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Chapter Text

"You're late." I turned my head lazily to look at the girl looking down on me with her teal braids. This must be the infamous pirate queen turned principal.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at her, "Don't get your tentacles in a twist, Uma. I missed parent day, not like mine was gonna show up either way." I smirked at her and shot out my hand in a (albeit mocking) greeting.

She sighed and shook my hand, placing what I assumed was my missing room key in my hand, "I knew you were gonna be trouble like your brother but I had hoped otherwise."

I pocketed the key and pushed down the pang of dissapointment in my chest and forced a big smile, "Well best thing about being late is I don't have to worry about competeing for good first impressions," As I tightened my hold on my feather lined coat warpped around me I grabbed my bag and pushed past her muttering to myself, "God knows my mother makes them for me."

----line break----

I looked down at my letter i had received when I had been late outlining what I missed at orientation, as annoying as I remembered her being back on the Isle, maybe Uma could have a shot at being a good principal. I mean at least she didn't leave me in the dark for ditching the first day. It's what my mom would have done. It's what any of the old teachers on the Isle would have done.

That’s why Zevon left, he tried to avenge the psychopath that was our mother. Not me. Since the barrier was down and we could move I wanted a better life, but mom refused. She would rather sit in her own pity party muttering about half-baked schemes.
She insisted that this Auradon Prep was bullshit. I didn't listen. I got a letter. Mine.

She had no right to try to hide it. So I did what we do best, steal. With the help of a few potions that is.

I wandered around the halls gettinhrg some odd looks, probably not from being seen as out of place. They hadn't been around each other enough to yet spot when someone was late. It was the black leggings with purple combat boots and a leather purple top to match. Not to mention the shawl around my shoulders, dark black fabric with lilac feathers lining it. All of it was made by hand.

Well mostly. Afterall what were all those alchemy lessons as a kid to be used for if not fashion, that's what mom would say after all.

Well this should be my room, I looked at the letter with the same number in it. I heard laughing from within the doors. The note said due to crowding it would be a three person room. Fine by me. Two girls means they can talk to each other and not me.

Perfectly fine with me.

Afterall what was I good for if not being silent and staying unnoticed. It's how I got by as a kid on the Isle

As i took the key out of my pocket and inserted it into the lock, pushing on the doors and i turned it and opened the door to a beautiful three bed bedroom with a giant couch underneath a bright window. I felt my mouth slightly drop.

Throught my awe I heard one of the girls say, "Is that girl our roommate?" to her friend.

I had realized i hadn't yet introduced myself and turned to the girls, steeling myself. I waved lightly with a grin and greeted, "I am daughter of Yzma, and your new roommate. I'm Marzella." I turned to the girl in blue who was staring at me apprehensively, she looked sweet unlike her red counterpart, "But you can call me Zell."

Chapter Text

The two girls looked at me warily and then looked at each other. Ah yes this is probably cause the late arrival. Whatever. They'll get used to. As long as I stay out if their way they'll stay out of mine and it will work out.

"I'm Red, I hope you don't mind that we already picked out beds. Afterall you did show up a day late." She commented with an (annoyingly) abundant amount of snark.

She looked at me with a look of distaste.

She better not be judging my clothes. So she was gonna play this game. Well I can play.

I turned my nose up to her, "The name Red's a bit on the nose," I looked her outfit up and down before making pointed eye contact with her, "Don't you think?"

"Ah another obnoxious VK thinking they're the coolest and most dangerous thing ever. As if you had to face any real danger on your little Isle." She got closer to me looking deep into my eyes. Taking two pointed steps towards me.

"What's your problem with VK's? So what I grew up on the Isle. If you have that much of a problem with us then good luck cause you're gonna have to put up with a lot of us now." I growled at her getting equally as close.

"I don't have problems with VK's, I have problems with little girls who don't understand that the world doesn't revolve around them and them showing up a whole day late might be an inconvience for others. We had planned to move your bed out and you should just be glad we we're too tired last night to do it ourselves." Red looked at me with a look filled with loathing. Her and I maintained our eye contact as I slowly let purple overtake my golden irises. She looked away with a look of annoyance. Good. Piece of shit deserves it.

Maybe I was a bit snappy, but hey she wanted to play. And who was she to lecture me. She didn't know what I had to do just to get here. She was just making assumptions. Typical, what can you expect from a royal.

I turned away from Red to look at her blue companion (I swear if her name is Blue I will quit this whole school and move back to the Isle). I held out my hand and smiled as brightly as I could with the anger bubbling within me, "Hi, what's your name?" She looked at me in disbelief and scoffed before turning away. Huh.

I smiled even brighter and pushed my hand further towards her, "I'm sorry if i was snappy but I tend to have bad expirence with first impressions, on the Isle they tend to be kinda cemented into stone. I'd like to get to know you. So lets try again. My name is Zell, that is Red. I'm assuming she's your friend. I know her name. You know mine. What is your name?"

She finally made full eye contact with me as she looked down at my hand, "Chloe. Chloe Charming." She finally took my hand and shook it lightly, very clearly not wanting to actually grip my hand. She had soft hands, nice nails, pretty ring. Clearly a royal.

I hummed to myself, "Nice to meet you Chloe. I am assuming my bed is the one on the left?" I asked and Red continued to glare at me. Chloe retracted her hand and nodded politely.

I stepped away from the blue one- Chloe. Her name is Chloe. I stepped away from Chloe to go put my bag on the bed just to see Red. Literally, she just stepped in front of me and looked me dead in the eye to say threateningly, "I don't know what your deal is but I don't like your vibe, I don't like your attitude, I don't like the fact that you just happened to show up a whole day late without any explanation and got away with it. But I just got my path to a happy ending. Don't ruin it." She narrowed her eyes once again at me as I could see the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out what my deal was.

I shouldered past her to put my trunk next to my bed as I muttered, "Don't worry, I don't plan on it. "

I heard her snark back at me, "You better not. Hey Chloe let's go get breakfast." As they we're getting ready to leave I looked through the mirror style dresser reflecting back Chloe looking at me with doubt . There goes no one caring about me. Because people care about what I do. But gosh do I wish they wouldn't.

As I took the key that likely opened the drawers I tried the lock smiling happily to myself when it turned. Unpacking my special momentums into my locked dresser before placing the clothes in my trunk in the chest at the end of the bed. Then I placed all my things I was fine with leaving out, after all if they didn't trust me why should I trust them.

I took out the key which went with the drawers and looked around before unlocking them and taking out the glass refillable vial I knew so distinctively.

As i downed its contents I was hit with the feeling of drowsiness way quicker than normally. I had added more lavender quills in it to make it stronger to take percautions against waking up my roommates. As i dropped the now empty vial next to me on the counter top (or was it a mirror? Oh it was a drawer. What a weird word. Drawer). I felt myself drift into sleep. No not drift. I drifted normally. This felt like slipping and falling into the sleep with no control. At least it meant the draught was working. A few hours of peaceful sleep. No interuptions. No nightmares.

Chapter Text

"What do you think the vials for? Poison? Smoke bombs? Maybe even just berry jucie?" I recongized the voice as Blues- DAMN IT. I mean Chloe. Her name is Chloe. NOT BLUE.

"Either way it's none of our buisness. If it's something illegal we'll report it but we have alchemy classes for a reason. After all the story of Yzma is literally all about her using alchemy. Either way unless it's harmful it's none of our buisness." That one was Red. For once I agreed with her.

"I gues. Should we wake her for lunch? She slept for hours. Her sleep schedules going to be off." I could hear the turmoil in her voice. Guessing she's the nice one of the pair.

"Nah let her sleep. She probably had to travel a while and is tired. After all she had to travel it alone. Also if she neglected to set an alarm then that's on her. Not us." I could almost see in my mind the dissapointed look Chloe gave Red, "Fine we'll bring her back something to eat. But if she doesn't want it and it's a waste of food that's on you."

I heard them leave the room, one of them taking care to close the door quietly.

I sat up and looked around breathing heavily. Oh gosh. They found the vial. But they don't know what it was for. That's all that matters. Them not knowing. I rooted through my things to put away the vial and grab my key card to swipe for food.

As I was walking out I passed by the mirror on my desk I looked at my puffy eyes, eyebags sunken in, showing off my bright red eyewhites. Shoot. I forgot to take out my contacts, that explained my budding headache. I looked into my reflection pinching out my contacts. I slowly let my glamour magic drop, revealing the tired purple eyes staring back at me through the mirror. My tangled dark brown hair turning white on the two front strands. And a small scar appeared on my cheekbone before receding into my hairline. I took the hairbrush and makeup bag out of my drawers and placed it on the desk.

I slowly added some life into my face with the makeup as I slowly brushed my hair, looking a little more alive. I looked at myself glad to be able look presentable without draining my magic. Still looked at myself I thumbed the two front strand with a frown on my face. I took a deep breath as I stealed myself to use my magic as I turned tbe two strands brown the match the rest of my hair. I grabbed the key card once again as I walked out of the room.

I walked down the halls slowly, taking my time to look around the halls seeing girls going in and out of their rooms, laughing and talking together. They had already made friends, I scowled and looked down as I walked alone to the food court.

As i entered the bustling room filled with life and conversations, connections being made already. Friendships being forged.

I walked up and grabbed a sandwhich and an apple, swipping my card as I walked past the check out. I saw a table that was empty and I walked over to sit at it. Humming lightly to myself I started to eat my apple frowning at it's overripness. I felt my eyebrows furrow as I started thinking ahead to myself. I'll have to make a potion for that and bring it to lunch with me. I probably have a recipe in one of my books-

"Hey there Sunshine, what'd that apple do to piss you off?" As i startled I looked up at the snarky boy looking down at me.

"What?" I mumbled, still caught off gaurd by his question. I blinked wearily also kinda tired from my nap and spending the whole night before packing and brewing everything I would need.

"I mean you're glaring at the apple as if it took your first born child or something." The tall, lanky brunette boy replied.

I redirected my glare towards him, "I meant 'What' as in 'What do you want?'"

He just chuckled sliding into the seat across from me further confusing me and adding to my irritation. Why was he talking to me. I sat alone for a reason.

He stuck out his hand as he smiled to me, "I'm Aziz. My parents are Aladdin and Jazmin. I thought you looked interesting and you seemed lonely so I wanted to sit next to you." He said with a light laugh, retracting his hand to scratch at the back of his neck nervously.

I leaned across the table to him and smirked, "Ever thought maybe I don't want friends?"

He spluttered out a response, "But you- I- Why wouldn't you want friends? Thats the whole point of Auradon Prep to make friends and find our own happy endin-"

I cut him off by summoning a book in a cloud of purple air, feeling myself drooping a bit at the use of magic, automatically straightening myself out. Feeling ashamed for letting mysekf slip up even for a moment.

"HOLY SHIT WAS THAT MAGIC?!" He yelped elciting a few odd glances from tables around us. I raised an eyebrow at him giving him a look. He sighed, "Yeah dumb question. I know."

"Ya know for someone who's parents got together because of a genie you seem pretty suprised to see magic being used." I hummed to myself remebering the vocal spell my mom taught me, testing out the tune without putting any magic behind it.

I finally took this silence to look at the boy, for once speechless. He had tan skin, clearing having a face resembling his mom and dad. But he had his dads curly hair, an uncontrollable mop of curls on his head. He was definetley leaner even bordering lanky with his long limbs making him about a solid 6 feet tall. He had a kind but michivous look in both his eyes and his smile. He was dressed in a simple red shirt with brown flowy dress pants. He had on a single gold chain with a gold ring on it and a gold band braclet. Nice taste in fashion.

He was suddenly waving a hand into front of my face, "Hello you still there- AH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Without realizing I had on insticnt grabbed his hand when i saw it go in front of my face and had pulled him across the table by it to pin it behind his back, his face smushed against the lunch rooms tables. Feeling guilty for doing that to the guy who had been nothing but nice to me, if a little annoying. I slowly released and looked around at the people around me, the royals looking at me with undisguised horror, I caught my roommates eyes. They looked mad and shamed to have had to room with me.

The other VK's however looked at me with pity. They knew why I did what I had done. They either had to deal with it theirselves or had seen it in some capacity with either their neighbors or friends as I started to bolt out of the room suddenly feeling ill I ran into a person with broad shoulders and a firm chest, falling right onto my butt.

As I groaned getting up I heard a voice. No not a voice. THE voice. The horrible grating voice I had been hearing following me since I was a child. "Are you okay ZeZe?" I looked up at HIM. Ugh. He reached out a hand to me and I relunvtively took it to help steady myself brushing past him muttering, "Thanks."

"Wait up!" I heard him call to me. I ignored him as I stormed out of the lunch room. Leaving behind half an apple and an uneaten sandwhich. Hearing his heavy footsteps as he walked up next to, "ZeZe I'm sorry for knocking you over but I just wanted to make sure you were okay-"

I whirled around to him, "Leave me alone Kan! We aren't on the Isle anymore. I don't need you to protect me. Your dad isn't here anymore to force you to be my friend so can't you just leave me alone? I'm fine."

He scoffed as he continued to lecture me, "Look I saw how you responded to Aziz just trying to get your attention, the rest of the VK's might understand why you did what you did but the Royals won't understand. They just judge you. They don't know what it was like for us on the Isle."

"Yeah they don't and they don't need to. I don't need them to like me I just need them to leave me alone." I sighed, "It worked for me once I got off the Isle. Away from people. Only going into town when mom needed stuff." I saw his face fall a little at the reminder. He was always sad that we decided against moving into a village like his dad did, but he didn't understand. His dad was mearly a sidekick, not even one that was truly evil. Kronk even tried to correct his ways later on.

Their family would be excepted in villages. They would be trusted. They would be able to live their lives. They didn't have to hide away under the cover of night markets to sell potions, that if anyone knew was coming from a villian family would get you arrested immediately.

Kan didn't know that life. I did. Kronk had paid for his crimes already, now he got his time to be paid for all the good things he did. We would never get that.

Kan stared at me for a minute longer before handing me a slip of paper, I looked down to see a phone number, "Call me if you need anything. Anytime of day. Call me." As he said his final words he patted me gently on the shoulder and walked away.

I sighed. Kan was always my weak spot. He had saved me so many times. I had saved him. We we're there for each other. I pocketed the peice of paper mentally reminding myself to add it to my contact later that day.

I wandered around the castle looking school. Taking in all the rooms and trying to remeber the rooms that I would have to eventually find.

As i went outside I saw the turney feild and all the stands. Deciding to take some time to try and see if I still could use my magic well I tried my teleporting, disapearing in a cloud of purple mist and poofing in that way to another spot. Creating myself misty moth wings and letting myself float above three feet. And finally creating purple blasts.

That's where i failed. As i walked my way back to the main building dejected I tried one last trick, creating a single moth to fly around me. Smiling at my smaller victory I went back in. Waiting till I saw the dinner rush die down to go into the food court and took out my key from earlier, looking at all the options but knowing that due to a lack of options at home I likely wouldn't be able to stomach most of it.

I pocketed an apple and a granola bar for the morning and swiped my card. Eating my apple as I walked out, seeing my two roommates at a table together, whispering and laughing about some inside joke I would never be a part of. I then threw away the apple, once again leaving it half eaten

I continued down the hall to the room, getting some odd looks from passerbyers who had seen the scene in the food court. I got into my room and quickly locked the door. I looked in the mirror at my face, still wearing the makeup and quickly went into the bathroom with makeup remover and face wash. Taking off the makeup.

I quickly shut off the sink and went back into the room. I dropped my glamour on my hair, letting it fade to the natural white in the front. I dropped my room key and food court swiper on my dresser as I took out my dresser key to unlock my bottom drawer. I grabbed another vial.

I tipped back the vial, remebering to put it away first thing. As i shut the drawer and heard the lock click i clumsily put the key back on the drawers top. As I set my head down on the pillow I vaugley heard my roommates coming in from dinner but that is all I heard before drifting into a peaceful oblivion.

Chapter Text

As I sat down at my first class of the day I looked around, Red and Chloe were already sitting in their assigned seats but none of our lab partners were there yet. I looked ove the desk at the name plate next to mine.

Varian.

Huh. Interesting. I had never heard of him on the Isle so he must be a Royal kid. Still whose kid would he be? Maybe a sidekick?

My train of thought was abruptly shook when I heard a thud next to me. I turned my head to see Kan plopping his bag next to Red. Ugh great Kan was going to be sitting with me the whole year. That's just great. Still poor Kan. Red was kinda terrible to be around. But maybe I just made a bad impression. Best of luck to him.

I turned my head to see bright blue eyes looking right back at me.

"AH!" As i jumped back and out of my chair on the floor I felt my head lightly hit against the table. Shit that hurt.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I got excited and wanted to see what your necklace was made of. Is that a moth silk stone? Those are super rare! Where did you get one?" As i looked up at him in bewilderment he chuckled, "Ah yes you're still on the ground let me help you." As he helped pull me off the ground towards him I grabbed his arm to steady myself.

"Well that's one way to make new friends." I chuckled to myself, feeling genuinely happy for the first time since getting to this school. I sat back down on my chair as I stretched out a hand to him, "I'm Zell. And yes it's a moth silk stone. And it's from my mom." The boy got even closer and shook my hand excitably.

"Hi I'm Varian. I'd love to hear more about your necklace it is such a rare find and I love geology. Along with alchemy. I also like to look at them together because oddly enough they are constantly related to each other. It's actually really cool-"

I felt a happy rush at having someone who enjoyed the same hobby as me. "Yeah I love alchemy too, I have a ton of stones. We could look at them together sometime. I'm trusting you though and I better not have gotten partnered with someone incompent." He let out a loud bark of laughter with a wide grin. I grinned back at him as I looked him over. A slimmer body with long legs making him around 5'8". He had dark black hair with a blue streak in the front band.

Huh.

It looked natural but it was also an odd thing to have. As I contemplated that while he took put his notebooks, pencils and supplies, I mindlessly touched the strands on hair I knew were a snowy white color. Gosh I wished I could wear my hair naturally like that. He seemed nice, a little hyperactive. His clear ambition and energy shining in his teal blue eyes framed with dark eyelashes. A natural blush appearing on his freckled cheeks when he got excited and rambled. He seemed nice. Maybe he would be nice to get to kno-

"Hey." And there was the reason why I didn't want to ever make friends.

Sighing I turned to Aziz leaning over the table to grin at me, "What do you want?"

He leaned his head on his hands as he looked between me and Varian, "Well you'll be happy to know I'm not here for you, you're partnered with my roommate."

I turned to Varian and deadpanned, "I am so sorry."

Aziz rolled his eyes, "I am also partners with your roommate. That's how these work. We all get partnered with another room."

"Which one are you with?" I asked with a tilted head.

He vaugley gestured to the table where the others sat at, "The blue one." I sighed already knowing this due to process of elimination.

Red piped up with narrowed eyes, "Her name is Chloe."

Chloe matched that with slightly less hostility, "Yeah, I have a name so learn it."

Kan looked over Red's head to beam at me with his wide grin, "Hey ZeZe our room got paired with yours for the seating arrangments isn't that fun?"

I felt my face turn bright red as the blood rush went to my head, "DON'T CALL ME THAT YOU OAF!"

Kan sighed with a head shake, "Now you just sound like your mo-"

As i felt the anger at my old friend boil up I stood and banged my hands against the tabletop, "CAN'T YOU BE QUIET?!"

Aziz stood up straighter at the front of my table, "Hey don't bully my roommate," As i turned my angry glare at him he continued commenting, "You know you're still really agressive."

I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him closer over the table to get in his face, "Oh I'll show you agressive."

He looked around nervously at the others now looking at us in shock, "Case in point."

Varian popped up next to me, "Wait you know each other?"

"She's the girl who tried to break my arm" "He's an asshole who got in my face and got what he deserved."

We both looked at each other and glared, his holding less malice in it. Varians eyes lit up in recongnition, no doubt having heard about it from both of his roommates.

"I was trying to get your attention!" He agrued.

"Well it clearly worked." I snapped back at him.

Kan lightly grabbed my arm pulling me back, "Hey guys calm down."

I shook out of his grip as both me and Aziz turned to him simultanously, "SHUT UP!" Who wad agressive now Aziz?

Varian stepped towards me and Aziz, "Why don't we calm down?"

I ignored him and released Aziz to turn to Kan, "Kan you need to keep your nose out of my buisness and leave me alone, we aren't on the Isle anymore."

Chloe finally got involved as she spoke up, "Hey there's no reason to be so rude, gosh all you VK's seem so bent on being just like your-"

Kan and I seemed to agree on somethingg for once as we shreiked, "DON'T YOU DARE-"

Red cut us off to defend Chloe, "Hey stop talking to her like that!"

I lightly growled as I snapped my gaze to them, feeing my irises turning purple against my will, "Why don't you leave this alone, you clearly have no place in this."

"Why don't you make me leave this alone?"

"Oh I will-"

"QUIET! It's the first day and everyones already so excitable about today. We all need to take our seats. To test your knowledge on the fundementals of alchemy I'm going to give you a simple recipe and I'll see if you make it right." Our teacher swooped in to hand out papers with recipes on them. Easy recipes, a child could make it.

I turned to Varian to see him looking at me a little warily.

I sighed, "I'll chop the ingredients and you stir?" I saw the energy reenter his body as he enthusically nodded at me. At least one thing worked out today.

Chapter Text

What the hell is dodgeball?

"Oh I love this game, we played it back home at elementary school."

Kan and I turned to each other to give each other dubious looks. What sort of royalty game is this? And why are we playing it first day of PE. On the Isle most kids just ditched PE and no one cared. Like most grades it didn't matter unless your parents cared about that stuff.

Still neither of us had heard of dodgeball. Maybe it's like darts where you try to hit the target board. But with a ball? Seems unfunctional, hitting the board would be easy.

"Sir what is dodgeball?" Kan finally asked and I saw Red look over thankfully, huh guess prissy princess also was in the dark about this.

"Dodgeball is a game of tact and agility. You try to throw balls at the opposing side and hit their teammates. Meanwhile you are trying to dodge the balls coming at your team. The main goal is to not get hit. Normally if your ball is caught by an opponent then you're out but that is too easy with such a small class."

I looked around at the class, wow he was right. There couldn't have been more than 20 of us.

"So instead if you catch the ball you aren't out yet neither are they."

As everyone moved around while he looked at us waiting he realized the issue, "Ah yes teams. I'll go down the line and count. I'll give you either the number one or two and that will be your team. Once you get your number go to your side." As he went down counting I was put on team 1 and walked over to where he pointed. I looked around at the three already on my team, two guys who I didn't yet know and a short girl with short brown hair with blonde streaks and green eyes. Wow she was pretty.

As my team grew I looked at who was with me to see my favorite roommate(not by a lot though) and Aziz. Great he was on my team. I turned to see the other team with both Varian, Kan, and Red on it.

Kan would typically be tough to beat since he is pretty strong and fast but I know how he fights so it won't be too rough. Varian seemed more like an acdemic type however. Red is a wild card though. Don't know much about her but based on the way she seemed to snap to a defensive fighting stance when agitated told me she likely was more quick on her feet and would be a tough target.

"Heyyyyy." Sighing at the familiar voice(gosh I've been doing that a lot lately) I felt a weight go around her shoulder.

I quickly shrugged off the arm, "Don't touch me."
Aziz just propped his elbow on me instead making me roll my eyes, "Sorry i forgot." He replied with no remorse.

"What do you want." I turned to him.

"Just wanting to know if you wanna team up," He grinned again.

As I stalked away from him I turned to look at him, "I plan on winning."

As I turned my head forward to the rest of my team I heard his footsteps following me, "Well so do I."

"Well best of luck to you." I snarked at him. I looked over my team to see Chloe looking back at me. She sighed and came over to me. "Do you know how to play or do you want a better run down on how to play."

"I was listening, Princess. I'll be just fine."

She shook her head at me before saying, "Look I don't want to antagonize you. You seem nice, just a little prickly. I'd like to get to know you or at least be on stable ground with you. So what do you say. Truce?" She held out her hand and I looked up into her brown eyes before shaking it.

"Truce."

"EVERYONE GET IN LINE AND PREPARE TO START PLAYING!"

As I walked over I heard the teacher call out the start of the games, quickly getting on the balls of my feet and going on the defense. The other team quickly got to it, Kan getting on kid out quickly. I saw Varian awkwardly trying to dodge while yelping.

Woosh

As I saw the ball go by my face I looked to the other team to see Red staring at me, her arm still out. Her lips quirked up into a smirk as I looked at her in shock. Oh. This is what we're doing.

Game on princess.

I saw Aziz run by me to pick up a ball before chucking it at Varian, Varian trying to defend himself with a vaugely familiar motion before being hit, where have I seen that before-

As another close call happened with a ball flying by my face I decided to focus on the game.

I picked up a fallen ball before throwing it across the line to hit a girl with ombre hair going from black to red, she huffed in annoyance before walking over to the side.

I looked at Chloe who was throwing balls at the other side of the line while dodging and amired the ambition she had. Though she soon got out, as did Aziz. There were a few kids still around me getting out but on the other team it was just Kan and Red still in

As Red continued to throw balls at me I avoided the narrow death (in the PE sense) and finally as she threw a ball at me I dodged while pelting her with the ball in my hand. Haha yes I won this one! This was-

SMACK

As I fell to the ground cluthcing my nose I looked up to see Kan holding his hand out, the only one left in the game before my eyes shifted to Red, on the floor clutching her nose as well.

"Okay! That was an interesting match. Good win, Kan is it? Are you two girls okay?" Red and I made eye contact and muttered our dismissals of the worries until Kan came up to me to help me up and I saw Chloe do the same for Red before I took my hand away from my nose, looking down at it and seeing red on it. Shoot.

"Great, you have a bloody nose. You know what. Since it's the end of the day anyways why don't you girls go to the nurses office to ice your noses, and figure out the whole blood thinng. M'kay?" He looked to us and we both sighed and nodded, "Good."

As I got up with the help of Kan, saying a quick thanks, and walked over to Red awkwardly leaving the class all I could think was, it just had to be her. Didn't it.

Chapter Text

As I held my nose I kept my gaze forward and away from the red walking menace next to me.

"This is your fault you know. If you had been paying attention you wouldn't have gotten hit and it would be me and Chloe walking here. Not you and me"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah and if you had dodged this wouldn't have happened in the first place. You're just mad that I got you out."

"And you're just mad you lost."

I paused my stride to turn to her, "Maybe I'm upset I lost to a team with you on it but overall I'm happy. I got you out. Plus Kan won. He needs a win in his life right now."

She turned to me with a calculating gaze, "You and him are close, huh?"

"Yeah well his dad spent years fawning over my mom which meant when we were on the Isle we got close."

"Yeah I get that. My best friend back in wonderland was the son of one of my mom's closest workers." At that I scoffed.

"Funny way to put it. Workers. Ha!" I looked at her and was meet with a steely glare, "What it's kinda funny how you make it sound. As if THE queen of hearts could have 'workers' just kinda funny is all."

She started going faster and I looked at her in bewilderment. What we were finally getting along. Guess she didn't want to be friends. As we approached the nurses office Red turned to me, "Why do you think you know me?"

I chuckled in return, "Please everyone's heard of the beautiful Wonderland. It's sweet as sugar Queen. And it's privileged princess Red."

"It was madness there. Even if you guys don't know it." She replied, opening the door to the office.

"Oh believe me I grew up on the Isle. I grew up with madness."

With bitterness in her voice, "You don't know madness."

I rolled my eyes at her. I had heard all about how much wonderland was a beautiful world of talking plants and trees. She could be bitter all she wanted but I know the truth. I also grew up in one of the worst places to be. A place where you had to watch your back or die. She didn't know how good she had it, "Oh please you grew up in the beautiful Wonderland with its so gracious Queen. You haven't lived in conditions like the Isle. But i know hate. And anger. And lies. And fear. So much fear."

"Don't judge someplace based on what you hear. Even if it's fine now it wasn't always."

"It's known for always being amazing. Stop throwing this pity party." I turned away from her as we got to the nurses door. I didn't want to hear her whine and moan about how she didn't get everything a princess could desire from her mommy. She didn't know what it was like to have to support your family when your mom was busy with another cockamamie scheme to get off the Isle.

"Don't you understand. Wonderland wasn't fun. It's wasn't beautiful. Not when I was there. Not in the timeline I grew up in. The mother I knew wasn't friendly or fun. She was a crazy bitch, bent on making everyone's lives miserable. Even mine. Making sure I hated every second of being alive there. Making sure I wanted to leave. Making sure I would do anything to get out." She turned on her heel and walked back out of the office building and away from the nurses office, "You can get checked out if you want my nose has stopped bleeding by now so I'm gonna go find Chloe for lunch."

I stared at her retreating back as my mind was going over what she said. Timeline. Crazy bitch. Wanting to leave. Sounded like the Isle. Though the timeline was odd. What did she mean by that?

I sighed and walked into the nurses office asking for an ice pack.

Chapter Text

As I touched my sore nose I walked towards the cafeteria. Finally I can go and eat my lunch.

However, as I was walking I tripped catching myself as I heard a yelp. I looked behind me and saw a cat dart into the bushes. Looking at it I crouched down and set down my bag as I slowly approaching it, we never had pets on the Isle but they were my favorite thing to read upon.

I reached out my hand as I got closer, "Hey buddy. I'm sorry for tripping over you but I have something for you." As I reached into my pocket dimension I tried to find some food. Eventually I found some fish skin, usually used for potions but it should be edible enough. Probably.

As I held it out in my hand the cat approached sniffing me as I lapped up the dried skin. I smiled as I pet it behind its ears.

"He belonged to a friend of mine you know."

Jumping slightly I looked up behind me to see Uma in her full intimidating glory. I stood quickly. "Sorry I didn't mean to overstep my bounds. I didn't realize he belonged to someone."

She chuckled as I brushed the leaves and grass off my pants. "Nah it's fine. He is off at the Isle with some others doing renovations. He grew up on the Isle ya know. When he first got here he was astonished that the world could be this beautiful. The animals were his favorites." I laughed at that remembering my first time at Auradon and how different it was. "His favorite animal was penguins but cats were a close second."

I smiled at that, I also love cats. "So he bought this one but couldn't take it with him?"

She picked up the cat, the cat gladly letting her. "He didn't want the cat to have to expirence the isle but he will pick her up when he's done."

I reached out to scratch at the cats forehead as it lightly purred. Uma slowly puts it down and it scampers off to the bushes. As I watch it leave Uma leaves.

I pick up my bag and walk to the cafeteria.

When I get there I get into the line as I grab my food at the buffet and swipe my card. I frowned as I saw there was no sweets left but soon I smiled as I breathed in the smell of the fresh pasta.

I walk over and sit down at a smaller empty table, I set down the tray and slowly ate my lunch smiling at the warm food.

I felt the weight of the bench shift as someone sat next to me and I looked over to see Kan. I didn't say anything to him but scooted over to give him a little more space.

As I finished my meal I saw something land in my tray and smiled when I saw it. A brownie. When we got off the Isle they were my favorite thing to eat.

I looked over in question and he replied, "Your mom mentioned it one night. She was over for dinner and we had some chocolate covered strawberries and she said chocolate always reminded her of you." I smiled at that. My mother could be sweet apparently, just not to me. I wonder if my siblings would like the sweets from Auradon.

I grabbed the brownie and unwrapped it as I slowly worked my way through it, savoring the flavor. I turned to Kan to say thank you but was disrupted by something, or someone, else.

"My favorite roommate and my favorite lunch buddy sitting together. How lovely." I sighed and looked up.

"Hey Aziz. How are you too?" I deadpanned.

He just grinned at Kan as he asked him, "So you know sunshine here?"

Kan laughed as he said, "Yeah we grew up together. Our parents are close so we always hung out."

He slung an arm around me that I promptly shoved off. As the two of them started eating I stood up a little dizzy with the blood rush. As I swayed I felt a hand steady me and looked up at Varian who chuckled, "Sorry. I was gonna ask you if you were gonna leave cause I was gonna sit with Aziz and Kan." I nodded and quickly pushed past him and left.

As I was leaving I heard Kan say, "Don't forget to text me! I still need to save your number ZeZe."

As I flushed at the childish nickname I sped up hearing a quiet, "ZeZe?" As I left to go to my dorm.

I quickly put away my PE outfit still with blood stains on the collar muttering to myself about Kan's stupid offers to reconnect and annoying Royals. I paused and touched my necklace just wishing others could reconnect, not that it was even possible. I sighed and grabbed my history textbook as I headed out not even noticing the soft gaze watching me with curious eyes.

In the hallway I saw Red by herself walking looking down at a book, all I saw of the cover was the words "Queen of Hearts". Not knowing why she would need a book when she could just ask her mom I scoffed and walked past thinking that it was a waste of time and a good book.

I sat down in History unpacking my stuff and looked up to see Blue eyes staring at me. I tilted my head and smiled at him and asked, "Lemme guess. You sit next to me in this class too?"

As he got out his supplies he said, "Yup. Looks like you're stuck with me this year." As I stared at the board I felt a smile creeping on my face.

"It could be worse."

Chapter Text

As class started I was immediately glad I was in the back of the classroom because this class was boring. I was starting to drift off when I felt a tap on my shoulder and look at Varian who pointed down at a peice of paper on the table.

I grinned and slowly took my turn. I was gonna win this. It didnt matter that it was only tic tac toe. If I'm playing then I'm playing to win.

As we continued to snicker during our silent game I noticed my nail polish was chipping and absent mindedly picked at it. Slowly I started picking at my cuticles pealing it back.

"And everyone knows what happened in Corona a few years ago. Rabid robots, rocks taking over, princesses going MIA, and a crazy magic user trying to over throw the kingdom. That's not relevant this unit but you might want to look into it some more for the upcoming months." As I half listened in a poked at Varian to take his turn but he just sat rigidly staring at the front, oddly still for once.

"Varian!" I whisper-yelled at him as I kicked him under the table.

He jolted out of it muttering, "Yeah yeah sorry." Quickly taking his turn

"If you wanna play another game we can do that." I said under my breath to him.

"No no it's fine. Don't worry we'll keep playing this." He quickly busied himself with the game and taking light notes.

Halfway through I got hungry and knowing that my glamour magic wouldn't last the rest of the class period if I was crazy hungry I knew I needed a snack.

I checked my bag but couldn't find anything and lightly cursed. I looked around and when I saw no one looking too closely I reached into my pocket dimension and felt around eventually finding a granola bar I stashed away in there.

As I started triumphantly snacking I heard a gasp and turned to see Varian with wide eyes. "How did you do that? Do you have magic?" He inquired with wide eyes.

I smiled and let my eyes flash their natural purple in response. As he continued gawking i turned the front suddenly feeling a need to take note. Not avoiding questions. Definetly not.

As I continued to fidget as I dropped my pen and just picked at the skin on my hand. I just stared off.

"Now you and your partner are going to have to choose a region to research to do your project on next week. You will be working with the person next to you. If you have any complaints, come to me."

I turned to Varian who was grinning at me as we high fived. Finally my luck has come around.

"So what region do you wanna do?" He asked as he turned to me

I shrugged and explained, "Well I grew up on the Isle and didn't really see much of Auradon ya know? I mainly saw some small villages but that was all. I think you should get to choose. What kingdom are you from?" I tilted my head at him as he went ramrod straight.

He turned ashen as he replied, "I don't think we should do my kingdom. It's not that interesting and stuff and there many better ones. Why not do the one your village was in?"

I scoffed, "I barely left the house so I don't know if that's the best idea. Why can't we do your kingdom. What no pride? Your parents must be high up if you were able to go here. Who are your parents by the way? I feel like you've never talked about the-" As the bell rang Varian popped up out of his seat and started packing up.

"Varian! Varian!" I whisper yelled as he was packing up his things. As he ignored me and swiftly walked out, dodging my attempts to latch onto his arm I stared in shock at his retreating back and I whispered to myself, "What the absolute fuck was that."

I shook off my shock and sprinted after him leaving my bag at the table. "Varian! Don't ignore me! Varian come here!" As I cursed his longer legs I ran faster to keep up, gaining some odd glances. As I peered over people's heads I tried to catch a glimpse of him as he continued ignoring me. As I got past the crowds I caught up to him and tugged on his arm.

He spun around, "What?!" I huffed an angry breathe and crossed my arms in expectancy. He breathed a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run away like that. But can we please just not do it on my kingdom."

"Why. After all that and you blowing off all my questions I think I deserve a little bit of an answer."

He looked around and grabbed my hand, dragging me to an area under the bleachers where no one else was around.

I tapped my foot as I looked at him impatiently.

"Did you ever hear about what happened in Corona 3 years ago?"

Chapter Text

I tilted my head at him. "You mean the battle between the lost Princess and the magical girl?"

Varian sighed, "Yes, but no. What came before it. Have you heard about the rocks, the robots, everything?"

"I heard about the robots but that was all." As I sighed I looked over to the tourney field, "Yeah some prodigy went crazy and made these robots to attack the princess. Apparently he was let out of jail and everything because he wasn't given a fair trial and he needed to be tried as a minor. I don't know where he went... after." I turned and looked at Varian who was looking down in shame. "Varian."

I suddenly remembered hearing about the kid who used chemistry to do experiments with rocks and kidnapping the Queen and as that image slowly alligned with the kid who would smile at me in class. Who would nerd out over my necklace and got just a little louder than normally expected when excited, and had striking blue eyes to match the streak in his hair I couldn't imagine a world where he committed a crime for no reason.

And the longer I looked the more I was reminded of a kid on the Isle who made a dumb descion with his girlfriend in a last minute attempt to get off at any cost. I took a step forward, "Varian look at me." As he kept his head down I took a step closer and took his clenched hand and smoothed it out before gripping his hand in mine. "I would bet you had your reasons. And it might not excuse it, but they let you come here right? So you can't be entirely evil." I smiled at him, "Not to mention you are one of the only people I've met here who isn't totally insufferable."

At that Varian let out a wet chuckle. He wiped at his wet mouth eyes with his free hand as I let him calm down.

"You took that a lot better than I thought you would. Not many people are glad to here that their classmate isn't just the kid of villain. But he is the villain. "

"I’ve done things I regret. And, well you remind me of someone who I knew back in the Isle." As he continued to look at me I gestured to the ground with an unspoken question.

As he sat down he asked, "In what way?"

"Well. This person had big dreams. And he had some issues following the rules to get what he needed. And due to some, less than ideal circumstances he had to do some bad things to people." I replied as I sat next to him.

"Well what happened to him?"

"He- he didn't make it far. But I'm just saying. Good people do bad things when the circumstances force their hands. Plus I trust you." I grinned at him.

"Really?" He looked at me happily.

"Yeah, I promise." His eyes widened with something I couldn't place as we sat there for a moment just looking at each other as he processed everything. I waited for him, I looked to the sky for a bit enjoying the sunshine as I felt the awkwardness like a suffocating blanket over me.

As I tried to find a topic to lighten the mood I fidgeted with my necklace when it hit me. "Hey Varian. You like alchemy right?" As he nodded I unclasped the necklace for the first time in years. I stared at the stone asking myself if I was really going to do this, "This is the necklace you saw on the first day. It's made of-"

"Moth silk stone!"

I chuckled at how his eyes lit up. "Why don't you take it for the weekend. You can study it. And if you have any questions you can ask me, or if you want to look at any other stones I have you could check those out too. I also have some standard alchemy ingredients with me but nothing super rare."

As he clasped the necklace on himself, "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

“So how are you liking the school? How's your roommates?”

He looked at me and smiled, “What, are you trying to get the dirt on your enemies?” He shook his head in mocking shame, “I didn't think you’d use me like that.”

“It's all part of my master plan. And once I'm rid of those two then I'll move onto my own roommates.”

His eyebrows furrowed as he asked, “You’re still having problems with them?”

I sighed, “I don't know why but I can't seem to get along with them. We just don't mesh well. Every move I seem to make they watch and analysis. It's like they think I'm a criminal. Plus they're already so close to each other so it's hard to talk to them or just get to know them when they know each other so well. Honestly it's crazy how well they know each other for it being the first week but I guess on parent move in day they must have gotten to know each other.”

He looked off in his thoughts for a while, “Well, my advice would be just try to show them that you want to get to know them. Make the effort.”

“I mean I don't even know if I wanna be their friend. I'm not the best at being… friendly.” I said, not quite sure how to express what I was trying to tell him, “I'm just not great at making friends and keeping them. You know?”

“Don't talk badly about my alchemy buddy!” He frowned at me as he pointed a finger in my face. ”Cause she just gave me the best gift ever, and I personally think she's great.”

He stood up and extended a hand out to me and I took it as we stood there. He dropped my hand to thumb at the necklace glowing a lavender light.

We started heading out from under the bleachers. I walked alongside him, knocking my shoulder into his as we walked out towards the dorms, "I could show you my magic as well. It's pretty cool, you know. I think you'd like learning more about it," I coughed lightly under my breath, "Nerd."

"You're just as much of a nerd as me." He yelped indignantly.

I hummed in response as he added on, "Plus I study alchemy. NOT magic." 

Chapter Text

As I waved goodbye to Varian I walked down the hall to my dorm.

Pulling out my key, I opened the door heading to my bed. I looked down in distain at the mess on the floor as well as the two girls taking up the floor space. As I scowled at them I walked over to my bed, pulling out my clothes and alchemy textbook to get to work on my homework. I quickly changed out of my black skirt and purple top with lilac lace bows that I wore to school, and changed out of my bra into a set of purple pajama shorts and a loose black t shirt. I got comfy and got to work on my worksheet.

"Hey! Where did you come from?" Asked Chloe loudly.

"History." I responded warily.

"History of Government let out 45 minutes ago. Why'd you take so long?"

"Why? Do you not trust a villian to be true to her word?" I snapped at her.

She flinched back looking guilty as Red gave her a pointed look of annoyance. She sighed and asked, "Are you busy?"

I looked up at Chloe in question and shook my head as Red hissed out a quiet "What are you doing?"

Chloe ignored her and continued on, "Do you want to join us?"

I looked at Red scowling face and went back to my book, "I'm okay. You two look like you're having fun. I don't want to ruin it."

Red nodded along, "Yeah Chloe, if she doesn't want to then she should just do her homework."

As she glared at me and I glared back I felt Chloe's eyes on me. As I dragged my gaze over to her she looked odd.

"Well if you don't want to-" she mumbled as she turned her gaze down to the red nails she was painting.

"Wait! I have two days for this assignment so I don't need to do it right now." I blurted out, feeling bad for being so rude to the blue haired girl who hadn't been entirely rude to me. Well, at least not lately.

Chloe looked up at me on my bed, "Come sit with us."

I looked warily at Red as I remembered the last time the two of us had talked and decided to sit as far away from her as possible.

As I sat next to Chloe I looked at the spread of skincare and relaxation products l saw a bottle of color changing nail polish. "Oh my gosh! Where'd you get this? What's in it?" I wondered if I could recreate it. Maybe with other things like hair dye or clothes.

"Um I think my mom got it from a boutique in the village outside of East Riding. She got it when taking my brother to colleges in other kingdoms. I can try to get another bottle if you want?" I hastily set down the bottle.

"No, no don't worry about it. So what were you guys doing."

Red finally spoke up, "She's painting my nails and I'm trying to find out which hair dye I wanna use. They don't sell my usual brand here." I looked up from the products in shock.

"Your hair isn't natural? I- I thought it looked so good that it had to be." I looked at it and when I looked for it I could see pink roots growing in, but they were vibrant enough to where I could barely notice the color difference. "It's pink. Like your moms." Red flinched back a little and I frowned looking at my hands as I wondered what I did to offend her. I had thought I had been nicer than she deserved.

Maybe she didn't like the resemblance. I thought it over before deciding to extend an olive branch and offer up a piece of similar information, "I have my mom's eyes. I always wished I didn't, my brother and sister have grey eyes and I always thought that was better. But I look like my mom. And I've always hated it."

Chloe looked at me, "I think you look nice with gold eyes. Even if they're your mom's eyes." She smiled at me and I tentatively smiled back.

I realized my mistake and corrected her, "No, my mom doesn't have gold eyes." A furrow grew in between her brows as I hastily explained," I wear contacts. See?" I pinched them out and looked up at the two girls.

I took a deep breath and vanished my glamour on my hair and face as I decided, well fuck it. If they're seeing my eyes might as well go all in.

"My mom's hair is brown and purple, my brother has brown hair with a blue streak, and my sister has brown hair with a red streak. Mine is brown with a white streak. I thought if you were going to show me a part of yourself you change then I should return the favor." I fidgeted with my hands, picking at the skin on my nails.

"Okay I guess- OW!" I giggled as Chloe kicked across our makeshift circle at Red, "Thanks for that."

I grabbed one of the face masks, "Can I use this one?"

Chloe nodded as she returned to painting Red's nails. I was taking the clean spatula off the ground and applying the mask to myself when we heard a knock.

Red started to get up when Chloe reprimanded her, "Don't ruin your nails! I'll get it. Just sit still so they can dry." She patted Red's head patronizingly while I giggled at their friendship.

As I smiled at Red mockingly and she scowls at being talked down to by Chloe. I hear Chloe asking, "Can I help you?" Before being interrupted by a loud voice.

"ZeZe! You forgot your bag in history!" I turned around, glad that it was Kan who grew up with me and I was decently comfortable letting my guard down, even after my recent cold shoulder."

"Thanks Kan, but don't call me-"

"What the hell happened to you?!" I froze as I registered the two extra people in the door way. Shit.

"Whys your hair different?" I grabbed my hair self consciously as Chloe grabbed my bag from Kan and shoved the other two out of the doorway, "We're having a girls night. If you don't need anything then you can go."

Varian stopped her, "Ah! Wait, wait, no. I have to talk to Zell about our History of Government class."

Chloe let him in as I hastily dropped the spatula I was holding and and conjured my magic to try to conceal hair and scar, but Red snaps, "We're in the middle of something. Do you mind." I look at her in shock as I forget about my glamour.

"It's fine, Red. It's my fault I forgot that we have a history project due soon." I got up and walked over to him. "Is it fine if we work on it later?" He looked down at me and frowned.

"Hey what happened to your cheek?" As he reached out to tilt my head to see it better I stepped back. Suddenly self conscious about my whole getup, my hair, eyes, scar, and clothes were all completely different from my everyday appearance.

"Does tomorrow work for you?" His frown deepened at this.

"Yeah, sure." I turned away to sit down when Aziz pushed past me, "Is this a mudslide mask from the spa in Sherwood Forest? I've always wanted to go there but my mom says it's too far of a trip. But my dad went once and said that it was so relaxing."

Chloe brightened immediately, "Yeah it is! My brother loves going there and he always would drag me there before my fencing tournaments to calm me down before. It was great and they let you buy some masks and hair products to take home. My brother swears by their hair gel."

As the two of them gushed over the spa and their products Red rolled her eyes and went back to trying to look through the products without ruining her nails. I turned to Kan and Varian and asked, "It seems like Aziz is going to be joining us for a while longer," I looked over my shoulder to see Chloe putting a face mask on him and sighed, "Do you guys want to stay? We can finish our Enchanted Botany homework and Kan I found a cook book that uses magic and alchemy. If you wanted Varian and I could help you with some of the recipes."

The two looked at each other and smiled as we all sat down. I grabbed the cookbook for Kan and I helped Red find a hair dye that we both agreed would be a close match while talking to Varian, "What's the properties of an Alabaster Rose?"

"Oh I know this one! It is used to extract the powers of artifacts." He answered with excitement.

I smiled at him, "Correct! What about Ice Lillies?"

"They only grown in ice forests, which are a whole other thing, and are known for their resilience in the cold only next to Nettledrops."

As we studied Kan flipped through the cookbook while Chloe and Aziz were comparing the products for their curly hair.

While Varian and I were studying Aziz asked, "Hey Zell, do you wanna try this face mask? You never finished putting on yours. So if you want to you can try out this one and see if you like it, or you can finish putting on the one you have on.

I looked at the mask he was holding out and figured why not. I put it on and liked the way it soothed my skin. It was fun having friends here.

"Chloe can you help me with my hair dye?" Red asked from across the circle.

Chloe however said dismissively, "I'm busy with Aziz, but maybe Zell can help you."

I shrugged in response to that as Red looked at me skeptically. If she didn't think I could do this then she better buckle up because I would dye her hair the best it's ever looked, "I can help if you want. It seems pretty straight forward to me."

As she plopped herself down in front of me I continued to talk with Varian, occasionally answering Kans questions about alchemy from the cook book.

It was calming and I was laughing along to a mistake Varian had made when Kan just had to ask, "So ZeZe why did you drop your glamour?" I felt Aziz's eyes snap to me as Varians expression went from embarrassed to curious.

I huffed out a response, "It would be silly to have a glamour on while doing a spa day. It defeats the purpose of comfort." I looked at Red who was keeping her head forward for the dye and Chloe who was looking at me worriedly, "Besides, I was starting to get to know my roommates better and the glamours felt like a weight to hold." Kan nodded knowingly as Varians expression went quickly tried to get back into our conversation.

Aziz looked at me in question while I pointedly ignored his look. I wasn't going to be explaining myself to him. Not today. It had been a good day and I wasn't going to ruin it on an entitled prince like him.

I continued sectioning Red's hair while Varian rambled about the healing properties of Moon Kelp.

This was going to be something I would need to keep in my memory for a while longer. It felt for once like I was safe. Not quite home, but better.

It felt like a soft place to land.