Dating the Enemy

Chapter 24- Hades

"Ugh, that's better."

"Right?" Evie agreed.

"I know. I am doing my best to keep her on schedule," Audrey said, talking to her phone in front of us. "Work with me here."

Mal stopped, and I knew the look in her eyes. The same one we all had when we found out. "I really wish Carlos was here," Mal admitted in a whisper.

"We all do," Evie replied calmly.

"We were going to wait until the reception, but now seems like a better time." Jay handed her a box.

"Wow." Mal wiped away tears. She opened the box and noticed the four charms hanging from it.

"It's our crests," Evie explained. "The four VKs. Linked together forever."

"I love it." Mal laughed softly. She hugged us, knowing that somehow Carlos was here with us. "Thank you, guys."

Audrey ran out of the castle. "Uh. So I hate to interrupt this, but you should see this."

The spiral surrounding the bridge was flaming with blue flames. Mal looked at the bridge in disbelief.

"Dad," Mal breathed.

We ran up to Uma. She was standing there, watching the flames slowly burn away the bridge. "Uma!"

"What happened?" I questioned.

"Hades happened," Uma admitted.

"Wow. When your dad burns bridges, he literally burns bridges."

I nudged his bicep. "Not helping."

"Look, I tried to catch him, okay? And get him to chill but his hair was wild, and it was blowing in the wind and he set the bridge on fire," Uma ranted.

"I need to get to the Isle and bring my dad back," Mal said. "If you could help me, please."

"For the Queen on her wedding day? I got you." Uma ran to the edge and jumped. Uma turned into a cecaelia and splashed water onto the bridge. The flames disappeared as we were sprayed with water.

"Consider it my wedding present," Uma said. "Now go get your dad. I'll get all your guests back to the reception."

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.

"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 you're not in 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. There's a reason we opened the Isle to Auradon," I reasoned.

"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."

"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.