Izzy:

Yeva:

Malia:

Ara:

Mari:

Anthony:

Bane:

River:

Gaige:

Izzy and Harry's Mansion - Foyer

There was a knock on the door, persistent.

Harry walked closer to the door. "All right, all right, already." He opened the door, seeing Bane outside. Bane looked a little nervous. Harry smirked, leaning against the doorway, dangling a hook between his fingers. "Perfect. I was wondering when I would see you one on one, Bane. Maybe this time I'll actually get to hook ya."

"In your dreams, Hooky," Bane replied. "Pretty sure Izzy will have something to say about that."

Harry tilted his head, shrugging. "Isabella will probably give me another warning 'Harry', but what else is new?"

"You're not gonna hook me, Harry, so drop the act," Bane told him. "You went soft and we all know it."

Harry rolled his eyes but couldn't deny it. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just came here to talk to Izzy," Bane answered. "Believe it or not, Harry, but not everyone who comes here is looking to have a sassy banter with you and your hook. This is the mansion that Izzy herself got, so I would like to talk to her."

"What about?" Harry asked. "She's not really in the mood to talk to anyone."

"Well, you two tend to forget that Mari and I are her bosses," Bane told him.

Harry scoffed, chuckling. "Please. No one can boss Isabella, Princess of Hearts/Diamonds, around."

"You're right, it never works," Bane agreed.

"Well, if it's just for the magic school, can it wait until the morning?" Harry asked. "Just with everything going on with Izzy and Azari... and the things she's thinking..."

"Things that we're all thinking, you mean?" Bane asked. "Admit it, Harry. All the signs point to Azari..."

Harry sighed. "Yes, we know. Even Izzy thinks so."

Bane nodded. "Yeah, well, I did a test, to prove if we were right or wrong."

Harry looked behind him, sighing, looking at Bane. "And were we right, or were we wrong?"

Bane licked his lips, nodding nervously. "I think we all know that we were right. That's why I gotta talk to Izzy. And that's why I don't have time for banter. This is serious."

"Yeah, it is," Harry agreed. "You have no idea how serious."

"What are you talking about?" Bane asked.

"Izzy's been having issues with slipping back into madness," Harry answered. "We're trying to fight it off, but with everything going on with her, and obsessing about Azari..."

Bane nodded in understanding. "Harry, is it even a good time to tell her about this?"

Harry sighed. "She needs to know. I think we all learned the hard way about keeping Izzy and Yeva in the dark about what Mal and Malia did with their ties with me, Gaige, Gil, Uma and River."

"True," Bane agreed. "But we could be protecting her sanity, Harry."

Harry tilted his head back, sighing. "We'll figure it out. Just get the hell in."

Bane walked inside. "Don't tell me what to do... Hooky."

Harry rolled his eyes, closing the door, clenching his fist.

-----

Living Room

Izzy was pacing on her own, thinking, turning to look at the case with her scepter, with her mother, still inside. She heard a stronger whisper from the case and the scepter, frowning in confusion, walking toward the case.

A hallucination of Azari appeared in her way. "I know. It's so much louder than normal, isn't it? More demonic, wouldn't you say?" Izzy looked at him in shock, breathing unevenly. "Hi, Isabella. Long time, no see. Well, a few days at least, since you tried to kill me."

"You were trying to kill everyone I love," Izzy replied. "And I'm not gonna let you do that. No matter who you may or may not be to me."

Azari appeared behind Izzy. "Why don't you just say what we all already know..." He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Daughter?"

Izzy turned to face him angrily. "Don't you dare call me that. Not after everything you've done to all my friends and all of Auradon."

Azari chuckled mockingly. "You care so much for Auradon, don't you? You've helped save it so many times already. But you're the one that went back to the Isle. You missed being evil when no one else did. Maybe that's because, unlike everyone else, it's in your blood. If you're the granddaughter of the Chernabog and the former queen of the Underworld, not to mention the daughter of me and Isa, Queen of Hearts, Princess Izzy of Diamonds."

Izzy shook her head, breathing unevenly. "Shut up. You're not real. You're not here. You're just in my head."

Azari nodded sarcastically, putting a finger to his chin. "Hmm. Now, that you're right on, Izzy. But you should know, this isn't you going insane. Everything else is."

"What?" Izzy asked.

"This is who you are, Isabella," Azari mocked. "The insanity, the darkness, the evilness. It's part of who you are, it's in your DNA. Literally. The others, they don't understand. The evil's not literally in their blood going back generations like our family."

Izzy glared at him furiously. "Do not say that."

"Don't say what?" Azari asked. "'Our family'. That's what we are, Izzy. Family. And you hear the demonic whispers coming from the scepter? Do you know why that is? Because the demon side of you is starting to wake up."

Izzy shook her head in denial, turning around, holding her head. "No. No, no, no, no."

Azari chuckled. "Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You're still my and Isa's daughter. Meaning that you are a shadow demon demigoddess. And that means you're going to see more and more of me as time goes by. And I'm far from done with you, Isabella. And I have to say, this is going to be my best torture yet. Turning my own daughter into the shadow demon demigoddess that she is meant to be. I won't have to hurt your friends, your love Harry Hook. You'll do it yourself."

Izzy was getting angrier, shaking her head. "No."

"Your world is whatever I want it to be," Azari told her. "Your life is whatever I want it to be. Remember before you trapped Isa in the scepter, how she ruled over everything in your life? She made you into a coldhearted heartbreaker that took pleasure in breaking the hearts of any boy she was with, and made them lose their heads. You have to wonder if the reason why Harry Hook lost his mind so much is because of how your mother made you break him too."

Izzy had tears in her eyes, still very angry but becoming very upset. "No. Harry Hook--"

"Harry Hook was already like that before you two were together?" Azari finished. "But you have to know that you made him worse, too."

"I never wanted to," Izzy seethed, breathing heavily. "And I've been helping him. He's been helping me."

"Both of you are far too gone to be helped," Azari tormented her.

Izzy turned around. "Stay the hell away from me. Leave me alone."

Azari appeared in front of her. "Now we're getting there."

Izzy leaned her head against the wall to try and shut him out. "Shut up."

"It's the big crescendo," Azari mocked.

Izzy opened her glowing red eyes, nearly snapping from the hallucination of Azari preying on the vulnerable state of her mind, raising her voice. "Get out of my head!"

Izzy turned around, trying to use her magic to get rid of the hallucination of Azari, but it narrowly missed Bane and Harry, who had just been walking into the room.

Bane and Harry both jumped, dodging the magic, making it hit the wall behind them. "Whoa!"

Izzy walked closer, worried she had hurt them.

Harry walked closer. "Calm down."

Izzy looked around, completely overwhelmed and upset. "Did you see him?"

"See who?" Bane asked.

"Azari," Izzy answered. "He was here."

Bane and Harry shook their heads.

"Izzy, there was no one here," Harry told her.

"We walked in and you were talking to yourself," Bane told her.

Izzy fought back tears of frustration and confusion, shaking her head, breathing heavily. "No. No, no, no, I saw him."

Harry stroked her arms to try to calm her down. "Hey. I believe you. Okay? If you say you saw Azari, you saw him. But there's no one here now. It's just us."

"Did I hurt you?" Izzy asked. "Either of you?"

"No," Bane answered. "No, we're fine. I promise. More worried about you."

Izzy was clearly trying not to seem weak in front of them, looking away to hide the tears in her eyes and to try to compose herself.

Harry wasn't fooled by her tough act, turning her to face him in concern. "Isabella."

Izzy turned to Harry so they could embrace. Bane watched them worriedly in concern.

Izzy realized that it was weird for Bane to be here. "Bane, what--what are you doing here?"

Bane and Harry exchanged a look, not knowing whether or not to tell Izzy at the moment because of the state she was in and after the hallucination she had just had.

Bane sighed, shaking his head. "I just wanted to check in on you after the fight with Azari. I'm really sorry. About it all."

Izzy wasn't completely convinced but didn't know why Bane would lie, and at the moment, she didn't care because she was trying to process what had just happened, closing her eyes, leaning her head down on Harry's shoulder. "Harry..."

Harry sighed, closing his eyes, not happy about the lie but not knowing what else to do. "It's okay. It's okay, Izzy."

Bane looked at them sadly. "I had a vision of the old Guardian, Braven. He showed me the next artifact that Azari is going to use. I think we can stop him in time."

Harry gave Bane a look for pushing that onto them right after what just happened, glaring slightly, but they all knew that they had to do something. Izzy closed her eyes, swallowing, looking down.

-----

The Tower - Control Room

Izzy, Harry and Bane walked in.

"Hey, guys," Yeva told them. "What's going on?"

"Don't wanna talk about it," Izzy told them.

Malia frowned in confusion. "Izzy? You okay?"

"What's wrong?" Mal asked.

"She said she doesn't want to talk about it," Harry told them. "Just leave it at that for now, will you?"

Evie looked at her friend in concern. "Izzy? What happened?"

Izzy closed her eyes. "Mal, Malia, Evie, please."

Evie slowly nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Jay said carefully. "If we're not gonna talk about what's going on with you three, what are we here for?"

"Is this about Braven?" Yeva asked.

Braven appeared next to Bane, smiling. "Aw, she remembers me. It's official, Yeva Facilier is my favorite."

Bane chuckled. "Yeah, kinda."

"Who is Braven?" Malia asked.

"He is the original--" Bane started.

"And amazing," Braven interjected.

Bane rolled his eyes. "And annoying first Guardian. I met him yesterday."

"Yeah, last night, Bane got a vision from the first Guardian Braven," Mari explained. "He told me before he went over to Izzy and Harry's mansion."

"You... saw the first Guardian?" Carlos asked. "Well, what did he say?"

"A lot," Bane answered. "Yeah, he speaks a lot."

"I love you, too," Braven told him sarcastically.

Bane rolled his eyes. "But what you need to know is that he speaks to me about what being a Guardian is, and spoke to me about my powers and our item. Apparently I can turn my scepter into the Guardian's wand that is meant for us to help take Azari down and trap him again. And that I can turn that into a sword too, to help with the battles."

Ben smiled. "Awesome. Anthony got a sword too."

"Anthony got a what?" Uma asked.

Anthony winced. "Yeah, we didn't get enough time to tell everyone before, but the crystal prism thing that showed up to Carlos before? It showed up to me and Ben, too."

"Anthony got a katana, and I got double staffs," Ben explained. "It was exactly like Carlos explained. We pulled out the crystals that were calling to us, and they created the weapons for us specifically."

Celia smiled in awe. "Really? That is so..."

Celia and Gil finished, "Cool!"

The others smirked in amusement and agreement.

"That does sound pretty awesome," Gaige agreed.

"Yeah," Ara said. "I guess."

"Okay, but what are all these weapons appearing to us for?" River asked.

"Yeah, and what is that Prism thing that keeps coming for us?" Ara asked.

"Can you please tell them to start calling it the Prism of the Chosen Ones?" Braven asked. "Since it's hard to come up with names for it not to be used. And you guys are chosen ones."

"Okay, guys, it's called the Prism of the Chosen Ones," Bane told them. "Long story." He looked at Braven. "There, you happy?"

The others but Yeva and Mari looked at him weirdly.

Ara whispered to Mari. "Who is he talking to?"

Mari smirked. "You'll see. Bane."

"What?" Bane asked.

"We can't see Braven, remember?" Mari asked.

"Oh, right, thanks, Mari, sorry," Bane said, embarrassed.

Mari looked at the others. "The Prism of the Chosen Ones first came to Carlos, and then Ben and Anthony. Not a coincidence, and we'll tell you why. Bane?"

Braven smirked. "I like Mari. Your little girlfriend knows what's up."

Bane tried to ignore Braven while talking to the others. "Braven acts like my guide now, so he can appear to me, meaning you can't see him."

River muttered to herself. "Creepy."

Hearing River, Mari hit her on the arm. "Stop it."

"Okay, ignoring that, totally not weird moment..." Celia trailed off. "Can you go back to the fact that he named it?"

Bane nodded in agreement. "That was one of the things that he explained to me about. The weapons appearing to us is actually Braven's way of helping us. His spirit, anyway."

"So you're saying that Braven's spirit is sending that crystal thing..." Evie started.

Braven got annoyed. "Bane."

Bane knew what Braven's problem was. "Evie."

Evie nodded in understanding. "Sorry, that Prism of the Chosen Ones to each of us so that we can get our own weapons?"

Mari and Bane nodded.

"How the hell does that make any sense?" Malia asked.

"It doesn't, Malia," Mal told her.

"Well, actually, it kinda does," Yeva told them. "I mean, the Guardians were only created so that they could try and stop and trap Azari so he can't rule over everyone, right? Even in death, the first Guardian Braven is trying to help Bane become the Guardian that he's supposed to be, and trying to help us get ready for the battle that we will undoubtedly have to get Azari locked up again, by handing out these weapons, creating them for us based on ourselves, one by one, so that we can defeat Azari once and for all."

"You find out that you're a real voodoo queen not that long ago, and now you're an expert?" Jay asked in amusement.

Yeva smirked, tilting her head, shrugging. "Helps with being a telepath."

Jay smiled. "Oh, I'm sure it does."

"And I know that Yeva knew about Braven before me, even though Bane did end up telling me, but why did Yeva know before?" Mari asked.

"Uh, well..." Bane trailed off.

Harry smirked. "This should be good."

Braven chuckled. "Busted."

"Mari, it's just a lot has been happening and Yeva was there when I first woke up from seeing Braven the first time, and..." Bane trailed off.

"We still have a lot to talk about," Mari told him.

"Love me?" Bane asked innocently.

"Yes, but nice try," Mari told him.

Braven smiled. "You two are adorable."

"Okay, guys, focus," Anthony told them. "We have to be able to stop Azari and follow through on Braven's orders."

"Anthony's right," Ara agreed. "Bane, did Braven tell you anything else? Anything that you told Mari to tell us?"

"Well, just the teeny matter of, we know what artifact that Azari is going to be going after next," Mari answered nonchalantly.

"And you wait till now to tell us?" Uma asked skeptically.

Mari shrugged. "We were waiting for everyone to get here so we could be ready."

"Well, we're all here, so we're ready," River told them.

"Come on, spill your guts," Gaige told them. "What do we have to stop him from going after now?"

"It's called the Cube of Negation," Bane answered. "It's basically a magic cube that can suppress all magic or ability, strong enough to take the powers of me, Izzy, Yeva, Mal, Malia, Carlos, Ben, Anthony, Ara, Mari, Uma, River and Celia all away."

"Well, not yours, but till dangerous enough," Braven told him.

Bane ignored him. "Not important."

"So you're thinking that Azari's going to use it in Auradon to strip you all of your powers so that he can finally have the upper hand and kill us all," Harry told them.

Izzy glared off at nothing. "Sounds like Azari."

Harry and Bane looked at Izzy in concern after the hallucination earlier. No one else knew what that was about.

"All right, so we know about the cube now, and what Azari plans to do with it," Gil told them. "Where do we go to get this thing and stop him?"

"Oh, we don't know," Bane told them.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Celia asked.

"What do you think we mean?" Mari asked. "We're not a GPS system. Bane only saw Azari activating the cube and where he does it. It's not like there were freaking maps on the wall."

Mal sighed. "Well, what do you remember, Bane?"

Bane had to think back to the vision. "It was cold. It was a destroyed warehouse. It didn't have a roof, and it was snowing, like a lot. Once he activated the cube, it started to take all the energy of the place, and I felt it spreading. It must have taken the power of the whole city or whatever it was located at."

"Well, if it did take all the power, or something like that, it would be known, right?" Carlos asked. "Which means it would have ended up online, which means..."

"You can track it," Ara finished.

Carlos smiled. "You bet I can."

Carlos walked toward the computer to sit down and start looking online.

"Ara, Carlos, you two are still as adorable as ever, which is saying something, since Cruella just tried to kill you yesterday, Ara," Malia told her.

"They are," Braven agreed. "I like that, but I ship Yeva the Facilier voodoo queen and Jay the thief more."

Bane laughed.

River whispered to Gaige. "Did he just laugh at nothing?"

Gaige shrugged. "He is weird. We know that."

River nodded.

"Well, I think that all of us can agree on that that was not just Cruella's fault, but mostly Azari's," Evie told them.

"Yeah, as is most of the things that happened in Auradon since Yeva lowered the barrier on the Isle," Ben agreed.

Braven winced. "Damn."

Yeva scoffed, giving Ben a look, opening her mouth to speak, but Anthony cut her off.

"It's not Yeva's fault, Ben," Anthony told him.

Ben realized how what he said sounded. "No, I know that. Yeva, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was blaming you. I'm not."

"I get it, Ben," Yeva told him. "Don't sweat it."

"Carlos, you got anything?" Uma asked.

"I think so, "Carlos answered. "There's an unexplainable power outage in Russia, like all over one city."

"Really?" River asked. "Which city?"

Gaige looked at the computer. "It's capital. Moscow."

Gil smiled. "Great. Looks like we're going to Moscow."

"Moscow?" Celia repeated. "I don't wanna go to Moscow. It's freezing there. I don't do good with freezing. I learned that when Yeva, Jay, River, Gaige, Gil, Dad and I went to see the Northern Lights when Jay proposed to Yeva. I don't wanna go back to the cold."

Yeva walked toward Celia. "Well, that's a good thing, because you're not going anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Celia asked.

"You have an important exam for Auradon Prep, remember?" Yeva asked.

Celia remembered, wincing. "On second thought, I'd rather go face the cold."

Harry smirked. "Of course. Yeva, get onto little Celia. Or as everyone calls her, Mini Yeva."

Celia and Yeva looked at him. "Shut up, Harry."

Harry was only slightly surprised, smirking, while the others were really amused.

"Yeva, I really don't wanna do my exam," Celia told her.

"Well, that's really too bad, because you gotta do it," Yeva told her. "And we'll be fine, I promise. Besides, in case something goes wrong and you don't hear back from us, we need you here to tell Dad and Hades what we went to do and for you to bring them to us out there in case we need help. Okay? You get to lead your own little mission with the Shadow Man and the God of the Underworld."

Celia smiled excitedly. "Really?"

Yeva smiled, nodding. "Really."

Celia did a hand gesture of victory. "Yay."

Yeva gave her a look. "After you take your exam."

Celia pouted. "Boo."

The others smiled in amusement.

"Who else is still getting used to seeing Yeva as a big sister to Celia?" Gaige asked.

Everyone raised their hands.

"Bite me, Gaige," Yeva replied.

Everyone laughed.

Izzy sighed. "Okay, how do we get out to Russia without Azari sensing us coming?" Everyone looked at Izzy. "Don't look at me like that, I'm fine, and I'm going."

Braven looked at Bane. "That's a bad idea."

"Isabella, after earlier, are you sure that's a good idea?" Harry asked.

"What happened earlier?" Mal asked.

Izzy closed her eyes, sighing deeply. "Nothing you guys need to worry about. Harry, I'm sure. Don't worry about me."

Malia scoffed. "Harry? Not worrying about you? Good luck with that, Izzy."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Evie asked.

"No, I don't wanna talk about it, Evie," Izzy answered. "I wanna go out there and stop this guy before he hurts anyone else that we care about. Don't you all want that, too?"

"Of course we do, Izzy," Gil told her. "We don't want you getting hurt in the process."

"Why would I be hurt?" Izzy asked.

They all gave her a look.

"I think we are all thinking the same thing about Azari... and you," Jay told her.

"There is no Azari and me," Izzy told them. "And we're going to have to go and stop him from using this cube thing to disrupt magic and energy and power at all, so come on."

"All right," Anthony agreed to soothe her worries. "All right. We're going, and we're going now, okay?"

Izzy slowly nodded.

Ben looked at Bane. "Does Braven think anything of this?"

Bane looked at Braven.

"It sounds like a total trap," Braven told them.

Bane looked at Ben and Anthony. "No, nothing important."

Braven threw his arms out in a what the hell gesture.

Ara pointed at them. "Maybe we can use the private jets to get us there instead of magic so that Azari won't be able to tell that we're coming."

"Yes," Carlos agreed.

"The jets?" Uma repeated in amusement. "We're actually going to use jets to get there?"

River smirked. "Well, as I'm sure any VK would dream of flying in a jet, I'm looking forward to this mission just for the jet ride."

Gaige smirked. "I think we are, River. Come on. Izzy's right. We can't wait here forever."

Everyone looked at each other, nodding, though thy were all worried about any connection Izzy shared with Azari and what it could do to her sanity. Harry and Bane were obviously more worried given what they saw happen to her with her hallucination earlier, and they knew the confirmed truth, but knowing they all had to go.

------

Auradon

Out in the kingdom, on his own, Hades was making his way through, only stopping when he sensed something, looking up, turning to see the shadow demon god behind him. "Hello, Azari."

"Hello, Hades," Azari replied. "Looks like you could go for a drink."

"I would rather have you locked away again so you didn't try to send anyone after my daughters Mal and Malia like you did with Ara, like I'm sure you'll do for Mari, Uma and River," Hades replied. "Those four may be related to me, too, but Mal and Malia are my daughters."

"You forget that you gods back then were very incestuous," Azari replied. "Zeus and Demeter were the parents of Persephone. Zeus and Poseidon are your brothers. Poseidon being the great-grandfather to Ara and Mari, and the grandfather to Uma and River, and the uncle to Mal and Malia, and my mother, making Poseidon my great-uncle, same as you, since you were also the uncle to my mother. You left the Underworld for a time, and you saw my mother, and you fell for her, but she couldn't leave her mother Demeter's side, so you had her kidnapped. She only married you because you had her kidnapped and the gods convinced her to think that the marriage would be honorable. At first she was okay with it, she wasn't bothered. But then she had been possessed by one of the many evils inside Pandora's Box. The evil of Hate, which consumed her for a time.  That's why she had developed a deep hatred for Olympus and the entire world, and her bitterness being so great that she was willing to manipulate others and destroy the world, to where she even thought about committing suicide once, her plan being to die in peace and bring the world down with her. She only ever wanted to end her own misery. Completely convinced that all life in the world was corrupted and evil, coming from her history of betrayal, and she stopped at nothing to eradicate it, having no concern for her own life and no remorse for the dead that she had taken care of for far too long."

Hades looked down. "That was a long time ago. Persephone was often mysterious and intimidating, and she always held a distant look in her gaze as though she were observing something a million miles away. We all changed."

"That we have," Azari agreed. "Instead of ending her own life, my mother was able to have a child with the Chernabog. Me. And she had finally found a reason to live in trying to raise me and take care of me. And we were forced to try and be a family with you in the Underworld for so long. Until she finally was able to leave you and take me with her. I never liked having you for a stepfather, Hades."

"Well, whatever you think, I did care for Persephone once," Hades told him. "I did love her. And anyone who tried to kill her, I vowed revenge against. Even after becoming the Queen of the Underworld, she was still seen as a kind and a caring person, as well as a majestic and proud queen. Being abducted didn't affect her negatively until she was possessed by one of the evils inside of Pandora's Box, Hate. And we were happy once."

"But not for long enough," Azari replied. "You're starting o feel familial after reuniting with your precious Mal and Malia after all these years? You never were a good father figure, but at least you can try to make up for that with your own daughters. It wasn't the Hate from Pandora's Box that destroyed my mother, Hades, it was you."

"No, it was the Hate," Hades argued. "That's when everything got ruined. And she found that Chernabog and had you while the Hate possessed her."

"And that's why you hated me so much growing up?" Azari asked. "Because of the Hate possessing my mother when she had me with a demonic shadow god."

"Well, that's why you've always been obsessed with Pandora's Box, isn't it?" Hades asked. "Because it's the reason that you were born. And the reason why you're so obsessed with using it as a weapon even after what it did to your mother." He nodded sarcastically. "Oh, I'm sure that she would be glowingly proud of you, Azari. If you want revenge for something that the box did to her, how about you stop using the box and destroy it instead of taking everything out on me and the demigoddesses? Mal, Malia, Ara, Mari, Uma and River had nothing to do with it, besides other demigoddesses helping the first Guardian like Bane and Facilier voodoo ancestors of Yeva and Celia lock you away so that you couldn't destroy the world and take it down with you just like your mother."

"Your mind always drifts to violence, doesn't it?" Azari asked. "Even when you're so clearly outmatched. What was it you tried teaching me a as a boy?" He tilted his head back, smiling tauntingly. "The true warrior hones their abilities and fears like a blade."

"Did you come here to critique my parenting skills as a stepfather and great-uncle to you, or a real father to Mal and Malia?" Hades asked.

"I just came here to see how you would react to seeing me after so long," Azari answered. "You may be right about the Hate from the box being the reason that my mother fell so far into hatred and bitterness and the reason why she turned into a villain, and with the way she had me... you may be right about that being behind my obsession with the box. Rather than me giving into that hatred and madness and taking it all out on Bane, Yeva, Celia, Ara, Mari, Uma, River, Mal and Malia, drawing them into a fight they may not survive, why don't you get them to stand down before I take them all down?"

Hades looked at him curiously. "You giving me a warning about how you'll be able to rip them all apart leads me to believe that you really want me to stop them from going into a fight with you, and normally, you're the one that loves ripping people apart, just like them. And I'm guessing that there's only reason why you're hesitating and why you want me to get them to stand down. Izzy."

"What do you know about Izzy?" Azari asked.

"I know that you've been reaching out to her like you haven't done for anyone else in your life," Hades answered. "I know she's the daughter of Queen of Hearts, Isa, who you used to have a thing with before we locked you up on the Isle again. I know that when you cursed all of Auradon with the Horn of Chaos, when you tried to kill Bane, Anthony, Ben, Gaige and Gil, it was Izzy who stopped you, and she was affected differently by the horn, not just some rabid animal tearing away at you, but she could put up a decent fight against you. And you didn't even hurt her even when she was trying to kill you."

"Isabella couldn't kill me," Azari replied.

Hades chuckled. "Ah, but you've killed people for less than what she had done. And yet you never laid a hand on her to hurt her. Like you couldn't. And that's because she's your daughter, isn't she?" Azari didn't answer, looking away. "Hmm. Great-granddaughter of Zeus, great great niece to me and Poseidon. Making her have family ties to Mal, Malia, Ara, Mari, Uma and River, too. Ones that they don't know about yet. Ones that I just discovered. Izzy's a shadow demon demigoddess. Which means that you're going to try to lure her to your side, aren't you?"

Azari scoffed. "You have no idea what I will or what I won't do. Warn the teens. Tell them to stand down. They'll be free and we'll all go home happy. But if you don't, you will lose, and the other demigoddesses will die, along with Bane, Yeva and Celia, because I am not spending another 20 or more or a 1000 years locked away again."

"But you're hesitating because you don't want Izzy to hate you forever," Hades told him. "So apparently there is still some humanity left inside you somewhere, Azari."

"Don't count on that," Azari told him. "Insanity and hate still get their way no matter what I do."

"That's because you were born with hate literally inside you because Persephone was possessed by that Hate from the box when she had you with the Chernabog," Hades pointed out. "If we just got that out of you like we did with your mother..."

"It wouldn't do any good since I was born with it and it's been inside me for 1000 years," Azari told him. "Believe me, Mother's already tried. Now I have places to go and things to do. Including finding Isabella so that I can have a conversation with my daughter. Consider my offer of leniency. It's the only one you'll get."

Azari, in a swirl of red and black smoke, transformed into his Chernabog form, flying away. Hades watched him go, worried about what he could do to the teens, wondering what he would do now since he had no idea where he was going or that the teens were out on a mission, frustrated and angry.

-----

Royal Jets

Evie, Mal, Anthony, Malia, Ben, Mari, Bane, Ara and Carlos were on one jet, while Izzy, Harry, Yeva, Jay, River, Gaige, Gil and Uma were on the other, since with the amount of people going, there had to be two jets. Anthony was flying one jet, while Jay was flying the other, both with Mal and Yeva sitting with them.

On the second jet, River and Gaige were sitting together.

River was looking out the window of the jet, smirking. "Man, I can't believe this view. I mean, Gaige, we've been on a plane before for traveling with Yeva, Celia, Facilier, Jay and Gil, but this..."

"Is a lot different," Gaige finished. "Yeah, I know. It's awesome, isn't it?"

River smiled a little. "Yeah, it is."

Gaige smirked, taking River's hand. "Yeah, but no matter the view out there, I don't like nearly as much as the view next to me."

River smirked, looking at him. "Smooth."

Gaige shrugged. "Just the way I am."

River chuckled. "Yeah, guess so. Just have to get used to the fact that we're finally free and have an entire world ahead of us for us to get to enjoy, you know, when we're not out trying to save Auradon and stop the real bad guys."

Gaige smirked. "Right. But right now, this moment, perfect as it can be, River. With you here next to me. You know that if we're all together, we won't fail."

River nodded. "You know, I don't get why, but every time I'm trying to get used to this feeling of being together, it gets harder to breathe. Like..."

"Like you're actually falling?" Gaige asked. "Harder, I mean?"

"I guess," River answered. "It's hard to explain."

Gaige shook his head. "I don't think you have to, because I think I feel the same."

They both smiled slightly, singing softly. "Can I tell you something just between you and me? / When I hear your voice, I know I'm finally free / Every single word is perfect as it can be / And I need you here with me."

River shook her shoulders slightly. "When you lift me up, I know that I'll never fall / I can speak to you by saying nothing at all / Every single time, I find it harder to breathe / 'Cause I need you here with me. Every day / You're saying the words that I want you to say / There's a pain in my heart and it won't go away / Now I know I'm falling in deep / 'Cause I need you here with me."

Gaige nodded. "I think I see your face in every place that I go / I try to hide it, but I know that it's gonna show / Every single night, I find it harder to sleep / 'Cause I need you here with me / Every day / You're saying the words that I want you to say / There's a pain in my heart and it won't go away / Now I know I'm falling in deep / 'Cause I need you here with me."

They sang together. "Every day / You're saying the words that I want you to say / There's a pain in my heart and it won't go away / Now I know I'm falling in deep / 'Cause I need you here with me / Can I tell you something just between you and me? / When I hear you voice, I know I'm finally free / Every single word is perfect as it can be / 'Cause I need you here with me."

They both smirked. River leaned her head on Gaige's shoulder.

Gil smiled. "Hey, River, Gaige. At least you guys are finally being like a real couple, vulnerable and all."

River and Gaige spoke together. "Shut up, Gil."

The others all laughed.

Harry mocked them with a puppy dog look. "Aw."

"Shut up, Harry," Gaige told him the same time River said, "Bite me, Harry."

Harry laughed. Izzy smiled.

Jay's attention was dragged to the beeping of the system on the jet.

Yeva frowned in confusion. "What is that?"

"I don't know," Jay admitted. "Guys, we might have a problem." He picked up the radio. "Anthony, the alert system thing started beeping."

In the other jet with Mal by his side, Anthony picked up his radio. "Yeah, seems like we have a couple AVs on our trail. I don't know if they're friendly or not. We're gonna be in trouble if they get any closer though."

"What the hell is that?" Mal asked.

They saw rockets being fired from the AVs straight at the two jets. Anthony and Jay saw them coming, rising up their jets to make the rockets miss, tossling the others onboard a bit.

"Everybody hang on!" Ara called.

As two rockets circled to try to hit the two jets, Anthony and Jay could avoid them, making the two rockets collide into each other and explode without hurting anyone or anything.

"Jay, what's your 20?" Anthony asked.

"I'll be on top of you in a sec," Jay answered. "Come on. Guns hot?"

"Warming up," Anthony answered.

Anthony and Jay both readied the jet defense systems.

"You guys even know what the hell you're doing?" Malia asked.

"Anthony's been teaching Jay how to pilot for cases like this, Malia," Ben told her. "They've got it."

More jets were flying at the two royal jets to try and fire at them, but Anthony and Jay made them miss, able to pilot expertly.

"Hey, Jay, you wanna roll over and play dead?" Anthony asked.

Jay scoffed softly. "Okay, Anthony, but you better make it quick. We're running on fumes. You better not miss."

Anthony nodded in agreement. "Copy that."

Jay circled around. "Ready when you are, king."

Evie looked at Anthony. "Play dead? What does that mean?"

"It means I better not miss," Anthony answered, shooting two missiles. As the two missiles passed Jay, Jay turned the other jet to where he could glide them past the safety between the two missiles and make them hit the two jets following him, taking them down. Anthony smirked. "Booyah."

Everyone could hear each other over the radio.

"Did Anthony really just say 'booyah'?" Uma asked. "Why in the hell was he made king?"

"Hilarious," Anthony told her sarcastically.

Down below, Azari was shown magically commanding the jets that were going after the royal jets and everyone on them, smirking, sighing, rolling his eyes. "You know what they say. You want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

Azari magically commanded more jets to shoot the two royal jets out of the sky, using the advantage of surprise. As the jets were falling from the sky, unable to stop, on the first jet, Mal, Malia, Bane, Ara and Mari were using magic to slow the fall of the jet to where the fall wouldn't be deadly, while Izzy, Yeva, Uma and River were doing the same thing on the other jet, to try and save all of them.

"We can't hold it forever!" Yeva told them.

"You won't have to if you can come up with a spell before we all die," Carlos told them.

In a red/black swarm of smoke, Azari transformed into the Chernabog, flying up to the jets as they were falling and the teens inside were screaming, shooting magic into the jet that held Mal, Malia and Bane so he could harm them with either poison or a parasite, making them scream in pain. He tore off the side of the other jet that contained the pirates, Yeva, Jay and Izzy, causing them all to look at Azari in shock. He magically pulled Izzy to him, grabbing her, flying away with her from the jets as they continued to fall.

Harry yelled out after her. "Isabella!", while the others called worriedly, "Izzy!"

"What happened?" Mari asked.

"Azari took Izzy," Gil answered.

"What?" the others asked worriedly.

"Guys, we need to think," Mal told them. "Spell."

Mari closed her eyes, thinking. "Um... falling to our deaths is something we fear, so before we die, get us out of here!"

Yeva, Mal, Malia, Bane, Ara, Mari, Uma and River repeated the spell so that they could save everyone. "Falling to our deaths is something we fear, so before we die, get us out of here!"

In swirls of multiple colors for each person, they were all magically transported out of the jets before they could die when the jets crashed on the ground. But since the magic was unstable and unpredictable because of their fear and because of Mal, Malia and Bane being injured and/or dying from what Azari did to them, all of them ended up randomly in groups of two, lucky to be even with anyone after the fate they had just escaped. They were all on a deserted island, but in so many places, all scattered.

In one place, in the jungle on the island, Harry and Malia were waking up on the ground, several feet away. Malia looked like she was in agony, very weakened.

Harry noticed her, but he was too busy looking around for, worried about Izzy to notice that she was in such a bad state. "Izzy!"

In another place in the jungle, Evie and Carlos were waking up, relieved to see each other was okay.

"Carlos?" Evie asked.

Carlos nodded. "Evie, you okay?"

"I think so," Evie answered. "Where's everyone else?"

Carlos shook his head in worry and confusion. "I don't know."

In another place, in a set of woods that weren't part of the jungle yet, Mari and Jay were waking up.

"Mari?" Jay asked.

Mari sighed in relief. "Hey, Jay. Are we... out here alone?"

Jay nodded, looking around. "I think so."

In another place, on a set of cliffs, Gaige and Uma were waking up.

Gaige stood. "Uma?"

"Gaige?" Uma asked.

"Where's River and Gil?" Gaige asked.

Uma shook her head. "I have no idea."

In another place, further away on the cliffs, Ara and Anthony were waking up.

Ara sighed in relief to see her friend okay, embracing him. "Anthony."

Anthony returned the embrace. "Don't worry, Ara. You'll find Mari and Carlos, and I'll find Ben, Bane and Mal. We'll find everyone."

In another place, in the jungle, Mal and Gil were waking up.

"Oh, hey, Mal," Gil told her.

Mal was in the same agony, weakened state that Malia was in. "Gil... I need help."

Gil looked at her in concern, nodding in agreement.

In another place, on the cliffs, River and Ben were waking up. River was in pain from an injury during the fall, groaning in agony.

Ben heard her, turning toward the sound, finding her on the ground. "River?" He ran closer to check on her. "Oh, my God, River."

River chuckled, managing a joke through the pain. "Of course I'd get hurt and the only one around would be a beasty boy. Hey, Ben."

And in the final place, on the shore, Bane and Yeva were waking up.

Bane was limping slightly as he was trying to stand on his ankle.

Yeva helped him stand worriedly. "Bane, hey."

"Yeva?" Bane asked.

"Yeah," Yeva answered. "Just take it easy, okay? We survived a damn jet plane crash. We should all take it easy."

-----

Azari's Lair

Azari had brought Izzy to his lair, where she was laying down on a comfortable looking mattress, unconscious after being kidnapped, watching her sleep, waiting for her to wake up, smiling a bit. He looked toward the table, getting an idea, walking toward the table to pour them both some water.

Izzy was slowly waking up, looking around in confusion, not knowing where she was, sitting up. She saw Azari with his back to her, glaring.

Azari knew she was up without looking at her, smiling. "Rise and shine, Isabella."

Izzy stood angrily. "I told you never to call me that." She saw a doorway leading out of the cave, trying to leave through it, only to reappear through a doorway at the back of the cave, looking around in shock when she realized she just reentered the hideout through the back when she tried to leave. "What the--"

Azari chuckled. "It's a spell I cast so that you wouldn't try to leave until I was ready for you to go. Giving me enough time to have a talk with you, Isabella--" Izzy glared at him, causing Azari to smirk. "Izzy. What a shame for you, but perfect for me." Izzy saw another exit, trying to walk out of it, only to return through another exit. Azari chuckled. "No matter what exit you try to use, you'll just end up right back in this room, so I suggest you save your energy, have a seat, have a drink, and talk to me."

"Even my friends will tell you, I don't do well with orders," Izzy told him.

"It's not an order," Azari told her. "It's a request."

"And you really think that I'll grant your request after you shot our two jets out of the sky, kidnapped me, and left the rest of my friends to die?" Izzy asked incredulously.

"Oh, you should know by the now that your friends are a lot harder to kill than that," Azari replied. "They're like cockroaches. I know I didn't kill them. They all got out of the jets before they crashed, and they're all scattered on the island, separated."

Izzy scoffed. "And you think that excuses what you've done?"

"I know that it buys me a little time to have a talk with my daughter," Azari told her. Izzy just looked at him, lowering her gaze. Azari looked at her curiously. "I expected more surprise."

"I don't know why," Izzy told him. "If you know anything about us, you should've known how smart we all are, including me and Harry Hook, even with our slight insanity. We all put the pieces together. How you knew the real name for Queen of Hearts, my mother, was Isa, when no one else did, how she refused to help the other parents seal you away, how you kept reaching out to me, how you looked proud of me when I told you that I wanted to rip your heart out, how you wouldn't hurt me even when I was trying to rip you apart, the things you were saying to me. Our colors."

Azari smirked. "Yes, our colors. You never realized that you got red and black from both your parents, me and Isa, Queen of Hearts, Princess of Diamonds. So you knew that I was your father?"

"I had suspicions," Izzy answered, turning away. "Apparently I was right. And so was everyone else who thought it to be true."

Azari walked toward her with the glasses of water, offering her one. "Care for a drink? Might make talking to your father a little easier."

Izzy angrily grabbed the glass Azari offered her, throwing it across the hideout into the wall, making it shatter, looking at him furiously. Azari was not surprised in the least, more amused than anything, smirking, taking a drink of water.

"You're even more insane than me and Harry Hook combined if you think that I want anything from you," Izzy told him. "If you think that I would even want to talk to you after everything you did to my friends."

Azari smirked. "Hmm, yes. Another thing that you and I will have in common is being virtually indestructible in our shadow demon forms."

"Yeah, well, you're not in your shadow demon form right now, which means I can hurt you," Izzy replied, about to fight.

Azari waved a hand, using magic to freeze Izzy in an outline of red and black magic to make her stop. "Your demon side is just now awakening, Isabella. You're not that strong yet."

Izzy looked down. "That's almost like what you said earlier."

Azari frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You, earlier, I saw you," Izzy answered. "You said something like that. I don't know what the hell you were up to trying to make me break, but you almost made me hurt Harry Hook and Prince Bane."

Azari was confused until he realized what Izzy was really going through. "That wasn't me, Izzy. That was your demon side awakening, and one of the evils that was released from Pandora's Box so long ago, called Hate. My mother, your grandmother, was possessed with it, when she found the Chernabog and she had me. She may not have the Hate inside her anymore, but I was born with it in me and could never get rid of it. And now some of that has been passed onto you. That's what the hallucination was."

"You really expect me to believe that?" Izzy asked.

"No, I don't," Azari answered. "But it's the truth. And I would like to help you with that, if you would just sit and talk to me."

Izzy slowly shook her head. "If you think that I would ever do something for you..."

Azari smirked, shaking his head. "Oh, no, of course not. Not after everything I've done to your friends. You wouldn't want to give me the satisfaction, whether I was your father or not. And you don't want to get to know me for the same reason." He circled around Izzy, looking at her with every step her took around her. "So would you do it for your friends?"

Izzy turned to face him, beyond confused, annoyed, angry and exasperated. "What the hell are you talking about? How is talking to you going to help my friends?"

Azari chuckled. "What if I told you that right now, Mal and Malia are poisoned and dying, and that Bane has a parasite attached to him that will soon leave him powerless, and they'll all die if I don't at least have a conversation with my daughter?"

Izzy looked at him in shock, angry. "No."

"I can give you the cure for Mal and Malia, and I'm sure that Bane, with the help of Yeva and any help from any of the others they run into along the way, can save him since it's just a parasite," Azari told her. "But you have to sit down and talk to me first." Izzy glared at him, incredibly worried, angry, reluctantly sitting down. "Thank you."

"Why don't you just tell me what you wanted to talk about and then send me on my way with the cure so that I can save Mal and Malia and make sure that everyone is okay?" Izzy asked.

"Well, I didn't really think this far ahead as compared to all my other plans," Azari admitted. "I don't really know how to start talking to you. So why don't we do what you and your friends all do? Sing." Izzy sighed, rolling her eyes, but let Azari start his song. "Welcome to the end of eras / Ice has melted back to life / Done my time and served my sentence / They locked me up and watched me die / If it feels good, tastes good / It must be mine."

Izzy shrugged. "Half demon, half god / What could possibly go wrong?"

Azari smirked. "You make jokes, but you look like you've seen a ghost tonight." He sang softly, tauntingly. "I know something you don't know / And if you don't know now you know / I'm taking over now / Call me crazy / But I can't help myself / It's madness and hate / Can't save me / Don't bother trying to save yourself from the blackness."

Izzy stood defiantly. "Now that you're back, now that you're awake / You gonna use your shadows and monsters to take over? / You won't last another day."

Azari gestured between the two. "Together, we can make it." Izzy shook her head, glaring, scoffing, turning away. "Oh, yeah, freedom / So close I can taste it / I see what's mine I take it / When the crazy comes out, and the good ones go down / What are you gonna do when it comes for you? / And you find you're back on the ground, when the crazy comes out."

Izzy turned to face him, pointing at him. "You're the one inside my head / You're the one that's making me wish I was dead / I tried to hold these secrets inside me / Because of you, my mind's like a deadly disease."

Azari walked closer. "I didn't know that you were mine until I was free, and then I was going to come for you."

Izzy shook her head. "I never wanted you to / This pain I feel inside is because of you / You're nothing to me."

Azari chuckled. "I am not nothing, and neither are you / Let me tell you something you have yet to realize is the truth / We are so much more than royal / Snatch your chain and feast your eyes / Heroes always get remembered / But you know legends never die / We're bigger than our bodies / Colder than any home / Meaner than any demon / Bigger these bones / Not just demon, not just god / Pure evil and we can rule together over all."

Izzy scoffed, shaking her head. "Always thought that I could be worse than any others / Always had a way with words / Never knew I could be speechless / Don't know how I'll ever break this curse / I've become scared of me / You're the one that's taken control / We're bigger than these bodies / Colder than any home / Meaner than any demon / Bigger than these bones / Not just demon, not just god / You're pure evil and I don't want to rule with you over all."

Azari spun Izzy around, but she backed away. "There's no escaping / The voices in your head, the hunger for power, the dread / Our time is fading, running out, and I still have things I need to share / We share the same blood in our veins / We share the same thoughts in our brains / We share the same DNA."

Izzy stepped closer to glare him in the eyes. "I'd rather run than be a pawn in your game / I'm losing my mind and you're the one to blame."

Izzy turned away.

Azari tilted his head. "Ironic since you and your mother broke hearts and removed heads / Now it's time you listen to what I said."

Izzy turned to face him incredulously. "I am not listening to a word that you say to me / I've been fighting the magic and madness so long I feel empty / I'll set fire to this whole place / I don't care about it or you anyway / I'll burn it down / You're the reason that I hate what I've become now." She turned around, seeing many mirrors around. "I can't stand the person inside me / Turn all the mirrors around."

Izzy magically shattered all the mirrors.

Azari stepped closer. "You may be a princess, but don't be fooled / Because like your mother and your father, you can be cold, hard and cruel."

Izzy turned to glare at him. "You can't put a spell on me / You can't bring me back / You can't make me be something I'm not / You can't turn me into something twisted and black."

Azari gestured to his eyes. "Open your eyes / Don't you think it's time to recognize? / All of this is a disguise / Everyone in your circle / You care for all your friends / But I got bad intentions / And darkness is coming for them again / So why should you become weak or soften up your heart? / Tell me what good is living if you can't be who you are? / Put the deceit to rest / You know when you're at your best / Breaking hearts and removing heads / Now you can past the test / No more with the lies / I know you realize / You're better at being bad than good / You missed being evil when no one else would / It's time you understood / Mortal kings are ruling castles / Welcome to my world of fun / We can show them who is best at being worst / Flip the switch and watch them run."

Izzy glared at him, shaking her head, refusing to side with him. "How about you watch me run?"

Izzy turned around, pacing, no longer wanting to talk or sing. Azari sighed, realizing this was going to be harder than he thought it would be.

-----

Auradon

The Tower - Control Room

Celia was making her way into the Tower. "Hey, Yeva, Jay, you guys here? I finished my exam. I don't know if you're back yet or not, so... Izzy? Mari? Bane?" She walked toward the computer set up, trying to remember what to do. "What did Carlos show me to..." She remembered what to do, typing on the computer, pulling up camera feeds on the two jets that had been flying so she could see what happened. She saw how the jets became under attack by the planes that Azari had magically controlled, seeing that they were shot out of the sky and that they were falling, and seeing Azari shoot magic into the first jet to hit Mal, Malia and Bane, while tearing off the side of the second jet so that he could take Izzy, horrified. "Oh, my God." She pulled out her phone to make a call. "Hey, Dad, Yeva told me to check the camera feeds on the jets when they left in case something happened, and something did happen. Azari took the jets out of the sky and nearly killed everyone, and he took Izzy. Mal and Malia told me to bring Hades with us in case something like this happened. We have to go, Dad."

-----

Later

Now, Hades and Facilier were here with Celia.

"Hang on, the jets went down?" Facilier asked.

"Yeah," Celia answered. "I saw it all on the camera feeds."

"How did you even know how to check the camera feeds?" Hades asked.

"Carlos taught me how before they all left in case something like this happened," Celia answered. "Yeva wanted me to stay behind because she wanted me to take my exam, and because they knew that something like this could happen. They wanted me to be able to tell you two so that we can go out and save them and bring them home."

"Well, I hope one of you know how to fly a plane, because I don't," Hades told them.

"Anthony taught me how to program a plane's autopilot before they left, too, just in case," Celia explained.

"That's good," Facilier told her. "Do you know where the jets went down?"

"It was over some island," Celia answered. "Azari shot the jets out of the sky, and he took Izzy out of one of them and flew away with her while he let the other two fall, while he shot Mal, Malia and Bane with whatever kind of magic."

Hades sighed, furious. "Of course he was trying to kill Mal, Malia and the Guardian. And of course he took Izzy. She's his daughter."

"What?" Facilier asked.

"Are you for real?" Celia asked. "I mean, we all thought that Azari could be Izzy's dad because we all saw the signs, but we didn't know if we were right or not."

"Oh, you were right," Hades answered. "Do you know which island specifically?"

"No, but Carlos taught me how to search by coordinates of the jets, so when I find the right coordinates, we can find them and go get them," Celia answered.

"All right, you do that," Facilier told her. "We gotta get a plane ready to bring everyone home. Celia... Yeva's gonna be okay."

Celia nodded in agreement worriedly. "I know. I'll hurry."

"Please do," Facilier told her.

Celia turned to the computer to track down the right coordinates, while Facilier and Hades walked away to go get a plane ready.

-----

Island - Jungle

Malia was trying to push herself up.

Harry called out worriedly, angry that Azari would take her. "Isabella!"

"Can you give me a hand, Harry?" Malia asked in annoyance, weakly. "Pun not intended, considering you have both your hands and just holds your dad's hook."

"Sorry if I'm a bit distracted by the fact that Azari kidnapped Izzy," Harry told her sarcastically, turning to face her, looking at her directly for the first time, seeing how weak she looked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, thank you for noticing, finally," Malia told him sarcastically. "Azari sent a blast into our jet to hit me, Mal and Bane before we fell and all got separated. The magic hit Bane differently than it hit me and Mal, but I don't know what's happening to any of us."

Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. "Figures that Azari would distract us with this damn game of keep away with Izzy and keeping us all separated so we can't get her back."

"Yeah," Malia agreed. "Why did he take Izzy? I mean, I know that we're all thinking that he's..."

"Isabella's father?" Harry finished. "Well, we were all thinking right."

"What?" Malia asked. "How do you know?"

"Because Bane did a DNA test," Harry answered. "He told me this morning before we went to the Tower."

"Why didn't you, Bane and Izzy say anything?" Malia asked. "I mean, if you found proof--"

"Because we didn't tell Izzy that Bane proved it with the bloody test," Harry answered.

Malia frowned in confusion. "What? Why didn't you tell her?"

"Because she was hallucinating Azari before we could tell her, a hallucination that nearly drove her to hurt me and Bane," Harry answered. "And we were worried--"

"That if you told Izzy about Azari really being her dad that you could set her off," Malia finished. "Oh, my God."

"You see why I'm so worried now?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Malia answered. "Come on, help me up. We need to get moving and find everybody and get Izzy back."

Harry nodded in agreement, helping Malia up, helping steady her. "What the hell did Azari do to you, Mal and Bane, Malia?"

Malia shook her head. "You think that if I knew that I wouldn't need your help? Come on."

Malia started to weakly make her way along with Harry's reluctant help.

"Hmm, never thought in a million years that I would be helping one of the girls that helped once to destroy the ties between Izzy/Yeva and me, Gil, Gaige, Uma and River," Harry remarked.

"Oh, are you really bringing that up right now?" Malia asked in complaint. "Come on, Harry Hook. Mal and I said we were sorry and we made up for it to you, Izzy, Yeva, Uma, River, Gaige and Gil."

Harry smirked, chuckling in amusement.

-----

Elsewhere in the jungle, Evie and Carlos were walking together.

"At least neither of us were hurt in the fall," Carlos told her.

"Yeah, because Yeva, Mal, Malia, Ara, Mari, Uma, River and Bane could use their powers to save us," Evie agreed. "Carlos, did you see Azari hit Mal, Malia and Bane with magic as we were falling?"

"Yeah," Carlos answered. "I don't know what happened to them, but yeah. And you heard that Azari took Izzy?"

"Oh, yeah," Evie answered, overcome with worry. "What do you think he's doing to her? I mean, Izzy's out there with him all alone. And yeah, we all have the suspicion that he's her... you know, but we don't know if that guarantees that he won't hurt her."

Carlos sighed worriedly. "I know. I'm worried, too. And I'm worried about everyone else. Especially Ara, after she was already targeted by Azari when he sent my mom after her, nearly had her killed."

"How are you doing with that, anyway?" Evie asked. "I mean, Cruella going after Ara?"

"I was and am freaking out about that, but since my mom chose me and promised not to go after Ara again, I feel a bit better," Carlos answered. "Or, well, I would, when we find everybody, Evie."

Evie nodded in agreement. "Me too. Come on."

Evie and Carlos walked faster to find everyone.

-----

Elsewhere in the jungle, Mal was weakly trying to get up, breathing heavily in agony, not knowing what was going on with her.

Gil walked closer to check on her. "Hey. Mal? You okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Mal replied. "Why are you being nice to me, anyway? After what Malia and I did with Izzy and Yeva's ties with you, Gaige, Uma, River and Harry?"

"Well, that was a long time ago and you and Malia made up for it to me, Izzy, Yeva, Uma, River, Gaige and Harry," Gil pointed out. "And you're obviously hurting. A lot more than just hurting. What happened to you?"

"I don't know," Mal admitted. "It's just... when the jet was going down, magic enveloped me, Malia and Bane. It had to have come from Azari, but... I don't know what it's doing to me, or to Malia and Bane. And right now, Gil, all I can worry about is Malia and Anthony. With the fall, we don't know if Malia and Bane survived after whatever Azari did to us, and we don't know if Anthony and Ben went beast because of the stress or anger, or..."

Gil tried to calm her down. "Hey, listen. Anthony and Ben were learning control before all of this, and they learned how to control themselves so soon after being cursed by the Horn of Chaos, and if they could control themselves after something like that, I'm sure they can control themselves now. And I'm sure that Malia and Bane survived. And that we're gonna find Izzy. We just have to find everyone else first before we get Izzy back from Azari."

Mal nodded in agreement. "Sounds very wise for something you said. Sorry, no offense."

Gil shook his head. "None taken. I know sometimes I can be naive and an idiot." He helped Mal up, steadying her. "Come on. We can still save everyone."

Mal sighed. "Thanks."

Gil helped Mal along kindly and with concern.

-----

Forest

Mari and Jay were searching the forest that was not far away from the jungle.

"Where do you think everyone is?" Mari asked.

"I don't know, but we gotta get looking," Jay told her. "With Azari after you, Ara, Yeva, Celia, Mal, Malia, Bane, Uma and River, none of you are safe. And Izzy's definitely not either since she's with him alone right now."

"Uh, Jay?" Mari asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Jay asked.

"I know you were on the other jet with Yeva, Izzy, Harry, Gaige, Gil, River and Uma, so you didn't see what happened on the jet I was on with Malia, Evie, Carlos, Ara, Anthony, Mal and Ben," Mari told him. "But Azari made it a point to use magic on Mal, Malia and Bane while we were falling, right before you guys said that he took off with Izzy, and..."

"And what?" Jay asked. "What did he do to Mal, Malia and Bane?"

"I don't know," Mari told him. "That's why I'm freaking out so bad. I mean, Mal and Malia are my cousins or whatever, and I love Bane, who is already been targeted by Azari so many times who tried to kill him, and then my sister Ara was already targeted by Azari before too, and would be dead if Carlos hadn't stopped his mom from killing her, so I'm freaking out."

Jay turned to face her. "Mari. I'm freaking out too, knowing that Azari's after Yeva and Celia and all our friends, and especially now that he has Izzy. Just know that we're gonna find them and save everybody and kick the bad guy's ass like we always do. Okay?"

Mari nodded in agreement, reassured. "Okay."

"Now let's go find everybody," Jay told her.

Mari nodded. They continued walking and searching.

-----

Cliffs

There were two sides of the cliffs, like a major canyon, with a huge space in between that anyone could fall into to their deaths.

Gaige and Uma were walking on one part of the cliffs.

"Out of all the people I had to be stuck with, I got to be stuck with one of the captains, but not the one that I need to see, like River, my girlfriend, or my brother, Gil," Gaige told her. "Just perfect."

"You know, I'm not happy about that either, Gaige," Uma told him. "I just want to see if River's okay, since she's my sister. Hell, I'm even worried about Ara, Mari, and I can't believe I'm about to say this given our history after what they did with humiliating me and River to break the ties that you, River, Gil, Harry and I had with Izzy and Yeva, but yes, I'm even worried about Mal and Malia ever since we found out that River, Ara, Mari, Mal, Malia and I were all related. And I'm worried about the fact that that Azari took off with Izzy. And we have no idea where anybody is."

"Okay, you can stop biting my head off now," Gaige told her. "Look, I'm just as worried about River as you are, and I'm worried about Gil just as much. Your sister, my brother. And I'm worried about Izzy being with Azari, too. We just have to stop fighting long enough to find them. And the others. Including Yeva and Harry, two of our closest friends."

"Right," Uma agreed. "Worried about Yeva and Harry too. God, what the hell are we supposed to do, Gaige?"

"I don't know," Gaige admitted. "But just listen, Uma, okay? We're pirates, with extra capabilities, and the rest of our friends have extra capabilities, too. We just have to find them and fight back."

"Yeah, and what happens after we find them?" Uma asked. "We can't exactly face Azari and win. We never have. He might not hurt Izzy, but he'll kill the rest of us. He's proving that right now."

"Yeah," Gaige agreed sadly. "But we're not the type to give up, are we?"

Uma chuckled barely, shaking her head. "No. Guess not. Never thought that you would be able to keep me hopeful, Gaige."

Gaige smirked. "Likewise."

Uma and Gaige chuckled, continuing to search.

-----

Elsewhere on the cliffs, Anthony and Ara were searching.

Ara was looking around worriedly, calling out. "Mari! Carlos!"

Anthony called out. "Ben! Bane! Mal!"

Ara sighed worriedly. "Where are they?"

Anthony shook his head in confusion. "I don't know."

"Anthony, you're king of Auradon, and I'm queen of Scotland," Ara told him. "Mal's the queen, Mari's a queen. Ben and Bane are princes. Malia's a princess. Yeva and Celia are Facilier voodoo queens, or will be, at least. And Izzy's the Princess of Diamonds/Hearts, daughter of Queen of Hearts/Isa. So why..."

"Why do we feel so powerless?" Anthony finished.

"Yeah," Ara answered. "Mal, Malia and Bane, who knows if they survived after whatever Azari did to them, Mari's out there, Carlos is out there. I'm worried about them all. After what Carlos went through with his mom..."

"What Carlos went through?" Anthony repeated. "You're more worried about what he went through knowing that his mother betrayed him to try and kill you more than you're worried about the fact that she almost killed you?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda," Ara answered. "I guess. I'm just not really in the habit of worrying about myself. I'm more in the habit of worrying about everybody and everything else."

"Oh, I know that, Ara," Anthony told her. "You always prove that by running yourself into the ground trying to make everybody else happy, and not caring about taking care of yourself, like you did with cotillion, like what you do with royal business for both here and Scotland, and what you and Evie are doing, trying to plan Jay and Yeva's wedding for Valentine's Day while also trying to survive in this war with Azari while he's sending your boyfriend's mother out to kill you."

"I can't worry about that, Anthony," Ara told him. "I just have to worry about everyone else. And right now, that includes Mari, Carlos, Mal, Malia, Uma, River, Evie... everyone else. And the fact that Azari took off with..."

Ara and Anthony finished, "Izzy."

Anthony was breathing heavily, turning away.

Ara looked at him worriedly. "Anthony? Are you okay? Is it... control issues?"

Anthony nearly shifted, but he fought the urges back, forcing himself to return human before he could finish the shift. "Yeah. It's the stress, the worry, the anger."

"But you controlled it," Ara told him. "You can control it until we find them, right?"

Anthony sighed, turning to face her, nodding. "I think so. I just don't wanna hurt anyone until then. Ara, I don't wanna hurt you."

"You're not going too," Ara assured. "Come on, the faster that we find them, the faster we can fix everything, and then you won't have to lose control, I promise. Okay, let's go."

Anthony nodded in agreement. Ara and Anthony walked along the cliffs.

-----

Elsewhere on the cliffs, River was injured, groaning in pain.

Ben knelt next to her, holding her hands. "Okay, I took Gil's pain before when I hurt him during the curse from the horn. I can take your pain now. River, just calm down."

River gave him a glare. "Don't tell me what to do. Come on, just do it already."

"Now who's telling who what to do?" Ben asked.

River rolled her eyes. "Just shut up. I just need the pain to be gone so that I can get up and look for Uma, Gaige, Gil and Harry. Yeva and Izzy. And Ara and Mari and Mal and Malia."

"And I got to look for Anthony, Bane and Malia," Ben told her. "And Ara and Mari are as close to me as Izzy, Yeva, Harry and Gil are to you. So I know what you mean."

"Then come on and get on with it, beasty boy," River told him.

"You know, I have a name," Ben told her. "Ben."

"Yeah, I know," River told him. "I just like to stick with beasty boys for you and your brothers."

Ben got annoyed enough that he triggered another latent ability, and instead of pulling veins from River to him to take her pain, the veins started to go from him to River, changing to a blue/gold glowing color, shocking both Ben and River.

"What is going on?" Ben asked.

"I don't know," River told him. "But I'm feeling a lot better. It feels like..."

"Like what?" Ben asked.

"Like I'm healing," River answered. "It feels like you're healing me."

Ben sighed in complete relief. "Oh, my God. Thank God. I didn't want you to stay hurt, obviously."

"Even when I'm being a bitch to you?" River asked.

Ben shrugged. "I'm not gonna say I'm okay with you being like that, but it's not like I can change it. And it's not like you can change who you are. I know the whole thing is an act against people you're not close to so you don't have to get close to them. So you don't have to be vulnerable around them."

River looked embarrassed that he figured that part out. "And what makes you say that?"

"Because I've seen the way you are with the people that you are close to," Ben answered. "Uma, Gaige, Gil, Harry, Izzy, Yeva. Even Ara, Mari, Mal and Malia now. You're just like anybody who cares about the ones they love when you're with them."

River looked down, sighing. "Okay. So let's go find them."

Ben nodded in agreement, helping River up. "Let's."

River held out a hand to get him back. "I got it now. Now that you took the pain and helped me heal."

Ben shrugged. "Just trying to help."

"Yeah, you did," River told him.

They walked along together.

"You know, I think this is the longest you've ever gone without making fun of me, other than calling me beasty boy, which isn't really making fun of me anymore since it's what I am now literally, same with Anthony," Ben pointed out.

River smirked. "That's true. I knew there was something I was supposed to do. Where do you want me to start?"

Ben shook his head. "No, no, no."

"I can start..." River trailed off.

"I actually kind of like this, us being nice and friendly, somewhat," Ben told her. "Let's try this."

River chuckled, looking down. "You know, I don't say this very often, but thank you." Ben looked at her in surprise. River nodded. "For the pain thing, for the healing thing."

Ben smiled kindly. "You're welcome."

River nodded awkwardly, not wanting to seem weak or anything, walking off. Ben chuckled, shaking his head, following her so they could try and find the others.

-----

Shore

Yeva was going through a piece of a jet that had landed nearby where she and Bane had woken up, finding a blanket inside, taking it, walking toward where Bane was sitting at a bonfire so that he could try to regain his strength to walk, since the parasite was still in his ankle, but they didn't know that yet. "Here. I found a blanket. You're not warm enough. And you can't walk yet, though neither of us know why."

"Yeah," Bane agreed sadly.

Yeva put the blanket around Bane. "Here. Take it."

Bane shook his head. "No, you take it. You look colder--"

"Bane, shut up and take the damn blanket," Yeva told him. "I don't know what Azari did to you, Mal and Malia, but you could literally be in danger of dying because of this psycho again, not me."

"Except for the fact that Azari is not only after me, Yeva, he's after you, Celia, Mal, Malia, Ara, Mari, Uma and River, too," Bane told her. "He's already tried to kill Ara with Cruella, he ruined Celia's birthday by trying to kill me, Anthony and Ben, which he later tried to do again, even tried to kill Gaige and Gil. And who knows what he did to Mal and Malia."

Yeva gave him a look. "And you. So shut up. Keep the blanket."

Bane managed a small smile. "Okay. Gaige was right. I'm still trying to get used to you being a big sister to Celia, definitely not sure how to react to it when you're acting like a big sister to me, Yeva."

Yeva rolled her eyes. "Oh, bite me."

Bane shrugged. "Well, if you want that, you take whatever's trying to kill me." Yeva pushed Bane in the shoulder, making them both smirk. "Kidding." Bane returned serious, very worried. "What if we don't get everyone back together and we never get off this island?"

"Don't worry about it," Yeva told him. "We will."

"How do you know that?" Bane asked.

"Because it's us," Yeva answered. "How can we not?"

Bane sighed, nodding. "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am," Yeva told him. Bane looked down nervously. "What? What's wrong?"

Bane sighed, looking up, shaking his head. "I can't keep this in any longer. I only told one other person, and I was going to tell the one that should know the most, but it wasn't the right time because we were trying to protect her and her sanity, and now--"

"Bane," Yeva cut him off. "Slow down. What are you talking about?"

Bane took a deep breath, sighing. "Okay, we all saw the signs between Izzy and Azari and her mom, right?"

Yeva nodded. "Yeah, we all thought that Azari is Izzy's... father."

"Yeah," Bane agreed. "And we were right."

"We were right?" Yeva repeated. "What makes you say that? How would you even know?"

"Because I had the vision with the Guardian Braven before, and he said something that made me realize that I could do it," Bane answered. "And by that, I mean, I realized that I could prove whether or not that we were right."

"And how did you do that?" Yeva asked.

"I found a piece of glass that Izzy tried to attack Azari with when she was cursed and fighting him even though he refused to hurt her," Bane explained. "There was blood on it from when Izzy cut him with the glass, and obviously, her fingerprints were on it, so I could use the blood and the fingerprints..."

"For a DNA test," Yeva finished. Bane nodded nervously. "And the results came back positive?"

"Yeah," Bane answered.

Yeva processed this, taking a deep, nervous breath, nodding knowingly, tears in her eyes. "I think we all already knew, but... knowing for sure, it doesn't make me feel better. I mean, after everything Azari did, we don't know if he'll hurt Izzy if he loses it, 'cause obviously he's insane, too. More so than Izzy and Harry ever were."

"Yeah," Bane agreed.

"And we've seen the things that Izzy and Harry can do whenever they lose it," Yeva told him. "I don't wanna know what Azari can do when he loses it. Especially when Izzy's with him alone right now."

"Me neither," Bane agreed.

"You said that you only told one other person," Yeva told him. "Who did you tell?"

"I told Harry," Bane answered. "Hooky and I were about to tell Izzy together before we saw that she was hallucinating."

"Hallucinating?" Yeva repeated.

"Yeah," Bane answered. "She saw a vision or a figment of Azari, and he was taunting her, and she lashed out, and she nearly hit me and Harry with her magic. I think that's what the hallucination wanted, for her to kill us. And she could have, nearly did, but we dodged, and..."

Yeva was even more worried, looking down in distress. "That's what you and Harry were worried about in the Tower, wasn't it? About Izzy coming with us, because of the hallucination."

"Yeah," Bane answered.

"Of course Izzy didn't tell us," Yeva told him. "She didn't tell us when her mother was driving her insane from within the scepter because she didn't want us to worry about her, so of course she wouldn't tell the rest of us about her hallucination for the same reason."

"Right," Bane agreed, pushing himself up. "Come on, Yeva. We can't stay here. We have to look for the others and get Izzy back. I have to make sure that Mari, Ben and Anthony are okay, make sure that Ben and Anthony aren't losing control. And I'm worried about Ara, too, she was our friend all our lives like Mari was, and now Mari and I..."

Yeva stood. "Yeah, I know. I've gotta find Jay. I'm so worried about all of them. Since Mal, Malia, Evie, Jay and Carlos were friends to me and Izzy for almost the same amount of time as Uma, River, Harry, Gaige and Gil were, before Mal and Malia did what they did."

Bane nodded. "Right."

"And Celia, her exam should be over," Yeva told him. "If I know better, she's taking what she learned from Carlos and Anthony to get herself, our dad and Hades here so that we can all get help and get home."

"Let's hope," Bane agreed. "Because without Celia, Facilier and Hades, we have no way of getting home and getting me, Mal and Malia cured from what Azari did to us."

"I know," Yeva agreed worriedly. "And I really wish that we could go find the others, but right now, you can't walk, and I gotta see if I can make the radio in the jet work."

"You're not gonna be able to, Yeva," Bane told her. "That thing's a crater."

"Yeah, well, I gotta try, and the only way I'm gonna get that thing to work is if I try," Yeva replied. "So you just sit tight. I'm gonna get to work on that."

Yeva walked over to the jet piece, trying to find the radio, and trying to make it work so they could call for help.

-----

Night - Island - Everywhere

After nightfall, the groups of Malia/Harry (jungle), Evie/Carlos (jungle), Mari/Jay (forest), Gaige/Uma (cliffs), Ara/Anthony (cliffs), Mal/Gil (jungle), River/Ben (cliffs), and Bane/Yeva (on the shore), were all looking for each other, some of them very injured from the crash, especially Mal, Malia and Bane, because of what Azari did to them.

Izzy was still in Azari's lair, unable to leave and go to her friends, horrified for them and overwhelmed with worry about how they were. "I thought I found a way."

In a distant echo in the jungle, Harry repeated. "Thought I found a way."

Izzy looked down. "Thought I found a way out."

Harry looked around. "Out..."

On the shore, Yeva was with Bane, trying to make the radio work but she couldn't. "But you never go away."

Jay was in the woods/forest with Mari, very far away from Yeva and Bane. "Never go away."

Yeva looked toward Bane. "So I guess I gotta stay now."

Jay looked at Mari to check to see if she was okay. "Now..."

Mari nodded in answer.

Mal, in the jungle with Gil, was getting weaker from the poison, and red/black veins started to appear on her skin that neither of them noticed yet. "Oh, I hope someday I'll..."

Anthony was on the cliffs with Ara, singing together with Mal. "Make it out of here."

Anthony looked at Ara. "Even if it takes all night."

Mal and Anthony sang together. "Or a hundred years."

Elsewhere in the jungle, Malia, with Harry, was getting weaker from the poison, and red/black veins started to appear on her skin that neither of them noticed yet. "Need a place to hide."

Elsewhere on the cliffs, Ben was with River, singing together with Malia. "But I can't find one near."

Ben looked over the cliffs. "Wanna feel alive, outside."

Malia and Ben sang together. "I can't fight my fear."

Elsewhere in the jungle, Evie sang softly, hauntingly. "Isn't it lovely? / All alone / Heart made of glass, my mind of stone."

In the forest with Jay, Mari looked down worriedly. "Tear me to pieces."

On the shore, sitting next to the bonfire, Bane watched the flames. "Skin and bone."

Mari and Bane sang together. "Hello, welcome home."

On the cliffs with Uma, Gaige tossed a rock in anger and worriedly. "Walking out of time."

Elsewhere on the cliffs, River raised her head, very angry and worried. "Walking out of time."

Gaige kicked another rock. "Looking for a better place."

River was still injured and very hurt, in pain, but she pushed herself on, thanks to Ben taking most of her pain and helping her heal enough for her to keep going. "For a better place."

River and Gaige sang together. "Something's on my mind."

Mari and Bane, separate in the woods or on the shore, sang together. "Always in my headspace."

On the cliffs with Gaige, Uma shook her head. "But I know someday, I'll."

In the jungle with Mal, Gil was singing with Uma. "Make it out of here."

Gil checked on Mal to see if she was okay. "Even if it takes all night."

Uma and Gil sang together. "Or a hundred years."

On the cliffs, Ara was walking with Anthony, overcome with worry and concern. "Need a place to hide."

In the jungle, Carlos was walking with Evie, just as worried, singing along with Ara. "But I can't find one near."

Carlos shook his head. "Wanna feel alive, outside."

Ara and Carlos sang together. "I can't fight my fear."

In the jungle, Malia and Harry sang together. "Isn't it lovely?"

Elsewhere in the jungle, Evie and Carlos sang together. "All alone."

In the forest, Mari and Jay sang together. "Heart made of glass."

On the cliffs, Gaige and Uma sang together. "My mind of stone."

Elsewhere on the cliffs, Ara and Anthony sang together. "Tear me to pieces."

In the jungle, Mal and Gil sang together. "Skin and bone."

On the cliffs, River and Ben sang together. "Hello."

On the shore, Bane and Yeva sang together. "Welcome home."

The boys were all singing slowly. "Oh...."

The girls, including Izzy back in Azari's lair, were all vocalizing beautifully, hauntingly, sadly.

Izzy sat alone in Azari's lair, trying to avoid him, overcome with worry and anger and concern about the safety of those she loved, vocalizing. "Oh..."

They all sang together. "Hello, welcome home."

-----

Azari's Lair

Izzy was sitting on the cot that Azari had put her when she had been sleeping earlier, arms crossed and resting on the edge of it so she could rest her chin on her arms, knowing that Azari was watching her. "Is this your plan? To keep me here, ground me forever? You suck at being a dad. Especially since you're trying to lure me over to the dark side, and this is after you kidnapped me and left my friends to die."

Azari chuckled, walking closer. "I just simply wanted a moment alone with my daughter so we could talk about what things could be like if we did align. Perhaps, years from now, we'll look back at this scene as the beginning of our family's new chapter."

Izzy glared at him. "Don't say that word."

"What, family?" Azari asked. "That is what we are, Isabella."

Izzy was trying very hard not to get angry, looking away. "One, don't call me Isabella. Two, don't say that, because that's just what you said earlier and it set me off."

"I'm not the one that said that to you, Izzy," Azari reminded her. "That was the hallucination that your demon side gave you to try and... 'lure you over to the dark side', as you poetically put it."

"Whatever," Izzy replied. "And what do you mean 'new chapter'? You mean the one you want to start after you kidnapped me and want to kill all my friends?"

"I told you that if you stayed and listened to me, that I could give you the cure for Mal and Malia," Azari reminded her.

Izzy stood. "Then let me go and give me the cure so I can save Mal and Malia."

"Well, I'm not quite finished talking to you yet," Azari told her.

"Well, I'm quite finished listening to you," Izzy replied.

"Then you won't get hold of the cure, will you?" Azari asked. Izzy glared at him, sighing, sitting back down. "Thank you."

"What do you want to tell me?" Izzy asked.

"I just wanted to explain our family story," Azari answered.

Izzy glared at him for using the 'family' word again, which caused him to smirk. "I know all about it. Cherabog is your father, or was, and the Queen of the Underworld was your mother, making Hades your ex-stepfather."

"And a lot more than that, if you know your Greek lore," Azari told her.

"I know it," Izzy answered. "Meaning that we're blood related to gods and demigods, and yet you're still trying to kill Ara, Mari, Mal, Malia, Uma and River, even when they're blood to us. And they were my friends long before I realized that they were also my family."

"You don't know everything," Azari told her. "I told you that your grandmother, my mother, was possessed by one of the evils from the box that was passed onto me, and then you, and when our demon sides were activated, those dark forces were awakened within us too. Which is why I became the way that I am, and it's also why you're starting to feel darker, meaner, eviller already, aren't you?"

Izzy looked down. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," Azari told her. "Those hallucinations that you saw of me? It's going to get worse. I saw those hallucinations myself when my demon side and that evil was awakened within me. The hallucinations take form of me for you because I'm your demonic father. I used to see Chernabog in my hallucinations."

Izzy looked up, surprised, but still trying to push him away. "You did?"

"Yeah," Azari answered. "I wasn't always like this, you know?"

"You're saying that because you woke up the demon side of me with your curse from the Horn of Chaos, that I'll turn into something just like you?" Izzy asked.

"No," Azari answered. "Not if you don't let it. I want you to trust me, Izzy. I don't want you to hate me."

"Then don't make me choose evil over good, and don't do this to my friends," Izzy told him.

"I won't have to if your friends would just stand down," Azari pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're trying to destroy everything that we all love, which means that we're not just gonna stand by and let you do all of this," Izzy replied.

"We?" Azari repeated.

"Yeah, we," Izzy answered. "I don't care if you're my father if you can't prove to me that you will stop. That there is something good inside of you. Even with all this evil or all this hate or whatever you wanna call it."

Azari nodded in acknowledgement. "I know I told you that your grandmother was possessed by this evil, and I told you that it make her so consumed with evil and bitterness that she was willing to kill herself to end her own misery and willing to take the world down with her if it meant that it would all be over, and that was before she found the Chernabog and had me, so she had something to live for. For me. But did I tell you that before that, she was kind and loving and caring, even as the Queen of the Underworld? Even with a little madness. She would do anything for her family, her friends, even if it was the wrong thing, and even if she wasn't evil, she enjoyed the taste of the dark side. Does that sound familiar?" Izzy didn't answer, looking down. "It should. Because that sounds like you even before your demon side was awakened. You are so much like her, Izzy."

"And you want me to be like her when this hate and evil consumed her?" Izzy asked. "I can't do that."

"And I wouldn't ask you to," Azari told her. "My mother was able to free herself from that possession. And she spent so long trying to cleanse it from me. She never could because I was born with it inside me. Just like you."

"So you're saying that I'm just as doomed as you are?" Izzy asked.

"Not necessarily," Azari answered. "I had half of the darkness that possessed my mother. You only have half of what was inside me. Only a quarter of what it was for your grandmother."

"But I have madness from you, from her, from Isa, Queen of Hearts," Izzy pointed out. "Does that mean it's going to be harder for me to control?" Azari nodded in answer. Izzy looked away, overwhelmed but not surprised, fighting back tears in her eyes. "Guess I knew the answer to that already, huh?" Azari looked down. Izzy looked at him, but refused to look him in the eyes. "What else was she like?" Azari looked up. "My grandmother. Her powers."

Azari smiled. "She had wings and she could fly at great speed, and had the ability to deliver diving strikes with her fists. She had telekineses, and could conjure large rocks to serve as projectiles. She could also summon multiple large pillars of energy that protruded from the ground and shoot large beams of energy. Most of the powers that I have, along with being able to turn into a Cherabog."

"Does that mean, with this whole other side of me awake now, your side of me, that I'll get any of that?" Izzy asked.

"More than you know," Azari answered. "But you won't be able to shift into what I can, like your grandfather could, not completely anyway, if you keep fighting it."

Izzy didn't want to talk about this anymore or to let him in or see her vulnerable, standing. "Yeah, well, good, because I don't wanna turn into a monster. You can't expect me to forgive you for everything you've been doing to my friends and everything that I know that you will still do to them because we both know that we have to stop you."

"I know," Azari answered. "And I don't expect you to forgive me easily. But once you stop fighting it, and once you give in, we will have all the time in the world to work it out. Sooner or later, we will be what we are. A family. Everyone's better. Quite the team together. If not just you and me, your mother, Isa, Queen of Hearts, as well, Princess of Diamonds."

Izzy scoffed, shaking her head, turning away. "Okay, you were on a roll until you brought up Isa. She's the only reason that I ever would have hurt Harry Hook. She made me break so many people because it's what she did when she was my age, and it's what she did as queen, by literally removing heads. Isa controlled my very existence, and even when she's stuck in the scepter that I put her in, she still cannot stop trying to control me. She's the reason that I ever got so bad."

"Oh, I know," Azari told her. "But soon, none of that will matter. Because I can make everything better for all of us. You, me, Isa. A perfect little family."

Izzy scoffed but laughed at the same time, shaking her head. "You really are delusional. That's never gonna happen."

"But don't you realize?" Azari asked. "Once the three of us are together, there's no one that can stand a chance against us. You will never again have to worry about your life."

"Just my sanity," Izzy told him. "Because it looks like on either side of my family, I'm a nutcase just like all of you."

Azari couldn't help but smirk and chuckle. "Well, you certainly get your wit from Isa."

Izzy smirked sarcastically, bitterly. "Can we go back to the part that you said you would leave all my friends alone?"

Azari gave her a look. "Only if you get them to stand down."

"You know that's not gonna happen, and if you kill any of my friends, I will never forgive you," Izzy warned threateningly.

Azari smirked in amusement, proudly. "Are you actually threatening me right now? Not the first time, either. That's my girl."

Izzy glared at him. "I am not your girl. Never have been. Never will be."

Azari smirked. "We shall see. Just listen to me, Izzy. If you just agree to give us a chance, you, me and Isa..." Izzy shook her head, pressing her lips together. "You don't have to lose anything else. We still stand together and fight together. And we will win."

Izzy looked down, overwhelmed, raising her gaze to glare at Azari. "No. I'm not going to fight against my friends, my boyfriend Harry Hook, whatever Mal, Malia, Ara, Mari, Uma and River are to me as family. And I don't want my parents making anything worse. You don't have to hurt anyone. Please."

Azari looked conflicted, sighing.

-----

Island - Shore

Yeva was still trying to get the radio to work, though she couldn't.

Bane couldn't focus on what Yeva was doing or saying because he started to bleed from his nose. He held his leg in pain, not knowing what was going on. He soon became too overwhelmed with pain and agony to sit up any longer, falling to the ground next to the bonfire. "Yeva!"

Yeva dropped the radio, running closer. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bane? Bane! What's wrong? Hey, what's happening?"

"My leg," Bane answered. "My leg."

Yeva rolled up Bane's jean leg. "Your leg, okay." Bane's leg was bleeding profusely, and there was clearly a parasite within Bane's skin. Yeva groaned, clearly trying not to get sick or not to let this get to her. "Whoa." The parasite started to move around inside Bane's leg, making Yeva let go. Bane started to scream. "Bane?" Yeva saw the parasite starting to move in his leg again. "What is that?"

"Something's in there," Bane told her.

"Yeah, I see that much, genius," Yeva told him sarcastically. "Jesus. Okay, hey, stay talking, okay? I gotta keep you awake. I don't have any tools or anything that can help me get that out of your leg, so I'm gonna have to try and use magic, okay? But you gotta stay with me, all right?" Bane nodded with tears in his eyes. "All right, I'm gonna get you on your side, and I'm gonna have to start, okay? Okay?"

Bane nodded. "Okay."

Yeva sighed worriedly, frantically, both of them freaking out. "Okay."

Yeva helped Bane roll onto his side.

Bane winced. "Careful, careful."

"You can complain about how I save your life, after I save your life, okay?" Yeva asked.

Bane gave in. "Okay."

"All right, I'm gonna try and hurry, but I don't know if magic is even gonna work on this thing," Yeva told him. "Either way, it's gonna hurt like hell."

"I know," Bane whimpered.

"Stay real still here," Yeva told him. She tore a piece of cloth from Bane's shirt, wadding it up so she could put it in his mouth. "And you're gonna wanna bite down on this."

Bane bit down hard. Yeva held her hand above the parasite within Bane's leg, hesitating, knowing that it was going to hurt him intensely.

Bane nodded. "Do it."

Yeva tried to use magic to take the parasite out, making Bane scream in pain, and as her eyes glowed purple as she did the magic, she closed her eyes and tried to shut out the screaming so that she could focus enough to get the parasite out of Bane's leg.

-----

Jungle

Harry was helping Malia walk, while Gil was helping Mal walk, as they all ran into Evie and Carlos.

Malia and Mal sighed in complete relief to see their best friend. "Evie."

Evie ran toward them. "Oh, my God. Mal. Malia. What are the veins? The red and black?"

"Poison from Azari, obviously," Malia answered.

"They're dying," Harry told them.

Everyone looked at him for the bluntness.

"Harry," Gil said. "Izzy does the 'Harry' best, but still."

Carlos walked closer to Mal and Malia in concern. "Oh, God. It's okay. You're gonna be okay. I found a map in the wreckage of one of the jets. We can try and find the others with it through the island."

"You found a map?" Mal asked in relief. "Good. We gotta find everyone."

Evie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and save you two in the process. You look like you're both hours away from dying."

"So what do we do?" Gil asked.

Carlos looked at the map. "We should be headed six degrees north by northeast. We just follow this path all the way..." They walked along, but having to stop because of Mal and Malia getting weaker. "Stop! Yeah, about here. Okay, now we need to change directions. I think we're supposed to--"

"Carlos, we're kind of in a hurry here," Harry told him. "Artifact, darkness, saving Auradon and our friends. Again."

"You can't go two seconds without criticizing me, can you?" Carlos asked. Harry just looked at him. "What?"

Harry smirked. "You're right, I can't. The will to mock is just too great."

"Could we please just do this our way?" Mal asked.

"Why do we have to do everything the way you do it?" Gil asked.

"You mean perfectly?" Evie asked.

"Or annoyingly," Harry told them.

Carlos sighed. "There's a right way to do things, and that's the way we like to do them. You might want to try it sometime. Another 20 feet in this direction."

They continued on.

Mal and Malia couldn't stay standing. "Evie..."

Evie helped them sit down against a tree. "Harry, Carlos, Gil, they can't go on much longer like this."

Gil and Carlos had just walked into the quick sand without noticing, starting to sink.

"Why are you guys getting taller?" Gil asked.

"Oh, because you two couldn't stop being perfect long enough to realize that you're standing in quicksand," Malia answered.

Carlos and Gil started to panic.

"Help us!" Gil told them. "Please! Help us! Get us out of here! Help us, please!"

Carlos reached toward them. "Grab onto our hands. Grab our hands."

Evie ran over to grab Carlos by the hands. "Carlos, hang on, I got you. I can't promise that I can pull you out since my strength's not that great, though."

Harry took the map from Carlos, not bothering to help. "Okay. Now maybe we can get someplace."

"Not funny, Harry!" Gil told him.

Harry pointed to a point on the map. "So we're here, and we need to get there."

"You're holding it upside down," Mal told him in annoyance.

Harry flipped the map over. "Oh, that makes it better. Not really."

Evie was trying to pull Carlos and Gil out but couldn't do it by herself. "Grab onto something else other than just me or you're gonna pull me in with you. Stop sinking!"

"Kinda can't help that," Carlos replied.

Mal and Malia were worried about Evie falling into the quicksand too, but they couldn't get up and help, and they couldn't use their magic because of how weak they were becoming. "Evie!"

Harry looked at the map. "Wait, here we are. Bottomless pit of death. And we need to go towards some squiggly things."

"They're called mountains or cliffs," Evie told him. "Seriously, Harry, help me get Carlos and Gil!"

Harry continued on. "Okay, sure, mountains or cliffs."

Gil looked up at the cliffs above them. "Oh, wait, there they are. That was easy."

Jay and Mari ran into the clearing they were in, seeing that Evie was being pulled into the quicksand while she was trying to pull Carlos and Gil out. "Evie!"

"What the hell is going on?" Jay asked.

Mari used mermaid/sea magic to pull Evie, Carlos and Gil out of the quick sand, and they fell to the ground once they were out of the quicksand and in safety. "Oh, my God. Carlos? Gil? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, now we are," Carlos answered.

Evie sighed in relief. "Thanks, Mari."

"You're welcome," Mari replied.

Mal and Malia sighed in relief to see their cousin. "Mari."

Mari ran over to check on them. "Mal? Malia? What's going on?"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on?" Jay asked. "Why do Mal and Malia look like they're dying? And, Harry, why the hell did you leave Evie to take Carlos and Gil out of the quicksand on their own?"

"Because Mal and Malia are dying, we think," Carlos answered.

"And Harry was busy trying to use the map to find everyone else," Mal added.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Right. And we do need to find the others, but you seriously couldn't help them, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I want to find the others as soon as we can so we can get Izzy back from Azari, and I was gonna help... once I was finished with the map."

"Oh, right," Mari said sarcastically. "Great, Harry Hooky."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Not you too, Mari."

Mari smirked.

"Let's just be thankful you guys are okay, all right?" Jay asked. "Because of Mari."

"Thought we'd lost you," Mari told them. "Did we miss anything else?"

Malia shook her head sarcastically. "Not a thing."

"All right, people, let's move," Jay told them.

Gil started to walk in one direction. "This way."

"Other way," Mari told him.

Gil went in the other direction. "The other this way."

Jay sighed, rolling his eyes. "Come on."

They all walked along.

-----

Cliffs

Anthony and Ara were walking together.

Ara heard something. "Hey. Anthony, I think I heard something out there. You're the king. You go check it."

"We're not in Auradon, and you're the queen," Anthony replied. "You can come with. Plus, you have magic. I don't."

"Though you have a beast side, enhanced strength, and super speed and agility," Ara countered. "We'll both go."

Anthony nodded. "I was gonna suggest the same thing."

Anthony and Ara continued on, and rounding a corner on the cliffs, they came face to face with Gaige and Uma, and not realizing who was there, Anthony went to punch Gaige with his enhanced strength, though Gaige could use his stronger strength to stop Anthony before he could, and Uma and Ara, also not realizing who each other were, used magic against each other at the same time, making them both stumble back. The four of them realized who was all there, sighing in relief and regret.

"Oh, my God," Uma told them. "Sorry. We didn't know who it was. And Gaige was like, 'there's something out there', plus I'm really not in the mood for this crap."

"But hey, we made it," Gaige told them. "You know, that's great. We thought we were on our own and that we wouldn't find anyone else, but this is great."

"You kept telling me that we would," Uma told him.

Gaige shrugged. "Yeah, well, you weren't the only one being secretly pessimistic."

They all heard a noise, turning around, all prepared to fight, only to see River and Ben coming, stopping before another misunderstanding happened, looking at them in relief.

Ben saw them ready to fight. "Uh, hey guys. Guess we're all a little over paranoid."

River sighed in relief to see her sister and boyfriend. "Uma. Gaige."

Uma and Gaige smiled in relief to see her. "River."

River made her way over to them, still slightly hurt, but not nearly as bad as before. "Hey."

Uma, Gaige and River embraced.

Ben and Anthony embraced as the two brothers reunited.

Ben sighed in relief. "Anthony. Bane with you?"

"No," Anthony answered. "I wish. Ben, you okay?"

"Yeah," Ben answered.

Ara embraced her cousins. "River. Uma."

River and Uma chuckled. "Hey, Ara."

Gaige kept an arm around River to make sure that she was steady while she was healing. "You guys haven't seen Gil?"

"Or Mari?" Ara asked.

"No," River answered.

"What about Mal?" Anthony asked.

"And Malia?" Ben added.

Anthony and Ben both said, "Bane?"

"Nothing," Ara answered.

"Look, there's no way to the other side of the island going around this canyon thing," Uma told them. "We're gonna have to get across."

"How are we going to get across this thing?" Ben asked.

Anthony shook his head. "There's no way. It's impossible."

Gaige sighed. "Well, we're totally, completely, hopelessly doomed."

River smirked in amusement, sarcastically. "It's that positive attitude that I like most about you, Gaige. Why don't we just build a path of stone?"

"That's not going to happen," Ben told them.

"It could with magic," Ara told them.

Anthony nodded. "That might happen."

Ara, Uma and River exchanged a look, nodding, using their combined magic to build a path of stone.

"I might not be good at this magic stuff yet," Uma told them. She looked at Ben, Anthony and Gaige. "And you three were no help whatsoever, but you got to admit, this? This is pretty impressive."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Anthony told them sarcastically. "All it takes is superior knowledge of magic, and two semesters of whatever placement of rocks. What? No loser? No eye rolling? 'Get a life'."

Ben looked at Uma, River and Ara. "Thank you. You saved us. You're our heroes."

"Well, you're welcome," Ara told them.

"Good job," Anthony told them, starting to walk on the bridge. Gaige held out an arm to stop him from going across. "What?"

Gaige picked up a pebble.

"What's a pebble going to do to our--" River started.

Gaige threw the pebble onto the bridge, and slowly at first but then quickly, it all came crashing down. He looked at Anthony. "May I be the first? Loser."

"Okay, you know, maybe I'm just going to hang back here for a few moments and stay out of the way," Uma told them. "No reason for all of us to plummet to our deaths, right?"

Ara looked at the rocks of the cliffs. "I got an idea."

-----

Later

Ara, Uma and River were using their power to levitate a group of boulders while they were standing on one of them. Anthony, Ben and Gaige were standing on another one that they were levitating. Ara was using her power to levitate the boulder that the girls were standing on. Uma was using her power to levitate the boulder that the boys were standing on. River was using her power to levitate another boulder that would allow them to carefully step along. While Ara was focused on levitating the one that the girls were standing on, Uma and River were levitating and moving the other two boulders, including the one that the boys were on, around theirs, so that they were now in front of them.

"Admit it," Ara told them. "It's not a bad idea. It's just a simple levitation spell."

"Yes, yes, you're brilliant," River told her. "Focus. Don't look down. It's a long way down."

River had the boulder she was levitating, the empty one, in front of the boulder that the boys were on that Uma was levitating, which was in front of the boulder that the girls were on that Ara was levitating. The boys stepped from the boulder Uma was levitating to the one that River was levitating, so that the girls could step onto the one they just got off of. River was levitating the same boulder, but this time Anthony, Ben and Gaige were on it. Uma was levitating the same boulder, but this time, she, River and Ara were on it. Ara was levitating the same boulder, but this time no one was on it. River and Ara moved the boys and the empty boulder to in front of them again.

"It's impressive, Ara," Gaige told her. "It's like you don't even try. You don't even think about it."

"Oh, I think about it, Gaige, trust me," Ara told him. "I think about it a lot."

"I think it's still pretty impressive," Uma told her. "You just come along and you do it."

Ara had the boulder she was levitating, the empty one, in front of the boulder that the boys were on, that River was levitating, which was in front of the boulder that the girls were on that, that Uma was levitating. The boys stepped from the boulder River was levitating to the one that Ara was levitating, so that the girls could step onto the one they just got off of. River was levitating the same boulder, but this time, she, Uma and Ara were on it. Uma was levitating the same boulder, but this time, no one was on it. Ara was levitating the same boulder, but this time, Anthony, Ben and Gaige were on it. Uma and Ara moved the boys and the empty boulder in front of them again.

"You guys are doing great," Ben told them.

Gaige nodded in agreement. "Come on. We're almost there."

Uma had the boulder she was levitating, the empty one, in front of the boulder that the boys were on, that Ara was levitating, which was in front of the boulder that the girls were on, that River was levitating, but this time, the last time, Uma finally had the empty boulder up to the edge of the other side of the cliff, to where they could finally get to safety on the other side. While Uma, River and Ara continued to levitate the boulders, Anthony, Ben and Gaige stepped from the boulder that Ara was levitating to the one that Uma was levitating, to the edge of the cliff so they were no longer on the rocks, turning back for the girls, holding out their hands. The girls kept levitating the rocks as they stepped along carefully toward the boys, taking their hands. Anthony, Ben and Gaige took Ara, Uma and River by the hands to pull them to safety. Now that they no longer needed the boulders, Ara, Uma and River let them fall crashing down below.

River sighed in relief. "Good job."

Uma nodded in agreement. "We all did a good job."

-----

Plane

Celia had used what she learned from Anthony to set the plane to autopilot, flying with Facilier and Hades.

"Where the hell are they?" Facilier asked.

"I don't know," Celia told them. "I mean, these are the coordinates, but I don't see the island, do you?"

"No," Hades answered. "Azari must have it cloaked somehow."

"He knew that Yeva would have left you instructions to bring us to save them, Celia," Facilier told her. "He knew that Anthony and Carlos would teach you how to find them."

Celia nodded nervously. "Right. So how do we find them if the island is cloaked?"

"We keep flying until we see something," Hades answered.

Celia and Facilier nodded, both worried sick for Yeva, while Hades was worried sick for Mal and Malia.

-----

Azari's Hideout

Izzy was sitting on the cot again, angry and pouty, keeping her distance from Azari in annoyance.

Azari walked closer with more water in amusement. "You're really going to pout? Ah, no father's experience is truly fulfilled until his daughter pouts to get what she wants."

"Then give me what I want before I use that darkness and anger and bitterness on you," Izzy told him. "Just give me the cure for Mal and Malia and let me go. Please. I stayed here, I listened to your side of the story, I even asked you questions about your mother and what you were both like before. That's all you wanted, remember? And I did it. So please, just let me go and let me save Malia and Mal."

Azari sighed, taking out the cure. "I guess we did have a deal and you did fulfill your end." Izzy stood instantly, reaching for the cure. Azari took it out of her reach. "I told you before, Izzy. I want your trust. And I want us to be a family. No matter what I have to do to get that. I'll tell you another thing. The Cube of Negation? It's buried in the middle of the island. And it's not activated yet, but once it senses a certain amount of magic, it will activate itself, but no telling if it won't destroy itself trying, since it can handle only so much power, and all of your friends, our family? They're incredibly powerful. Not as powerful as I am, and not as powerful as you can be if you stopped fighting it, but powerful."

"You're telling me this so I'll trust you?" Izzy asked.

"I am," Azari answered.

The Hallucination!Azari from before appeared to taunt Izzy. "You think he's trying to help you? You think that you can trust him? He's just trying to get into your head and make you release the darkness and the rage and the hate so that you become just like him. Which is something that I want, too. Which is something that sooner or later, you're gonna want as well."

Izzy shook her head angrily, trying to ignore him. "No, I won't."

Azari frowned in confusion. "Won't what?"

Izzy held her head in pain. "I don't know."

Azari stepped closer. "Okay. It's okay."

Izzy backed away. "No. No, it's not. I... I can't trust you. I can't know that I can for sure."

"Okay, that's why we're starting out small," Azari told her. "That's why I'm giving you that cure and letting you go."

"But then you--the other you--is here now, and he's saying--" Izzy started.

Azari realized the issue, sighing, reaching toward her, but Izzy recoiled. "Please let me help you."

"He's not helping you," Hallucination!Azari told her. "He's hurting you. You and everyone you love. Because of him, and because of me in your head, you're going to fall deeper and deeper into the madness and darkness like never before. You're going to end up just like him, just like he wants."

Izzy, becoming overwhelmed with anger, let her eyes glow blazing red, as she shot magic energy beams from her hands at both Azaris. "Shut up!"

The real Azari was hit in the chest hard with the beam, thrown back against the wall across the room, falling to the floor. Izzy looked at him in shock for what she had done on accident. 

Azari couldn't help but chuckle, standing. "Now that. That was a power that you got from me and your grandmother." Izzy was struggling not to lose it, holding her head in pain, and the place started to shake around them. Azari walked toward her. "Isabella. Izzy! This discussion doesn't need energy blasts or for you to bring the building down. Look at me. Come on." Izzy barely looked up. "I know you think that that is real sometimes, but the way you tell it apart is remember what I tell you, not him."

"Right, because what you've said is any better?" Izzy asked sarcastically.

"Maybe not in your mind right now," Azari answered. "But soon you'll see the difference, and when you do, it'll be easier to shut the hallucinations out. And I know it hurts. But the pain is what makes us survivors, right? It's what makes us us."

Izzy shook her head, fighting back tears. "I don't know if I can even trust you. I know that I don't trust you, though."

"Maybe not now," Azari agreed, taking Izzy's hand, putting the cure into her palm, closing her fingers around the vial. "But you will soon." Izzy scoffed softly in disbelief. "You might not believe that you will, but you will." Azari waved a hand, making the room glow red/black before the glow faded. "I released the spell that was keeping you here. I'm letting you go." Izzy just looked at him for a moment, walking toward the door. "Remember what I told you, Izzy. You can still join me."

Izzy stopped at the door, looking back at him. "No. I won't."

Izzy quickly ran out of the hideout to get back to her friends.

Azari smirked. "We'll see."

-----

Island - Shore

Bane was still biting down on the cloth while Yeva, with her eyes glowing purple, was still trying to use magic to try to help him get rid of the parasite, but it wasn't working.

Bane screamed in pain, spitting out the cloth. "Stop it. Stop it!" Yeva stopped, looking at him, the glow in her eyes fading. Bane sat up, crying. "I can do it."

"You don't have your scepter," Yeva reminded him.

"But Braven said that I have solo magic," Bane told her. "I can do it, Yeva."

Yeva hesitated, nodding, wincing because she knew that it was going to be painful either way, backing away to give Bane enough room.

Bane held his hand toward his leg, and his eyes slowly glowed blue/gold. He was tapping into his solo magic, finally able to break into it, screaming in agony as he was pulling the parasite out of his leg, able to do so because he wasn't worried about hurting himself more like Yeva was. When Bane was able to pull the parasite out of his leg with magic, screaming in absolute agony, Bane released a powerful wave of magic that soared past Yeva, blowing back her hair and making her stumble back as the magic soared out through the island. In the middle of the island, where the Cube of Negation was buried, it sensed the magic, activating itself like Azari said it would, trying to absorb all the energy it felt from all the magic that Bane, Yeva, Mari, Ara, Uma and River had been using while on the island, but the power was too much for it to consume, destroying it.

From the cliffs and the jungle, the others saw the blast of magic that Bane released, and from the sky where Celia, Facilier and Hades were flying in the plane, they also saw the blast of magic, showing them all where Bane and Yeva were, and making Celia, Facilier and Hades realize they found the right island.

"What the hell was that?" Gaige asked.

Ben and Anthony knew that it was their brother because their eyes glowed blue/gold as well, able to sense it. "Bane."

Uma, River, Gaige, Ben, Anthony and Ara took off running from the cliffs toward the shore.

In the jungle, Mari realized who had done that, smiling in relief to know that the boy she loved was still alive. "Bane. Come on!"

With Evie, Mari, Jay and Carlos supporting the ever weakening Mal and Malia, they, Harry and Gil took off running from the jungle on their way to the cliffs, straight toward the shore.

On the shore, Bane was still magically levitating the parasite from his leg, magically throwing it to the ground. The parasite tried to slither away, but Yeva picked up a stick, spinning it around over her head, and stabbing it straight through the parasite, killing it, throwing the stick, with the parasite still on the end, into the bonfire to make sure that it was really dead.

Yeva and Bane looked at each other in shock.

The others came running out from the treelines, all meeting up.

"Yeva?" Jay called.

Yeva turned instantly at the sound of his voice. "Jay?"

Mari saw Bane on the ground in agony, instantly running toward him worriedly. "Bane!" She knelt next to him, seeing his leg, horrified and confused, concerned, more worried about him than ever. "What the hell happened?"

Bane was completely relieved that she was here, shaking his head, tears in his eyes. "Don't ask. Mari..."

Bane and Mari embraced.

Now that Yeva knew that Bane was okay with Mari by his side, she ran toward Jay. Jay held out his arms as Yeva ran into them, holding her as close as she held him, both closing their eyes in complete relief.

"Carlos?" Ara asked.

Carlos turned toward her, sighing in complete relief. "Oh, thank God." Ara ran straight into Carlos's arms as he held her close. "Ara..."

Anthony and Ben ran to check on their brother. "Bane?"

Bane smiled to see them even through the pain.

Evie, Harry and Gil were supporting Mal and Malia, helping them sit down.

"Hey, Ben?" Evie asked worriedly. "Anthony."

Ben and Anthony turned toward them, seeing Malia and Mal on the ground, running to their sides worriedly, kneeling next to them, as everyone saw the red/black veins on the dragon sisters spreading as they were getting weaker and closer to dying.

Ara looked at them in shock. "Mal? Malia? This is what Azari did to them?"

Carlos nodded. "Yeah."

Uma and River walked closer in shock. "Oh, my God."

Yeva walked toward her friends in shock. "Mal? Malia?"

Mal and Malia could barely stay awake at this point, but they were woken a bit when Anthony and Ben were kneeling next to them.

Mal opened her eyes weakly. "Anthony?"

Anthony took Mal's hand to hold. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm here, Mal."

Ben got an idea, taking Mal and Malia both by the hands.

"Ben?" Malia asked. "What are you doing?"

"I took River's pain when she got hurt and I realized that I could give her some sort of energy in power that allowed her to heal faster, the only reason why we could keep going to find everybody else," Ben explained. "I might not be able to save Mal and Malia, but I can take their pain and help them heal at least a little."

"I don't know if that's gonna help," Gil admitted.

"It has to," Evie told them.

"At least until we can find a way to save them for real," Jay agreed.

They saw the plane getting closer, and coming in for a landing.

"Who the bloody is that?" Harry asked.

"It has to be Celia, Facilier and Hades, just like Yeva, Anthony and Carlos prepared Celia for," Jay answered.

Uma sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God."

"At least we can get home," River told them. "We can figure out how to save Mal and Malia there."

"And get Izzy back," Gaige added.

They all nodded. Once the plane landed, Celia, Facilier and Hades got off of it as soon as they could, running toward them.

Celia ran to hug her sister. "Yeva!"

Yeva held Celia close to her in relief, tears in her eyes from everything that happened. "Oh, Celia. I knew you could do it."

Celia nodded. "I got Dad and Hades just like you asked, and I did the tracking and the piloting thing that Carlos and Anthony taught me."

Facilier walked closer to his two daughters. "You'd be real proud of Celia, Yeva. You kids all right?"

Facilier embraced his daughters.

"No, not really," Gil answered.

Hades walked closer from the plane. "What's wrong?"

No one was eager to tell Hades that his daughters were dying, but knowing they had to tell him.

Harry gestured to where his daughters were. "See for yourself."

Hades followed their gazes to Mal and Malia, who were both closer to dying, looking at them in shock and worry, walking closer.

Mal and Malia managed barely noticeable smiles. "Hey, Dad."

Hades saw the the red/black veins, knowing who was behind it, sighing in anger. "Damn him. We gotta heal you. I don't have my ember. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to reverse what he's done. Not the damage from a shadow demon god."

Izzy appeared behind them. "So maybe you should get the help of a shadow demon demigoddess with the cure to help Mal and Malia."

Everyone turned to look at Izzy in shock.

Harry was stunned with absolute relief. "Isabella."

Izzy ran closer with the cure, standing by Harry's side, tossing the vial to Hades. "I got the cure."

"How?" Mal asked weakly.

Hades caught the cure, turning to apply it to Mal and Malia instantly to save them.

"It doesn't matter how," Evie told them. "Just as long as we save you."

"Izzy, how did you even get away from Azari?" Gil asked.

Celia looked at Izzy worriedly. "Wait, you got away from Azari on your own?"

"Yeah," Izzy answered. "But it's okay. He let me go. And he gave me the cure to Mal and Malia's poison."

"Why would he do that when he's the one that poisoned Mal and Malia? Carlos asked.

"He wanted to earn Izzy's trust," Hades answered. "In his twisted head, poisoning Mal and Malia and then giving her the cure to save them was the only way he thought he could do it."

"How would you know?" Ara asked.

"Did you speak to him?" Mari asked.

Hades sighed, nodding. "Maybe."

"Oh, thanks for that heads up," Uma told him sarcastically.

They all watched as Mal and Malia were healing, and that the veins on their skin were fading as the cure took effect. They were still weakened but not nearly as much.

"Mal?" River asked. "Malia? You... you look better."

"Are you okay?" Gaige asked.

Malia nodded, breathing heavily. "Yeah. Thank you, Izzy."

Izzy nodded.

Harry turned to Izzy, who embraced him instantly, surprising Harry, but he held her close, as they both could relax now. "So he just kidnapped you to let you go and poisoned Mal and Malia just to have you save them?"

"He wanted leverage on me so that I would sit and listen to what he had to say," Izzy explained. "And it's because we were right. He really is my dad." Hades, Yeva, Bane, Harry and Malia had already known because Bane had told Harry and Yeva, and Harry had told Malia, but Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Ben, Anthony, Ara, Mari, Uma, River, Gaige, Gil, Celia and Facilier were all processing. "He wanted to lure me to his side. But I told him no. And he knew that Bane and Yeva could figure out the parasite thing."

Bane nodded sarcastically. "Oh, yeah, we figured that one out, all right. That hurt like hell."

"Let's just all be thankful that we're all here," Anthony told them. "We're all alive."

Ben nodded in agreement. "And now with all of us together, all of us healing, and all of us no longer dying... we can all go home."

"What about the cube?" Mal asked.

"Azari said that the cube would self destruct upon trying to absorb your guys' magic on the island," Izzy answered. "It's gone."

Malia took this in, nodding. "Oh. At least this trip wasn't all for nothing."

"And all of us didn't almost die for nothing," Evie added. She embraced Izzy, looking at Mal, Malia and Bane as well. "Oh, I'm so glad you guys are all okay."

Ara sighed in relief. "We're all okay."

Carlos nodded in agreement. "Come on. Let's get on the plane and go home."

Yeva embraced Celia. "I knew you could do it, Celia. I knew that you would be able to find us and get us home."

Celia smiled. "I'm glad that I could help."

Jay smiled. "Well, you did, Celia. You got your on MVP moment."

"All right, let's get Bane, Mal and Malia up," Mari told them. "They're still too weak to move on their own."

Ben and Anthony picked up Malia and Mal in cradles. Malia and Mal were more assured in their arms than anything, more relaxed. Mari and Ara helped Bane up to his feet.

"We can get them back to the Tower and check to see if they're really cured and okay," Uma told them.

"At least until we can get there, beasty boy Ben can take beasty boy Bane, Mal and Malia's pain and help them heal, right?" River asked.

Gaige nodded. "We just gotta get home. Anthony, you wanna fly?"

"Hell yeah," Anthony answered.

Gil smiled. "Of course Anthony would, Gaige. Come on, let's get home."

As everyone else boarded the plane, Harry and Izzy hesitated outside.

Harry turned to face her in worry. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Not really," Izzy answered. "Can we just get on the plane and go home? I'll explain everything later. I'm still trying to process it all and..."

Harry nodded in agreement. "All right. But we do we have to talk about it."

"I know," Izzy told him. "I just have to wrap my head around it all first."

"Azari really tried to lure you to his side?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Izzy answered. "But I told him no. That I wouldn't. I couldn't leave you guys."

Harry managed a small smile at that, stepping closer to Izzy, stroking back a piece of her hair. "You wouldn't believe how worried we all were about you, being alone with Azari. Even if he is your father."

Izzy chuckled lightly. "I think I can imagine because I was so worried about all of you when he left you all for dead. I was really worried about you, too, Harry Hook."

On the plane, Braven appeared next to Bane, putting his arm on his shoulder.

"Where the hell were you?" Bane asked. "I was calling you in my mind for hours."

"Hey, that parasite was sucking your powers, okay?" Braven asked. "But trust me, I was there."

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I kinda missed you," Bane told him.

Braven smiled. "You love me. Stop denying it."

"I don't," Bane denied.

"Sure, buddy," Braven told him. "But good thing is you finally unlocked your solo powers. I told you you could do it."

"Yeah, well, that hurt like hell," Bane told him.

Braven smiled. "No pain, no gain."

Bane smirked, rolling his eyes.

As Harry and Izzy turned to walk onto the plane, the Prism of the Chosen Ones flew down from the sky, right up to Izzy, making them both stop in shock, showing them that it was holding several tiny crystals inside, with three missing, and those missing three were the ones that were given to Carlos, Anthony and Ben.

The others on the plane could see that the prism had shown up to Izzy, all watching in stunned silence.

"Is that the..." Harry trailed off.

"Prism thing?" Izzy asked.

Braven and Bane could hear them.

Braven was annoyed. "Bane."

Bane called out to her. "Izzy."

Izzy rolled her eyes. "The Prism of the Chosen Ones? Yeah. I think so."

Izzy walked closer to the prism in curiosity, seeing that one of the crystals inside was glowing red/black with a tinge of gold, her colors. She slowly reached into the prism so that she could take hold of the crystal that was calling out to her, pulling it out. Once the crystal was out of the prism, the crystal was slowly turning into a scythe for Izzy, like the crystal was creating the weapon specially just for Izzy based off what she was and her personality, leaving the scythe resting in her hands as the crystal dissolved away completely. Harry and Izzy watched, as did the others inside the plane, in awe. Carlos, Ben and Anthony, the ones that had already gotten theirs, were the only ones not in disbelief.

Izzy spun around the scythe. "I could get used to this."

Harry chuckled. "I bet you could." As soon as it had appeared, the prism flew away up into the sky, disappearing. "Hey, why didn't I get one?"

Bane looked at Braven. "Yeah, why didn't Harry get one?"

"He's not ready," Braven answered.

"You're not ready, Hooky," Bane called.

Mari smiled. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure it's just waiting for the right time to give you yours," Izzy answered.

Harry sighed, nodding. "I bet."

Bane turned to Braven. "You gave Izzy her weapon. That meant she was ready. What the hell happened between her and Azari today?"

"Azari tried to use their family bond as father and daughter, and the fact that Izzy has a little of the darkness and anger that he has in her, to his advantage to try and lure Izzy to the dark side," Braven answered. "But she refused and all she cared about was trying to make him stop the war and to protect all of you. Her friends, her family."

Bane smiled. "Good."

"But you have to keep an eye on her," Braven told him. "Azari's not going to give up, and with Queen of Hearts still in the scepter trying to make Izzy lose her mind more, she's not stable, especially with her demonic side awakening and with her hallucinating Azari trying to push her over the edge. And Azari wants to bring Queen of Hearts back, I think. So just keep an eye on Izzy. We don't know if she'll fall to the dark like her father did."

Bane shook his head. "Izzy can't do that. She wouldn't do that."

"I used to believe the same thing about Azari," Braven pointed out. "But he's the one that wanted to fall. Izzy doesn't, but with both her parents, including Isa, Queen of Hearts, having history and tendencies to try and drive her mad just to get her to their side, and with her darkness and anger and her demon side with her madness... you'll never know."

Bane became very worried but refused to believe that Izzy could fall that far. Bane and Braven both looked out toward Harry and Izzy.

Harry looked at Izzy. "Let's go home."

Izzy nodded in agreement. "Let's."

Harry and Izzy took each other's hands, while Harry held his hook in his other hand and Izzy held her new scythe in the other, and they walked onto the plane together to join the others. The plane flew away to take everyone home after the long, hard and trying adventure for everyone.