The golden dragon let out a roar. Mal felt the mental arena inside of her head shake.
Mal's dragon roared back, breathing flames at the dragon. It blew out so much fire that the entire arena was lit up almost immediately. The golden dragon was soon engulfed by the flames, but Mal's dragon kept blowing. It didn't stop until the other dragon was completely out of sight.
Mal's dragon finally ran out of fuel. It panted, smoke curling from its snout.
Mal's vision switched back to normal and she smirked at XJ, expecting the golden glow in her eyes to slowly fade, her dragon defeated.
However, XJ smirked back and her eyes glowed stronger. Mal's eyes widened, and she was about to switch back into the arena when she saw XJ move from the corner of her eye.
Mal dodged blindly to the left, but she was too late. XJ socked her in the face and she staggered back and if Ben hadn't caught her in time, she would have fallen to the ground.
Mal's vision involuntarily switched back to the arena and saw that the flames had died down. She heard a roar and cursed as she saw the golden dragon emerged. The fire hadn't done any more damage other than singing the tips of her opponent's whiskers.
Mal suddenly felt a whoosh of air blast her in the face and a clang of metal. She shrieked at the abrupt noise and the arena disappeared. She thought something had happened to her eyes when she saw nothing but a royal blue. It took her a moment to realize that the royal blue was the back of Ben's jacket.
The people in the coronation hall screamed and began to run out through the doors as another clang of metal rang through the venue.
Mal looked over Ben's shoulder to see her boyfriend holding a sword against a glowing golden spear. XJ's eyes were still glowing golden, but she was pressing against Ben's sword with her spear, baring her teeth like a predator.
"Mal, what are you doing?" Evie cried as she grabbed the purple-headed girl by the arm and dragged her to the side. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Mal rubbed her eyes that were no longer green and were still adjusting. "No, I..." She looked back at Ben and XJ, who were fighting. Jay, Lonnie and Carlos had joined the fight, but XJ was doing more than holding her ground. She seemed to be winning, and there wasn't a single scratch on her. Her friends, on the other hand, already had bruises and cuts.
"Mal, what were you trying to do?" Jane demanded, her eyes wide as she watched the fight.
Mal pointed at the Ben on the platform, who was cowering behind Fairy Godmother. "Do you see him? That's not Ben! I'm trying to undo whatever magic was put on him to make him look like that and see who he really is!"
"So do it now!" Evie shouted over the noise.
"I need to get closer!" Mal shouted back. "Follow me!"
Mal shot up the stairs, followed by Evie and Jane, to where the imposter was being ushered away by Fairy Godmother into a doorway.
"NO YOU DON'T!" XJ roared.
The three almost made it through, but a gust of strong wind so powerful blasted them all back.
A roar sounded and Mal looked up to see the golden dragon in the arena brought to life. It was even more terrifying solidified and it snaked around in the air, its body blocking the way after the Ben with Fairy Godmother and the fairy herself.
Mal turned to look at XJ, who smirked at her before returning her attention to the ones she was preoccupied with.
Mal's eyes glowed green again. Her body heated up as she felt herself shift and transform. She felt fangs grow, wings form and a tail sprout. Her fingernails elongated and she felt her limbs turn more animalistic.
Mal, in her dragon form, roared back. She was about to breathe fire again, but the golden dragon uncoiled itself just enough to both block the doorway and bite Mal neck. Mal roared in pain and scratched at her opponent's head with her claws.
However, the dragon dodged the attack and swooped in again at Mal's neck once Mal put down her claws.
Mal roared again and shook her head, breaking free of the bite. She flapped her wings and managed to fly away at a distance the golden dragon wouldn't be able to attack her without leaving the doorway open.
The golden dragon huffed and snarled, daring Mal to come closer. Mal growled in response, but she couldn't do anything. XJ's dragon was too quick, just like the person who had manifested it. It was also much longer and larger than Mal's bulky one, making it almost impossible for Mal to win.
Mal was stumped and her mind went blank. She contemplated turning back into her human form to try and lure the dragon away, which was a long shot, when Evie shouted.
"MAL, GO FOR XJ! IF SHE'S DOWN, THE DRAGON'S DOWN TOO!"
"YOU'RE A GENIUS!" Mal shouted, although what really came out was a series of grunts.
Evie laughed as Mal turned to XJ. Mal's heart jumped into her throat as she saw Jay and Carlos on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she saw that they were still breathing, which made her breathe out herself in relief.
Ben and Loonie were still fighting, but it was clear that they were running out of energy, while it seemed that XJ still hadn't broken a sweat.
Mal roared and was about to rush at XJ when she felt something peck the top of her head. She snarled and looked up to see a vicious looking hawk.
She frowned. What was a hawk doing in the coronation hall? Had it flown in through the windows and doors? And why wasn't it flying away in fear?
XJ whistled casually, catching Mal's attention as she knocked the butt of her sword against the side of Lonnie's head, immediately knocking her out. Lonnie's form crumpled to the ground and Mal roared in indignation.
Ben was the only one left standing, but he couldn't do anything more other than deflecting XJ's attacks. He panted heavily and his footsteps became slow and sluggish.
XJ wasn't preoccupied with anything else anymore, unless you counted the large golden dragon that was standing in Evie and Jane's way. That meant that Ben was in trouble.
Mal was about to charge at XJ before she knocked out Ben as well, when the hawk, still flying around her, pecked at her again.
Mal growled in annoyance and tried to bat away the hawk gently with her claws. She missed.
XJ whistled again and Mal turned to see Ben on the ground, finally unconscious. At XJ's whistling, Mal connected the dots and realized that she wasn't doing it out of boredom. She was talking to the hawk, instructing it on what to do.
Mal made a loud shrieking noise at the sight of Ben on the floor. The floor shook like there was an earthquake and she charged at XJ, not bothered by the hawk that was screaming like an alarm clock and rapidly flying around her, hoping to distract the purple dragon.
Mal opened her mouth and got ready to breathe fire directly at XJ, fueled by the rage of seeing Ben injured. XJ turned around and smirked, making a gesture at Mal, beckoning her closer. Mal snarled and sucked in a deep breath -
"GET BACK!" A voice suddenly bellowed out of nowhere.
It was too late. Mal had already screwed her eyes shut in concentration and was spitting flames at XJ. The hot air seared XJ's skin and her hair whipped behind her at the force of the fire. The flames kept coming; each one hotter than the last. They continued for a long while, although nobody really knew exactly how long.
When Mal ran out of breath and transformed back to her human form, her magic completely drained, she fell to her knees, watching the fire slowly extinguish. Then the weight of what she had done crushed down on her and her eyes widened. She brought her hands up to her mouth and vainly hoped that XJ would still be standing. Mal shut her eyes and held back tears. She had killed someone.
The last of the flames finally disappeared, ashes were floating through the air and there was a strong burning smell. Evie and Jane ran down next to Mal, each putting a hand on one of Mal's shoulders in a futile attempt to comfort her.
"Mal, you did what was right." Evie said gently.
"I...killed someone," Mal choked out, her face buried in her hands. "That's...right?"
"If you hadn't, then hell would have frozen over." Jane said softly. "Mal, you did what anyone would have done. At least, the doorway isn't blocked anymore."
"That's because I killed - "
"AHHHHHH!"
Mal jumped up at Evie's sudden scream and asked, looking at her friend with wide eyes. "What was that for?"
Evie pointed in front of Mal wordlessly, making Mal turn her head.
At the spot where Mal had directly breathed fire, there was a figure kneeling over a body. The figure had it's arms held up like it was holding up an invisible force. Golden light flickered from the hands before disappearing entirely.
XJ was shaking as she let her hands fall to her sides, her hair and face grey from the ashes. She panted heavily. Her eyes were no longer glowing, and her magic was completely gone.
Harry groaned before slowly sitting up. He looked at XJ, who was staring at him like he was from another planet. He attempted a smile, his lip quivering.
"Hello, Xiao."
The corner of XJ's lip twitched, but she didn't reply. She couldn't. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she promptly collapsed onto Harry.
Harry's eyes widened as he caught her and flipped her around so that she was facing the ceiling. "Xiao?"
XJ didn't respond. Her eyes were fluttering, but all Harry could see were the whites of her pupils. She was twitching and her body was convulsing and shaking.
Harry looked up to see Mal, Evie and Jane. "Well?" He shouted. "Help her!"
"She's alive," Mal whispered.
"She is," Evie agreed quickly, turning to Mal. "But she won't be if we don't get help! We have to go find Fairy Godmother! Come on!" She yelled as she shot up the stairs to the doorway that was no longer blocked. The golden dragon had disappeared, just like the hawk, which had seemingly vanished too.
Jane shook Mal's shoulders and managed to successfully snap her out of her trance. The two took off after Evie, who had already dashed through the marble doorway.
The three girls burst out of the coronation hall and found themselves at the back of the building. Everyone who had previously been in the hall for XJ's coronation was assembled and they all bombarded them with questions the minute they were in sight.
"What happened?"
"What was that?"
"Oh my god, have you three been through a fire?"
"Hey, what's with the smoke?"
"What's going on?"
"Where were you?"
"How were there two Bens?"
"STOP!" Evie yelled, making everyone quiet down. "Where's Fairy Godmother?" She asked exasperatedly.
"Right here, Evie," Fairy Godmother said as she puttered out of the crowd with the other Ben at her side. "Oh my, you three look like you've been washing your faces with coal!" The woman in pale blue said concernedly as she patted some ashes out of Mal's hair. "What's the matter?"
"XJ's going crazy, Mom - we need your help!" Jane exclaimed as she pulled on her mother's sleeve.
"Oh - well - I - of course!" Fairy Godmother shouted in reply as she followed Jane and Evie into the coronation hall.
"Um," A voice said nervously, "Shouldn't you be going too, Mal?"
Mal turned around to look at the other Ben, who was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt anxiously.
She smirked, "Not yet," Her eyes began to glow purple as she worked her magic.
A purple mist appeared out of the blue and began to encircle Ben. His eyes widened as he tried to dust off the mist.
"What - hey, get it off!" He complained, trying to hide his fear. "What are you doing?"
The purple mist soon completely covered him and a few seconds later. Mal's eyes stopped glowing and the purple mist slowly vanished.
The crowd gasped.
Chad smiled sheepishly at everyone, "Um, hello guys, surprise...?"
Audrey, who was standing in the front line, stormed up to him, her expression furious. "YOU SAID THAT WE WERE GOING TO SIT TOGETHER!"
"Hey, listen, Princess, I..."
"DON'T PRINCESS ME! YOU PROMISED!"
Chad laughed nervously. "Well, that was before some stuff came up - "
"WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME?" Audrey screeched, making Chad wince.
Mal snickered before heading back into the coronation hall, leaving Chad to face the wrath of his angry girlfriend. She walked back into the hall through the doorway to see everyone except for XJ, now fully conscious and awake, huddled around the Chinese girl.
Mal ran over. She stopped in between Ben and Evie. She turned to Fairy Godmother, whose hands were placed on XJ's stomach, and were both glowing with a pale blue outline. "How's it going?"
Fairy Godmother replied worriedly, "XJ used up all of her magic. As someone who has a bloodline that isn't really made up of pure magic, it took her ten times more effort to conjure up something like that. She went into overdrive. I'm fixing the harm that drawing so much magic from herself has done, but I don't know if she'll wake up. The shield she pulled was the last straw."
"She's going to be stuck in a coma?" Harry croaked, his eyes puffy and red.
Fairy Godmother hesitated before answering, "It won't be very long as far as I can tell, but in technical terms, yes, she will, at least until her supply of magic fully restores and heals itself. She did a lot of damage by pushing herself beyond her limit."
Harry laughed humorlessly, "Classic Xiao. How long will it be?"
"I estimate a few weeks, but XJ is known for making the previously thought impossible possible." Fairy Godmother shrugged. "Who knows? With her willpower, maybe she could cut that time in half."
Harry chuckled half-heartedly. "I wouldn't be surprised."
After a few moments of silence, Fairy Godmother's hands stopped glowing and she retracted them from XJ's body. She sighed and looked around, only now taking in how damaged the coronation hall was. Her eyes widened and she turned to Ben.
"What happened in here?" Fairy Godmother frowned. "You'd better tell me everything, young man." She said strictly.
Ben sighed and smiled. He took a deep breath and explained what had happened in the last twelve hours, with the others adding other small bits of information that he had forgotten to mention.
They told her about Harry's breakup with XJ, how Lonnie had led them to the Isle, how they had come back to find XJ about to be coronated and finally, how the Ben who had agreed to it to be Chad. Mal told Fairy Godmother about the last part, informing everyone else at the same time; Harry explained the original plan that XJ had and about Ima and Gil's parts in the story too.
It was a while before they had all gotten the entire thrilling tale out of them and to Fairy Godmother, but when they did, they all sat on the remaining bits of carpet and panted, letting Fairy Godmother take it all in with her eyes closed.
Fairy Godmother finally opened her eyes after around a minute or so and smiled, looking exhausted. "Well, I'm proud of you all for seeing through everything and for preventing what could have been a catastrophe. Almost everyone was under XJ's spell, except for you."
She turned to Harry, who rolled his eyes and nodded.
"I know," Harry grumbled, trying to his misery. "I'm being sent back to the Isle."
Fairy Godmother raised an eyebrow. "Actually, only Uma and Gil are. You and XJ are staying here."
Harry's eyes widened. He didn't think that he could get even more surprised by the day's events. Evidently, he was wrong.
"What?"
Fairy Godmother smiled kindly as everyone else looked at the woman incredulously. "You proved that you had some good in you with the fact that you were willing to go after the person you loved. You can stay.
"Uma, on the other hand, was going to betray an ally - someone that she had grown up with. She was going to take what XJ had worked so hard for without a second thought. This isn't the first stunt she's pulled, as I'm sure that you all remember Ben's unfortunate event on the Isle. She will go back to the Isle.
"Gil will follow Uma anywhere and everywhere. He can't survive on his own without her, and so it's better for him to go with her. Gil will follow Uma back to his home."
"What about XJ?" Mal demanded furiously. "She was a part of Ben's kidnapping too! She tried to actively take the crown!"
Fairy Godmother sighed and looked down at XJ's body, which was no longer twitching. For once, the girl didn't have a scowl or an unimpressed look on her face. She looked serene. It was funny, seeing someone so aggressive look so at peace.
"You're right Mal, she tried to become ruler of Auradon. She would have succeeded too, if she hadn't jumped in front of Harry. She shielded him from danger, even if it meant putting herself at harm. She's good too, but the good is covered by the vengeance and anger she has at the world. The world scorned her and you can't blame her for that. She stays."
"You're kidding me!" Mal exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air exasperatedly. "She tried to kill me! She tried to kill all of us!"
"She didn't," Carlos said quietly, making everyone turn to him. He looked up and said thoughtfully, "She could have killed us if she wanted, but she just knocked us all out."
Mal scoffed, "That's because she had too much going on!"
"It's harder and more time-consuming to knock someone out than to straight out kill them." Jay pointed out.
"She tried to bite my neck!" Mal argued as she pointed to a large bruise on her neck.
"At least her hawk didn't go for your eyes." Evie said gently. "She could have ordered it to blind you, but she didn't."
"Because she probably didn't even think about it!"
"I find it hard to believe that XJ wouldn't think of that," Lonnie said a matter-of-factly. "She's a general's daughter. Think of strategies are like second nature to her, even in the heat of a battle."
"But - "
"That's enough, Mal." Fairy Godmother said sternly. "XJ is staying. She deserves a second chance. If we hadn't done the same with you, would you still be here?"
Mal fell silent and didn't respond. In fact, she didn't speak a single word the entire time Fairy Godmother fixed the coronation hall with magic, not on the drive back to her dorm, and not when her head hit the pillow.