What Comes Next?

Chapter 24: Why Me???

Uma's PoV:
Few places on the Isle inspired as much fear in people as the home of Maleficent. It wasn't the home so much that inspired fear, but it was the fact that Maleficent lived there. Maleficent was one of those people who you didn't mess with, even in the best of circumstances. Of course, now was not even close to the best of circumstances.
I was one of the few people who weren't utterly terrified of Maleficent. This was my Isle after all, I didn't need to be afraid of anyone, at least not anymore . Everyone knew their place and everyone knew that when my crew began to prowl the Isle, everyone needed to steer clear and stay out of my way.
I left my crew to patrol the Isle, while I made my way to the home of the Mistress of All Evil herself. I needed to figure out what was the matter with her, if for nothing else so that I could make sure that she wasn't going to try anything funny. Maleficent had actually kept herself in line for quite some time and I wanted to make sure she stayed that way.
I knocked on the door and the always menacing voice beckoned me to enter. I
knew that Maleficent wasn't always trying to sound like she was going to kill someone, but she always managed to accomplish that feat. I waltzed into her house and was greeted almost immediately.
"Hello Uma, I wondered when you would finally decide to pay me a visit."
"Well ya know, I would have dropped by sooner, but I had some pretty important shit to take care of. Someone has kind of vanished off the face of the earth which has made my job much more difficult." I was baiting Maleficent, trying to get her to expose what in the world her problem was. And it worked, kind of. Maleficent sipped her tea before responding.
"Careful my dear, don't get too ahead of yourself. As for me going underground, I can't explain why. I know something is wrong, but I don't know what. It is as if there is a mental block in my mind. My memories are fuzzy, there are gaps in my world, my memories, and I can't talk about certain things. And until I can sort out my mind, I am in isolation."
    Well, that was useful information, kind of. It didn't fully explain her absence, but it was something. I needed to press her for more information. "Well, you know that Mal is missing right? She isn't queen anymore, Harley is impersonating her." Maleficent went real quiet and it looked like she didn't believe me.
"What are you talking about Uma? Mal is ruling alongside Ben right now and she's pregnant with the heir to the throne." And she got quiet. She was talking, but no words were coming out. Ah shit, this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. I don't know what had happened to her, but some sort of magic was affecting Maleficent. And while I would love to deal with it, I clearly wasn't going to get anywhere with her. I was going to have to call in royal reinforcements.

Evie's PoV:
When Ben summoned all of us, it was usually something important. And now, with Mal's disappearance and Harley impersonating her, any group meeting was important.
Harley was off doing God knows what, so it was Ben, Doug, Daniel and I, Carlos and Jane, Lonnie and Jay and Audrey and Harry. We were all gathered in Ben's office and he was sitting behind his desk. "Alright Uma go ahead, everyone is here." Ben must have had Uma on speaker phone. If Uma was calling already, she must have found something important.
"Hello royals, I bring news but I am not sure how good it is. I talked to Maleficent and something is definitely wrong. She went AWOL because she knew something was wrong with her mind. Here's the kicker though, she believes that Mal is still Queen. And if she tries to talk about Harley, she loses her voice. She's mentioning shit about mental blocks, gaps in her memory, stuff that I am not fully comprehending. All I know is that you guys need to stop Harley and fast. Mom and I have our hands full here."
    As Uma began to rattle off what she had found, my mind went into overdrive. What could possibly be causing Maleficent of all people to be experiencing these sorts of symptoms? Obviously some kind of magic was involved and Harley had to have used it, but what kind it was I didn't know.
   I was pulled back to reality as Ben finished the call. "Thanks Uma, keep poking around and let us know if you find anything else." Ben rose from his desk and began to pace the room. This was a sure sign that he didn't know what to do next. Then, he slammed one of his fists into the nearest wall out of pure frustration. I knew this situation was taking a toll on Ben, but it must be far worse than any of us realized. It was sensible Jane that made the first move. She conjured a first aid kit from her bag and began to tend to Ben.
"Well thankfully, nothing is broken but your hand is going to require stitches. I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through Ben but we are all here for you. I know Uma's information wasn't great but it was something. Try to look on the positive side." We all knew Jane was trying to calm Ben's fastly fraying nerves, but it backfired severely.
"What's the positive side Jane? My wife is missing, she is also pregnant in case you all forgot, I'm living a lie right now, we have a psychopath playing queen and one the most people I know is absolutely useless right now. Where the hell is the positive in any of this!?!?" Very rarely had I seen Ben's emotions explode like this so this wasn't a good sign at all. Someone needed to diffuse this situation and fast before he went full Beast mode (in the bad way of course).
I slowly walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. "All is not lost Ben. Uma may not have given us much, but she gave us something. The only way Maleficent could have been weakened this much was if magic was used. And it's safe to assume that Harley used that magic. If we can figure out what sort of magic was used, we might be able to reverse its effect." It wasn't much, but I was hoping that this would calm Ben down, at least a little bit. But surprisingly, it was Harry who spoke next.
  "Alright, so if magic was used and Uma doesn't know much about it, one of us clearly has to go talk to her so that we can see for ourselves what is going on." Harry had a good point. Uma had her hands full which meant one of us had to go. Question was, who was going? Harry had hardly finished his suggestion when Ben quickly spoke up.
       "Not it, nope, no way am I going to deal with my mother-in-law. She scares me enough as it is and I don't want to abandon Auradon for even a second. So, who else knows Maleficent the best and could figure out what is going on?" All eyes in the room turned to me. Ahhhhhh shit. I should have seen it coming but it didn't mean I liked it.
      "Come on guys really? Why do I always have to be the problem solver around
here? It's like I have to be the mother to every single one of you."
"Well, technically you are the only mother amongst us sooooooo....." Carlos's smart mouth made the comment that I should have seen coming. The problem was that he was right. Being an actual mother had greatly increased my already considerable group managing and problem solving skills.
"Alright fine. I'll go to the Isle and talk to Maleficent. If I can find a way to reverse the magic I will but I make no promises. Also, none of you had better burn down this place while I'm away. Sweetie I'm sorry but it looks like you're on babysitting duty." I handed Daniel to Doug, gave him a kiss and prepared to meet Maleficent. But I decided that if I was going to be dealing with magical memory issues again, I was going to need an expert to come along. And I knew just who to call.

Annaliese's PoV:
    So much was right with the world. My new baby brother was wonderful, Chad was being his ditzy, but adorable self and no other catastrophes had befallen us in a while. For once, it looked as if everything was finally settling down to some sort of normalcy.
      That is until my phone rang. I didn't get many phone calls, so it kind of surprised me. Even more considering that it was Evie who was calling. Now that was odd. I tentatively answered my phone, bracing for bad news.     
      "Hello Evie, it's rare that you call me outside of the tea times. Is everything alright?"
     "Hello Annaliese, everything is mostly okay. This is going to be an odd request, but I want your help." Evie wanting my help, now that was strange indeed. I was intrigued no doubt.
     "If you're asking for my help, something must be seriously wrong. What seems to be the problem?"
      "Well, the problem is that one of the most powerful people in our world is having memory problems. Yes, I know big surprise there right? More memory problems. Anywayyy, Maleficent is having mental gaps and memory blanks and I need to find out why. I know your mom dealt with things like that before, but I was calling to see how well versed you are in the subject." And just like that, the problems had come back to my doorstep. So much for safety and solitude I guess. But, such was life here in Auradon.
       "You guys just keep getting hit with memory problems huh? Well, lucky for you I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject as a preemptive way of dealing with these problems in the future. If I can talk to the person, I might be able to figure out how to fix the memory problems." My fascination with memory problems had been a recent thing, but it was one of those spur of the moment things that I was now really grateful for. I guess one could also pose the fact that it had to with my family's past.
       Dealing with Maleficent would be a challenge though. I wasn't sure exactly how she would feel about me, but I would cross that bridge when or even if I got to that point. But from the sounds of it, Evie desperately needed help.
       "Annaliese, you are a lifesaver. I'm getting ready to leave for the Isle shortly. If you are willing to help me I would greatly appreciate it. I can explain some of the details along the way, as long as you keep them a secret. We are trying to keep this lowkey."
       "Sure thing E, I can be ready very shortly. I've never been to the Isle before so this will be fun."
     "Annaliese, fun is something that is never associated with the Isle." She took a deep breath before we hung up and I began to prepare for the trip.