Ben was rather surprised at how easily Evie slipped into the role of his advisor. It was just a cover he'd thrown out to have her at the rarely used detention centre with him. Yet, observing her cool attitude as they walked through the almost barren facility, he realised how well suited for it she was.

"Your majesty." He signalled for the guard to open the door, but the man hesitated. "Just be aware that she's had to be heavily sedated. She was a mess when we brought her in. I wasn't even sure if the banshee they'd delivered had ever been human."

Ben hoped his face didn't show his shock. "Yes. The king is aware. Open the door and call extra guards." Evie lay a steadying hand on his arm. "King Ben."

He nodded and watched as the guard cautiously opened the door. The room was grim, cold and almost quiet. The only sound was the frantic breathing of the caged animal it held.

Evie gave a nudge. He walked steadily into the room and the breathing sped up. At last, taking a final steadying breath of his own, he turned toward the table.

She was covered in blood. Her eyes were focused solely on him, not dilating under the harsh light above her. Her hands were manacled to the table, on a short chain, by thick leather straps. He could only assume her legs were similarly secured.

"Your majesty." He wanted to cringe at the raspy sound that she made as she talked. "And look, the Isle princess, Evie. Such regality in one place. I may faint."

"Helia, you've looked better."

She laughed, but then it caught in her throat. The manic woman in front of them started coughing and a guard peeked. Ben requested he bring water and the group waited for him to come back.

"They won't bring any." She took a few calming breaths and looked at him with hooded eyes. "They me be rusty on their prisoner protocols but I think "don't be in the room with the crazy lady" was standard."

"I ordered the guards to bring in some water."

She snorted. "Yeah, I was there. Don't you worry about it." She jerked suddenly and her face screwed up in pain. "It'll pass."

Her breathing sped up and her body seemed to crumple in on itself. She released a sound that didn't seem human to Ben's ears. It was one of pure, unadulterated pain. No holds barred soul searing hurt.

"What's wrong with her, Ben?"

He jumped at Evie's voice to his right. "I have an idea. I don't know how accurate it is. This is way different then what my dreams have been telling me."

Helia started to laugh at this declaration. "Dreams. We went over this your majesty, they aren't dreams." She took a deep breath then coughed out another halting peel of laughter. "Visions. They're glimpses of another life, a better life. It's like a greatest hits slide show meant to taunt and tease you into insanity."

"And you?"

She gave him a wide, toothy grin that conveyed no ounce of sanity.

They stayed like that for a while. From the corner of his eye he could see Evie measuring the woman up. Not with fear or concern but more a calculating wonderment. He could practically feel her trying to unravel the monstrous nightmare before her.

The door opened, hinges squeaked under with the force, and the two Isle boys came stumbling in. "The king is expecting us, dude. Ask him."

The guard, clearly flustered, glowered toward Ben. "I am. I apologise for not informing you sooner." He signalled the boys to move forward. "You may return to your post."

The guard gave the room a cautionary once over. When his eyes landed on the blood spattered girl in bonds, she gave a snarl and clicked her teeth in an exaggerated bite. He quickly pulled out and closed the door. The sound of the lock falling into place was deafening.

"So, Helia." She slid her eyes to Jay and he gulped. "Been a while. What have you been up to? Make any good deals lately."

"You asked for a lamp. I brought you a lamp."

Jay tensed and Ben almost chuckled at the embarrassed blush that began to creep up the boys throat. "I clearly meant a genie lamp. You brought me a desk lamp. Why would I want a desk lamp?"

She sniffed but couldn't keep her calm and began her raspy laugh once more. "Why wouldn't you? You never specified. The truest way to get what you want to is be clear and specific. Lest you be left with nothing for your troubles."

Carlos grabbed Jays arm to hold him back as the other boy made to lunge across the table. She calmed enough to stare him down with an unsettling calm. Quickly enough, Jay realised she really wasn't in her right mind and backed off.

"Ben, we have the package you asked for." Carlos passed the blue box across his friend and into the kings eager grasp. "Are you sure this will work?"

"I have no idea. Seemed like a good starting point, though." Ben hoped he sounded calm as he opened the box and pulled the delicate treat out. "If this doesn't work, we call Fairy Godmother."

The others nodded. Ben took the seat that was opposite Helia. She considered him with a cocked head and resumed her chuckling.

"This is an anti-love potion." She paused and raised a brow. "I haven't known you long, but I would I think it's been long enough to know you're smarter than you let on. You came to me with concerns about the love spell Mal had put me under. Said it would make me go crazy."

Evie let out a frustrated sigh. "Jay, it's a good thing you're wearing your gloves." She reached down and plucked the sweet from Ben's hands. "And I hope you, you psychotic Demi-brat, like chocolate. Open wide."

Jay moved quickly around the table, his face betraying all the disgust he was feeling for his task. Helia's breathing sped once more as she hissed and snarled. Jay made a grab at her jaw and she bit down on his thumb. He cursed, shook his hand and made another determined grab.

The two struggled for a few seconds before the boy won and managed to pry open her mouth. Evie sloppily shoved the potion into the hissing mouth, grimacing as spittle and crumbs flecked her glove covered hand.

When the majority of the treat was in Helia's mouth both Jay and Evie forced the girl to consume it. If the situation hadn't been so dire, Ben would have found it comical to watch the Isle kids force her to chew and then subsequently swallow it. The group held their breath as her breathing continued its frantic pace and she began jerking violently. Suddenly, she stilled and her breathing all but stopped all together.

"Helia?" Her chest heaved and then she released a rather loud snore. "Is she asleep?"

Jay lifted her head and it rolled back and then to the side. Her mouth hung open and she was indeed snoring, only at a much more subtle volume than the initial release had been. Jay and Carlos snorted and Evie lowered her head into her hands.

Ben began laughing so hard the three jumped in surprise. "She's asleep. Of course." He sobered up and nodded at the dousing woman. "I slept clear through to lunch the day after the Enchanted Lake had washed away Mal's love spell."

He stood up, leaned over the table and clapped his large hands right in front of Helia's face. She stirred, but didn't wake. He repeated the action three times. The fourth time yielded the reaction he was hoping her as her eyes shot open and she proceeded to scream.

Jay's hand flew back to her mouth to stifle the sound. The others covered their ears until the noise ebbed. Helia's eyes darted around until they settled on the King.

She bit hard on Jay's hand, again, and he let out a yelp. "You taste like a gym sock," she ground out. "Where am I?"

"Detention Centre on the south boarder of Auradon Proper. There's been a development." She looked down at her hands questioningly. "You've been detained, clearly. You had an attack."

"Yeah. You had an attack in the sense that you attacked your husband." Carlos grumbled from behind him. "He's dead. You're covered in his blood. In case you hadn't noticed."

"Well, I did eat a whole batch of batter of that love spell. Makes sense. It was the only outcome I could foresee when I began down this road."

Ben leaned back and crossed his arms. "So, you did know what you were doing. You're brother is worried. He stopped by my office and said you weren't close to your husband. Why couldn't you simply divorce him instead of trying to spell yourself to love him?"

"Please. I never wanted to love him. It was a political marriage." She shivered as she looked down at her blood stained hands. "My uncle Ares arranged it. Dinos is a general in Olympus' army."

"Was."

"What?" She blinked, and nodded slowly. "Right. Dinos was a general."

"Olympus doesn't have an army." Ben's own smirk fell when he saw hers. "Olympus has an army?"

"Ben!"

He glared at her in earnest. "We're going to talk about that later." She shrugged. "Why did you eat it, then? Who were you trying to love?"

"Herself, Ben." Evie was looking the girl over with a critical eye. "Am I wrong?"

"The princess is right." She lowered her gaze and continued, "I've always had issues with myself. I hate who I am. There are many things I would change if I had the power."

"Even the godlike strength."

Helia smiled sadly and looked down as she clenched her fists experimentally. "Especially my strength. What's the point of strength you haven't earned? It's our trials that make us."

"This just got way too heavy."

She jerked around to give Jay a sarcastic glare. "I'm covered in my husbands blood, being detained in a centre that was built solely to ease the minds of Auradon's citizens and my philosophical musings are heavy? You need perspective."

"Helia!" To Ben's left, Carlos glared at the woman. "You will be sent to the Isle of the Lost for killing your husband. You need perspective."

She looked ready to retort but swallowed whatever ire was rising. "Doesn't matter. Where's Mal? Shouldn't she be in on this montage of good cop, confused cop?"

"She's been sent back to the Isle."

Helia shook her head. "No. That's not right. Why was she sent back?" Helia glared at the members of the room. "How could you let this happen?"

"Fairy business." Ben scowled, feeling the words bring a bad taste to his mouth.

"No, I'm serious. I don't think that's how this went down last time." She tried to raise her hand, but the cuffs stopped her. "From what I can gather she was here the whole time. I mean, most likely."

"Well, she's been shipped back. Which leads us to why we're here."

Helia chuckled, but it now sounded hallow. "Right! You want me to sneak you onto the Isle so you can get your girlfriend back."

Ben blinked. "Exactly."

"Looks like my hands are tied, your highness." She shook her cuffed wrists to emphasis her point. "Also, I guarantee there will be no trial. Olympus will deal with me. We handle our own."

Jay groaned, "you've got to be kidding me."

"So, we break you out." Ben turned to Carlos in surprise. "Ben pardons us and then you get taken back into custody when we get back."

"I'll do it." Her fingers twitched as she she looked around the room. "I knew what would happen if I took that spell. I'll help."

For the first time in two days, Ben felt something close to relief until he heard Jay scoff. The Isle boy was measuring the girl up, clearly not trusting her. She didn't turn from Ben as a smirk retook her face.

"In exchange for what?"

She raised a challenging brow. "I never have to go back to Olympus, again."

Ben began to seriously doubt the plan as they waited in the limo at magical bridges entrance. "How is this supposed to work, again?"

"I believe the question you're really chomping at the bit to ask is: Do gods have more power than the Fairy Godmother?" Her phone vibrated and she flipped it open, sighing in clear relief. "The answer is no. They only have the amount of power allotted to them by their number of worshippers. It's just different than fairy magic, is all. Makes it possible to have a backdoor sometimes."

Ben's eyes widened. "You'll have to explain that some time." Helia shrugged and signalled them to get out of the car. "So, who are we meeting, again?"

"My old supervisor, also my kind of uncle." A god Ben actually recognised flitted down from the sky with a flourish of footwork. "Hermes."

He lowered his mirrored aviators to grant her a wink. "So, the murderess wishes to be punished on her terms? Exiling yourself?"

"You know why I asked for your help, Hermes."

The man, a surprisingly young looking tanned, blonde and lean greek was in a pair of sweats and a distressed v-neck. He was taller than Ben, which was intimidating for the young king. With all this taken into consideration, Hermes managed to pull of a fairly carefree air as he took in the kids before him. Still, there was some sort of understanding that flashed in his eyes when he returned his focus to Helia before he readjusted his shades.

"Right. Save the fairy, save the world."

"Dick."

"I thought you wanted my help?" She waved off his ire with a flick of her wrist. "Fine. Only cause I like you. You know, you'll have to face the trials, though, right? If history is repeating itself, there's no getting out of it. No matter what flag you decide to hide under."

"I'll deal with that later." Ben watched as the two squared off. "Come on, Hermes. She won't be able to fly under the radar there for very long, if at all."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

With that, he dislodged a backpack from his right shoulder. A bag Ben had somehow failed to notice. It was an antique "Hercules vs the Gorgons" pack that made Helia flinch when she saw it. Hermes chuckled and tossed it her way.

"That will get you across the pond and through the border without setting off the alarms." With a sarcastic salute, he clicked his heals and then he was floating. "And, the pretty princess with the blue hair? Call me when you're legal."

"Get lost, you letch."

"Gone, babe."

Then he was.

"So, your uncle-?"

"Yeah, he's a god. You can't take what they say with a grain of salt. Unless they're cursing you. Ignore the flirting." She paused as she began rifling through the bag she clearly wanted to burn. "Actually, watch out for that if there's shapeshifting involved. If they go through the energy to shift you into a plant, or an animal, or an element, get a restraining order."

Evie looked like she was going to be sick, and not because of the worn Dock Martins Helia was handing off to her. The young woman proceeded to meat out pairs of winged shoes to the rest of the party and then shoved her own feet into a wrecked pair fo sneakers. Tossing their normal shoes into the nearly empty pack, Helia demonstrated her ease in the footwear by seamlessly levitating a near 3 inches off the ground.

"How?"

She tapped her head and winked. "All thought. Good thing you lot aren't the "all beauty and no brains" type. Not losing your focus so you don't fly off into the sun, or drop into the water isn't something that can be done idly for the first flight."

The group took some time, but soon enough they were able to jerkingly mimic her efforts. Helia encouraged them as they slowly flew across the water toward the Isle. When they came up to the barrier, the Auradon kids all paused on instinct.

"These shoes are god magic. It's not even really magic. It's more like a state of being. We'll be able to get through." She shook the pack on her shoulder. "We have a pair for Mal. This is going to be fine. Hardest part is going to be finding her and getting her back to the coast."

Ever the leader, Ben gulped and moved forward. Helia remained facing the group as she flew backwards and passed easily through the barrier. Ben followed, sighing in relief as he passed through easily. The others exchanged last worried filled looks before following suit. A shiver passed over the group collectively as they touched ground.

They had successfully made it to the Isle, which was sadly going to be the easiest part.

A/N: I promised this story wasn't going to end with the coronation. I hope this was worth the wait. I'm varying a bit from Disney's take on the legend of Hercules and their presentation of the gods. I'm sorry about this for hardcore Disney fans, I just prefer the more traditional idea of the old Greek gods and am kind of making my own version. I hope you can forgive me for this. As always, your reviews are encouraging and appreciated. Thank you for your patience and for reading. Much love from this cheeseball writer.