Archive of Our Own ^beta

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             Many people forget that Hades was considered one of the kindest Gods, other than Hestia, but one can only stay kind and sane for so long when they are isolated for millennia. When all the villains were rounded up and sent to the Isle, Zeus was still angry with Hades for trying to overthrow him. So, he placed Hades on the Isle and reinforced the barrier, hoping to keep his brother locked away once again. But Zeus didn’t tell the royals of Auradon that Hades wasn’t the only God to commit terrible crimes, instead pinning all that he could on his eldest brother and throwing him away. Zeus never expected that his brother might lay with the Dark Fae Maleficent during a peak of anger and insanity, he also did not predict the child that that would come from this or how she would affect Hades. 

***

            If anyone dared to walk near enough to Maleficent’s castle today, only a year after the creation of the Isle, listening past the ruckus of Hades and Maleficent’s argument one might hear the cries of an infant.

            “I just can’t do this anymore, Maleficent,” Hades shouted before continuing in a softer tone. “ I don’t know why either of us thought this would veer work, the only thing we do is fight! The only good thing that came of us being together is Mal.” Hades said.
            “Mal?! Seriously?!” Maleficent seethed, glaring at the broken crib in the corner of the room. “You must be joking Hades, all that thing does is cry. It’s a parasite.” Maleficent growled swinging her arm to point at the so called ‘parasite’, her eyes glowing bright green as her magic came forward to show her anger.

            “She’s a baby!” Hades bellowed, standing between Maleficent and Mal’s crib. “She’s crying because she needs something, and you never bother to take care of her!” Hades walked towards the broken crib that housed his baby girl. He used one hand to play with her purple hair, one of the only obvious signs of her Godly heritage. After a minute he grabbed one of the teething rings he had managed to find in the barge and gave it to her, her cries finally beginning to quiet. He watched her calm down before speaking just above a whisper, “Mal is the only reason I’ve stayed this long. I can’t do it anymore, I just can’t.” Hades reached down to pick up his daughter as he spoke.

Maleficent scoffed, “What are you gonna do, Hades? Take it to the underworld with you?” Maleficent laughed cruelly, her voice raising as she kept talking “It has my blood, making it Dark Fae. Do you think anything Fae could survive the wasteland you call a kingdom?” She paused, a cackle escaping her and making her shake with laughter. “Go ahead, take it with you and watch it wither away. I can’t wait to see the anguish it wreaks on you, not to mention what you baby brother might do if he finds out you brought your demigod spawn to the underworld!”

            Hades didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him cry, so kissed Mal on the forehead and he stormed out of Maleficent’s castle. He kept a scowl firmly in place as he crossed the Isle and went back to the cave entrance to the Underworld, as soon as he knew no Isle inhabitants would see him, he screamed. Tears poured down his face as everything around him caught fire, he sat there for hours mourning the loss of his baby girl. An idea came to him as he ran out of tears; I may not be able to raise her, but I can watch over her. She can’t die on the Isle because of the barrier, but I can ask the Fates to keep an eye on her fate for me.

✨NT🥀- poor poor hades he just wanna be a good papa :,C💦 

Chapter Text

            After a day of causing chaos with her gang, Mal made her way back to their hideout. She couldn’t stand the thought of going back home to her mother.  Picking apart and criticizing everything Mal did, telling her that she wasn’t evil enough. As she glanced around to make sure that no one would find out how to get in, Mal noticed a faint blue glow from around the corner of a crumbling building. How dare he, she thought with a spark of old anger. He can’t bother to stick around and be a dad, but it’s okay to stalk me?! Mal decided that if he’d wanted nothing to do with her as a baby, then she wanted nothing to do with him now. Mal casually turned and picked up a rock to bring down the ladder.

            “Mal, wait,” Hades called out as he stepped out from behind the building. Mal’s head snapped toward the god.

“What, Hades?!”, spite colored Mal’s voice.

            “We need to talk, and I’m sure you don’t want others listening in to risk.”

            He’s right, information is power on here, but I’m not following him anywhere. “Fine, but  you’re coming with me, not the other way around.” Mal turned and threw the rock at the battered ‘Flying Rocks’ sign. As soon as the ladder was in reach Mal grabbed a rung and began climbing. There was a moment of silence before she heard Hades’ leather boots scrape the gravel, and felt the metal ladder creak under their combined weight.

✨NT🥀-smart girlieeee

***

            Mal watched as Hades glanced around her gangs’ hideout, not wanting to be the first one to speak but slowly becoming more and more annoyed with the awkward silence and Hades’ eyes wandering all around the hideout.

            “Well? What was so important that you had to track me down tonight?” Mal bit out, heated and impatient.

            “Why do I need a reason?” Hades wouldn’t look her in the eyes “I’m Hades, god of the underworld and king of the dead. I can do what I want when I want.” Hades swung his arms out and spoke with bravado, as though he hadn’t sought her out. Mal crossed her arms and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

            “Cut the bullshit old man. You came to find me and said we need to talk. Either get on with it or get out.” Mal brought her hands to rest on her hips as she stared at Hades.

            Hades let out a low chuckle, “Y’know, many beings have been obliterated for speaking to the gods so disrespectfully. Demigod or not, any other god would’ve struck you down for it.” His eyes finally met Mal’s, a warmth in his eyes she’d never seen before. “But that spite and that strength has gotten you far in the rough life you were dealt, my dear daughter.”

            Mal scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Yeah, right, like you care,” Mal said dismissively.

            “Believe it or not Malinoé,” What did he just say? “I have always cared, that why I sought you out tonight. Something’s coming, I can’t tell you what exactly, Styx be dammed. But when you were a babe I struck a deal,” Hades paused and took a deep breath, Mal stayed quiet not knowing where this was going. “I couldn’t be with you but I wanted to know you were safe. I happen to be on good terms with the Fates, and they agreed to tell me if there were any major changes in your life thread.”

            Mal stayed silent taking in all the information Hades was dumping on her and waiting a moment for him to continue.

            “The Fates could only tell me so much. And I can’t even tell you what they told me.” Hades paused, his hands rising to grab his burning hair, seemingly struggling to find the words.

            “But, you know how your mother has countless plans on how to leave the Isle and what she would do if she could leave, ” He paused, looking at Mal to see her nod in acknowledgement before continuing. “When you leave the Isle you will face more changes than your friends. You will have new instincts, listen to them, do not let your mother dictate your actions.” Hades stepped forward and tried to put a hand on Mal’s shoulder, but she backed away before he could. “I know I’m not your favorite person and I don’t blame you for not trusting me, but I will always do what is best for you, I have always loved you. When you are free, do what’s best for you, protect yourself. Keep the people you trust close to you.” Hades knew that if he stayed any longer, he would give more information than he could get away with, so he turned to leave.

             As he made his way toward the balcony, he heard Mal shout, “Wait, that’s it?” Hades turned around to see Mal staring at him incredulously. “You’re just gonna give me some weird cryptic bullshit, and leave? Sixteen years of avoidance, and then you come in here pretending you care, just to leave again?” Mal’s hands flew through the air as she spoke, her eyes glowing bright green with anger. “You tell me somethings’s coming and then just tell me weird things about looking out or myself, like I don’t already look out for myself, it’s the only way to survive on this damn island!” Mal’s breath was coming out in harsh puffs, she hadn’t expected to get that angry with Hades, not when she had decided years ago that he didn’t matter to her if she didn’t matter to him.

            “I understand why your anger Mal, and if I could tell you more I would. But even Gods have rules to follow. Do you really think I would have left you with your mother if I had any choice in the matter? There was too high a risk you wouldn’t survive in the underworld, and who knows what Zeus would’ve done to you if he found out you existed.” Hades let out a low sigh, slowly starting to make his way down the ladder. Just before he dipped out of view, he lifted his eyes to meet Mal’s and said. “I’m sorry, Mali.” Before continuing down the creaking metal ladder and making his way back to the underworld, The small moments I get with her make it so much harder to stay away, I wish I didn’t have to leave her.

✨NT🥀- mal has daddy issues to sort out ;-P ay papi

Chapter Text

            Mal didn’t know what to think after her run in with Hades, two nights prior. He had acted like he cared, like he was worried about her, which didn’t make any sense. Mal had always thought that her father hadn’t wanted her. For as long as she could remember Mother had told her that her father had hated her, that he left her alone. When she found out that her father was Hades, she tried following him few times. She wanted to ask him why, why would he leave her with Maleficent? But he would always disappear before she could ask him, so she thought it must’ve been true, he didn’t want Mal.

***

            It was obvious after her cryptic chat with Hades that change was coming, she just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. But looking at the royal seal on the letter in her mother’s hand, the truth was unavoidable. This brought on an onslaught of conclusions; she and her gang were getting off the Isle, trouble was brewing in Auradon, and Hades had come to warn her about everything - Hades cared about her.

            “Mal! Pay attention!” Mal ducked on instinct, just barely avoiding the hand flying towards her face. She glanced up to find her mother glaring at her, looking an inch away from swinging again. “This invitation is a chance to prove that you are worthy of being called my daughter.” Maleficent stepped forward grabbing Mal by the arm, her long nails digging into Mal’s arm, clearly seething over the fact that Mal had the audacity to disrespect her by avoiding the hit. “Don’t you dare fail me, witch,” Maleficent hissed in Mal’s ear before roughly shoving her, the corners of her lips quirking up in satisfaction as Mal stumbled backward. “I trust you won’t screw this up” she stalked after her daughter, a predatory look in her eyes “you know what will happen if you do,” Maleficent said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Her eyes passing over each of Mal’s gang, to remind her that her life wasn’t the only one at stake.

           If the other VK’s  noticed they didn’t say anything, instead choosing to focus on what their own parents were demanding from them. Evie and the Evil Queen were fussing over Evie’s make up, ensuring sure that she looked perfect enough to catch a prince. Jay was showing his father everything that he had swiped for Jafar’s store that day, and Carlos was cowering as Cruella reprimanded him for his ‘lackluster’ cleaning of her house.

          Mal turned on her heel, needing to get away from her mother and not think about what she was implying. She didn’t have much to pack, just her hidden bag with a half melted purple hairbrush, some chewed up pencils, and a sketchbook with severe water damage that she practiced her tags in. She’d learned had to hide the small broken treasures she picked up from the trash barges, Maleficent would never let her have anything of her own. Once she pulled the backpack out of it place under a loose floorboard behind a crumbling staircase, Mal swung the bag over her shoulder and began her trek out of the castle.

🥀NT✨- ah, the life of a poor struggling artist

***

            As Mal lifted her head to see her mother glaring down from the castle balcony, she found herself fighting back a shudder and having to stop herself from gripping the fresh holes in her arm, constellations of crescent shaped scars littering her skin. She quickly broke eye contact when her mother’s eyes began to glow a bright green, ducking into the limo ready to get as far away as possible from the monster she called ‘mother’. The rest of her gang followed in the limo, and she watched Jay and Carlos’ eyes light up at the candy spread in the limo.  An array of vibrantly colored sweets, nothing like the scraps and trash they got on the Isle. Once the doors closed behind them and the engine rumbled to life, Mal let out a quiet sigh of relief, not willing to relax yet but glad that everyone she cared about was within her sight.

🥀NT✨- a pEnny tO cRosS your bRIdGe sIRe, a tUppEnCE

Chapter Text

            As the limo crept its way across the bridge into Auradon, Mal let herself enjoy the sight of her friends. For once she didn’t see fearful or cautious body language, just wonder and happiness, Jay and Carlos even began to wrestle over the strange assortment of colorful candies in the limo. Evie had a wide smile on her face as she watched the boys with Mal. They never looked this happy on isle, they shouldn’t have to live cowering in the shadow of their parents. A soft smile made its way onto Mal’s face before she forced her thoughts back on track. Now’s not the time to think about the lives that were stolen from us. We have to start a survival plan for Auradon,,and I have to make sure we never go back to the Isle.  

           “Em, look at this,” Evie’s voice was alight with wonder as she peered out the window, “Look! The water and sky! It’s actually blue! Oh my Gods, there are trees. Actual, green, living trees over there!” Evie was almost bouncing in her seat as Mal leaned over to see what the older girl was trying to show her. The vibrant colors of Auradon’s lands snapped Mal out of her thoughts, she very suddenly felt the magic of the lands. It was soft and familiar, like an old lullaby she’d forgotten the words to. Mal could feel a longing in her chest, the magic calling out to fill the emptiness she was familiar with.  As soon as she brough herself out of her thoughts to pay attention to their new surroundings, Mal could feel the magic of the land reaching out to her, beckoning her to use it.

🥀NT✨- it’s giving..hypnosis? idk but girlie is getting lost in the sauce

            She started to focus on that feeling, magic and life flooding through her, making her feel more alive than she had ever felt in her life. It was almost overpowering, her veins felt like they were on fire and her eyes bright with the magic flooding her system. As she started to grow accustomed to Auradon’s magic coursing through her and allowed herself to calm down, she noticed a strange itch between her shoulder blades. Whatever, it doesn’t matter right now, what matters is keeping them safe. She idly reached to scratch her back as she took in the view.

            “Mal, you with us?” Evie slowly reached over, making sure to telegraph her movements, and placed her hand on top of Mal’s in an attempt to bring her friend back to reality.

            “Yeah, E, I’m here. Sorry.” She shook her head, clearing the fog from her mind.

            “What’s goin’ on in that head of yours? Should we be worried?” Evie lifted her arm gesturing to the boys and herself, only half joking. The boys were suddenly pulled from their sugar fueled fervor as they picked up on the change in tone, they all looked at her expectantly trying to make sure she was okay.

            Mal took a deep breath, glancing at the crystal blue waters out the window before looking back at her gang and starting to speak. “We’ve always had to fight to survive, but what are we supposed to do to survive in Auradon. We knew what to expect from people on the Isle, but we don’t know this place. What shit are we gonna have to face from the goody-goody ‘heroes’ over there?”

            Evie traded glances with Jay and Carlos, before they all shuffled in closer to sit by Mal wanting to show that she could lean on them. Evie lightly brushed her shoulder against Mal’s before softly saying, “Whatever we have to face over there, we’ll face it together. ‘Cuz we’re rotten…”

            “To the core.” The other three finished, small shaky but determined smiles crossing their faces before the limo slowed to a stop. They each took a moment to ready themselves before squaring their shoulders and schooling their expressions into similar masks of strength and cool indifference. Once the limousines door opened Mal took the lead, slowly stepping out of the vehicle exuding an air of strength while quickly assessing for any threats to her gang. Once all four of them had made their way out of the limo a middle aged in a matching powder blue dress with a matching jacket and magenta scarf tied in a bow stepped forward.

            “Greetings children! I am Fairy Godmother, headmistress.” She spoke in a sing-song voice, Mal cringed hearing it. “It is an honor to welcome you to Auradon Prep, I hope you all come to think of this school as a safe space.” She spoke with a kind smile, to others it may have felt welcoming and motherly, but for the VK’s who’d never seen a smile like that without a trap right behind it, the fairy’s greeting was off-putting. None of them were willing to show how uneasy they were about this whole situation, choosing to smile sarcastically back at the fairy and let Mal take the lead as usual.

            “Fairy Godmother? Gertrude of the High Fae? It’s an honor to meet a member of the High Fae.” Mal  was a little breathless, starstruck seeing such a powerful Fae. She quickly recalled her interactions with the only Fae she’d ever known and turned on her Isle bravado, not noticing the High Fae’s concern as Mal’s demeanor changed. “Well you ‘heroes’ dragged us out here, what do you want from us?”

            “I wish I could stay but unfortunately I have some business to attend to at the moment, so I will leave Ben to start your tour.” Fairy Godmother gestured behind her and a teenage boy in a royal blue suit cleared his throat as he stepped out from behind Fairy Godmother a girl in a bubblegum pink dress clinging to his arm like a spoiled kid with a new toy. After the boy made his presence known, Fairy Godmother gave them a small wave and turned towards the castle behind the Auradonians.

            “It was actually my idea to bring you four to Auradon. I’m Ben-”

            “Prince Benjamin, heir to Auradon’s throne.” Pink girl simpered, pathetically “I’m his girlfriend, Princess Audrey of Auroria.” She announced arrogantly like that would mean anything to the VK’s.

            Ben let out an awkward chuckle with carefully concealed discomfort and pried Princess ‘holier than thou’ off his arm before stepping forward to shake hands with each of the VK’s. “It’s so amazing to meet all of you.” He said with a big puppy dog smile. “I decided to bring you guys over because I thought you deserved a ‘second’ chance,’ he leaned closer and whispered so only the VK’s could hear, “not that I think any kid on the Isle was ever given a chance in the first place.”

            Mal and her gang shared bemused glances, not quite sure what to make of this strangely open and kind boy. Evie opened her mouth, likely to thank Ben for inviting them to Auradon, but the little pink brat suddenly decided to speak up.

            “Oh my gosh, aren’t you Maleficent’s daughter? My mom is Sleeping Beauty, and I totally don’t hold any of what happened between our parents against you.” Her voice was dripping with sickeningly sweet sarcasm, even as she began to glare at Mal.

🥀NT✨-girl’s crazy eyes are another mark on her list of  🚩🚩

            Ben looked between the two girls, the tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with a wooden training sword, not wanting either of them to take things further he stepped between the two girls. “I think it’s about time we start the tour,” he said with a pinched expression “and I’m sure Audrey doesn’t want to join us on our boring tour.” He turned to his clingy girlfriend, once again prying her fingers from their painfully familiar tight grip on his arm,  Mal stiffened as she watched. “Doesn’t your cheerleading practice start soon? Why don’t you start making your way over so that you can make sure everything is set up right.” To the VK’s it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with her, but apparently the uppity royal didn’t notice.

            “Okay, Benny Boo, I’ll see you later.” The pitch of her voice was migraine inducing “You’re right, I have to make sure the girls are ready for the championship game Friday.” She leaned up to kiss Ben, even as he tried to pull away. She waved daintily at Ben, glanced at the Vk’s, flipped her hair with a haughty huff and walked off.

            Once the prince’s pretentious pet walked away Ben began leading them towards the entrance to the school Ben looked back at the group and spoke. “I’m sorry about her, I tried to keep her from coming but I was outvoted.” He took a deep breath and clasped his hands in front of himself. “Okay, now that she’s gone, let start over.” He gave them a small bow and a charming smile. “My name is Ben, it’s so nice to meet you. I hope you guys like our school, if you ever need anything my office is down that hall, second door on the right.” He pointed to the hallway to their right.

            Evie smiled, “Well you already know who Mal is, your pretty little,” She paused to think of the right word” girlfriend made sure to introduce her. But I’m Evie, this is Jay and Carlos.” Each boy gave a small head nod at their name. “You don’t need to apologize for her behavior, but I don’t think any of us are up for a full tour right now. Any chance you can just show us the basics, ya’know; cafeteria, bathrooms, our rooms, and give us a map?”

🥀NT✨- everyone hop on the 🎶F audrey train~🎵🚂

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            After dropping off the boys at their room, Ben led Mal and Evie to their room. He once again offered directions to his office, and named some friendly faces; Li Lonnie, Aziz of Agrabah, and Aksel of Arendelle. Mal quickly and softly closed the door behind Ben, slightly smirking at Jay invading the future King’s personal space as they walked towards the boy’s dorms.

            She turned to take in their new room, a window directly opposite the door was streaming in sunlight through sheer pink curtains. On the right side of the room there were two soft twin sized beds with fluffy pillows, and the sheets had pale dainty flowers strewn across them paired with sturdy looking wardrobes. Across the room from each bed was a desk, small gift baskets sitting pretty on both.  A quick glance at Evie showed that she was in love with their room. It certainly was not Mal’s speed, and the room may currently be painfully bright after growing up under thick haze of smog and dingy cloud cover. But, if it made E happy then she should enjoy it. Not wanting to ruin the bluenette’s joy by criticizing the room, Mal quietly walked over to the curtains and drew them closed to help stifle the sunlight. Now that the light was a little less overwhelming Mal could see that each gift basket was an envelope tucked inside with one of their names on it.

M-I was talking to my dad about this scene and he said I should just write ‘Disney vomited on my room’ 😂  

🥀NT✨- anyone else getting grandma vibes from that room in the movie? Not always a bad thing but … yikes

            “Hey, E, c’mere.” Mal called out as she walked towards the desk where the envelope with her name on it was. When Mal got no response from Evie, she turned to find the other girl laying on the bed closest to the door. Her arms and legs were starfished around her as she enjoyed the comfort of a real bed instead of the makeshift piles of old blankets most of them were used to on the Isle. Mal gazed fondly at her friend before grabbing both envelopes and settling on the bed by Evie’s legs. Evie lifted her head, a bit dazed, to look at Mal when she sat on the bed.

            “Sorry,” she said sheepishly, “whad’ya find?” She pulled herself up into a sitting position while she spoke, her eyes settling on the papers in Mal’s hand.

            “These were leaning against the baskets over there,” she waved her hand towards the desks, “there’s one for each of us.” She handed Evie the envelope with her name on and began to open her own.

            Dear Mal,

            I hope this basket is helpful for you settling in here. I know you are facing a lot of change right now and it must be overwhelming, if ever things get to be too much please do not hesitate to reach out to me or Fairy Godmother. Your class schedule, locker, and combination are included on the next page. There are some basic toiletries in these baskets - shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. If there is anything else you need to help you settle in here, please make it known and we will make sure you get what you need. Also, I understand that you are the child of a Dark Fae, and may be experiencing new issues with your magic since arriving in Auradon or have questions I am not capable of answering, so I have left contact information for you to contact Fairy Godmother, the Blue Fairy, and directions to the Moors where some dark Fae still live.

            P.S. Sorry for the formality, Fairy Godmother was reading over my shoulder in that first section. She thought you would be more comfortable with a note from me than from her.

                                                                                                                         -Ben 

Once she finished reading Ben’s note, Mal took a look at her class schedule. ‘Goodness 101’, really? Okay, what else…Algebra 1, Chemistry, History of Good and Evil, Phys Ed., Study Hall, and electives to be chosen? What is an elective? Whatever I’ll worry about it later.

            Evie let out a derisive snort as she read her own schedule, just as Mal finished reading her schedule, “Goodness 101? Think that’s a new class?” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. Mal laughed snarkily under her breath and was about to reply when she felt the strange itching on her back again. Now that they weren’t exposed to danger, she might as well ask Evie to check it out.

            “Evie, I’ve got this weird itch between my shoulders, would you mind taking a look?” Evie nodded, gesturing for Mal to remove her leather jacket, laying it gently on a nearby chair. Once Mal turned around Evie slowly raised the shirt so she would have a clear view.

            Silence. Dead silence.

            “What? What is it?” Worry colored Mal’s voice, her head turning as she strained to see Evie. She just barely caught a glimpse of the thoughtful look on her friend’s face.

            “There are two, uh, lumps? Nubs? Little nubs, on your shoulder blades, it almost looks like something is growing? Like it’s trying to push its way out.” Evie paused for a moment, staring with her pretty eyebrows scrunched in concentration. “M, most faeries are born with wings, right?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Even Maleficent?”

            “Yea, she had wings once, before Stefan. Why?” Mal let her shirt fall back down as she turned around to look at Evie.

           “If Fae are born with wings, and you’re Fae, then there are two likely reasons why you weren’t born with wings.” Evie looked Mal in the eyes, gently reaching out to hold her hands. “Either your dad’s genes interfered, but I wouldn’t think so since he’s a God. Or the barrier prevented you from accessing your natural magic and might’ve even kept your wings suppressed. Now that we’re off the Isle there’s nothing holding back your magic so maybe this…”

            Evie was still speaking but Mal couldn’t hear her over a sudden fog clouding her mind. Mal could feel a rising warm pressure within her, energy filling her up and craving an outlet. Before Mal could try to warn even, let alone even understand what was happening, magic burst out of her in a soft and shifting mixture of blue and purple swirling light. Without any control or intention, the smoke like tendrils of magic gently swirled around their dorm room; ruffling the blinds, blankets, as well as the girls’ clothes and hair. The cloud of sparkling indigo and periwinkle slowly coalesced behind Mal, after only a few moments it had formed a faint outline of wings. They were large, but didn’t look out of place, gossamer feathers shimmering in the sunlight that streamed into their room.  The two girls just sat there staring in shock for a few moments, stunned by Mal’s unintentional light show, when a knock pulled them from their stupor.

           “Hey, it us. Can we come in?” Jay’s deep voice sounded from the other side of the door and Evie quickly slipped off the bed and hurried to let the boys in.

           This is gonna be a long talk.

M-these are kinda what I was picturing for the wings, just more purple. And with little horns like we see on the Dark Fae’s wings in Maleficent 2, don't know why it wouldn't let me put the actual picture in.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWKaPg9Gb9CpuaksYqSwwGQFNxx06Rs8I73A&s  

🥀NT✨-idk if we’re keeping the tail it reads a little phoenix like to me but it looks so sick, also imagine Evie trying to design clothes around the darn thing oof 🫠

Chapter Text

         The glimmering wings faded away very quickly, wisps of sparkling magic floating down and dissipating in the air as the boys came into the dorm room. Unfortunately, there was no shot they could pretend nothing happened since Jay had seen some of the glittering specks of magics falling and was now on alert, scanning the room for potential threats. Once the door was closed behind the two boys Evie began explaining her theory about Mal and the changes the magic in Auradon might be causing. Carlos was silent considering Evie’s theory while Jay looked incredulously between the two girls he considered his sisters, leading Mal to tell him what had happened just seconds before he walked in. It took a few minutes but Jay eventually wrapped his head around.the concept that Mal’s heritage may start showing itself now that she was surrounded by magic. Once they got past that hurdle, they 4 began memorizing the map of the school and compared their schedules.

         The cafeteria was open for breakfast between 6 am and 8 am on weekdays, staying open till 9 am on weekends. Lunch was served between noon and 1 pm, and dinner was served between 6 pm and 8 pm every day. Classes were an hour long starting when the cafeteria closed at 8 am. First hour Mal and Evie shared History of Good and Evil while Jay and Carlos had Chemistry and Algebra 1 respectively. Second hour Jay and Carlos had History of Good and Evil while Mal was in Algebra 1 and Evie was in Chemistry. Third hour they all shared Goodness 101 followed by electives in hour four, they were supposed to discuss possible electives with Fairy Godmother the next day at the end on Goodness 101. Fifth hour was lunch, in sixth hour Jay and Evie shared Algebra while Mal had Physical Education and Carlos had study hall. Seventh hour Mal and Carlos shared Chemistry while Jay and Evie shared Physical Education. Eighth hour had Carlos in Physical Education while the rest shared study hall in the library. After that there were two free hours for student clubs and/or practices before dinner.

M-I spent like a half hour making them a schedule on google sheets to make sure I had a way to keep track of it and not mix it up in my head, so I felt the need to spell it out in here too. IDK why.

✨NT🥀 – I’m not reading that whole paragraph bout the schedules, I’m long done with school and refuse to give myself flashbacks

          As the four of them wrapped up comparing their schedules, there was a knock on their door. Mal got up from their planning session on the floor and walked over to open the door, finding a kind faced Asian girl with a short bob waiting on the other side.

         “Hi, I’m Lonnie. Ben wanted to make sure you all got to dinner safely but he got stuck in a council meeting,” she said wide a bright smile and a small wave. “We should probably swing by the boys room on the way and grab Aksel and Aziz,” looking at the confused expressions on their faces she nodded at Jay and Carlos and continued “Ben asked them to help you two find your way down. We didn’t think you’d be here but they’re gonna whine if they think they got left out.”

***

            After finding Ben’s friends room empty, Lonnie realized they must’ve gone looking for the VK boys. When they arrived at Jay and Carlos’ room they found two teenage boys, a boy with black hair had his hand raised to knock on the door while his ginger friend peered around the corridor.  

            “Hey!” Lonnie shouted getting the boys’ attention, “I found ‘em for you. Aksel, Aziz this is Jay, Carlos, Mal, and Evie.” She gestured to each VK as she said their names. “Guys, this is Aziz,” she said as she gestured to the black haired boy with dark brown eyes and rich tan complexion. She then pointed to the red headed boy next to him with fair skin, a dappling of freckles, and blue eyes, “and this is Aksel, these two are Ben’s best friends, you might hear others on campus call them his ‘shadows’.” She let out a derisive snort, “Along with Merida’s daughter, Lillian, we’re the friends Audrey doesn’t like ‘cuz we spend all our time trying to remind Ben that he’s not just ‘future King Ben’, that he’s human and he’s got to has to take care of himself. All she wants is for him to be King, because she says there’s no way anyone else is going to be his Queen.” Lonnie rolled her eyes and did an excellent impression of Audrey “It’s my rightful place.”  At that statement the VKs all looked at each other confused and concerned by what that meant.

            “What is that supposed to mean? ‘He can’t get out of her being Queen’, he’s going to be king, doesn’t he get to choose who he marries and rules with?” Evie asked dumbfounded, “Isn’t that what you’re all about over here? ‘True love’ and ‘happily ever after’?”

            “Not everyone, some people just care about power. Audrey learned that from her bitch of a grandmother.” Lonnie said with a sneer, before explaining seeing the confusion on the VK’s faces. “When we were all still freaking toddlers, she and King Adam created a betrothal contract for Audrey and Ben.”

            “A betrothal contract? Seriously?? How on Earth did they get Queen Belle to agree to that?” Mal asked dubiously, most of the Isle knew that Queen Belle was a far more sensible person than Beast and believed he had somehow tricked her into loving him. All of the AK’s faces grew somber with that question before Aziz spoke up.

            “I know you guys didn’t hear about this, they tried to keep it under wraps. But, Queen Belle got pregnant after Ben, and she ended up losing the baby.” There was a matching expression of sorrow written on their faces, as they remembered how hard that time was for Ben and his family. Ben was only a few years old at the time, but when he was old enough to fully understand that loss and the pain it caused his parents he began pushing himself harder to be their ’perfect prince’. He wanted to east their burden, even though he was still a child himself. “No one is exactly sure what went wrong, but she couldn’t have children anymore. We” Aziz gestured to himself, Lonnie, and Aksel “think that’s how they got her to agree, maybe they pressed her on the idea that they needed to ensure heirs to the kingdom.”

            “Shit, that’s messed up. Using the fact that she lost a kid and was in who knows what kind of emotional state, to push her into trapping her only remaining child in a betrothal contract.” Carlos grew more heated as he spoke, scoffing as he added on,” And we thought our parents were evil.” Speaking just loud enough for the other six in the hallway to hear him, but no-one disagreed with what they heard. The five teens stood in silence for a moment in the hallway before Lonnie remembered what she and the boys were supposed to be doing.

            “Oh, we are supposed to be taking you to dinner, not bumming you out with the shit Ben has to go through thanks to Audrey and her awful grandmother.” Lonnie said shaking her and her friends out of their stupor before turning around a hand on each of her friends’ shoulders and said, “alrighty kids, this way to the cafeteria!”  

***

            It was a short walk to the cafeteria with all seven teens talking about Audrey, turns out it wasn’t just a poor first impression on the VK’s end. Audrey decided to take it upon herself  to announce the betrothal in their freshman year. Once they were ‘official’ Audrey started pushing some of Ben’s old friends away, the ones she believed weren’t ‘true’ royalty, never mind that according to her standards Ben was only half royal. She was also openly against any and all she viewed as ‘lesser beings’, which according to her was pretty much anything that wasn’t human;  dwarves, mermaids, moor folk, faeries, etc. They reminisced on a time when they were children, explaining that Audrey used to be a kind and curious child. Perhaps Queen Belle hadn’t been opposed to Audrey as Ben’s future bride, the once lovely child was her son’s best friend and Beast was convinced she was a good political match for the kingdom. However, this was before Audrey started getting shipped off to spend almost every vacation with Queen Leah. The change had been slow at first, a naïve sweet girl making small odd comments here and there, but over the years she became more judgmental and entitled. It was she returned to school the year she turned 11 that her personality had completely changed. Since then it was obvious to Ben’s friends that he couldn’t stand the idea of marrying Audrey, they’d asked him why he didn’t just break up with her and be done with the relationship. He told them that there was no way out of the contract, he asked his dad who told him it was iron-clad.

 🥀NT✨- boo hoo poor thing, sorry your granma SUCKS

            When they arrived at the cafeteria they cut off that conversation, not wanting Audrey’s little groupies to overhear and go running to their ‘dear sweet Audrey’. It had happened before and is guaranteed to happen again, Audrey had little spies everywhere. Instead they decided to tell Mal and her friends what the options were for dinner that night.

            “Okay, so, every night there is an option for meat, seafood, pasta, or vegetarian courses. Just go to the line for whichever course you want and pick up your dinner and dessert. I think tonight’s options are steak with mashed potatoes and green beans, blackened halibut over rice, penne alla vodka, and chopped Italian salad. I think the desserts are..” Aksel trailed off when he saw the VK’s faces, wide shocked eyes and even some dropped jaws. “What? What did I say? Am I talking too fast again?”

            Jay was the first to snap out of his daze over the options available “You guys get all these options every day?” Jay asked, awe leaking into his voice as his eyes darted across the cafeteria.

            Aziz and Lonnie’s grew wide and worry was written or their faces, Aksel was a little slower on the uptake looking at the VK’s not understanding what the issue was.

            “What do you mean? I know you guys probably didn’t get the same stuff we got, but it shouldn’t have been too bad. We had food drives every couple months to make sure there was enough for everyone on the isle to survive.” Aziz’s voice grew less confused and more concerned with every word out of his mouth.

             Mal was the first to register Aziz’s words and she let out a disbelieving snort, “’Not too bad? Not that many options?’” A hysterical giggle escaped her; however it died out quickly when she clocked the concern on their new acquaintances faces. She and her friends were actually liking this group of oddballs and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to crush the spirits of their newfound allies.

             Lonnie could tell that the VK’s weren’t sure what they should say, but they needed to know, so she told them as much. “I understand it may be hard to talk about, but Ben wants to make things better for all of the kids over there. He might not be able to bring over a lot of people fast, he still has to go through the council, but if you tell us what things need changing over there we can work to try and fix it.” The sincerity in her voice couldn’t be faked. Mal looked at her friends trying to make sure that they were okay with telling others about the isle and how bad they had it.

            “We were lucky. Since our parents were powerful we were able to eat everyday, but not everyone on the Isle could. I know a lot of kids who regularly went days or weeks without food, and you couldn’t be picky, there were no options you just ate what you found. It almost didn’t matter how rotten the food was, you were never guaranteed another meal, so you just took what you got without complaint.” Mal could see tears gathering in Lonnie’s eyes, Aziz and Aksel weren’t far behind. “No, no, it’s not your fault, crying doesn’t help.” Mal seemed as though she was going to reach for Lonnie’s hand before catching herself  “C’mon, why don’t we grab some food and if you want to know more, we’ll tell you.” Lonnie, Aziz, and Aksel agreed before pointing out which station was which and they broke into groups to get their dinners. Jay, Mal, Aziz, Aksel, and Lonnie went for the steak and potatoes dinner, Carlos went for the halibut, and Evie got a salad.

          After a minute of searching, they found an empty table and all seven teens sat together to eat their dinners. Any lingering sadness Aksel, Lonnie, and Aziz had quickly faded into amusement when seeing their new friends react to their foreign fresh dinners.

Chapter Text

         “Gods, I hate those stuck-up primadonnas and their ‘holier than thou’ bullshit.” Huffed a curly haired red head as she plopped herself down at their table between Lonnie and Aksel.  She only seemed to notice the four new additions to her usual group after slamming her lunch tray down on the table. “Oh, crap,” she breathed, “sorry, didn’t notice you guys, that probably wasn’t a great introduction. Um, I’m Lillian, it’s so exciting to meet you guys! Me and these weirdos are some of the few kids around here who were on board with Ben’s proclamation. Mainly cuz’ it pissed off stuffy royals like Audrey and her classist grandmother.”

         The VK’s blinked in surprise, not expecting the sudden onslaught of information from the strange and very talkative Lillian. It was a lot to take in.

         “Excuse me, but who exactly are you?” Evie asked politely while her friends stared at the new person at their table. She looked and sounded exactly like they’d imagined Dizzy might look grown up; confident, outspoken, and unafraid.

         “Oh, well, I already said my name’s Lillian. Uh, heir to DunBroch, Merida is my mom. Sorry, I probably should’ve introduced myself before I just started shit talking and expecting everyone to join in. Anyways, it’s nice to meet you guys.” She looked at Mal and Evie with a sly grin ”I hope you ladies are more fun than most of the girls around here. For years Lonnie and I have been the only girls around interested in anything other than dating boys and looking pretty, which is part of why we don’t get along with Audrey and her little cult.” The bushy red head began to ramble, however her introduction only served to further confuse Mal and her friends.

         “Sorry, but I didn’t think Merida ever married or anything,” Jay started baffled, “If you’re her daughter, then who’s your dad?”

         “Oh, it wasn’t really publicly announced or anything. Everyone in the school knows ‘cuz Heather learned from a maid who used to work with my bio mom.” Another tirade began, ” She was a childhood friend and servant of Mom’s, no one knows who my bio dad is and I don’t really care. But my bio mom, Blair, didn’t survive childbirth. So, Merida took me in and raised me as her own, she never hid anything from me though. She wanted me to know how much Blair loved me, she’d wanted to be a mom her whole life and chose my name when she was ten years old. From what I have heard she was one of the kindest and humblest people in DunBroch.” Lillian was growing misty eyed as she spoke about her mothers. Apparently her friends were used to this impromptu speech, as they all calmly ate their lunches and paid Lillian no mind. But her melancholy moment was ruined when Audrey and her cronies, Heather and Ashley, sauntered up to the table.

         “Oh look, the only place these villains could fit in was with the half royals, a crossdressers’ kid, and an orphan.” Crooned Ashley, Heather snicked next to her.  

         Heather and Ashley were both tall, skinny girls though neither was as powerful, or important, as they liked to act. They were both the daughters of lesser-known brownnosing nobles who were loyal to Queen Leah. Heather had long brown hair constantly done up in braids, she had very fair skin, but it was hidden under a good couple layers of foundation and various powders she wore every day. Ashley had thick, wavy black hair and olive skin, but it was hard to pay attention to her features thanks to the gaudy jewelry she wore on a daily basis to try and show off her ‘status’.  

         “What do you want?” Lonnie sighed, not noticing how her new friends bristled at Ashley’s comment.

         “I’m sorry, what was your name dear?” Evie asked in a saccharine sweet voice, her hands folded demurely on the table in front of her as she looked at Ashley with wide doe eyes.

         Ashley’s face pinched with disgust, “I’m Ashley, what’s it to you freak.”

         “So, Ashley, you think you are above them,” she waved a hand towards their new quirky friends, “because you were ‘born better’? Is that it?” She let a giggle escape her lips, “Oh sweetie” ,a lovely but condescending tone colored her voice “ among their parents are warriors and rulers, what have your parents done that is better than them? Did your parents risk their lives to save their kingdom? Did they graciously take in a child in need out of the goodness of their hearts? No, they just made you, a brownnosing pompus bitch.” As she finished her Isle mask slipped into place, an expression that served as a warning to not piss her off or face the consequences. Evie may not be their gang leader, or be physically intimidating like Mal or Jay, but Evie was fiercely protective of those that she considers her own and she was more than willing to use any tactic necessary to get what she wanted. “And dear, you would do well to remember that evil isn’t born, it’s made. We haven’t yet done anything to earn the title of villains. Also, don’t forget my mother and Mal’s were queens in their own right. My mother was born royal which makes me a princess by blood and Mal could have the forces of the Moors at her back and call in a second.”

          “Damn,” Lillian whispered, she and her friends wore matching expressions of amazement. Since the AK’s were busy staring at Evie in shock and the VK’s were reveling in Evie’s skill,, no one noticed that Audrey was coming up behind Ashley and Heather.

          “Ugh, what are you talking about, pleb?” Audrey scoffed haughtily, “ Your mother lost her royal status after she was defeated which means you have no royal status here, and Mal has no power over the Moors. They fall under Aurorian rule as my mother is the current Queen of the Moors.” Audrey sneered as she stepped in front of her cronies.

         “My mother may have been stripped of her royal status, but I share the same father as Snow White, and as you may remember he was a king. I still am royal through him and despite the fact that my mother was stripped of her royal status, the rest of her family wasn’t. As I am still a descendant of the royal family of Gelderland, so despite how rudely you tried to ‘remind me of my place’ I am in fact full blooded princess.” Evie announced with a small air of confidence.

         Audrey and her groupies glared at Evie and the brunette let out a derisive scoff, adjusting a bobby pin in her crown of braids, “Just because you technically have royal status doesn’t mean anyone here will treat you like a princess. All you’ll ever be is the meaningless daughter of a disgraced, psychotic witch.”

         Only the other VK’s noticed Evie’s near imperceptible flinch at the insult against her mother, they knew her tells and of Evie’s insecurities. No one else at the table noticed how deep Heather’s remark cut, to the others Evie appeared completely unaffected. The dark-haired Isle princes stood from her seat at the lunch table, stepping closer to the trio of harpies with a cruel smirk gracing her apple red lips. She spoke barely above a whisper and was eerily calm as she said, “You’re right, my mother is a witch.” Evie’s expression darkened, a crack in her princess mask “But she also taught me witchcraft, including her most dangerous and aggressive curses. So, if I were you I wouldn’t try to anger people who spent their entire lives surrounded by dark magic and violent ‘psychopaths’.” Her smile grew a little more deranged as she poured a little bit of power into the runes carefully sewn into her clothing, making her appear more dangerous to the girls that dared threaten her. A wide eyed Audrey tried to make another remark but no sound let her mouth, instead grabbing her dark haired friends and hastily leaving the cafeteria.

         Evie turned back to their table with a blinding smile after quietly watching the other girls leave, and was greeted with three proud grins as well as four awestruck faces.

         “Evie, that was…beautiful,” Aksel breathed, his fellow Auradonians nodding in agreement. “I think you might be my new favorite person. Also, what happened there for a second? You went from composed but annoyed to pissed and more than a little terrifying.” He seemed to be struggling to find the words to describe what he had noticed during her standoff with Audrey and her bitches.

         “Oh, well I wasn’t lying when I said my mother taught me her craft. She may not have been a great mother, but there were some things she saw fit to teach. Things she thought may be useful in helping me secure a crown, not that I really want to. So, I used some of what she taught me about witchcraft to protect us on the Isle.” She gestured to Mal, Jay and Carlos; to help show what she meant Jay took off his jacket and handed it to Evie so she could show their new friends the runes she had sewn into their clothing. “This one is a basic protection enchantment, this is for strength, and this is meant to frighten enemies whenever I choose to activate it.” There were more runes hidden in their clothes but now was not the time or place for show-and-tell, especially when she noticed the concern on the royals faces as the glanced at the other tables around them. As she was about to ask them what was wrong, Aziz spoke.

         “Hey, this isn’t something everything is okay with.” Some fear shone in the VK’s eyes leading Aziz to amend his statement. “We have no issue with magic, but since a lot of the royals had bad experiences with magic, it’s highly frowned upon. Some people,” Aksel let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like Audrey, “might try to use it as proof that you shouldn’t be here.” He cast a meaningful glance to the visible runes on Jay’s jacket. Jay quickly shuffled back into it not wanting to get himself or Evie in trouble, especially not on their first day here.

         “What about Ben?” Mal found herself asking, “He’s your friend, is he okay with magic like you guys?” She really didn’t want to hear that the person who freed them from the Isle might have an issue with a fundamental part of them. What if he were to send them back? Their parents weren’t exactly known to be accepting of failures, Mal’s heart skipped a beat as she imagined what could happen to them.

         “Ben sees magic as a tool, I don’t think he see’s it as inherently good or evil but that what matters is the person wielding it. He’s often compared it to a sword when we talk about it. He’s said once he’s king and he knows more about the magic laws he plans to revise any xenophobic or bigoted laws he finds.”

         “Anyways,” Lillian chirped and clapped her hands to gain everyone’s attention, “this convo is getting a little depressing for your first day, I think it’s high time we take you on a tour and get to know each other all a little better.” She bounced up from her seat dragging her friends up by the hand as she went. The seven teens grabbed their trays and made their way towards the tray returns to throw away their trash and turn in the dishes to be cleaned. Once they finished Lillian said it was time to ‘show the newbies around’ and began skipping off down the halls.

Chapter Text

            “Okay so there’s not only the cafeteria, but also a fully stocked kitchen in the dorms, and a concession stand by the tourney fields and pantries in the club meeting rooms? What the hell? How are you all so fit?” Evie asked, absolutely baffled by the amount of food available to the kids at Auradon Prep.

            “Oh, and the green house is up on the school’s top floor there's a garden behind the arts building, a couple years ago some alumni planted a whole bunch of berry bushes. I think the gardening club grows some crops that they give to the school to or use for like barbeques cookouts and shit.” Lillian rambled on, not knowing if she should be enjoying the on her new friends’ faces or be completely horrified by the apparent lack of food they were used to.

            “Ooh, now that we are here,” Lillian gestured around the small building section in the gym allotted to the Self Defense Club, “we’ve got some basic training systems for self-defense ya’know; boxing, simple hand-to-hand combat, karate. But, for those of us who are interested, we also keep an assortment of medieval gear.” With that Lillian proceeded to drag the girls to a small armory filled with archery gear, daggers, spears, traditional and fencing swords, pretty much anything that students petitioned for or brought in on their own. The two Isle girls stared at the gleaming assortment of weaponry in awe before Mal’s eyes glinted mischievously a smirk forming as she leaned over to whisper in Evie’s ear.

             A wicked smile that matched Mal’s formed on Evie’s face. They didn’t even look at each other as they silently moved to pull cutlass swords from the racks, the blades polished into a near mirror finish. Lillian stared at the girls curiously as they stealthily crept up behind Jay and Carlos where they were talking with the other AK’s. She was completely taken aback how silently Evie and Mal moved, they hardly made a sound as they slunk across the room. Just as the girls lifted their swords to attack, both boys spun around pulling daggers out of seemingly nowhere, bewildering their audience. Blades met in a loud clash, Aksel and Aziz were ready to jump in and stop the fight suddenly forming in front of them but Lonnie threw her arms out in front of each of their chests.

            “Wait, wait, look” She said. To the surprise of the Aurodonian boys there were smiles blazing on each of the VK’s faces as they traded blows in a glinting dance of blades. “It’s okay, they’re not actually fighting, they won’t hurt each other.” She was absolutely right.

            All four VK’s were laughing and smiling, eyes blazing, as they continued their deadly game. Jay was using his size to back Evie into a corner, unaware of Mal leading her confrontation with Carlos directly into the muscular boy’s blind spot until she grabbed his shoulder. She pulled of a stunningly graceful, almost ballet like maneuver that twirled Jay away from Evie, leaving the princess to take on Carlos. Evie looked almost like a bird of prey circling their next meal, but Carlos didn’t seem perturbed as he met each of her blows with the same ferocity, both of their minds in overdrive to predict the other’s moves. Just a few feet away Mal and Jay were trading fierce blows, Jay attempted to use his greater physical strength to overpower Mal, but the two had always been evenly matched. Mal had never been afraid to fight dirty. She dropped down with her left leg already in motion, sweeping Jay’s feet out from under him while Evie tripped Carlos with a scarf tied around his knee. The boys hit the ground hard and just laid on their backs looking petulant in their swift defeat (later they would adamantly deny the idea of them pouting) as their chosen sisters laughed impishly above them.

            “My, my, boys, seems you’re both a bit out of shape if two feeble delicate ladies such as ourselves were able to take you out so easily.” Mal’s face betrayed the faux innocence in her voice as she taunted the young men on the ground before her.

            Evie added on in a sweet, simpering tone, “To think, two of the highest ranking members in our gang and you let us get the drop on you.” After a moment of staring down at the boys and lording their win over them, Evie and Mal finally reached down to help their brothers up. None of them noticed their new friends had confused awe plastered across their faces at the scene they bore witness to.

            “Oh..My..Goodness! That was amazing!” Lonnie practically squealed, “Please, please can you guys spar with me in your free time. I’ve never seen anyone with a fighting style like that, are you self-taught or did someone teach you?”

            Evie looked at around, realizing that her siblings didn’t know how to respond so she decided to start, “Well, I don’t know where they learned, but Mal and Jay taught us,” she gestured to Carlos and herself, “as much as they could and then we all picked up different bits and pieces from the others on the Isle we fought.” All eyes turned to Jay and Mal, ready to hear where they learned how to sword fight. Jay righted himself and straightened his jacket a bit before he spoke.

            “Uh, well, I learned some basics just watching the guys at the docks when I went with my father for business deals, but Mal taught me a lot of self defense a couple years after we met.” Jay paused for a moment, his brow wrinkled in mild confusion “Come to think of it, around that time her fighting skills went through an overhaul. I always kinda assumed one of our teachers taught her to get on Maleficent’s good side, not that she really has a good side.” He looked towards Mal questioningly but the stony look on her face told everyone that this particular subject wasn’t up for discussion.

***

            “Well, today was interesting.” Evie breathed out as she settled onto her bed beside Carlos.

            “Yeah, I like Ben’s friends. But I don’t think we ever really understood how different things are in Auradon.” Carlos’ face grew dour, “It makes me hate King Beast that much more. They have more food than they could ever need. There are people here with two homes and and rooms for all their friends to stay over, but most of the kids on the Isle tdon’t even have a safe place to sleep at night. How many times have we had to help Dizzy or the twins hide for a few nights?” He lay on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling, “What did we do wrong? Why did we have to fight for every meal? I slept on a pile of old coats surrounded by bear traps. I know it’s not any of the kids fault, but it makes me so much angrier at the ‘heroes’, how can you claim to ‘pure and good’ when you let children starve and live and fight on the streets without doing a thing about it. Do they even know what’s happening to us over there?” He continued in a near whisper, “Do you think Ben knew?”

            “NO.” Carlos had barely finished his question before the word burst from Mal’s mouth. Seeing the startled expression on her small friend’s face she decided to rephrase, “No, I don’t think Ben or his friends knew any of it, not with how upset they looked when they heard about the food. That kind of shock is hard to fake, remember when Celia found out about Dizzy? Celia is a excellent con, but I’ve never seen her look like that” All four teens thought over how hurt the young charlatan had been when she learned what she could’ve had. Mal was right, Ben’s friends looked absolutely crushed when they heard how rough life had been for them on the Isle.

            “What..” Jay paused, “What if we told Ben?” His friends looked at him confused, so Jay explained. “I know we hardly met him, but he seems like an okay guy. And from what we’ve heard from his friends, it was his idea to bring us over. Maybe, if he knew what it was like, he could help keep us from going back. Maybe he’ll can even help some of the kids that deserve to get out.”

            “Maybe,” Evie murmured thoughtfully, “but we don’t know that yet. I think we should take a couple days to decide whether or not we can trust the Auradonians, or if we really think we would be safe if we stayed here. I don’t want to tell them everything only to have it backfire on us. That said, I want to  trust them, after Lillian and Lonnie are pretty cool. Who would’ve thought there’d be girls over here who knew how to actually have fun.” That got some smiles, much better than the doom and gloom they’d all be stewing in moments before.

            “Yeah, they were pretty great.” Mal agreed “It’s awesome to know that Fa Mulan’s kid goes here, I think Lonnie at least will be trustworthy, anyone raised by Fa Mulan has to be a badass.” She and Evie shared dreamy smiles at the thought of one day meeting the fierce warrior they had heard about growing up before a thought struck Mal. “But, we should probably try to figure out how Ben feels about magic. I’m not exactly under control right now and I don’t want that to screw up our chance here.” Right on que the glowing lavender and indigo wings shimmered in and out of sight on Mal’s back as the magic of Auradon reached out to her.

Chapter Text

            It had been a few days since the four Isle kids arrived in Auradon, and for the most part they were liking the place. There was a handful of bigoted morons on this side of the bridge, but it was easy enough to manage.  It’s not like they expected everyone to like them, they were actually pleasantly surprised by the amount of kids that were kind to them.

            They day after they arrived, they came into contact with some of the previously mentioned idiots when Marcus Ryder, the youngest of Rapunzel and Eugene’s six children, made an attempt to pickpocket Mal. He’s usually a decent guy and nice kid, but unfortunately his brain takes the quick route to the ground floor via window escape when any sort of bet or dare come into the picture.

M- I’m in class going through the edits and I had such a hard time keeping a straight face while reading this line from N 😂

***

            “I swear man. Those kids are too alert, I don’t care how much your dad and uncle taught you about stealing. You’d never be able to lift anything off them.” Jim Hawkins’ son, Jace said. He wasn’t intending to be mean or goad his friend into anything stupid, but it had come up when they were talking about how guarded the new kids seemed. But unfortunately there were some cheerleaders who overheard them, and one of these girls, Tiffany, idolized Audrey.

            Tiffany decided to egg the youngest Ryder on, hoping to cause some trouble for the ‘villians’ that made their way into their school. “Of course he couldn’t pickpocket those freaks. He’s too much of a wimp to be able to do anything by himself, he needs his big siblings to do it for him.” She could see the anger growing in his eyes as she spoke and smirked inwardly, she had pushed just the right buttons.

            “I don’t need them to do shit for me,” He seethed, “Watch, I can take something off any of them.” As he finished that sentence Mal came around the corner, Evie just a couple steps behind her as they made their way to their classes. Still upset over Tiffany’s taunts, Marcus used the small crowd of passing students to his advantage and snuck up behind Mal. Just as he began reaching into her pocket Mal’s hand snapped back, grabbing his wrist and yanking him forward, causing the boy to stumble forward. Mal instinctively spun to face her attacker, quickly jabbing a punch into his face to stun him before sliding behind Marcus and knocking out his knees. He hit the ground and before he could even think of what to do next the Isle girl grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back. With his neck fully exposed Mal pulled a small blade from her waistband and held it to the would-be pickpocket’s throat. It had all happened so quickly that Jace had barely even begun to react when Evie caught Mal’s attention, avoiding a significantly worse situation.

            “Mal, wait!” She shouted, cautiously moving forward and placing her hand on the one Mal was currently using to hold a dagger. “Don’t. This isn’t the Isle, he won’t survive. He wasn’t trying to hurt you, just take something.” However, just as the fog in Mal’s eyes was clearing Tiffany started screeching, drawing the attention of Audrey and her stooges who had just stepped into the hallway.

            “OH MY GOD!” Tiffany shrieked, kicking the hysterics into high gear “She tried to kill him. They really are villains.” She wailed, causing a scene and unfortunately gathering a crowd who all began murmuring about the sight before them. “Bringing them here has put us all in danger, they’re too violent to be around us normal people!”             🥀✨never coulda seen that coming

            “Are you fucking kidding me?” Lonnie, thank the Gods, Evie thought returning her attention to Mal. “ Why wouldn’t she react violently when someone snuck up and invaded her personal space?! Do you have any idea what it was like over there? They lived in a warzone! They were surrounded by actual villains, ones who could and would hurt them if given the chance. I don’t think that telling them to leave you alone worked, Tiffany, of course they learned to defend themselves!” Lonnie raged looking like she was about to go on a warpath. “You dumb bitch, that’s not being aggressive or violent its being reactive. As in they react strongly to perceived danger, and they’re all probably on edge right now in a unfamiliar place surrounded by complete strangers.” Just as she was getting ready to go off on another tangent a hand appeared on her shoulder, Ben.

            “Lonnie, breathe. Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” He appeased his friend before turning to Tiffany, his gaze hardening. “We do not allow that kind of speech in Auradon Prep, Tiffany. I will make sure to get the stories from everyone involved here and if I find out you had anything to do with this I will be talking to Fairy Godmother. We will decide how long you have detention for and I may suggest we enroll you in a supplementary manners course, seeing the way you just spoke to our new students.” Having sufficiently stunned the loudmouth, Ben asked Jace to escort his friend to the nurse’s office for a proper checkup. Once he got a look at Mal, Ben’s heart broke; she was tense and in a defensive stance, her eyes were flitting around the hallway searching for possible danger as she tried to usher Evie behind her. Ben cautiously raised his hands in a placating manner and, staying in Mal’s line of sight, slowly walked towards the two girls. “Hey, is there anything you need from me? Anything I can do to help you?” Concern and sincerity colored his voice, reaching Mal even through her flight or fight mode.

            “Boys, I need the boys,” She answered jerkily as she continued to scan for threats.

            “Okay.” Ben then gestured to Lonnie, the two of them carefully ushering the girls to the closest empty classroom, before texting Aziz and Aksel telling them they needed to bring Carlos and Jay to the room they hid in immediately.

            Once the boys arrived they were able to talk Mal out of her stupor and the group moved to a nearby common room. Everyone had gotten comfortable in the chairs surrounding a study table, Mal settled snugly on a couch between Jay and Evie with Carlos seated on the carpet pressed up to Mal’s legs. They were talking quietly when Marcus entered the room and sheepishly approached them. Later that night once Mal had settled snuggly between Jay and Evie, Marcus came up to their table. The Auradonians at their table knew he was a sweet kid and calmly greeted him, not noticing how the VK’s tensed at his approach. Marcus stood awkwardly before them all for a minute before raising his eyes and addressing the girls.

            “Hi. I, uh, I wanted to apologize for earlier.” Marcus’ words took the VK’s by surprise. “I should’ve known it was a bad idea to try and pickpocket you, but I let Tiffany get in my head. I guess I thought I needed to prove I didn’t need my sibling’s help all the time.”

            Carlos looked at the younger boy, confused. “What do you mean ‘you should’ve known’?”

            “Oh, right. You’re new, you don’t know who everyone is yet. Um, well my dad is Eugene Fitz-, sorry, I mean Flynn Ryder, and Aladdin is like our adopted uncle. Anyways, growing up my siblings and I heard a lot of stories from them about how hard it was living on the streets.” Aziz nodded along having heard the same stories and knowing what the boy was talking about. “I think my dad still sleeps with a knife under his pillow.” He shook his head a little as he got back on topic. “I should’ve expected your reaction and I shouldn’t have tried to steal from you, especially not out of spite just to shut Tiffany up. Again, I’m sorry, if anyone tries to give you any grief for it, my friends all know the truth and we are trying to spread that before Tiffany and the rest of Audrey’s followers can convince everyone that you’re ‘violent’.” Having finished saying what he needed and not wanting to make the VK’s any more uncomfortable after that mornings debacle, Marucs left them alone to relax.

***

            The next day a few couple kids in her classes came up to Mal and told her that they didn’t believe a thing Tiffany said, that they wanted to get to know her and her friends before forming opinions on them. First it was Marcus’ siblings (Rachel, Evan, Michele, Kylie, and Kevin), then a few boys from the swords and shields team who had heard the story from Evan, and finally some of the cheerleaders (the few who didn’t like their captain or her biases, they explained that they probably couldn’t hang out a lot thought because Audrey would kick them off the squad they had worked for years to join).

            But their most interesting new friend met them of their second afternoon at the school, while they were studying in the girls’ room with Lillian and Lonnie. The six teens had been doing homework together, mainly trying to bridge the gap between what they were taught of the Isle and what was taught in Auradon. Lonnie had texted her roommate a couple minutes prior when she realized she left her calculator in their dorm, a knock from their open doorway caused them to look up to see Lonnie’s roommate, Jane, standing there with a calculator in hand. Lonnie and Lillian invited her to come in and meet the new kids, knowing the shy girl likely wouldn’t go out of her way to greet new people.

            Jay and Evie were excited to meet a new possible ally, even if she seemed quite timid they were sure they could help her gain confidence. Carlos was entranced by the girl’s beauty. Mal however, was lost in a haze of magic. Jane’s dormant magic was desperately screaming for help, for freedom. It called out to Mal’s magic, distressed and stifled, Mal paid no attention to the rest of the room as she and her magic replied. The dark fae Mal stood from her spot on her bed and began walking towards Jane in a mild daze, Jane looked at the purple haired girl fearfully as the other teens asked what Mal was doing but got no response. Once Mal reached Jane she lifted one hand and gently pressed her fingertips to Jane’s forehead, swirling indigo purple and a silvery sky blue exploded from both girls, briefly forming wings before dissipating into the air. The cloud of magic cleared, revealing both of the fae girls unconscious bodies on the floor.

Chapter Text

            “Oh my God! Are they okay?” Lillian yelped as the girls dropped to the floor “What just happened?

            “That’s a good question,” Jay replied staring at the two girls and the glimmering magic still dispersing around them, “the purple was Mal’s magic.” He knelt on the floor beside Mal as she and Jane slowly woke up, “I think that the silver light was something else, another magic, but I don’t know. Mal would probably be the best person to ask.” He said gently helping his sister sit up as she held her head. While Jay checked over Mal, Lonnie did the same with Jane; both wanting to make sure their friends were okay before they were bombarded with questions.

            “By the Gods, you’re all so loud.” Mal groaned, eyes clenched shut as she leaned against Jay, “Gimme a sec, guys. That did not feel great.” Mal shed her jacket to reveal one of the runes they used for strength and fortitude, she ran her fingers across the rune there almost subconsciously.  Evie noticed the movement and recognized it, she slid off  her bed and joined the others on the floor. She scooched in closer to her groggy friend and encouraged Mal to lean against her, relieving her of the need to hold herself up. “Thanks E, my magic really took it out of me. I have no idea how that worked or why but it was like my magic was sensing something in her. Like it was calling out to me?” She gestured to Jane who was leaning against Lonnie and holding her head just like Mal and Jay moments before. “I think I fixed something? I’m not even sure I did anything at all. Do you feel any different, Jane?”

            “Um, I don’t really know. Right now, I’m just really confused, but…I guess I feel energetic?” She seemed to be struggling to find the word to express what she was feeling.

            Realizing neither of the girls had much recollection of what had just happened, Evie decided to speak up. “Mal, you know how on the first day here, we had that issue with your magic? It overpowered you?” She waited for the confirming nod Mal sent her way before continuing, “Well, it looked kinda like the same thing, but to both of you. You both had these, I don’t know, transparent wings for just a second before they disappeared.” Mal and Jane stared at each other, baffled.

            “Wait, what?” Jane exclaimed, “Magic? How could her magic only affect me, why didn’t it do anything to you guys?”

            “Do you have any magical lineage?” Carlos asked shyly, still feeling strangely bashful around this beautiful stranger.

            “Yeah, her mom’s Fairy Godmother. But Jane’s human, why? Does it matter?” Lonnie answered for her roommate who was still at little out of it.

            “Well, that shows how little you guys know about magic,” Jay said, struggling not to laugh at the absurdity. “Anyone born of a magical being, like faeries or witches, have inherent access to magic. Their strength depends on how strong the magical lineage is, but if her mom is a fairy, then so is Jane.”

            Jane’s entire worldview toppled. She had always believed she was human, like her dad. That was what her mom had always told her, that even in the womb no one had ever sensed magic from her. Did Mom lie to me? Tears gathered in her eyes as she tried to make sense of the new information presented to her.

            “So what? Mal’s magic thought something was wrong with Jane’s magic and decided it needed to be fixed? You’re telling me that’s what that lightshow we just watched was?” Lillian asked, dumfounded.

            “Uh, yeah I think so,” Mal said, eyebrows scrunched in concentration. “It weird, it was kind of like an out of body experience. Like, I could sense something off and felt like

I was being pulled over to her. But now that I’m actually looking, you’re definitely right Jay, there’s definitely fae magic in Jane.”

            “I have magic?” Breathless words escaped Jane, but she didn’t seem to notice that she’d spoken, too lost in thought. “I have magic?” She said repeated, her expression incredulous as her eyes focused on Mal, “Are you sure? No, that shouldn’t be possible, Mom said I was born without magic!” Jane’s breathing was speeding up, becoming more and more erratic as a confused panic began to overwhelm her. Lonnie wrapped her arms around her friend, pulling Jane’s shoulders into her own chest and lightly squeezing.  

            “Jane, focus. Breathe.” Lonnie said taking deep, exaggerated breaths for Jane to copy, “I know this is a lot, none of us know more than you do right now. But I’m sure if we take a minute and put our minds to it we can figure something out.” Jane slowly began to match the rhythm of her friend’s chest rising and falling behind her, she was still scared and feeling blindsided but the fog of panic was receeding.

            As Lonnie helped Jane calm down, Lillian turned to look at her new friends hoping that they might be able to explain to Jane how she could have magic when her mother, the most trusted fae in Auradon, had told them otherwise. Seeing the concern on Lillian and Lonnie’s faces, Mal knew they would have to explain that something had been blocking her magic because there was no other way for the child of a High Fae to be born completely magicless. I just hope that learning someone forcibly blocked her magic doesn’t break her, Mal thought her eyes drifting to the shaken fairy. A heavy feeling settled in Mal’s chest as she watched Lonnie gently brush Jane’s dark hair from her face. She caught her siblings’ eyes and could tell saw that they were all wondering the same thing, ‘how do we explain this to her?’ As the small chosen family silently tried to come up with a way to phrase their suspicions gently, they failed to notice that the subject of their worry had finally calmed down enough to control her breathing and was waiting for an explanation.

            “So…you said that since my mom is a fairy I’m a fairy, right?” The VK’s startled slightly but nodded at Jane’s question. She briefly closed her eyes, taking two deep breaths to stave off her anxiety. “Do you know why I would have been born…magicless?” Her eyes drifted to Mal, hoping that she would have some answers as a Dark Fae.

            Evie, as the most emotionally mature of the four, stepped forward gently pulling Mal along, she walked toward Jane as gracefully sat beside the girl. Once Evie and Mal had settled on the ground next to Jane, Evie reached out to hold one Mal’s hand on her right and Jane’s hand on her left, nodding her head at Mal so she would take Jane’s free hand. While Evie may not be as powerful as Mal, her mother has taught her enough about magic to have some understanding of what happened to Jane and sense her magic. While she hadn’t had much of a chance to actually practice witchcraft before, now that she was off the Isle, she knew she could act as a conduit for them. Very carefully and slowly, Evie reached out with her own magic to her sister and Jane, just enough for Jane to feel and notice her magic and the gentle connection she was making for them.

            “Can you feel that, Jane?” Evie asked in the softest voice she could muster, earning a nod from the newly discovered Fae. “The softer magic is mine, it probably feels a bit like a pulling thread because I’m drawing out your magic. Mal’s is the warmer kinda prickly one” Jane nodded as the witch spoke, the sensation so real it was like she could feel it on her skin. Evie’s magic felt a bit like a soft fabric while Mal’s reminded her off a thorny rosebush or blackberry bramble and summer sun “and that lighter breezy magic, that’s yours.” She did feel it, Jane’s own magic felt like a cool spring breeze, fresh and new. “I’m not sure if you can feel the difference between my magic and the two of you, yours should have some similarities as fae. It might not feel like it right now, Jane, but your magic is strong. Your mother is a High Fae. The only way you could me magicless is if someone blocked it, before you were able to recognize or use it.” Her face was full of sympathetic sorrow as she allowed the magic to flow among the three girls. Jane’s expression had fallen from awe to devastation as Evie spoke, her eyes now brimming with tears. The pain and betrayal was clear in her face as she came to terms with how much of herself she was kept from. The connection of their magics allowed Evie and Mal to feel her anguish, Mal felt the emotions so strongly after awakening the other girls magic that she nearly mistook them as her own. No words were needed as the VK’s reached forward pulling Jane into a hug as she burst out sobbing.

            “It’ll be alright, I know it hurts.” Mal comforted Jane, surprising herself by how kind she was being to someone she’d only just met.

            “How? How will it be alright?” Jane asked, sounding a little hysterical through her sobs. “I just found out that I have magic which I don’t have any control over, in a country that is prejudiced against magic. Oh, goodness, they pick on me for being shy, what are they gonna do when they find out I’m not human?” Her voice cracked as she came to a sudden realization “What if Audrey finds out?” She was hysterical at this point, hiccups and sobs wracked her body as she fell harder into the embrace of the other two girls.

            “Wait a second,” Jay said, a deep frown forming as he took in what he had just heard, “are you saying that Gods damned Sila* is also a specist? Seriously?!” Jay’s voice began to rise in his outrage “with how many magical beings helped your ‘heroes’ win their battles, including the fairies that kept her mom alive.”  By the time the Auradonians in the room nodded, the boy was already on his feet and trying to shake off his anger. “I’m really starting to hate this girl. Its fucking rich that she discriminates against magical beings when magical beings are the very reason her entire family is alive and Auradon is standing.”

            “Yeah, there’s a reason half the student body hates her. We’re terrified of the day she becomes queen because none of us think she’s gonna be able to handle the power. We don’t know how she’s going to impact the lives of anyone who’s different or ‘dangerous’. She’s totally going to try to shut all Ben’s progressive ideas down, she already does it to him. I doubt she’s gonna have what’s best for the kingdom at heart.” Lonnie scowled at the idea of that Lǜ Chá Biào* ruling Auradon alongside her best friend and sucking all the happiness out of him for the rest of his life.

            “Hey, not that I don’t fully endorse the Audrey hate, but, we really have to talk to Ben about the magic laws. We don’t know all of them but what the well known ones aren’t exactly inclusive or helpful. Maybe we can do some digging to see what laws are out there. So that we can be careful.” Lillian said, diffusing the heated discussion the group was heading into and reminding them why they’d all been freaking out in the first place. “We’ve got to make sure that Mal and Jane, Evie too, aren’t gonna get in trouble for something they had no choice in. The Council may have been okay letting you guys live with your parents’ punishment, be we want you guys to get the chance they never gave you.”

           Having never met someone outside of the other Isle kids, who’d experienced the same trauma and misfortune they had to survive through simply for being born, the VK’s were amazed by Lillian’s strong words and the determined agreement from Lonnie and Jane when she spoke.

Chapter Text

            Goodness class was very obviously made with the idea that children from the Isle would have no concept of right and wrong. Or that they had the combined IQ of a 5 year old. Honestly, ‘what to do with a crying baby’ or that ‘paint it on an apple’ thing, we may have been raised by villains but we have at least a basic understanding of the world. Mal thought to herself as she shut her sketchbook and shoved it in her bag. She was packing up to leave the classroom and ignoring the boys as they began roughhousing, tuning back in when her smallest friend gathered up the courage to ask a question.   

            “Hey, um..  Miss Godmother?” Carlos asked quietly, “Um, could I, uh, what’s tourney?”

            “Yeah, what does it have to do with us wrestling?” Jay followed, his voice coming out much louder than his shy friend’s. “What did you mean ‘take that energy to the tourney field’?”

            “Oh dear,” Fairy Godmother said, her expression faltering before she smiled softly again. “Well, tourney is a sport like field hockey, and it’s played on a large grass field. We have one on campus for the school’s tourney team, it’s past the gym on the edge of campus. Oh, wait, here.” She turned to her desk and quickly rifled through a drawer, pulling out a small sheet of paper and showing it to the VK’s. Auradon Prep ~ Campus Map was written in large royal blue letters on the top of the map page. “We’re here in the library. So, to get to the practice field, my dears, you must go left from the library’s main entrance and past the gym. Turn left again when you reach the bleachers, there are probably some boys from the team getting some extra practice in and they won’t mind telling you about it.”

            That’s great and all, we could’ve figured out where shit is from the maps we got, but that doesn’t tell us what tourney is. It’s ‘like field hockey’ but what is that? Mal thought to herself, mildly annoyed, as she stared at Fairy Godmother. A look from Evie meant her sister was probably thinking something similar, but of course Evie would find a much more polite way to reply so Mal couldn’t get them in any trouble.

             “Thank you for the directions, headmistress. Would it be alright if we made our way over there to get some more information on the sport from the players?” Evie asked, in the courteous voice she saved for powerful outsiders.

            “Well, we are done with today’s lesson and as none of you have picked your electives yet, technically your next period is free.” Her hands moved absentmindedly as she thought, “Yes, I suppose that’d be alright, go ahead.” She was making a face that Mal didn’t quite know how to interpret as the four of them turned to leave the small library classroom.

***

            It was a short walk, and Mal was right that they didn’t really need Fairy Godmother’s instructions, they’d already been to the gym and the map was pretty straightforward. They approached the field and it was easy to spot a bunch of boys running around with strange looking sticks fighting for possession of a little ball. Since the VK’s weren’t quite sure what the boys were doing and wanted a minute to observe, they sat on one of the small wooden benches lining the edge of the field closest to the gym. They’d been watching for a good 30 minutes when one of the guys noticed them, he quickly pointed the four of them out to another boy on the field. The second boy seemingly stared for a moment before turning and stomping his way over to the VK’s, as he approached the siblings were able to make out, and recognize, his face under the helmet. He was an unfortunate acquaintance from earlier in the week; Prince Chad, who made no efforts to hide his belief that they did not belong in Auradon.

            “What are you freaks doing here? Plotting how to wipe out half of Auradon’s princes?” He shouted venomously as soon as he was in range.

            “’Freaks’, that’s the best you’ve got? Really? Dude, we got called worse than that before breakfast almost daily back home,” Jay responded with a chuckle, so focused on the incoming (albeit harmless) threat that none of them noticed the Crown Prince chasing after the belligerent royal. They were more interested in how red Chad’s face was growing after hearing Jay’s comment.

            “Who said you could speak to me, thief?” Chad hissed, cheeks splotchy. “Just wait, as soon as you villains fuck up and Ben finally sees you for what you are-”

            “Chad!” Ben shouted, almost knocking over the arrogant prince in his rush to stop Chad from harassing the VK’s. The soon-to-be king placed his hand on Chad’s shoulder, a tight and frustrated look on his face, “Stop it! They were perfectly fine over here; you don’t get to treat them like criminals just because you’ve got issues with who their parents are.” Ben seemed to be restraining himself from grabbing Chad by the collar and shaking him, he quickly smoothed his expression and turned to address the VK’s (ignoring Chad fuming next to him). “I’m so sorry for his behavior.” He looks like Dizzy begging for new tools. “Did you guys come down here for something? Do you need help with anything?” His eyes lingered on Mal for a moment too long, which went unnoticed by her (NT- gurl pay attention 😮‍💨) but not by her friends.

            “Nah, we’re good, Princey, Fairy Godmother just thought that Carlos and I might want to join the tourney team and we came to try and figure out what the hell tourney even is.” Jay spoke with his usual air of nonchalance.

            “Oh, well, practice was just wrapping up anyway, but if you guys don’t mind waiting a sec, I can get changed and grab Aksel and Aziz while I’m there. We could go get lunch together and I’ll answer any questions you have.” He was almost rambling, trying his best to show the VK’s that he could be a friend, or at the very least an ally.

            “Sure, why not,” Mal shrugged.

***

            Ben didn’t make them wait long, and from just their short interactions it was clear he wasn’t as stuck up as Audrey and some of the other pompous royals that attended Auradon Prep. He didn’t seem mind when Aksel and Aziz jostled him around on their walk, and simply rolled his eyes when they started complaining about how much time he spent in his office, claiming that he was going to work himself to death.

            “C’mon man, you never give yourself any time to relax anymore,” Aksel groaned. “You’re either in that office trying to prep for your ‘kingly duties’, or you’re off playing the role of Audrey’s arm candy. Y’know what, Saturday morning, we’re kidnapping you and we’re gonna take these two,” he gestured to Jay and Carlos, “out, as a guy-bonding-intro-to-Auradon thing. Bro time!”

             Ben sighed, low and weary as his shoulders dropped with a sudden weight, “That sounds great guys, and I’d really love to go, but Audrey made plans for Saturday-”

             “Ben, I’m gonna stop you right there. You know we love you,” Aziz started, gently stepping in front of his friend and bringing the group to a halt “and I know you don’t like hearing us ‘bad mouth’ Audrey, but you got to admit that ever since you two started dating you you’ve been hanging out with us less and less. Never mind hang out with the girls, and I don’t truly believe that she’s never badmouthed us to you. Heck, she has said to our faces that you shouldn’t be seen hanging around ‘half-royals’ like us because we’ll ruin your social standing.”

             Ben seemed pained but resigned as he listened to his friend’s words. “I know…I know she’s not a great person, and it’s not like I chose this relationship…”

            “We know, Ben, we just wish…” Aksel seemed like he wasn’t sure what else to say.

            Ben smiled sadly, “I know you guys want me to leave her, but the fact that she and I don’t get along, or that she’s controlling aren’t good enough reasons to get me out of the contract. A promise was made in my name, and unless she does something truly awful or endangers people, I can’t break that promise. It doesn’t really matter if I like her or not.”

            Mal glanced at her siblings, feeling like this conversation was a little too personal for them to be listening in. But she could see that she wasn’t the only one concerned by how the prince spoke about his ‘girlfriend’. I may not fully trust him yet, but if our allies here do, and he’s our best bet at freedom and magic becoming legal, Ben being miserable doesn’t sound good. It might be good for us to help him out with this…

wouldn't go through in the end note, so here's the link to the Pinterest board https://pin.it/59umdupoC

Chapter Text

          Mal sighed heavily, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. Gods, it feels like we’ve been in here for ages. They desperately needed to know more about the magical laws here in Auradon after the whole ‘wings’ situation in the dorms. This was now the third night in a row that Mal and her siblings along with Lonnie, Jane, and Lillian had spent hours searching the library for answers. Not only because Jane nearly had a breakdown at the mere suggestion of using a spell to help contain her newfound magic, but because of the extremes a High Fae like Gertrude had gone to in order to keep Jane from it. While the VK’s weren’t 100% sure if Ben could be trusted with Mal and Jane’s secret, they were willing to trust that Lonnie and Lillian could gather information from Ben without endangering the two Fae. (Who cares if it took two days of said girls begging to ask Ben about magic laws so that they could help in some way).

           Mal huffed out another frustrated breath as she stared down at the mess of books scattered across the table. Carlos sat to her right, a hand buried in his ashy white curls with a knee pressed to his chest as he scanned the text in front of him. On her left was a seemingly casual Jay, he’d given up on reading and had leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed loosely. Once the sunset hit and the light began to fade, he felt the need to keep an eye on the doors to the area, always the protector. Beside him Evie leaned over two books, her perfect posture long forgotten and brow tight with focus. Jane sat across from them, chewing her lip nervously and tapping a pencil on the notebook they’d been using to keep track of any scrap of information they’d found.

           That notebook page was more empty space than notes. They’d found very little in any text, no explanations regarding this law. Nothing specific or concrete about magical practices in Auradon other than ‘magic is no longer used in Auradon, it’s people are encouraged to accomplish tasks through natural talents’. Which is absolute bullshit! For people with magical lineage, magic IS a ‘natural talent’. The magic is tied to our souls. She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when she noticed Jay tense up for a moment before settling back into his seat. Mal followed his gaze to see that Lillian and Lonnie had come through the library’s main door. The two girls joined them at the small table, both wearing similar expressions of discomfort.

           “What’s wrong?” Evie asked as soon as she saw their faces.

            “Well, we went to Ben’s office to ask him what he knew about the magic laws, and he just said that ‘magic has fallen out of use in Auradon’,” Lillian frowned, “but when we pushed him for more information, ya’know about what the laws actually say, he got this really puzzled look on his face and started digging through some of his books.” She sighed heavily, “He couldn’t find anything, said he’d have to check his dad’s private library.”

            “Wait a second,” Jay said making a ‘T’ with his hands as if to call ‘time out’, “the Crown Prince of Auradon, the guy who’s about to become King in like 2 weeks, has no physical copies of the laws against magic in a kingdom with multiple different types of magical beings? The only person who knows the law for sure is the current king, the one who left a bunch of children locked away on an island with known killers?” He looked at Lillian and Lonnie, eyes wide with shock “Has no one noticed that they don’t know what the law actually says? Just ‘magic is illegal’??” The burly teen slumped forward and rest his forehead in the palms of his hands, “Gods, you Auradonians are really naïve.”

           “Honestly?” Lillian said exchanging a glance with Lonnie, “We really didn’t think about it before you guys came here. King Adam has always been seen as a benevolent king, the man who was always looking out for Auradon’s best interests. But more than that, we know how much Ben loves and respects his parents, we figured his dad would’ve made sure Ben was prepared before he stepped down.”

           “But, knowing that Ben doesn’t have any more information on the anti-magic laws than we do, and he didn’t even realize that he didn’t know, and how Adam spent the week before you guys got here trying to convince Ben that this ‘program’ was a bad idea, that the kids on the Isle needed to stay there…”Lonnie trailed off, disturbed by the realization that their King was ready to let his son take the burden of the crown without teaching him the kingdom’s laws. That he was willing to leave children in a warzone, there was a stinging feeling of betrayal in her chest, “I don’t trust a king that keeps secrets from his successor. If he’s hiding things from his son, who knows what he could be keeping from the rest of us.” She hadn’t even realized she had spoken until she looked up and saw the grim expressions on her friends faces.

                                                                        ***

           For the next two hours, the seven of them continued pouring over an assortment of texts in hopes of finding any scrap of information. They’d chatted on and off, but the group had found themselves completely engrossed in their search. This focus was broken when Ben came running in from the library’s main door with a satchel so overstuffed that seemed moments away from completely falling apart. The young prince caught sight of Lonnie and Lillian and quickly made his way over, standing in the open space between his two friends and Carlos.

            “I’m so glad I finally found you two,” he said looking to his right at Lillian and Lonnie, “Sorry it took so long, but I found the books I was looking for. I figured it’d be easier to show you in person so we can look through it together.” He reached into his bag, but hesitated to pull anything out as he looked around the table, “Wait, was this just for you two, ‘cause I kind of assumed you were asking for…” his eyes drifted to Mal, “but, this was something you wanted to share with these guys right?” Once Lillian nodded, confirming that the VK’s and Jane were meant to be a part of this conversation, he took a deep breath and pulled out a large brown book with gold lettering on the spine; Creating Auradon; Magical Beings and Magical Law. “Okay, it took me a while to find this, and I’m not sure how long we can keep this out. My dad had it in a hidden safe in his library.” His brow furrowed and a grimace pulled at his lips at the reminder that his father had the only book he could find on the laws about magic locked away in the same safe his betrothal contract was kept in.

           “Wait, he had this locked away? Seriously?” Lillian asked, incredulous. “Not gonna lie, that feels really wrong. My mom makes sure there’s a copy of every law book at all the schools in DunBroch.”

           “Yeah, this doesn’t sound good, but I think we need to focus on checking out what the laws actually say right now,” Lonnie said, leaning over Ben’s arm as he opened the book, anxious to see if they would affect the safety of her half-Fae friends.

            But Lonnie wasn’t the only anxious one. She and Lillian moved closer to Ben with their elbows on the table so they could see the book, while Jane and Evie came to stand behind the prince so they could peer over his shoulders. Carlos didn’t need to move but scooched his chair towards the newcomer anyway so that Mal would come in closer as well. Jay simply stood and leaned forwards, bracing his hands on the table as he started expectantly at Ben. Catching his eye, Ben quickly took the not so subtle hint and began reading the page aloud.

                                                            ***

           While creating Auradon and her legislation, the King and his Council came to believe that regulating magic and magical beings through laws was necessary to assuage the fear and paranoia held by the people who had suffered at the hands of magical villains. This belief, and the royals’ own experiences with magic led to the idea that magic needed to be as restricted as possible. They proceeded to write the following laws.

• Moor creatures must stay in the Moors unless given express permission to leave and must be able to disguise themselves as human.
• All magics (spells, potions, and enchantments; not instinctive connections) are banned unless otherwise specified by the King.
  • If one is caught performing magic without the King’s permission, they are subject to 30 days imprisonment followed by 30 days wearing magic restraints¹; second offenders are subject to a yearlong imprisonment and magic restraints that may stay on upwards of 2 years; repeat offenders may be sent to the Isle of the Lost.
• Any magic used to influence the minds of other living beings will result in lifelong imprisonment and magical restraints.
• All magical babies must either consume a blocking potion (to limit access to magic) or wear magical restraints.
  • If parents fail to comply, the child may be removed from their custody until the child’s magic is properly blocked. If Auradon’s Child Services find that the parents are unlikely to comply/attempt to remove the magical blocking, then Child Services will find other accommodations for the child.
• If one is found attempting to circumvent magical restrictions or harboring magical beings outside of their native lands, they will be arrested and charged with treason; their sentence will depend on severity of the infraction. The Royal Council will determine a punishment to fit the crime in accordance with Auradonian morals.

These laws may be subject to change if a majority rule Council vote finds the laws harmful to Auradon.

¹ Iron cuffs spelled to cut off one’s magic

                                                                        ***

           “Bordel de merde,” Ben swore under his breath, shock written across his face upon reading the biased laws his father created. Mal however, felt a cold rage bubbling deep within her stomach. Her magic reacted in kind, the shadows in the dim library seemed darker as they began to twitch and writhe in time with the waves of anger Mal was attempting to control. The dark fae closed her eyes, hoping to wrangle her emotions, which stopped her from noticing the squirming darkness and her lightly smoking hair. While the AK’s were working through various levels of shock at the alarmingly prejudiced laws in front of them, Mal’s siblings were quick to notice the movement in the shadows and the small wisps of smoke rising from the tips of her purple curls. Realizing their sister hadn’t noticed her magic affecting their surroundings, and knowing that they couldn’t risk revealing her lineage, the three VK’s shared a look. Carlos quietly took a needle that Evie had produced from the depths of her purse and pricked Mal’s ribs to distract her from her rage, Jay casually eyeing his siblings in case Mal reacted strongly. That fleeting sensation of pain was enough to pull Mal out of her own head, she had barely even registered the flicker of guilt in Carlos’s face when she felt a wave of fear brush her consciousness. Not her own fear, the cool breeze of a sensation told her all she needed to know. Jane. Even though Mal had never tried to comfort anyone, to try such a thing on the Isle would’ve meant a month’s worth of beatings, she felt driven to try to help her fellow Fae once she felt her overwhelming panic and pain. The daughter of the fairy Godmother was trembling as she stared down at the ground, her breaths coming quick and shallow as her anxiety threatened to overwhelm her.

           “Jane, calm down,” Mal said softly as she slid from her seat and moved to stand before Jane. She hesitated a moment before and gently grabbed the brunette’s shoulders, ducking her head into Jane’s line of sight and studying the panic in her face. “Jane, hey, look at me, …easy. It’s gonna be okay, we’re not gonna let anything happen to you.” Evie stepped over as well, unable to stand by while Jane struggled to breathe. She wrapped a delicate yet comforting arm around the shorter girl and reached down to hold one of Jane’s shaking hands.

           Jane looked at Mal, eyes wide with terror. The overpowering and petrifying emotions overwhelmed Mal for a second as Jane spoke with a trembling voice, “Why? Why would they do this? What if they find out and they take it away?” Jane was verging on hysteria, and this was not the place for it, not with her magic unblocked and untrained. If her emotions kept spiraling like this then Janes magic would start reacting, and now they knew what would happen if they got caught. Mal sent a small pulse of magic through their connection to Jane in hopes of getting through to the other girl. The gentle thornlike sensation of Mal’s magic brushing against her own seemed to pull Jane out of  her oncoming panic attack.

            “Jane? What is going o…wait, you have magic?” Ben sounded lost, Mal didn’t dare let go of Jane yet, but looked her shoulder at the heir to Auradon’s throne. His messy coppery brown hair and confusion in his hazel eyes combined to create a ‘lost puppy’ look that caused a warmth, typically reserved for her siblings, to bloom in Mal’s chest. She continued to watch his face shift into one of stunned realization as he seemingly put the pieces together. “It was blocked wasn’t it.” A nod from Jane. “And it’s not anymore?” There was no judgement in his tone, and Jane nodded once more. “Merde, what were they thinking, how could they just….” Ben closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath trying to steady himself. “I can’t believe my dad was a part of this, cutting off who knows how many of our people from an essential part of themselves.” He paused, looking sad and conflicted as more seemed to slip out of his mouth, “It’s … barbaric.”

           “I’m just gonna say it, Ben, I don’t ever want to meet your dad.” Jay grumbled.

           “You’re not the only one” Carlos muttered softly

           Lillian winced, “Yeah, um, not too sure how well that’ll work out.” All four of the Vk’s looked at her confused, “Family Day is the day after tomorrow, the King and Queen will be here to visit Ben.”

           “Family Day?” Four voices echoed.