CRUNCH!
The floor broke, cracks forming like spider webs. XJ's spear had struck concrete instead of flesh. It was stabbed with so much force, that half of it was buried underground.
Shan Yu opened an eye in surprise to see that he was still alive. "Wha - "
XJ knocked her father out with a swift kick to his head before he could finish his sentence.
She breathed in and out heavily, her eyes squeezed shut like she didn't want to face the fact that she hadn't done the one thing she had been looking forward to accomplishing her entire life when she had the opportunity.
Harry knew better than to talk, but he couldn't, even if he wanted to. He was stunned.
Another loud crunch made him jump. XJ had punched a hole straight through the wall next to her. Harry winced when he saw that her knuckles were flaring red and blood was beginning to trickle down her arm. XJ didn't seem to care. She was still facing the wall that she had damaged.
Suddenly, the main door to the hospital wing burst open, and in ran Fairy Godmother, her eyes wide and an expression on her face that was filled with panic. She was followed by Ben and Mal, along with Evie, Jay and Carlos.
"XJ? Harry?" Fairy Godmother sighed in relief when she saw the two villain kids. "Oh thank the Blue Fairy you're both alright!" Then she noticed XJ's fist, which she had withdrawn from the hole in the wall, her blood dripping down from her hand, which was clenched tight at her side. "Oh no, XJ, you're bleeding!"
XJ didn't turn her head or indicate that she had heard Fairy Godmother, but her hand glowed a slight gold. Her hand was healed immediately, but the blood that had dripped down onto the floor didn't vanish.
Fairy Godmother was about to say something, but her mouth closed when she saw Harry shake his head at her.
"Um," Ben pointed at Shan Yu, who was still knocked out cold on the ground. "Who's that?"
Mal's eyes suddenly widened. She stumbled back a few steps in shock.
Ben put a hand on her back to stabilize her. "Woah, are you alright Mal?"
"I remember who he is," Mal whispered. She ran forward and knelt next to Shan Yu. She looked up at XJ, but when she realized that she seemed to be stuck in her own little world, Mal turned to Harry. "How did he get here?"
Harry was about to answer, but Ben interrupted, "Wait, who is he?"
Mal looked up at the three of her friends from the Isle, who all recognized the Hun. Evie was paler than usual, Jay's eyes were wide, and Carlos looked like he wanted to turn and run.
Mal turned to Ben and Fairy Godmother, who both looked concerned. "This is XJ's father."
Fairy Godmother gasped, "Shan Yu? But I thought he was on the Isle!"
Mal shook her head, "Shan Yu disappeared from the Isle when XJ was seven. By then, he had taught her everything, enough to scare even my mom back then. Nobody knows where he went."
"Well, we know now," Jay said, using a toe to nudge the side of Shan Yu's head gently. "He's here on the floor."
"What happened?" Evie asked, looking at Harry.
Harry took a deep breath and relayed the story to the newcomers, all the while glancing at XJ every now and then. He'd be lying if he said that he knew how to comfort her. Even when they had been together, Harry had never been in a situation where XJ needed comforting.
XJ remained facing the wall with her eyes shut the entire time, not reacting to anything that was going on around her. When Harry had finished his report, Fairy Godmother spoke to XJ.
"You're very brave, you know," The headmistress said gently. "I'm very proud."
XJ stayed silent, and the irrational fear that XJ would never speak again came over Harry.
Mal held up a hand to stop Fairy Godmother, who was about to say something else. "Let me try," Mal whispered. Mal walked over until she was around one foot away from XJ.
"You did the right thing, you know." Mal started, "I know how hard it must be to give up on something that you were dead set on doing. I felt the same way when I didn't break the barrier."
Mal paused for a moment to allow XJ to say something. She didn't.
Mal continued, "You know that your will is stronger than mine, and I'm willing to admit that too."
XJ's eyes snapped open at her words. Harry could tell how surprised she was.
Mal kept going. "So it was harder for you, but at the same time, if I ended up this happy, you'll be twice as happy. If you had killed him, you would have been booted off to the Isle for the rest of your life. You would have wasted your second chance.
"You didn't make the same mistake Uma and Gil made. You held back. You won't regret it. I know that I don't. I was lost for a bit, so I went back to the Isle, but I found my way in the end, which was back here in Auradon. We all did," Mal gestured to Evie, Carlos and Jay.
Evie gave Mal a thumbs up and Mal smiled back. She turned to XJ. "You will too, even if it doesn't feel like it now."
Mal had finished, and she waited for XJ's response.
It was a while before XJ replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "No, I won't."
With that, XJ walked out of the hospital wing, leaving everybody speechless.
---
I can't be happy. It's impossible.
And now I've given up on the one thing that might have made me happy.
I won't get another chance to kill him. I won't get another chance to make history. I won't get another chance to rule. I won't get another chance to do what I've wanted to do for the last ten years.
And yet they say I'll be happy.
I don't believe that one bit.
Was I ever happy?
No. I don't think so. What is happy anyway?
'Happy' definition: feeling or showing of pleasure or contentment.
The pleasure bit seems obvious enough.
Contentment? I didn't know that was part of it.
Contentment is the same as satisfaction, isn't it?
I don't think so. Satisfaction means that you've done everything and contentment means that you don't want to pursue something anymore.
By that definition, then satisfaction is something that no human could ever feel. It's human nature to yearn for more, to strive for perfection, to accomplish everything.
But we can't do that, because we're human, no matter how much magic some of us possess.
Contentment seems to be another story. It seems easier to achieve.
Was I ever content?
I'm surprised by the answer too. It's yes. When I was with Harry.
I was happy with Harry. But I'm not with him anymore.
I can't forgive and I can't forget. It's something I haven't done in years.
But technically, I just forgave the biggest wrong that someone could ever do me by just now, didn't I? I spared Shan Yu.
So why can't I do the same for Harry? By comparison, he didn't do much.
I heard the apology speech he gave after I found out. He wasn't lying. I could always tell when he was. He really was planning on telling me that Uma and Gil were planning on stabbing me in the back. He was more loyal to me than he was to his own captain, whom he's known much longer. That's something I can admire.
I can't believe that I'm about to admit that Shan Yu was right. Maybe he's smarter than I give the old fool credit for.
I also can't believe that Mal admitted to me being stronger than her. I never thought that I would see the day she faced reality. Well, it got me to listen, otherwise, I wouldn't be here, sitting on the rooftop of the school, monologuing.
They're going to boot Shan Yu back to the Isle, I bet, after treating the injuries I gave him. At least I got a couple of good stabs in that I can remember my victory by. A head would have been better, but I did decide to pull back.
If I hadn't, I would have been sent back as well. Maybe I could have escaped during the journey. I'm probably one of the most powerful people in both Auradon and on the Isle anyway.
If I was back on the Isle, then I'd have to put up with Uma and her crew. Gil's alright, but his naivety gets on my nerves. I'd also have people asking questions from all directions, although, they would have to be pretty stupid to even talk to me. They must know how annoyed I would be by being stuck back there.
I would also be away from Harry.
Maybe I did make the right choice. Maybe I was subconsciously looking at the bigger picture.
Or maybe I've just gone soft. Being around these Auradonian fools might have influenced me more than I'd care to admit.
It's funny how I thought that I would never become like them, but I did anyway. I'm supposed to know myself better than anyone else. And yet I didn't see it coming. I'm supposed to be able to predict and prepare for everything. That's what makes me stronger than all the rest. Faster. Smarter. More lethal.
But that's not true, is it? Clearly not. I didn't see that I would jump in front of Harry and end up in a coma. I didn't see that I would leave my father alive. I didn't see that my plan would fail.
Most of all, I didn't see that I would fall in love.
---
Harry would be lying if he said that he wasn't scared.
He watched as Shan Yu lay on a bed in the hospital wing, still unconscious, as Fairy Godmother treated his wounds. Shan Yu was lying on the very same bed his daughter had spent two weeks in. It was uncanny how much XJ resembled her father.
Their body shape was completely different obviously. Shan Yu was built bulkier and heavier than XJ, which was to be expected, and he looked older, with silver streaks in his hair and frown lines across his face. But all things considered, the years had been relatively kind to him. He was still fairly fit for a man who was in his forties.
What XJ had inherited were her father's sharp features. Both of them looked ferocious. She was the younger, female version of Shan Yu, as much as Harry knew she would deny it.
However, there were some things that Harry suspected that XJ had gotten from her mother. XJ's hair was lighter and her neck was longer. Her jawline was sharper and her face was slightly more angular.
Shan Yu looked like a soldier. A general on the battlefield.
XJ looked like an assassin who hid in the shadows.
But Harry was only afraid of Shan Yu. After all, he had kissed the assassin. There was a significantly less amount of fear there.
Shan Yu looked like he could shoot up and kill everything in the vicinity all of a sudden, which was why Harry and the other villain kids were keeping their distance from the unconscious villain.
"What's going to happen to him?" Evie asked, eyeing Shan Yu carefully.
Fairy Godmother sighed and wiped a hand across her forehead as Shan Yu's body glowed a final pale blue. "I've just healed him and given him a dose of a knockout spell. He's going to be out for around three hours. We'll send him back to the Isle during then, unless XJ wants him to stay of course."
"I don't think Xiao wants to see him ever again." Harry said immediately.
Fairy Godmother shrugged. "We don't know that for sure, so we have to get her to confirm it. Where is she?" She asked, worried.
"Rooftop." Harry replied without hesitation. "I think we should leave her be and just send him back anyway."
"Harry, we have to get her opinion on this first." Ben insisted. "He's her father."
Harry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine. But there's no way we can get her to come down. You saw her just now. She's not in the best mood and I'm the second last person she wants to see."
Jay snorted. "That's obvious enough."
"Hook does have a point though," Mal said, frowning as she turned to Ben. "How are we going to get her down from there?"
"There's no need." A voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned to see XJ, walking into the hospital wing. "Send him away. I don't want him near me."
"XJ, are you sure?" Fairy Godmother asked, smiling sadly. "He is your father."
"No he's not. If he stays any longer I think I'm going to finish what I planned on doing." XJ said in monotone. It reminded Harry of what she used to be like before they had started dating.
XJ was purposely not looking in his direction, but Harry knew that she was thinking. She was emotionless and her movements were slow and calculated. She was a ticking time bomb that didn't want to blow.
"So you want him to leave right now?" Mal asked, looking at XJ carefully.
"Isn't that what I just said?" XJ responded coldly, narrowing her eyes at Maleficent's daughter, making the purple-haired girl shrink back.
Fairy Godmother could sense that XJ was annoyed so the motherly woman nodded. "He'll leave now. You won't see him again."
XJ nodded, saying bluntly, "Good."
She then turned sharply and made to leave the hospital wing. At the sight of her back, Harry didn't think.
"Wait!" He shouted.
XJ stiffened at the doorway, her footsteps slowing down. But she kept walking, making Harry run after her.
"Xiao!" Harry yelled again, grabbing her arm.
XJ turned around and hissed. "I thought I told you that I didn't want to talk to you again!"
"I know," Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But before that happens I want to ask you something."
XJ growled and snapped. "What do you want?"
"Did you love me?" Harry asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
XJ froze up on the inside, though she showed no emotion. Harry had used past tense. He really did believe that XJ didn't love him anymore and even doubted whether she had before they had split.
Harry sighed and said, trying to keep himself from falling apart at the cold expression on XJ's face, "Because I loved - "
He was cut off with a kiss.