Once We are Descendants

Chapter 23: It's Going Down

The VKs and kids of Auradon begin their preparation for battle. Jay gets in touch with Lonnie and the two gather as many swords and other battle equipment as they can. Doug and Dizzy hurry to the chemistry lab and begin making several smoke bombs to use for cover. Jane texts as many of her friends as she can to meet the group at the Beast statue in front of the school in less than fifteen minutes. They had been told what had happened to Ben and that no one could tell any of the teachers for fear of Ben's life.

Mal stands in front of one of the mirrors in their dorm room. She can see her eyes lighting up green again and she's unable to control it.

"Just try to keep it in check," Evie says, appearing behind her best friend and putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "If we can get Ben back peacefully, let's do it. Save the dragon routine as the last resort.

Mal turns to face her sister. The daughter of the Evil Queen can see the anger in Mal's eyes, trying to mask the sadness she feels deep inside. Evie knew that her bestie is hurting, a lot, not only had she and Ben just broken up but now his life is in jeopardy, again. She lets out a deep sigh and hugs Mal with all her strength.

"Why does it seem every time we break up, something happens to him?" the daughter of Maleficent asks.

"It could be the universe saying that you two should stay together," Evie mutters with a small smirk.

The purple-haired teen frowns and fights back a few tears.

"I know that him suspending you hurt..."

"More than you'll ever know."

"But was it really his choice? From what you told me, he was pressured into it by Fairy Godmother and Grumpy. You said that he outwardly refused at first..."

"But he still did it," Mal snarls, trying to fight back the tears.

"It was obviously the most difficult decision he'd ever make," Evie says.

"How can you know that? You weren't there, you don't know anything."

"You're right, I don't know anything about it, but I know you and I can tell without a shadow of a doubt that you still love him and you didn't want to break up with him. Your anger got the better of you and you spoke before you knew what you were saying."

"No, I didn't!" Mal denies strongly, trying to keep her anger in check. "After I saw that he picked Auradon over me like he always does I knew we couldn't be together, so I decided to end it before we both got hurt."

"Both... or just you?" Evie inquires, raising her eyebrow.

Mal opens her mouth to protest even more, but the pain of parting with Ben again is too much, so no words come out. She lets the tears fall from her eyes again. She wishes beyond everything that Ben hadn't picked Auradon over their love, suspending her from the school and her home. She knew that she had lied to him about the book, and that did not help, but he still crumbled to the pressure of adults and hurt her. She felt like ending their relationship was the best thing to do... it saved her from further heartbreak. She'd felt a broken heart before, but not nearly as severely as now. It hurt so badly, and she just wanted the pain to stop... she wished that Ben was there to...

She realizes that she needs Ben to feel comforted and safe. Not even Evie, Carlos, and Jay could help her heal, she needed him, she needed her true love... but her angry and hurt feeling were holding her back, preventing her from being happy, from feeling love again. She doesn't know how this happens or fully understands its meaning, but she can't think about it right now.

She wipes the tears from her eyes; she knew this was the wrong time to realize this, just before they were going into battle against her worst enemy. She sucks in her feelings, trying to channel them inwards to put on a brave face. Uma cannot see her weakness for her boyfriend...ex-boyfriend? No doubt the pirate captain would try to exploit it and use it against them. She puts on her bravest face, ready to move forward.