After Ever After

Put The Blame Where It Belongs

"What do you mean I can't confess?" Harry asked me, gesturing to himself. "I did it all, Uma. I wasn't under any spell!"

"How do you know that?" I conjectured in a suggestive tone. "I could've charmed you in the classroom, when I punched your shoulder..." but I added in a not-so-confident voice, "...or something."

"Uma, I know you didn't charm me," Harry droned like the idea of it was ridiculous. "Sure, you're a sea witch, but without the power of the seashell necklace they took from you, you're powerless."

We were inches away from each other at this point. I was trying to stay cool and not get flustered after he called my bluff, but he knew me better than anyone. I knew that if I tried to lie my way out of it, he would be able to find my tell-tale heart. I sighed and looked down at my shoes instead of at him. My voice lowered to a whisper as I said, "You just told me how great it is to be good."

I looked back at him and tried to muster up a small smile, but a single tear rolling down my cheek and gave away my feelings of despair, "Let me do this good thing for you."

"No," he whispered, "No, no, no, no, no." As he repeated his answer, his eyebrows knitted together, and he grabbed my shoulders as if to shake me from this bad idea. I couldn't take it; I was tired, emotionally and morally confused, and felt sick to my stomach. Tears were streaming out of my eyes at this point, and Harry looked to be close to the breaking point as well. He pulled me into a hug, but it felt more like he feared letting go would mean I'd be taken back to the Isle immediately after. I didn't hug him back, for my whole body felt numb.

"I can find something else to do with my life," he assured softly into my ear. "I don't want to see you get sent back there. That place is for criminals and lowlifes with no future."

"Well maybe that's me!" I borderline yelled as I pushed him off of me. My voice kept cracking, but I willed the tears to stop. "Remember Harry? I am a criminal here! The rest of the VKs may have turned out differently, but maybe I was fated to be evil!"

Harry started to look defeated. Like I said, he's known me a long time. He should know that I'm very stubborn in an argument, regardless of ideals as trivial as right and wrong. "Did you not hear yourself a minute ago?" he asked me. "You said you wanted to do something good, yeah?"

I recalled it, and I regretted it because now he had hope for me. I was trying to get him to see I was a lost cause. It would've made letting me go so much easier on him.

"C'mon Uma," he begged. "You can still find a happy ending in Auradon. Don't let me be the reason you have to go back to the Isle."

"Harry, you already have a life here," I said, changing the argument. "If I'm gone, nothing will change. You can have your happy ending in the Navy-"

"For God's sake, I don't care about the Navy right now!" he shouted desperately, a vein in his neck bulging out. "And what do you mean nothing will change?! What about me?! I don't want to lose you again!"

He turned around, giving me the back of his head to look at, and took deep breaths in an attempt to regain his composure. One last tear escaped down my cheek, but I wiped my face clean before steeling my resolve and gathering every fiber of strength in my being. I whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear, "I'm sorry, Harry."

Before he could turn around, I kicked him hard in the back of the knee, causing him to crumble to the floor with a painful grunt. I ran to door, opened it, and darted into the hall. I quickly slammed the door and used a nearby stool to stall the door in place. Immediately after, I heard banging on the door and Harry shouting from the other side. I sighed in relief that my initial plan worked, but now I had to get ready for the hard part.

Time to lie my way right out of paradise.

I turned to my left to start my search for Ben, but I was startled to find the King was standing right there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. I jumped back a little but quickly regained my composure and started talking, "Listen, it was–!"

"Thin walls, Uma," he interrupted me. "I know exactly what you're gonna say." He had a small smirk and a knowing look in his eye while I was still a little choked up.

"Oh, you heard the whole thing?" I asked nervously.

He nodded. "Let me tell you a story." He stood up straight and put his hands in his pockets as he began, "I knew someone who was considered the most evil of her generation"–Wild guess: Mal?–"and one day, I took her into the forest and jumped into a lake. It appeared as though I went missing after a few minutes, and she jumped in after me. However, she didn't know how to swim."

I started to see where this story was heading. The banging on the door had stopped, and I was sure Harry was listening as well. King Ben continued, "She knew that she could have gotten hurt, but she tried to save me anyway. She's no longer the villain everyone thought she was.

"Now in another unrelated incident, she too stole the royal speedboat"–Okay, this story I knew all too well–"And even though she was caught and seemed to be in a lot of trouble, I had the power as King to say what she was doing was authorized by the crown. Now everyone thinks it was a royal mission that I thought of."

I felt a tug in my gut at what he was implying. I tried to kill the feeling in case I was being mistaken, but I couldn't help but hope. I was probably just staring at him like a dumbfounded fool when he nodded towards the door and said, "So, what do you say? Let's go in there and make last night my fault, shall we?"