Gold | Disney Descendants

Chap 12

It's no easy road to Skull Rock. They go across Mermaid Lagoon, chat for a little while with the mermaids there, then they head back through Pixie Hollow. While there, they split up for a couple hours to restock; Saffron returns with a new few pouches of dust, Elspeth and Copper return with a bunch of food. For a little while, Twyla stops in with Zarina, explaining everything that they had discovered about the Cantata Necklace's whereabouts. During this time, Spritz buries herself into Twyla's back and it takes almost twenty minutes to finally just give in and agree to take the bug with her.

Eventually, they all meet back up on the opposite side of Pixie Hollow that they had initially left from. They share a smile, take each other's hands, and take that first step out of Pixie Hollow again.

It's a long flight out through the mountains. Half way through, Saffron argues that they should have gone around. This, of course, holds up the journey as Twyla begins to argue back. After an almost half hour of shouting until their red in the face, they finally decide to just settle down for the night in a small cave.

Spritz lights up the cave decently, but that doesn't stop Copper from setting up a fire anyway. Saffron and Twyla don't talk as they eat dinner. Copper and Elspeth aren't exactly sure what they should even say to try and settle the fire between them. Nothing quite works and eventually, they all just sit in silence, whispering good nights at they lie down.

Saffron shifts and rolls until finally she gets up and walks towards the lip of the cave, settling herself down on a rock outside. Twyla watches her for a minute, before sighing and walking off after her. She stands there, staring at Saffron's back.

"Why do you hate me?" she asks finally. Saffron turns, brows drawn together in confusion. "We used to be friends. What happened?"

"You left," Saffron replies coldly. Twyla just frowns. The dust-fairy shoves to her feet. "We were friends and you left. You didn't say anything to any of us! It used to be you and me, we talked about exploring, we talked about escaping and then you left. Alone!"

Twyla bristles slightly: "You like your job, Saffron. You like Neverland and Pixie Hollow and -"

"That doesn't matter! We were supposed to be friends. Friends don't just up and leave without so much as leaving a note!"

"Would you have come with me?"

"Wha-"

"If I had asked. If I had told you I was leaving and I was going to the Mainland and that I might not come back, would you have left with me?"

That makes Saffron pause. "I ... don't know."

Twyla doesn't meet her eyes. "Well it was happening. I was taking my dust and my bag and I was leaving. I was going to the Mainland and Auradon and the Isle and so many other places until I ran out of dust. Then I would come back, and then I would leave again." She draws in a shaky breath. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Saff, but I know you. That's not something you could do."

"Don't do that. Don't act like you thought about me when you were running away. You were just thinking about escaping. That's what you do." Saffron says nothing else, getting up from the rock and pushing passed Twyla to go lie back down in the cave. Twyla stays frozen there in the cold until Spritz comes and bumps against her elbow.

Lying back down on the opposite side of the cave from Saffron, curling up against Spritz. It doesn't matter as she can't sleep anyway. The words niggle at her: 'You left', 'that's what you do'. She scrubs at her face with a tired sigh, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

When she opens them again, the sun is up, but she doesn't feel like she's slept as opposed to just laid there with her eyes closed. Spritz nuzzled against her cheek as she heaves out a sigh. For once, she's the first one up. Letting the firefly tuck up under arm, she walks out of the cave to go sit out in the early morning sunlight. It's as much of a comfort as she can get.

It's another hour or two until the other three wake up. Twyla's already munched her way through breakfast as was leaning over the map, prepping their track to Skull Rock. They should make it their by midday if they keep a steady pace.

Quietly, Elspeth settles on the ground beside her. "I heard you and Saffron last night."

"You should be talking to Saffron then," Twyla replies, not looking up from the map.

"I did, while we were eating."

Twyla's eyes flicker slightly towards the other fairy: "You think she's right."

"I think you need to apologise. She's not wrong. Saffron doesn't care about a lot of people, but ... she cared about you. You should have seen her after we found out you'd gone. She went so dim."

"What was I supposed to say? I knew she would argue with me if I told her. I just ..." She leans her head into her hand, "I cared about her too but she wanted me to stay and I ... I knew I couldn't." Elspeth doesn't say anything, just stares at Twyla. A small sigh leaves the light-fairy. "But, you're right. I'll apologise."

Elspeth just grins, throwing an arm around Twyla's shoulder: "Great."

Behind them, Copper and Saffron walk up, the fire put out and the rest of the bags repacked. Copper shrugs his satchel on, scratching Spritz between her antennae as he passes.

"So, we're going?" he asks. Twyla just nods, rolling the map up and getting to her feet.

"Onward to Skull Rock then," Saffron drawls, not looking at Twyla. In turn, Twyla looks away from her, instead looking off in the direction of their destination.