[✔︎] 𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ✫ POST-DESCENDANTS ONE ³

TWENTY THREE

"Oh my precious Gigi." Mother Gothel sneered, her nails digging into Gigi's skin. "Welcome home."

Gigi's blood ran cold in her veins as she stared up at Mother Gothel, who looked her over like she was a disposable little thing. With hatred.

The way she always had.

But now she was here. Now she was face to face with Mother Gothel. Now there was no backing out.

"Oh teenage girls are such a burden," Mother a Gothel said. "I did everything for you my rose. I did everything for you. And how do you repay me? You stab me in the back. Leave me in the dust."

Mother Gothel's nails dig deeper into Gigi's skin, she could feel the blood dripping down cold over her shoulders. She didn't cry. Gigi had taught herself not to cry in front of her. If she cried mother Gothel would know she'd gotten to her.

"Oh my sweet Gigi." Mother Gothel said. "All alone in this world now. Nothing holding you up. Nothing keeping you afloat. You should have stuck with mama."

"You're not my mother." Gigi heard herself say. Oh why had she spoken?

"Oh so you've found that out now?" Mother Gothel said. "Must I say it took you quite long to come back. I was sure you would've come running when you heard the news. Begging for it not be true. But no. You're happy now? Glad I'm not your mother."

Gigi said nothing, knowing if she said anything else, Mother Gothel would go on a rampage and she wouldn't leave any survivors.

"You're so much younger than when Rapunzel did the unthinkable to me." Mother Gothel said. "Sixteen. She was eighteen. Much less mature than you were though."

Mother Gothel stopped in front of Gigi, crouching down, cupping her face in her hands.

"Love is pathetic Gigi." Mother Gothel said. "Don't let it into your life: it'll only hurt you. It'll make you do things to your parents. First your not listening to them, then you're leaving them."

So she admitted she wasn't her mother that was a step for Gigi. But what did falling in love have to do with anything?

"Oh you naive child." Mother Gothel said. "Not even knowing you're falling in love. Rapunzel fell in love in a minute after seeing Eugene. But love is poison. It'll hurt you more than you ever know."

"Why are you telling me this?" Gigi asked, as Mother Gothel releases her hold on her.

"Oh Gigi." Mother Gothel said. "You'll know soon enough. I'll let you doubt yourself. Let you be naive. Because you don't me no? You didn't stick with mama."

"What?" Gigi asked.

"Skip the drama." Mother Gothel said. "Stick with Mama. It wasn't that hard Gigi. But you had to go and ruin it. Turn into more of goody two shoes than you were before. Now at least you're not tarnishing my name. You can go and do that to your mother. When she finds out you came here. She won't come and get you. She's much too afraid of me."

"What?" Gigi asked. "What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing Gigi."Mother Gothel said. "Send her to the dungeon."

Before Gigi could realize what they were doing, they hauled her up and led her into the dungeon. They tossed her into the cell, leaving her dazed and confused.

→✫✳︎✳︎✫↤

GINO felt the VKs were up to something completely different. Sure they wanted to help Gigi and all hit That seemed to be their alibi. They probably wanted to have a reason to go back to the Isle.

Gino didn't think they'd do anything bad. They probably had their own reasons for wanting to go the Isle so quickly. They'd proved they were good at the Coronation. But something about this seemed off.

Why did they have to sneak onto a boat? When they could have asked Fairy Godmother for it? Never mind. Fairy godmother would have tried to stop them and tell them there was something else they could do.

Ben came strolling into the room before the VKs decided to fill them in on what was going down.

"Okay." Mal said. "We're going to save Gigi Okay? But first we have to make sure we get something first."

"What would that be?" Pandora asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "We've already gotten this far. What's stopping us now?"

"We have to deal with a little something first." Mal said, choosing her words carefully. "I know you guys want to save Gigi and all but we can't just prance onto the Isle. That's not a smart idea."

"What would that be?" Gino asked. "The sooner we get it the better."

"Your parents kind of went to the Isle on their." Mal said. "And we kinda need to get them back."

"That's a big something." Gino said. "We have to make sure to get that."

"If Mother Gothel knew Rapunzel was on the Isle." Mal said. "Who knows what she would do to Gigi."

Gino shuddered at the thought.

"That seems bad." Crystal said. "Very bad."

"I knew there was something wrong when she didn't answer my calls." Gino said. "I didn't think she'd actually take it upon herself."

"Wait." Pandora said, as their attentions turned to her. "How did you know that Rapunzel and Eugene went to the Isle?"

"Oh because." Evie drawled. "We kind of saw them rowing toward the Isle when we were getting the trident back. We kind of panicked. But we were too far to stop them."

"Let's just hope Uma didn't see them," Jay said. "Otherwise she'll use that as her next act of pettiness toward Mal."

"I swear she's obsessed with me." Mal said, flipping her purple locks over her shoulder. "Let's get going."

"Who's Uma?" Crystal asked.

Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos and Pandora shared a look.

"You don't want to know." Evie said. "And were not doing anything just sitting here. Let's get a move on."

The seven of them (Ben had decided to stay back)  filed onto a bigger boat than the VKs had used before, propelling themselves toward the Isle.