Descendants| Next Gen

Chapter 5- All Fired Up

Third Person

Nike was one of the few children born with wings and she is so flipping COOL!

Cody thinks he got all the cool kids with his adorable star princes but now I've given them competition with not only my precious and powerful gem child, but now my daughter with WINGS! HA! BEAT THAT, CODY!

Today, I taught her how to use them properly! I might be a flightless bird but I know how wings work.

Even though Atlantis water means you can swim any distance, when Nike uses her wings, she's much faster than anyone else and doesn't seem restricted by gravity as much as the rest of us.

I love my kids

—K.J.

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A Couple Days Earlier...

Carlo felt a weight on his chest as he left his home behind.

He knew it wasn't his luggage he carried with him- he could carry twice as much and walk a mile before feeling tired- but rather an emotional weight. Guilt? Maybe, it sure felt like it.

In his hands, he held the paper that changed his life. A long speech about Atlantis needing to change, and at the end of it all, the signatures of both Hemlock and Cecelia. He knew the signatures anywhere, Hemlock's being quick and messy, most of the letters blending together and even a few being skipped, while Cecelia's was loopy and seemed like she spent ten minutes on it before being satisfied with the result, with small little details that Carlo hardly noticed until just now. Nobody else wrote like them. He let out a short laugh how vastly different they were.

Carlo had read through it a thousand times, hoping he would feel different the next time he did so, but each time he still had a feeling that this was something he needed to do.

He found it curious how in the speech, they made a huge effort to single out the word 'ROOT', putting it in bright green and all capital letters. Not to mention there was drawings of roots covering the paper behind the text. Hemlock made an effort to show that word was important, meaning it must've been. Hemlock rarely did anything without a reason, even if she'd deny it.

As he moved further away and towards the directions given on the flyer, Carlo still couldn't believe he was doing this. He was ordinarily one to think something through before doing it, but now here he was, still no idea why he wanted to leave. All he had was the feeling in his heart that this is what he needed to do, and an ambitious hunger that kept him famished.

Carlo looked back one last time and the house was out of sight. He thought about what he was doing again, but determined he wasn't going to doubt anymore and continued ahead. No regrets.

...Well, maybe there was one regret in his heart. The reason why he kept hesitating. Leaving the house behind meant Nike with it. They had been joined at the hips since they were kids, and even though both of them made other friends that the other wasn't particularly attached to, they had always stuck together. They had promised they would be, after all.

Nike... Nike was a strange one. Bouncy, energetic, with a love of puns and sometimes, a rather dark sense of humor. She often wasn't afraid of voicing what she thought, and always told Carlo everything. She was the opposite of Carlo is so many ways.

And Carlo loved that. She was real with him, she was different, she gave him another perspective- even if he disagreed with it- and it was good for him. It is good for him.

Yes, he would miss so many people, like his oldest brother Aaron or Emrys and Zero or even Gargoyle, but Nike was at the top of the list. Because Aaron had Araminta, and Emrys and Zero had each other and even Gargoyle had Joker- but Nike? Nike might've had friends, but nobody could replace how close he was with her.