Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

What starts the chain reaction for the regime change on the Isle of the Lost is, to no one's surprise, Harry Hook. The pirate's not even sure where he got the machete from. It's not typical for his father to have those types of bulky weapons around. The man much preferred thin, pointed steel that was easy to stab and parry with.

James Hook got too drunk. Harry's 15 years old and like hell he'll let the man lay his hands on his little sister. Harry was fine with being his father's punching bag as long as CJ was safe. Love wasn't something you could spare on the Isle, not many had time for it, but Harry is nothing if not a protective older brother.

His sister had long since gone, running to Celia's after Harry had yelled at her to leave. The girl wouldn't be back for days, like usual when Harry pushed her out of the house. Dr. Facilier knows better than to send her back without Harry's permission, at least. Among the older villains on the Isle, Dr. Facilier was one of the few that Harry could respect. He, at least, wasn't a drunken, abusive dick like most of the parents on the island.

Harry's not sure what to do now. Smee would turn him away if he showed up at his doorstep like this, as would the rest of the Jolly Roger crew. He could go to Gil's, but that's not exactly the safest place. It's how Harry finds himself here, stumbling into Ursula's fish and grill. It's late, so the restaurant is at least closed already.

Harry doesn't bother dropping the machete he'd held all the way here. He's glad he took back alleys and stole his father's old coat. He still had a chance of covering up what had happened.

“Uma!?” Harry hisses quietly as he pushes himself into the back hallway. “Uma!” Harry makes it to the door to her room and drops his weight against it. “Uma, are you in there?”

A couple minutes go by, and Harry begins to see it as a lost cause. But then, suddenly, there's the sound of a lighter and light peeks under the door, a shadow falling under the crack quickly. “Harry?” Uma's tired voice sounds from the other side of the thin piece of wood. “It's the middle of the night. What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Um… I think I might 'ave made a bit of a mistake.” Harry laughs bitterly and taps the bloodied machete against the wood. “Need me some help from ma captain.”

“Oh my gods.” Uma groans and flings the door open. Harry, for his part, keeps his balance. Uma's rubbing sleep out of her eye when she gets a good look at Harry. Immediately, the witch is on alert and retreating backwards, grabbing her sword off the wall. “What happened?” She demands in what many of her crew call her ‘captain voice.’

“Uh…” Harry tightens his grip on the machete. “I killed him.” He whispers, voice devoid of emotion. Monotone and robotic, clearly in a state of shock.

“I noticed.” Uma nods to the bloody machete in Harry's hand.

Harry's head slowly slips down to look at the weapon, then looks back up, his eyes zeroing in on the sword held defensively in Uma's hands. Uma's eyes flick down to her sword, then she looks back up at Harry. Slowly, she sets her sword down on her dresser (while still keeping it in arms length) and raises her hands placatingly in front of her chest. “Harry.” She calls.

Glazed eyes slip over to her. “Uma?” Harry whispers, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

“Yeah. Yeah.” Uma inches forward slowly, like she's approaching a frightened animal. “It's me. You came to me, remember?”

“Um… not really?” Harry laughs nervously.

“It's okay, Harry. It's okay.” Uma finally makes it to the pirate. Gently, she grabs the handle of the machete and peels it out of Harry's blood‐soaked hands. She tosses it to the side, something for her to worry about later. “Let's get you inside. Come on.” Uma puts her hand on Harry's upper back and leads him into her room, quietly shutting the door behind them.

Harry stays silent and dissociated the entire time Uma peels him out of his clothes and cleans the blood off his skin. She's an expert at getting blood out of clothes by now, so the jacket is at least salvageable. The shirt, on the other hand, is not. Not only is it absolutely soaked in blood, it's torn in all sorts of places. It'd be too much trouble to waste the resources on fixing it. It'd be easier to get Harry a brand new shirt. She's not sure where the coat came from, but it's Captain Hook red, so she assumes Harry had stolen it from his father on a whim.

She hopes that Hook doesn't notice it's absence until she can clean the inside of blood from where it had rubbed against Harry's clothes.

Uma would love to allow Harry to sink into dissociation and tell her what happened when he comes back up, but she doesn't have time for it. Whoever he'd killed could already be found. Depending on who it is, there's a chance Harry gets killed in retaliation. She needed the details so that she could protect her crew. It's what a good captain would do. It's what she does.

The second the blood has physically been cleaned off Harry's hands, Uma shakes and grabs him until he snaps back to reality. His eyes are still glazed, and it's clear that he's still somewhat out of it, but he's conscious enough. “Harry.” She calls his name, demanding. Uma clasps her hands onto his shoulders. “Tell me what happened. Now.”

“I…” Harry blinks, eyes heavy as he turns to Uma. “He wasn't gonna stop.” Harry whispers, voice filled with horror. “He kept… he was hitting her. He'd never done that before.” Harry's eyes drop to his trembling hands. “He wouldn't stop.” Harry brings a shaking hand to his mouth. “Oh my god, I killed him.”

“Who?” Uma demands, grabbing hold of Harry's chin and forcing him to look at her.

Before Harry can say anything, incessant knocking sounds on Uma's bedroom door. “Fuck.” Uma curses and hangs her head. She lets go of Harry and walks to her door, pulling it open just enough so that whoever is there could only see her. “Gil?” Uma steps out of the room more. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Gil's hair is a mess, his clothes are crumpled, and he looks incredibly panicked. “Oh, thank god you're here.” Gil sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “We have a problem. I… CJ Hook showed up at my place like, an hour ago.”

“Why the hell was CJ at your place?” Uma asks. She had a sneaking suspicion that this had something to do with Harry's bloodied state.

“She was scared. She said that Harry was in danger. Begged me to go to their home before she went to Dr. Facilier's place.” Gil crosses his arms and grabs his elbows.

“What happened?” Uma absent-mindedly pulls at one of her braids. She was gonna get gray hairs early with the stress her crew gives her. “Gil.” Uma grabs Gil's bicep. “Tell me what happened. Now.”

“Captain Hook is dead.” Uma's sea-witch blood runs cold. “He's dead. It was… there's so much blood. He was hacked. He's dead. And I don't know where Harry is. There were footprints– Uma? Uma, what're you doing?”

Uma had turned around now, marching over to her bed. She grabs Harry's chin between tight manicured fingers. “You murdered your fucking father!?” She exclaims, anger clear on her face. Behind her, she hears Gil curse at the sight of Harry. “Harry!” Uma shakes the pirate. “Answer me! You killed him!?”

Harry's head lifts to stare Uma in the eyes. “He knew.” Harry whispers. Uma is about to snap at him to explain further, but he continues without her demand. “He knew what Sykes was doing. What he was doing to me. He… he knew .” Harry grabs stands of his hair and pulls. “He didn't care.” Harry looks away, his mind coming back to the present. “He deserved it.” Harry clenches his fists. “He had it coming.”

Uma sighs and hangs her head. “Fuck. Fuck!” Uma grabs one of the pillows off her bed and throws it at the wall. The swords hanging on the wall slip and clatter to the floor. “Okay. We need to clean this up. Now. Patricide is… fuck, fuck.” Uma yanks at her braids. “I'm taking these fucking braids out once this shit is done.” She snaps. “Gil.” The pirate stands straighter under his captain's gaze. “Grab Serene, Caspian, Alon, and Mira. Clean up the fucking body. Make sure it sinks. Clean up the scene. Make sure CJ stays at Dr. Facilier's. Fuck, shit, Dr. Facilier.”

“Can we trust him?” Gil asks.

“I trust him.” Harry says. Both pirates snap their gaze to the other teen. “He's always kept CJ safe.”

“You trust him to know what happened?” Uma asks. “Cause, Harry… if he knows, he can use it against you.”

“Not without the risk of losing Celia.” Harry shakes his head. “I'll go talk to him. If we're gonna do this, we need at least one adult on our side.”

“Woah, are you good to leave?” Uma asks, placing her hands on Harry's shoulders and pushing him back onto the bed. “If anyone saw you coming here–”

“I wasn't seen.” Harry says. “I took back alleys and I was covered up. Besides, I was holding a bloody machete. Nobody in their right mind would tell anyone about it. Even if they saw me.”

Uma sighs and shakes her head, bringing a hand to rub at her temple. “Okay. Fine. Gil, come with me. We'll cover it up. Harry, go to Dr. Facilier. Make sure your sister got there safely.”

“Yeah, okay.” Harry nods his head. He walks over to Uma's dresser and pulls open the first drawer. He takes out one of his shirts— actually, it may be Gil's— and pulls it over his head, fitting into it easily. “Throw him off the dock.” Harry says, back turned to Gil and Uma. “He's drunk. He's stupid.” Harry laughs bitterly and brings a hand to his mouth. “Oh my god, he's dead.” A broken sob rips itself from Harry's throat. “He's fucking dead.”

Uma walks up behind Harry and rubs at his shoulders. “It's okay, Harry. It's okay.” Harry turns in her arms and bows down, burying his head in the crook of Uma's neck.

Harry laughs through his tears, relaxing more when Gil joins the hug. There are only 3 people on the Isle Harry would allow himself to break in front of, and seeing as one of them just died, all he had now was these two. His captain. His best friend. His only family.

—

Mal isn't stupid. Something happened. One of the snitch kids she and her crew feeds regularly came up to her earlier this morning. Told her that he saw Harry Hook walking through an alley last night while covered in blood and holding a machete stained in red.

She wants to ask questions, call a meeting between her and Uma, because they have an agreement. If any of their crew spills blood, the other needs to be told. To prevent a turf war, but to also keep them in the loop. She'd already sent Jay and Evie to take a count, and they came back with news that everyone in their crew was accounted for.

Which was great, but that meant that it was either infighting or that Harry hurt, possibly killed, someone neither crew was associated with. Mal needed to arrange a meeting with Uma quickly. She didn't want a war breaking out in Uma's crew. While it would boost her street cred and likely eliminate an enemy, it would cause a lot of headaches that she really didn't wanna fucking deal with.

“Carlos!” Mal calls. A puff of bleached hair appears over the tattered couch Jay had stolen for their hideout years ago. “You still in contact with the Horned King's daughter?”

“Unfortunately.” Carlos grabs his wooden cane off the coffee table they'd put together and stands up. “Why?”

“See if she knows anything about what Harry Hook did last night. She's good with Uma's crew. She's high up.” Mal tells him.

“She's not gonna tell me anything.” Carlos says, quick to shoot it down. “She worked hard to get in Uma's good graces. She's not going to betray that because of our history together.”

Mal groans, glaring half-heartedly at the 13 year old. “Oh my gods!” Mal flops back into her chair. Just then, Evie and Jay come back into the hideout.

“Mal, we have some bad news.” Evie says. “CJ Hook is staying at Dr. Facilier's.”

“Fuck.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Carlos asks.

“CJ only stays at Dr. Facilier's when Harry kicks her out. And Harry only kicks her out when Captain Hook gets drunk and violent.” Jay frowns at the reminder. Really, what the hell were the people of Auradon thinking, throwing the villains on an island and letting them raise kids? Half of them were here cause they tried murdering children.

“Do you think Harry got into a fight with his father?” Carlos questions, finally sitting back down again.

“With a machete? Only one of them are getting out alive.” Evie freezes, as do the rest of the crew. Evie slowly turns her head to Mal. “No.” Evie breathes. “No. There's no way.”

“Harry's insane, but he's not…” Jay absent-mindedly pulls at his hair. “He wouldn't kill his own father. Much as I'm sure he wants to.”

“I mean…” All eyes turn to Carlos, who shrugs from where he's propped against the back of the couch. “Can we really put it past him? He is a little… eh.”

“Look, no matter what happened, it's bad news.” Mal declares, catching everyone's attention easily. “I should contact Uma. Get a meeting with her. Our current agreement is that we keep the other in the loop. Jay, I need you to go grab Max–”

Before Mal can finish, loud knocking echoes through the hideout. Mal frowns and walks to the door. There's only one other person on the Isle who knows where their hideout was. Flinging open the door, Mal lays her eyes on Percival McLeach's youngest son. “Hey, Leon.” Mal crouches down, coming eye-level with the 8-year-old. “What news do you got for me?"

“Uma wants to meet.” Leon says, wringing his hands. The little kid was a great asset for the two rival gangs. He, nor his siblings, had any allegiance to them, so he was the best person to deliver their messages and be aware of where their hideouts are. “Usual place. Bring two people. In thirty minutes.”

Mal pulls a bar of chocolate from her jacket and hands it to the kid, who beams at the gift. “Got it.” Mal says. The kid smirks up at her, then darts back to the ladder, climbing to the top of the building. Mal waits until the kid is out of sight before closing the door. “My words still stand. Jay, go grab Max and meet me at Lady Tremaine's place. We'll walk together the rest of the way.”

“Yeah, got it.” Jay nods his head and darts out of the hideout.

“Evie, Carlos, stay here.” Mal turns to them. “We'll be back in a couple hours.”

“Okay.” Evie nods her head.

“Alright. I'm gonna go to Lady Tremaine's. If we're not back before nightfall, get the others and come looking for us. Stay safe.” With that, Mal leaves the hideout.

—

Uma really did not want to meet with Mal. She'd like to keep this completely under wraps and leave it behind, but according to truce rules, she had to tell Mal. And if Mal is as good as Uma's always given her credit for, she might already know that something happened with Harry last night. If she's that good, she knows it had something to do with his father. Damn, Uma hated this bitch.

Another reason she hated her, the bitch kept her fucking waiting. Never any longer than ten minutes, but it was enough to annoy Uma each time. Finally, finally, Mal walks into the warehouse they used for meetings, Jay, Son of Jafar, and Max, Son of Judge Claude Frollo walking behind her.

“Uma.” Mal crosses the way to the empty table in the middle of the room and sits down. “Mira. Gil.” Mal thinks that it's weird that Harry wasn't with Uma. Though, if this meeting was about him, it makes sense.

“Mal.” Uma nods her head to the girl. “Jay. Max.”

“What's this meeting about?” Mal asks, crossing her arms and legs, leaning back into her seat.

“As I'm sure you've heard, Harry got into a fight last night. A bloody one.” Uma sighs heavily. “Captain Hook is dead and Harry killed him.” Mal bristles, as do Jay and Max. “Last night, he attacked CJ.” Behind Mal, Jay's hand on her shoulder tightens. “Harry stopped him. He pushed CJ out and… his father revealed some things. Things that aren't my place to share, but believe me, James Hook deserved what happened to him. In fact, he deserved far, far fucking worse.”

Mal breathes deeply, giving herself a moment to process the information. So they were right. Harry had killed James Hook. She didn't need Uma's convincing that the man deserved it. Nearly every parent on the Isle deserved to be hurt for what they'd done to their kids. And she knows quite a few that wouldn't mind killing said parent as revenge.

“Okay.” Mal nods her head. “What happened? Afterwards, I mean.”

“We covered it up.” Uma shrugs. “Poor Captain Hook got drunk on the docks. Everyone knows drunks have poor coordination.”

“Obviously.” Mal sighs and props her elbows on the table, then drops her head in her hands. “This is something we have to deal with together. This can affect everyone on the Isle. Hook didn't have many allies, but patricide is a crime. It's horrendous. And if any of the Jolly Roger crew–”

“Harry said he had a plan for the Jolly Roger crew.” Uma interrupts, also leaning forward in her chair and scooting closer to the table. “He didn't share it, but he is my first mate. The Jolly Roger crew was loyal to his father. No matter what their opinions on his death may be, Harry's his son.”

“Yeah, he's also a force to be fucking reckoned with.” Mal laughs and leans back in her chair. “I was so pissed when I learned you got to him first.”

Uma smirks and tilts her head up. “What can I say? I just have a certain charm. I'm irresistible.”

“Please stop flirting.” Jay and Gil say at the same time. Their eyes snap to each other, then cautiously fall to the crew leader on the other side of the table from them. “Um, sorry, cap'n.” Gil bows his head.

Uma rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively. “Don't worry about it, Gil.” Uma turns to Mal and worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “Mal.” She calls. The purple haired girl looks up to Uma's eyes. “Send your people away. I wanna talk alone.”

Mal regards the girl for a couple seconds, but eventually turns and motions for Jay and Max to leave. Uma turns and does the same to Gil and Mira. After a couple seconds of hesitation, both pairs turn and walk away. After a couple seconds, in which both leaders are waiting for their people to actually leave, Mal turns to Uma and changes the way her legs are crossed. She rests her right hand on her knee and places the other flat on the table.

“What'd you wanna talk about?” Mal finally asks, making eye-contact with the girl.

Chapter Text

It takes a week to put their plan into action. They'd slowly gone further and further down the list of those in their crew, recruiting them to the cause. It helped greatly that the two were joining forces. They may hate each other, but they have a common goal for once. One that they both know the other would die for.

For Mal, the hardest part was getting Evie on their side. While the girl was all for bettering the Isle, she didn't want her mother dead. So, they came up with another plan. They decided to deal with the Evil Queen last, so that she had no chance to warn anyone else. Convincing Jay was easy as fuck, he jumped at the plan. Carlos was far easier than Mal thought he was gonna be. The fae honestly thought he'd be so opposed (or rather, scared of failing) that he may expose them, but he agreed very quickly— Mal will never tell him that she overheard him crying later that night. She's not stupid. She knows it wasn't sadness. It was relief.

For Uma, the hardest part was convincing her crew that working with Mal was a necessity. Eventually though, she got them on her side. None of them liked the way the Isle was. They all desperately wanted to make the place better for the kids just now growing up.

“Ma!” Uma calls, stepping into the kitchen. A stray tentacle shoots out from behind some stoves. Uma ducks, the limb barely missing her head.

“What do you want!?” Ursula demands.

Uma had been planning what to say all week. All the Isle kids with prominent parents were. But now that she's here, her mind is going blank. “You better say something soon, girl!” Ursula snaps.

“Um…” Uma swallows the dryness in her throat and steels her hands at her side. “You're not a good mother.” Uma watches in a rare type of awe as the tentacles that were previously doing something or another around the kitchen all freeze at once. “And I've accepted that. But I know… at least, I hope, that you care. Even if it's the loneliest, smallest, blackest part of your heart. I hope you do.” Uma breathes deeply, hoping to god that her voice doesn't shake. “The kids on this Isle deserve better. And I'm not talking about me and those in my crew. We've already been ruined. Nothing can get back our innocence.” Uma thanks whatever is up there that she can't see her mother's face, and that her mother can't see hers, because she is sure that she is crying. “But those kids?” Uma points her hand at the door to the kitchen. Her voice cracks as she speaks. “Those kids deserve better. And we're giving it to them. No matter what we have to do.”

There's several seconds of tense silence. What breaks it is neither of them, but rather a gunshot that echoes over the Isle. It's something many have never heard, because guns are a rare thing on the Isle.

Finally, Ursula speaks. “What are you saying, Uma?” It's the first time in months that Uma's heard her mother use her name.

“Mal and I teamed up. We're taking over the Isle.” Uma's voice is demanding, leaving no room for any argument. “We're dealing with our parents first.”

“By… killing them?” Ursula questions.

“Only those that deserve it.” Uma answers easily. “I'm asking for your allegiance. Or at the very least, promise that you will let us do this in peace. That you will not interfere in what we do in the next couple days, and what is to come after our hold is secure.”

Something happens, then. Uma hasn't stared upon her mother's face since she was 12 years old. Three years, it's been. The light purple tinted skin peeks around the corner of the stacks in the kitchen, and Uma's eyes lay on her mother's face. After a couple seconds, a coy smile slips onto Ursula's face. “You'll be a great leader.” And with that, she disappears, the tentacles resuming their work.

Uma takes the dismissal for what it is, and leaves the kitchen.

—

Carlos has never liked his mother. She's never been nice. Holding him down and pouring bleach onto his head so he can resemble the only thing she likes. Extinguishing cigarettes onto his skin when he hasn't even done anything. Locking him in the closet with the bear traps. Not fucking caring when one of said bear traps permanently disabled him.

He still remembers his cries as Jay carried him to their hideout. Him and Evie trying to get the bear trap off while Mal used petty magic to get him to ignore the pain. It didn't work, but Carlos appreciated the effort.

Suffice to say, Carlos fucking hated his mother. He's 13 years old and he's honestly surprised it took him this long to accept that. When Mal told him and the other two the plan, his first instinct was to run and hide. To tell his mother because what if they failed? But they all knew the consequences. If this didn't work, they'd be punished. Or worse.

It didn't matter, though. It was the best chance they had at making life better for the younger Isle kids. They were lost causes. They knew that much. But not little Dizzy, or Celia, or Squeaky and Squirmy. They had a chance to live life better than they did.

“Mother.” Carlos hobbles over to his mother, doing his best to hide his limp. She hated it when he showed weakness of any kind, and he knew better than to do so. “I made you some tea.” He measured the right amount that he needed. He even got Evie to help him. It'd be painless. Carlos would love for it to not be. Would love for her to be in pain, but he can't always have what he wants. He doesn't usually get it either.

“Thank you, Carlos honey.” Cruella says, gingerly taking the cup of tea and idly sipping at it.

“Hey, mom, um…” Carlos wrings his hands, fiddling with his fingers. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, honey.” Cruella says, getting comfortable in her chair. She's in a good mood, and god does that wrack Carlos with guilt. “What is it, my little pup?”

“Why'd you, uh… have me?” Carlos finally asks. “Like… why get pregnant with me?”

“Hmm.” Cruella hums, drinking more of her tea. “I'm not sure. I've never wanted children. They're almost as bad as dogs.” Cruella laughs lightly at the comparison. “But when I had you, my entire world changed.” Cruella leans back into the pillows. She reaches out a hand and lightly brushes at Carlos's bleached hair. “I had my son…” Cruella whispers. “I love you, son.”

Carlos blinks furiously, eyes falling on the empty bottles of alcohol on their rotted coffee table. “Yeah. Yeah.” He nods his head and closes his hand around Cruella's wrist. “I um, I love you too, mom.”

Cruella smiles warmly. “I'm gonna…” With weak hands, Cruella haphazardly lays the teacup on the table next to her. Her hand slips from Carlos's cheek, lying limp at her side. “Night… Carlos…”

With tear-filled eyes, Carlos watches as his mother drifts off. Her breathing evens out, her chest rising and falling slowly. Then, like a snap of a chord, it stops.

A broken sob rips itself from Carlos's throat. He stands on shaking legs and places a chaste kiss onto his mother's forehead, then turns and grabs his cane from where he'd hidden it behind her chair. Carlos wipes the wetness from his eyes and breathes deeply, then walks out of the room.

He had a job to do, after all.

—

Jay hasn't been home in days. He knows the risk he's taking, walking into his father's shop empty-handed. His father never liked it when he came back without something to show for it. Jay's pretty sure that the longest he spent alone on the street was a month. Well, till Mal finally found him in the shitty hole he'd been hiding in and dragged him to the hideout she'd secured in the month he'd been hiding.

“Jay! Son, that you!?” Jafar's voice yells from the back room of the pawn shop. Before Jay can actually answer, his father is pushing through the beads on the doorway to the back room and coming into the front of the pawn shop. The man grins widely when his eyes land on Jay. “What'd you score!?” Jafar laughs and clasps his hands onto Jay's shoulders, steering him behind the counter.

“Yeah, I actually uh, I don't have anything.” Jay says, rubbing at his nose. He notices, immediately, the change in his father. The man's hands tighten on Jay's shoulders to an almost painful squeeze.

“What?” Jafar questions, voice deadly calm.

“No, I've got uh, something better.” Jay doesn't try to move from his father's grip. Every instinct in him is telling him to fight, to get the enemy from behind his back, but Jay knows he has to handle this delicately. He's at least got a chance to get Jafar on their side.

“Boy, I told you not to step foot into this shop unless you have something to show for it.” Jafar scolds, tightening his grip more. “You've been out for days. I give you a roof and clothes and food, and this how you repay me? Get out of my fucking shop and don't fucking come back,” Jafar turns Jay around and sticks a finger in Jay's chest. “Until you've got something for me.”

Jay pushes his father's hands down, saying, “No, dad, lemme just explain–”

Before Jay can finish, Jafar's ringed hand has collided with his cheek. Jay's head spins, his body stumbling to the side from being caught off guard. “Boy, what did I just say!?” Jafar yells in Jay's face, leaning down to get eye level with his son.

“Man, fuck this.” Jay whispers, spitting blood onto the floor.

“What was that!?” Jafar screams.

Jay turns and, with his full strength, punches his father across the face. His fist collides with jaw and bone, sending Jafar tumbling into some display cases. “Man, I been waiting years to do that!” Jay whoops and waves his unclenched hand at his side.

“You ungrateful little brat!” Jafar quickly regains his balance and charges at Jay. He ends up pushing the teen into some shelves on the wall, surprisingly being able to hold him there as Jay thrashes in his hold. “I give you everything!” Jafar grabs the loose part of Jay's jacket and throws him onto the floor.

Jay coughs, the wind getting knocked out of him. He gasps as Jafar's shoe collides with his stomach over and over again. “I gave you a roof over your head! I kept you alive all these fucking years!” Jafar screams. He leans down and yanks Jay up by his hair.

Jay's bigger than him, he's stronger, he could take his fucking father but… but all of a sudden, he's seven years old again. Coming back to the shop empty-handed and thinking he's just gonna get some tips on how to better steal. He didn't expect the hot iron rod pressed into his skin. He's 7 years old and the magical barrier blocks out Jay's Djinn magic, but it doesn't leave him immune to iron.

“You ungrateful little brat!” Jafar screams in Jay's face and slams his head onto the wooden floor. “Stay right there! Don't you fucking move!” Just to get his point across, Jafar kicks his son a couple times before marching to the back room.

Jay can distantly hear his father rummaging through his shit, muttering to himself about the iron rod.

He had to get out.

But fuck, he couldn't fail. He told Mal, he promised her. Mal is his leader. He'd follow her to the ends of the world and they both fucking knew it.

He couldn't fail.

Jay sits up, leaning against the wooden shelves that had fallen when he'd been pushed against them. Jay pulls his knees to his chest and drops his head in his hands, yanking at his hair. “Fuck, fuck.” He curses, tears brimming in his eyes.

Jay didn't know what to fucking do.

Jay drops his hands to his sides. His right hand clanks against something that sends a shock up his spine. Jay curses quietly and cradles his hand to his chest, looking down at what he'd hit.

A gun.

A fucking gun.

With an iron barrel and bullets loaded in. Right, right, it's the thing his father would never sell. Always prides himself on being the only person on the Isle that owns a goddamn gun.

A manic smirk spreads onto Jay's lips. He grabs the gun and stands up, raising it to the beaded doorway, waiting for his father.

“You better be fucking there, Jay!” Jafar yells as he marches into the room. The man stops short when he sees the gun that his son is holding to his chest.

“Now, son, think about this.” Jafar is quick to say, raising his hands in the air.

“Drop the fucking rod.” Jay demands.

Jafar drops the rod.

“Now kick it over to me.” When Jafar doesn't comply immediately, Jay thrusts the gun forward. “Now!”

“Okay, okay.” Jafar kicks the rod over to Jay. “Jay, you don't wanna do this. I mean, have you thought about this? I don't–”

“Yeah, I've fucking thought about it.” Jay laughs maniacally. “Damn!” He cheers. “This– this is fucking amazing, I mean… wow. I've got you at my fucking mercy.”

“Son–”

“Don't you fucking– don't call me that!” Jay yells. “Cause you ain't my father! You've never been a father to me!” Jay laughs and inches forward, stepping over broken glass on the way. “I have been wanting to do this shit for years. This? This is just great fucking timing. I mean– hahah, oh my god.” Jay smirks, his eyes locking onto his father's.

“I'll be seeing you.”

BANG!

—

Harry's not sure what Dr. Facilier thinks of him. He knows the man loves his daughter, and loves CJ like she's his own. But Harry's got no clue what the man thinks of him. Guess now is when he'll be finding out.

“Harry Hook.” Dr. Facilier sighs when he opens the door to the pirate. “Don't you have a funeral to plan?”

“In this economy? Nah.” Harry shrugs.

“So, what're you doing here?” Facilier asks.

Harry's eye flick around the outside, falling onto way too many easy hiding spots. “Can I come in?”

Facilier leans his head out his door and looks around as well. Then, he shrugs and opens the door wider. Harry nods his head as he crosses the threshold. “The girls are sleeping.” Facilier leads Harry to what he's dubbed as the living room and motions for him to sit down on the couch. Facilier sits across from Harry, nursing a drink.

“Is that alcohol?” Harry asks, nodding to the cup in Facilier's hands.

Facilier barks out a startled laugh. “I don't drink. Messes up the mojo.”

“No, of course.” Harry scoffs.

“So, what'd you want?” The man asks. “I doubt you just came here to make sure I'm not an alcoholic. You bringing your sister home?”

“No, no, I uh…” Harry wrings his hands together. “I actually think it best if she stay here a li'tle while longer.”

That has Facilier on guard. The man leans forward quickly, setting his drink down on the table between the couch and his chair. “What's going on?” He asks, voice serious. “This have something to do with the way all you kids been on edge the last few days? Overheard some squeaks talkin' about some plan. Big league kinda thing.”

Harry smirks. “Yeah, somethin' like that.”

“Hook!” Facilier snaps. Harry jumps and turns his head to Facilier. A flicker of guilt crosses the man's face before he's serious again. “What's going on? What the hell are you doing here?"

“Can you look after CJ?” Harry asks, looking up with pleading eyes. “Just for a li'tle while. She can' get involved. I know she usually comes home after like, a week, but not this time. A lot of shit is about to happen and… and I can' have her in it. I need to know she's safe.”

Facilier frowns. “What do I get in return?”

“A better life for ya daughter.” Harry says immediately.

That catches Facilier's attention. The man tilts his head up and leans back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “What you mean by that?”

A cheshire-like grin spreads across Harry's face. “If Mal succeeds, and I've no doubt she will, you finna be swimmin' in luxury, Doctor.”

Facilier grins and raises his glass. “To Mal doing her part.”

—

Mal makes her way into Bargain Castle slowly. The cold iron cuffs she'd stolen from Jafar's shop earlier in the week are a constant reminder of what she's about to do. Hidden under her jacket, out of sight of any stray eyes.

“Mal, honey, is that you!?” Maleficent's voice echoes from the top of the stairs. Then, the fae is gliding down the steps, her cape billowing behind her. “Ah! Mal!” Maleficent claps her hands together and approaches her daughter. “Here I was thinking you were never coming home! Come, come! Follow me!” Maleficent ushers Mal to follow her into the broken down parlor of the castle.

“As I'm sure that you know, your birthday is coming up!” Maleficent says. “As we get closer to your 16th, your powers get stronger and stronger. You're turning 15 this time, and oh! I am just so excited! The things that we will be able to do together…” Maleficent trails off, her mind wandering to all the evil things she plans to do once her daughter comes into her powers.

“You know, mom, that's great and all, but you haven't actually told me the whole thing about my 16th.” Mal reminds, catching her mother's attention by leaning over to look her in the eyes.

“Oh yes, yes!” Maleficent claps her hands together and turns around. She starts rummaging through the shelves of books, looking for something specific. “Ahah!” She cries after a couple seconds. “Come here, Mal! Come here!” The woman demands.

Mal frowns and walks to her mother, peering over the woman's shoulder at the book she'd grabbed off the shelf. “Now, a fae's 16th birthday is a very important thing. It's where you come into your full power! Evil magic doesn't work on the Isle, but I have a plan. Once you turn 16, we will enact it and bring pain to all those who wronged us! To all of Auradon!”

Mal frowns. Always with the ‘bringing pain to Auradon’ thing. Mal wasn't there when the villains were reigning over the land. She didn't live through that. The only grudge she had against Auradon was letting the children rot on this island they couldn't give two shits about.

“You know, mom, that's… great. That's great.” Mal flinches as her mom turns wildly and goes back to the table in the middle of the room. She splays her hands flat against the table, a psychotic grin on her face.

“I'm getting us off this Isle, Mal. I am.” Maleficent swears.

Mal comes around next to her mom and gently grabs her hands. The woman looks up with wide eyes, not expecting the action. “I'll help you. Always.” Mal promises, the lie coming easily to her. “You and I are getting off this Isle.”

Just as Maleficent starts smiling sincerely–

click! click!

BANG!

Maleficent staggers backwards, like she'd been the one who was just shot. Mal turns to the windows, but just as quickly turns back to her mom. Guns weren't on the plan for tonight, but she guesses some of them had to do some improvising. She hopes, for only a second, that it wasn't Carlos, then focuses her attention back to her mother.

“You BITCH–!”

“Ah ah.” Mal tuts, swinging a finger back and forth like a parent scolding their child. “Stay put, mother.”

“What is going on!? What have you done!?” Maleficent screams. Her skin burns as the cold iron seeps into her bloodstream, poisoning her magic from the outside.

“Well, what you've always wanted me to do.” Mal shrugs, voice high and happy. “I'm being a leader. Taking charge!” Mal pumps her arms, laughing wildly. “Wow! This is exhilarating! I mean… wow.” Mal walks forward and grabs her mother's shoulder. “Now, I'm giving you a choice.” Mal says, all aloofness leaving her body like that.

“Either you stay put and you stay out of my way,” A long, sharp knife slips from Mal's sleeve and to her hand. She raises it to her mother's throat without a second thought. “Or I make a nice little mess of your fucking castle.”

Maleficent chuckles darkly. “Taking charge, huh?” She asks. “Well, I gotta commend you.” The fae shrugs, easily giving up. “I wanna see how this goes. See how long it takes for you to come back to me begging for my help.”

Mal grins, all teeth and predatory. “Oh mother…” She sighs. “I won't be needing your help.” Then, she secures the knife back into her sleeve. Mal positions herself behind her mother and grabs the woman's shoulder, like she's about to lead her somewhere. “We still have that dungeon in the basement, right?” Mal whispers in her mother's ear.

Before she gets a response, Mal shoves the woman forward.

Chapter Text

Mal never went to her mother for help. Never stumbled into the dungeon begging and pleading for forgiveness. In fact, she only went down there to antagonize her and read her pretty pink princess stories.

After they… got rid of their parents and got the other's on their side, securing the Isle was easy. Both Mal and Uma were surprised at the severe lack of a knife in the back, but damn were they grateful for it.

It took two months to get everything in order, but by the time it was, the Isle already respected them and was willing to follow them.

Harry Hook got the Jolly Roger crew on their side.

“Now, if ANYONE wants to challenge me, and see if they deserve to lead us, be my fucking guest!”

He was waving his father's hook around as he said it from atop the half-sunk Jolly Roger.

Nobody took the offer.

Carlos got control of his mother's forces.

“Oh, I'm happy to let you walk away. Just know that, um… my mother was a raging, psychotic bitch. And I am exactly like her.”

Even with the cane, nobody on the Isle wanted to mess with him. Especially because he had Jafar's son at his back. Jay was the only one who had his crime of murder known. Hard to cover up the crime when everyone on the Isle heard it.

Everyone else did their part. Got the right people on their sides and took care of those who weren't as willing to lean over. But again, Mal and Uma— daughters of Maleficent and Ursula— joined together definitely made the takeover easier than it would've been if they were alone.

Life on the Isle wasn't perfect, but it never would be. They were throwaways. Nobody cares about them but their own people. And their own people were those on the Isle. Not the bastards across the water.

So yeah, it wasn't perfect. But it was damn near close to being so.

It was as perfect as they'd get.

—

Uma, Harry, and Gil walk into Bargain Castle like they own the place. They don't, but they've been regular guests in the past several months. Bargain Castle was their home base. They held meetings there between the heads of Mal's gang and the head's of Uma's. Sure, they were technically joined together, but there was still a divide of Uma's people and Mal's people.

The three pirates climb the stairs to the top. Sitting at the rectangular table in the open room there is Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Evie. Mal is at the head of the table, Carlos and Jay on either side of her. Evie sits next to Carlos, leaving four empty seats. Uma takes her designated place at the other end of the table, Harry and Gil quickly sitting on either side of her.

“What's with this emergency meeting?” Uma asks once she's settled in her seat.

“We got a letter.” Mal places her hand on the folded up letter on the table. Uma lifts her head, slightly more interested. “From Auradon.” That gets the interested attention of all three pirates.

“What the hell does Auradon want with us?” Jay asks. None of them except for Mal had read the letter.

“It's addressed to our parents.” Mal sighs and grabs the letter, unfolding it. “Guess Auradon didn't get the memo about the regime change around here.”

“Like they'd care.” Uma scoffs. Mal chuckles and raises her hand to Uma, a silent agreement.

“What's it say?” Gil asks, idly munching on an apple he'd taken earlier in the day.

Mal folds out the letter and starts speaking. “‘Dear Maleficent, Evil Queen’ it just lists off our parents' names. Then, uh, ‘Prince Ben, son of King Adam and Queen Belle, is soon to be crowned King of the United States of Auradon. In honor of his first official proclamation, he has chosen to give the children of the Isle a chance. The Daughters of Maleficent, Evil Queen, and Ursula, and the Sons of Jafar, Cruella de Vil, Gaston, and Captain James Hook have been chosen to engage in an exchange and rehabilitation program at Auradon Prep. We will start with these 7 kids, and if it is a success, we will begin to bring in more kids from the Isle.’”

“Oh my god.” Evie whispers, bringing her hand to her mouth. “That's– that's serious? That's official?”

“Has the Auradon seal.” Mal says. She gives the letter to Jay, motioning for him to pass it down to Uma. “I think we should go. Of course, there will be some things we have to get in order first. They show up in a week's time to collect us.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Uma asks, eyes scanning over the letter.

“Uma, I thought you'd jump at this.” Mal says, clearly surprised. “This is our chance off the Isle. This is our chance to really help the kids. To help everyone on the Isle.”

“No, I get that, but all of us? Leaving?” Uma bites her bottom lip and starts yanking at one of her braids, twirling it between her fingers. “We've been ruling the Isle for over a year now. If all of us leave, it'll create a power vacuum. And if your mother found out you were gone, you know she'd jump on the chance to retake the Isle.”

“She won't know we're gone.” Mal shrugs. “I barely visit her anymore. And even if she did know, she's bound head to toe in cold iron. The bars on her cell are cold iron and the walls are five feet thick. She's not getting out.”

“Okay, what about the people in charge? Who'll keep everyone in check while we're gone?” Carlos asks.

“Yeah, I'm with the pup here.” Harry says, leaning forward in his chair and pointing at the 14 year old. “I don't like the idea of leaving the Lost Revenge without us. Or the Jolly Roger crew. The kids are fine, but the older fucks hate me. They all know I killed my father. They don't have proof, but… who cares?”

“I'll get the Jolly Roger crew in line. As for who'll lead, I wanna leave Mira and Max in charge.” Mal says.

“Max and Mira?” Jay scoffs. “Those two will rip each other apart. They've got history together.”

“No, I thought they got over it.” Evie pipes in. “When Mira came out as lesbian and Max also came out, they just kinda arrived at a stalemate. They dealt with their stuff.”

“Really? Why haven't I heard of this?” Uma asks.

“Mira was trying to keep it away from her mother, same with Max and his dad.” Evie whispers, scandalous. “I heard a rumor that Judge Frollo caught Max with–”

“Guys!” Mal yells, cutting the gossip off at the head. Immediately, all eyes are on the head of the table. “As… interesting as that is, we have other matters to attend to. Now, I've got a solid plan for the Isle while we're gone. I wanna go over it with you guys.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Course, pretty.”

Mal sighs, a content smile spreading across her face. “Thank you.”

—

They were able to get the Isle in support of the plan pretty quickly. Of course, they didn't share the whole thing. They're not stupid. Just that they're going to Auradon in an attempt at reconciliation and that they're going to do their damn best at getting the people off the Isle. Max and Mira, as well as Dr. Facilier, Ursula, and the Horned King were left in charge of the territories.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Mal double checks with Max before the car is set to pick them up. “Do not go down there for anything but to give her food. Do not answer her questions. Don't even talk to her, actually. It's best if you don't. Dr. Facilier will be holding over the pirate's, but he's also gonna help you and Mira. He's to be trusted. But don't discuss the plan with anyone. Because the number one rule on the Isle is–”

“Don't trust anyone.” Max finishes, nodding his head. He brings his hands to Mal's hands that are holding his shoulders. “I've got this, Mal. We'll be here when you get back. I promise.”

Mal smiles warmly at the kid. If he had been more involved in everything earlier, he'd definitely have been part of her inner circle. But it didn't matter. He was here now. And he's the only one on the Isle that Mal trusts to keep things in order.

Several feet away, Uma is talking to Mira. “Okay, the Jolly Roger crew might raise some swords. You know what to do, right?”

“Win.” Mira answers.

“Haha! That's me girl!” Harry cheers, coming up behind the daughter of the Red Queen and throwing his hooked arm around her shoulders. “You, Mira Hearts, are amazin'.”

“Oh why thank you, Mr. Hook.” Mira laughs, a flirtatious tone in her voice.

“I wish I could take ya with.” Harry flirts, his pointer finger trailing a path up her neck and to her chin.

“Stop.” Uma warns. Harry laughs and pulls away, arms raised in defense. “Ignore him.” She tells Mira, who only laughs and nods her head in an exaggerated manner. Uma reaches forward and places her hands on Mira's shoulders. “I'll be back.”

“I know ya will, captain.” Mira says, bowing her head to her captain. Uma smirks and bows her head as well.

“Yo! Guys!” All eyes on the street look up at Jay, who's swinging himself down the side of one of the buildings just outside Bargain Castle. “The car's here! It's a freakin' limo!”

“Ooh, we fancy.” Uma smirks. She pushes Mira's pirate hat down her head, earning a laugh and a playful swat of hands. “Stay outta trouble, Mira.” Mira jokingly stands at attention and salutes the sea witch. Uma allows herself to smile for a second, then turns and walks to Gil and Harry. “We ready?”

“I hope so.” Gil shrugs, raising his bag in the air. None of the kids had more than one bag to bring. Two changes of clothes and some other essentials they needed. “I brought my dad's old jacket. From his hunting days. How mad do you think he'll be?”

“Mad.” Is all Harry says in response.

Gil was the only one of the boys who hadn't murdered his parent. He'd wanted to, he did, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Since they'd taken over the Isle though, Gaston hadn't laid a hand on any of his kids. Jay and Harry wouldn't tell Gil, but they'd scared the fuck out of Gaston one night in the first couple days after the change started happening. Held him at gunpoint and everything.

The limo turning onto the street catches everyone's attention. People wait with bated breath as it turns around to face the way out, mindful of the crowds of people.

“Alright, we're off!” Mal yells, catching everyone's attention. “Stay out of trouble and try not to burn the Isle down while we're gone!”

One-by-one, the kids climb into the limo. In another universe, people stared at them with envy and hate, promising themselves that they'll get revenge for the abandonment. But not in this one. In this one, everyone stares in awe. First time in 20 years someone is leaving the Isle, and hopefully it won't be the last. For the first time in a long time, those on the Isle feel a foreign feeling.

Hope.

—

“Okay, how we wanna walk?” Uma asks once they get onto the bridge.

“I'll get out first.” Mal says. “Jay, you're behind me. Then Carlos, Evie, Gil. Then Harry and Uma. Keep Carlos and Evie in the middle.”

Carlos frowns at the protectiveness. Sure, he got why they did it. Him and Evie weren't the best when it came to physical fighting, not to mention the clear disadvantage he had. He actually really appreciated the protective feeling they all felt over him and Evie. It didn't stop, though, the shame curling in his gut. He'd always have to be protected. He only got control of his mother's assets because he's as crazy as her and Jay was backing him up. He couldn't fight for shit and he could run, but, eh… it wasn't the best.

“Do we know our rooming situations?” Evie asks. “Like, who'll be with who?”

“It's unlikely they'll split us up.” Jay chimes in. “They'll probably keep you girls together. Split us boys up into two.”

Gil whoops and raises his hand to Harry. The other pirate grabs Gil's hand and pulls him close, curling their fingers together for a brief couple seconds.

“If they ask, and they probably will, tell them you're 16.” Mal says, directing the statement at Carlos.

“Hmm?” Carlos asks, looking up from the candy he and Jay had started munching on.

“They might split us up if they learn we're different ages.” Mal informs. “We can't be split up.”

“Understood.” Carlos mocks a salute at the girl, who laughs and leans over to playfully shove him.

“Before we get out, I have a spell.” Mal flips through her spell book, looking for a certain page. “Uh… here it is. Secrets, they keep us safe. Now hide our true face.” Mal waves her hand in the air. A glamorous wave of green magic washes over all of them.

“Uh, what'd that do?” Uma asks, looking down at herself. “Girl, where are my scars?” Uma peers at her hands, carefully inspecting each finger that's now free of the tiny cuts.

“It hid our scars.” Mal slams the book shut and shoves it back into her bag. “Need to look presentable. Or something like that.”

“Wish you could heal my fucking leg.” Carlos groans. “Pretty sure this fucked up shit is beyond healing, though.”

“Oh, while we're in Auradon, we should see if they have better canes.” Jay speaks up suddenly, pointing at the cane folded on Carlos's lap. “That one's good for being foldable, but it's kinda… flimsy.”

“Yeah, I do need a new one.” Carlos laughs.

Before they can talk any more, loud trumpets and other instruments reach their ears.

“We're getting close.” Mal snaps her fingers and all eyes land on her. “This past year has changed us. For the better. We're closer together than we've ever been and we're in charge. Auradon is just like the Isle, just in different fonts. Remember that. They won't want us here. They won't like us. Give them reason to.” Mal reaches her hand forward. “For the Isle?” She offers.

One-by-one, the hands of the VK's join hers.

“For the Isle.” They all echo.

The limo slows to a stop. Mal's eyes scan the VK's one last time, and then she opens the door.

Chapter Text

The trumpets die out as the VK's step out of the car. They'd all worn their best clothes and even got Dizzy Tremaine to do their hair to make them presentable.

Standing in front of a statue of what they assume to be is King Adam is a well-groomed kid their age with light brown hair, and clinging to his arm is a girl wearing light blues and pink. Standing slightly in front of them is an older woman wearing a light blue pencil skirt dress. “Welcome to Auradon Prep!” The woman says. “I'm Fairy Godmother, headmistress.”

“Fairy Godmother?” Uma asks. “Like… “bibbidi-bobbidi boo”?” The sea witch laughs, a mocking tone to her voice.

“Bibbidi-bobbidi you know it!” The Fairy Godmother says with a cheerful laugh. “But, that was a long time ago. And as I always say, ‘don't focus on the past, or you'll miss the future’!” The woman waves her hand in front of her face, exaggerated.

“It's so nice to meet you all.” The teen says, walking forward and beginning to shake their hands. “I'm Ben.”

“Prince Benjamin!” The girl is quick to say. “Soon to be King!” She squeals quietly and clutches tighter to his arm. The prince squirms uncomfortably, but doesn’t push the girl away.

“This is Audrey–”

“Princess Audrey!” The girl interrupts again. “His girlfriend! Right, Bennyboo?” She squeals again. Mal winces and brings a hand to cover her ears.

“Ben and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut.” The fairy says wistfully. “But the library hours are from 8:00 to 11:00. And as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews.”

With that, Fairy Godmother leaves. Following her leave, the band and surrounding crowds disperse.

Ben continues shaking their hands, talking as he does so. “It is so, so, so good to finally me… meet you.” Ben cautiously steps back when Harry only brandishes his hook, preventing Ben from touching him. “This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history… is that chocolate?” Ben asks when he shakes Carlos's free hand. Carlos flushes red and hurriedly wipes his hand on his jacket. “As the day our two peoples began to heal.”

“Or the day where you show seven peoples where the bathrooms are.” Mal says, pulling her hand away before Ben can shake it.

Ben laughs lightly and shakes his head. “A little bit over the top?” He asks.

“A little more than a little bit.” Mal pinches her fingers together.

“Well, so much for my first impression.” Ben smiles. The two hold eye contact for far longer than needed. Uma even leans forward, looking past all the other VK's and giving Mal a disbelieving look.

“Hey! You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you?” Audrey quickly buts in, pushing Ben to the side and coming to stand in front of Mal. “Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff.” Audrey shrugs, as if she's just forgotten something. “Oh, my mom's Aurora. Sleeping–”

“Beauty! Yeah, I've heard the name.” Mal nods, hand coming to her chin. “You know, and I totally do not blame your grandparents for inviting everyone in the whole world but my mother to their stupid christening.”

“Water under the bridge!” Audrey laughs, clearly fake.

“Totes!” Mal smiles sickly sweet, laughing along with her.

“Okay! So, how about a tour? Yeah?” Ben claps his hands together and starts leading the group of VK's to the entrance of the school. “Auradon prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became king.” Ben stops at the bushes surrounding the statue of his father and claps his hands.

When the statue morphs, Gil yelps and jumps into Harry's arms, much to the pirate's distress. Ben laughs and waves his hand at the son of Gaston. “Gil, it's okay. My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible.”

Mal snorts. “Does he shed much?”

“Yeah, mom won't let him on the couch.” Ben laughs. The nine of them finally walk into the building. They all look around in awe, marveling the design.

“So, is there a lot of magic here in Auradon?” Uma asks. The seven of them kind of push themselves into a group. Jay and Harry stand behind Mal and Uma, diagonal of their respective leader. Carlos and Evie stand between Jay and Harry, Gil standing lookout behind the two. It's a natural set-up for them nowadays. “Most of our magic is useless on the Isle. Just petty things and stuff.”

“Yeah, there's magic, but it's pretty much retired. Most of us here in Auradon are just regular mortals.” Ben informs.

“Who happen to be Kings and Queens.” Mal rolls her eyes.

“That's true!” Audrey, again, butts into the conversation. “Our royal blood goes back hundreds of years.”

“It's the same with our magic.” Uma chimes in, noticing the help her fellow leader needs in the path of the princess. “Being here in Auradon is bound to be good for us. The barrier restricts our magic, but since it's so deep ingrained into our blood, it's pretty painful.”

The mood of the prince and princess drop fairly quickly. Behind her, Harry muffles his laughs behind his hand that doesn't done the hook.

“Uh, Doug, Doug!” Ben turns to the stairs, noticing the kid. “Come down. This is Doug.” Mal and Uma both recognize him as one of the band kids that greeted them with the music. “He's going to help you with your class schedules and show you the rest of the dorms. I'll see you later, okay? And If there is anything you need, feel free to–”

“Ask Doug!” Audrey interrupts. Then, she grabs Ben's arm and pulls him away from the VK's.

Doug looks nervous to be left alone with the VK's, but he swallows down his fear and puts on his best brave face. “Hi, guys. I'm Dopey's son. As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and… heigh-ho…” Doug whispers when his eyes land on Evie.

A devilish smirk plays onto Evie's features. She slinks forward and extends her hand to Doug. “Evie. Evil queen's daughter.” She introduces herself.

Doug stares in awe after a couple seconds, but then finally snaps back to reality. “Okay. So about your classes, I, uh, put in the requirements already... history of woodsmen and pirates, safety rules for the Internet, and, uh, remedial goodness 101.” He says, going down the list on his clipboard.

“Lemme guess. New class?” Uma asks with a smirk.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Doug shrugs.

“Come on guys, let's go find our dorms.” Mal says, turning and hitting Jay on the chest. The seven rush over to the stairs, but Doug calls after them.

“Oh no, actually, your dorms are that way!” He says. Mal shrugs and hurries back down the stairs. Carlos sighs in relief and turns back around, glad that he doesn't have to attempt to climb up the stairs. He wonders, briefly, if this place has an elevator.

“Uh, girls, you are all rooming together.” Doug says, leading them down the hall. “You're not that far from the boy's dorm rooms. Fairy Godmother thought it was best to keep you guys close together. She wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable being apart.” Doug points to the two doors next to the girl's room. “Jay, Carlos, you two are together in that one, and Harry, Gil, you're in that one.”

“Sweet.” Mal claps her hands together and turns to the group. “Go put your stuff away and get used to your rooms. Meet back here in… an hour?” Mal asks, turning to Uma. Uma nods her head and throws the girl a thumbs up. “We'll start looking around then. Uh, Doug!” Mal calls before the band kid can sneak away, as he'd just been trying to do. He yelps and turns back to Mal, clipboard clutched close to his chest. “What time is curfew?” She asks.

“Uh, 11:30.” Doug says, then scurries off, desperate to get away from all of them.

“Don't mess this up.” Mal warns. Jay and Gil both salute her, while Carlos nods his head and Harry mumbles something of an agreement. Mal takes it and then shoos them away.

“Ready?” Mal asks. Uma and Evie both nod their heads. Mal smirks and opens the door.

—

“Oh shit, this room is very pink!” Harry laughs when he walks into the girl's dorm room an hour later. It has three beds, two of them on either side of the window and another pressed right under the window, taking the little piece of space that juts out to create the tiny loft.

“I plan for a very needed redecoration.” Mal says from her seat on the bed she'd claimed. Carlos walks over to her bed and sits down as well, sprawling himself across her lap. Mal smiles and rests her hand in his hair, pulling gently on the bleach-stained strands.

“I kinda like it.” Gil supplies. From her bed, Uma grabs a pillow and chucks it at her third-in-command. The teen yelps, but doesn't duck in time, so it hits him square in the chest.

“Hey, no infighting!” Harry scolds, swishing his hook in the large gap between the two. Then, he smirks maniacally, all teeth and fangs to the pair. “Not without me, at least.”

“Calm down, Hook.” Uma leans forward as far as she can and pulls the pirate into her bed. He yelps and fails as he falls unceremoniously onto the bed.

Harry opens his mouth to snap at her, but the manic smirk falls quickly. “Oh?” He spreads out like a starfish on the available parts of the bed. “This is… this bed is incredibly comfortable.”

“Are yours not?” Evie asks, voice laced with concern.

“Didn't bother to check.” Harry sits up and shrugs. “I never really had a bed. Or a room.”

“Well, you do now.” Uma scoots forward and wraps an arm around Harry's shoulders, pulling him close to her body. Harry turns quickly and hides his face in the crook of her neck, pushing aside her goddess braids and allowing them to cover his head. Uma smiles and rubs comforting circles onto his back.

“This place will be good for us.” Mal assures. She reaches forward and grabs Jay's hand, startling the son of Jafar. Gil walks over to Evie's bed and sits down at the edge of the bed, wrapping his arms around the pole there. “And if this goes well, it will be good for the other Isle kids too.”

“It has to go well.” Jay says. “It has to.”

“It will.” Mal promises. She knows it's a dangerous thing to promise, but she couldn't care less.

“Should we go exploring?” Gil throws out.

“Is that such a good idea?” Harry asks, finally coming up from the comfort Uma gave him. “You said it yaself Mal, people of Auradon don't wan' us here. Princess Audrey proved that.” Harry says the girl's name in a mocking tone.

“We have to make them want us here.” Mal says. “We need to show them that we deserve this. If we do this, it'll show them the Isle deserves better. We need to do this. So, be nice and don't start fights.”

“Why ya looking at me?” Harry asks.

“Yeah, me too.” Jay raises his hand.

“Please, you know why.” Uma scoffs and rolls her eyes. She pushes Harry away and stands up, stretching her arms high above her head. “Come on. Let's go explore. Make some friends.”

Many of the VK's groan at the idea, but they follow Mal and Uma out of their dorm.

—

“Everyone's staring.” Harry sings, coming between Uma and Mal.

“Are we animals on display?” Uma snaps to herself.

“Might as well be.” Carlos scoffs. “I've counted nine people who've stared at my cane so far.”

“If anyone messes with you ‘cause of this, you tell me.” Jay says. “Who gives a shit about rules? I'll fuck them up.”

“Jay.” Mal says, voice warning. The thief raises his hands and steps back in defense.

“Give the lad a break, babe.” Harry says, throwing his arm with the hook on it around Jay's shoulders. Harry tightens his grip on his hook and points it at the daughter of Maleficent. “He's protective of the pup. Can ya blame him?”

“No.” Mal deadpans. “And don't call me babe, Harry. I will curse you.”

“Alright, alright.” Harry laughs.

“Look, do you have our class schedule?” Uma asks, stepping between her first-mate and Mal. “We should track down where our classes are.”

“That's a good idea.” Carlos says. “That way we aren't getting lost tomorrow morning.”

Jay winces suddenly, hand coming up to his chest.

“Woah, gorgeous face, ya good?” Harry asks, hitting his hook against Jay's shoulder. The teen flinches and pushes Harry away from himself.

Mal and Evie both rush forward, placing their hands on Jay's shoulders. The teen flinches again and falls to the floor, hands coming to his ears. “Why is it so loud!?” He yells.

“Uh, Jay, there's no sound.” Evie says.

“What are you talking about!?” Jay yells, grabbing the girl's wrist in a panic. Evie yelps and tries pulling her hand away, but doesn't succeed much. Tears brim in the corners of her eyes at the force of Jay's grip.

“Jay, you're hurting me.” Evie whispers. She gasps, suddenly, trying to pull away more frantically now. Mal, noticing her best friend's distress, comes around to Jay's front and leans down in front of him. Her green tinted eyes land on raging, blood red ones.

“Fuck.” Mal curses.

“Guys, we have an audience.” Carlos inches closer to the three of them and taps his cane against Mal's thigh. Mal looks up and around. A small crowd was beginning to surround them in response to Jay's clear distress.

“It's his Djinn blood.” Mal rushes to explain. “It's reacting to not being suppressed by the barrier. All of it is coming to him in one big fucking wave. We have to get him out of here. Now.” Mal's temptation power bleeds into her voice.

Immediately, the five VK's all move. Harry and Gil start making a path for them to walk, the first-mate using his hook as an incentive for the people to back away. Mal, Uma, and Evie crowd Jay, keeping him out of sight and shushing him. Carlos stays in the front, leading them the way back to his and Jay's dorms. His legs are screaming at him in response to the fast pace, but Carlos decides to ignore it just this once.

The VK's all barge into Carlos and Jay's dorm. The girl's, as gently as they can, lay Jay on his bed. Evie grabs Jay's duffel bag of stuff and sets it on the ground by his bed.

Jay is moaning in pain, sweat beading on his forehead as tears slip from his eyes. “It burns…” He cries, hand reaching wildly for something. His hand closes around Uma's hand. The sea witch clasps both her hands over Jay's and starts whispering petty cold spells to wash over his body.

“He's still burning up.” Evie says, placing the back of her palm against his forehead.

“I–I don't know Djinn.” Mal stumbles over her words. She hangs her head, ashamed that she can't help her friend. “Fuck, my mother would know what to do.”

“No, no, don't go there.” Carlos says quickly, snapping his fingers in front of the girl's face. Mal turns to look at the younger kid. “We don't need your mother. We don't need anybody but ourselves. We're going to figure this out.”

Mal smiles thankfully at the teen.

“Uh, I… have a book on Djinn.” All eyes— save for Jay's— snap to Gil, who wilts slightly under their gaze.

“Why?” Uma asks before hurriedly turning back to Jay and continuing the cold spells.

“Uh… I knew that Jay was a Djinn. I–I thought that uh, he might want it. Or something.” Gil brings a hand to the back of his head and scratches the back of his neck nervously. “Sorry, did I do something wrong again?”

Mal stands quickly and crosses the space to Gil. She grabs him by his face and kisses him. “You are amazing.” She says when she pulls away. “Take Harry. Go get the book.”

“Uh…” Gil's face is burning red, his brain short-circuiting. “Thanks. Uh, yeah, yeah, I,” Gil turns and grabs a laughing Harry's bicep, pulling him out of the room.

Mal walks back to the bed and sits down in a chair Evie had pulled up for herself, her leader, and Carlos. “Here, Uma. A chair.” Evie says, carefully guiding Uma into the chair without breaking her attention on the spells.

Jay is still turning his head around, moaning in pain and mumbling incoherently in a language none of them recognize.

A couple minutes later, Harry and Gil are bursting back into the room. “Okay, it don't say much in here about uh, what can heal one, but it says that Djinn ate the bones of animals killed in a, um, halal way.”

“Halal?” Evie sighs heavily. “How the hell are we going to do that?”

“Jay's not even full Djinn, guys!” Carlos screeches.

“Well it don' say anything bout 'alf Djinn! They don't fuck humans!” Harry yells, slamming his hand against the pages of the book. He starts furiously flipping through the pages as Evie and Mal debate on how they would kill an animal according to halal.

“Wait, wait, oh my god!” Harry yells, raising his hand in the air and catching everyone's attention. “Okay, says here that uh, the groun' down petals of the flower Scarlet Dame can heal a injured Djinn. Ya spread it cross their forehead and the' feed it ta 'em!”

“Where the fuck would we get Scarlet Dame?” Mal asks.

“Um…” Everyone loses their words rather quickly. They'd never heard of such a flower, and even if they had, they had no idea on where to start looking.

“Does it have a description?” Evie stands up and comes to stand next to Harry, eyes trailing over the page.

“No, nothin'.” Harry sighs. “Does this mean we just hav'ta wait it out?”

“All of Jay's power is attacking him all at once. At least our magic wasn't contained completely by the barrier. But Djinn magic?” Mal scoffs at the idea. “The barrier completely suppressed his magic. And now it's all rushing onto his body and attacking his system. It's too overwhelming, it's…” Mal sighs, eyes going back to Jay. “Fuck, what do we do?”

Before anyone can supply an answer, someone knocks on the door of the room. Mal groans and stands up, letting go of Jay's hand and marching over to the door. She pulls it open with force, allowing only herself to be seen. Everyone else in the room holds their breath, waiting for whoever's on the other side to speak.

“Hi, Mal!” Ben greets with a wave and a smile. “I heard there was a bit of a commotion in the yard. Something with Jay? Is everything okay?”

“He's fine.” Mal goes to shut the door, but Ben lays his hand on the wood, stopping her.

“Really? Are you sure?” Ben tilts his head. “Because some kids said that he looked to be in a lot of pain.”

“He's fine, Ben.” Mal grounds out through gritted teeth.

Just then, Jay moans in pain from further inside the room. Ben arches a brow and tries peering inside, but suddenly Harry is there, blocking what little Ben had revealed when he pushed the door open more. Harry leans his arm far up against the door, giving Ben a manic smirk. “Can we help ya, Benny?” He asks, accent thick in his voice.

“Is everything… okay?” Ben asks, clearly confused.

“Jay isn't hurt.” Mal says. And she hopes that Ben will take her word for it and leave it at that. But just then, Jay decides to switch back to English. “No, no, it hurts!” He groans, thrashing on the bed. Carlos and Gil both jump forward to hold the teen down.

“Uhhhhhh, you sure?” Ben asks, pointing into the room.

“Actually, Ben,” Evie pulls the door open all the way. Now all three kids are blocking the doorway, preventing Ben from seeing inside. “We were wondering if you could get us some Scarlet Dame.”

“Evie!” Mal hisses, looking past Harry and glaring at the girl.

Evie sighs, exasperated, and whips her head to Mal. “None of us know what this flower even looks like, Mal. Ben can help.” The girl turns back to the prince, a smile falling onto her face. “So? Can you help us get some? Now.”

“Uh, there's actually some Scarlet Dame in your dorm room.” Ben says, pointing down the hallway. “It's the red ones with the thorny middle and smooth and wet stem.” The second Ben's sentence is finished, Harry is sprinting out of the doorway and to the girl's dorm. Evie quickly pulls the door shut more so that she and Mal can block it. “Uh, we– we didn't know what flowers you guys liked, so…” Ben laughs nervously.

“They don't have flowers on the Isle.” Evie whispers.

“Oh.” Ben gasps. A flicker of guilt weighs down on his face. “I'm… sorry. I–I didn't–”

Harry is pushing by Ben again, a bundle of the flowers in his hands and Evie's mortar and pestle set. Evie pushes the door to Mal and retreats back into the room behind Harry.

“Alright, thank you!” Mal says hurriedly, going to close the door.

“Wait!” Ben slams his hand against the wood again, stopping Mal from closing it. Mal bites back a curse and forces herself to look at the prince. The quicker she lets him talk, the quicker this interaction will go. “Um…” Ben's words die in his throat.

Just as Mal is about to roll her eyes and slam the door in his face, he drops his hand and says, “Just… I want you guys to trust us. And I know you won't immediately. But… think about it, Mal. I want to help you guys. Truly.”

Mal bites her bottom lip and looks away, her hair blocking her face. After a couple seconds, she nods her head lightly. “Thank you.” She whispers as quietly as possible, and then closes and locks the door. She gives herself a moment to collect herself before walking over to the bed. “How is he?” She asks, noticing that they'd spread the ground petals and Evie was now trying to feed it to Jay with Gil's help.

“He's stopped burning up.” Uma informs. “And his shaking is going down. He's still muttering. I'm not sure what language it is though.”

“Arabic.” Harry supplies.

“What?” Carlos turns to Harry, disbelieving. “Dude, there's no way you know Arabic.”

“Dad's cartographer was Muslim.” Harry shrugs and sits down where Mal had previously been sitting, leaning close to Jay to hear his mumbling. The slightly crazed smirk still on Harry's face drops very quickly.

“What's he saying?” Evie asks, concerned.

“If Jafar wasn't dead already, I'd give 'im the same treatment I gave my father.” Harry snarls, his hand curling into a fist and the hook he holds digging into the leg of his chair.

Mal sighs and comes up behind Harry, gently rubbing her hand on his back. “Let's give Jay some space. He'll feel better come morning. We have school tomorrow, so we should sleep.”

“I'll keep an eye on him.” Carlos promises.

“Me too.” Harry says.

“Uh, I'll stay too.” Gil raises his hand in the air. “Don't wanna be alone in my room.”

“Yeah, that's a good idea.” Evie hands the mortar to Carlos. “Give him the rest of that. If he starts getting bad again, ground more petals and slowly feed it to him.”

“Yeah, course.” Carlos nods his head.

“We'll see you boys in the morning.” Uma gives the boys a two-fingered salute before following Mal and Evie out of the room.

“Uma, I'm in love with ya!” Harry calls jokingly. Uma scoffs and raises her middle finger at Harry without turning back around.

Chapter Text

“If someone hands you a crying baby, do you, A, curse it? B, lock it in a tower? C, give it a bottle? Or D, carve out its heart?” Fairy Godmother asks the class. Evie hesitantly raises her hand. “Evie?”

“What was the second one?” Evie asks, her voice airy.

“Okay.” Fairy Godmother sighs and brings her hands back to her stomach. “Anyone else? Mal?” The headmistress calls on the girl.

“C. Give it a bottle.” Mal shrugs like it's obvious.

“Correct. Again.” Fairy Godmother smiles at her.

“You are on fire, girl!” Carlos cups his hand over his mouth and cheers the girl.

Mal shrugs again. “Just pick the one that doesn't sound any fun.”

“Oh my god.”

“You're so right.”

“Babe, you're amazin'.”

“Oi! She said to stop calling her babe!” Uma turns and slaps the pirate's shoulder.

“Nah, I'm good with it now.” Mal smirks across the way at Harry. “Ain't that right, sweetheart?”

“Alright, and we're done.” Harry shakes his head and turns away from Mal, who throws her head back and cackles, a great imitation of her mother.

Fairy Godmother decides not to comment on the small interaction. Instead, her eyes trace to her daughter, who's walking into the room now. “Ah, dear one.” Fairy Godmother smiles. As she walks by the VK's tables, she squeals and hurries up. “You guys remember my daughter, Jane.”

“No, mom, no.” Jane's pleas fall on deaf ears. “I just, I need you to sign this thing for the coronation in two weeks.”

“Alright, alright.” With gentle hands, Fairy Godmother grabs the clipboard from Jane's hands.

As she reads everything over, the VK's watch in awe. This girl hadn't done anything. Why the hell was her mother being so nice? Jane was interrupting her in the middle of class and being so blatantly rude. She hadn't even asked Fairy Godmother to sign the clipboard. She told her that she needed to. Carlos turns to Jay, giving the teen a disbelieving look.

‘What the hell?’ Carlos mouths to Jay. Jay shrugs his shoulders, not knowing what to make of the situation either.

Harry turns around, waving his hook in the air. Uma turns and slaps the teen's hand, Gil also joins her in trying to bring Harry's hook back down. Nobody had commented on the obvious weapon so far, but the pirate's were pretty sure it was just a matter of time. They needn't bring any unneeded attention to it.

“Right, thanks mom.” Jane finally says.

“Goodbye, sweetie. Love you.” Fairy Godmother waves as her daughter walks out. Jane squeals and rushes by the VK's tables again. “Now, moving on,” Fairy Godmother turns back to the board and hits her pointer stick against the chalkboard. “You find a vial of poison. Do you, A, put it in the king's wine? B, paint it on an apple? Or C, turn it over to the proper authorities?"

Harry raises his (not hooked) hand in the air. Behind him, Jay leans over the table and pushes his hand down, using the back of Harry's chair as support to raise himself higher in the air.

“Oh, gods.” Uma rolls her eyes and drops her head into her arms. She learned a long time ago that it's just best to let the two get their energy out. They'll calm down eventually.

“Oh, oh, get off!” Harry snaps, trying to yank his arm from Jay's grip. Due to the awkward angle, all he succeeds in doing is nearly toppling himself from his chair.

“Yes, Jay?” Fairy Godmother points her stick at the son of Jafar, who grins and discreetly raises his middle finger to Harry.

“C. Turn it over to the proper authorities.” Jay says with a wild grin.

“Hey, I was gonna say that!” Harry stands up quickly and grabs Jay by his shoulders, pushing him down onto his table. The two start scuffing together, hitting each other in weaker spots.

“Okay, that's.” Carlos sighs and stands up quickly, backing up against the table behind his and Jay's. Using the table as leverage, he haphazardly reaches forward and yanks his cane from where it's folded on his side of the table.

“Boys! Boys!” Fairy Godmother incessantly taps her wand against the chalkboard, eventually catching the attention of the two brawling boys. “I am gonna encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field.” She says, pointing out the door.

“Tourney?” Harry laughs, his accent growing thicker in a matter of seconds. He pulls himself off Jay, pushing the kid into the wood one last time. “That's a wee lads game.”

—

“I can't believe Fairy Godmother threw us out of class and to… here.” Jay scoffs as he and Harry walk up to the boy's locker room. When they walk in, they see immediately the tourney athletes, all in various states of undress.

Harry lets his eyes stray a little, whistling as he and Jay walk through the room and to the coach's office. Jay hits Harry upside the head and steers him the rest of the way to where the coach is standing.

“Hey uh, Coach Jenkins?” Jay asks, grabbing the man's attention from one of the tourney athletes. “Fairy Godmother sent me and Harry up here. Told us it might be good? I'm not sure.”

“I think she was just kicking us out of her classroom.” Harry scoffs, the sing in his voice elevating in the presence of all these strangers.

“Yeah, she called me about that.” Coach Jenkins nods his head. He turns to the athlete he was talking to. When Harry and Jay turn to look at the kid, they recognize him as Ben. “Ben, go grab these two some spare gear. Hey, Chad! Let these two into the empty lockers by yours!” Coach calls to the kid. Then, he's turning back into his office. “Be on the field in twenty!”

Jay and Harry walk up to who they assume is Chad. The kid is grumbling to himself as he opens the lockers. “Uh, Ben will show you how to set your code.” He says.

All the tourney athletes are kind of gathered around them. Not too close, but not too far either. Harry notices rather quickly that one of the kids has been staring too long at the hook he's holding in his hand.

When the kid doesn't look away after another five seconds, Harry slams his fist against the metal locker and starts advancing on him, hook raised. “We got a problem, pipsqueak?”

Jay's on alert immediately, grabbing Harry's shoulders and pulling him away. The tourney athletes follow Jay's lead, standing up protectively. “Hey, hey, Harry. Calm down.” Jay whispers hurriedly.

“He was starin at my hook.” Harry throws the hook in the air and catches it in his other hand. “Wanna 'ave this in ya gut?”

“Like you'd do it.” The kid scoffs.

“No, no!” Jay shoves Harry against the lockers with his arm pressed against Harry's collarbones. Jay turns to the kid with the most disbelieving expression on his face. “Shut your mouth, kid. He'll do it. Wouldn't be the first time.” At that, many of the boys take a step back. Jay takes the small win and turns back to Harry. “Calm the fuck down, Harry. It's our first day. Mal and Uma will kill us both if your dumbass starts a fight.”

“Oh fuck you, Jay.” Harry snaps.

Jay pulls Harry forward and then slams him back against the lockers. “Do I need to pull rank on you, Hook!? Cause I fucking will!” Jay hisses, red bleeding into his irises.

Harry's eyes widen, and he quickly raises his hands in the air. “Alright, alright.” He says.

Ben decides that that is the perfect moment to come around the corner holding some gear for Jay and Harry. “Hey, I found you guys some gear!” He calls. When he notices the tension in the air, he drops his arms at his side, still holding the gear. “Uh, what happened?”

—

To nobody's surprise, Jay makes the team. Harry, on the other hand, doesn't really try. He's a damn good player, he knows that, but teams aren't really his thing.

“Now you, I want on my team!” Coach Jenkins exclaims, clapping Jay on the back. Then, he turns to Harry's, who's already unfastened his helmet and is peeling off his gloves. “Harry, I know you're a good player. You just gotta learn how to work with a team!” Coach pumps his fist as he says it.

Harry stares at the man, completely unimpressed. “I don't work well with teams.”

“That's a lie, and you damn well know it.” Jay deadpans, also taking off his helmet and gloves. “You're a pirate, Harry.”

“Fine. Lemme reword it.” Harry snaps at the son of Jafar. “I don' work well in a team that hasn't proven to me their loyalty. And belie'e me, those prissy princes won't be loyal to an Isle kid, Jay.”

Jay takes an angry step forward and shoves Harry in the chest. “So make them loyal. Give them a reason to. Maybe don't try to attack them in the damn locker rooms!”

“Oh, you wanna go?” A crazed smirk spreads onto Harry's face. “Let's go, baby. I been waitin' a year to put ya in yo' place.”

“No, no, I'm not fighting you.” Jay steps back, hands raised defensively in the air. “I said before. Mal and Uma will kill us both.”

“Oh wha', you a pussy bitch?” Harry sneers and shoves Jay in the chest. Before he can do anything more, though, a small, manicured hand is grabbing his wrist. Harry turns wildly, making eye contact with Uma.

“What's my name?” She asks, voice like a siren sound.

Harry leans down so that he's shorter than her, bringing a hand to cover his heart and stare up at her with adoring eyes. “Uma.” He whispers.

“Don't start a fight, Harry.” Uma shoves Harry back, the boy laughing along the way.

Harry turns to Coach Jenkins, his crazed smirk dying into something a little more approachable. “I'll learn to work with ya team, Coach Jenkins. I can promise you that.”

Coach Jenkins shrugs his shoulders. “I'll take it.”

Chapter Text

“Well, Uma left pretty quickly.” Mal says, staring down the hallway where Uma had just started running down.

“Her ‘Harry's doing something stupid’ senses are tingling.” Gil laughs, watching as Uma skids around a corner, nearly falling straight into some princesses.

“That's a thing?” Carlos scoffs. “Not surprised to be honest.”

“Yeah, Harry needs to stay out of trouble.” Evie laughs. “What about you, Mal? You got one for Jay?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Mal says dismissively, distracted. Her eyes are tracking Jane, who's further down the hall and walking into a bathroom. “Hey, don't wait for me.” Mal absent-mindedly pushes Evie's arm and walks to the bathroom.

When she walks in, Jane is washing her hands. “Hi! It's Jane, right?” Mal greets, coming up behind the girl while still keeping her distance. “Always loved that name. Jane.”

Jane looks like a deer caught in headlights. She drops her arms to her side and tries walking past Mal, muttering a stunted, “That's cool.”

“Don't go!” Mal exclaims, stepping in front of Jane. The girl yelps, stumbling backwards. “Sorry, sorry.” Mal frowns and looks away, doing her best to look really sad. “I guess I was just hoping to… make a friend. You probably have all the friends you need though, huh?”

Jane still looks nervous, but she shakes her head. “Hardly.”

“Really?” Mal asks, actually shocked. “I mean, with your mom being Fairy Godmother and headmistress? Not to mention your own, um… personality.” Mal inwardly curses herself for her inability to be nice to people.

“I'd rather be pretty.” Jane sighs wistfully. “You've got great hair!”

“You know what? I have just the thing for that.” Mal pulls her book out of her bag and starts flipping through the pages. “It's right... ah, here. ‘Beware, forswear, replace the old with brand new hair’.” After Mal says it, she swishes her pointer finger around, Jane's head following it. Jane's head dunks down, and when she looks back up, her hair is long and curled, like Mal's.

Jane turns and admires herself in the mirror, running her hands through her hair. She turns back suddenly and taps her finger on the book pages. “Do my nose!”

“Oh no, I can't.” Mal shakes her head and walks to the sinks, jumping up onto the counter. “Yeah I mean, my magic is all kind of new.” Mal shrugs and braces herself with her hands curled around the edge of the counter. “The barrier restricts all evil magic. Not that my magic is evil, it's just… Well, last night, there was that whole thing with Jay–” Mal gasps and brings a hand to cover her mouth, catching herself from saying something wrong.

“Jay?” Jane asks, tilting her head. “Jafar's son? Is he okay?”

“No, no, it's just…” Mal waves her hand in the air. “You don't wanna hear this. I'm sorry for bothering you.” Mal jumps down from the counter and tries walking away, but Jane grabs her hand, stopping her.

“Wait! Tell me what's wrong. Please.” She pleads.

Mal smirks devilishly before turning around, tears brimming in her eyes. “Well, Jay is a Djinn.” Mal says, her voice shaking. “But the barrier, it's been suppressing his powers for years. I mean, on the Isle, it just put him in a lot of pain. And last night, since he's outside the barrier, well, all the power, it came rushing back to him. We were all…” Mal brings a hand to her mouth, a sob echoing off the bathroom walls. “We were really worried about if he'd be okay. But, he was okay, you know?” Mal smooths out her skirt, trying for a smile. “Living on the Isle, it toughens you up. It's a fight to survive place, so… yeah.” Mal shrugs. She smiles up at Jane. “Thanks for listening, Jane. I know you don't wanna hear this.”

“Oh no, Mal. I'm always here to listen to you.” Jane steps forward and pulls Mal into a hug. Mal buries her head in Jane's neck, biting back a smirk.

She's got a good asset on their side. They might just succeed yet.

—

“Those guys are bad news.” Chad says as he, Audrey, and Ben walk out of the building and to the outside lockers. Mal and Evie are talking by the lockers, the purple haired girl mildly touching up the graffiti she'd sprayed onto her locker.

“No, I think they're all right.” Ben shrugs, staring almost longingly at Mal as the girl bids Evie farewell and starts rummaging through her locker.

“No offense, Bennybear, but you're just too trusting.” Audrey says sympathetically, reaching out to place her hand on Ben's lower bicep. “Look, I know your mom fell in love with a big nasty beast who turned out to be a prince. But with my mom, the evil fairy was just the evil fairy.” Audrey glares distastefully at Mal, pointing a finger at her. “That girl's mother.”

Just then, the bell rings. Ben motions for Audrey and Chad to leave, and the girl huffs and storms off, Chad rushing to follow.

Ben sighs and walks over to Mal. “Hey. How was your first day?” He asks, leaning against the lockers and smiling at her.

“Just… super.” Mal shrugs, blowing her hair out of her face.

“You should really think about taking this talent off the locker and into art class.” Ben taps his hand against Mal's locker. “I could, uh, sign you up. What do you think?”

Mal scoffs and shuts her locker, rolling her eyes at Ben. “Way to take all the fun out of it.” She says with a wild smirk.

Ben laughs and shakes his head, his eyes sweeping around once before turning back to Mal. “I saw Jay earlier today. At tourney tryouts. He seemed okay.”

Mal sighs, smiling inwardly. “Yeah, he was okay.” Mal turns to Ben. “Thanks.” She whispers. “I know I already said that, but uh… I wanted to thank you again. The Isle…” Mal frowns and averts her gaze. “We don't get help from other people. You know? No one helps us without having something to gain for it. So, yeah. Uh…” Mal shrugs.

“Hey.” Ben reaches forward and places his hand on Mal's arm, startling the girl. “I wanna help. And I wanna be friends with you guys. I know that you aren't… horrible people or whatever. You're not your parents. And the people here may not see it yet, but they will.”

Mal stares at Ben with wide eyes, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Before she can say something that'll make a fool of herself, Carlos is stepping up behind her, leaning against her side. “Mal, we got a problem.” He says, eyes darting around nervously.

Mal turns away from Ben quickly, thankful for the distraction. “What is it, Carlos?”

Carlos sighs and pushes something into her eyesight. “My cane finally broke.” He informs her, holding the two broken pieces in one hand. His other hand is supporting his weight against her, wrapped around her waist. “I can't walk.”

“Damn it.” Mal curses. She turns to Ben, waving him away. “Go to class, Ben. I've got this.” Mal turns slowly in Carlos's arm, slinging his arm around her shoulders instead of her waist.

“Are you sure–?” Ben reaches forward, hand brushing against Carlos's other arm. The kid jumps, falling out of Mal's arms and against the lockers.

“Woah, buddy.” Gil is suddenly stepping in front of Ben, pushing him back with a hand against the man's chest. Mal's not sure when he arrived, but boy is she thankful for it. “Back up.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to–”

“It's fine, Ben.” Mal says dismissively, pulling Carlos up. “Gil. Help me get him to his room. Fuck, all these damn problems.”

Carlos smiles wryly. “Sorry, boss.” He says with a laugh.

“It's fine, Carlos.” Mal sighs in relief when Gil takes some of Carlos's weight. “Come on, we gotta–”

bark! bark!

Carlos yelps and slips out of Mal and Gil's hold. A tiny Brussels-Griffin cross trots up to Carlos, placing himself in Carlos's lap. The dog curls against Carlos's injured leg, licking at his pant leg.

“Oh my god, get it away! Get it away!” Carlos yelps, trying to push the dog away. It doesn't budge, though.

“No, no, Carlos, don't worry!” Ben crouches down and gathers the dog in his arms. “This is Dude. He's the campus mutt.”

“My mother said that dogs were viscous, rabid animals.” Carlos's hands are shaking, remembering all the times his mother threatened to feed him to the dogs as a child.

“Hey, no, he's perfectly safe.” Ben inches forward a bit, going slowly. “Pet him. He's okay. He's nice.”

Carlos reaches a shaking hand forward. He laughs nervously when his hand starts running through Dude's fur. “He's uh, really soft.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.” Ben gently lays Dude in Carlos's lap. The kid still looks really nervous, but he continues to pet Dude. “You can keep him, if you'd like.”

“What? Really?” Carlos asks, shocked.

“Yeah, course.” Ben shrugs, letting go of Dude. “He doesn't have anyone. And I think he'd be good for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Carlos nods his head. “Uh, thanks, Ben.”

“It's no problem.” Ben stands up, smiling down at Carlos as he pets and plays with Dude. The dog doesn't try running to get Carlos to chase, seeming to understand that Carlos can't walk.

When Ben finally begins to notice his surroundings again, he realizes that Mal and Gil are both staring down at Carlos. When Ben stands up fully, the two VK's turn to look at him.

“Uh… sorry.” Ben cautiously steps back, bringing a hand to the nape of his neck and scratching it. “I know you told me to leave, but I couldn't just let him freak out. I– I…” Ben trails off when Mal suddenly surges forward and hugs him, uncaring of anyone who is around them and who could see.

“Thank you.” She whispers earnestly. She pulls away and wipes at her eyes, pulling her hair out of her face. “Carlos, come on.” She turns her back to Ben, crouching down and catching Carlos's attention.

Ben opens his mouth to say something, anything, but then Gil is pushing him away. “We'll see ya, Ben.” He says.

Ben recognizes the dismissal for what it is. He nods his head to Gil and leaves the three of them. He seemed to be gaining the trust of the VK's. He really hoped that this all goes well.

—

Evie smiles between the lab equipment at Chad, who's watching the board intently. “Hey, Doug.” Evie nudges her lap partners shoulder. The son of Dopey looks over at her quickly, but frowns when she points at Chad. “Any chance he's in line for a throne?”

“Chad Charming. Cinderella's son. He inherited the charm, but there's not a lot… there, you know?” Doug asks, motioning to his head.

“Hmm. Looks like there's something there.” Evie bites onto her pen, staring at Chad.

“Evie.” Mr. Deley calls, catching the girl's attention. She looks up to him, eyes comically wide. “Perhaps this is just review for you. So tell me, what is the average atomic weight of silver?” He holds out the piece of chalk.

“Uh…” Evie bites her bottom lip and sends Doug a panicked look. He looks just as lost as her, so she stands up and walks around to the chalkboard. “Atomic weight. Uh…” Evie turns her hand away from the teacher, her magic mirror slipping into her palm easily. “How do I find the average atomic weight of silver?” Her magic mirror flares to life, the answer coming onto the mirror. “That would be 106.905 times .5200, plus 108.905 times .4800, which, Mr. Deley, would give us 107.9 amu.”

Mr. Deley looks down, a frown on his face. “I forget. Always a mistake to underestimate–”

Evie, who was turning away, turns back around quickly, her hair swishing through the air. “A villain?” She finishes. She hands the chalk back to the teacher. “Don't make it again.” As she walks past Chad, he hands her a piece of paper. Evie smirks down at it when she reads it. ‘Meet me under the bleachers at 3.’

Before Evie can sit down again, though, the door is bursting open and Gil is coming in. “Uh…” He stutters under everyone's sudden gaze. “Evie?” He asks, eyes scanning the classroom. “Ah, Evie!” Gil walks over to her and places his hand on her lower back, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “Carlos broke his cane. Mal told me to tell you guys. He's okay though."

Evie sighs in relief. Her heart, which had started racing when Gil burst into the room, calms down. “Thanks, Gil.” She says, smiling at the son of Gaston. The teen salutes her, then walks out of the room, muttering a half-hearted apology at Mr. Deley.

—

Evie stops by Carlos's dorm before she goes to the bleachers. Carlos is laying in his bed, a tiny dog in his lap. “Uh…” Evie stammers.

“Don't mention it.” Mal says, coming up behind her. “His name is Dude. He's Carlos's now, I guess. Ben helped him realize the dog is nice.”

“Why would Ben do that?” Evie questions.

“Guess he's nicer than we thought.” Mal shrugs. Before Evie can comment on the redness in Mal's face, the girl is walking over to the bed. “Okay, Carlos.” She snaps her fingers, breaking Carlos's attention from the dog. “Jay should be on his way. I sent Gil to grab him.”

“Thanks, Mal.” Carlos picks Dude up and holds him out to the girl. “Pet him.”

“Uh… yeah, yeah, okay.” Mal smiles nervously and reaches out, petting Dude's back. “He's uh, he's soft.”

“He is, isn't he?” Carlos chuckles, holding Dude close.

Before Mal can say anything else, Jay and Gil are bursting into the room. “Shit, shit!” Jay slams the door shut. They hear the sound of people running down the hallway, someone even yelling, “They went this way!”

Jay pulls off his hood, Gil doing so as well. “Uh, we got him a cane.” Jay reaches into his jacket, pulling out a nice, folded cane.

“Were those guards following you?” Evie exclaims, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Uh, they caught us sneaking back onto campus.” Gil says, deciding not to go into the in-depth explanation. “We got the cane though, so…”

“Did you guys steal this?” Carlos asks, gingerly taking the cane from Jay.

“Depends how you define stealing.” Jay shrugs. “Technically, we bought this fair and square.”

“With what money?’ Mal asks, sighing and dropping into a chair close to Carlos's bed.

“Uh, money I stole from my dad.” Gil says, rubbing his head and shrugging.

“Oh my god.” Evie groans. “Okay, I'm gonna go. I am meeting Chad Charming under the bleachers. Think I have a chance of getting someone else on our side?”

“That idiot?” Jay scoffs. “Good luck with that.”

“Yeah, and I wish you luck on dealing with Mal.”

“What?” Evie rushes out of the room before Mal launches herself at Jay. Evie leans against the door, giving herself a moment to laugh before walking down the hall, opposite the way the guards ran.

—

“Is everyone at home as pretty as you?” Chad asks, holding onto the bleacher bars above his head and swinging himself down to stare at Evie.

“I like to think I'm the fairest of them all.” Evie smirks, coming up to stand in front of him. “How many rooms in your castle?”

Chad scoffs and looks away. “Oh! Too many to count.” Chad swings back and forth a couple times before speaking again. “You really nailed that chemistry problem today. You're gonna have all the nerds in love with you.”

“I'm not that smart.” Evie shakes her head, blushing wildly.

“No, come on!” Chad smiles.

“No, really, I'm not.” Evie shakes her head, unused to the weird praise. “But I'm... I'm really good at sewing and cooking and cleaning. You know, like your mother, Cinderella, without the ratty dress.” Evie reaches into her bag and pulls out her magic mirror. “See this? If I ask it where something is, it tells me.”

Chad lets go of the bars and closes his hand around Evie's, bringing the mirror to his face. “Where is my phone?” He enunciates.

“It won't work for you, silly.” Evie says, pulling her hand away. “Anyway, uh…” Evie blushes and pushes her hair behind her ear, a rare nervousness to her posture. “We should like, hang out. Some time or, something.” Evie shrugs.

“Oh man, I'd love to, but I'm just, I'm swamped.” Chad shrugs and leans against one of the poles. “Well, unless…”

The frown that was growing on Evie's face brightens back up again. “Unless?” She asks, gesturing for Chad to continue.

“If you could knock all my homework out along with yours, then maybe we could get together sometime.” Chad takes off his backpack and shoves it into Evie's arms, not giving her much of a choice. “We could totally hang out.”

“Oh! Uh,” Evie bites her lip, mentally weighing the pros and the cons. “I mean, sure–”

“Sweet! Thanks, babe!” Chad kisses her cheek and then speeds off, leaving her alone under the bleachers.

“I, what?” Evie exclaims. “Um, okay. Yeah, okay. Whatever.” She sighs, then leaves.

—

Jane sighs, swinging herself around the pole on Evie's bed. She had come to their dorm room completely uninvited, but Mal found that she didn't mind all that much. “Mom said, ‘If a boy can't see the beauty within, then he's not worth it.’” Jane groans and flops onto the edge of Evie's bed. “Can you believe it? What world does she live in?”

Mal scoffs, flipping to the next page in her spell book. “Auradon.” She answers.

Before Jane can say anything more to complain about her mother, Evie turns in her chair and raises a dress to Mal. “What do we think?”

“I like it. Brings out your eyes.” Mal nods at her.

“I know.” Evie preens under the complement of her leader, turning back around and continuing the stitch.

“I'll never get a boyfriend.” Jane groans, slouching against the pole of Evie's bed.

“Boyfriends are overrated.” Mal tells the girl.

“How would you know, Mal? You've never had one.” Evie says, sending the girl a faux glare.

“Nah, not true.” Uma says, finally speaking up from her bed. The girl was lying against the pillows, legs crossed over each other and a book in her hands. “She technically dated Harry for a couple months when we was younger.”

“That doesn't count. Everyone on the Isle had a crush on Harry.” Mal shakes her head. She looks up suddenly though, glaring at Uma. “Don't tell him I said that. He'll never let me hear the end of it.”

Uma laughs and raises her hands defensively.

The door to their dorm opens and they get their second uninvited guest of the day. A girl with a kind of bob cut walks into the room, heading straight for Mal. “Hey, guys! I'm Lonnie.” When she doesn't get anything, she continues. “My mom's Mulan? No? Anyways, I love what you've done with Jane's hair.” Lonnie shakes her head and turns her attention back to Mal. “And I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?”

“And why would I do that for you?” Mal asks, sighing heavily.

Lonnie reaches into the pocket of her skirt and pulls out some money. “I'll pay you 50 bucks.”

Evie jumps up, snatching the money from Lonnie's hair. “Good answer. I need to buy more material.” Evie pockets the money and then steers Lonnie to the mirror. “Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights–”

“No, no, I want it cool.” Lonnie smiles over at Mal. “Like Mal's.”

Evie turns to the girl with a disbelieving look. “The split ends too?” Behind them, Uma cackles.

“Oh, hahah.” Mal stands up and rolls her eyes, coming to stand by Lonnie. “Okay, uh, ‘Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair.’” Mal swishes her finger around, Lonnie's head following it. When she looks back up, her hair is as long and curly as Mal's.

“Oh my…” Lonnie whispers, staring at herself in the mirror.

Evie smiles sympathetically and walks up behind Lonnie, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. “I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head. You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it–”

Evie's beauty tips are cut short as Lonnie starts furiously shaking her head. “No, no, I like it!” She rushes to defend.

“Girl, really?” Uma asks, genuinely surprised as she sets down her book. “Damn. Mal, you makin' some friends here.”

“Oh, shut up.” Mal rolls her eyes.

“I'll spread the word!” Lonnie exclaims. “Come on, Jane!” Before any of the girls can stop the other two, they're both out of the dorm room.

“Well,” Evie shrugs and sits back down, pulling out the money Lonnie had given her. “Money is money.”

Chapter Text

Harry shouldn't be here. But it was their first day and they were all too nervous to eat. Carlos and Jay's room was the biggest— plus Carlos still couldn't walk very well— so they all decided to stay there for the night. When Evie's stomach had grumbled and Jay complained that he couldn't eat because he was so scared of it getting taken away, Harry shrugged and offered to sneak down to the kitchens. He'd done it all the time as a kid, stealing for him and CJ on the days his father was too drunk to even buy food.

The thought of his father seeps shame into his gut, and his sister brings regret to the front of his mind. God, he'd just left her there. On the Isle. He knows she's safe with Facilier, but what if she wasn't? What if something happened to her, or Facilier?

What if, what if, what if?

Harry slams the fridge shut and knocks his head against the metal door a couple times. Out of the corner of his eye, a shadow moves and he has to will himself not to flinch.

He breathes deeply. Once, twice, three times. Then, he pulls his bag to the front of his body and peeks inside. He'd gotten them all enough food to last through the night and then some.

He turns to leave, but stops in his tracks when his eyes land on Ben, who's blocking the closest entrance. Or in this case, the closest exit.

“Benny!” Harry leans against the metal of the fridge, his fist closing tighter around the hook he holds. “What brings ya here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Ben chuckles and points at the bag still laying against Harry's chest. Harry curses and quickly slings it onto his back, out of Ben's sight.

“Oh, you know…” Harry idly walks his pointer and middle finger along the fridge door. “Sightseein'. Explorin'.”

Ben smirks and crosses his arms. “I don't believe you.” He says.

Harry gasps and brings his free hand to his chest, exaggerating his hurt at Ben's words. “Now, Benny, I thought ya wa'ed to trust us!” He accuses, clearly sarcastic.

“No, I do.” Ben buries his hands in his pockets. Harry's mind immediately points out all the ways he could hurt Ben with the prince standing like that, so close, so vulnerable. “But uh, you gotta give me a reason to. And that starts,” Ben steps closer, coming into Harry's personal space. “With you not lying to me.”

Harry stares down Ben for long seconds. When the prince finally looks away from the pirate's increasingly crazed eyes, Harry sighs. He had to commend the prince for being able to hold his gaze for that long. Harry drops the growing, manic smirk off his face and blows his hair out of his face. “We was hungry.” Harry shrugs. “Princess didn' eat, and neither did tha' thief. Doubt the little pup ate, and the cap'n and boss lady wouldn' ever eat the shit yall give them. Gil wouldn't either. Not without seein' it 'imself. Sides, he wanted to eat this…” Harry bites his lip, trying to remember what Gil had called it. “‘Fresh fruit'? Man, I'unno.”

“What, you've never had fresh fruit?” Ben asks.

“None of that on the Isle.” Harry scoffs. His slightly less manic grin morphs into a sneer, glaring down at Ben. “We get ya leftovers. Stale soup and rotten fruit. If yall wan'ed to help us Isle kids, ya would'a done it 20 years ago.”

“Harry, that's the whole point of this program–”

Harry yells in rage and grabs Ben by the throat, slamming him against the fridges. He brings his hook— his dad's hook — to Ben's neck. For his part, the prince doesn't look scared at all. In fact, it seemed like he expected this type of reaction.

“No, fuck that.” Harry snarls in Ben's face. “Ya left us to rot. Ya think locking 'em on an island was finna fix them? Make 'em not still be thieves and murderers and rapists?” Harry laughs cruelly, his head flinging back as the sound bounces off the walls. “I ain't 'lowed to hurt ya, Benny. And it ain't technically ya fault. But fuck you for thinkin' an invitation and some nice food an' clothes would make us forget what ya did to us.” Harry shoves Ben against the lockers one last time before marching out of the kitchens.

It's only once he's down the hall from their dorms that he allows himself to panic. He stumbles into the wall, barely supporting himself from the fall. He'd likely just gotten them all kicked back to the Isle.

Damn him! Damn him and his Hook temper!

Whatever.

If they only get to spend two nights in Auradon, he might as well make it nice. When they get sent back in the morning, he'll confess what he did to Uma. Let himself get punished on the Isle.

—

To Harry's immense surprise, he does not wake up to pounding on the door and yelling for him to get his stuff and get back to the Isle. In fact, he wakes up rather peacefully. Uma is laid with him and Gil on the couch in Carlos and Jay's dorm. It's a slightly uncomfortable fit, but the three of them make it work. Evie is awake in the corner, silently hand-stitching a jacket Carlos asked her to fix. Mal is reading her spell book in the corner and Jay is sleeping on his bed. Carlos is on his bed too, cuddling with Dude.

Their second day at the school goes normal enough. No guards come barging into their classroom to drag them back to the Isle.

Harry stays on edge all day. His leg is either bouncing constantly or he's fiddling with his hook, eyes darting around the room, just waiting for an attack.

He's sure the others have noticed, but none of them have mentioned it yet. He hasn't seen Ben all day, even when he and Jay walk into the boys locker room to change into their tourney uniform. They've got a game today, apparently. He doesn't wanna play, at all. The two of them just joined the team yesterday, but Coach Jenkins seemed to think that the team would benefit with the two of them playing today.

“Harry.” Jay says, coming up to stand way too close to the pirate. He's whispering, clearly not wanting anyone to hear them. “You been on edge all day. What's going on?”

“It's nothin', Jayby.” Harry says, closing his locker and spinning the hook in his hand. “You don' need'a be worried.”

“Why do you insist on calling me that?” Jay sighs, putting his back against the lockers.

“Cause you're a baby.” Harry smirks over at Jay. “I can' have nicknames fer ma friends?”

“We're friends?” Jay scoffs and starts pulling his hair into a bun. “I wouldn't know.”

“You did try to kill me.” Harry reminds him.

“Hey, you started it!” Jay quickly yells, not at all caring about anyone on the team who could hear them now. “ You stabbed me!”

“Y'know, I wouldn'a tried ta kill ya if ya gave me wha' I wanted.” Harry says, shrugging his shoulders and also leaning his back against the lockers.

“Bro, you were stealing from me!” Jay exclaims. “Oh my gods, you're insufferable!”

“Hey! Boys!” Both VK's jump, turning to look at Coach Jenkins' office. “Get finished! We're going out onto the field!”

—

Harry didn't want to be here playing this game. He has to admit that the team is doing well, especially with the new addition of Jay. He's been laying by the goal most of the game, and he's pretty sure that it's almost over. He'd tuned out the voice of the announcer long ago, only keeping his eyes on the blue and gold of his team. He sometimes catches glimpses of Jay, speeding across the field and whooping loudly.

The number 8 has been glued to the back of Harry's eyelids the whole game.

Suddenly, Jay is sprinting across the field, barreling through the kill zone with ease. There's Faalcons hot on his tail, and there's a handful closing in on either side. Harry knows Jay won't make it, knows it well. Sighing heavily, the pirate calls for the Djinn's attention. “Jay! Jay!” He yells.

Panicked red eyes settle on Harry. “What!?” Jay yells, still a ways away.

“Up!” Harry crouches down, using his shield to give Jay a boost into the air.

“BEN!” Jay yells over the game.

The ball flies out of Jay's net and into Ben's. The prince turns swiftly and throws the ball, slamming it into the net. The stands erupt into cheers, and Ben screams and throws his stick down, flailing his arms in the air.

“Prince Ben has won it! What an unselfish play by Jay! What a team! Incredible! And it's the new guys, Jay and Harry, who set up the prince for the win here. What a victory!” The announcer yells.

The team crowds around Jay and Harry, who both flinch and jump. But before they can deflect, Jay is being lifted into the air as the team cheers his name. Some of the athletes clap Harry on the back and one of them— Harry notices it as the one who stared at his hook— drags Harry along with the crowd. “Here they come, folks! The winners of the first tour–”

The announcer is cut off as Ben grabs the microphone, then jumps up onto the dragon-fire cannon. “Hello! Hello! Can I have everyone's attention please!?” The crowd quiets down, and the athletes set Jay back onto the grass. The son of Jafar stumbles only a bit, but quickly regains his footing.

“As all of you know, I'm gonna be King in less than a week!” Ben tells the crowd. “And my first proclamation was to allow Isle kids to come into Auradon in an attempt at reconciliation and healing! Last night though, I talked to one of the Isle kids! One of the VK's!” Ben looks down at Harry, who's staring at him with fearful eyes, helmet torn off.

This is it. He thinks. This is the moment where guards storm the field and march them back to the Isle for a mistake he made.

He has to stop it.

“Ben, wait–!” Harry jumps up onto the cannon, grabbing Ben's arm. “ I made the mistake! Send me back! Don't punish them for something I did!”

“Harry, I'm not sending anyone back.” Ben places his hand on Harry's wrist, slowly pushing his hand down. Ben tries for a reassuring smile, then turns back to the crowd. “Mal! Daughter of Maleficent!” The people around Mal move, allowing her to be easily seen in the crowd. Ben's eyes land on her and he smiles. “It's clear that you're the leader of this group! I wanna talk to you! I want you to tell me about the Isle!” Ben jumps down and jogs to the stands. People hurry to move out of the way, giving Ben a clear path to Mal. Evie, Carlos, Gil, and Uma stand with her, but none of them push him away. “Will you give me a chance, Mal?” Ben asks, no longer yelling now that he's standing next to the girl.

Mal's at a loss for words, her eyes wide as everything she's always wanted is handed to her. Ben moves the mic to her mouth, awaiting an answer. Mal leans forward, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

“Yes.”

Chapter Text

To say Audrey was angry would be a massive understatement. Ben, her boyfriend, had just publicly embarrassed her. She always knew that the teen didn't really understand social cues, but for him to ask Mal, Maleficent's daughter, out on a date in front of the whole school?

I mean he didn't phrase it as a date, but Audrey knows girls like Mal. First she comes in, helping all her friends and straight-up stealing them, and then she steals her boyfriend!

Audrey called Ben aside after the athletes had changed out of their game attire. “Yeah, what is it, Audrey?” Ben asks.

“Ben, you know I love you.” Audrey places her hand on Ben’s bicep. She's surprisingly strong, and she knows how to use it. “And I only want what's best for you and Auradon. So, I have to tell you. I don't trust these Isle kids. Mal is going around and changing all the girls! She's giving them super cool hair and just pulling them to her side!”

“I think what Mal's doing for the girls is nice.” Ben shrugs, trying to squirm out of Audrey’s grip.

“No, Ben, you don’t understand!” Audrey sighs. She pulls her hand away and crosses her arms. “I think that they want to hurt Auradon. I mean, after so long on the Isle? I'm sure their parents sent them on some mission to weaken the kingdom and lower the barrier.”

“Audrey, you're being paranoid.” Ben tries to assure her. “They want to be here–”

“Yeah, to steal from us!” Audrey exclaims. “You're just too trusting, Bennyboo. I said this earlier. Your mother had a big heart, and she obviously–”

“Audrey, I am getting tired of you talking about my parents.” Ben pulls far away from Audrey, creating a considerable distance between them. “I mean, half the time, I'm not sure if you want me or the throne.”

“Ben, that's not what I–”

“Really?” Ben scoffs, running a hand through his game-tangled hair. “Because that's how you act, Audrey. You don't care about me. I mean, maybe you did when we were kids, but I don’t think it's like that anymore. Look, I've gotta go. We're celebrating the win at Mad Hatter's shop.”

Ben turns to go away, but Audrey gasps and reaches out, holding tight onto his wrist. She digs her sharp nails into his skin, creating angry-red marks on his pale complexion. “Ow! Audrey, let go, you're hurting me.” Ben tries pulling away, but to no avail.

“You can't leave me, Ben.” Audrey says, voice low and threatening.

There's tears brimming at the corners of Ben's eyes as he finally wrenches his arm from Audrey's sharp grip. “Watch me.” He bites out. With that, he walks down the hallway, leaving the princess standing there, alone.

—

Wonderland's Madness was the best shop in the town near Auradon Prep. Everyone went there sometime in their enrollment at the school. They had the best pies, the most amazing tea, and the excellent customer service was a great bonus.

“Ben! There you are !” Roman, Snow White's oldest son, throws his arm around Ben's shoulders and leads him to their table when the prince walks in. The Mad Hatter knows to reserve them a table on game days, since the team always comes here. “That winning shot was perfect!” The teen pushes Ben into a seat between Chad and Jay.

“No, screw the winning shot.” Duncan, Anna's son, leans forward. He's sitting across the table from Ben, a mischievous grin on his face. “What was with you at the end? So blatantly asking Mal out on a date?”

“It's not a date!” Ben is quick to defend. He flushes when some of the teens “ooh” and “ahh” at his outburst. “Really, it's not. I just wanna know more about what the Isle is like. So that I can better help the kids who live there. The ones that'll be coming over after this program is a success.”

“ If it's a success.” Reed, the son of a lost boy, says. “We don't even know yet, Ben. It's been like, two days.”

“I think it's been pretty successful so far.” Duncan shrugs. “But we're going back to Mal. Cause like, I can see the appeal.” Duncan raises his hands in front of his chest. “Hot as fuck bad girl? I'd hit tha–”

The boy doesn't get any further than that as, suddenly, a piece of pie is thrown right in his face. Everyone's heads swivel around, but it doesn't take long for their eyes to land on Jay and Harry.

“Don't talk about Mal like that.” Jay wipes his fingers off with the napkin laying idly by his plate.

“What, are you a protective boyfriend?” Duncan asks.

“More like a protective dog.” Harry says, his manic smirk spreading across his face. “Attack dog, if ya will. On the Isle, nobody messes with Jay. Son of Jafar.” Harry grabs a fork, stabbing it at where Jay's hand is.

Was.

The Djinn pulls away faster than anyone can see.

“Protected by the Fae. And a crime of pa–”

“ Harry .” Jay's eyes are glowing Djinn red. “ Shut up .”

Harry smirks, pulling away and setting the fork down. “So!” He claps and rubs his hands together. “I hear this place has some good pies?”

—

“Oh, why'd I agree to this?” Mal groans, flopping onto her bed.

“Because it's our best chance at getting the kids off the Isle.” Uma says from her own bed.

“What am I even supposed to say!?” Mal turns over onto her stomach, hugging one of her pillows close and staring at the sea witch. “‘Oh, Mal, what was the Isle like’?” Mal mocks in a poor attempt at Ben's voice. She swings into a sitting position and raises her voice high and happy when she answers her own question. “‘Oh Benny, it was just horrible! Me and other kids had to learn to survive for days without food and shelter!’ UGH!” Mal groans and throws her pillow at the door. Unfortunately, that's when the boy's decide to walk in, so the pillow slams straight into Gil's face.

“What is with you girls and throwin' pillows at me?” Gil complains, picking the pillow up and tossing it back to Mal.

“Mal's complaining that she agreed to Ben's date.” Evie says from her sewing machine.

Harry throws his head back and laughs. “Benny made it very clear it wasn' a date at Mad Hatter's place yesterday.” He approaches the bed and flops down, much to Mal's annoyance.

“Oh well that makes it all better.” The purple haired girl says, sarcasm dripping like venom from her mouth.

“Geez. Excuse me for tryin' ta help.” Harry raises his hands defensively.

“He's supposed to pick me up soon.” Mal glances anxiously at the ticking clock on the wall. “I don't know how I'm supposed to answer his questions.”

“Just tell the truth.” Gil shrugs and crosses the room to Uma's bed, sitting down next to the girl. “If he asks what the Isle was like, tell him how bad it was.”

“You guys are no help.” Mal shoves Harry off of her bed, the pirate trying and failing to stay on.

“Well, don't lie.” Evie says, still refusing to look up from her sewing machine. “We need Ben to know how bad it is so we can get the other kids off the Isle.”

“Yeah well I can't go disclosing all our shit.” Mal gasps suddenly, sitting up. “Oh my god, I just realized.”

“What?” Jay asks from Evie's bed, which he'd claimed while the girl was at her desk.

“Auradon has no idea that we've been running the Isle.” Mal bites her fingernail, chipping the polish Evie had coated her nails with. “God, what would they even think? That we're just as bad as our parents?”

“Why?” Uma snaps. “We've made the Isle a better place in a year. We did what nobody could in nineteen years. But even though we've been running it, that doesn't fix anything. We still need to get the kids off the Isle. They deserve better than stale bread and abusive parents.”

“Speaking of. Harry, what'd you say to Ben?” Carlos asks, nodding to the pirate. “When Ben asked Mal out yesterday–”

“It's not a date–”

“You seemed pretty panicked. Said you made a mistake.” Carlos continues on, ignoring Mal's insistent interruption.

“Oh yeah, that.” Harry chuckles and leans his back against Mal's bedside table between her and Evie's bed. “Uh…” Harry scratches the back of his neck, a nervous tick he'd never gotten over. “He cornered me in the kitchens the other night. He said some things, I said some things–”

“Get to the point!” Uma snaps. Harry flinches and ducks his head, dropping his hands to his side.

“I basically called 'im and Auradon pieces of shit.” Harry sighs. “Said that they was delusional to expect the villains being locked on an Isle be the thing that stop 'em from murderin' and stealin' and rapin'.” Harry shrugs. He locks his hands together, fiddling with his fingers.

“Oh.” Carlos grabs his elbow, crossing his left arm over his chest.

“Yeah.” Harry laughs bitterly, knocking his head back against the drawers. “We should'a just taken ya mum's staff and taken over Auradon.” Harry nods up to Mal, who throws her pillow down at him.

“That's a horrible idea.” Jay refutes.

“ You're a horrible idea.” Harry snaps bitterly.

“That doesn't even make any sense!” Jay snaps.

“ You don't make sense!” Harry snaps back at the Djinn.

“Boys!” Uma yells, cutting off the arguing at the head. “Shut up!”

“Yes, cap'n.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Look, Ben will be here any moment.” Mal says, diverting attention back to her. “I'm not sure where he wants to take me, but I plan on getting him on our side.” Mal stands up, walking into the middle of the room. “For too long we and the children of the Isle have suffered for the crimes of our forefathers. But no more. I will do everything in my power to save the people we left behind on the Isle. They are getting off.”

Mal turns to Evie. “Dizzy.” She turns to Harry. “CJ and the twins.” She turns to Carlos. “Diego.”

“We're getting them off.” Uma promises, standing up and crossing to Mal. “We have the same mind on this.”

“We do.” Mal nods her head.

knock knock!

“Oh, it must be Ben!” Evie says, excited.

Mal grins and walks to the door, swinging it open. Ben startles as all the eyes of the VK's land on him at once. “Uh… you look beautiful, Mal.” He finally says.

Mal smiles sincerely. “Thank you, Ben.” Her eyes flick down to the helmets he's holding in his arms. “Where we goin'?”

“Uh… the Enchanted Lake.” Ben says, nodding to the other VK's. “I promise to get her back in one piece.”

“It ain't us you gotta worry about.” Harry laughs from Mal's bed, having reclaimed the spot when the girl answered the door.

“Hmm?” Ben tilts his head to the side, eyes raking over to Mal. The girl smirks up at him, eyes flashing green for a second.

“Let's go, Prince.” Mal says, grabbing the helmet from Ben's hands and starting down the hallway. Ben follows her after a second of hesitation.

Chapter Text

Mal had to admit; Auradon was beautiful. It was nothing like the Isle and she loved it. The trees blossomed and turned green, the cold wasn't blistering her skin, and the water wasn't poisoned with neglect.

The Enchanted Lake was beautiful. They weren't even at the main part yet, but Mal had to marvel at the whole thing. “Okay, just over this bridge.” Ben says, gently grabbing her hand and bringing her to the shaky wooden bridge.

“Uh, over that?” Mal eyes the rope suspiciously. “You go first.”

Ben doesn't make any comment on it. He only grins and steps onto the bridge. He turns around and motions for Mal to follow him. After a hesitant second, the fae steps onto the bridge. She holds tightly onto the ropes. Ben smiles warmly and walks backwards, only two feet in front of her. He keeps a considerable distance between them, but not enough to make her think he's trying to leave her behind on the bridge.

“Okay, what is something you have never told anyone?” Ben asks, smiling like it's Christmas. (Not that Mal would know what that was.)

“Seriously?” Mal deadpans, leveling Ben with an unimpressed stare.

“Yeah, come on!” Ben urges. “I wanna get to know you, Mal.”

“Okay, um…” Mal pretends to think on it for a second. They're halfway across the bridge now. “My middle name is Bertha.” Mal cringes as she says it.

Ben barks out a laugh, quickly silencing himself by slamming his hand over his mouth. “Seriously!?” He exclaims, unable to stop the question from escaping his lips.

“Yup!” Mal pops the ‘p’ in the simple word. “Just my mom doing what she does best. Ruining my life.” Mal shakes her head quickly. “What about you?” She deflects, nodding at the King-to-be. “What's your middle name?”

Ben cringes, averting his eyes. “Florian.”

“Florian?” Mal smirks, amused. “How princely. Oh, that's almost worse than mine.”

“I mean, you know, it's better than Bertha.” Ben shrugs.

Mal almost cackles, slapping Ben on the arm. “Shut up!”

“Okay, it's just up here.” Ben says, quick to change the subject. “Do you mind if I…” Ben trails off, hands raised as if to touch Mal.

“Hmm?” Mal looks away from the cluster of trees that block her view to the lake. “Oh uh…” The fae bites her bottom lip nervously, but she nods her head. “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

“Alright, sweet.” Ben maneuvers himself behind the girl and gently places his hands over her eyes. He slowly begins leading her down the rest of the path. “Here, watch your step. Going up just once here.” He says as he guides her.

After a couple seconds, he stops. “Okay, here.” He pulls his hands from her eyes.

Once Mal's eyes adjust to the light, they go wide as she stares at the lake. There weren't any views like this on the Isle. The closest thing they had was Auradon across the water, high in the air, as if mocking them. Showing them what they could never have.

Mal has no words.

“Wow.”

Well, she has one word. But it doesn't have any thought behind it, so it doesn't count!

“Do you like it?” Ben starts walking down the cobblestone steps, to the old stone gazebo that's missing its roof.

“Do I like it?” Mal laughs, the awe written across her face. “Ben, this place is beautiful!” Mal jumps down the steps, coming over to the picnic blanket and basket Ben is sitting at.

“Oh my god, this is so much food.” Mal grins, grabbing at one of the red and green fruits in a glass bowl. “What are these?” She asks, eyes lighting up at the taste.

Ben laughs. “Strawberries.”

“They're delicious.” Mal grabs more, shoving them into her mouth. “God, I have never seen this much food. Especially this much fresh food.”

“Yeah, Harry mentioned that the other night.” Ben leans onto his side, biting into a square of cheese. “He said that none of you guys ate the food?”

“Yeah, we don't know where it came from.” Mal shrugs, still chowing down the strawberries. “For all we know it could've been poisoned. Gil especially wasn't gonna eat it. He was, um, poisoned when he was younger.” Mal has finally stopped eating the strawberries, instead staring down at her hands. The glamor spell hides the scars, but she can still feel the scar where Gil had broken the bone of her wrist in two. She had it coming, she can admit that now, but god does it terrify her.

“Who would do such a thing!?” Ben exclaims, appalled at the mere idea.

“I'm not sure. The only thing Uma and I got from Harry was that he ‘dealt with it’.” Mal puts up visible air quotes when she says it, poorly imitating Harry's voice by making her own voice gravelly and deep. “I think Uma knew more, but I wasn't privy to that information. We were still in rival gangs.”

“Gangs?” Ben gasps, eyes as wide as saucers.

“Yeah.” Mal shrugs. She hurriedly grabs another strawberry and shoves it into her mouth. “That's how the Isle is run, I guess. It's different here in Auradon.”

“Um, obviously!” Ben sighs, bringing a hand to his head. “I–I know I said I wanted to know more about the Isle, but I didn't think it was that bad.”

Mal snorts, unable to stop herself. “You've barely scratched the surface.”

Ben's face goes pale terribly quick. “I…” He gulps, his throat suddenly feeling dry. “Harry, he said that… that the villains, that being on the Isle, it didn't, like, stop them from stealing and murdering and… and…” Ben, who'd been refusing to meet Mal's eyes since the beginning of the conversation, finally looks up into the fae's emerald green eyes.

Mal gets where he's going immediately, having already heard it from Harry. “Yeah.” She grabs her elbow, uncomfortable but unwilling to voice it. “I wasn't– I was…” She bites her lip, unaware of how to voice it. “Being Maleficent's daughter ensured nobody messed with me.” Mal blinks furiously, willing the tears from her eyes. “Not all are so lucky.” Memories she'd kill to forget come to her mind, playing behind her eyes like a sick film. She doesn't want to say it. But Ben is her chance at helping the Isle kids. To change, he has to be uncomfortable. And so does she. “I don't know one kid on the Isle who is untouched. Even Gil's little sister.”

Make him guilty. Make him guilty. Make him guilty.

“Gaston's not a nice man.”

Ben's choked gasp tells Mal that the prince got the implication.

Mal refuses to meet his eyes, and it only serves to weigh heavier onto Ben's heart. He is, truly, at a loss for words. He's heard stories from his mother, eavesdropped as a child when his mother had her bad days. When Adam had to keep her calm and okay as she cried about how cruel and scary of a man that Gaston was. Ben's no idiot. He understood the implications of his mother's worser days as he grew older.

“I'm…” Ben's throat is dry. “I… I didn't know.” He finally whispers.

Mal scoffs, turning away from the prince. “How could you?” She asks. “How could anyone? It's not like they spent their childhood years being terrorized by these people. Oh, wait.” Mal sighs. “You can't change the past, Ben. But you can pave the future. That's why we're here.” Mal grabs a strawberry between her pointer finger and her thumb. “So that the kids on the Isle can have this.”

Ben reaches forward and places his hand on Mal's, the one that's not holding the strawberry. “I am going to do everything that I can to get those kids off the Isle. I promise you this, Mal.”

The two sit in silence for a couple seconds, staring into each other's eyes. Ben's the one who breaks contact, pulling his hand away and standing up, starting to take off his jacket and shirt.

“Do you wanna go for a swim?” He asks, nodding to the lake.

Mal huffs and shakes her head. “Oh, no. Absolutely not.”

“You sure?” Ben chuckles, starting to walk off the gazebo and towards another path. “It'll be fun!”

“I'm good to just watch!” Mal laughs. The crown prince grins and darts onto the beaten path, disappearing into the trees. Mal waits a couple minutes, laughing and grinning. Finally, Ben calls her name from atop a tall stone.

“You ready!?” Ben yells.

Mal squints at Ben's form. She cups her hands around her mouth and yells, “Are those little crowns on your shorts!?”

“Uh,” Even from so far away, Mal can see the red on Ben's cheeks. “Yeah!” Then, he roars and steps back, running forward suddenly and jumping into the water.

Mal laughs, watching as Ben does backward strokes into the mouth of the cave.

Once Ben is out of sight, her laughing dies down. She looks down at her hands. Whispering silently, she reverses her glamor spell. Green sparkles of magic filter off of her skin, rising high in the air. Her eyes fall, immediately, on the old gash painted onto her forearm. It was the first scar she got in defense of her family. She'd kill to forget it all.

—

Mal would rather swim in acid than admit it aloud, but she was worried. The night on the Isle was long and jagged, rain battering against the roof as thunder rattled the windows.

Evie is curled together on their couch. Her sketchbook is laying on her thighs that are pulled up, her hand furiously sketching.

Carlos was supposed to show up an hour ago. After twenty minutes, Mal sent Jay out to look for the kid. They don't know his birthday, none of the Isle kids do (save for Mal), but they're at least aware that Carlos is younger than them. He's too small, too fragile to not be.

Jay's still out there, and Mal doesn't want to spend her time worrying about him as well.

Mal groans and swipes at the stacks of miscellaneous stuff on the wobbly table she stands by. She yells in outrage, kicking some of the stuff across the room. From the couch, Evie yelps and snaps her head up, her hand drawing a dark line across her page. “Oh, no!” Evie gasps, frantically trying to get rid of the mistake.

“Gods, Evie, it's fi–”

The scathing comment stemming from Mal's anger is cut off as the door to their lair is kicked open. The sound of the raging outside echoes through the rooms, rain splattering into the inside. “What the fuck!?” Mal curses, turning wildly to the hall that leads to the door.

The sound of the door slamming shut echoes, and then, only seconds later, Jay is running around the corner. Curled in his arms is a tiny, weak body that Mal and Evie recognize immediately.

“Evie, move!” Jay yells, voice gruff and demanding. The girl jumps up, scrambling to get off the couch. She hurriedly places down some pillows, motioning for Jay to lay Carlos' head there.

“What happened!?” Mal demands, weaving around the couch to grab at Jay the second he's set the boy down.

“I–I don't…” Jay gulps. Now that she's looking at him, Mal can see how bad he is. His clothes are crumpled and coated with dirt. His hair is tangled, matted with the rainwater. There's a growing bruise under his eye that Mal knows wasn't there when she sent him out over half an hour ago.

“It can wait. Go clean yourself up.” Mal waves her hand, dismissing Jay. He walks over to their half‐rotted cabinet and pulls it open, taking out a first-aid kit. He walks back over to them and hands it to Evie.

“No, no, I am fine. Patch him up first.” Jay says. Evie takes the kit and sets it down on the low table by the couch. Mal steps away, bringing Jay with her so that Evie can have space to work.

“What happened?” Mal demands. It's less scathing and urgent than it was before, but it still holds the weight of her leadership.

“I found him behind a dumpster.” Jay starts. “Not sure how he got there. He seemed to be hiding though. I brought him here immediately. Figured Evie would be best to determine what happened to him.”

“And this?” Mal taps her right eye.

“Ah…” Jay cringes and looks away. “Got a little violent when nobody would tell me where he was. But one of the kids said they saw him off by Hell Hall.”

“What the hell was he doing there?” Mal asks, mostly to herself.

Before Jay can guess in a response, Evie's catching their attention. “Mal!” Her voice is distressed, sounding like she's about to start crying. “Mal, you need to see this!”

Mal marches back over to the couch, Jay right behind her. When the two come around, they get a good view of Carlos. Evie has peeled him out of his jacket and shirt, revealing his bruised and broken middle. There's a bruise shaped like a boot print on his stomach, but what catches both of their attention is the hand-shaped bruises painted onto his hips.

“No.” Jay whispers, his brain recognizing the shapes immediately. (He has his own.)

“What…” Mal whispers.

“That's not all.” Evie grabs a flashlight and flicks it on, having to hit it a couple times to get it to work. Once it's on, she shines it on his neck. Dark blue and purple bruises are pressed into his neck. It takes Mal's brain a second to realize what they are.

“Okay. Okay.” Mal starts to nod her head, trying to will herself to not panic too much. “Alright, Jay, pick him up. Bring him to my room.” Mal points a shaking finger at Carlos' unnaturally still body. Jay wastes no time stepping forward and gently gathering Carlos into his arms. Evie grabs the first-aid kit and follows them to Mal's room. Being the leader, she has the most comfortable bed, pillows, and blankets. She wouldn't usually let anyone use them, but this is Carlos. He needs it more than she ever would.

Once Carlos is laid down and made comfortable under the blankets and around the pillows, Mal turns to Jay. She grabs his hand, interlocking their fingers. “Jay.” Her voice is all leader, demanding and sharp. The Djinn looks at her with eyes that are desperately trying to wet. “When he wakes up, we're going to find out who did this. And we are going to make them pay.” Everyone in the room knows what it is.

A promise that will be completed in blood.

—

Looking back out at the Enchanted Lake, Mal frowns at the memory. Her arm aches, the phantom pains from the knife that dug itself into her skin making itself known. She runs a finger along the scar, about to whisper a spell to conceal it again, when the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight.

She whips her head around wildly, but there is nothing behind her. Looking back to the lake, she doesn't see Ben anywhere in sight.

“Ben!?” She stands up, turning in circles, trying to catch sight of the prince. “BEN!?” She yells. The only answer she gets is the echoing of her panicked voice off the stone surrounding the Enchanted Lake. “Shit, shit!” Mal leans down and hastily unbuckles her heels. She throws the shoes to the side and jumps down into the lake, wading herself to the center of the lake.

Suddenly, she drops off the rocks. Her feet can no longer touch the bottom.

Her feet can no longer touch the bottom.

Mal yelps and starts thrashing in the water. She tries going back to the gazebo, but the panic is rising in her throat and clouding her mind. She screams, her head submerging under the water. She tries to swim up (or is it down? She can't tell) but her limbs won't process what her brain is telling them to do.

Suddenly, she's surfacing. The first thing Mal notices is that she can breathe again, but the second is that there are arms wrapped tight under her shoulders and knees. Ben— cause that's who saved her, her brain is now realizing— places Mal on the stone. Mal splutters, shaking her head so the water can get off.

“You can't swim!?” Ben asks incredulously.

“No, I can't swim!”

“You grew up on an island!”

“Yeah, with a magical barrier around it!”

Ben looks taken aback, eyes widening. “And you still tried to save me.” He breathes.

“Yeah, but do I get a thanks!? No!” Mal flaps her hands, the water splashing off of herself. “All I get is soaking wet.”

“And uh, this cool rock.” Ben raises his hand, revealing a shining white rock. “I found it and thought of you.”

Mal scoffs, unable to stop herself. “Why?” She asks as she takes the rock from his hands.

“I dunno.” Ben jumps up onto the stone, sitting next to Mal, who's still leaning against the pillar. He reaches behind himself and wraps a towel around his shoulders, offering the other to Mal. The girl hurriedly takes it and wraps it around herself, covering her arms. “I just saw it and… you came to mind.” Ben reaches a tentative hand forward and brushes a soaking strand of hair from Mal's face.

“Ben…” Mal whispers.

“Mal.” Ben says, voice soft as silk. He brushes his fingers down the girl's pale cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

“I…” Mal hesitates. “Ben, I don't–”

“You don't have to say yes.” Ben starts pulling his hand away, assuming the girl is uncomfortable, but Mal grabs his wrist, her manicured nails wrapping tightly.

Ben winces, but covers it quickly.

Mal, of course, notices and loosens her grip. She tries for a smile, and she's aware that it doesn't reach her eyes, but whatever. “Do you want to kiss me?”

“I do.” Ben nods his head eagerly.

“Then… yes.” Mal nods her head. It's weird, she supposes, being asked what she wants. And having her own opinion taken into account. She wasn't like the other Isle Kids, not completely, but still. Ben asking her permission and assuring her that she didn't have to say yes touches something deep inside the heart she didn't know still beat.

Ben leans in. Mal stays still.

Their lips touch, slowly and hesitantly. After a second, Ben pushes further, and Mal returns the kiss, her hand rising to wrap around his bicep. Ben gently circles his other arm around her waist, leaning forward and across her legs so as to get closer. Mal delves into the kiss as well, smiling genuinely against Ben's lips.

After a couple more seconds, Ben pulls away. Mal tries chasing him, but quickly stops herself. She hasn't had that much touch in a long while. Sure, she cuddles with Jay, Evie, and Carlos all the time, but this? She's never done this. Never had someone not from her inner circle want her in any way except for the power she possessed. It's different, and she longs for it to never cease.

“Mal.” Ben whispers, voice gentle. Mal raises viridian eyes to hickory-green.

“Ben…?” Mal hates how her voice sounds. Timid, scared, worried.

“Mal, will you be my girlfriend?” Ben asks, bringing his hand to gently hold her chin.

“What…” Mal averts her gaze. “What about Audrey? I refuse to be some– some side piece that you hide from everyone and–”

“Not at all.” Ben assures, pushing Mal's head up and forcing her to look in his eyes. “Audrey and I are over. And Mal, I really like you. What you did just now? Jumping in that water to save me when you couldn't even swim? I want to be with you, Mal. And I want everyone to know about it.”

Mal grins, unable to stop herself. She holds Ben's wrist, gentle and sweet. “I want everyone to know too.” She affirms. “I'd love to be your girlfriend, Ben.”

Ben grins widely and kisses her again.

Chapter Text

“Have a good day, Ben.” Mal says as the prince drops her off at her dorm a couple hours later.

“You too, Mal.” Ben bows his head at the girl. “Thank you for today.”

Mal can't resist the grin that spreads onto her face. “Thank you.” Mal reaches out and squeezes his forearm. Then, she turns and walks into her dorm. She waves goodbye one more time before closing the door and leaning her forehead against it. She's aware of the stupidly wide grin on her face, her muscles ache at the continuous strain, but she can't stop.

“Yo, princess.” Uma's voice cuts off Mal's thoughts. Mal turns around, eyes wide and smile dropped. Everyone is still in her room and currently staring at her. Uma and Evie are sprawled on Evie's bed, while Harry and Jay are sitting on opposite ends of Uma's bed. Carlos is sitting cross-legged on Mal's bed, Dude in his lap, and Gil is hanging from a bar he'd latched onto the wall, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a red tank-top that has several tears in it.

Guilt coils in her chest the longer she stares at Gil, who's pulling himself up every few seconds.

“How was the date?” Carlos giggles.

“Hey! She said it wasn't a date!” Evie exclaims, tossing a pillow at the kid.

“Actually…” Mal chuckles nervously and rubs the nape of her neck. “Um… Ben… asked me out. Like, as his girlfriend. And… well, I said yes.”

“What.” Uma deadpans.

Gil drops down from the bar, staring at Mal with this somewhat terrified expression.

“Look, I think I like him. And he seemed to really like me!” Mal desperately tries to explain herself. “I think…” Mal bites her lip and looks away. “I think this will be a good place to get my voice behind the crown.”

“Wait, so what is it?” Uma scoffs, waving her hand in the air. “You like him or you wanna use him to get an in on the crown?”

“I… I guess it's both.” Mal shrugs and walks to her bed. She sits down next to Carlos, reaching out her hand and running it over Dude's back.

“So you like him?” Gil asks.

“Yeah, I do.” Mal says.

“Knowing who his parents are?” Gil's voice cracks strangely when he speaks.

“He's not his parents. And neither are we. That's why we're here.” Mal is quick to defend. “If we judge him for who his parents are and what they did, then we are no better than the people of Auradon.”

“Don't you compare me to the people of Auradon.” Gil snaps. “My father may be a rapist, abusive piece of shit, but Ben's parents are the ones who condemned me and my siblings to his behavior.”

“Gil, look, I don't–”

“I'm going out.” Gil grabs the bar off of the wall and storms out of the room. When the door slam shuts behind him, Mal jumps.

Mal turns to look over at Harry and Uma. “I–I didn't mean to–”

“We'll talk to him, princess.” Uma stands up and grabs Harry's arm, yanking him onto his feet. “I don't think it's you he's really mad at. Come on, Harry.”

“Yes, cap'n.” Harry nods his head and follows Uma out of the room, saluting a goodbye to the other VK's.

Mal turns to Jay and Evie, expression desperate. “Guys, I didn't mean to, to make him mad. I just… I like Ben.”

“Hey, Mal, I get it.” Carlos reaches out and puts his hand on her knee. “It's fine. Ben's a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is.” Jay nods his head.

“I'm happy for you, Mal.” Evie smiles warmly at the fae. Mal can't help but to smile back. It's not as wide or sincere as Evie's, but it's there.

“Look, Mal, if you like Ben, you like Ben.” Carlos shrugs his shoulders. “We can't stop that. We can just support you. Ben is a good guy, and he'll be King soon.”

“Ooh, so Mal here'll be a lady of the court.” Jay readjusts himself and lays on his side, supporting himself with his arm.

“Shut up, Jay!” Mal laughs and throws a pillow at Jay, who catches it and throws it right back at Mal. Carlos yelps and ducks down, bringing the blanket to cover his head. Mal grabs another one of her pillows and throws it at Jay, but he hits it aside. It flies through the air and hits Evie right in the back of the head.

Immediately, all three of them are silent, staring at the back of Evie’s head, waiting for an outburst.

Evie stands up and slowly turns around. She leans down and grabs the pillow, staring at Jay, who gulps and looks away. Then, suddenly, her face breaks into a grin. “Oh you're in for it now, Jay.” She rushes forward and tackles him onto his back. Jay yelps and playfully swats at her, not really blocking her hits with the pillow as Carlos and Mal cackle along at their antics.

—

Uma and Harry find Gil out on the Tourney field. He's sitting on the bleachers, a basket of Tourney balls between his legs. Every couple seconds, he grabs one of them and chucks it out at the field.

Uma sits on his right and Harry sits on his left.

“Havin' fun?” Harry asks.

Gil grabs one of the balls and throws it unnecessarily hard. It bounces off the ground twice before rolling to a stop next to a couple other balls.

“Look, Gil, what you said to Mal back there was uncalled for.” Uma starts.

“Her dating that prick is uncalled for.” Gil snaps hotly. Uma leans back, face morphing into one of shock. She… had not expected that. Gil had never talked back to her before. “Sorry.” Gil whispers when he turns and sees her expression. “I didn't… I did something wrong again. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at Mal.”

“No, you shouldn' 'ave.” Harry knocks his shoulder against Gil’s. “But ya feelings are valid. It was Ben's parents that condemned us all to the Isle.” Harry brings a slow hand to his thigh. He may not be able to see the scar there, but he can still feel it, burning into his skin. An ever constant reminder of the childhood he was never given.

“Yeah, but it weren't Ben.” Gil brings his legs up onto either side of the basket of balls, laying his arms across his limbs. “That's why we're here. Cause… cause we ain't our parents.” Gil sighs and hangs his head. “I'm sorry for snapping at you, Uma.”

“S'fine.” Uma shrugs. She leans against Gil’s side, dropping her head onto his shoulder. “Just don't do it again.”

“Yes, cap'n.” Gil says immediately.

“We're all in this together.” Uma continues on. “We need to stick together. And if Mal's taste is so bad that she'll date Ben, then so be it.”

Gil and Harry both break out into chuckles, unable to stop themselves. Harry grins and leans against Gil as well, mirroring Uma in placing his head on Gil's shoulder. “Gil, you may be an idiot, but you're ours.” Harry says. “Which sounds mean, but whatever. You don' oughta 'palogize for every li'le thing.”

“Sorry.” Gil says automatically.

Harry leans up just enough to hit Gil in the back of the head, then drops his head back down onto Gil's shoulder. “See! Like that!”

“You shouldn't apologize for your existence, Gil.” Uma wraps her arms around Gil's arm, getting as much contact as possible without actually climbing into his lap. She's not a big fan of physical contact, but she knows how much her boys thrive on it when it comes to her and each other. Like hell she'd decline them, they’re her crew. “We…” Uma bites her lip.

Gil places his hand on her thigh and starts to rub gentle circles there. “I know, Uma.” He whispers as he drops his head on top of Harry's.

“Yeah.” Uma’s voice is small, but she’s okay with displaying vulnerability in front of her boys. She trusts them with anything.

—

The next day, the VK's make their way to their remedial goodness class first thing in the morning. Once they're outside the door, Gil reaches out and grabs Mal’s hand, preventing her from walking in with the rest of them.

She stays back with him, waiting for everyone to be out of earshot before turning to him. “Yeah, what is it, Gil?”

Gil bites his bottom lip and wrings his hands. Nervous, Mal notes.

“I'm sorry.” He starts. “For um… getting angry. You know, you wouldn't believe this, but apparently I have anger issues.” Mal barks out a laugh before she can smother it. Gil breaks into a toothy grin, proud he'd made her laugh. “I shouldn't have gotten mad. I'm sorry.”

“You're fine, Gil.” Mal reaches forward and lightly squeezes his arm, right above his shoulder. “I understand where you were coming from. Now,” Mal leans back and brushes her hair out of her eyes. “What do you say we go soak up some goodness?”

Gil's grin spreads wider and he follows Mal into the room. Confusingly, all the other VK's are crowded at the front of the room. Evie notices them first.

“Hey! Fairy Godmother said she had something for us!” She says, pulling Mal to the front of the small group. Gil comes up to stand behind Carlos, easily looking over his head. Harry and Jay are on either side of the group, with Mal and Evie next to Jay and Uma nxt to Harry, leaving Carlos and Gil in the middle of the group.

“Um, as you know, this Sunday is family day here in Auradon Prep.” Fairy Godmother says, standing in front of an old TV on a cart. “And because your parents can't be here due to, uh, distance,” She finally settles on, cringing at her choice of words either way. “We've arranged for a special treat.”

Uma's eyes widen and she sends Mal a panicked look while Fairy Godmother has her back to them, starting up the TV.

‘What do we do!?’ She mouths to the girl.

Mal looks just as panicked as her, arms flailing as she shrugs her shoulders.

“I–I don't see anything.” A familiar voice says from the TV, even though it’s slightly grained from the old technology.

“Oh?” Fairy Godmother tilts her head in confusion when, instead of coming face-to-face with the VK's parents, her eyes land on Dr. Facilier and two teenagers, one girl and one boy. The girl has blood-red hair and the boy has jet black hair.

“Press– press enter?” The girl suggests, grabbing the remote from Dr. Facilier’s hand.

“Wha– Mira, I could have done that.” Facilier says. He's sitting between Mira and Max, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

“I hate electronic equipment.” Max groans, dropping his head into his hands.

“Oh! Oh!” Facilier hastily grabs the remote from Mira, stopping her from pressing any more buttons. “Kids! Hello!” He shoulders Max, who lifts his head up.

“Mal!” Max grins widely. “Man, am I happy to see you.”

“Who's the old woman?” Mira asks, pointing at Fairy Godmother.

“Mira!” Facilier turns to Mira, a scandalized look on his face. “That is Fairy Godmother.”

“Oh.” The cheeky grin on Mira’s face falls quickly.

“I– I'm sorry, where are–?”

Mal steps forward, placing her hand on Fairy Godmother’s arm. “It's fine, Fairy Godmother. These three are actually exactly who we need to see.”

“I… okay.” Fairy Godmother still looks lost, but she steps out of the way and comes behind the TV.

“How has everything been on the Isle?” Mal asks.

“It's been good.” Max answers. “Diego ran into some problems, but it was taken care of.”

“Diego?” Carlos falters, his hand almost slipping off his cane. Gil grabs his shoulders, catching him before he can trip backwards. “Is he okay?”

“He's fine, he's fine.” Max quickly says. “It was a small problem, some people trying to take over your territory. Other than that, everything's been mostly good on our end of things.”

“What about the pirates?” Uma asks, nodding her head at Mira.

“Hook's old crew tried staging a mutiny, but they were quickly squashed.” Mira informs.

“Was Smee part of it?” Harry asks, eyes flashing in concern.

“No, Smee did his best to stay out of it.” Facilier answers instead of Mira. “We've been all good over here. None of your… parents suspect anything.”

“My mother hasn't asked any questions about my lack of visits?” Mal sneers.

“Other than asking if you'd finally been murdered and hung, nope.” Max shakes his head. “Seemed pretty hopeful until I told her that you'd lost interest.”

Mal smirks. “Good man.”

“So, how about you guys?” Facilier asks, moving the conversation along. “How long do you think until we can see you guys again?”

“Um, there's a big coronation coming up.” Jay answers. “Probably sometime after that. We haven't forgot you guys.”

“Ooh, when?” Mira asks.

“Friday, 10 A.M.” Uma says.

“That's good. Good.” Facilier says. “Have you guys been blending well into Auradon's preppy society?”

“Pretty much.” Mal shrugs. “We've had a few bumps, but nothing major. We just wanna get everyone else off the Isle.”

“Yeah, the longer you guys are gone, the worse it gets.” Max admits. “Seems that with your guys' absence, people have decided that they can do whatever the fuck they want."

“In the past week alone, there's been 3 attempted rapes.” Mira informs, voice solemn.

Behind the TV, Fairy Godmother gasps and stumbles back, hand covering her mouth. None of the VK's pay her any mind, and to her horror, none of them look surprised at Mira's words.

“Yeah, uh, Gil, you should know that um, next time you see your father, you may notice the distinct lack of… certain… appendages.” Max stumbles over his words, hesitant in speaking.

Gil sighs and crosses his arms, placing his chin on top of Carlos' head. “Is my sister okay?”

“Yeah, your older brothers showed up before it got too far this time.” Facilier says. “One of them brought her to me while the other… dealt with Gaston. We've dealt with all the other culprits.”

“Is my sister doing okay?” Harry asks, the thought suddenly coming to him.

“She's fine.” Facilier soothes, hands raising in front of his chest. “She and Celia have had a lot of fun playing pirates.”

Harry grins, a real, genuine laugh escaping his mouth. “Thank god.”

“Yeah.” Facilier smiles, a warm thing that's only reserved for his daughter and the Hook siblings. Suddenly, there's a loud noise in the background of the call, followed by a shout for Facilier. “And that is my cue.” Facilier stands up, brushes off his pants, and leaves. In the background, they hear him yelling. “Tru, if you broke another damn machine, I will throw you to my friends on the Other Side!”

Max and Mira scooch closer together, laughing nervously. “Well, we will see you guys when we see you.”

“Stay safe!” Mira waves as she grabs the remote.

“Same goes for you guys!” Mal waves. The other VK's follow her lead, waving at the son of Judge Frollo and the daughter of the Red Queen.

“Tell CJ I miss her!”

“Tell Diego that if he messed with my shit, I'll rip off his leg!”

“Do not tell Diego that–!”

The TV feed cuts off. Mal turns and gives Carlos a scathing glare. The younger only grins sheepishly and matches her with a mischievous set of eyes.

“Oh, shut up.” Mal rolls her eyes and turns on her heel, beginning to walk out of the room.

“Thank you, Fairy Godmother.” Uma calls as they all follow after Mal.

Fairy Godmother only waves hesitantly, still slightly shocked from the whole conversation.

—

“I don' get why we have to go to this ‘family day’ thing.” Harry complains as he and the rest of the VK's walk onto the field, weaving through the crowds easily.

“It's good to show your face.” Evie says. “Especially with us.”

“None of our, er, family enemies will be here, will they?” Carlos asks with a sigh.

“You are like, the only one that does not have to worry about that.” Jay says, arms crossed and shoulders hunched. “God knows the only kids those two dog freaks have are the dalmatians.”

“Hey!” Carlos snaps. “Not in front of Dude.”

“You have gotten so attached to that little dog.” Mal grins.

“Oh my god, let's just find the food.” Jay groans.

Across the field, Ben stands with his parents King Adam and Queen Belle. The photographer is motioning for them to stand together, guiding them with waves of his hand.

“Oh, by the way, I have a new girlfriend.” Ben says as he wraps an arm around his mother's shoulders.

“Oh?” King Adam hums.

“Yeah.” Ben grins.

“Well, I never wanted to say anything,” Belle starts, like a mother who has been waiting forever to say something. “But I always thought that Audrey was a little self-absorbed. A fake smile, kind of a kiss-up.” Belle pushes her hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear.

“Do we know your new girlfriend?” King Adam asks, looking down at his son.

“Okay, on the count of three.” The photographer says, raising one hand in the air with three fingers up. “One”

“Well, sort of.” Ben shrugs and raises his hand, waving at Mal from across the field. “Mal! Mal!” He calls.

“Two,”

Mal, who'd been talking to Uma and Gil, excuses herself with a smile.

“Three!”

The camera goes off, perfectly immortalizing the shocked expressions of the King and Queen as they realize who, exactly, their son is dating.

“Huh?” Belle sputters, unable to really say anything else.

“Mal! Mal.” Ben loops his arm through hers and leads her the rest of the way to his parents. “I wanna introduce you to my parents.”

“Uh, Ben–” Mal looks as hesitant as Ben's parents.

“My girlfriend.” Ben says proudly, beaming from ear to ear.

“Uh… hi…” Belle finally says, some of the shock falling off of her.

“Hi.” Mal says, bowing her head towards the King and Queen. Her nerves are on fire, her mind racing a thousand miles. She had not expected this one bit.

“I was thinking, maybe she could join us for lunch.” Ben says. He really knows what he's doing, mentioning it while Mal is present. His parents couldn't really say no while their guest was present, for fear of turning her away. (Not that they would mind that, really. But Ben just looked so happy.)

“O–Of course!” Belle says. “Um, any friend of Ben's…”

“I actually came here with my friends.” Mal says, turning her body slightly and pointing to where the VK's all are. Jay and Carlos are fighting over some strawberries while Gil stays fascinated by the chocolate waterfall. Harry is staring at them fondly while Evie dips the strawberries into the chocolate and Uma stands off to the sidelines, a fond smirk on her features.

“Well, you should invite them!” Belle says before she can stop herself. Inwardly, she curses herself for her seemingly unwavering kindness. “Because… the more the… merrier!” She is finally able to bite out.

“Uh, how about a game of croquet before lunch?” King Adam calls before Mal can leave.

“Huh?” Mal turns, tensing slightly when her escape is cut off. “Uh, of course.” She smiles. Then, she hurries off.

“Thank you so much!” Ben exclaims before following Mal to tell the other’s the news.

Once they’re gone, Belle finally stumbles, nearly passing out. King Adam winces and catches her before she hits the ground.

—

Mal smiles warmly as her friends all fumble horribly at croquet. Carlos had, obviously, opted out. He’d barely wanted to step onto the grass, but Gil had promised to stay by him the whole time, so here he was. Evie's trying to show Harry and Jay how to play while Uma calls jabs at them every now and then.

“Hello there.” An elderly female voice says from behind her.

Mal turns, her eyes landing on an older woman with greyed hair. The woman is wearing a baby pink jacket that’s buttoned up and a similar baby pink pencil skirt. “Hello.” Mal says, putting on her best nice face.

“Now, have we met?” The woman asks, eyes studying Mal curiously.

“No, I don't think so.” Mal shakes her head, leaning her weight onto the croquet stick in her hands. “I'm sort of like a… transfer student.”

“Ah.” The woman nods her head, but she's still staring at Mal with this ever-curious look in her eyes.

“Grammy.” Audrey suddenly walks up behind the woman, gently grabbing her elbow.

“Oh, Audrey!” The woman smiles widely and cups Audrey’s face, kissing her cheek. “Give Grammy a kiss, dear.”

Mal's eyes widen as her heart plummets to the bottom of her stomach. She suddenly feels burning hot, like there's a thousand fire ants making a home in her skin. “‘Gr– Grammy’?” She stutters over her words.

“Sleeping Beauty’s mother.” Audrey says, giving Mal a nasty once-over. “Grammy, I don't think you want to be talking to this girl.” Audrey raises her chin, like she's so much better than Mal. “Unless you feel like taking another hundred year nap.”

Queen Leah turns to Audrey, confused, then turns back to Mal. Mal's hands are shaking, but she tries for what she hopes comes off as a non-threatening smile.

It doesn't work.

Queen Leah's face drops and she stumbles backwards, hand coming up to clutch over her heart. “You!” She yells, catching the attention of nearly everyone in the surrounding vicinity. “How are you here? And how have you stayed so young!?”

Ben rushes over, grabbing Mal around her waist and raising his other hand placatingly. “Queen Leah, Queen Leah, it's okay. Maleficent is still on the island.” He hurriedly says. The other VK's come up behind Mal, ready to protect her and themselves if need be. “This is her daughter, Mal.” Ben continues, motioning to the girl. “Don't you remember my proclamation to give the new generation a chance?”

“A chance to what, Ben? Destroy us?” Queen Leah scoffs. She turns to Fairy Godmother, King Adam, and Belle, who'd walked forward when they noticed the commotion. “Come on. You remember, don't you? The poison apples. And the spells!” She desperately says. “Spells…” Queen Leah directs her glare to Mal. “My daughter…” Her voice cracks in this motherly rage that has long festered. “Was raised by fairies because of your mother's curse!” The woman points an angry finger at Mal. “So her first words, her first steps, I missed it all!” Leah then turns to Ben, angry as ever. “You mustn't trust her.” She warns.

Mal tries stepping forward, an apology on her lips. “I am so, so sor–”

“Go away!” Chad shows up then, shoving Mal away. “Stay away from her!”

“Don’t do this, Chad.” Ben pleads, holding Mal by her shoulders, having caught her before she could fall to the ground.

“What?” Chad laughs cruelly. “They were raised by their parents, Ben. What do you think villains teach their kids? Huh? Kindness? Fair play?” Chad scoffs and shakes his head. “No way, okay? Uh-uh.” Chad turns to Mal, a sneer resting on his features. “Okay, you stole another girl's boyfriend!”

“Hey, hey!” Ben yells.

But Chad has much more than that. He turns to Harry. “ You enjoy hurting people.” Then, his sneer settles on Carlos. Dread pools in the young teen’s stomach before Chad even says anything. “And you're nothing but a worthless invalid.”

Carlos tries grabbing Jay's arm, as do Harry and Gil, but the Djinn is far faster than any of them.

Jay launches forward and tackles Chad to the floor. He rears his fist back and punches him across the face, the sound deafening. His eyes are burning red, and when Adam tries pulling him off, Jay turns and actually growls, sharp teeth extending from his mouth.

“Jay! Jay!” Harry grabs Jay's arms and yanks him backwards before he can hurt Chad anymore. Chad is on the ground, whimpering and trying to cover his face.

“Chad!” Audrey drops down and tries to wake the teen up. “Chad? Chad! Jay did something to Chad!”

“Jay, damnit!” Mal grabs Jay's chin and forces him to look away from Cinderella's son. Her eyes widen, her breath seizing. Green bleeds into her irises as she forces Jay out of her mind.

Jay finally stumbles back, right into Harry's chest.

“Wake him up. Check if he's okay.” Lonnie demands.

“Guys, let's go!” Evie grabs Mal's hand, yanking her away from the scene. The VK's all hurry away, retreating from the crowd. People create a wide berth for them, allowing them to leave easily.

“Guys!” Ben tries calling after them, but none of them turn around.

“Chad, wake up!” Audrey demands, shaking Chad’s shoulders more harshly.

“I feared something like this would happen.” King Adam says, coming up to stand next to his son.

“Dad, it's not their fault!” Ben yells.

“No, son.” King Adam turns to Ben, a glare set on his face. “It's yours.” With that, Adam approaches Queen Leah, gently guiding her away.

“I… mom?” Ben tries. The woman only shakes her head and follows after her husband.

“Chad! Oh, you're awake!” Audrey sighs in relief when Chad finally comes back to himself.

“Agh, I had this terrible dream…” He starts, clutching his head.

—

The rest of the week passes by in a blur. The entire student body ignores the VK's. Neither Harry nor Jay go to Tourney practice at all. The VK's are either in their dorm rooms, at their classes, or eating lunch outside.

“This is hell.” Evie complains the day before the coronation. “I tried answering a question in science today and someone called me a lying bitch. And Mr. Deley didn't even bother trying to find out who it was!”

“I can figure it out and beat their ass.” Jay suggests.

“No, we are not doing that.” Mal quickly shuts down the idea. “We just have to get through the coronation. Once Ben is King, we'll be able to do a lot more.”

“You mean Ben will.” Uma sighs. “This has to work, Mal.”

“It will. I know it will.” Mal promises.

“How long does she think that's gonna last?” A snobby voice asks to the left of their table. Audrey, Jane, and some other girls are walking up. “Mal is just the bad girl infatuation.”

Jane chuckles, leaning down to whisper in Mal's ear. “Yeah, I mean, he's never gonna make a villain a queen.” She hisses icily before walking to the table behind the VK's.

Mal sighs and grabs her spell book from her bag. She flips through the pages until she finds the one she's looking for. She raises her hand in the air with a mean smirk. “Beware, forswear, undo Jane's hair.”

“Huh? Ah!” Jane yelps, hands coming up to her hair after her head is whipped around by Mal's magic. The other girls laugh snottily and back away from her, giving her dirty looks.

Mal stands and glares at the other teens. “There is a lot more where that came from.” She threatens, voice as calm as an eerily silent forest.

“Excuse me, who do you think you are?” Audrey demands.

Jay stands up as well, eyes shining a dangerous red that has Chad stepping back. “Do we look like we're fucking kidding?” His voice dips into a growl for a second.

All of the princes and princesses there hurriedly grab their things and sprint off, ready to get the hell away from the villain kids.

“God.” Mal sighs and shoves her book into her bag, slinging the bag over her shoulder. “Tomorrow better go well.”

“It will.” Uma promises, mirroring Mal's words from earlier.

Chapter Text

“Don't be nervous.” Ben says to Mal as they sit in the carriage. “You just have to stand there and look beautiful. No problem there.”

Mal blushes. “Thank you.” She says.

Ben grabs his own hand and slowly takes off his ring. He holds it out to Mal, gently grabbing her left hand. “Mal, would you wear my ring?”

“What?” Mal whispers, shocked. “I… are you sure?”

“Definitely.” Ben nods his head.

Mal thinks for another couple seconds, but does nod her head. “Yeah, yeah, I'd love to.”

Ben grins and slides the ring on her finger.

When the carriage rolls to a stop, Ben climbs out and helps Mal down. They ascend the steps, towards the King and Queen. Mal bows towards them. “About the other day,” She starts, but King Adam is quick to cut her off.

He raises his hand, stopping her. “I told Ben this wasn't going to be easy.”

“You also taught me that a King has to believe in himself. Even when it isn't easy.” Ben says.

“I did?” King Adam asks. Belle clears her throat and elbows Adam in the side. “I– how very wise of me.”

Belle fondly rolls her eyes and approaches Ben, gathering his hands in her own. “Ben, we are very proud of you. You keep listening to your heart.”

“Thanks mom.” Ben smiles.

“You'll make a fine King.” King Adam compliments with a bow of his head.

Ben turns to Mal and leans down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Wish me luck.” He says.

Mal grins and holds his hands. She doesn't say anything. But she doesn't need to. Everything she wants to say but can't is in her eyes, and Ben understands it like it's his first language. He nods his head, then walks past them, going into the cathedral.

“Mal.” Belle calls to the girl once Ben is gone. Mal turns, making eye contact with the Beauty. “Do you love him?”

Mal falters, her finger brushing over the ring Ben had put on her finger. “Love isn't something you can spare on the Isle.” Her voice is wistful, her eyes glassy.

“This isn't the Isle.” King Adam reminds, eyes doing a once-over of the girl.

“Is it not still the same?” Mal tilts her head, then walks past the couple, following a pair of guards into the cathedral.

—

The cathedral doors open, trumpets and other instruments playing loudly, echoing off the halls. As Ben walks down the carpet, his people bow, showing their respect. He only diverts his gaze from his prize to smile at Mal, who smiles back just as wide.

Ben walks up the first two steps and then kneels down, staring up at Fairy Godmother and his parents. Fairy Godmother smiles and grabs the crown, gently placing it atop Ben's head. Adam steps forward and takes the glass case off of Fairy Godmother's wand. The fae grabs it, the wand laying across her hands.

“Do you solemnly swear to govern the people of Auradon with justice and mercy as long as you shall reign?” Fairy Godmother asks the royal.

“I do solemnly swear.” Ben promises, his voice holding the weight of a King.

“Then it is my honor and joy to bless our new King.” Fairy Godmother taps each of his shoulders with her wand as she says it.

Ben smiles up at the woman, but it drops quickly when a pale hand grabs the wand. Jane thrashes around, trying to handle the power that was coursing through her veins. Fairy Godmother gasps in horror and descends the steps quickly. “Child, what are you doing!?” She demands.

“If you won't make me beautiful, I'll do it myself!” Jane claims.

“Take cover!” Adam yells at those who were at risk of being hit by the out of control magic.

Ben tries to pull Mal behind him, but the girl pushes by him and marches right up to Jane. She grabs the girl around the shoulders and yanks the wand from her hands. From the balcony, the hearts of the VK's drop as they all immediately bolt from their seats, heading to the floor of the cathedral.

“Mal,” Ben stands between his parents and Mal, having pulled Jane to the side. “Give me the wand.” He holds out his hand.

The VK's burst through the cathedral doors, all running to Mal. Carlos, not so much, but–

Mal yelps, her knees nearly buckling beneath her. “Stand back!” She demands, thrusting her hands forward, a clear threat.

“Mal!” Evie yells, nearly tripping over her heels in her rush. Sure, she'd run in heels before, but never in such a state of panic. (She'd like to forget the last time she had to do so.) “Mal, give him the wand!”

“I can't!” Mal yells, voice breaking in what many mistake to be anger, but it is pain.

“I told you!” Audrey yells as she and Chad step forward. Jay and Harry both turn at the same time, Jay with sharp teeth and red eyes and Harry with a threatening hook.

“Mal, just let go of the wand!” Uma yells.

“I can't!” Mal’s knees finally give out, sending her to the floor. “Fuck! It won't let me go! Why does it burn so much!”

“Oh fuck.” Uma curses, being the first one to notice it.

“What? What!?” Fairy Godmother demands, equally as confused.

“Oh my god.” Carlos whispers, also noticing it.

“What's wrong!?” Ben demands. He tries going to Mal, but Jay rushes forward and pushes him back.

“Are those fucking wings!?” Harry screams in a very un-manly way.

“No, no, that's impossible.” Evie shakes her head quickly. “Maleficent cut off her wings when Mal was like, four!”

“Oh, really?” Harry exclaims, giving the girl an incredulous look. “Cause those look like fucking wings to me!”

“It– it's the magic of the wand!” Uma pushes the VK's back. “Let me handle this. Mal? Mal!” Uma crouches down next to the groaning girl. The wand is clutched tight to her chest as the back of her dress rips at the new appendages.

“Uma, it hurts.” Mal sobs, her noises echoing off of the cathedral walls in this horrifying way.

“I know, I know.” Uma rubs circles into Mal’s arm. “Mal, I'm gonna take the wand from your hands.”

“No!” Mal screams. She jumps away from Uma, only further causing herself pain. Her back burns, just like it had when she was a child. Her skin is ripping itself apart to accommodate for the wings. “It–” Her breath hitches, a cry tearing itself from her throat. “It's going to hurt!”

“I know, I know, but it's gonna hurt more if you don't let me take the wand.” Uma inches forward, like she’d approach a wounded animal. “Mal, the magic of the wand is clashing with yours. It's like when Jay's Djinn blood attacked him the day we arrived here in Auradon.” Jay winces at the reminder of what had happened, but tries for what he hopes is a confident smile when Mal looks up at him. “Mal, you need to let me grab the wand.”

“I–I can't–” Mal's eyes tint green.

“Get down!” Uma screams, curling to the ground and covering her head.

The magic bursts out, washing over the land for miles upon miles.

When the magic clears, Mal is standing in the middle of the outburst, wand held limply in her hands. The wave of magic isn't even the most shocking part. Standing proudly on Mal's back are a pair of deep purple and green wings. The thicker parts of the wings are wine purple with the thinner parts being chartreuse.

“Oh my god…” Evie whispers, voicing what everyone in the hall is thinking.

“Okay, um…” Mal hesitates, mouth dry all of a sudden. “Am I dreaming or do I have wings again?”

“Girl…” Uma laughs in shock. “You have wings.”

Tears well in Mal’s eyes as a splitting grin crosses her face. “Oh my god, I have wings.” She drops the wand and brings a hand to her mouth, a sob ripping from her mouth. “I have wings!” She cries.

“And I have to say, you look stunning.” Harry says, immediately falling into his default setting: flirting.

“Boy!” Evie turns and smacks Harry's shoulder, who only laughs and digs his hands into his pockets. Evie steps forward and grabs Mal's hand, intertwining their fingers. “Mal, I'm really happy for you.”

Mal grins over at Evie, then starts to walk forward, to Fairy Godmother. “I uh, I am so sor–”

Mal is cut off as suddenly, green smoke filters into the hall from one of the glass windows above their heads. The smoke winds around a pillar before landing right between the kids and Fairy Godmother. When the smoke dissipates, it reveals a very disheveled, very angry Maleficent, holding one (1) son of Judge Frollo by the neck as the teen struggles in her grasp, trying to kick at her and failing horribly. Max turns his head, making eye contact with Mal. “Mal, I'm sorry.” He sobs, clawing at the manicured fingers wringing his neck.

“A year.” The woman spits out, her voice echoing over the silence of the hall. Everyone stares in shock as the woman stands there. “I have been locked up for a YEAR by your hands!” Maleficent turns and throws Max to the side. The teen skids across the carpet, slowing to a stop in front of Carlos and Gil. Maleficent has her scepter in hand, her body crackling with dangerous magic.

The people in the hall instinctively curl away from it. Many of them may not have been alive or been too young to remember, or had repressed their memories, but none of that matters. It is carved into the blood of Auradon to be terrified of the dangerous magic those on the Isle possess. And it is even deeper ingrained into those on the Isle. Every one of the VK's give a full-body flinch when Maleficent takes a step forward, glaring intensely at all of them.

“Mother.” Mal whispers, terrified.

“Mal.” Maleficent growls out her daughter's name. “ You locked me away! You took over the Isle! You took everything from me!”

“Only fair!” Mal crouches down and grabs the wand, holding it tightly in her hands. “You did the same to me!”

“You're all murderers!” Maleficent spits out, pointing angry, sharp fingers at the VK's. “Thieves!”

“Please, you have done far worse.” Jay scoffs and rolls his eyes. Without any sort of warning, the Djinn’s knees buckle and his hand comes to his neck, clawing at his skin. “Can't–” Is all he gets out, trying desperately to breathe.

“Let him go!” Mal slashes the wand through the air, cutting the magic off. Jay collapses, heaving and gasping for breath.

“You dare to defy me!?” Maleficent screams.

“Don't touch them!” Adam and Ben rush forward at the same time. Maleficent turns and raises her scepter in the air, freezing everything in the hall except for the VK's.

Maleficent turns to her daughter, angrier than ever. She holds out her hand. “Give me the wand.” It's not a suggestion.

“No.” Mal steps back into the crowd of VK's. “We don't listen to you, mother.”

“You have locked me in a cold iron cell for over a year!” Maleficent yells. “Give me the wand, Mal! Or so help me, I will–”

“No!” Mal yells, her voice infused with magic. Her new wings spread wide behind her back. They're small, only three feet in length, but they are imposing in the silence of the room.

“You… have your wings back.” Maleficent whispers, stumbling backwards.

“I do, mother.” Mal says.

“You can't win against all eight of us.” Jay claims. His magic bleeds into his outer appearance, his veins and eyes lighting up red. Evie and Carlos both step forward, their magic sparkling on their hands. Uma holds her necklace tightly, a curse on the tip of her tongue. Max stands up and passes the extra sword on his waist to Gil, brandishing his own dagger. Harry steps behind Jay and pulls out the gun from under his jacket, his hook raised protectively in front of himself.

“Jay, you brought the fucking gun?” Carlos whispers to Jay, who just shrugs nonchalantly.

“Wasn't gonna come here unarmed.” He defends.

“Jay–”

“No, he's right.” Uma cuts off Evie. “Gil, Harry, and I all brought some swords.”

“Oh, that's actually smart–”

“QUIET!” Maleficent yells, growing annoyed with them. “You talk and chat while I threaten everything in Auradon!? You insolent, disrespectful fools!” Maleficent suddenly becomes shrouded in smoke again, her body twisting. “I will end you all!”

Maleficent is no longer standing in front of them. Rather, a very large, purple-scaled dragon flies above the people of Auradon, large eyes tinted green and wings flapping loudly.

“Oh no, fuck that.” Harry points the gun, but Mal grabs his arm and pushes it down.

“No, no, don't.” She shakes her head, then turns to her mother. “Mother, please, do not do this.” She desperately pleads. Maleficent roars and swoops down rather than listening to her daughter.

Jay jumps between them, throwing his arms in the air. To his immense surprise, a floating metal wall appears, one that Maleficent rams right into. Jay laughs, pumping his arms in the air and cheering. “Holy shit! It fucking worked!”

“Yeah, Jayby, that's great. Now let's go!” Harry grabs Jay's shoulder and yanks him along as they run down the carpet. The wall dematerializes, allowing Maleficent to fly after them.

“Fuck, what do we do!?” Max yells. He's holding Carlos's hand, helping the kid along as they run. Carlos had thrown his cane to the side the second Maleficent had transformed, abandoning it in the crowd.

“Damn it, stop!” Mal turns suddenly and raises the wand. Maleficent slows her advance immediately, cautious of what her daughter could do with such power in her hands. “Mother, back down! I do not want to hurt you!”

“Shit, I do.” Max scoffs. “She just tried killing me. And my father may have been a lowly judge, but my mother was a witch.” Ancient magic crackles under his skin.

“You can't fight all of us, Maleficent.” Uma repeats what Jay had said earlier. “Back. Down.”

Maleficent glares at them. Her eyes glow a dangerous green. Mal steps forward, away from the protection of those who'd die by her side. She meets her mother's gaze, her own eyes glowing in the same way.

“I will not allow you to harm the people of Auradon.” Mal's voice holds the weight of a Queen, not that anyone in the hall knows it yet. “Back down, mother, or I will be forced to make you.”

Maleficent glares at Mal, her eyes flickering momentarily to those at her daughter's back, all ready to jump in defense of their leader. They may not know of the bond yet, the magic that ties their lives together, but Maleficent can see the lines connecting their life forces. And Maleficent may be an evil sorceress, a scourge to the people of Auradon, a star in many's nightmares, but magic is not something to be defied. Ever.

Slowly, Maleficent shrinks. Her physical body gets slimmer and slimmer until she is a tiny lizard on the cathedral hall floor.

“Uh… the fuck just happened?” Max asks, arms falling to his side.

With a gasp, Fairy Godmother snaps back to reality. “Ah.” She whispers when her eyes take in the scene. She'd been conscious, Maleficent had not frozen time, rather just the people in the hall, but she couldn't see much from the pose she'd been stuck in.

“Did– what just happened?” Mal asks, pointing a shaking finger at her mother.

“Your mother seemed to understand she could not win.” Fairy Godmother leans down to try to pick up the lizard, but it snips at her, threatening to bite one of her fingers. “She has chosen a less intimidating form.”

“Right.” Mal nods her head. Not that she really understands it, but whatever. “Uh,” Mal startles, suddenly remembering the wand in her hand. She holds it out to the fae. “I believe this belongs to you, Fairy Godmother.”

“It seems that it does.” Fairy Godmother gently takes it from Mal’s hands. “A curious thing, that it chose to… heal your wings.” Before Mal can further question the mysterious way Fairy Godmother had said it, the woman was raising her wand in the air and exclaiming, “Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo!” And just like that, everyone in the hall begins to move again.

Ben runs forward with a roar, going straight into Mal, who laughs and holds his shoulders. “No, no, Ben, it's over!” She says with a laugh.

“Oh.” Ben laughs sheepishly and rubs at the nape of his neck. “Um, I'm glad you're okay, Mal.”

Mal smiles and rises to her tiptoes, kissing Ben chastely on the lips. “I am too, Ben.”

“The fuck.” Max deadpans from behind her.

—

Upon questioning, Max had explained what happened. The barrier had only fallen long enough for Maleficent to get out, but damn did they try to stop her. The woman had sensed it even from her cell, the surge of power upon her body that had been deprived of magic for so long enough for her to get out of the cold iron.

From there, she attacked the guard by her cell and went immediately for her scepter on the top floor. Max, Diego, Mira, and a few other territory leaders were there. They tried to stop her, but it was Maleficent, they were no match for her. Max had told Carlos, through tear-filled eyes, that the last he saw of Diego was the kid with a knife between his ribcage.

Max had attacked Maleficent. He wasn't letting go, and as she saw her chance of escape dwindling— as the barrier rose again— she leapt out the window, bringing Max along with her.

Max had agreed to go back to the Isle, much to the other VK's protests. They didn't want to have to send him away, but Ben had explained that another VK showing up out of nowhere would arouse suspicion. Not to mention, they had to stick to his original proclamation. If they changed it now, there was a chance that they would never get the kids off the Isle.

So, they sent Max back. Life went on, they attended school, pretending to ignore the eyes that bored into their backs as they walked the halls of Auradon Prep. The live feed had cut out when Jane grabbed the wand, but everyone in the hall had heard what was said. Not to mention, they weren't unconscious when Maleficent spelled them. They still heard everything that was said during the fight. (The authorities tried confiscating Jay's gun, but they couldn't find it anywhere, even when they ransacked his room.)

So they kept living in Auradon. Hoping every day for a new tomorrow. For the chance to save their people.

Little did they know, there was still evil lurking in Auradon. Ones that hid behind plastered smiles and shining jewels.

Chapter Text

It takes a month for the fiasco at Ben's coronation to die down in Auradon Prep's gossip circles. It's not until Audrey comes out with the fact that she's dating Chad that people finally stop talking about it. The general public didn't know much, just that there were some issues and that it was resolved quickly. Of course, there were rumors, but the King had yet to confirm anything so far. Equally, he hadn't denied anything either.

Even with new gossip flowing in, there were still the stray stares that the VK's were subject to. Whispers behind their backs that they'd helped Maleficent, that Mal had bewitched Ben with her deceitful fae powers. That she'd cast a love spell on him so that she could get an in with the crown. It was all bullshit, and they knew it, but the truth was nothing compared to the rumors.

Either way, the VK's continued on. What else were they supposed to do?

Mal was taking private flight lessons from Fairy Godmother and Uma with her magic, Harry and Jay were excelling in Tourney, Carlos joined the robotics team, Gil joined fencing, and Evie was making a lot of good money with her commissions.

The money was scraping them by. Sure, Auradon supplied all of the stuff they needed for school and so on, but now that they didn't need to worry— now that they had a whole world to explore— they could have whatever they wanted. Of course, it didn't stop Jay's hands from straying too far, or Evie from obsessing over her looks, or Gil from flinching at the slightest movement, or even Harry from still brandishing his hook when he was backed into a corner.

But the longer that stayed away from the Isle, the better it got.

Mal and Uma were just waiting for the day they were able to get the other kids off the Isle. They all were.

After his Kingly duties died down and Auradon was settling into their new monarch, Ben rejoined Auradon Prep. He'd argued with his parents about continuing, and they eventually relented to the idea. Today was Ben's first day back. Mal hadn't seen him in a while, just a couple calls here and there and a handful of in-person visits.

But two months after the coronation, Ben arrives back on the campus of Auradon Prep.

His peers bow at him as he walks by, some lower than others. It unnerves him, but he'll have to deal with this a lot, he supposes. One of the things that comes with being King.

Ben's first destination upon his arrival back at camp is Mal's dorm, but when he knocks, there's no answer. A passing student bows at him. Ben recognizes him as Queen Anna's son.

“Hey, Duncan,” Ben grabs his elbow before he can walk away. The kid pauses and lifts his head up, making eye contact with Ben. “Where are they?” He asks, jerking a thumb at Mal's dorm door.

“Oh! Uh…” Duncan bites his bottom lip. “Well, Evie, Harry, and Jay are out on the field. That's where I'm heading, actually. Carlos is at robotics, I think Uma is there too, and Gil is challenging everyone to fencing duels.” Duncan rolls his eyes, but it's friendly, not at all malicious, like it may have been two months ago. “Nobody's been able to beat him yet.”

“Oh, okay.” Ben nods his head and lets go of Duncan's elbow. “What about Mal?” He asks, tilting his head.

Duncan shrugs his shoulders. “I dunno. She usually disappears this time of day.” Ben frowns. Duncan's eyes widen and he shakes his head. “Not like that!” He rushes to say, raising his hands in front of his chest. “I'm uh, I'm pretty sure she's with Fairy Godmother.” Duncan shrugs again, unsure.

“Why would she be with Fairy Godmother?” Ben asks, tilting his head to the side.

Duncan scoffs and points a finger at his own back. “Bro, have you not seen her new limbs?”

Understanding dawns on Ben's face, as well as a flush of embarrassment because no, actually, he hadn't. He'd seen them at the coronation and the couple hours afterwards, but was almost immediately swept into Kingly duties. And now that he thinks about it, the times where he's seen Mal in the past two months, her wings were gone. Likely hidden under her clothing.

Ben frowns at the thought. Mal shouldn't be hiding herself, and she definitely shouldn't feel like she needs to do so from Ben. He'll have to rectify that. Sooner rather than later.

“Do you have any idea where they might be?” Ben asks before Duncan can duck away.

Duncan shrugs again. “Not a clue.”

Ben sighs and leans against the door of Mal's room. “Alright. Thanks, Duncan.” Ben rubs at his temples. He hears Duncan's soft footsteps on the carpet, then the sound of a door distantly closing further down the hallway.

Ben kicks off the wall and walks down the hallway, going back the way he'd come. Ben walks over to one of the bike racks on campus, a grin falling on his face when his eyes land on his bike.

It'd been stuck here for the past two months, him having no time to drive it anywhere. Ben fishes the keys out of a pocket inside of his jacket and pushes it into the ignition. The bike takes a second, false starting before it actually goes off. Ben smirks and climbs all the way on, not bothering to put on a helmet.

He zooms out of the parking lot, his destination already set in his mind.

He's not sure where Mal could be, but he has an idea.

Thirty minutes later, Ben parks the bike just outside the entrance to the Enchanted Lake.

He shoves the keys back into his jacket and walks down the path. The sound of Fairy Godmother's voice fills his ears, painting a smile onto his face. He hadn't seen the woman in a while, too busy with settling down as King.

Ben stops right before emerging from the brush, peeking through the branches at the familiar sight. It's where he and Mal spent their first date. Where he asked her to be his girlfriend. Ben smiles warmly at the memory.

His eyes land on Mal, flying above the Enchanted Lake. A toothy smile crosses her features. Fairy Godmother stands under the gazebo, hands clasped in front of her body. “Oh, Mal! Congratulations!” She's saying, clapping her hands together. “I think you've beat your record for air time.”

“Hahah, thank you, Fairy Godmother.” Mal smiles at the woman. “It's nice to be able to fly again. I didn't– well, I didn't think I'd ever be able to do this again.”

“I'm happy for you, Mal.” Fairy Godmother says, voice motherly.

“Thank you.” Mal floats to the ground, landing almost hesitantly on the concrete in front of Fairy Godmother. “Really, ma'am. The flying lessons a–and the magic lessons you've been giving all of us… it means a lot.”

Fairy Godmother reaches forward and gently grabs Mal's hands. “It is my honor, Mal. Unfortunately, my daughter, Jane, was not born with natural magic. Not that I would ever love her any less for that!” She quickly amends, noticing the flick of something unreadable on Mal's face. “But there is a part of me, of course, that has always wished I had a daughter that practiced magic. And you and your friends may not be my children, but I deeply wish that one day, you will see me more than your headmistress. I care about you children from the Isle. I only wish I'd realized such a thing earlier.”

From where he is peeking out of the bushes, Ben can see Mal's face. Her pale skin has a rising blush on it, her eyes glassy with tears. Mal reaches up her hand and wipes at her eyes. “I–” She stutters. Her voice hitches as she tries to speak.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Fairy Godmother takes a measured step forward. “May I hug you, my child?”

Mal shakily nods her head. Fairy Godmother's shoulders relax, the tension in them bleeding away. Fairy Godmother wraps gentle arms around Mal's shoulders, holding the young girl close.

Watching the scene unfold, Ben's heart restricts. He has the sudden feeling of uneasiness, like he shouldn't be here. He's not sure what it is, but he takes the feeling for what it is. Ben retreats back into the bushes, making a quick and silent trek back to his bike. He mounts on it and, as quietly as possible, starts the engines and drives away, heading back to Auradon Prep.

—

When Ben arrives back at Auradon Prep, he goes to the tourney field. He stops by the lockers on the way, throwing on his unused gear. He casts up a silent prayer that there's no spiders in his uniform, and then jogs out onto the field.

“Hey, Coach!” He calls, catching the man's attention. Stephen, Robin Hood's youngest son, takes the distraction and sprints away from Coach Jenkins, who'd previously been yelling at him.

“Ben!” Coach Jenkins throws his arms open, pulling Ben into a side-hug. “Or, King Ben, right?”

Ben laughs, shaking his head. “Please, Coach, you absolutely do not have to call me that. You're practically family!” Ben says with a lighthearted shove to Jenkins shoulder.

“Whatever you say.” Coach Jenkins says. He throws an arm around Ben's shoulders, pulling the King close. “Are you thinking about rejoining the team?”

“Eh, I'm not sure.” Ben shrugs. “We're already halfway through the season, plus I don't wanna overload myself.”

Coach Jenkins begins nodding his head, agreeing with Ben. “That's smart. But hey, Ben, there's always a place on my team for you.”

“Thanks, coach.” Ben nods his head. “I was just wondering if I could run with them? Just for today, see if I wanna get back into it.”

“Of course, Ben.” Coach unwinds from Ben, turning to the field and cupping his hands on either side of his mouth. “Hey! Charming! Get over here!”

Under his helmet, Ben rolls his eyes. He and Chad had always been best friends, having known eachother since childhood. But over the years, they'd grown apart. And after what happened two months ago, the fight, Chad pushing Mal and Jay attacking him, then Chad getting together with Audrey… well, he and Chad weren't as close anymore.

“Yeah, what is it, Coach?” Chad asks. He sends a not-so-discreet disgusted look to Ben.

“Time out. I'm switching you with Ben.” Coach Jenkins says, patting Chad on the back of his shoulder.

“What!?” Chad exclaims. “Coach, he's been gone for two months! Why are you even bringing him back in!?”

“Don't argue with me, Charming.” Coach snaps in his no-nonsense voice. Chad promptly shuts his mouth. He yanks his helmet off and glares at Ben while making his way to the stands. “Gods above, that boy…” Coach groans, rubbing at his temples. “Alright, look, we're doing a mock game right now. Blue versus red.” Coach crouches down, pulling a red sport shirt from the crate at his feet. “You're on team red. Score on that end. Alright, go!” Coach claps Ben on the back, sending him off onto the field.

He gets some scattered whistles, a couple people nodding at him and raising their hands for high fives. Ben stops himself by the goal, where Chad had been. He spots Harry's number in front of the goal, clearly acting as a goalie for team red.

“Hey, Harry! Where's Jay?” He calls.

Harry raises a gloved hand and points to the goalie for team blue. “Wanted to see how well we both did defending!” Harry calls back. “Team blue is winning righ' now, but with you here, I think we'll turn it 'round!”

“Well, of course!” Ben smirks wildly, spinning the stick between his hands.

The whistle blows and the game is off.

—

An hour later, Ben and the rest of the team are getting undressed back in the locker rooms. “Hey, Ben, did you end up finding Mal?” Duncan asks as he peels off his gloves and shoves them into his locker.

Ben pauses. He doesn't wanna tell the team about what he'd seen, it was Mal's business and not his own, but then what should he say?

“Uh, no.” Ben shakes his head. It was a half-truth, technically. He'd found her, yeah, but he hadn't talked to her. Hadn't wanted to disturb the peace that she'd had by the lake.

“She'll be by our dorm later today.” Jay says from his and Harry's lockers. “It's game night.”

“'Game night'?” Ben quirks his eyebrow at the two VK's.

“Yeah, it's somethin' we've started.” Harry says. He takes off his own gloves and grabs his hook that he'd stored in Jay's locker. It's a miracle, honestly, that he hadn't gotten the weapon confiscated yet. “Game night. Every Wednesday.”

“Hah, you good with that, Ben?” Reed asks, throwing an arm around the King's shoulders. “Your girlfriend being alone with so many guys?”

Ben rolls his eyes, pushing Reed off of him. “I trust Mal, Reed.” Ben grabs his shirt from where he'd stored it in his locker and pulls it over his head. “Besides, it's pretty obvious none of the boys see her that way. Or…" Ben pauses, and with a wary glance at Harry, continues "she doesn't see them that way."

“Yeah I mean, little Carlos is like, two years younger than us.” Harry snorts as he messes with his uniform, trying to get the shirt off.

Jay turns and smacks Harry's shoulder. “Harry!”

“Ow! The hell was that for?” Harry demands, holding his injured shoulder.

“Wait, how old is Carlos?” Roman asks, standing up. The older boy had taken a bit of protective liking to Carlos, as they were both in robotics together.

“Uh…” Harry supplies helpfully.

“Hold up, how old are any of you?” Reed asks, gesturing to the two boys.

“You'll uh, have to ask Mal or Uma.” Jay says, stepping obviously on Harry's foot before he can say anything.

“Those two are like, the gang leaders, right?” Ben asks. Everyone in the locker room snaps their heads to him. He shrinks under their gazes. He'd gotten used to political ambassadors and the like staring at him the past few months, hell, his whole life. But the eyes belonging to his friends, those his age, makes him nervous for some untold reason. “Uh, Mal, she uh, told me about your gangs and stuff on our first date.” Ben shrugs, trying to come off as nonchalant. “Sorry, should I not have brought it up?”

“Nah, you're um, fine.” Jay waves his hand dismissively. “We just didn't know that you knew about that typa stuff.”

Ben shrugs his shoulders, unsure. “Sorry.” He mumbles.

“You're fine, Benny.” Harry reiterates. “Honestly, it doesn't matter. 'Sides, it's kinda obvious. All of us go to Mal or Uma for important decisions. Uma has the pirate territory and Mal, well, not sure 'bout her. She had most of the big bads until we joined factions over a year ago.”

“Yeah, Maleficent mentioned something about you guys like, locking her up or something?” Duncan says. “I remember that from the coronation.” He gets some nods and words of affirmation from the rest of the tourney players.

Jay and Harry share a look. Pretty much all of the tourney players are listening to them, most of them having finished getting changed. Now just lazing around, wanting to hear more from the two VK's.

Jay shakes his head.

Harry spins his hook to the right twice.

Jay nods his head. His eyes flick to Ben.

Harry shrugs.

Jay sighs.

It all happens in less than five seconds, most of the team barely catching— or understanding— what just happened.

Jay turns back to the team and leans his weight against the lockers. He and Harry were the only ones not back in their normal clothes, but he supposed it could wait.

“Bout a year and a half ago, somethin'… happened.” Jay starts. “It led to Mal and the heads in her gang; Evie, Carlos, and I, and Uma and the heads in her gang; Harry and Gil, to agree that something needed to change on the Isle. Things were just getting worse day by day, hour by fucking hour. We were starving and dyin' and…” Jay clenches his fists, his skin flaming.

Harry closes his locker, bringing attention to himself. “The seven of us decided to… deal with our parents. As in, the people who had control over territories on the Isle. Some of them…” Harry casts a glance down to his hook. In front of him, blood stains it. “Well, let's just say that some of them died.”

The tourney players shift, shocked at the admission.

“So… when Maleficent called you guys murderers…” Reed lets the accusation hang in the air.

“They deserved it.” Harry snaps. “They all did. Chad was right. Villains don't teach their kids kindness or fair play or anything like it. We were raised like an extension of them, like all we were worth was what we offered them. And gods forbid that we steer from their path.” Harry casts a glance to Jay, quick and barely there. “Come back empty-handed.”

Jay sighs, shaking his head. He reaches up and puts his hair in a bun, anything to get the feeling of it off his skin. As he does so, he talks. “Maleficent ended up locked in a cold iron cell under her own damn castle. For over a year, we ran the Isle. Things got better, but not perfect. Never perfect. People were still being starved and raped and murdered and beat. But we put enough fear into the unsavory types to shy them away from preying on helpless souls.”

“Living on the Isle, it hardens you.” Harry throws his head back and stares up at the ceiling. Anything so that he will not see his father standing behind his teammates, hook raised high and laughing loudly, not that Harry could hear it. Thank the gods it hadn't become auditory yet. “That's why we wanna get the other kids off so badly. I mean, god, just us being gone has made things worse again.” Harry puts his head down, eyes focused solely on Ben and not on him.

“We oughta have a talk with you 'bout when that's gonna happen.” Harry says, nodding his head to the King.

Ben nods his head quickly. “Of course.” He affirms. “Possibly at game night?”

Jay laughs. “Long as you let us pick the game.”

“Obviously.” Ben smirks wildly.

Chapter Text

Carlos really liked Auradon. The people here were much nicer than those on the Isle, and physical strength wasn't the only thing praised.

On the Isle, he was a damn good leader over his territory, but nobody really appreciated how smart he was. But then he arrived in Auradon. Within a week of being there, Fairy Godmother had elected to put him in higher, more challenging classes. The older students were less wary than the younger ones, accepting him with open arms.

Roman, one of the players on the Tourney team and also in his science class, had invited Carlos to a Robotics meeting after the coronation. He was cautious, of course. But with some gentle nudging (read: forcing) from the other VK's, he'd agreed.

Turns out, he was a goddamn prodigy. Honestly, Carlos loved it in Auradon. Sure, it was weird as shit with some of its traditions and oddities (like, seriously, who needs a closet that big), but it was nice. And Carlos thinks, in the depths of his mind where nobody will see, that it could be seen as home one day.

“Hey, Carlos.” Uma walks up to him as he exits the robotics room. Her hands are dug into her pockets, her eyes not-so subtly flicking around at the people that pass by them without a second thought. “I just saw Ben in the halls. Harry stopped and told me that he's coming to game night.”

“Wait, really?” Carlos frowns, his grip on his cane tightening. “But game night is a VK thing.”

Uma sighs, shaking her head as she does so. “I know, but Harry said that Ben wanted to talk about some policies and stuff to get more kids off the Isle.”

“What, just now?” Carlos scoffs. He and Uma begin walking through the halls, heading for his and Jay's room. “I thought he'd already begun those policies and stuff. Why'd he wait so long?”

Uma shrugs. “It's a mystery.”

“Well, that's perfect.”

“What's perfect?” Evie steps up on Carlos' other side. She's holding a newly-sewn kimono in her hands. When Carlos and Uma both cast a glance at it, she smiles and holds it tighter to her chest. “Lonnie, Mulan's daughter, commissioned me to make something for her. She said she wanted something formal and related to her history, but also something that would still reflect her personality. That's why I added the red string to use to sew, making it so prominent. I also added some more modern designs on the obi.”

“Uh, that's the belt part, right?” Uma asks.

Evie smiles at her, impressed.

Uma rolls her eyes and waves her hand dismissively. “Shan Yu's daughter had a stint with us pirates when she was younger.”

“Oh right, she was that pretty girlfriend of yours.” Carlos smirks.

“Boy, shut up!” Uma turns and smacks his shoulder, but it only makes Carlos laugh and step closer to Evie.

“Alright, alright!” Carlos raises his left hand in surrender.

When they make it back to his and Jay's dorm, the other VK's and Ben are all already there.

“Hey, Ben!” Carlos grins and walks up to him. He gives Ben, who'd stood up when they entered, a side-hug, then makes his way to his bed. He folds his cane up with his hair tie and throws it on the bed, falling face-first into the plush comforter.

Duke jumps up onto the bed, wagging his tail against Carlos neck and licking at his face.

“Ow, Duke.” Carlos groans. He turns over onto his back and grabs a pillow, pressing it into his face.

“Hey, kid, stop trying to suffocate yourself.” The pillow is plucked out of his arms by one Harry Hook, who throws it onto Jay's bed.

“Oh, you're no fun.” Carlos shimmies up the bed, electing to sit with his right leg crossed under his left and his left leg straight out. Duke barks and curls up onto Carlos' lap, resting his head on his thigh.

“So, what're we playing tonight?” Evie asks, neatly laying the kimono on the back of an armchair, then sitting down in it. “Personally, I vote for Clue.”

“We have too many people for Clue.” Gil says, eyes raking over them. He's sitting with Uma on Carlos' bed, legs pulled into a criss-cross.

“We could team up.” Ben suggests.

Mal laughs, placing her hand on Ben's shoulder. They're sitting at the round table by the armchair, Mal's legs propped up on Ben's lap. “Uh, Ben, we don't do well with teams.”

“So, it could be a team-building exercise.” Ben smiles widely, looking around at them. “Besides, I mean, come on, I've seen you guys work together. You did great work with Maleficent at my coronation.”

“That was more a mutual fear thing.” Harry shrugs. He's sitting on the bay of the window, legs pulled to his chest.

“Come on, it'll be fun.” Ben presses.

It doesn't seem like he's gonna let the topic just pass on by.

“I actually agree with Ben.” Evie stands up and walks over to Carlos' bed, dragging the armchair with her. She places it by the foot of the bed. “I call Uma. And Mal, you'll obviously be working with Ben.”

“Obviously.” Uma scoffs, blowing her hair out of her face.

“Then I'll work with–”

“Carlos, can I work with you?” Gil asks, turning to the boy at the top of the bed.

Carlos looks a little shocked, but he shrugs his shoulders. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure. It'll be fun.” He tries for a small smile in Gil's direction.

“Then, that leaves…” Evie turns around, eyes landing on Harry and Jay. The latter laying sprawled out on his bed, propping up on his elbow when Evie turns to him. His head slowly turns to Harry, who's staring at him just as bewildered.

“Uh, no.” Jay shakes his head. “We may work together on the field, but strategy isn't really our thing. I'd rather work with Carlos. Or even Gil.”

“Aw, thanks!” Gil smiles widely, but frowns just as quickly. “Wait.”

“Jay, it'll be fine.” Mal stands up, Ben following her. “Ben, bring the table to the foot of Carlos' bed.” She walks over to the bookcase by the TV. Though it holds more board games and such rather than books. She looks over them, dragging her finger along before she finds Clue buried under Life, Sorry, and Scrabble. She smiles to herself when her eyes land on the final game, remembering her and Uma going out and buying it, joking that it'd help some of them with their less than stellar comprehension skills.

“Uma, c'mon.” Harry pleads, standing up and grabbing a wooden chair, dragging it to the table Ben had moved to the foot of the bed. He makes eye contact with the pirate, eyes pleading with her.

Uma places a sympathetic (ish) hand atop Harry's, an even more sympathetic smile crossing her lips. The absolute mischievous look in her eyes betrays any sympathy Harry may believe, though. “You'll be fine, Harry.”

“You're a whore.” Harry deadpans, snapping his hands away and sinking down in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Uma pulls back as well and cackles. She slides off the bed and sits in the armchair with Evie, there being just enough room for the both of them.

“Mal.” Evie grabs the girl's arm before she sits down, leaning across the table to do so.

“Huh, what?” She asks, looking up at Evie.

“You should take your wing binds off.” Evie says. “It's not good for you to wear them so long. Besides, we're relaxing in the dorms.” She spreads her hands, then sits down.

“Aw yeah, you're right.” Mal stands back up and steps away from the table, pulling her shirt over her head.

Ben sputters and turns his head away, face burning red. To his confusion, none of the other VK's have the gall to look away at all. Uma is even watching her with this curious look in her eyes.

“Um, I can't–” Mal says, stumbling over her words for a second. “I can't get the binds off.”

“Here, I got it.” Gil says, getting up on his knees on the bed. “Turn around.”

“Thanks.” Mal says, pulling her hair out of the way.

“Hey, princey, what's got your knickers in a twist?” Harry asks, nodding to him.

“Uh, she–” Ben places his hand over his mouth, his face still burning red. After a couple seconds, he continues talking. “Just– sorry, is it normal to undress in front of others on the Isle?”

An uncomfortable look passes the VK's faces, one Ben doesn't quite understand. “Well, not… normal, but…” Evie shrugs her shoulders, bringing her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees. “We're all friends here, like… we're practically family, so…”

“Family's pushing it a bit.” Jay says, sitting down in a chair by Harry. There's a whole two feet between them.

“Besides, they've seen me shirtless.” Mal says, sitting back down. Her shirt is back on, her wings flexing behind her body. “Can't exactly stay modest when stitching up a stab wound to my sternum.” This earns the VK's an affronted look from Ben, and more uncomfortable facial expressions that Ben doesn't understand completely.

“Well… stab wounds to the sternum aren't common here in Auradon.” Ben says, smoothing over his shirt.

“Baby, I don't think stab wounds of any kind are common in Auradon.” Uma says with a scoffing laugh as she begins to set up the game. “Alright, Evie and I'll be Miss Scarlet, Carlos, Gill, you two can be Colonel Mustard–”

“Sweet, he's my favorite!” Gil exclaims, clapping his hands together.

“Mal, Ben, you want Plum or Peacock?” Uma asks, holding both their characters in her hands.

Mal turns to Ben, who shrugs noncommittally. “Your pick, Mal.”

“Uh… we will take Peacock.” Mal says, grabbing the blue icon from Uma's hands.

Uma shrugs and drops Plum's icon back into the box, then turns to Harry and Jay. “Alright, Green or Dr. Orchid?”

“Green.”

“Orchid.”

“Oh, this is gonna be hell.” Carlos groans, dropping his head in his hands. He and Gil are lying down on their stomachs on his bed, both of them using a pillow to help support their heads.

“Why would you want Green?” Jay asks, turning to Harry incredulously.

“He's hot, easy.” Harry snatches Green's card, which is face-up in the pile of cards on the table.

“Seriously, that's why?” Jay groans and rolls his eyes. “Well, I want Dr. Orchid. She's a doctor, a badass, and she looks cool.”

“Her entire body is pink.” Harry deadpans, knocking the icon out of Uma's outstretched hand. “She doesn't even match her namesake.”

“Wha– you don't match your namesake!” Jay cries.

“Well, my namesake sucks. Besides, Green is hot. For a murder suspect, at least.”

“ You're a murder suspect.” Jay deadpans, glaring at Harry.

“Eh, not officially. There's no law on the Isle, remember? It was just James' old crew getting pissed because they had it in their minds that I killed the guy.”

“You did kill the guy. You literally–”

“Boys!” Uma snaps. Both of them turn to her, looking like a deer in headlights. “You get Green.” She places the man on his spot and then grabs Orchid off the board, placing her back in the box with Plum.

“Wait, 'James'? As in… James Hook?” Ben asks, shaking his head and waving his hand.

“We're moving on.” Mal demands, beginning to sort the cards between place, person, and object.

“Mal–”

“We're moving on.” She snaps at Ben, eyes blazing green for just a second. It's incentive enough for Ben to nod his head and drop the subject.

After a tense silence, Evie begins placing the weapons in random rooms and Uma grabs one card from each set of organized piles, placing them in their little pouch, then placing the pouch in the middle of the board.

“Alright, let's start playing.” Evie says with a slightly strained smile.

—

Once they finish Clue— Carlos and Gil won, guessing that it was Plum in the Study with the candlestick— they move onto Life with the same teams. It's as they're playing this one that Ben starts to bring up the plan to get more kids off the Isle.

“I thought it was just a matter of doing what you did with us?” Uma asks, moving her and Evie's car forward to the baby space. “Ew, children.”

“Oh, you love them.” Evie says, grabbing one boy and one girl, putting them behind her and Uma's pink icons.

“It's not that simple.” Ben shrugs, watching diligently as Gil reaches forward and hits the spinner. “There's a lot of politics involved, but really, I need more support. People were outraged when we announced my original proclamation, and we only briefly mentioned that we'd be bringing over more kids one day. Your local support has increased a bit after my coronation— the way you dealt with Maleficent really helped with that— but the truth is, people will never truly accept you guys unless you convince them.”

“And how do you suggest we convince them?” Carlos asks, accepting his money from Evie, who'd taken charge of being the banker.

“Well… I was thinking.” Ben cautiously moves his and Mal's car forward five spaces, landing on a blank spot.

“Oh god, that's never good.” Jay groans.

“Shut up. Look, I was thinking we could throw a ball.” Ben says, wincing when all movement screeches to a halt. “Um, we could invite everyone in Auradon, all the super important people. Kings, Queens, the whole shebang. And we could have you guys as our special guests. You seven could go around and… mingle with the other guests and invoke support for getting the other kids off the Isle.”

“Ben, we're not exactly social people. I mean, our people skills are… like, in the gutter.” Mal laughs nervously. “Besides, you said you'd be inviting everyone? All over the Kingdom and beyond? Does that include the people our parents wronged?”

“”Wronged' is… underselling it a bit.” Carlos scoffs.

“Yeah well, I didn't wanna say 'locked up, tortured, killed, and tormented', so…” Mal shrugs her shoulders.

“Look, it would be a good way to garner support.” Ben tries to soothe. “Convince them that you guys are people too. That you deserve second chances.”

“We never even got a first chance.” Harry reminds, pointing his career card at Ben. The game has been long forgotten on the table.

“And that's unfair!” Ben says quickly. “Look, I just– I don't want to spring it on my people. And we need more support. We were barely able to get enough to bring you seven over. But this time, we'll only be bringing over four kids and we'll be making sure that they're chosen well.”

“Yeah, and how will you choose?” Uma asks. She crosses her arms and places one leg over the other, leaning back in the armchair. “And how often are you going to be bringing over more kids? I mean, there are so many on the Isle. So many that deserve to get off of that damn place.”

“I wanna start a bit younger.” Ben says. “Now, I brought you guys over because you were around my age. It gave me better chances to get along with you guys and make sure that the transition was smooth. But I've heard you guys talking. Talking about those young kids on the Isle, the ones who deserve to be over here, in your opinion, more than any of you.”

“Well, how young?” Mal asks. “Like… toddlers?”

“No, of course not.” Ben shakes his head fervently. “I don't want to take any young kids away from their parents. My plan is kids in the age range of 11 and 14. I want to get them acclimated to Auradon, and over time, start bringing in more kids in more numbers. Eventually, I'd like to take down the barrier altogether. Give everyone on the island, old or young, a second chance. A–A first chance! Whatever. But it will take time. And I need support for this. I really do.”

The VK's all give each other looks, communicating between them with only their eyes and subtle movements, quite like Jay and Harry had in the locker rooms earlier in the day.

“How long?” Mal asks, turning to Ben after a couple seconds. He hums a response, tilting his head slightly. “How long do you think it would take to take down the barrier?”

“By my estimate… maybe two years?” Ben shrugs his shoulders. “It all depends on how much support we get. If prominent figures agree to help, we can cut that time in half. And while, yes, those prominent figures are people that your parents wronged… I think the pros of meeting them, of talking to them and garnering support, far outweigh any potential risks.”

The VK's all share another long, hard look. Ben sits still in his chair, nervous of what their response may end up being.

After a full minute, Mal turns back to him. “Okay. We'll attend your ball. We'll play nice for a night and do our best to gain support. But we are not going to hide who we are. We're Isle kids through and through. We're never hiding that.”

“I would never ask you to.” Ben assures quickly, placing a hand atop Mal's.

The girl smiles gratefully at him, and he mirrors it right back.

“Oh, you guys are sappy.” Harry says it mock disgust, tossing a career card at them.

“Ah, hey! Harry!”

Evie and Uma both laugh at Mal's indignation. Soon enough, laughs are rippling all around the room.

Little did they know, they had an eavesdropper. Someone who would do anything to get the VK’s back to where they belonged: The Isle.

Chapter Text

“I can't believe we agreed to this.” Harry groans, tugging at the collar of the shirt Evie had told him to put on.

“I just can't believe you've been able to stand still long enough for Evie to take your measurements.” Uma snickers from her place on her bed.

“How come we all have to stay standing but little Carlos doesn't?” Harry asks, throwing an arm in Carlos' direction.

“Uh, 'little Carlos' is disabled.” Carlos says, raising one hand before going back to the 3DS game he's playing. “And I'm Evie's favorite.”

“That's absurd, I don't play favorites.” Evie says with a sly smile. She leans down and whispers something in Carlos' ear, making the boy smirk.

“Wha– hey!” Harry exclaims, throwing his arm back in their direction. He huffs and crosses his arms when nobody responds to him this time. “Look, I doubt I've grown in the two months since you last took our measurements for our coronation attire.”

“You grew three centimeters. Now hush.” Evie says, lightly hitting him with her measuring tape before crouching down at his legs.

“Speaking of, why can't we just wear the suits we wore then?” Jay asks.

Evie gasps in outrage, placing her hand on her chest. “I would never let you boys attend a second celebration of any kind while wearing the same drafty suits you wore to the last one!” She stands up and marches over to her work table, scribbling down the final of Harry's measurements. “Ugh, men!”

“She does understand that she just called her own creations 'drafty', right?” Jay whispers, leaning over into Harry's ear. The pirate snickers, quickly smothering it when Evie snaps back around, glaring half-heartedly at him.

“Well, what're you girls wearing?” Gil asks, standing straighter and spreading his arms out when Evie steps up to him.

“That's a surprise.” Evie says with a wink and a shrug.

“Have I ever told you I hate you?” Harry deadpans to the girl, who only laughs and hits him again with the measuring tape.

“Oh, um, Evie.” Jay calls.

“Hm?” The girl hums, writing down more measurements on her paper.

“I don't wanna wear any red.”

“What!?” She whirls around, her hair whipping into her own face. She rushes forward and grabs his biceps, shaking him slightly. “Why don't you want to wear red!? It's like, your signature color!”

“Uh, bitch.” Harry says, raising his hand.

“Shh! Shush!” Evie snaps, silencing him with a waving finger.

“I just… I don't wanna wear red.” Jay shrugs, grabbing the back of his neck and scratching it nervously. “Besides, it's Jafar's color, not mine.”

Evie's face softens, her grip on his arms loosening. “Alright.” She backs up and smooths her dress, then runs her fingers through her hair. “I suppose I could do you with gold. You've always looked good in that golden color.”

“See, problem solved!” Jay claps his hands together, grinning widely. Everyone in the room jumps at the loud noise, but nobody comments on it. “Also, no shoulder pads this time. Please?” His request gets nods and verbal assent from the rest of the boys.

“Aw poosh, you guys are no fun.” Evie rolls her eyes and turns back to her table of papers, sewing materials, and pens, pencils, and colored pens and pencils.

“Sorry, I don't wanna be suffocating under those things all night.” Harry says with a roll of his eyes.

“When even is the ball?” Gil asks. “Also, Evie, can I step down?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah.” Evie waves her hand in their general direction. “I've got everything I need from you guys. And the ball is two weeks from now. Plenty of time for me to get everything ready.”

“Ugh, I feel so bad making them wait even a day longer.” Harry flops down onto Uma's bed, sprawling out like a starfish. “How soon do you guys think we can start getting more kids off the Isle?”

“Hopefully in two weeks.” Evie shrugs. She sits down in her chair, beginning to sketch rough ideas for the boy's suits. “It'll likely take a couple days after the ball before we can do anything, so about three weeks.”

“Gods, another month!?” Jay exclaims. “This is torture.”

“We're going to get them off the Isle.” Evie promises. “Now, out! Out! I need to work!” She claps her hands, waving them to usher them out of the room.

The boys all stand up from where they'd flopped down and exit the room, grumbling about how cruel and mean Evie is. She only laughs, slamming the door in their faces once they're all out.

“Finally.” Evie walks back to her table and sits down, grabbing a pencil. “Some peace and quiet.”

—

Mal is sitting in the gazebo, her legs dipped in the water. Behind her, Fairy Godmother and Uma are going over some spells. She's not sure what kind they are, her mind is preoccupied with other things.

Which is why it takes her a second to notice the new body next to her.

“You with us, Mal?” Uma asks, startling the girl out of her stupor.

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Mal pushes her hair out of her eyes. She turns around, but Fairy Godmother is nowhere in sight. “Where's Fairy Godmother?” She asks the sea witch.

“She noticed that you had other things on your mind.” Uma shrugs and dips her hand in the water. She brings her hand up, cupped and holding some water that slowly seeps through the cracks in her fingers and back into the lake. Green magic shimmers on her skin, and then the callouses and scars of her hand are revealed. She shivers and flaps her hand, trying to get the water off. “This lake gives me the creeps.”

Mal laughs, bringing a hand to her mouth. She gently reaches her hand out, a question in her eyes. Uma shrugs and allows Mal to take her hand. The fae covers Uma's hand and whispers, “cēlāre.”

The scars are concealed again.

Uma grins and holds her hand out, examining it. “You're getting better at the older magic.” She admires, flexing her fingers out.

“Yeah, ever since Fairy Godmother's been teaching us, it's been a lot easier.” Mal shrugs her shoulders, then looks back out at the lake.

“So, what's on your mind?” Uma asks, bumping their shoulders together.

“Just… it's that ball thing that Ben mentioned.” Mal shrugs. “It's a good idea, it is, but I'm worried about the people that our parents hurt. They'll be in attendance, and what do you think they'll do when they see us? They certainly won't want to play nice, and I mean, I don't even want to play nice with them.” Mal sighs and grips the edges of the concrete. She glares down at her reflection in the water.

“Do you not think the ball will work to gain support?” Uma ends up asking after a couple minutes of thoughtful silence.

“I honestly have no idea.” Mal shrugs again. “But I do know that whatever happens at the ball, the people in attendance are not going to want us there.”

“Well, we just have to make them want us there.” Uma says with a determined nod. “We have to show them who we are, Mal. We have to show them that the kids on the Isle deserve a chance to live a life here in Auradon.”

Mal sighs, but nods her head. “I know, I know. I just… it's been nearly four months since we left the Isle. There's no telling what's happened since then. I mean, what if they think we abandoned them?”

“Mal, they're not gonna think that.” Uma reaches out and places what she hopes is a comforting hand on Mal's shoulder. “They all know that Maleficent tried to attack Auradon. And we've been talking to Facilier, Mira, and Max. We've already told them about the ball and Ben's ideas. They only have to hold out for another month.”

Mal scoffs and looks up at the sky. There's tears pricking her eyes, and Uma is nice enough to not point them out. “Are we even gonna survive another month?”

Uma frowns and pulls her hand away. “We have to, Mal.” She says. “And so do they.”

“I don't want to do this any longer.” Mal whispers. She clenches her hands into fists, her nails scraping against the concrete. “The way these people look at me…” She reaches a hand back and touches her wings. “God, I just want to rip them off all over again.”

“No!” Uma grabs Mal's hand and yanks it away from her wings. She clasps their hands together. “Don't you fucking dare. Listen here, Mal.” Uma turns her body and forces Mal to turn hers to face her. “We don't have a choice. I want one, you want one, we all want a choice, but we don't have one. We don't get one. You are going to attend that ball, you are going to fake your way through the entire night because there is no other way, and you are going to get these kids off the Isle. And I will be right there with you.” Uma places her hand atop Mal's knee. “We're all going to be there with you. So if you ever falter, if you ever have doubts, you fall back on us. And we will do everything in our power to help you. We're a team. Always and forever.”

Mal smiles at Uma. More tears prick her eyes, and it's only a second before she's crying. Uma's face softens a fraction and she pulls Mal close, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and shielding the girl.

Chapter Text

Personally, Jay wasn't a fan of Auradon. Not that he wanted to go back to the Isle! He'd rather live in an iron room, but Auradon just didn't seem to vibe with him. Tourney was the only thing he excelled at, and it was also the only thing in Auradon that clicked with him. The Tourney athletes seemed to have warmed up to him and Harry, but a part of Jay knew that they would never truly accept them.

Which brings them back to the original matter; Jay wasn't a fan of Auradon.

This is one of the many reasons.

“I'm just saying, I think it's weird that Uma and Mal are the supposed ring leaders in their 'gangs',” Jay can just imagine the air quotes the lost boy's son is using. He's pretty sure the kid's name is Reed? He doesn't remember, and frankly, he doesn't care to. “Sure, they're both pretty cool, but I mean… it's kinda hard to believe those two girls run a gang.”

“I don't agree with the 'girls' part of that statement, but I do agree with everything else.” Duncan says, nodding his head. “I mean, when they first showed up, I kind of pegged Jay as the leader type. He's strong and he's definitely scary.”

“Speaking of, does anyone remember when Hook called Jay an 'attack dog'?” Another one of the Tourney boys says. Jay doesn't completely recognize the voice.

“Well, after how he attacked Chad on Family Day, I'm not surprised,” another unfamiliar voice says. Jay winces from his spot hiding behind the lockers. He hadn't meant to walk in on this conversation. He was running back in to grab one of his books cause he forgot it in his locker, he wasn't expecting all of… this. “Hey, Zain, you got any idea what kinda thing Jay is?”

A locker slams shut, and another voice is added to the gossip circle. This one, however, Jay recognizes. He wasn't on the Tourney team, and Jay is forever grateful for that. His full name is Zain al-Syed, eldest son of Jasmine and Aladdin.

“Jafar was a Djinn.” Jay's hands flinch at the mention of his father. “It's likely that once they left the Isle, Jay fully came into his Djinn powers. They're not inherently evil, but it's powerful, ancient magic. The barrier would definitely be suppressing that magic.”

“Is a Djinn the same as the Genie your parents are friends with?” Duncan asks.

“Not really,” Zain replies, “they're similar when it comes to power, but a Genie is bound by the lamp, at least until someone wishes it free. Djinn aren't bound by such things unless you use magic to trap them in one.”

“Are you saying someone could trap Jay in a lamp?” Reed asks.

Jay's breath seizes at the idea.

“No, of course not,” Zain says, “Jay's pretty powerful. You'd need something more powerful than a Djinn to trap him, and there are very few of those things still left in the world.” Jay doesn't even register Zain's footsteps until the boy has rounded the lockers and is staring right at his eyes. He looks him up and down, and Jay holds the strap of his backpack tighter.

Zain leans his head back around the lockers, and Jay's stomach plummets.

Oh gods, he's going to tell them he was eavesdropping! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“By the way, you guys really shouldn't talk about people behind their back.” Zain tells them, rather than telling them that Jay had heard their conversation. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were the ones from the Isle.” And with that, Zain walks out without so much as a second glance to Jay.

As Jay hurries out of the lockers, head drooping, his mind races. Zain had lied. With the right incantation and the right intent, he could be trapped in a lamp. He shivers at the thought, and hurries onward to his next class.

—

Jay's list of fears is pretty short. And pretty well dealt with.

• His father (dead)
• Being stuck on the Isle forever (he lives in Auradon now)
• Losing Mal, Evie, or Carlos (not likely, especially since they're now in Auradon)
• Losing control of his powers (also not likely, since Mal was helping him with studying Djinn and learning to keep his power in check)

But ever since Zain had mentioned to the other athletes that he could be trapped in a lamp for the rest of his life, a new horror had seized him. What if one of them got an idea to 'deal' with Jay and trapped him in a lamp?

Jay had no doubt Mal and the others would do everything in their power to un trap him, but what if whoever does it throws the lamp off a cliff or into an ocean or a thousand other things you can do to get rid of something small like that?

He was tossing and turning in his sleep, nightmares of smoke choking him and sucking him in. Of being alone forever, forced to bend to every whim and will of those who find him.

Years of being on the Isle, where you had to be quiet, small, and unseen, makes sure that his nightmares don't wake Carlos. But it wakes him and he can't ever go back to sleep afterwards.

Jay groans, dropping his head onto his knees. It was the middle of the night, they had five days until the damn ball, and yet another nightmare was waking him. At the rate he was going, he'd be dead tired at the ball.

Jay throws the blanket off of him and climbs out of bed, slipping on a pair of socks and his boots. He grabs his leather jacket from its spot hanging on the coat rack by the door and shrugs it on, then exits the dorm. They technically weren't supposed to leave their dorms after 11:00, and especially not the VK's, but Jay can't stay in the room anymore. It's confining, the walls closing in on him.

He's not sure where his legs are taking him until he's standing in the middle of the Tourney field, hands shoved in his pockets as he stares up at the glowing moon.

Jay sighs and drops down into sitting criss-cross. He kinda wishes he'd brought his phone out here or something, but the longer he sits there, eventually falling onto his back, he's quite glad he didn't bring anything that could distract him. It was nice to simply listen to the sounds of the forest and stare up at the moon and stars.

It was kind of hard to see such sights on the Isle, as there was always a thick cloud of grey smoke that prevented anyone from admiring the night sky. It also prevented sunburns, but Jay didn't really have to worry about such things.

“Care for company?”

Jay startles, head snapping up to look at whoever had found him out here. He relaxes a bit when he sees who it was, though.

Harry's holding a glass bottle of what Jay is pretty sure is alcohol. He's also holding two small red solo cups, almost as small as the shot glasses his father kept as decorative display in the pawn shop.

“Should you be drinking?” Jay asks, pulling himself back into a sitting position and taking the cup from Harry's outstretched hand.

“Probably not.” Harry shrugs and uncaps the bottle, setting his own cup down and filling it nearly to the brim. “According to online sources, I'm what some would call 'sober'.” Harry puts the word into air quotes, and Jay scoffs, thrusting his own cup out. Harry grins and pours some of the drink into Jay's cup as well, significantly less than what he'd poured into his own cup. Harry then caps the bottle again and grabs his drink, downing nearly half of it in one go. “Then again, being sober is for pusses.” He grins past his cup, staring right into Jay's eyes, and drinks more of it.

Jay laughs and stares down at the cup Harry had poured for him. He wasn't like Harry, not in this way. Both their fathers were drunken abusers, but Harry didn't have any problem with drinking. Maybe it was the pirate genes, Jay's not sure, but whatever it was, it wasn't something he possessed. The smell of the alcohol wasn't really what bothered him, it was the idea of actually drinking it. He'd only been drunk a handful of times— the times his father had forced it down his throat so it would make the process easier— and he was physically repulsed at the idea of getting drunk, willingly or not.

Maybe it would be easier if he was alone, or if he was with Mal, or Evie, or Carlos, people he trusted. Not that he didn't trust Harry— okay, that was a thin line still— but it wasn't like how he trusted Mal and the others.

Harry, having almost finished his drink, seems to realize the emotional turmoil stirring in Jay's gut. “Dude, you don't have to drink it.” He reaches out and tries to take the cup back, but Jay pulls it close to his chest.

“No, no, I'm fine!” He tries to convince.

It doesn't work very well. Harry is staring at him like he's on fire and just tried convincing Harry that he wasn't.

“Harry, really, it's fine.” To prove his point, Jay brings the cup to his mouth and takes a big swig of it. He immediately turns to the side and starts coughing, thumping his fist against his chest.

Harry starts laughing, pulling out a flask from his jacket. He holds it out invitingly to Jay. “Here, drink this.” When Jay only looks at it, distrust swimming in his eyes, he rolls his eyes and flick the top off, then pours a bit into the grass. “It's water, Jayby.”

Jay grabs the flask and starts drinking from it like a starved man.

Harry only laughs more, taking Jay's cup and finishing it, then pouring some more of the alcohol into his own cup.

“What are you doing out here?” Jay finally asks, once he's sure he's not going to start coughing again. His throat was still on fire and the horrid taste was still there, but it was dulled some due to the water Harry had provided.

“Couldn' sleep,” Harry shrugs. He crushes both cups and takes off the cap to the bottle again, this time drinking straight from the bottle. “Didn't really know where I was goin' til I was here with a bottle and two cups in me hand.”

“Why would you take two cups?” Jay questions. That was weird, right? Harry couldn't have known he was out here, definitely not.

“No clue,” Harry shrugs again. He caps the bottle and leans it against his thigh. “What're you doing out here?”

Jay shrugs as well. “Same thing. Couldn't really sleep. Nightmares or whatever.”

Harry nods his head. “Yeah, same.”

The two sit in silence for a couple minutes.

“Remember when you stabbed me?” Jay asks.

“Hmm, which time?” Harry replies.

“Okay, hahah.” Jay scoffs and shoves Harry's shoulder, causing a miniscule smile to cross the pirate's features. “That time you pickpocketed me and stole the necklace I'd found.”

“Oh, right, the eyes.” Harry nods his head. “Ya think the diamonds of that necklace actually came from a Grootslang?”

“Nah, I don't think they were real.” Jay shakes his head. “But I could'a pawned them off as real enough.”

“Course you could've. You're a born liar, Jayby.”

“A part of me is offended by that, and I think that means Auradon has a good influence. Anyway, yeah. That time.” Jay laughs and looks up at the sky, leaning back a bit and supporting his weight on his right arm.

“Yeah, I remember it.” Harry nods his head. “Ya caught me in the middle o' the act and tried to fight me for it. Course, you didn' realize I had a knife on me til it was in your shoulder, and by then I was runnin' off with the necklace an' without my knife. Why you askin'?”

“I nearly died,” Jay says. He drops onto his back, crossing his hands under his head and refusing to look away from the stars above them. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Harry laying onto his back as well. “It was the first time I had a near-death experience like that. I knew better than to pull the knife out, so I went to Nasira's.”

“That's your Aunt, right?” Harry asks. “Jade's mum?”

“Yeah,” Jay gulps, bringing a hand to his collarbone, “I uh… knew better than to go to the shop. Jafar wouldn' take kindly to me bein' stabbed, no less that I lost the necklace I'd nabbed. Before I left, Jade gave me a bracelet she was planning to give to some boy she liked at Dragon Hall. Said it might catch a pretty penny and would appease Jafar enough for him to look past the fact that I got my dumbass stabbed. In my good arm, no less.”

Jay laughs bitterly and brings his legs up, crossing his right leg over his knee.

The two second-hand's lull into silence for a few minutes, simply admiring the stars above them.

“CJ hadn't eaten.” Harry finally whispers, voice no louder than a flap of bird wings in a still sky.

“What do you mean?” Jay asks, tilting his head a bit so he can look at the pirate.

“James'd blown what little money we had on booze.” Harry chances a look over to Jay, but when he notices that the boy is looking at him as well, he snaps his head back up. “And Harriet was off doin' god knows what. CJ hadn't eaten in days, survivin' off water from the beach and little bits of ro'en fruit she could find around town. I told her to stay in her room and that I'd go find some good food for her.”

Harry pauses for a second, dropping one of his hands to his side.

“I watched you take the necklace from tha' woman when she was boastin' about where the diamonds was from.” Harry continues after a moment. “I followed you down a few streets, makin' sure nobody was followin' both of us, and then I struck. Snatched the necklace right from your body. When ya grabbed my shoulder, I panicked. Needed money to buy food, and it was easier to steal jewels from someone like you then steal food from grown men who would–”

Harry cuts himself off, cringing and curling his hands into fists.

“Anyway, yeah,” Harry does his best to shrug in the position that he's in, “that's why I stole the necklace off of ya.”

“Huh.” Jay looks back up at the sky.

They roll into a silence again.

The two don't have much in common, really. They'd both kill and die for their leaders (Mal and Uma), but past that, there wasn't much. They both liked Tourney?

Could that be something they had in common?

The two of them had always been at eachothers throats, but that was mainly because Uma and Mal had always been fighting over something or another. Before the takeover, Jay could count on one hand the times he and Harry had been friendly (ish) with each other.

1. When an older man in Uma's crew took advantage of a child in Mal's territory, and Uma ordered Harry to help Jay subdue the fighting man after Carlos had been thrown aside
2. When Mad Maddy got it in her head to challenge both Mal and Uma's gangs to war. A war which was very quickly squashed
3. And finally, the time the two ran into each other on the street and were cornered by men bigger, stronger, and better than them. The truce was short-lived, lasting only a night. Jay had done his best to bring a bleeding Harry to the Lost Revenge, dropping him off at the edge, per Harry's request, and then leaving. They never told either of their leaders about that, however

It'd been a year and a half since Mal and Uma had called an official truce and joined forces. And still, the only time the two men spent together was when they were accompanying their respective leaders.

“I'm sorry.” Jay finds himself saying before he can even register what he was apologizing for.

“What for?” Harry asks after a second, shocked and confused at the words.

“Not sure, exactly,” Jay says, “just… everything I've done against you, I guess?”

Harry scoffs and sits up, leaning on his side and supporting himself with one arm. “Yeah, you're good, Jay.” He says with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “We've both hurt each other, but so has everyone on the Isle. If I held a grudge against everyone who's stolen from, stabbed, or tried to kill me, I wouldn't have any sort of alliance with anyone.”

“Okay, yeah, but still,” Jay sits up as well, pulling his legs forward and laying his arms across his knees, “I feel the need to… ugh, this is so stupid.” Jay rubs his temple, and Harry laughs at his distress. “I want us to try to get along. You called me an attack dog, but you're just as much as one as I am.”

Harry opens his mouth, but pauses when he makes eye contact with Jay, who's staring at him with a look daring him to argue. He shrugs and tilts his head, agreeing.

“What I'm saying is that I can see how wound up Mal and Uma are when it comes to the two of us. For the past year and a half, they've been waiting for us to get at each other's throats again. I want to… calm them down a bit on that front,” Jay explains.

“Alright.” Harry shrugs and grabs the bottle of alcohol. It's half-empty.

“Huh? What?” Jay turns to look at Harry, eyes wide.

“What?” Harry brings his head back and takes a huge swig of the alcohol. “Didn't expect me to agree so quickly?”

“Uh, not really, no.” Jay shrugs his shoulders.

“Look, I see it too.” Harry moves a bit to sit in the same position Jay is. His arms hang over his knees, one hand holding the bottle of alcohol. “I can tell they're worried about the two of us trying to kill each other again. Now, no doubt I'd win–”

“Well–”

“But I can see it.” Harry barrels on, ignoring Jay's interrupting protest. “If you wanna try to get along, we can do that.”

“Alright.” Jay nods his head, a grin on his face. “Alright, sweet. That's perfect.”

“See?” Harry holds his hand out. “Wanna shake on it?” He asks, a smirk on his lips.

Jay laughs and hangs his head slightly, thrusting his own hand out and shaking Harry's. “Truce?” He asks, lifting his head back up. His hair has fallen in his face, obscuring his view, but he doesn't really care.

“Um…” Harry hesitates, though only for a second. “Yeah! Yeah, totally.” He finally says, snapping out of whatever had distracted him.

Jay grins and rests his cheek on his knee, turning his head to look at Harry. “Thanks,” He whispers, “I feel better now.”

Harry grins and flourishes his head back, swishing his hair. “Anytime.”

The lights on the field turn off, and suddenly, Jay and Harry are being hit with a bright as fuck flashlight. “Hey!” A male voice screams. The two boys look up, both instinctively shielding their faces as best they could while still trying to see whoever's caught them out here. “What are you two doing out here!? Get over here!”

“He didn't say our names,” Harry whispers.

“No, he did not,” Jay agrees.

Without a second thought between either of them, they both stand up and bolt off the field. Whoever caught them is yelling at them to stop and come right back, but neither of them chance a look behind. They end up running into the forest, going until they can't hear the man's shouts anymore.

Harry laughs, trying to stay at least somewhat quiet in case there were any animals out. He crouches down, hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath.

“Shit, I can't see a thing,” Jay curses. His voice is breathy though, a chuckle forcing itself past his lips.

“You have your phone on you? We can use that.” Harry suggests, but Jay shakes his head. Harry can only see a vague outline of the boy's body, and he only catches the head-shake because Jay's hair swishes around, shadowing under the moonlight.

“Damn.” Harry laughs more, looking around. “Um, I think the campus is…” He looks up at the sky, the points behind Jay. “That way.”

“You don't sound very sure.”

“Call it instinct.”

“Okay, where are you?” Jay reaches his hands out, eventually falling on Harry's shoulders. He trails his hand down Harry's arm and grabs his hand.

“Uh…” Harry stares down at where his and Jay's hands are. “Much as I don't mind holdin' your hand, what's the reason?”

“We need to stay together,” Jay reasons easily. And then Harry is staring into glowing red eyes that pop out in the dark forest. “I can see like this. Follow me.”

It takes a second for Harry to get his legs to actually work, stumbling along after Jay for only a couple feet before he gets into step with the man. They end up making it back to campus and sneaking back into the dorms, stopping once they get to Harry's door.

“Right, well, this has been fun, but I must retire for the night.” Harry gasps dramatically and places his hand on his forehead, palm facing outward.

“Will I ever see you again?” Jay grabs Harry's hands in both of his own, a smile on his features.

“I have no idea, good sir.” Harry continues on, voice getting high-pitched and girly. “I should hope so. Can you spare a simple goodnight's kiss?” He asks, sticking his bottom lip out and staring up at Jay with adoring eyes.

“I'm sorry, but I cannot.” Jay says, barely containing his laughs. “For I… am in love with another.”

Harry gasps and pulls away, placing a hand on his chest scandalously. “I should have known.” Harry opens his door, taking a halfway step inside. Harry then juts his chin up. “Goodnight then, sir.”

Jay opens his mouth to say something else, to continue playing the act, but the sound of a door opening and slamming further down the hall startles them both. “Shit, shit! Go to your room!” Harry curses, shoving Jay's chest. He's biting back laughs though. Doing the same, Jay quickly crosses the hall and quietly enters his own room, locking the door behind himself.

He leans against the door, hand covering his mouth, not daring to move. Looking down, he sees a light slowly move under the crack in his door. The footsteps continue going on until they're out of his earshot.

Jay shrugs off his jacket and kicks off his shoes, falling down onto his bed and laughing as he curls under his blankets. He falls asleep rather quickly, his dreams nothing less than sweet.

Chapter Text

“Is your hair blue?”

“What!?” Mal jumps off her bed and rushes to the nearest mirror, which was previously being used by Harry, who was doing his eyeliner.

“Uh, bitch?” The boy mutters, giving her a bewildered look.

“No, no, no!” Mal curses as she runs her hands through her hair. “Oh my god, do you think dye will get rid of this?”

“Wait, what's so wrong with her hair being blue?” Gil asks, tilting his head.

“That's it, I'm not going.” Mal claims, throwing her hands up and sinking back down onto her bed.

“Uh, yes you are.” Evie says, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. “The whole point of this night is to garner support and all that for the Isle project. And you are Maleficent's daughter and the King's consort. You have to attend.”

“Again, what's so wrong with her hair being blue?” Gil asks, this time raising his hand high in the air. He's sitting criss-crossed on one of the armchairs in the girls room, already dressed up save for the coat-jacket Evie had made for him.

“Nothing for you to worry about, Gil. It's fine.” Uma says, throwing a chip in the air and catching it in her mouth.

“I think the blue looks beautiful.” Harry says, momentarily over Mal shoving him aside. “Now, I believe you three girls should get dressed. We leave in…” Harry glances down at the watch on his hand. “Uh… forty minutes?”

“Yes, we should get dressed!” Uma claps her hands together and stands up, curling the chips bag closed and propping it against the lamp on her shelves. “Get out, all of you!”

“What, we don't get a show–?”

Jay smacks Harry upside the head, much to the boy's dismay. “Shut up, Harry.” Jay grabs the boy's forearm and starts pulling him out of the room. “We'll finish getting ready in our own rooms.”

Carlos waves goodbye as he and Gil follow after Harry and Jay.

Mal sighs and sits back down on her bed. “We don't have time to dye this, and I don't really trust myself to change the color with magic.”

“It'll be fine, Mal.” Evie promises. She steps up to where Mal is sitting and crouches down, placing her hands on the girl's knees. “If anyone asks, just say you were trying something new.”

“Why has my hair even turned blue?” Mal asks.

“Perhaps it's an effect of being off the Isle?” Uma suggests. She was currently braiding her last bit of hair in the mirror. Harry had helped her with most of it, but this part would be easy. It was just a small bit at the front. “You know, like with Jay's magic and all? Even Evie and Carlos are starting to notice their own magic.”

Evie blushes at the reminder. It had scared her when she'd woken up last week, the things in her room floating high and Mal and Uma arguing at the foot of her bed about how they should wake her up without causing her magic to lash out.

“It might just be a part of all of that. Your mother's genes have definitely begun to affect you.” Uma points to Mal's wings, which stand proudly on her back. She'd argued that she wanted to hide them, but neither Evie nor Uma would stand for it. Mal herself had told Ben that they weren't going to hide who they were, and her wings were a part of her. Even if Maleficent had tried to prevent that fact.

“I just…” Mal sighs and drops her head in her hands. The two other girls give her a few seconds to herself, before Mal lifts her head again. “Nobody knows that Hades is my father. I mean, he did some… bad things.”

“All of our parents did bad things.” Evie starts rubbing circles into the side of Mal's knee with her thumb. “And we are here because we do not deserve to be judged based off of the bad decisions they made. Mal,” Evie stands up and then sits down next to Mal, placing a comforting hand on the fae's shoulder, “Tonight is going to go well. It is, we'll make sure of it.”

“We're gonna open the Isle.” Uma promises. She wraps her arm around one of the posts at the end of Mal's bed. “And you don't have to shoulder all of this yourself, Mal. That's what we're all here for. We're a team.”

Evie smiles and holds out her hand to the sea witch.

Uma hesitates, staring at the pale hand.

After a couple seconds, she takes it. Evie smiles gratefully, then looks back to Mal. “It's going to be okay, Mal.” Evie whispers to the girl. “Now, let's get changed into our dresses and get dolled up for the night. I think we deserve the right to look pretty, do you not?”

Mal chuckles and wipes at her eyes. No tears had fallen, but it was second nature to her. To make sure she wasn't showing weakness of any kind.

—

The limo meets them at the front of the school. The man driving it is the same as the one who brought them from the Isle, though the only ones who recognize him are Mal, Uma, and Carlos.

The drive to some ballroom-like building about thirty minutes off of Auradon Prep's campus. They're all giving eachother nervous looks. The night wasn't going to be a very pleasant one, they were not so ignorant to think otherwise. But the VK's were determined to make it through the night with the least amount of confrontations.

“Alright, none of us go off alone.” Mal says as they turn on the street that heads straight to the building. “If you happen to get stuck interacting with anyone your parents know, do your damn best to get out of the conversation. Be quick about it. I know each of you is itching to yell and scream and curse at them for the fate they dealt us, but we do not have that luxury. Do I make myself clear?”

Fae demand seeps into her voice, and it has the occupants of the limo nodding their heads quickly and with determination.

“Okay, Gil,” The boy looks up from Harry's hook. Said hook was still being held by the pirate, but Gil had been playing with it the whole ride over. “I need you to stick by Carlos the whole time, okay? Do not let him out of your sight.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Gil nods his head. Carlos only grins and continues petting Duke, who's curled in his lap. He'd asked Ben about bringing the dog, and with a smile Carlos couldn't quite decipher, the King had agreed.

“The rest of you, just… try to mingle.” Mal says, a sigh on her lips. “Don't start any fights.” This one she says with a pointed look at Harry and Jay. Jay, at least, looks a bit offended, but Harry only shrugs and tilts his head.

“Guys, I think we're about to stop!” Evie says. She's looking out the front window, the barrier between them and the front being down.

There's a barrier where reporters and other such crowd members clamor about, trying to catch a glimpse of who would be in attendance of the party tonight.

“We ready?” Mal asks, turning to her fellow VK's.

The moment reflects greatly of their first day in Auradon, nervous and ready to just get it over with. This time, however, they're a bit more prepared. And not to say they weren't united before— they had taken over the Isle, after all— but this time, they were closer than ever.

The VK's all nod their heads, determined expressions crossing their faces.

“Alright.” Mal grins and then opens the door, taking the first step out of the limo.

Chapter Text

SLIDESHOW OF THEIR BALL OUTFITS;

(also Carlos and Jay are just wearing standard black dress pants)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u209tNC1kHyCBo-2-tLM-BP41jjqU3L4tBRfbFdAj0A/edit?usp=drivesdk

The place was beautiful, Mal had to admit that. Glowing orbs float high in the front entrance. Along one wall are long tables filled with snacks and people who are serving drinks. There's so many people, that for a second, it's all suffocating to Mal. But then she breathes deeply, clenches her fists, breathes out, unclenches her fists, and calms herself.

Gil and Carlos have already walked off, going god knows where. She knows that Gil will follow her orders and stick by Carlos, even if she's not his captain. He respects her opinion just as much as he does Uma's.

“Princess, Evie and I are going to go get some snacks.” Uma says, sliding up next to her. “I know you said not to go off by ourselves, but Jay and Harry have already disappeared. No clue what's got those two acting so nice with each other past couple days.” Uma scoffs and blows a stray braid out of her face. “Are you gonna be good by yourself or do you wanna come with Evie and I?”

Mal turns and looks over at Evie, who's standing a foot behind Uma, holding onto the sea witch's bracelet as a connector between the two. Mal looks up from Evie's hand and into Uma's eyes. “Go.” She says, nodding her head to the tables. “I'm going to go find Ben.”

“Alright.” Uma reaches a hand out and squeezes Mal's arm. “Stay safe.”

Mal tries her best smile. She doesn't think it reaches her eyes. “I will.”

Once Evie and Uma are lost to the crowds around her, Mal turns forward again. She has  half a mind to use her wings, fly up and find Ben, but her wings respond to the idea rather quickly. They shrivel inwards, curling close to her back.

Mal starts to walk through the crowds, squeezing by people and mumbling apologies. Thankfully, nobody seems to recognize her. She hasn't made it a habit of winding up on the news, her only appearance being the few moments during Ben's coronation and the pictures from nearly four months ago, when she first arrived in Auradon.

After five minutes of wandering around, she's had no luck in finding Ben. However, just as she's about to give up and look for somebody she knows is already here (ie. Uma and Evie), she spots somebody from school.

Roman, Snow White's eldest son.

She puts on her best smile and starts pushing through the crowd again. This time, people actually pay attention to her. She hears a few mutters of her names. Clearly, news had traveled that they were here, and while the others could go unrecognized, her wings were a dead giveaway, even shriveled as much as possibly against her back.

Shit.

Schooling her face, Mal decides to just barrel on. Finally, finally, she reaches Roman. “Roman, hey!” Mal greets, placing a hand on his arm. He startles for only a second before he turns and sees who has called his name.

“Mal, I didn't know you were here yet.” Roman smiles, then looks around. “Where's Carlos and the others?”

Something in Mal warms at the mention of the pup. They'd all been nervous when Roman had taken a liking to Carlos, dark things coming to mind at the mere idea. And then they'd heard Roman talk about Carlos.

Evie wasn't supposed to be there, had overheard by accident, but even around the Tourney athletes— Harry, Jay, and Ben all absent— Snow White's son had talked about Carlos with such high regard.

“They all went off, looking around.” Mal waves her hand dismissively. “I was looking for Ben, but I haven't been able to find him yet.”

“Oh, I can bring you to him!” Roman says. He brings his hand down and looks to who he'd been talking to when Mal showed up and interrupted them. “Mom, you don't mind if I bring Mal to Ben, right?”

And all at once, Mal's world stops.

Now logically, she and the rest of the VK's knew that those their parents wronged would be in attendance at the ball tonight. And while they were all mostly princesses and princes, perfects of the world, there might be a grudge held deep in their hearts.

She only thanks the gods that it wasn't her own mothers adversaries.

Turning, with a smile with a lot more practice, Mal comes face-to-face with Snow White and Prince Charming. “Hi!” Mal waves at them, then holds her hand out. “I'm Mal, King Ben's consort.”

“Yes, you're… you're Maleficent's daughter, right?” Snow White asks, pointing a finger at her. Mal's hand drops before either of them can shake it. Around them, Mal notices people turning their heads, focusing on their conversation instead of their own.

Mal forces a laugh. “Last I checked, yes.”

“Um, mom, dad.” Roman grabs her shoulders, and Mal resists the reflex to turn and punch him in the throat. Roman must notice, because his grip loosens, but he doesn't let go. “I'm going to bring Mal to Ben. Let them traverse the night together. I'll see you guys later.” Roman then grabs her hand and pulls her away. It's a little urgent, but he's doing his best to keep it off of his face.

Once they're far enough away— standing by a pillar, out of sight of most people— Roman lets her go and turns to her. “I am so sorry.” He says once she's got her attention on him. “I tried telling them not to mention it, but you know how it is.” He sighs and leans back against the pillar dragging a hand down his face.

“I–I do, actually.” Mal says. She's about to lean against the pillar, when her wings flare, pushing her forward a few feet. “Agh, I keep forgetting about these.” She groans and reaches back, touching the base of her right wing.

Roman laughs. “How do you forget you have wings?”

“Well in case you don't remember, I only got them back two and a half months ago.” She's laughing along with him, though, and it catches her off guard for a couple seconds. Her eyes widen and her hand stills on her wings.

Roman doesn't notice.

“So anyway, um, where's Ben?” Mal asks, looking over at Roman.

Roman, who had been in the middle of looking down at Mal, throws his head back against the pillar and laughs. Mal's wings flutter, confused.

“Um… what? What is it?” Mal finally asks, looking around nervously.

“Ben ain't here, Mal.” Roman finally says, his laughs dying a bit. “I only said that so I could get you away from my parents. I figured they wouldn't be at all subtle or even nice about it.”

“Oh.” Mal's wings fall down, folding against her back yet again. “Do you… know when he'll be here?”

Roman smirks and moves his eyes to look at Mal, his head still leaned against the pillar. “Soon, lovergirl. Don't worry.” Mal makes a face at the nickname, but Roman moves on before she can say anything. He kicks himself off of the wall and steps up to Mal. “In the meantime, wanna hear some royal gossip?”

Mal scoffs and rolls her eyes, but follows next to Roman as he dives back into the crowd of people milling about.

—

The food was magnificent. Uma couldn't name half of them, or even a quarter. The only thing she'd recognized was some chocolate chip cookies. The other foods likely have all kinds of fancy names that she'd never remember. Evie is right by Uma, following after her but not picking anything up. Uma can't blame her, though. The only thing on the small snack plate she'd grabbed for herself was one cookie.

Finally, Uma comes up to something she recognizes.

Strawberries.

The person in front of her uses a fork in the strawberry bowl to grab their own, so Uma copies them.

“Are you gonna eat, princess?” Uma asks, casting a (concerned) glance to Evie.

The girl only shakes her head. “No, I'm fine.” She responds with a somewhat nervous laugh. “I don't want to ruin my makeup.”

Uma sighs. She wants to say more, but she bites it back. Instead, she piles on more strawberries than she's going to eat and continues.

There wasn't anything she could say, anyway, that would get Evie to eat anything. The girl's always been self-conscious about her looks, even after her mother was locked away and she didn't see her anymore. Eating was even worse of a struggle for her, though Uma wasn't there for the worst of it.

They reach the end of the food tables, so Uma gently grabs Evie's hand and leads her over to a group of tables on one end of the room. It's pretty far from the entrance, but she'd noticed it when they'd walked in. The tables are high tables, the seats high enough to be able to sit down and still reach the table comfortably. There's a few people milling about, but Uma is quick enough to catch them an empty table.

She only realizes once they've sat down that she forgot a damn fork.

“Fuck.” She curses, looking up and around. There's people sitting at every table, and even more milling about.

“What is it?” Evie asks, looking around as well. Her eyes are scanning for threats, but she finds none. She looks back to Uma, confused.

Uma groans lowly and flicks her bracelet on her wrist, the jewelry snapping. “I forgot a fork.” She stands up and moves to go away, but at the last second she turns back around and places her hand on the table. “Stay here.”

Evie nods, and then Uma is walking all the way back to where the snacks are.

There's less people getting snacks this time around, but she still has to push through them to get a fork. When she finally gets to the end of the table, she reaches between two people and snatches a fork. One of them turns to snap something at her, but she's already disappeared into the crowd again.

Uma's too busy laughing to herself and watching as the two people converse quietly, both with equally confused looks on their faces, that she isn't watching where she's going. It's not long before she runs straight into someone, both forks she grabbed nearly dropping out of her hands.

She catches them, but not herself.

Uma braces herself to fall flat on her face, and when she still feels no impact after a couple seconds, she cracks an eye open and looks up.

The woman who caught her is wearing a sky blue dress, and under the light of the room, it sparkles. When Uma looks up, she makes eye contact with a pair of almond colored eyes.

“Are you okay?” The woman asks, righting Uma. “You nearly fell.”

“I'm fine, ma'am.” Uma says, brushing off her dress. “Um…” The sea witch worries her bottom lip between her teeth for a second, before thanking the woman.

“Oh, it's no problem, dear.” The woman waves her hand, brushing it off. “Where are you heading off to in such a hurry?”

“Just… my friend,” Uma holds the forks up, “I forgot forks when we were getting something to eat.”

The woman laughs, bringing a hand to cover her mouth. “Well, I will not keep you then.” She reaches out to Uma's arm, and the girl barely stops herself from jerking away. But the woman only squeezes her arm and smiles. “Have a nice night.” And with that, the woman is leaving.

Uma stands there for a second, unsure what to do now.

After a moment, though, her mind reboots and she's darting back through the crowds.

She'd left Evie alone at the table, she suddenly remembers. Who knows what kinds of people could approach the girl? When she gets back to the table she'd left Evie at, the girl is still there. Uma sighs, relieved. Honestly, she has no clue why she had panicked for a second there.

Slowing her step, Uma approaches the table. The fae has her hand mirror out— Uma recognizes it as the Evil Queen's magic mirror— and is touching up her lipstick. When Uma sits down, she notices that some of the strawberries are missing. Evie had likely been hoping Uma wouldn't realize.

She doesn't mention it.

Instead, she puts the extra fork on the plate, and then stabs her own into one of the strawberries.

“You'll never guess who I just ran into.” Uma says once she's swallowed the strawberry. Evie had been very adamant in them all taking etiquette lessons from her, and after the announcement of this ball, they'd all been roped into attending her lessons.

Evie puts her mirror and lipstick back into her purse, then clicks it closed. “Who?” She asks. Uma notices her eyes flicking momentarily down to the extra fork.

The other girl doesn't mention it.

“Jasmine.”

For her part, Evie doesn't show the whole shock on her face. But her hand, which had slowly been going to the fork, freezes and her eyes widen a fraction. “Oh.” She whispers.

“Yup,” Uma nods her head and crosses her legs over the other, “I'm not used to heels like these yet, and I was distracted. I tripped and she caught me.”

“How did it go?” Evie asks, concern etching onto her face.

Uma waves her hand dismissively. “It was fine. She didn't recognize me, or, if she did, she didn't mention it.” Uma grabs the cookie and breaks it into two, biting into the part she'd taken in her hand. “She was nice, but I didn't really get to talking to her. Said I was heading to my friend, and she said she wouldn't keep me.”

“Hmm.” Evie places her chin into her hands. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and she looks to be deep in thought. “Well, it was good how you got out of the conversation quickly.”

Uma smiles and lifts her head a bit higher. “Why thank you.” She says with a dramatic half-bow. It's the best she can do sitting down, but it pulls a laugh from Evie. The girl quickly brings her hand to cover her mouth, but the laugh stays.

Uma counts it as a success.

—

“Where we going to first?” Gil asks, following after Carlos. Dude was right at Carlos' heels, little feet barely heard over the sound of the hall.

“Um,” Carlos slows to a stop, Gil copying him, “I actually… didn't think about that.” He looks guiltily at Gil, who's staring at him with a somewhat bewildered look on his face. And then he barks out a laugh, then another, and another.

The two get some affronted looks, but Gil can't seem to quiet down his laughing.

Finally, Gil is biting onto his cheeks so as to stop laughing. The pirate reaches a hand out, and for a split second, Carlos' mind panics. But as Gil's head reaches his hair and ruffles up the white— which is slowly fading to black in their extended time here in Auradon— Carlos reminds himself that Gil would never hurt him.

Since the whole takeover, he and Gil had gotten along pretty well. They were both the youngest in their respective gangs and were, more often than not, babied in some ways. Such as having more food, more sweets, snuck to them by the older kids, being in the middle, being pushed out of the way more often than not when cases of hurt children fall into the responsibilities of their leaders.

“How about we go see if there's some food for this little guy?” Gil asks, making a show of Duke, who's bundled up in his strong arms.

“Right, yeah,” Carlos nods his head, “Ben said he told the kitchen staff about Duke, so hopefully they listened and there's snacks for him in the kitchen. Just, um…” Carlos looks around, unable to see much due to the people around them. He maxes out a total of 5 '3, and adding the cane alongside it, there's really not much he can ever make sense of when he's in a crowded space. To be honest, he's not even sure how it got so crowded here so fast.

“Here, I think I saw some waiters go this way.” Gil grabs Carlos' free hand and begins to lead him through the crowd, having no problem with pushing through the throng of people surrounding them.

Carlos makes many notes about dirty looks being sent their way as they make their way through the crowd, though none of them say anything while they're still in earshot. Finally, they break through the crowd in time to see a few waiters disappear down an otherwise secluded hallway. There's a black stanchion blocking it off, and a man in a tight-fitting suit standing by it, occasionally allowing the waiters and such to pass by.

Gil leads Carlos over, slowing his speed now that they're out of the crowd. Ignoring the (maybe) guard and the barrier, Gil grabs the end of it, intending to unclasp it so he and Carlos can get by. The (definitely) guard snaps his hand out and grabs Gil's wrist, causing the pirate to look up at the larger man. “Only the workers are allowed past this point.”

The look in his eyes unnerves Carlos, like the man knows who they are and is being intentionally rude. Carlos sinks back instinctively, shoulders curling as he attempts to support himself better on his cane. His mind is screaming danger! danger! danger! But he knows well that Gill won't allow anything to happen to him.

“We're trying to get some snacks for Duke.” Gil motions to Duke, who had been lowered to the ground as they approached the barrier and its guard. “King Ben told us there would be snacks in the kitchen for my friend's dog.”

“The rules still apply.” The guard practically snarls, his eyes roaming up and down Carlos and Gil's bodies, studying and analyzing them. “Only waitstaff are allowed beyond this point.”

“Oh, give the lads a break.” A new voice cuts into the tension. Carlos turns to see a mop of curly red hair sitting atop a pale woman's head. She's wearing a long, viridian green dress that covers her feet. “They're just tryin' to get some food for the dog.” The woman leans down and offers her hand to Duke, who sniffs it for a moment before licking her hand and allowing her to pet him.

“Queen Merida, I implore you to tread delicately. These two are not normal princes. They are not even princes,” the guard levels Carlos and Gil with yet another disdainful look, “they're VK's.”

“Forgive me, but I'm unfamiliar with the term.” Merida says, still crouched on the ground and petting Duke's fur.

“They come from the Isle of the Lost. They are the children of villains .” The guard hisses, outright ignoring Carlos and Gil's presence at this point. If Carlos were a lesser man, he'd be spouting insults and attacking the guard. Nevertheless, Carlos is not a lesser man. And while still being a child, he holds no ignorance to believe this rude man is in any way better than him or his friends.

“Ah. I see.” Merida rises, brushing off imaginable dirt from her dress. A relieved look crosses the guards face, seeming to realize that Merida understands the gravity of this situation now. His relief is crushed rather quickly, however, as Merida continues speaking. “And yet it is you who is acting so villainously, denying an animal his food. If I did not know better, I could almost say that you were an animal, no better than a bear.”

A strange feeling of relief crawls up and down Carlos' spine. It takes him a second to realize that it is because Merida is defending him and Gil. “Now, let us by to find this little guy his food.” Merida holds no political prowess here, and yet her voice springs the man to action. He grabs the edge of the barrier and lets it up, allowing Gil, Carlos, and Merida access to the hallway to the kitchens.

“Thank you.” Carlos whispers once they turn the corner at the end of the hallway.

“Ah, don' mention it, laddie.” Merida reaches a hand out and ruffles up Carlos' hair, smiling down at the boy. “Ima just happy ta help. Take care, you two. Try not ta get inta trouble.” Merida does a two-finger salute before walking away, back from where they came.

“She was nice,” Gil whispers once she's gone, “I'm glad we don't have anyone from her story on the Isle.”

“Well, the closest Merida had to a villain of her story was Mor'du. And he was a bear. And also dead.” Carlos says with a half-shrug. He then looks down at Duke, who's staring up at him with wide eyes. “Alright, ready to get some food for you?” The dog barks, much to Gil's delight. “I'll take that as a yes, then.” With a small smile on his face, Carlos walks further down the hall, to the kitchens, with Gil and Duke following right behind him.

—

Harry wasn't a fan of parties or galas or, well, anything even remotely close to this. He felt out-of-place, like a cup of pudding in a room of jello.

…

It was a weird analogy, yeah, but he didn't have anything else! The people around them were casting him and Jay glances, only daring to hold their eyes for a few seconds before snapping their heads away. The clothes Evie had made for him were well-fitting, and he knew damn well that he looked good in them, but he still felt so… strange. Wrong. Like he didn't belong. Which, logically, Harry knew he didn't. He was a villain kid, and a pirate one at that.

If anyone belonged, it was Jay. With a father such as Jafar, who used to be highly respected in the court of the Sultan. Harry didn't know how much that stain of a man had taught Jay, but with the way Jay is holding himself, head high, strutting, Harry had to think it was a lot. At the very least, how to treat oneself in a formal setting such as this.

Harry doesn't even process it until Jay strikes up a conversation with some tourney athletes, but the pirate is standing just a step behind Jay. As if he's a bodyguard, protecting a man who holds a higher status than him. Harry tries to remind himself that they are ranked the same, that he can be allowed to step up and consider himself equal, but his body will not respond, will not comply.

It is not his own. And that single thought sends Harry spiraling.

Something grabs his wrist, and it's warm— warm, warm, warm. Harry's head snaps up, meeting a ruby red that has every spot on his body freezing. All except that warm, comfortable, acceptable contact on his wrist.

“Oh, hey. I recognize those eyes.”

Jay blinks, and the red is gone, as if it was never there. The djinn turns his head, leveling his gaze with Duncan's. “Those are your Djinn eyes, yeah? I saw them when you sucked-punched Chad on Family Day.”

“'Sucker-punched' is being nice, Jay knocked the little shit out.” One of the princes snicker. Harry doesn't recognize him, even though he's been playing on a team with them for nearly four months now. He only really joined because it would please Uma and because Jay would be alone without him.

“How much control do you have over your powers, Jay?”

Next to him— had Jay pulled him forward?— something in Jay changes. It's minute, nobody notices except Harry, and it's telling. His shoulders square a fraction, his hand falls from resting against his thigh to being pulled up a bit, closer to his belt, and his stance shifts an inch closer to Harry.

Harry is not affected.

This is not, and will not be, Jay trusting him. This is Jay moving closer to the nearest VK out of hard-earned isle instinct. Not that it would change anything if Jay trusted him.

Not at all.

“Oh, I've been keeping up with my studies,” Jay is saying, “I've been learning a lot from Mal and Uma. They've been helping me with getting in touch with my powers.”

“Oh, really?” The look on Duncan's face as he glances at the other athletes stirs something unholy in Harry's gut. It's dangerous, and suddenly, Harry has the need to steer him and Jay from this conversation.

“Hey, Jayby.” Harry takes a step forward— when had he stepped back?— and places a placant hand on Jay's upper-arm. “We should go find the girls, we promised we'd bring 'em some food.” Lie.

“Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot.” Jay plays along easily. “We should go now, then.” Jay looks up, eyes swiveling around for an imaginary clock. Jay then turns back to the tourney athletes, nodding his head and raising a single hand. “I'll talk to you guys later, aight?” Without waiting for a reply, Jay starts off, Harry walking only a step behind him.

“Why'd you pull us out?” Jay asks. It's not accusatory, he knows Harry had a reason to do so. It's trust.

“I dunno, just… somethin' off with the way he said what he said.” Harry chances a glance back at the athletes. Through the sea of people, he makes eye contact for a second with Duncan. The man is watching them, following them with his eyes. It's all calculation, all dangerous. Harry snaps his head back around, grabbing Jay's arm and pulling him faster away from the athletes. That voice in his head is telling him to fucking run, and hell if he's not going to listen.

He and Jay find themselves on an empty balcony on the second floor of the building. Harry's pretty sure they're not supposed to be here, but the fresh air is nice. It's something that he could appreciate about Auradon; the clear, healthy air. So unlike the choking smog that winds itself around the Isle. That infects their lungs and conceals threats until it's too late.

“Yo, Harry, you good?”

A warm hand on his shoulder.

Harry barely registers his movements as he reaches over with his other hand and grabs the wrist, sliding his hand up the arm and twisting it behind the body it finds itself attached to. Harry crowds Jay against the railing of the balcony, the man's ribs no doubt digging uncomfortably into the metal bars. “Don't you fucking touch me.” Someone— him, that's him, right? — hisses, voice like venom.

“Alright, alright, let me the fuck go!” Jay demands, trying to unlodge his arm from Harry's grip. But Harry's stronger than Jay, at least when it comes to physical strength.

“Is everything okay out here?” A female voice grates into Harry's mind, loosening his grip enough for Jay to shove him off. The djinn is holding his wrist close, rubbing the slightly bruised skin. Evaluating that Jay is fine and Harry didn't do something as fucking stupid as hurting him, the pirate turns to the woman who had spoken. The woman has vibrant red hair, cascading down her back like sea waves. She's wearing a tight teal dress, a purple shawl hanging around her shoulders.

“Well, hello, beautiful.” Harry stalks forward, leaning against one of the potted plants. “What brings you out here?”

The woman levels him with an unimpressed stare. She leans around him a bit, to look at Jay. “Are you okay, hon?”

“Yes, I'm fine, ma'am.” Jay nods his head, then reaches forward and grabs Harry's sleeve, yanking him back to his side. “Don't flirt with Queen's, Harry, it doesn't look good. Especially when they're married.”

“How do you know she's married?”

“Are you stupid? How do you not recognize her?” Jay facepalms— actually facepalms, it's kind of funny— and then bows his head to the woman. “I'm sorry for my companions' stupidity, Queen Ariel.”

Oh. Yeah, that makes more sense.

Ariel laughs, waving a small hand around. “Oh, it's quite alright. What are your names?”

“I'm Jay, this is Harry.” Jay introduces, placing his hand on Harry's upper back and forcing him into a bow. A bow which Harry quickly pulls out of, though he does stay for a second more than he would have normally. If only to show respect, especially to someone such as Ariel. She may not be a mermaid any longer, but she still holds power under the sea, and if Harry ever wants a chance of sailing it, he knows he needs to be at least amicable to its habitants.

“Those names sound quite familiar.” Ariel tilts her head.

“Ah, um…”

“Ariel, there you are!” A new man bursts out onto the balcony, with windswept black hair and the faint smell of sand and sea foam.

“Eric, hello!” Ariel turns and places her hand on Eric's arm, rising to her tiptoes for a second so as to kiss him.

“Who are these two?” Eric asks, turning to Jay and Harry once Ariel drops back down and encloses her hand around his.

“Jay, sir. And this is Harry.” Jay grabs Harry's own hand and takes a deliberate step back, so that they're against the railing of the balcony. It's a show of control; they have none in this situation, no power. Eric and Ariel can leave if need be, and neither Harry or Jay could stop either of them with their bodies so far away from the balcony door. “I'm the son of Jafar, and Harry is Captain Hook's son.”

Ariel and Eric both readjust the way they stand, though it's miniscule.

“Oh,” Ariel whispers.

“Ariel, love, we should go.” Eric starts to pull Ariel away, glancing suspiciously at the two VK's.

“Right, yes, um…” Ariel hesitates, glancing back at Harry and Jay before she and Eric leave. “Have a good night.” She tries for a smile, before they leave and the balcony door slams shut behind them.

Harry lets out a relieved sigh, bringing a hand to rest above his racing heart. “Gods, that was nerve-wracking.”

“Yeah, I really don't wanna be here,” Jay agrees, “but it's mandatory, or whatever. Mal and Uma would have our heads if we bailed only twenty minutes into the party.”

“'Mal and Uma'?” Harry laughs breathlessly. “No, Evie would kill us if we didn't allow the lovely outfits she made us to be seen.”

Jay laughs as well, smiling down at Harry. “You're right, there.”

“See, exactly,” Harry grins. He kicks himself off the railing, careful not to catch his boots in the bars, before walking over to the balcony doors. He leans his back against them, hands clasped onto the handles. He looks up at Jay, a grin on his face. “Wanna go brave the masses again?”

“Oh, definitely not.” Despite this, Jay matches Harry's grin and follows him through the balcony doors.

Chapter Text

Uma rolls her eyes as she hands the phone over to the fifth princess that had asked her to take pictures of them and their friends. The sea witch isn't sure if these princesses know exactly who she is, but they're getting on Uma's nerves.

Uma smiles a sickly sweet thing as the girls thank her, and then walks back to where Evie is sitting, the girl smiling warmly at her. “Taking those pictures is very nice of you, Uma.” The girl says, nodding to the retreating backs of the princesses.

“If one more person asks me to take their pictures, I'm going to smash their phone,” Uma bites out.

Evie laughs, bringing a hand to cover her mouth. “Come on, Uma. You're doing great. You're showing these people that we're not bad. Smashing their phones, I think, would ruin that image.”

“Yeah, but it would make me feel better.” Uma says, wistfully staring at the floor. Evie has no doubt she's imagining all the ways she could have smashed the phones of those that had asked her to take pictures of them.

“What would make you feel better?” A new voice asks, quickly followed by, “actually, I don't care. Don't do it.”

“Mal! Hey!” Evie turns in her seat, throwing her arms around Mal's neck and pulling her into a hug. “And Roman, hello! I thought you went to find Ben?” This, she directs at Mal, turning her attention from Roman pretty quickly.

“Ben isn't here yet,” Mal says.

“Yup!” Roman pops the 'p' in the word as he rocks back and forth on the balls of his heels. “King is late for his own party. Fashionably late, is that what it's called?”

“Maybe, I'm not sure,” Uma answers, a grin on her face, “being late on the Isle isn't cool unless it's for school.”

“You guys had school on the Isle?” Roman seems pretty shocked at the new information. He turns his head to Uma, then to Mal, then back to Uma, still with that bewildered expression on his face.

“Well yeah, but none of the teachers were exactly… qualified.” Uma says after a second, clearly trying to think over how she should word this.

“Oh my gods, I remember that we had a class called 'Selfishness 101 slash Selfies' as an abbreviation.” Mal recounts, a grin on her face.

“Yes, oh my gosh!” Evie claps her hands, a wide grin splitting onto her face. “It was taught by Mother Gothel! I remember that I had to beg my mother to allow me to attend that class. She and Mother Gothel hated each other, and I'm not even sure why!”

“I think it's because Mother Gothel used Rapunzel's magic to make herself young. While your mother needed no such help, she never thought of the idea of using Snow White's magic to her advantage,” Mal explains.

“Wait, back up–” Roman holds up his hand, “–my mother has magic?”

“ Had, ” Uma corrects, “Snow White got rid of her magic ages ago. My mother used to spout curses about how idiotic the girl was for getting rid of such a powerful thing. Um,” Uma bites her tongue and turns to Roman, seeming to remember that he is Snow White's son, “no offense, of course.”

Roman only laughs and waves his hands, clearly dismissing the girl's words. “No, no, it's perfectly fine. My mother… she doesn't talk much about her youth. I never even knew she had magic, I don't think anyone does. How do you?”

Uma only shrugs. “I dunno. My mother knew, but I don't know how she found out. I mean, you know witches and wizards and all of that stuff. They talk, share secrets for secrets.”

Roman visibly deflates, frowning and shaking his head. “No, actually, I–I don't,” he says with a shake of his head, “magic, it's not something we really have in Auradon. It's not that it's banned, just that it's… not something anyone really has.”

“Yeah, I remember Audrey and Ben saying something about that our first day here,” Evie recalls, finger tapping against her chin, “that it's not normalized or anything. I mean, Fairy Godmother has magic, but the only time I've ever seen her use it was during Ben's coronation for that short amount of time, and then when she's teaching Mal and Uma how to control their magic.”

“Oh my gods, oh my gods,” Uma suddenly says, tapping her hand against Mal's shoulder. “Do you remember when Gaston had us run through the forest and along the mountain edge?”

“Yes, oh my gods!” Evie exclaims, clapping her hands together like an excited child. “He pushed Diego off the cliff, and he would have kept falling, if Gil's older brother hadn't leaped over and grabbed him. I remember he showed up the next day covered in bruises because Gaston took issue to him 'interfering with his teaching methods' or whatever.” A laugh bubbles from Evie's chest, Uma and Mal joining in as Roman watches with this abject horror.

“Well, at least that rapist bastard doesn't have hands anymore.” Uma says, raising her cup in the air and then taking a sip, a smirk on her face.

“I'm sorry?” A new voice steps into the conversation. The VK's and Roman all turn their heads to see Belle and Adam, standing side-by-side. The former King is holding tightly onto his wife's arm, said wife looking incredibly faint.

“Um, ma'am.” Uma and Evie both stand, joining Mal in a bow. “I'm so sorry. I– how much of that did you hear?”

“Enough,” Adam cuts in, voice tight, “what did you mean by that?”

The three girls share an equally uncomfortable look, the tension only cut off by a loud bang and Gil's voice yelling, “the fuck is your problem!?”

“Oh, thank god,” Uma breathes, cutting by the former King and Queen and pushing her way through the crowd, Evie and Mal following after her.

—

“Now that you are fed and have gone out, we can go explore the party.” Gil says, holding tight onto Duke. The little dog is curled in his arms, rubbing his head against Gil's fingers. “Oh, you're so adorable. Yes you are! Yes you are!”

Next to him, Carlos is laughing. “Sometimes I think you might like him more than I do.”

“Ah, we never had pets.” Gil says with a shrug. “The closest we got was my baby sister's pet iguana when she was… 7? 8? Ah, I'm not sure, but she loved that thing. Least until Gaston got tired of her split attention and ripped off its head right in front of her.”

Carlos winces, eyes going downcast. His mother never preferred traumatizing through outside actions. She much preferred cigarette burns and hidden bear traps around the house that only she knew about. Carlos trips over his feet for just a second, his body remembering that night.

“Shit, are you good?” Gil reacts on instinct, dropping Duke and reaching out to steady Carlos' shoulders. The dog yelps, some passersby's turning their heads but otherwise leaving them be.

“Fine, I'm fine.” Carlos turns his head around. “Did you drop Duke? Fuck, where did he go?” Gil recognizes the signs of an oncoming panic attack quickly, well-versed in them from Harry and his sister. With gentle hands, Gil grabs Carlos' free one and then catches the attention of the closest person.

“Excuse me? Excuse me?” He asks. The person, an older, haughty looking man, turns sharply, head held high. He already looks annoyed, and Gil has half a second to think danger! before he asks the man a question. “Did you see a tiny dog? Brown fur, wearing a black and red jacket?”

“How the hell should I know?” The man snaps, before turning and storming off.

“Um, okay, rude,” Carlos mutters.

bark! bark! bark!

“Duke!” Carlos turns wildly, eyes zeroing on the dog like he's a beacon. The kid hands his cane off to Gil and crouches down, holding his arms out and allowing the small dog to jump into them. “Hey, baby, hey. You scared me. Oh, did Gil hurt you? He didn't mean to, baby. He was just looking out for me.”

Gil smiles down at the kid, a warm look on his face. Carlos really loved Duke, he did. It was nice to see the kid embracing something that was drilled into his head to hate. It was nice that Cruella's effects were dying off, affecting him less and less. They would always be there, the touches and burns and scars on all of them, but over time, Gil thinks, they'll be less affected by the mere idea of them. Maybe over time, it'll be easier to face the nightmares.

“Oh, Anita, dear, this must be the dog's owner,” a male voice says.

Gil's not sure what sparks him to raise his defensives, to clench his fists and curl his shoulders, making sure he's ready to run or attack if need be, but he does. When he looks up, he realizes why. He'd seen a picture of them once, before, on a dart board in Cruella's home. Their faces were almost completely crossed off, but seeing them again, he recognizes them immediately.

Gil taps Carlos' shoulder, prompting the kid to lift his head. He recognizes them even faster than Gil, his shoulders squaring and his hold on Duke's fur tightening just a fraction. He stands up, shifting Duke to hold the dog in just one arm. Carlos reaches out and takes his cane from Gil's hands, leaning his weight on it. He's the picture of nonchalance, but Gil knows far better. His hand is shaking, his knee is wobbling, and there's a fear in his eyes that Gil wants to squash.

Without even thinking about it, Gil steps a fraction of a centimeter in front of Carlos. Guarding him, keeping him from any sort of harm.

“What's your name, son?” The man, Roger Radcliffe, asks, eyes examining him and Carlos.

“Carlos de Vil.” Carlos answers, head held high. Anita gasps, hand shooting out to clutch at her husband's forearm. “This is Gil LeGume, and this is Duke.”

“You… have a dog?” Anita asks, voice breathless.

“I do,” Carlos says, “is there a problem with that?”

“Um…” both Anita and her husband seem to be at a loss for words.

“If that is all, I will be leaving.” Carlos turns, intending to walk away, but Anita practically lunges forward, yelling at him to wait. Her hand closes around his cane just as Roger grabs her other hand, yanking her back. Gil can only watch as Carlos falls to the floor, Duke being thrown from his arms just before he hits the hardwood floor. The boy is sprawled out, legs trembling and arms barely able to support himself back up.

Gil rounds on Roger and Anita very quickly. “The fuck is your problem!?” He screams, shoving at the man's chest. “Grabbing his fucking cane!? He can't fucking walk without it!? Are you fucking insane!?”

For her part, Anita does look quite shocked, face a pale white. “I–I did not mean to–”

“Listen here you vapid whore,” Gil shoves his finger into her chest, “if you ever, ever approach Carlos again, I will personally make sure that it is you who is killed for your raggedy ass skin! And as for that dog, Carlos takes better care of it than either of you ever could! Now get the fuck out of my sight before I show you why my father was renowned for hunting beasts and monsters!”

“Gil!” A manicured hand grabs his wrist, pulling him away from the swiftly retreating Radcliffe's. “Stop it!”

The pirate turns his head to see his captain standing there, eyes shining a golden blue. Mal is helping Carlos up, while Evie calms down the growling Duke who seemed very close to biting the self-proclaimed 'dog lovers.'

“Hey! Are you guys good? We heard yelling!” Jay and Harry both break through the crowd of people that had gathered. “Shit, Carlos!” Jay rushes forward, helping Mal support the young kid while Harry grabs his discarded cane and hands it to him.

“We're fine.” Carlos promises. He limps forward, reaching out to grab Gil's hand. “Gil, stand down. It's fine. I'm fine.”

Gil is breathing heavily, shoulders rising and falling with his heavy, uneven breaths. Finally, the man boy turns and shoves by the other VK's, storming away. The crowd parts like the Red Sea as he marches past, none willing to risk getting into contact with him.

“Ah, we've got it.” Uma says after a second. “Harry, let's go.” Her first mate falls into place next to her as she walks away.

“We should go too.” Mal whispers, eyes scanning the crowd. They're dispersing now, losing interest now that they've realized nothing more will happen.

Carlos stays standing there, staring at the spot where Gil was just standing. “Carlos,” Evie grabs his hand, ever-gentle, “come on. We have to go.”

Carlos reaches his other hand up and wipes at his eyes, then grabs his cane from Jay's hands. “Right. Yeah. Let's go.” Moving together, the four VK's all leave, losing any prying eyes in the crowd rather quickly.

—

“Where the fuck did the lad go?” Harry mutters, eyes scanning the crowd from the staircase in the main ballroom.

“I have no idea.” Uma mutters. She finally sinks down on the stairs, bringing her knees to her chest. “Fuckin' hell, this night sucks.”

“Oh, come on, it ain't tha' bad.” Harry sits down with her, bringing a hand to rest on her shoulder. He rubs his hand on her shoulder, trying to at least be comforting.

“Gil just went off on Roger and Anita Radcliffe. At least thirty people saw it, and with the way news travels, I'm sure the entire attendance list of this damn ball already knows. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if even those that aren't attending the ball already know what happened,” Uma says all in one breath, “Harry, this whole thing was a horrible idea.”

“Yeah, maybe so, but we're here anyways,” Harry shrugs, “we cannae write the whole night off as a failure already.” Uma sighs, then drops her head against Harry's shoulder. Harry moves his arm to wind around her shoulders, holding her close to his body. “It'll be fine, cap'n. Wherever Gil ran off to, I'm sure he's fine.”

“I'm right here.”

Uma and Harry turn their bodies quickly, staring at Gil, who's standing a few stairs above them. “I, um, ran off, then realized I didn't have anywhere to go. So, I came back here.” Gil walks down the steps, sitting down on Uma's other side. “I'm um, I'm sorry for what I did, captain. I let my anger get ahead of me. Let it control me. It was stupid, I just, I saw Carlos on the ground, and I just… saw red.”

Uma sighs, bringing a hand to rub at her temple. “Gil, I'm not mad at you,” she finally says, “I'm really not. I'm just tired of this whole gala thing.”

“At least we're doing it together, or whatnot.” Gil shrugs, throwing his own arm around Uma's shoulders. The girl's sandwiched between the two pirates. She could get out easily, but both boys find it nice to have her close. To have proof that she's there. Harry, Uma knows, needs the physical touch. Needs to prove to himself that they're real and not hallucinations. Gil needs it for a different reason. Needs to hold them because if he doesn't, he'll convince himself that they hate him.

“Yeah, at least.” Uma drops her head onto Harry's shoulder, hand reaching out to grip Gil's. She squeezes his hand, a small smile resting on her face when he turns and smiles at her. “And I'm glad you're okay, Gil. When I heard you yell, I swear, my heart jumped to my throat.”

“Yeah, I just… like I said, I just saw red,” Gil shrugs.

“You're okay.” Uma promises, squeezing his hand again. “It's alright.”

Gil smiles at her. There's trust swimming in his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

Once he made sure they were okay with Roman, Jay left. He's not sure why, but he just– couldn't be with them. Not right now. Besides, Roman was a good guy. Cared about Carlos a lot. Like the others, there were warning bells going off in his mind when Roman first started to stick so close to the pup. And then Evie heard him talk and just, wow. Jay trusted him to keep them safe and out of trouble, strange as the feeling was. He wasn't used to it. To trust other people to keep his family safe. Yet here he was.

Jay finds himself in a secluded corner of the main ballroom, back resting against a pillar and his phone in his hands as he mindlessly scrolls through it. There were a few random posts from cat accounts he followed a while back, as well as a new post from Lonnie, Mulan's daughter. She was posing with a few friends, and oh my god, was that Uma in the reflection? Was she taking the picture?

Jay huffs a laugh.

“See something funny?” A woman's voice asks. He looks up to see a woman with light brown skin wearing a sky blue dress that sparkles in the light of the room.

“Just my friend,” Jay shrugs, pocketing his phone.

“How come you're not with them?” The woman asks.

“Oh, they went off. Though, I should probably find them. Excuse me.” Jay nods his head and goes to leave, but the woman thrusts her hand out.

“Wait!” She exclaims. “Um…” She pulls her hand back when Jay flinches away from her, eyes wide with fear. “I'm sorry, I just… I'm sure you know who I am.” Only a little hesitant, Jay nods. “I just… I wanted to talk to you. Get to know who you are, I mean, I… I don't even know your name.”

Jay looks around, eyes scanning for some sort of escape route. After a second, he sighs and turns his head back to her. “It's Jay, ma'am.”

“Jay” she tests the name in her mouth, “that's a nice name.”

“So is Jasmine,” Jay responds.

“Thank you,” Jasmine inclines her head, “so, how has life in Auradon been for you, Jay?”

“Fine, ma'am.” Jay leans his back against the pillar again, digging his hands into his pockets. “I'm on the rugby team at the school, and my grades are fine. Um, I have a few friends, I suppose, but y'know, life's been great and all, and I just–”

“Jay, stop it,” she interrupts, “I'm not going to judge you for anything you say.”

Jay turns his head away, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. The boy grabs a fistful of his hair and stares down at the silky strands. Finally, he opens his mouth and asks in a strained voice, “why do you keep your hair so long?”

“Huh?” Jasmine does a double take, clearly surprised at the strange question.

“Why do you keep your hair so long?” Jay repeats. The boy blinks furiously to hopefully get rid of the tears in his eyes.

“Well… I guess I like it.” Jasmine shrugs. She reaches up to run her hand through her hair. “Plus, Aladdin loves to braid it when he can.

“Oh,” Jay whispers.

“What about you?” Jasmine asks. “Why do you keep your hair so long?”

“Um…” Jay hesitates. When Jasmine lifts her head, he's staring straight forward, some sort of haunted look in his eyes that the sultana hates with every fiber of her being. His hands are shaking, though Jasmine doesn't think he notices it.

“Jay?” She whispers, reaching a hesitant hand to touch his arm.

The boy flinches away like she burned him with her very touch. He holds his arm to his chest protectively. “Dad–” his voice chokes, “–Jafar,” he amends quickly, “liked it that way. He never let me cut it short. He said it… he said it made it easier.”

Something in Jasmine is telling her to leave it, to turn away and run run run, but she can not bring herself to listen. “Made what easier?” The words are leaving her mouth without her permission, her own voice catching.

Jay turns away fully now. He holds tight onto his elbows, red tendrils of magic rippling across the skin revealed from his rolled up sleeves. “To pretend I was you when he would–” Jay clamps his mouth shut, biting down so hard he's afraid he'll break his own teeth.

“He– when he–?” Jasmine chokes on her own breath. She brings a hand to cover her mouth, tears quickly welling in her eyes as her skin burns with touches she would kill to forget. “Oh my god.”

Jay turns to her. “Yeah, it's not exactly pretty,” he says with a broken chuckle.

“I–I need…” Jasmine takes a step back, shocked and scared.

“Sorry,” Jay whispers. He turns away from her and just starts walking away.

Jasmine can only watch, hand over her mouth and tears welling in her hazel eyes. The sultana turns and nearly runs. She eventually finds her husband, talking to… someone, she doesn't care. She grabs his arm and pulls him away, pulling, pulling, pulling, until finally they're in a secluded hallway. Jasmine can't even hear the sounds of the gala, can't hear a thing except her own heavy breaths and Aladdin's concerned questions.

“ Ya'amar, what's wrong? What happened?” Aladdin is asking, concern etched into his voice.

“I–I ran into–” Her voice doesn't even sound like her own, so broken and wretched, burned with things she wishes she'd never learned. “I ran into– Jay, J–Jafar's son.” She chokes the name out, vitriol falling from her poisoned tongue.

“What?” Aladdin tightens his grip on her shoulders, his face morphing into defense, anger. “What did he do to you? Where is he? I'll–”

“No! No!” Jasmine snaps, grabbing his hands. “The things he told me, he– ya'sanadi, what have we done? We left, abandoned those kids, all of those children, to the hands of those– those monsters. Aladdin, what have we done?”

“Jazz, you're not– you're not making any sense,” Aladdin says, cutting her off.

“Jay, he asked me–” Jasmine cuts herself off with a sob. “He asked me why I–I kept my hair so– so long.”

“That's… a weird question,” Aladdin notes.

“That's what I thought!” Jasmine exclaims, voice frantic. “I said I kept it long because I liked it and you liked to braid it, and then I–” Jasmine chokes, “–I asked him why he kept his hair so long.” This comes out in a whisper, horrified and oh-so guilty.

“Okay, what did he say?” Aladdin asks.

“He said that… Jafar liked it that way.” Jasmine is fully sobbing now, her makeup running down her face. “Said that… it made it easier for Jafar to pretend that… that Jay was… was me when he was…” She can't say it, the words aren't coming out of her mouth, but she has to, doesn't she? Has to make sure that Aladdin understands what's going on, what the gravity is. She has to make him understand what they've put those children through. “Made it easier to pretend when Jafar was raping him.”

She's going to throw up.

Aladdin removes his hands from her shoulders and backs away.

“I'm… what?” The man finally chokes out.

“Aladdin, we left them.” Jasmine sobs. She lifts her head to make eye contact with her husband. “We left them at the mercy of those… vile people. I–I overheard, um, Ursula's daughter earlier, she called– called Gaston a rapist, she just– there wasn't any– she wasn't uncomfortable about it at all, the– Aladdin, what have those kids been through?”

Aladdin doesn't have an answer. Even if he did, Jasmine isn't sure she wanted to hear it. And if she didn't want to hear it, what does that say about her? God, she can't even stomach it, and the VK's had to live through it.

They had condemned those kids. This was their fault.

—

When hands cover her eyes, Mal has half a mind to turn and throw whatever poor soul touched her over her shoulder. Instead, she waits for the idiot person to speak.

“Guess who?” Ben's voice asks.

Mal laughs, bringing her hands up to his own and bringing them down. She turns in his arms, propping up on her tiptoes and kissing him. “Hey, Ben,” she greets.

“Hello, Mal,” Ben kisses her back, “I hope nothing too exciting happened while I was gone.”

“Oh, well…” She turns, looking around at Evie, Carlos, and Roman. They're all shrugging and shaking their heads, brushing off the concern. “Nah, nothing really happened.”

“Oh, that inspires confidence.” Ben says with a huffed laugh.

Mal grins and waves her hand. “It's alright, Ben. We're all fine.”

“Well, I will choose to believe you on that.” Ben wraps his arm around Mal's waist and rests his other arm on the table she, Evie, Carlos, and Roman are standing around. “If only because I don't think I'd like to know.”

This pulls a laugh from Roman, who steps forward and claps Ben on the back. “Well, I think I will be going now,” the prince starts, “I saw some kids from robotics earlier, and I'd like to say hi.”

“Oh, I'll come too.” Carlos slips down from his chair, grabbing his cane to support himself. “I'll see you all later, alright?”

“Bye, Carlos. Stay safe,” Evie says. She leans over and gives him a quick peck on the cheek before he walks off with Roman, the two of them heading into the crowd.

Once they're gone, Ben turns to Mal. “Is there anything I need to be concerned about, my love?”

Mal thinks for a moment, before shaking her head. “No, it's nothing, Ben. Carlos ran into Anita and Roger Radcliffe, and Gil may have said some choice words, not that they weren't justified, although a little loud. But no need to worry, we dealt with it. It's all okay. And Uma and Harry went to speak with Gil. I think he just kind of snapped when he saw Carlos on the floor.”

“Excuse me?” Ben asks, head whipping down to Mal, then to look over at Evie. “What happened? Where are they? I will have a talk with them.”

“No, no, Ben, it's fine,” Evie says quickly, “there is really no need. If you bring more attention to the incident, it'll just make everything worse, believe me.”

Ben looks like he wants to argue, but he backs down and nods his head. “Okay, okay. I'll leave it be. But if problems persist more, come to me. I will deal with it. The whole point of tonight is to show these people who you guys are, but I do not want that at the expense of your own safety and feelings of being comfortable. Say as much to the others for me, okay?”

The smile that crosses Mal's face is contagious.

“Thank you, Ben. Seriously,” Mal says.

Ben smiles down at her, then leans down to still a quick kiss. Mal smiles and steals her own, her arm moving to wrap around his waist, his copying hers. Across from the table, Evie giggles as she watches the interaction.

“Well, as the host of tonight's ball, I have to go around and show my guests a good time,” Ben starts. He extends an arm across the table to Evie, who laughs and stands up, coming around the table and looping her arm through his. “Would you two care to accompany me?” He asks.

“Oh, we would love to,” Mal says with a smile and a pat to his chest.

The three of them go off into the crowd, arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand.

—

Merida hates dresses.

Okay, maybe a bit of a strong word, but it's a completely valid hate. If she was allowed to, she would have every dress she owns burned and buried in the deepest cave in the world. Unfortunately, she is a Queen and does have more than a few expectations. She hadn't even wanted to go to this stupid ball, but Hamish— the little brat— had told her that it was a “good thing for the Kingdom” and that it would show that “they weren't all dead in their castles just yet.”

Pampered brat.

Merida loves her brothers, sure, but ever since Harris went on that “life discovery journey” four years ago and Hubert married into a kingdom and was now co-running it with his wife, Hamish was always getting on her about expanding their social circle or whatever it is he means.

“Have you talked to anyone tonight, my sister?”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

“Have you?” She fires right back, turning with her drink still in hand.

“Oh, many people,” he says with that self-satisfied smirk that makes Merida want to punch him in his adorable stupid face.

“I don't like you,” she deadpans quickly, “and for your information, I have talked to a few people.”

“And who were they?” Hamish asks.

“Well…” Here, Merida finds herself hesitating. Those two boys were sweet, and they reminded her of her brothers, but she isn't sure how well Hamish is going to take her talking to them. Deciding to just throw caution to the wind, Merida bites the bullet and tells him. “They were two VK's, though I never caught their names. They were trying to get food for a dog the small one had, and a guard wasn't letting them through to the kitchens. Thus, I intervened and got the guard to let that past. If my math is correct, that means that I have spoken to three people tonight.”

The satisfied smile on her face doesn't seem to do anything for Hamish, though. He's leveling her with this look she just knows he inherited from their mother. “A worker and two kids that hold no political power don't count, my sister.”

Merida does not pout and she does not cross her arms.

“You hate me,” she grumbles.

“Mm, starting to,” he shrugs.

“Well then, my brother, I must simply stay by your side then,” she says, turning to him with a wide, plastered smile, “and you will have to teach me how to talk to people.”

“Well, now it's you that's hating me, how am I supposed to flirt with anyone with my big sister by my side?” He asks, a grin on his face.

“You're insufferable.”

“So I've been told.”

“Excuse me, Queen Merida, right?” A familiar voice asks.

Merida turns, her smile becoming a bit more genuine when she sees the boy from earlier. He looks a bit happier now, more calm. At his side is a tall man with wind-swept black hair. “Yes, hi, it's so nice to see you again, um…”

“Carlos de Vil.” The boy introduces himself and stretches out his free hand. Merida smiles and takes it, then turns to the other boy.

“Roman, Snow White's son,” he says, offering his own hand.

“Oh, it's lovely to meet ya,” she says, shaking his hand too, “and this is Hamish, the oldest of the triplets.” She places her hand on her brother's shoulder, urging him forward a bit.

“Hello,” Hamish says, shaking Roman's hand.

“How has your night been? You were able to feed this little guy, right?” Merida crouches down and offers her hand to Duke, who sniffs it once before licking at her skin. She can already imagine her brother face palming at the un-Queenliness of this, but she doesn't care much. Next to bears, dogs and wolves have always fascinated her.

“The nights been well,” Carlos says, “and thank you again, Queen Merida, for helping me and Gil get past that guard and to the kitchens.”

“Oh, it's no problem, lad, I was happy to help.”

“So, um, do you both go to Auradon Prep?” Hamish asks. Merida gives Duke one last pet before standing up straight again.

“Yeah, but I'm in my last year,” Roman says, then with a proud smile in Carlos' direction, continues with, “although with the way he's going, Carlos might be in his last year too.” Roman reaches up and ruffles the kids black and white hair. “Little guy's a kid genius, he's amazing.”

Carlos flushes red and ducks his head down. “Um, genius is maybe stretching it a bit, but everyone does keep saying that I'm really smart. I'm not sure I see it, but it's… it's nice to be wanted, I guess.”

Oh my god, this kid is gonna break Merida's heart. Who the hell put that doubt in his head? Second conversation with him, and Merida can already tell the kid is gonna do amazing things. It surprises her, for a minute, the protective wave welling in her chest, but after a second, she figures it's a good thing.

“Well, lad, I see it too,” she says, “and there's no point disagreeing with a Queen, now is there?”

Merida knows Carlos can see through what she's doing, but either way, he smiles and nods his head. “Yeah, I guess there isn't,” he agrees.

“Well, it was great meeting you two,” Hamish interrupts, “but I'm afraid I have to teach my sister how to make friends.”

“What? Oh, you glaikit bampot,” Merida curses as he steers her away.

Carlos and Roman both laugh as they go away, though, so she counts it as a win.