⚔︎

The bells rang, dismissing the last class of the day, and Claudia grabbed onto Elodie's hand and ran. She didn't stop running until they were back at their dorm.

"What the hell was that for?" The redhead panted, out of breath, "You literally just dragged me all over campus."

The blonde walked over to her closet and smirked, telling Elodie all she needed to know, "No, no, Dia, no. I'm not getting stuffed into a-"

Claudia pulled out the intended dress for Elodie, and the redhead gasped.

It was absolutely breathtaking. What looked to have been silver feathers or leaves covered a light, dusty pink-nude fabric, creating an elegant yet sophisticated look.

"Stuffed into a what?" Claudia asked teasingly, a knowing smirk slapped on her face. "I know. My mom has a great eye."

"Yeah, she does." Elodie replied, jaw slacked. A chuckle escaped her lips as she lifted her hand to grace the fabric.

It was soft to the touch and the girl smiled. Claudia let a soft laugh escape her, as well, "Never anything this soft on the Isle, huh?"

Elodie's smile dropped the longer she though over her roommates question. Her mind swarmed with images of a certain pirate and his hat, to images of family game night with her parents.

God, her father.

She felt tears well in her eyes the longer her senses flooded with his smell, his laugh, - everything.

Her breathing picked up and her ears rang, the sound echoing through her mind as she realized that she couldn't quite remember the way he looked.

The usually distinct boney features couldn't be recalled through her memory and she found herself looking at a blacked out image of his face.

The ringing sound became deafening, and Elodie dropped to her knees as she couldn't balance properly or catch her breath.

Claudia quickly dropped as well, starting to shake her roommates shoulders as the door to their dorm opened abruptly.

Elodie forced herself to look at the intruder, when she caught sight of Mal's tear stained face.

"El, can we tal-" The blonde cut herself off as she stared at the redhead, mouth open, "Oh my god, El, are you okay?" She asked frantically, quickly running over and dropping in front of her ex-best friend.

The King girl tried pushing Mal away from herself, but it was no use. God, she felt like she was going to pass out. All the air she was desperately trying to inhale seemed to disappear every time she opened her mouth.

Mal noticed this and racked her brain to find some way to relief her old companion of this panic attack. Finally, it clicked and she sucked in a large breath before promptly diving in and capturing Elodie's lips in hers.

Claudia widened her eyes at the two. She knew all too well of Elodie's past crush on the girl and how and when their friendship fell out. How hurt the redhead was because of Mal's actions.

Speaking of Elodie, it took a minute for what was happening to register, but when it did, red, hot anger flashed through her. Quickly, she pushed Mal away from her, and the blonde stumbled backwards.

The redheads eyes flickered from their muted blue to a glowing, electric cerulean. Bringing her hand up, she brought it across her former friends face at a light speed pace, "What the fuck was that?" Elodie screeched, eyes impossibly wide.

"It was to help you hold your breath!" Mal yelled back, hand rubbing over her irritated and bubbled skin of her cheek, "My God, you didn't have to slap me."

"You slapped me at Ben's coronation and gave me a concussion!"

"You-"

"Stop!" Claudia yelled out suddenly, tired of the arguing, "Mal, El just had a panic attack so maybe now isn't the best time for you two to talk?"

"No," Elodie interjected, surprising not only herself, but the two other girls in the room, "It's... best if we get it over with so I don't have to deal with it later. Dia, can you give us the room?"

The Le Bouff girl hesitantly nodded and stood up, making her way towards the door.

When the door closed behind her, Mal cautiously turned towards Elodie, "I need to go back to the Isle."

The redheads eyes widened at the girl as she sucked in a breath, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I- I don't belong here, El. I'm never going to be the Lady of the Court they want me to be." Mal explained, tears welling in her eyes.

"I could've told you that." Elodie mumbled, though the blonde still picked up on it, "So what? You want me to cover for you? We're not friends anymore, Mallory." The redhead deadpanned.

"I want you to come with me."

Elodie felt the blood drain from her face at that. Sure, it would give her the chance to see her mom - and possibly a certain pirate - but she would have to spend all of her time with her ex-best friend.

"Come on, El. I- I just want to make things right between us. I thought if you would come with me, it could happen." Mal stressed upon not getting a reply, "Please."

"No, Mal, I'm not just going to follow you around like some lost puppy while you figure yourself out. I did that before and look how it turned out. I got stabbed in the fucking back." Elodie said, straight faced, "Go or don't go but it won't be with me."

⚔︎

An hour or so later, Elodie sat in a chair, distracted on her phone while Ben worked on his Kingly duties. They were in his extravagantly grand office - one that was too grand for the girls taste - and it was almost silent except for the soft hum of Shake it off by Taylor Swift playing from Elodie's phone and the clock ticking repetitively.

"Debra?" Ben called out, and the redhead snickered as the woman's voice came through the speakers, "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Can you ask Lumiere to call me regarding Cotillion?"

She replied instantly, "Yes, Sir."

"Thank you."

Elodie was opening her mouth as the door to the office opened abruptly, cutting off the consonant she was about to voice.

"Ben?" A voice spoke from the doorway, and both the King and Elodie's heads snapped up at the familiar voice, "Evie? Come on in." Ben said, standing up.

The former Evil-ette closed the door behind herself, before turning around and facing both of them, "Mal's gone back to the Isle."

Ben's face dropped while Evie's held a solemn look as she walked to him and handed him a note, "Ben..." she trailed off, placing a gold ring in his palm.

Elodie walked up behind him and peered over his shoulder as he hastily unfolded the piece of paper, "I am so sorry..." he mumbled quietly, and the rest was incoherent under his breath.

He crumpled up the paper in his hand as his breathing quickened, "This is my fault. I blew it. She'd been under so much pressure lately and instead of being understanding, I just went all beast on her." He slammed his hands on his desk, before turning to Evie, "I have to go there and apologize. I have to go there and beg her to come back."

"Ben," Evie sighed, "You'll never find her." The King started to interject before the girl cut her off, "You need to know the Isle and how it works, and... You have to take me with you."

"Yes." Ben said instantly, "Uh... Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Evie sighed, nodding, "She's my best friend. And we'll bring the boys, too, because there is safety in numbers and none of us are really too popular over there right now."

"Um-" Elodie started to question where she was at in the equation before being cut off by Ben, "Thank you."

"But let's get two things straight." Evie turned to face him, "You have to promise me that I won't get stuck there again."

Ben looked taken aback and offended by the question, "I promise."

"And there's no way you're going looking like that."

Elodie laughed loudly, gaining both Evie and Ben's attention, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just getting completely ignored here."

Evie eyes widened at her former friends outburst, "I just didn't think you'd want to come, thinking of what happened last year."

"You didn't even give me a chance to speak for myself, you just assumed." The redhead deadpanned, glaring slightly. Ben chuckled nervously at the rising tension, "You can come too, El."

"Good. Because Evie's right, there is no way in hell you are stepping on my turf like that."

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