(For the gif above...what can I say? I'm a PB nerd at heart.)

Practically everyone gasps at the same time when we realize Mal is right. Ben's face is practically unrecognizable, covered in bruises and cuts and a swollen eye. His normally immaculate blue suit is full of tears and what I really hope is ketchup. 

"Oh my God." Maira whispers. I notice Krissy, Andy, and Lily hiding their faces. 

"What is she doing?" Mahina asks. "Is she wearing...?" Mahina's dark skin goes pale. "She's wearing his crown!"

I look closer and see that she's right, Ben's gold crown is resting lopsided on her braids. When Mal sees that her eyes spark green and it takes the combined effort of Carlos, Sera and I to hold her back.

"Mal! We have to get closer if we're going to do anything," I hiss through my teeth. I drag her back down behind the hill and she calms down a bit.

"Fine. But we are getting down there. Now." She commands. I nod. 

"Everyone coming?" I ask our group. Every single person nods, though Ella a bit reluctantly. 

"OY! WHO'RE YOU LOT?" Someone yells behind us, making all of us jump in surprise and let out some very undignified noises. I turn around to see the two pirate guards staring at us, my Mist long gone. 

"Whoops." I mutter. 

"You lot, come wif us!" One of the pirates says, holding his sword out. 

"Not a chance." I say, raising my hand to throw my ice, but Maira beats me to it. Her hand plunges into her bag and whips out a blue sphere. 

"EAT WISP!" She yells, throwing it hard between the two. It explodes on the ground with a blue explosion that swarms angrily around the pirates. They both scream and start trying to bat the sparkly blue balls away and then they run off, right into the water. I think they're trying to get rid of them by getting underwater. 

I look over at Maira, impressed. "Where'd you get that?"

She just glares again. "It's not real wisps. It's images. A little bit of magic Hade---You dad taught me."

"Uh, guys?" Rania gestures back over the hill. "We've got a problem."

I run up next to her and my heart drops. Every single pirate is turned towards us. And none of them look very happy. 

"Whoops." Maira says sarcastically. 

"You couldn'ta found a quieter way of gettin' 'em?" Sera snarls, her eyes sparking red. 

"No, I definitely didn't have a different solution I could have pulled out." Maira snaps. 

"Shut up, you two!" Mal snaps. 

And suddenly, the pirates and villains all yell at once and start running for us, waving their swords and weapons around joyfully. Uma alone remains still, glaring at us with Gil still holding Ben's rope around his wrists. Ben's head moves slowly towards us and sees us on the hill. 

"BEN!" Mal yells. "We're coming!" She starts running again but Jane waves her wand and we disappear in a flurry of sparkles. We reappear on the platform with Uma, Gil and Ben, and all of the pirates still galloping the other way.  Mal lunges for Uma before the pirate can react and punches her in the face. Uma stumbles backward but stays upright.

"GIL! GET 'EM!"

But Gil's gone oddly still. He's still holding Ben, but he's looking back and forth from Uma to Brit, Uma to Brit. 

"Well?" Uma demands. 

Gil's jaw sets. "No." He lets go of Ben's rope and helps him up. "I'm sick of you ordering me around. And hurting people. And hurting Brit!"

Uma scoffs. "Oh, like your girlfriend actually knows you exist."

Gil goes pink but doesn't move.  "She cares about me more than you do."

If she was any madder, I expect Uma would explode. 

"You...Are...NOT...Betraying...Me." She hisses. 

Gil looks confused. "Um, yes? I would have thought that'd be obvious."

Uma lets out a guttural scream and lunges for him, but in a poof of smoke she's wrapped in inky black tendrils like ropes. I look at my dad, but he shakes his head. 

"Uh..." Carlos points to my hands. Gray magic floats off the tips of my fingers, feeding Uma's bonds. I realize that I'm the one who tied her up. But I didn't even try!

"Nice job, Icy, but we got a bigger problem." Sera points to the huge crowd of pirates and villains now staring at us. I reach down and grab Uma, flinging my hands downward so a burst of dark magic flies down from my hands, pushing me into the air. I keep sending bursts until I'm on top of the castle. 

"Stay." I order Uma. I connect her ropes to the roof and pat her head. She looks ready to murder me. Her necklace is glowing, so I rip it off her. "Nice try. Be right back."

I jump off the roof and fling my hands down to spark magic again to slow my descent. My friends (and Maira) have already engaged with the mob of pirates, but I catch Mal in dragon-mode flying through the air with Ben on her back with Ella holding onto him. Mal roars and sends a burst of flames into the pirates, making them scatter. 

"THA'S THE BEST YOU GOT?" One of the villains yells. 

Mal roars again and this time it's an explosion from the ground that sends a bunch of them flying. I catch Sera in the center, grinning with her fist on the concrete. 

"Nice one!" I yell, mimicking her and slamming my fist on the ground. Mine isn't nearly as extravagant, a dome of ice exploding into existence over me and shattering into daggers that target the villains solely around me. 

Krissy appears in front of me. "Would you mind doing that one more time?" she asks. I do as she asks, but this time she grabs them from the air and holds a fistful in each hand, grinning evilly. "Thank you!" Then she cackles and runs off, using them to poke people's shins and legs. I notice her handing some to Andy to use, too. Lily helps, but she only uses one, and she has a canister of lemon juice with her. I grin.

While punching a few villain faces, I look around my group. Carlos can be seen helping Jay whack a cowering pirate over the head with tourney spoons, while Lonnie and Evie are stealing swords from unaware pirates. Shang and Eugene are up on a balcony, snickering while they drop bricks on villains below. Rania, Kalia, Mahina, and my Aunt are running around holding Rania's hair as a trip wire. Rapunzel and Peter Pan and his son are next to Maira and Merida, the latter two using their entire arsenal (enchanted by fairies nearby) against the crowd. Quentin and the gang from Paris (except Brit, I don't see her) are making pirates step into poofs of smoke from Esmeralda and reappearing in the air, screaming as they fall. Jane is waving her wand, changing people's hair colors while Dizzy instructs her which colors would look worst. 

But it's when I finally see Brit that my heart swells with pride. Brit is grinning her head off, punching a guy in a long black robe with a funky triangle hat. 

"GO, BRIT!" I yell. She catches sight of me and grins wider, pointing a ways away while her dad tries to gather himself. I follow where her finger leads and see Gil fighting another pirate. 

And then villain appears in front of me. Not one I recognize, someone with frizzy black hair and black eyes. They grin and try to punch me, but I duck easily and use my leg to sweep them off their feet. I'm celebrating for a second when a familiar face appears in front of me. Or, should I say, two familiar faces. 

I groan aloud. "Hello, Hanses."

_________________________________________

So... sad to say, this will be the last update for a bit. My finals start tomorrow, so I really need to focus, and my summer starts this Friday, and my computer time away from school is... pretty scarce. 

Sorry to leave the readers I am so happy read this on this cliff-hanger (not my BEST one, but ya know.. it's decent as far as cliff-hangers go. :P)

But I'll be on as often as possible, trying to write fast enough to keep up with the crazy comments people leave!

That's another thingy.

Thank you to each and every person who reads this! Currently I'm at like 20.5K views, and I never expected this to get over 50! *sends candy THAT IS NOT TWIX (@BeautyBeastRose )*

Also, a shoutout to @readstoomuch53546 for the AWESOME KOTLC/Robin Hood fanfic with an amazing amount of Princess Bride stuff.  

Also, I NOW HAVE A REAL COVER!!! Still same picture, but NOW IT HAS WORDS!!!!

OK. Goodbye until next time!

(P.S. please still comment. I love reading feedback. Don't hate me!)