my arms" I sing as I close my eyes and cross my arms and fall backward onto the couch.
"Put me in the dirt, let me dream with the stars" I sing as I open my eyes and look him in the face.
"Throw me in a box with the oxygen off
You gave me the key then you locked every lock" I sit up.
"When I can't breathe, I won't ask you to stop
When I can't breathe, don't call the doc" I wrap my hands around my neck and pretend to choke myself. He stands up from the couch and turns his back towards me. I smile. Knowing that if I push a little I will have him.
"I was naive and hopeful and lost
Now I'm aware and trapped in my thoughts, oh" I sing. He turns around on his heels with a grin on his face. "I will tell you where your father's dagger is, but you'll have to make a deal with me." he says. "What?!" I say and his grin widens. "I am not going to sell my soul to you." I say. "Fine, then you will never know where the dagger is hidden." he says.
"What do I do? What do I do?" I sing. I sigh. If I don't make a deal with him then I will never know where my father has hidden his stupid dagger. "My father was your best and only friend. Can't you be kind and say where it is?" I say. "Kind? Me, the God of the Underworld, kind?" he asks full of disbelief. "You've clearly spent too much time on the other side. I won't tell you for free." he says. "I won't sell my soul to you!" I say angrily. "But we can make another deal." he says. "What?" I say. "I will tell you where your father's dagger is if you get me off of this island." he says. My eyes widen. I can't do that, but he doesn't know that. "Okay, but I'll have to get back to Auradon to be able to free you. And I can't do that right now." I say. "Nobody said that you would have to be doing it right now." he says. I frown. "Just late me take a small piece of your soul." he says. "What? No!" I say.
"I don't believe it if I don't keep proof
I don't believe it 'cause I don't know you
I don't believe it if it's on the news or on the internet" he sings
"I need that dagger." I sing. "Okay, fine." I say. He walks towards me and puts out his hand. I stare at it. "Well, this is the part where you shake my hand." he says. I nod and I shake his hand. Blue smoke swirls around them and then we let go and the smoke disappears. I don't really feel different. "Now tell me where my father's dagger is." I say. "Travel to the wooden gallows on the island. From the gallows one can see the only two trees on the island, an elm and a beech. Walk from the gallows to the elm and count the number of steps. At the elm, turn 90 degrees clockwise and walk the same number of steps. Mark the location. Go back to the gallows and walk from the gallows to the beech again counting the number of steps. At the beech, turn 90 degrees counterclockwise and again walk the same number of steps. Mark the location. The treasure is buried in the middle between the two marked locations." he says. "Excuse me?" I say and he smiles. "There you have it the place where your father's dagger lies." he says. "You are lying to me." I say. "This is what he told me before he disappeared." he says. "And you couldn't have told me that it was a riddle before I made a deal with you?" I say and he laughs.
"R.I.P. to my future" I sing as I let my head hang.
"And you could call this the funeral
I'm just telling the truth
And I can play this at your funeral
I'll tell my daughter don't cry and don't be sad
She's in hell with her dad
Close your eyes and then cross your arms
Put you in the dirt, let you be with the stars" He sings with a smile plastered on his face. I look angrily at him, turn around and run out of the cave.

~* ✨ ♕ ✨*~
3096 words
(24/03/2021)