Chapter 21:

A figure ran through the forests of Auradon. Over its shaggy, dirty, brown fur was ripped blue clothing with gold trim. Its torn trousers were ripped off at the knees. Sprouting from the top of figure's head were two small horns. Sharp canine teeth extended from either side of its mouth.

The figure's brown eyes scanned the path ahead of it as it let out a loud roar. It didn't know where it was going; only that it had to keep going. It only stopped to sleep and drink. Besides that, it kept moving as fast as it could on an aimless, endless track over and over.

"You and Mommy should run Princess," Uma smirked. She then reached into her seashell necklace and pulled out a black ball. Inside the black ball appeared to be a bunch of bright white specks of light spinning around a central core. Audrey then twisted her hand and a small golden box appeared within it. The box was engraved with small Greek letters and had an Ancient Greek design around the top and bottom."Thanks to Rumpelstiltskin, your end is now!"

Maleficent took a step, her eyes focusing on the item in Uma's hand before shifting to the box in Audrey's hand and back to her daughter. Although she couldn't quite put her finger on it, both items looked vaguely familiar. "Don't be overconfident Mal," Maleficent muttered softly to herself. She over the next few seconds, she studied the ball and box, trying to identify them. Maleficent's eyes shifted and widened when she recognized the ball. The Orb of Ceberus…that's what that imp meant. There's no way those two could possibly be powerful enough to activate it though! Try as she might however, Maleficent couldn't identify the box. She then shot Mal a look, warning her daughter to use caution. "Stop talking and finish this now!"

Mal laughed softly, placing a hand on her hip. "Oh Uma, always so confident," she sneered as she examined her nails. "And you say I talk big? You try, but you'll always be smelly, slimy Shrimpy. Don't tell me I actually have something to be afraid of for once in my life?"

Uma's eyes narrowed as she clenched her teeth with rage. Her eyes looked at Mal with a glare of pure hatred. "You're going to regret that princess!" She said softly. "In a matter of seconds you'll wish you'd never been born!"

Mal laughed loudly, green sparks jumping around her eyes as she shifted them towards Audrey. "And you, Audrey, working with Shrimpy. The dynamic…no I think the Pathetic Duo suits you two best. And you say I should be afraid?"

"Oh you better be!" Audrey retorted. She looked over at Uma as a smile of evil crossed her face.

"Please," Mal sighed with a roll of her eyes. She twirled her hands again, forming a large, green fireball in each of them.

"Say 'goodbye' princess!" Uma yelled. With that, her necklace began to glow brightly. A similar golden aura formed around the ball in her hand.

At the same time, several waves of pink magical energy formed around the box in Audrey's hand. She and Uma both yelled an incantation in unison as Audrey ripped off the lid off the gold box and slammed it on top of the orb.

"Mal…" Mal heard her mother say as a loud, low frequency boom filled her ears. In the milliseconds that followed, she saw the box fly out of Audrey's hand and land with the opening facing up at Audrey's feet. Next a brilliant, lightning quick wave of white light shot out from the orb in Uma's hand followed by a black curtain of darkness that swirled around the four of them. The darkness was covered in specs of light that seemed to spin faster and faster around Audrey, Uma, Mal and Maleficent. It was as if they were inside a giant tornado of darkness

The wind from the tornado blasted the fireballs from Mal's hands and sucked them into the wall of darkness where they quickly fizzled out. "What?" Mal said breathlessly as she then felt the wind from the tornado of darkness pulling at her. Mal dug her feet in, and braced herself for what seemed to be a futile effort to resist the every strengthening vacuum-like force on her body. Her hair blew in front of her face as the wind continued to tug on her. Soon the air around her was moving so fast it became nearly impossible for Mal to see anything save the spiraling, white light speckled wall of black.

Maleficent put her arms up to shield herself. Re-opening her eyes slightly, she could see Audrey and Uma. Both stood opposite her and her daughter, completely unaffected by the tornado that surrounded them all. Looks of satisfaction covered both of their faces. Maleficent felt the air pulling at her as it picked up speed. Suddenly she began to slide with the air current as the pull grew stronger and stronger. Waves of darkness flew in front of her, blocking her view of her daughter. "No! MAL!" Maleficent yelled as speckled darkness filled her vision and she was pulled into the spinning wall around them.

Flashback:

As Hades turned, something inside him decided that despite his daughter's resentment towards him, he wanted to stay near her just a bit longer. After hearing more snickers and remarks at his expense from Mal and subsequent laughter from her friend, Hades finally decided it was time to go.

Suddenly a scream turned his attention back to the girls. Although screams were common on the Isle, this one was different. He then heard a strained yell. He recognized the second voice instantly…it was his daughter. It came from a bridge a little further up ahead from where he was. A bridge that crossed the Isle's deepest gorge…and a gorge that contained a raging river that eventually spilled into the ocean.

"I got you E!" Mal cried out in a strained voice. "Just hang on!" She held on tightly to her best friend's hand and arm.

"Ok!" Evie replied. She looked down at the rushing water below her. Her feet dangled helplessly, kicking at the air. She knew if Mal lost her grip she was a goner.

Mal braced herself. "This bridge has been here forever," she said in a sarcastic voice. "And leave it to you to step on the one bad board!"

"My bad!" Evie called back. "Just pull me up!" She flexed her muscles to try to help Mal draw her body back up far enough that her other hand could reach the bridge. Once she got a grip with her other hand also, she'd be able to pull herself back up onto the bridge on her own.

"I'm trying!" Mal strained as she used all her strength to pull Evie up. "I told you to stop eating seconds!"

Evie's other hand flailed as it closer to the broken board she had fallen through. For a second it seemed like she was there as her fingers felt the wooden surface underneath them. Evie's eyes grew wide as a second after this cruel illusion, her hand slipped and she fell back down. She fell with such force she almost managed to pull Mal through the hole too.

Both girls screamed.

Luckily, Mal was able to brace her legs enough that she regained her balance, but now her entire upper body was through broken board. If she didn't do something fast, she could fall just as easily as Evie.

Evie looked up at Mal with clenched teeth, straining and holding on for dear life. Along with her fear for her own life, she saw the danger Mal was in now. She looked down at the raging water below her.

"Don't look down Stupid!" Mal said. She was starting to slip. She squeezed her eyes shut as used all of her strength to pull herself and Evie up.

Suddenly Mal felt something pulling on her from the back of her jacket. Her efforts became much easier and she moved further and further back up onto the bridge. Finally whatever was pulling her up had moved her back up far enough through the hole she was able to position herself so she wasn't in danger of falling in anymore. As quickly as the help came though, it vanished. Mal didn't need it anymore though. Evie was also up high enough now that she was able to grab the broken board with both hands. With another minimal effort from both her and Mal, Evie was safely back the bridge.

"Whew…" Evie said as both she and Mal caught their breath. "That…was…a…close one!"

"Yea…you almost got me killed! And you messed up my new jacket!" Mal snapped. Her face softened. She was relieved that her best friend was safe. "You ok E?"

Evie nodded. "I think so. You saved my life."

Mal nodded. "I had to. Things would get boring if I had to be rotten to the core by myself!"

Evie chuckled. "Who helped us?" She asked.

Mal shrugged. "No idea." The two girls looked around, as far as they could see they were the only ones anywhere near the bridge. After another look around, the two girls carefully crossed the bridge and went home.

Hades watched the two girls from behind a nearby wall. "That's my girl," he said to himself.

"That was a close one deary," Hades could almost seem to hear Rumpelstiltskin say in his mind.

Hades chuckled as he shrugged the voice off. With a small smile, he returned to his lair.

Mal strained as she looked from side to side. She dug her feet in as hard as she could. Suddenly, a blue light caught her attention. Looking down, Mal saw the light was coming from the ember in her hand. Her legs, hand and the ember all shared a similar blue glow.

"Mal…"

"Huh what?" Mal asked in a stunned voice as she looked from side to side. It felt like time had slowed to a stop.

"Mal…" the voice repeated.

Mal thought for a second, she knew that voice. It was like a faint memory. An unsure look fell over her face. "Dad? How?"

"Mal," the voice repeated a third time. Mal looked at the ember, the source of the voice…it was Hades. "It's me, I only have a short time. I was able to form a temporary connection to the ember to talk to you."

Mal stared at the ember, stunned. "Dad what's going on?" Mal asked suddenly. "What was that?"

"The Orb of Ceberus," Hades' voice said. "A powerful magical object I created with the darkness of the underworld. It summons a vortex so powerful not even light can escape it. Before the curse I used it to trap those souls in my domain deserving of such a punishment. Now they've used it to trap your mother."

Mal looked at the ember in shock before green sparks of rage began to fill her eyes.

"It needs extremely powerful dark magic to activate it though."

Mal's eyes widened as she looked at the ember again. "How could Audrey and Uma activate it? Are they really that powerful?"

"Not without help. The box she used is known as the Tomb of Kronos," Hades explained. "Only with the help of Kronos' power, were they able activate it."

"Kronos?"

"My father and your grandfather," Hades continued. "I, with a little help from my brothers, defeated him a long time ago. His powers are trapped within that box, however, activating the orb took most of his power. They'll need to regenerate before his power can be summoned again. Lucky for you, as my daughter, the Orb's power won't affect you. The ember will further see to that. Also as a matter of fact you can even use the ember to disperse Orb's power and trap it within the Tomb."

So that's why this thing didn't affect me! Mal thought to herself. She was fine, but what about her mother? "How do I get Mom back?" Mal asked. "If this orb thing is so powerful…"

"The ember," Hades repeated. "The Orb is powerful, but the ember is stronger. The ember can heh, you'll like this, return the powers from that girl to the staff stone. And hey, once you're done here you can change your sister back too."

The blue glow from the ember mixed with the green from Mal's eyes as her face again twisted into smile, causing frightening shadows to form on her face. "Time to finish this!"

"That's…my…girl," Hades said as his voice faded away.

Mal motioned the ember in her hand, causing waves of blue and green light to form. A second later she shot the waves into the vortex around her.

"See ya later," Uma said, a wide smile of satisfaction crossing her face.

"Ah, the feeling of victory," Audrey gloated as she closed her eyes and basked in the whirl wind around them.

"Nice working with you princess."

Suddenly the looks on Audrey's and Uma's faces were replaced with ones of shock as the tornado of darkness was blasted away by wave after wave of blue and green light. The lights flashed brilliantly as they mixed with the spiraling darkness before forcing it into the Tomb of Kronos. The whole time, both of the girls raised their arms to protect their faces from the ever brightening lights. When they lowered their arms, the looks of shock both had intensified before becoming looks of anger.

"WHAT?" Audrey yelled. "HOW? HOW DID SHE ESCAPE?"

"Surprised?" Mal answered in a voice of arrogance. "The Ember of Hades…quite useful…and now that you two have also taken my mother from me, YOU'RE GOING TO SEE JUST HOW USEFUL IT IS!" With that Mal reared back and flung the hand that held the ember forward, sending a bolt of blue energy straight at Uma.

Uma cried out in pain as the energy coursed through her and flung her through the air. A half second later she yelled again as she slammed into a nearby tree. Uma then slid down the trunk and landed hard on the ground. Her eyes held a dazed look; her body slumped against the tree roots.

Audrey looked from Mal to Uma and back. She clenched her teeth as she started to take a step back.

"Ah ah ah," Mal sneered. "Not so fast!" She waved her hand, immobilizing Audrey. Mal then twirled her other hand, causing the stone from the scepter to appear. She smiled. Although Audrey was completely frozen, Mal could pick up on her fear. She reveled in it. "You two should have killed me when you had the chance. You learned water was my weakness and yet you still couldn't finish me…too bad for you. Now I think you have something that belongs to me!" Mal released the immobilization spell as she held the scepter stone above her head and pointed the ember at Audrey.

Audrey screamed as wave after wave of green and pink light erupted from her body and shot directly into the scepter stone. Along with all of her power and magic, she felt her very strength being drained. Through the haze of pain, she saw Mal…the smug look on her enemy's face made her absolutely sick. A moment later, the last of Audrey's powers left her and she collapsed on the spot, breathing heavily.

Mal smiled as she tossed the scepter stone up and down a few times. "Well that's that. Now those are back where they belong," she snickered.

Audrey lifted her hand up and looked at her palm. She concentrated as hard as she could but nothing happened. Shock filled Audrey's eyes as she continued to catch her breath. "Laugh while you can Mal!" Audrey spat with the most venomous voice she could muster.

"Get up," Mal said. She motioned with her hand, lifting Audrey into the air before slamming her against a tree. She then magically lifted Audrey into the air again and slammed her into the ground, causing Audrey to cry out in pain.

Audrey looked back at the trees before looking at Mal again.

"You want to run?" Mal asked. She laughed as green fireballs formed in her hands which she then flung at the trees behind Audrey. "My mother blocked your father's path with thorns…and here I am, blocking yours with fire. That's what you call irony." With that, Mal magically flung Audrey back so she was surrounded on three sides by green fire. A second later she formed another fireball in her hand.

Audrey looked at Mal. Blood slowly began to seep out of Audrey's mouth as well as the cut on her forehead. "You gonna kill me Mal?" She laughed as she continued to breathe heavily. She could barely move.

Mal smiled evilly, the ball of green fire she held in her hand glowed fiercely. "You got that right," she replied, her grin growing wider.

"You could do that," Audrey said, continuing to laugh. "But if you kill me, you'll never see your precious prince again!"

Mal's look darkened, but then she smiled again. Her eyes burned fiercely as they glowed bright green. "We'll see."

"MAL! STOP! MAL PLEASE STOP!"

Mal's smile intensified as the desperate plea reached her ears. She prepared to fling the fireball forward. In a matter of seconds, she would have her revenge.

What's going to happen?

A/N: In Ancient Greek mythology, Kronos is the father of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. I don't own anything from any myth. I don't own Descendants or Once Upon a Time.