Balance

Chapter 31- The Hard Way

We finally reached the end of the bridge. The Isle was a lot brighter than the last time we came here. People were laughing and talking in the streets.

"Home sweet home," Mal said.

"I love that the Isle's had a major glow-up," Evie gushed.

"Yeah, wow!" Jay agreed. "It's a lot cleaner now, too."

We weaved our way through the alleys and finally reached Hades's lair. Two men were standing in front of the gate. One was short and muscly, the other was tall and thin.

"Hold it, hold it. Boss says nobody gets inside," the short guy said.

"Dave, what? C'mon. It's me," Mal said.

"Sorry, Mal. Orders is orders."

"Hey, it's my wedding day."

"Oh, yeah! Happy wedding day."

"Unfortunately, can't let you in."

"But congrats on the big day. Save us some cake."

Mal's eyes glowed green. "Guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way."

Smoke surrounded Mal, and she turned into a dragon. She flew above us and Mal roared loudly. She dove toward the lair. I heard loud running and smirked.

"Woah! Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. Mal, Mal. Calm down, calm down," Hades said.

"Hi, Dad," Mal greeted him. "We need to talk."

The five of us walked through the lair. Hades took the lead, never speaking a word to us. I noticed a figure sitting in a chair. Mochi turned and wrapped around my wrist, knowing there was no danger.

"Mal!" Ben exclaimed.

"Ben!" Mal ran toward him and hugged him tightly. Then she realized. "Hey, you're not supposed to see me."

"It's okay now. As long as your wedding dress, at this point," I reasoned.

"What are you doing here?" Mal asked.

"Getting this guy back to the ceremony. Even if I have to drag him by his freaky blue hair," Ben explained. "Or appeal to him with logic and reason. I knew you would want him to be there. No matter what he did."

I heard a lizard squeal in his pocket. Ben pulled Maleficent out of the pocket. "Oh, and (Y/n) caught your mom. I made sure she didn't wander off."

"That's her, all right. I'd recognize those cold, dead eyes anywhere." Hades laughed. "Looking good, Maleficent."

"Dad, please come back. You know how much it means to me to have you there," Mal begged.

"And we know you didn't purposefully torch the wedding. Melody's back home telling people not to run because a well-known villain is there. There's a reason we opened the Isle to Auradon," I admitted.

"In my heart, I'm still a ruthless villain. But I'm not ruthless enough to ruin the happiest day of your life. I'm sorry," Hades apologized.

"You don't have to be. I know what happened wasn't your fault," Mal assured him.

"It really wasn't. I'm not a fool. I know everybody expects the worst of me, but I didn't want to ruin your day. So... I did my best to be friendly. Until... I thought if I helped, it would ease the tension, but... I tried to put it out. I really tried. Okay, full disclosure. Chad wasn't on fire, but I couldn't resist because he's the worst. So that one's on me."

"Understandable."

"Melody already almost drowned him for being that dramatic," I explained, looking over my texts from her.

"I know, I know. I ruined everything. But I swear it wasn't on purpose," Hades said.

"Dad, I never thought for a moment that you did it on purpose. It's not going to be my happiest day if you're not there. I want to be surrounded by the people that I love. And that means you," Mal said. Mal walked over to Ben and took the lizard from him. "And I love you, Mom. Whether you have skin or scales, or you fit in my pocket or you breathe fire. You'll always be my mom." The three hugged, making me smile.

Pink smoke burst into the room. I jumped in surprise, Jay catching my waist. Mochi lifted her head up, trying to see through the smoke.