▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐒𝐢𝐱 ━︎━︎ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐝 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 Fairy Cottage, softly creeping up to it and hiding behind a tree. Slowly, they grew closer and closer until they made it to the front door and Ben threw the door open. They made it inside, only to find that it was empty. Ilaria ran upstairs with Jay following her, both of them checking it out but coming up empty handed. The duo ran back downstairs. "She's not upstairs," Ilaria said.

     Their heads all snapped when something began banging against the pantry door. Ben quickly walked over, looking through the mirror and removing the lock, pulling it open to reveal Chad cowering on the floor. Ben's eyes were wide. "Chad?"

     "I want my mommy." Chad said, his body shaking.

     Ben reached down to help him up but Chad quickly pulled away, his eyes wide with fear. "It's okay." Ben gently assured, reaching out again and gently pulling him up from the ground. "What happened, buddy?"

     Chad looked around, staring at the group and then the rest of the room before looking at Ben. "Ben. Ben!" He quickly grabbed a fistful of his jacket, pulling him extremely close before taking two fingers and rubbing Ben's new beard. "Your face." He looked at Mal. "She's gone, huh?" He then looked past Mal at the front door they had left wide open. "The door's open. I'm free. Freedom! Oh!" He went sprinting through all of them and ran straight out the door.

     Harry cackled and Ilaria hummed, glancing at Evie. "I almost feel bad for the guy." Evie nodded and grabbed her hand as they all walked out.

     Uma let out a deep breath. "Alright. Let's get this Audrey chick taken care of already." Mal laughed. "What do you say, girl? Time to wrap things up?"

     Ben pointed at her. "You know, someday you'll have to tell me how you guys all got teamed up."

     Evie spoke up. "Actually, Mal promised to let all the kids off the Isle once this is over." Ilaria instantly grew tense.

     Ben furrowed his brows, looking at his girlfriend. "Mal?"

     "I have to tell you guys something." Mal said, coming to a stop and turning to look at the group. Ilaria clenched Evie's hand, her breath hitching in her throat. "Um. . . I lied to you. The kids won't be coming off the Isle."

     Jay frowned. "What do you mean?"

     "The program is shut down. And the barrier. . . will be closed for good."

     Ben added, "For Auradon's safety."

     Ilaria spared a glance at Evie whose mouth was open in shock. She stared at Mal, hurt and heartbreak in her eyes. Evie turned to look at Ilaria and found nothing but guilt in them. In an instant, she dropped her hand and Ilaria's heart seemed to shatter in her chest. Uma walked towards Mal. "Hold up. So we're saving your precious people and your behinds for a lie." She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I knew it was a mistake to trust you. You're always out for yourself."

     Harry turned, pointing to Ben. "And you, King Ben. . . you're probably just gonna throw us all back inside."

     That's when Celia walked forwards. "You know what? I actually thought you were brave. You're nothing but a chicken. Too scared to tell me I was never gonna see my dad again."

     Mal's heart broke. "Celia." Celia reached forwards, taking the ember from Mal and quickly placing it in the bird fountain filled with water. The ember sparked as soon as it touched the water and Celia walked away. Mal quickly grabbed it. "Regain your might and ignite." She tried a spell, but it wouldn't work. She repeated the spell again and when it didn't work she looked desperately at Uma.

     Uma lifted her necklace, but it didn't glow. "Bummer. Let's go find Gil and leave them all to rot." She and Harry walked past Mal and in the same way Celia had gone.

     Mal called out to her but Uma didn't respond. She turned only to come face to face with Evie who had angry tears in her eyes. "Evie. . . I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I just thought that. . . I was afraid to tell you. I thought I was gonna lose my bestfriend. Ilaria told me to tell you, I should have listened to her. But I had to do something. I had to protect Auradon."

     Evie spared a quick glance at Ilaria before looking back at Mal. "Closing the barrier was your idea?"

     "I did it for us." Mal tried. "I did it for our life that we have here now."

     "For our life?" Evie snapped. "What about the kids that we left behind on that Island?" Her voice broke, tears clogging her throat. "The kids that we promised? We were their only hope. I thought you were gonna stand up for the V.K.'s. But instead you lied to them. And you lied to Jay. And you lied to Carlos. And you lied to me." She pointed at Ilaria. "You made my girlfriend lie to me, you gave her no other choice. We're your family."

     Tears ran down Mal's cheeks. "Evie." Evie shook her head and turned away from her, walking back over to Ilaria who had her own tears in her eyes. She didn't want to lose Evie because of this, she couldn't. "Evie, come on. I had no choice!" And then everything went dark, and they all―︎besides Mal―︎were turned to stone.

     When they came back from being turned, Mal was nowhere to be found. Ben, Carlos, and Jay instantly left to find her and Evie went to follow but stopped when she realized Ilaria wasn't following. She turned to look at her. Ilaria's arms were crossed tightly across her chest, her eyes turned towards the ground. Evie walked over to her and Ilaria looked up, revealing the tears that were falling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry." Ilaria croaked. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you. I really did. I tried to avoid this. I didn't want you getting hurt but you got hurt anyways and it's my fault. I should have told you, even if it meant they were going to send me away."

     Evie's heart broke. "No. It's not your fault. You didn't make the choice."

     "Please don't hate me." Ilaria whispered. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

     Evie grabbed her hands. "I don't hate you. There was no way you could have controlled this. You were put in an unfair position." Ilaria could only nod. "Hey." Evie cupped Ilaria's face in her hands. "I love you, okay. That hasn't changed. That will never change." She wiped her tears and gave her the best smile she could manage.

     Ilaria nodded, allowing a small smile on her face. "I love you too."

     Evie gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Come on." She grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers before they walked away.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 Audrey and now they were in Audrey's room with Audrey laying on the bed completely unresponsive. Mal sat in a chair on one side of the bed and Evie sat in a chair on the other side with Ilaria standing behind her. "She's slipping away." Evie softly said.

     Mal lowered her head in defeat before she sighed. "There's only one person in the world who might be able to do something about this, and that's Hades."

     "Hades?" Ben scoffed. "He wouldn't do it. And I wouldn't risk it."

     "Actually, he might do it for me." Mal said before meeting his eyes. "He's my father." Ilaria's eyes widened, though she couldn't say she was all that surprised. Ben instantly grew nervous, taking a deep breath.

     "Well, I'll have to send guards to get him."

     "Maybe I can hitch a ride." Uma commented. "The Isle is my home. Someone needs to be there to protect it."

      Harry stepped up beside her. "Well, then, you'll need your first mate."

     "The Isle will be in very good hands." Mal gave Uma a small smile and Uma smiled back.

     Celia stood. "Can I go too? I wish I could be in both places."

     Mal looked at her before standing and looked at Uma. "I really think that Evie was right. And. . . I do think we could've been friends. And I'm really sorry that I lied to all of you guys. You deserved so much better than that."

     Jay shook his head. "You were just trying to do the right thing."

     Ilaria placed a hand on Evie's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. Evie reached up, squeezing her hand before standing and looking at Mal. "I get it."

     Mal looked at Ilaria. "And I'm sorry for putting you in a bad position."

     Ilaria nodded. "It's alright, I should've read the fine print before signing up for the position."

     Ben, who had walked out to inform the guards of their assignment, walked back in. "Tomorrow." He said with a nod.

     "It's probably best if only you two are here." Ilaria said, looking at Ben. "We don't want her to be overwhelmed when she wakes."

     Ben nodded. "I agree." He walked up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Take tomorrow off. You deserve it."

     Ilaria gave a nod before looking at Uma. "You guys are welcome to stay in our castle until you leave tomorrow if you wish."

     Uma nodded. "I think we'll take you up on that."

     The group all left and made it to Evie's castle, when they arrived they found Doug, Dizzy, and the twins awake. "Doug!" Ilaria shot forwards and Doug laughed as he instantly wrapped his arms around her. "Oh thank God you're okay!" Ilaria pulled away, a wide smile on her face. "I have so much to tell you."

     "Yes, you really do." Doug nodded. Ilaria sat him down and explained everything to him and after Doug sat there in shock he decided he would go home and mull over everything she had said.

     It was getting late, almost everyone was already asleep but Ilaria was still awake, eating a midnight snack. Footsteps approached her and she looked up, surprised to see Uma standing there. She offered her a small smile and Uma took a seat beside her. "So," Uma started, "you want to tell me why you aren't dead?"

     Ilaria slowed her chewing. "Excuse me?"

     "When we were kids? You just sorta disappeared with no warning. Everyone thought you were dead."

     "Oh." Ilaria swallowed. "Yeah."

     Uma stared at her. "You didn't think I remembered you, did you?"

     Ilaria's cheeks glowed red with embarrassment. "No, not really."

     "Well, it's kind of hard to forget when your best friend just suddenly goes missing."

     Ilaria softly chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that's fair." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "My aunt came and got me, took me away without much warning. I lived with her in Wonderland until I was old enough to go to Auradon Prep. I would've said bye, but I was never given the option." She met Uma's eyes. "I'm sorry."

     Uma waved her off. "It's fine. I'm just glad to know you're still alive. Would've said something when we reunited a few months back, but, uh. . . you know."

     Ilaria managed a small smile. "Yeah." She put her dishes away before placing a hand on Uma's shoulder. "I'm glad the Isle will have someone to keep them safe. Goodnight, Uma."

     Uma returned her smile. "Goodnight, Ilaria."