My feet hit the ground first, sending a shockwave up my right leg where Gothel cut into me. I cry out, falling to my hands and knees. Above me, the flames rush from the lab room into this one, gathering itself around me in a protective ring. I stare at the fire in astonishment.

And then---

"Ellie!" Carlos' voice rings clear in the otherwise dark room. My fire lashes out in the general direction of his voice, and I get a quick glimpse of my boyfriend shackled to the wall before the blue retracts back to me, leaving us in total darkness.

"Carlos?" I check hesitantly.

"Yeah." He says, quieter. "Um... Where are you? Why is there a hole in the ceiling?"

"Probably because Gothel was trying to do some weird science experiment on me and I exploded, and then broke the floor."

"Wait----Repeat that. Gothel is the one who kidnapped us with P------aaaahhhh, Dark Dude?" Carlos demands.

"I'm calling him Leroy out loud. For some reason, thinking his name doesn't do anything for me." I say.

"Wouldn't that be handy." Carlos grumbles.

"But, no, the people after me are Leroy, Gothel, and your mom."

"MOM!?" Carlos practically bellows.

"Carlos, shut up!" I hiss, trying to stand and falling again.

Carlos sounds like he's holding his breath for a second. I force myself to stand, hating how dizzy it makes me. "Do you know if there are any lights?"

"Um, no. Nobody's ever come in here since PiiiiiiiiiLeroy's powers dumped me into these stupid handcuffs."

I groan, already hating the idea of summoning even a wisp of my fire. But, every second we waste is another that we could be found. So I close my eyes, raising one hand and snapping it. When I open it again, a tiny cadle-like flame is bouncing off my finger, illuminating the room.

Carlos whistles. "So you're still a popsicle."

"Don't make me regret wanting to rescue you." I scold, limping over to him. All humor disappears from his face as he sees my knee.

"Woah. What did Gothel do to you?" he asks.

"Gave me one measly cut." I complain, shaking my hand a few times to get my fire to grow bigger. The heat inside my chest grows as well, and the cuffs holding Carlos to the wall snap under my grip. He stands and hugs me tight.

"We gotta get out of here." He says. "I don't suppose you can poof?"

I laugh, but it turns into a weird mixture of a whimper and a yelp when I put more pressure on my leg. Shifting my weight to my other one, I shake my head. "I can already tell I can't. Leroy traps all shadows coming in or out. We'll need to sneak out."

"Hard, considering the nice skylight you gave my cell." Carlos says. "Any chance you could replicate that on the door?"

I purse my lips, knowing full well the answer should be yes.

Carlos puts an arm around my waist. "Ellie, you're literally shaking. What the heck did Gothel do to your leg?"

I glance down at my jeans. The cut on my kneecap makes my head spin even more, and not because it's deep.

Because it's glowing blue. Just like the cuts I had when my mom's powers were killing me.

I glance back up at Carlos, hoping he won't notice. "Yes. I can do it." I hear myself saying, and he smiles, gesturing to the door. I hobble over to it, basically bouncing on my bad leg, until I reach the slight outline of the door. My fire sputters out, gathering in my palm as I lay a hand against the wood. Within seconds, my fire spreads, disintegrating it and leaving a few metal hinges that fall to the ground.

"Handy." Carlos says, waving his hand in the empty space. Still holding on to me, he helps me out of the room. "Where to now?"

I glance either way. To one side, I sense an immense amount of darkness. To the other, nothing. I point to the emptiness.

"Leroy is that way." I explain when Carlos gives me a strange look. "I can... feel him, to an extent."

Carlos shrugs, and we slowly make our way down the hallway. Every other second, I expect some big nasty to jump out and shriek "SURPRISE!", so when we make it up a flight of stairs to my empty cell, I'm... well, surprised.

"Sera should be here." I point to her unoccupied cell.

Carlos' eyebrows crunch together. "Are you sure?"

I notice the jagged hole in the back, not-so-subtly covered by a curtain. "She probably broke out already."

Carlos groans. "And now she's either looking for us or running away."

"She's Sera." I say as answer. "She's probably doing both."

Carlos chuckles. "We better find her."

"Follow the screaming." I joke. He laughs, and helps me over to her cell, where I turn her bars to dust. We follow holes in the walls for a while, until we finally come out in a circular room with a single window glaring light inside. There's dust everywhere, along with a single stone removed from its spot and replaced with a bucketload of cement. Sera's holes of explosions have disappeared, so Carlos and I just shuffle around the room for a while looking for clues.

"Ellie." Carlos' voice is filled with warning as he points to something across the room, laying on the floor admits an area of disturbed dust. I let go of him, hopping over to one of Sera's brown fingerless leather gloves. (With a gold design that says "Icy's Friend" on it, so I know it's her's).

"We have to get out of here." Carlos says, glancing for the window. "We can go for help. Let's---" He moves to it, and his face goes white as he backs away. "Nevermind."

I groan as I remember where we are. "Rapunzel's tower. Of course. We're seventy feet off the ground!"

"I don't suppose you have any of your dad's powers to help?" Carlos asks, his voice tight.

"No."

"Thought so." He looks out again. "Maybe Flynn left some arrows behind?"

I glance down at my knee. "I don't think I'd be able to hold that."

He follows my gaze, worry crossing briefly over his face. But he doesn't mention the glow. He just moves back over to me. "We're going to get out of here, Ellie. And just think---pretty soon, your dad will come POOF-ing in here, P--uh, Leroy's powers or no."

I smile weakly. "Yeah."

Carlos gives me a side-hug. "You know, maybe we could just threaten one of the villains to let us out."

"Your mom would be most intimidated, I think." I say. "I talked to her for a couple minutes, and she didn't even try to hurt me. She was kind of..."

"Crazy." Carlos sighs. "Yeah."

"You actually grew up with her?"

He rolls his head around, scratching the back of his neck. "Yes. And I'm pretty positive that she hasn't changed at all. Does she still squeak that stupid stuffed dog?"

"Her 'baby', yes." I put air quotes around baby.

Carlos laughs. "Of course." He glances around, and his eyes catch on the cement hole. "Wait a minute."

"What?"

Carlos crosses over to it, kneeling beside the chipping cement. "This is the hidden escape route!"

"How do you know that?" I ask, hopping over to join him.

"I was really bored our first night here in Auradon, and before I discovered the world of video games, I downloaded the schematics to all the hero's old homes or whatever so we could... you know." he looks up, turning pink. "Ransack them."

I kneel beside him, keeping my weight off my bad leg. I put a hand on his shoulder and offer a fleeting smile. It's insane to think that a little less than two years ago, we were still kids planning to take over Auradon.

"So you think this could get us out?" I ask.

Carlos turns back to it. "Yeah. Maybe you could...?"

I smile, taking my free hand and pressing it against the cement. Just as I'd hoped, once it dissolves away, I find it only reached down a few feet before hitting a trap door that opens to a ladder.

I grin. "Nice. C'mon!" I stand on my left leg, dusting my knees off. "Maybe we can poof after I get far enough away. And then we can come back and get Sera, and get rid of P---ah, Leroy."

Carlos nods and opens his mouth to answer, but instead I hear a chilling voice from behind us.

"That won't be necessary."

Feeling all the hope I had shrivel up, I hop on my leg to turn around and face Pitch. To my delight, I don't see Cruella or Gothel. Pitch drags himself into the room, his shadow lengthening.

"I just love it when captives think they can escape." Pitch says, a smirk on his face.

Carlos stands, moving in front of me in a defensive manner. "You're not taking her again."

"Us." I jump in.

"Right, either of us." Carlos corrects himself.

Pitch rolls his eyes, smiling his thin smile. "I have no interest in taking either of you, believe me. Since Gothel was unable to finish her... whatever it was she was doing... in time, I no longer have a purpose for you."

My heart stops.

"Goodbye."

If Carlos had been behind me, I would've been able to push him into the trap door in time. As it was, since he was in front of me, all I was able to do was have time to get in front of him and take the brunt of the impact as Pitch's shadows wrap around us, flinging us toward and out of the window.

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TA DA

I'm guessing you call are going to recognize the next chapter... mwahahaha... ;)