Chapter 52
When they came out of the woods there was a pretty large house, more of a small mansion actually, that had a sign for 'Evie's 4 Hearts' in front of it.
"Whoa." Camilla said as they stopped and looked at the building. Carlos stopped beside her, his arm still around Jane, and smirked at her. "How did Evie score this place?"
"Her fashion business really took off." Carlos explained as Camilla looked at the place in awe.
"No kidding." She said as they saw the front door open and Mal, Evie and Uma stepped out. Harry let go of her hand and made his way to their captain and Jane left Carlos and ran for her friends too. The siblings both made their way to the door, crossing the lawn slower as they continued their conversation.
"You're impressed." Carlos said, "Admit it."
She turned to him and gave a playful glare, "Never."
"Uh, uh." He said wagging a finger, "By saying never you kinda just admitted you are impressed." He said knowing he'd caught her in a corner. She opened her mouth and hesitated as she took in his smile and glowing eyes.
"Look at you little brother. Over a year in Auradon and you still have some 'rotten to the core' in you."
He kept on smiling, "You can take the VK out of the Isle but you can't take the Isle out of the VK."
Camilla smiled at him, glad that he'd decided not to let Auradon change him or stop him from being himself. Then they made it to the porch where Harry and Uma where embracing before she pulled back and did the same with Gil. Carlos went to Mal and Evie while Camilla and Uma low fived each other.
"I always knew you'd be part of the solution." Ben said looking at Uma who looked at the ground smiling almost like she was embarrassed.
"Okay so we all think that Audrey could be at Fairy Cottage." Mal said filling them in, "We have no idea where it is, did she ever take you there?" she asked Ben.
"Every Fairy Godmother's Day. Where is Fairy Godmother when you need her?" he asked looking to Jane.
"I wish I knew." She replied worried for her mom. Then Camilla saw Carlos sit down with her and hand her a small red box with a black ribbon on it which made her smile and gave Camilla that warm feeling in her chest again.
"Doug." Ben said getting the son of Dopey's attention, "Go with Jane, we need to find Fairy Godmother."
'They might need some muscle." Uma said.
"Hey." Doug said taking offense.
Gil looked down at one of his biceps then the other, "Well I'll go." He offered.
"Yeah, actually I would feel better." Carlos said from where he was now standing with his arm around Jane.
"Yeah actually I'd feel better too." Evie joined in.
"Same." Mal agreed.
"Actually." Doug began, "I would too."
"Alright man, let's do it!" Gil said happily, bringing his arm around Doug's shoulders. "Let's go Jane."
The three of them took off to find Fairy Godmother and the rest of them went inside to make a plan on how they were going to take on Audrey. They all sat at a table and helped themselves to a blue cake as they planned.
"So only Mal can use the ember –" Evie began before catching a look from Mal and she cut off her sentence which Camilla thought was odd, she was suspicious that they were hiding something but since they had bigger problems right now she pushed it aside for later.
"Which means we'll need to make a distraction for Audrey to let Mal get close enough to take her out." Uma said.
"Is there any way to box her in?" Camilla asked.
"Aye, like a back door? A large window?" Harry added and Camilla remembered the last time he used the large window on the Jolly Roger to his advantage when he came to save her.
"No." Ben said shaking his head sadly, "There's only the front door, which means she'll have the upper hand."
"So once we make our move we'll have to be fast." Uma said, "Keep on our toes, no matter what don't let her blast you with that scepter."
"And don't try to grab it from her either." Jay added, "I tried that with Maleficent at the coronation. It did not go well." he said shuddering at the memory.
"What about weapons?" Harry asked.
"The cottage is too small." Ben told them. "There's no room to swing a sword."
"It's going to be complete madness once we burst through that door." Carlos said petting Dude in his lap nervously.
"I'll try to get close to her as quick as I can." Mal said, "One good blast from the ember should knock the scepter out of her hands. Then you guys restrain her, hopefully once she's parted from my mother's magic she'll go back to normal."
"Hope?" Camilla asked, "You mean you're not sure?"
Mal shook her head, "Mom never talked to me about much magic since there was none on the Isle. She just gave me her spell book before we came to Auradon and I had to learn the rest on my own."
"So what if getting the scepter from her doesn't work?" Evie asked, "What if she's absorbed enough of the magic anyway?"
Mal took a deep breath, "We get in, you distract her, I'll use the ember and take the scepter from her. If she's still powerful after that you grab the scepter and get out of there, I can finish the fight with the ember but we can't risk her getting the scepter back once it's out of her hands."
"Losing's not an option." Uma said.
"Cause we're rotten." Mal continued.
"To the core."
"To the core."
"To the core."
"To the core."
"To the core." All five of them said leaving Ben and the pirates exchanging glances at each other. Carlos gave Camilla a glance too, though his was happier after hearing her finish their mantra too.
- -ROTTEN TO THE CORE - -
When they got to Fairy Cottage night had already fallen. They used the darkness to their advantage and crept through the shadows moving from tree to bush to tree to boulder until they were close enough to the cottage to see the front door. They went through the metal fence which creaked when they opened it and the sound made Camilla cringe, every fiber of her being hoping Audrey hadn't heard the noise. Ben opened the front door and stormed in the rest of them following behind but then they found something they hadn't been expecting – the place was empty. Jay ran upstairs but was back a second later.
"She's not upstairs." He said as they looked around for a clue to where Audrey might have gone. Then they heard banging coming from a closet that was locked from the outside. Ben opened it and they all saw Chad Charming in a fetal position on the floor rocking himself slowly.
"Chad?" Ben asked.
"I want my mommy." Chad said and Camilla bit her lip to hold in a snicker. Ben bent down to try and help Chad but he jumped back terrified.
"It's okay." Ben told him as he helped him up by the arm. "What happened buddy?"
Chad looked around the room at them before he stood up and turned to Ben.
"Ben? Ben!" he shouted grabbing Ben's jacket, "Oh. . your face." He said feeling Ben's beard before he looked around the room again. "She's gone? The doors open. I'm free. Freedom!" he shouted running out the door and into the woods, "Whoo-hoo! Freedom! Mom!"
Evie chuckled and Camilla couldn't help but join in, even Harry laughed as Ben passed him and they all went outside to think of a plan B.
"Alright let's get this Audrey chick taken care of already." Uma said turning to Mal, "What do you say girl? Time to wrap things up?"
"You know someday, you're going to have to tell me how you guys all got teamed up." Ben said as they walked, Camilla once again hand in hand with Harry.
"Actually, Mal promised to let all the kids off the Isle once this is over." Evie said smiling happily at the thought. Camilla thought back to her cousin Diego and Harry's sisters Harriet and CJ and wondered how they'd react to coming to Auradon. Diego would probably love the opportunity for his band while Harriet and CJ would probably sail the world.
"Mal?" Ben asked her like he was confused.
"I have to tell you guys something." Mal said and by her tone Camilla braced herself for the worst. "Ummm, I lied to you. The kids won't be coming off the Isle."
"What do you mean?" Jay asked. Camilla wasn't surprised Mal had lied to her and the pirates, but she was shocked when she looked around at Jay, Evie and Carlos' faces and saw that it seemed she'd lied to them too.
"The program is shut down." Mal said referring to VK Day and all the VK Days they had planned to follow. "And the barrier will be closed for good."
Camilla looked to Carlos the same time he looked to her. What did that mean? If they were on opposite sides when this happened. . . they'd never see each other again. Not even through video chat, there was no wifi on the Isle, that had been a one time thing Auradon Prep had set up for them for Family Day, they'd have no way to contact each other, not even by writing.
Harry growled in anger beside her his fist around his hook so tight his knuckles turned white.
"For Auradon's safety." Ben explained though his voice sounded just as hurt as any VK's would. After all, bringing them to Auradon for a second chance had been his idea to begin with way back when.
"Hold up." Uma said walking closer to Mal, "So we're saving your precious people and your behinds for a lie?" she scoffed, "I knew it was a mistake to trust you. You're always out for yourself."
"And you." Harry said approaching Ben, "King Ben eh? Yer probably just gonna throw us all back inside."
Camilla felt her heart shatter at the sadness in Harry's voice. Coming to Auradon, fighting knights, this had been the greatest adventure he'd ever had and he'd probably been thinking about sailing the world with his sisters too once Mal let the kids off the Isle. Camilla turned to Carlos again this time letting the sadness on her face show now that the shock was wearing off. She felt her hope turn to dust, she hadn't felt this broken since the coronation when her world turned upside down. She should have known better, everything that Auradon represented, hope, happily ever afters, none of it was ever made for a villain even when they tried to do good. Even when they'd been trying to save Auradon and the kids on the Isle, it didn't matter, fate would always turn and spit in their faces.
"Cami. . . " she heard and looked up to see Carlos stepping toward her, Harry turned to her too and she hoped Carlos wasn't about to ask her to choose between staying in Auradon with him and going back to the Isle with Harry.
"Do you want me to come back to the Isle with you?" he asked and her shock returned.
"You- but. . . Jane." She stuttered.
"Yeah." Carlos nodded, "I'd be leaving a lot behind. But if you need me with you, I'll go. I want to make sure you'll be okay."
"She will be." Harry said stepping closer to them and putting his arm around her, "I'll see ta that."
"Thank you Hook – er, Harry." Carlos said and Camilla thought this was the first time they were somewhat getting along, "For being there for her when I wasn't."
"I didn't do it for you." Harry said.
"I know, but I'm still grateful you did."
Camilla moved forward out of Harry's grasp and hugged her brother as they both got choked up.
"You're part of who I am." Carlos whispered in her ear, "Even if we're worlds apart. . .you're still in my heart."
She remembered when he'd told her that when he was in the brig and she sniffled before she replied softly, "You can find me in the space between."
He pulled back and nodded at her and she could see the tears in his eyes.
"Stay here." she told him, "Get your happy ending." She said being selfless for the first time in her life.
"Evie." Mal said seeing the broken look on her best friend's face, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I just I thought that. . . I was afraid to tell you, I thought I was going to lose my best friend but I had to do something I – I had to protect Auradon."
"Closing the barrier was your idea?"
"I did it for us. I did it for our life that we have here now."
"For our life? What about the kids we left behind on that island? The kids that we promised. . . " she paused holding back tears, "We were their only hope. I thought you were going to stand up for the VK's, but instead you lied to them. And you lied to Jay. And you lied to Carlos. And you lied to me. We're your family." She said sounding utterly broken more and more with each word.
"You know what?" Celia said stepping towards Mal, "I actually thought you were brave, but you're nothing but a chicken. Too scared to tell me that I was never going to see my dad again!"
"Celia." Mal said, "Celia – Celia!" she shouted as the girl took the ember from her hand and threw it in a birdbath as she stormed off. The moment the ember hit the water there were sparks and a puff of smoke.
"No!" Mal shouted. "No! No." she said taking the ember from the water and shaking it off. "Regain your might and ignite." She said trying to use a spell to recharge it, "Regain your might and ignite."
Mal turned to Uma who looked down at her necklace which didn't glow, "Bummer."
Then she turned to Harry and Camilla. "Let's go find Gil and leave them all to rot."
Camilla dropped her arms from Carlos as Harry wrapped his arm around her again and pulled her away. Carlos gave her a sad nod and tried to smile but it didn't help her feel better. She turned away from him and walked away with Harry as Mal shouted for Uma behind them. When they couldn't hear her calling them anymore she let herself break down as she cried into Harry's shoulder as they walked, after all he was the only one she'd ever let see her cry.