Doug felt his body smash into the brick wall and fall hard among a mountain of boxes and furniture. For a moment, he lay there, stunned, pain screaming through his nerves. He gasped, head still fuzzy from being knocked unconscious but struggling frantically to fit all the missing pieces in the puzzle together. The Dragonfires...she has the Dragonfires...Evie? EVIE!
He scrambled to his feet, searching around frantically for the bluenette. Instead, his gaze fell on her mother. Their eyes met and Doug immediately scrambled back, his heart throbbing relentlessly. He wanted to hide, to escape her deadly glare. But where could he go? He was trapped. There was nothing around him that could offer protection. He was stranded in the middle of the sea of useless boxes...and his family's archenemy was standing feet away from him, looking poised to kill, the Dragonfires shining dangerously in her hands.
He tensed, ready to bolt at a moment's notice, holding the Evil Queen's glare evenly. If he let her see how frightened he was, then he was already as good as dead. He stood there stiffly as the stones began to glow and pulse once more with light.
"Doug...?"
There was a groan from a few feet away and the dwarf tore his eyes away from his enemy to locate Evie who was just beginning to emerge from among a pile of old chairs and cushions. It was only a momentary distraction, but it was all that Evil Queen needed.
Before he knew what had hit him, he found himself once again flying through the air, the force of the impact propelling him backward through a full length mirror and tumbling head over heels across the dusty and icy ground. Great, he groaned, still not a hundred percent comprehending what was happening. Seven years of bad luck for me. He struggled to stand back up, but the Evil Queen was quicker and was on top of him in a matter of second. She grabbed him by the throat and dragged him roughly into the air to match her height. He gasped, struggling to pry her hands from his neck even as he dangled helplessly in midair.
"You were a fool to come here," Evie's mother hissed. "And you were a fool to ever trust my daughter. True love is nothing more than a fairy tale, a pitiful lie. Tell me, dwarf, why would Evie ever love someone like you? You...you're a nothing. She would never love the likes of you!"
"Mom..." Evie gasped, stumbling to her feet but falling back down almost as rapidly. "Please..."
"NO! ENOUGH!" Evil Queen bellowed, dropping Doug who hit the ground on all fours and remained there, gasping for breath. The Queen, meanwhile, turned back towards her daughter with fire in her eyes. "Evie..." she began, her voice immediately softening. "I'm so sorry that you had to go to that dreadful place. And after all you did for me, I hated to leave you there. But it's about to be all alright again. Don't worry. Mommy's here. I have an ally. She's on her way. And when she gets here, you won't have to worry about this underling's poisonous influence ever again. She'll take care of him. And then we can be together again."
"She?" Evie groaned, obviously ignoring everything else her mother had just said. "Who's she? Maleficent?"
"EVIE!" Mal's voice echoed off of the walls.
Doug coughed and looked up, squinting through broken lenses to see the purplette charge into the room, followed closely by the other VKs, along with Ben, Jane, and Lonnie. Immediately, the panic in his heart loosened. Mal would save them! They were going to make it! They were going to be all right! He gave a small smile that was not missed by the Evil Queen as she spun to face the new arrivals. "FOOLS!" she screamed at them all.
Mal stepped forward, holding her Dragonfire in front of her like a kind of weapon. "Let them go," she ordered, her eyes glowing green. Evie's mother certainly wasn't Maleficent. Perhaps all Mal would have to do was intimidate her and she'd back down. "Now."
Doug suddenly wondered why he couldn't be intimidating like that.
Evil Queen laughed. "Or what?" she questioned. "You'll blast me? Tsk. Tsk. And I thought you were the smart one, Mal. You see..." She moved away from them with a swish of her long black cape. "I have two of your precious magic stone thingies. You blast me...and I smash them." She held them beneath a rolling pin. "You get what I'm saying here?"
"NO! DON'T!" Mal screamed, reaching desperately for them. Doug didn't understand what was causing her to panic so much. He did, however, notice that the silver stone was pulsing with light in sync with his thudding heart. "Look," Mal went on, sounding a bit desperate. "I know what you think of us. And I get it, really. But Auradon was once your home too, wasn't it? If you destroy those Dragonfires, you destroy any hope of saving the world! Come on, EQ, be smart. Think about what you're doing. If Auradon is eliminated, what do you think will happen to you?"
"I'll finally be free from this vile place," Evil Queen snapped. But still, she hesitated.
And that was all Mal needed.
"Dragonfires to me!" she screamed. The stones shot from the Evil Queen's clenched fist to Mal who jumped up and caught them in one swift motion. "Evie! Doug!" the purplette went on. "You guys okay?"
"I'm fine," Doug lied, trying to stand up and hide the wince of pain. Evie hobbled over to join him and used his shoulder to balance herself.
"Yeah, me too," she added.
Doug flashed her a look of concern that she ignored. His attention was diverted seconds later as Mal tossed him the silver and blue Dragonfires and he handed Evie's off to her.
"Get ready!" Carlos yelled.
And that was when Doug remembered that Evil Queen hadn't been the only villain in the room.
He turned, spotting Carlos, Uma, and Harry busy fighting off Queenie's henchmen while Jay took on the princess herself. But no matter how many times he tried to hit her, she just kept disappearing and reappearing a few feet away with a wry smirk on her face.
"Carlos! Jay! Ben! Use your Dragonfires!" Mal bellowed out orders. "Evie, go help them! Doug--"
He waited hopefully. He wanted revenge as much as any of them.
"Stay back!" Mal finished. "Your Dragonfire is prophecy. You can't do anything here!" With that, she drew a sword from thin air and dove into the battle alongside the others.
With an apologetic glance in his direction, Evie followed her friend's lead. Doug stood there in stunned silence. After all he'd been through...after coming all this way...and he couldn't even help in the battle. He looked down at his hands in disgust. He knew he wasn't a hero like the rest of them. He was just a sidekick who got captured on his first solo mission. He was probably just a hindrance to the others.
No wonder Mal had wanted him to go with Jane back in Auradon. Even Fairy Godmother's daughter was tougher than he was. He didn't deserve to be here...to be chosen by a Dragonfire. Why me? He demanded, staring down at the small gem. Why not anyone else? Uma? Harry? Lonnie? Any of them would have been a better choice than me. What do I have to offer? I'm a dwarf. I mine jewels and create music. Nothing special. I'm nothing special.
The VKs and AKs had already formed a defensive wall; Mal, Evie, and Uma in the center, the boys, Lonnie, and Jane surrounding them in a close-knit circle as they feinted and dodged blow after blow. They worked as a perfect team. Especially Jay and Lonnie who seemed to have found a common pattern and were rapidly destroying the shadows edging towards them.
Ben and Jane fought side by side. Mal tossed Ben a sword and signaled for Jane to get ready for what was coming next. Jay and Carlos disposed of two shadows with identical sparks of fire from their Dragonfires while Uma and Harry parred and blocked attacks and lured the unwary creatures right to Mal and Ben who finished them up with a single blow.
Doug was so distracted watching the others fight that he didn't realize Queenie was sneaking up behind him until it was too late and he had been jerked back and the knife had been shoved against his throat. He let out a terrified squeak but the others couldn't hear him. They were all too engaged in their own battles to notice what was going on on the sidelines.
"Don't move," Queenie hissed.
Doug could feel his heart racing but he did as he was told. He clutched his Dragonfire tighter and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Come on, Doug, he told himself. Think! The others can't help you. You have to get yourself free. Summoning all of his courage, he swung his fist around in the hope of it colliding with something.
It did.
Queenie's hand.
She caught his punch, twisted his arm backward, and flipped him over her shoulder. He hit the ground, wheezing and winded. "Was that really a smart idea?" Queenie sneered, looking down at him with a wicked smirk. "Now, dwarf, why don't you give me the Dragonfire before I take it from you? Save us both the trouble." She held out her hand.
Doug tightened his grip on his Dragonfire and shook his head weakly.
Queenie glared. "No?" she growled. "Why you...you're going to give me the Dragonfire and you're going to give it to me right now!" She lunged at him, struggling to wrestle the gem from his grasp. Doug held the stone closer to his chest, refusing to let go.
The others finally realized something was wrong. Evie slashed the last shadow to bits and turned toward him. "DOUG!" she screamed, hurrying toward him, grabbing Queenie and trying to yank her away. The two girls fell back in a clawing mess, neither able to get the advantage on the other. Doug lay there, too panicked to move.
Ben and Lonnie hurried over and helped him to his feet and, together, the three of them watched as Queenie and Evie went at each other. Evil Queen attempted to sneak away but Uma and Harry quickly cornered her and forced her to watch as the two girls continued to fight.
"You think you're so special, Queen," the redhead snarled. "Just because you were chosen to go to Auradon does not mean you're any better than the rest of us! You seem to have forgotten who you really are. You're still evil, self-centered, rotten, and no good. Maybe I'd outta show--oof!" She staggered back as Evie's fist collided with her jaw.
"You still talk too much," Evie snapped.
Jay and Carlos whooped in laughter.
Ben laughed and Doug cracked a smile, readjusting his glasses nervously. Across the way, Evil Queen began to laugh. Everyone, minus Evie and Queenie, turned to face the queen in confusion. The smile plastered on her face was evident. She knew something.
"Tick-tock," she laughed.
Before anyone could ask what she was talking about, there was a tremendous explosion and something came barreling through the side of the building. The sonic explosion packed enough of a punch to send everyone in the room flying backward.
Fog rolled in through the new dent in the wall and, a moment later, a tall figure appeared in the center of the room, her long red hair flowing behind her. She seemed to be levitating in midair. Her gaze scanned the shocked teens even as Queenie scrambled back away from Evie and the Evil Queen joined her. The woman's gaze paused when her eyes fell on Doug who was struggling to stand up after smashing down on an old desk.
Queenie broke into a wicked laugh as she focused her attention on the group of friends.
"Don't look now, but, your time as Auradon's heroes is up."