Son of Fire

Chapter Seventy Seven

In the Meeting Room where the team that had gone to Arcadia, stood a sole woman. Stood in the corner, completely silent with all but her own thoughts to give her company. Her eyes red, her hands shacking by her side as she waited. As its all she could do. Wait.

"Mal!" a voice calls from the other side of the door before it is swung open. Evie enters first, followed by Uma. Their eyes lock with the purple haired girl, and their expressions of fear turn to worry as they see the pain their friend was in.

"Mal, what's happened?" Uma asks carefully as the two slowly walk towards her.

"I... Um.... The attack... Ben... He went. To the shore." Mal tries to say, obvious that trying to explain was too much for her. "And... I'm waiting for the others. Josh. And then I'm... Taking them to the Isle.... Fairy Godmother is putting the barrier back up." She finally explains and the two nod as they wak over and envelop Mal into a tight embrace. They knew they could tell her Ben would make it. That he would be able to cross the barrier. But they knew that he wouldn't. And they weren't going to give Mal false hope.

"Mal!" Harry yells as he runs through the door with Gil right behind him. "We got reports of the first wave hittin' the shores. And we have twenty thousand defending it. And ten thousand a few miles back in reserves. What do you want us to do with the reserves?" He asks.

"I... Is there a vantage point nearby?" She asks, Harry pulls out a tablet and looks at for a few seconds before nodding.

"Mount Skaro is about a mile east from their current position, but it would take a while to scale it." He admits and Mal nods as she taps her fists together.

"Damn. I.. actually..." Mal trails off, her mind racing with an idea,seemingly forgetting for a moment that Ben was there. But that was her duty as the Queen. " Split them up and have them flank from either side, it could buy us some time." Mal says and Harry nods before heading out, phone in hand ready to give the order.

"Mal, are you okay?" Evie asks.

"No, not in the slightest. But I can't be thinking about that right now. Until we cross the barrier, I need to help with the fight." She states and Evie nods.

"What's the evacuation looking like?" Uma asks.

"I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. Can you go find Chad and Lonnie to help with it? Get the kids there first, then we get the others there. But make sure each kid has a parent with them." She commands and Uma nods as she heads out. Evie watches Uma leave before turning back to Mal. Evie was about to comfort her best friend before a blinding pink light fills the room, and as it dims there were six more people in the room. Audrey almost collapses onto the nearby table before Josh catches her.

"Josh!" Mal exclaims as she rushes over and envelops him into a tight embrace, Josh steadies Audrey against the table before wrapping his arms around Mal.

"Hey, it's okay. we got Carlos." He says softly.

"We got told Auradon is under attack." Anna states as she takes Evie's hand in hers. Mal simply nods as she brushes her hair to the sidevl as she retreats from the embrace with Josh.

"We've got to go fight then" Josh states but Mal grabs his hand.

"No. Ben left... Left me in charge. I'm now the Queen of Auradon. And we need to retreat to the Isle." She tells Josh who looks at her, and the pain in her eyes was obvious. Especially to him.

"Mal, I could help" He says softly as he runs his hand against her cheek, which she leaned into.

"I know. But I won't lose you too, Josh. It would kill me." She whispers painfully. And Josh woul sacrifice himself to save people. But the way she said it, He couldn't risk Mal being in any pain if he could help it.