Second in Line - Descendants (?Mal) ~Slow Updates~

"Mal? What are you doing?" Emma asked Maleficent's daughter as she stood in front of her, hands clasped around the light blue, white and gold wand from the Fairy Godmother. 
     "Stand back!" Mal snapped, and Emma gestured to everyone on the stage to take a step back while she stayed where she was. 
     Ben had been on the pedestal with his family, staying close to the wand in the hopes he would have been able to intersect Mal before she could grab the wand. He had seen her. He had seen her eyes focus on the wand, had seen her watch the people around for her opportunity and then he had tried to tackle her when she jolted towards the wand. 
     Only she had passed through him with no effort as if he wasn't even there. And now all he could do was watch as his sister tried to talk down the evil fairy's daughter before she would free all the villains from their prison. 
     "Mal, it's okay, just, give me the wand and-"
     "I said stand back!" A few angry sparks flew from the wand's tip, making some people scream in fear and jolt further back. 
     "I told you so!" Audrey, with no regard for her own safety or that from the people around her walked closer to the stage, only to scream and be pulled back by Chad and her grandmother when Mal's attention switched to her for a split second before Emma spoke her name again. Gentle, but urgent.
     The doors to the hall slammed open, revealing Evie, Carlos, and Jay running in. The lackeys tried to stop them, but they were too quick, too nimble, and before anyone could do anything, they stood behind Mal.
     "Let's go." Carlos spoke, avoiding eye contact with everyone that did not belong to his little group of friends. 
     "Revenge time." Jay immediately followed up, seeming to look directly at Emma, but not quite meeting her eyes either. 
     The newly crowned queen of Auradon chose to ignore them for now and turned all of her attention to Mal, "Do you really want to do this?"
     "We have no choice, Em." The strain in her voice... she really believed it.
     "Of course you do," Emma interrupted, breathing in and starting to sing the song she sang to her once before, after their first date. "Your story has only begun.
      You can let someone else tell you your story,
       You can let someone else tell you what's true,
       Or you can set yourself free,
       Climb the tallest, highest tree 
       Or maybe sit back and take in the few."
     Emma took a few careful steps towards the young woman in front of her, regretting not just being honest with her before about everything. Maybe if she had just addressed the love spell and talked about it, this would never have happened.
     "Oh you can let yourself, let yourself be,
       Anything-"
     "Shut up!" Mal snapped at Emma, her eyes flashing an unnaturally bright green, stunning her into silence. "You are such a hypocrite!" Mal spurted out, her voice a combination of anger, sadness, and confusion. "You say all these things about us getting to choose who we get to be, but you still go and let yourself be crowned queen of Auradon against your will!" Emma flinched back at her words and tone, tears starting to sting her eyes. "You never wanted the crown, you just do what is expected of you. Well," Mal paused for a moment, chest heaving but seeming a lot calmer and determined, as if she finally had made up her mind. "So am I."
     Slowly, Mal started to lift the wand, speaking loud and clear, "Wand in my hands-"
     "No! Mal, wait! Don't-" Emma tried to intervene, jumping towards Mal, reaching for the wand, but Jay was faster, he shot forward, grabbing Emma round her waist, clenching one of her arms to her side. 
     "Let the villains freely roam these lands!" As Mal finished the spell, a powerful stream of golden magic burst from the wand. It shot into the air, piercing through the stained glass in the ceiling, shattering parts of it, colored shards of glass raining down on the crowd as the magic beam disappeared into the sky.
     "No..." Belle gasped, her hands covering her mouth.
     "What have you done?" Fairy Godmother asked, gripping the marble pedestal her wand had been displayed on only moments ago to keep her balance.
     No one moved, no one dared to breath, terrified of what might happen next. Even Mal and the others did not dare to move. 
     "Maybe it didn't work?" Chad broke the silence after nothing happened for a solid moment. 
     With a deafening bang, the big double doors to the room slammed open against the walls and a river of green smoke started to flood the room. People screamed and yelled, stuck between wanting to escape the room and not wanting to go through the unknown green mist.
     The cloud of green moved through the room in quick twirls and twists, closing in on the stage in the middle where the royal family and Mal and her friends stood. Not just the former king and queen moved back from the mist, but also Evie and Carlos took some steps back, Jay let go of Emma, momentarily forgetting what he was doing as he moved closer to his friends to protect them if necessary. 
     The smoke swirled around everyone until, like a hurricane, everything got pulled to the center, and inside the eye, Maleficent took form.
     "I'm baaack!" The evil fairy sing-sunged, her horns shining, the green crystal in her staff glowing. Her magic surged through her again, and she relished in it. "Turns out you ... aren't totally useless." She spat at Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, who stood huddled up together, before turning her attention back to the rest of the crowd on top of the pedestal. "Sorry I'm late, traffic was horrendous!" Maleficent cackled at her own joke.
     "You are not welcome here." Adam spoke firmly, a hint of a threat in his voice. He had pushed Belle behind him, one hand still holding on to hers as if scared she would be ripped away from him.
     "Oh, this is eerily familiar... say, what does this remind me off, let's see..." The evil fairy tabbed her chin with one finger, eyes looking around the room until they fell on Queen Leah, "ahhhh yes, of course." Her staff glowed as she pointed it at the older lady. Leah stiffened as magic took hold of her, and with one little jerk from her staff, the woman flew towards her.
     "Grammy!" Audrey jelled in horror as her grandmother got ripped away from her and now levitating above the ground, face a few inches from Maleficent's.
     "Grammy?" An evil grin spread on the horned woman's lips, eyes focusing on Audrey. "Is that your granddaughter?"
     "No!" Queen Leah spat out in a panic.
     "Oh yes, she is! I can see the family resemblance. Same annoyingly haughty attitude... No matter! Never too late for a little curse to nip that in the butt, don't you think?"
     "No! No, please, Maleficent, I beg of you, leave my Audrey out of this."
     "Mmmm... I do like the begging..." A ray of hope appeared in Queen Leah's eyes as the mistress of evil spoke those words. "You know what?" Maleficent stretched out her hand towards her daughter. Mal took a startled step back as the wand got ripped from her hands and flew into her mother's. "I think I'm gonna start with her." A swift flick with the wand and a stream of magic flew towards Audrey. The girl screamed in fear, crossing her arms in front of her face to protect herself.
     Another swift movement, the sound of metal being pulled against leather and a blur of red and gold. Mulan, Savior of china, had jumped in front of Audrey, using her sword to try and deflect the ray of sparkling magic.
     The magic hit the metal and exploded in a ray of golden sparks. "Enough." Mulan spoke calm and determined. Ignoring the way her sword seemed to grow heavier with the second.
     Another sound of a sword being pulled from its sheath, and Maleficent turned around to see a big, bulky man with graying blond hair and a massive sword in his hands. "Yu've had yur fun, Unseely, time to return to yur prison." The king of DunBroch spoke, a dangerous tone in his heavy voice. 
     "Oh no, two against one, whatever shall I do?" Maleficent looked between her two attackers, then she laughed. "Ah, right. This."  She pointed the wand towards Mulan while pointing her staff at Aggie's father. At the same time as the two warriors rushed forward, slashing their weapons towards the evil fairy. There was a flash of blinding light, and the next moment, two statues stood with their weapons pressed against each other. Maleficent in the middle, unharmed and cackling in delight.
     "So, who's next?"
     Finally panic erupted in the crowd and chaos followed. People screamed as they ran towards the big open doors, not caring who they hurt or pushed out of the way in their hurry to get the hell out of there. Emma stared at the statues in disbelieve and shock.
     "Excuse me! Begging your pardon," The horned woman started to sing while maneuvering her way out from between the statues. "Excuse me! Sorry to barge in.
       Let's skip the tears and start on the whole, you know, revenge thing!" Maleficent continued as she turned to Queen Leah who had fallen to the ground when Maleficent had used her staff's magic on the king of DunBroch, thrilled by the fear and chaos she caused.
     "You're doomed!
        Enjoy the singing!" She tabbed the fairy godmother's staff to Queen Leah, and she too, turned to stone. "The sword of Damocles is swinging."
     Emma could not move. She knew she should. She should have stopped Mal before she had cast a spell. She should have stood up to Maleficent like her father had and Mulan and Aggie's dad. She should have done something. But she couldn't. Her body stood frozen against her will, shaking with terror and adrenaline as she watched the Mistress of Evil go around the room, turning her friends and family to stone. 
     Juliet, one of the first lackeys that had greeted Emma when she entered the room, ran up to Maleficent. Emma did not know where she had found the knife, maybe she always had it with her, but the young Queen saw the metal blade as it reflected some of the colored sunlight the moment Juliet stabbed it towards the evil fairy.
     Only Emma had not been the only one to see the knife, with one quick movement, Maleficent used her magic to freeze the woman in place."And if you even think about interfering,"  With a big grin, she took the knife from Juliet's hand, stabbed it into the woman's chest and twisted it with a quick jerk. "I'll kill you myself." 
     Horrified Emma screamed, clasping her hands in front of her mouth as her eyes could not leave the sight of Juliet's body frozen in place, red spreading over her bright yellow uniform, the light slowly leaving her eyes. 
     Maleficent carelessly threw the knife over her shoulder onto the ground as she continued to sing. "The whole revenge thing!" The magic left Juliet and with a dull tud her body hit the floor, empty eyes staring at Emma, a pool of blood growing around her.
     "Revenge can get a person stressed.
       'we should have made way more schemes,
       now we're never gonna get 'em!'"
     A hand grasped Emma's shoulder and for the first time she managed to move her legs and jumped away from the touch. Only to see it was her mother. Even though she must have been terrified, Belle's expression only held determination as she reached for her daughter again. This time Emma grabbed her mother's hand and followed her as she and her father started pulling them through the crowd, trying to make it to the doors. Everything went by in flashes of brightly colored fabrics and arms and legs and bodies crashing into each other.
     "I can show you what comes next,
       So don't be freaked," With a flick of the wand a wave of magical energy went through the room and every single person still in the room froze in their places. "Stay in your seats," she tabbed the bottom of her staff to the ground and the big doors slammed shut. "I used to do this bullshit like eight times a week."
     Nausea hit Emma as more and more dread twisted her stomach at watching everyone's free will got taken and their one escape route got blocked off. 
     "So just relax, you'll be fine,
       Drink your way too expensive wines,
       And take a breath." As Maleficent made a whole show of breathing in deeply something happened. Emma did not know where they'd come from or how they had gotten all the way here from the Isle so quickly, but it did not matter. Little creatures with bulky noses, big, pointy ears and skin that varied between different shades of green and grey started to pour into the room. Some through the stained glass windows, some appeared from behind people or paintings or the decorative suits of armor. The moment Maleficent breathed out they all sang in harmony with her. Their voices higher pitched than Emma originally had expected. "Welcome to a show about revenge!"
     The magic keeping everyone frozen dropped, half the people fell to the ground, including Emma. Still, no one dared to move out of fear to attract Maleficent's attention while the evil fairy in question joyfully, almost ridiculously,  jumped around the room as she sang in the condescending voice of an adult talking down to a child. "You're,  
        You're gonna be fine,
       Now we're back from the other side."
     The goblins jumped in, their voices now a chorus of power this time. "Die!
       You're all gonna die! 
       You're all gonna die!" 
     Maleficent took over again in the same condescending tone. "I,
       I won't be denied,
       Now I'm back from the other siiiide." As she held on the the last word, her tone became more of a frustrated growl than a melodic pitch.
     "Oh, and full disclosure," Maleficent's goblins sang. "It's a show about revenge!"
     Emma looked up at her parents who stood to her right, her father clearly trying to contain his rage, otherwise he would already have stormed the Mistress of Evil and probably been turned to stone himself. While Belle's eyebrows were furrowed, to many others it would have looked like worry but to Emma, who knew her mother fairly well, it was clear the former queen's brain had gotten to work. If for a plan to attack, defend or flee, Emma did not know, but she still found a little spark of hope knowing her mother would think of something. 
     "You're just gonna hate our folks here," the horned woman sang as she made her way through the crowd, letting the fairy godmother's wand slide over person to person. Everyone either flinched or clenched their eyes shut when she reached them, terrified to see what she decided to do with them. "Yeah, I know you're 'good', but you can take a joke here.
       The whole-" A man in the back of the room jolted, Emma could not see who he was, but her chest tightened as she watched him aim for the doors. His footsteps echoing against the marble floors. Maleficent halted in her song to flick the blue wand, a string of black and golden magic hit the man in the back. He gasped, stone spread from where the magic had hit him. It reached his legs before it had encased his head, his mid-run position not giving him any balance, and he fell. The moment his stone body hit the marble it shattered, bits of stone and rubble scattering over the smooth floor. "Revenge thing!"
     Emma clenched her eyes shut, hands clasping around the fabric of her dress, breathing in and out as deeply as possible in an attempt to keep herself from hyperventilating. Even when a big piece of stone hit her foot.
     She had lost track of almost everyone in the chaos, she did not know where Aggie was, nor Jane nor the Fairy Godmother or Audrey and Doug. All she could do was hope they had gotten out of the room before Maleficent had locked them in.
     "Nobody is bullet-proof!
       'I thought a dragon', I broke a curse',
       Gods, pass the Dramanine." Maleficent moved back to stand on top of the pedestal in the middle of the room. 
     "Time to face the brutal truth.
       'Cause you're all on our hitlists,
       Might not live 'till Christmas,
       Choke to death on Triscuits," Maleficent shrugged her shoulders, "hey, that's just statistics." 
     "So I thought, let's take a little break here,
       Kinda like a wake here,
       The scenery is great here,
       Look!" Maleficent exclaimed, pointing at the closed door with a new found enthusiasm, "There's a giant snake here!"
     The wooden doors slammed open with a loud bang, demanding everyone's attention as a giant cobra with deep red scales and long, sharp teeth slithered into the room, Jafar on top of its head. Chaos erupted again, peoples screams and terror accompanied by Maleficent's cackling laugh and the roaring from Jafar as he rode in. His snake sneaked and slithered through the crowd who desperately tried to get away. "Welcome to our show of revenge!" The four villains sang at the same time. 
     Jafar slid off his snake, parading around everyone with a skip in his step as he sang by himself. "You're, you're gonna be fine!" He used his golden snake staff on some people closest to him, their eyes glowed red, mimicking the glowing eyes of the staff, making them applaud. "Thank you!" He said taking a deep bow.
      "From the other side."
     "How you doing?" Jafar asked a little girl Emma had never seen before standing all alone in the middle of all the chaos, the only response she gave was crying even louder than she already did, which only made Jafar's smile grow. 
     "Whoa, not good!
       Da-bot-ba-be-be-bap-bap,
       We-" The man turned in a slow circle, "Hey! We won't be denied,
       Now we're back from the other side!
       Seriously, though, this is a show about-" Jafar sang the next part being taken over by maleficent's minions.
     "Revenge! It's taboo, but it's hardly something new,
       There's nothing your little heroes still can do,
       Except maybe just disappoint you."
     Jafar joined Maleficent on the stage, the two laughing at each other, sharing a look as if they could not believe they had made it this far. "There's no destiny or fate," The evil fairy started.
      "Just a terrifying wait." Jafar continued. 
     "Fueled by us, the people that you hate." The two sang together, "And on a certain date, we will kill you!"
     "That's the thing with life," The evil fairy sang on her own, breathing in deep to belt out the next line. "No one makes it out alive!"
     "Gosh, it's aweful," Jafar sang, faking concern.
     "Ain't it tragic?" Maleficent asked the evil sorcerer in response. Fairy Godmother, finding her courage, tried to grasp her wand back from the evil fairy. To no avail. Before she could even get close enough, Maleficent turned her to stone, the green light of her staff casting long shadows on the fairy's face.
    "Blah, blah, good fairy magic." The horned woman said alsmost bored with Fairy Godmother's attempt to stop her.
     "When you're evil, who gives a shit?" Jafar sang, giving a push to the stone Fairy Godmother.
    Emma couldn't look, but before she could close her eyes, her father jumped forward, grunting when the full weight of Fairy Godmother landed in his arms. Still, he had managed to save her from having the same fate as the man only moments ago.
     Belle had also rushed after her husband, helping him place her gently to the ground.
     The wave of relief that had washed over Emma as she saw her parents save Fairy Godmother got overshadowed by dread as she realized they had drawn the villains' attention by that one act of heroism.
    "From the cradle to cremation," they sang as Jafar's snake started to creep around them.
     From the corner of her eyes, Emma saw Aggie. She held a sword, probably stolen from one of the decorative armor. She sneaked close to the ground, getting closer and closer, sword at the ready to strike at either the snake or Maleficent or Jafar, whoever was in her reach first.
     Only the snake came closer too, its body aiming to incase Emma together with her parents. Aggie was too close, Emma couldn't let her be trapped too. She had to act fast.
     For the first time, Emma moved on her own. She rushed at her friend and pushed her out of the way of the snake. "Go! Get everyone to safety." Emma hissed at her friend. There was only a split second in which she could actually see the startled expression on Aggie's face before the snake towerd over her.
     "Revenge just needs a little conversation."   
    "I have masterd the art," Maleficent sang, approaching Belle and Adam, her staff glowing green. "Of tearing convention apart." Emma wanted to scream, run at ger parents, but the Snake, who'se body had formed a round cage around them, wouldn't let her pass. Yellow eyes staring at her, tongue flicking.
    "So, how about we all make a start." Jafar joined in with Maleficent. "On the whole, reveeeeeeenge thinggggg!" The two trailed their notes as Maleficent released the magic of her staff. Adam tried to shield Belle, while Belle reached out to her daughter as stone crept over their skin.
     "No!" Emma exclaimed, jumping to the right in a desperate attempt to get to her parents, but the snake was faster, knocking her down with his tail. The young Queen pushed herself into a sitting position, only to look up and see Maleficent and Jafar looming over her. Maleficent's staff already glowing as it readied its next pateification spell.
     "Oh, I hope you're ready for a show about revenge!" Right before Maleficent send her curse towards Emma, Mal came in between.
     "Wait!" Emma hadn't even noticed the tears that streamed down her face until she realized everything around her had become blurry.
     Maleficent signed, rolling her eyes at her daughter. "What? Mal? Don't tell me you started to care about this one, do I really have to remind you again? Love is-"
     "Weakness. I know." The purple haired girl interrupted her mother. "It's just..." she glanced back at Emma, not able to stand the look of betrayal and pure heartbreak in her eyes for more than a second before looking back. "Petrification is too easy. We should lock her away and let her live with her failure as Queen."
     Maleficent twirled her staff in her hands, thinking about her daughter's words, venomous green eyes locked on Emma like a predator considering the best way to kill their prey. "Let her wallow in grief and regret in a cold dark cell until she dies from heartbreak..." Maleficent mused, before exclaiming, "Excellent!"
     Mal tried her best not to show the way she jumped from her mother's exclamation, nor the slight relief she felt of not having Emma turn to stone. "That really is pure evil. Mal, never thought I'd say this but I am proud of you. Minions!" The evil fairy yelled at two of her goblins, the snake slithered away while a magical green rope bound Emma's hands together. "Take her to the dungeons! Now, where was I?" Maleficent turned away, walking off with Jafar following in her footsteps, leaving Mal to look at Emma.
     The young woman, bound by magical ropes, her dress ripped, cheeks stained with tears, crown on her head.
     Mal wanted to say something- anything. But she found herself unable to move her tongue. She should be happy, the Isle was free, she reached her goal. But then why did her heart beat so painfully against her chest? Why couldn't she breathe?
     The moment Mal tried to breathe in and say something, Maleficent's goblins were there, they jerked on Emma's binds to force her to come with them, making the young woman flinch in pain.
     "Careful!" Mal bit at the goblins before she could stop herself, "we want her alive and in one piece, got it?" She quickly followed it up, hoping her mother hadn't noticed any of that. She did not want to find out what would happen if she had heard the concern in that one panicked word.
     The goblins growled something vaul under their breath, but continued leading Emma away without hurting her.
     Mal watched as Emma disappeared out of the room, only when the big doors closed behind them she found herself able to breathe again. Her eyes met Evie's, who stood not too far from her near the doors.   
     The look in the woman's eyes filled with concern and something Mal could not place.     
     Quickly, Mal turned away from her friend, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
     There was no room for regret. This had been their goal when coming to Auradon. They had worked and schemed and deceived just like their parents wanted of them. And they had won. This was their story, their victory. Evil Lives.

End of Part One

🐉●°●👑●°●🐉

A/N

Aaaand there you have it! The end of part one. This chapter took me longer than I'd like to admit....

Aaanyways! Hope you guys enjoyed it!

I will be taking a short break where I'll o back to editing this book. Pretty sure I still got one or two chapters in first person... Imma fix that.

I'm aiming to start with part two within a week or two, three at most.

Okay! That's it! Have a good day/night, whatever it is!

~Purple Dragon