"Rrgh!" Evie heard a muffled sound of pain. It was a sound that she knew would have been much louder had it been closer.
It only took her a moment to work out who it was- Mal. Being the only other female person on the Isle that she trusted, she recognized her voice almost immediately. It was a voice she'd trained herself to know by heart. Every little sound that came from that particular being, she knew well. She had to simply to survive.
Many a time when Evie was in a particularly dangerous part of the Isle, Mal would come up behind her and scare her out of her wits largely unintentionally. From then on, it had become custom for Mal to subtly clear her throat or make some small vocalization so that Evie knew she was there before she accidentally startled her.
Evie looked around the area, ensuring that none of the other people around her had heard the sound or was paying any attention to her.
To her relief, no one seemed to care or was listening, so Evie casually stood up from her seat, stretched calmly, and strutted off with her usual swaying walk toward the source of the noise- upstairs.
Evie primarily soundlessly travelled up the flights of stairs, eventually reaching the very top where she knew Mal would be.
Wordlessly, she poked her head through the doorway. Sure enough, Mal was standing there, looking into the partially cracked mirror on the wall and fiddling with something in front of her over the sink. Evie narrowed her eyes, homing in on a particular reflection in the mirror.
Evie felt her stomach twist uncomfortably. There in the mirror, a horrifyingly large amount of red liquid dripped down Mal's pale hand. It was such a stark contrast. The blood almost glowed against the deathly white skin.
The bluenette moved in a little closer and a floorboard creaked under her foot. Mal jumped in surprise, instinctively turning toward Evie and hiding the badly bloodied hand behind her back. Evie immediately spotted a cut on her bottom lip and a place just above her eyebrow was opened slightly.
If Mal was relieved by the fact that it was only Evie, she didn't show it at all. Her posture never slackened, rather remaining rigid as ever.
"I heard something, so I came to see what was up," Evie explained herself coolly, much more calm than she felt on the inside. She couldn't allow herself to feel for Mal. Not openly at least. Her, Mal, Jay, and Carlos were all close, it was obvious. But openly showing any concern for anyone besides oneself was practically suicide. Especially when one's mother was one of the most evil villains.
"Nothing. Nothing is up. Unless you count the sky. Then I suppose you could say something is up," Mal snapped at Evie. The taller girl came closer and she saw well-hidden fear spring into Mal's countenance.
"Just leave, E. Everything's fine," Mal practically snarled as she turned back to the mirror, keeping her hand hidden the entire time, but Evie could see straight through the brashness to the apprehension and uncertainty lying beneath.
For a moment, Evie just stood there, her jaw tensed as she contemplated Mal's words. Even though she knew it was very much against the rules of being wicked as can be, she still wanted to help her… friend. She supposed that was what they were. Allies seemed too detached, but the other word that started with an F and ended with a Y that she was really wondering about, but refused to even think in her most secret thoughts was entirely too frightening.
After thinking for a moment, weighing her options, Evie shook her head, surging forward and grabbing Mal.
The purple-haired girl immediately tensed up and attempted to resist her. Evie slid her hand down the girl's arm and yanked her so that Evie could see her hand.
Evie stared down at Mal's hand, holding the shorter girl's wrist tightly between her fingers.
It looked terrible. A long slit ran down her palm and even partially stretched into the side of her hand. Outwardly, Evie didn't show her disgust with the wound, but inwardly she felt the nagging urge to gag.
"I told you to leave me alone, Evie!" Mal growled, snatching her hand out of Evie's now loosened grasp.
"What happened?" Evie questioned firmly, looking into Mal's eyes with a steady gaze.
Mal simply turned her face away from Evie and stared stubbornly at the ground with an irritated expression. Evie kept her stare on Mal's face, however, her stern countenance never wavering.
After a few moments, just as Evie was sure that Mal wasn't going to respond, the slightly younger girl sighed.
"I ran into CJ. Or rather her sword. Apparently, she wasn't pleased to know that I'm not letting any more members into our gang," Mal finally admitted, keeping her eyes averted from Evie's.
The bluenette sighed, looking at the other girl with a concealed sympathy.
"Give me some bandages. I'll help you," Evie offered. Mal immediately returned her gaze to Evie and she saw the fear in the shorter girl's eyes.
"I don't need help. I can take care of it. You just stand outside and make sure no one drops by," Mal instructed harshly, grabbing the wrap that she had on the sink and trying yet failing to bind it around her hand.
Evie reached over and took the roll from Mal, grabbing her wrist once again.
Mal struggled a bit against her, but Evie shot her a warning glance, silently conveying to Mal that she was going to do this for her whether Mal liked it or not.
Evie's eyes then somewhat softened as she wrapped the bandaging around the shorter girl's palm.
It was obvious that Mal had tried to stop CJ's blade from crashing into her face by moving her hand into its path. Apparently, CJ must have caught her a bit off guard. After all, the blonde moron did happen to graze Mal's face in certain places.
A very high-pitched sound emanated from Mal's throat as she stood there, leaning against the sink while Evie bound her hand.
Evie sent her an apologetic look, returning to her task of wrapping.
After a moment more, Mal's hand was well-covered and the bleeding had mostly stopped. Evie then grabbed the rag from the sink and dipped it in a nearby barrel that was filled with rainwater from the leaks in the ceiling.
She then turned to Mal, and, hesitating only for a moment, she grabbed her chin carefully and dabbed at the girl's cuts on her face. Evie gently wiped the one on her lip, removing the dried blood carefully. Once she was satisfied with her handiwork, she moved to the slit just above Mal's eyebrow.
"Why are you doing this for me?" Mal finally questioned, her voice quiet. Evie faltered in her cleaning for just a moment, blinking, and but then continued.
"I want to help you. We're a gang, and all we've got is each other. I want to and will help you when you need it," Evie reluctantly admitted, the words foreign on her tongue and at the same time so familiar.
Mal just looked at her, unashamedly staring at her with an odd expression. Of course, Evie supposed it was a bit strange. It was definitely not the accepted practice to show any familial or friendly affection towards anyone, much less express it.
After a moment, Evie realized she had been dabbing at the eyebrow cut for a bit too long, and she quickly withdrew, placing the rag on the sink and shaking her head in an attempt to clear it of the many thoughts swirling around within it.
Evie stepped back a bit, moving out of Mal's personal space. The purple-haired girl seemed to awaken from whatever she was so deeply in thought about, and her eyes hardened as she moved past the slightly taller girl.
Evie watched her as she crossed the room, presumably about to leave. However, what she didn't expect was for Mal to stop at the doorway, her entire posture uncomfortable as she turned her head to the side with her eyes glinting in a foreign emotion.
"Thanks," she spoke quietly, and the corners of her lips slightly upturned in not quite a smile, but something that meant so much more.
Evie nodded her head, silently acknowledging Mal's gratitude.
Evie meant it. She'd be there for her.
…
Three years passed and Mal never had an accident like that one again. Evie had mostly forgotten her promise. However, one day, after they had started their new lives in Auradon, Evie was reminded.
Evie was happening to be working on her latest design, roughly drawing lines along the edge of the lacy sleeves in a representation of feathers in her book, as she stared critically at the beginnings of a dress upon the mannequin before her.
She was quite absorbed in what she was doing, and as a result of that concentration, she flinched in surprise when the door behind her was suddenly shut. Evie turned in her chair to see who had come in and to her shock as well as horror she saw Mal, her arms scraped as well as her right cheek with little droplets of blood forming upon them.
The purple-haired girl looked to be nearly in tears, and she looked down at the ground, biting her lip. Once Evie was through gawking at Mal's injuries, countless questions popping into her head, Evie cocked her head in curiosity, noticing that Mal almost seemed nervous.
Evie didn't have any idea what Mal could be anxious about. She had seen her with injuries. The worst she had witnessed being once before, several years ago.
Before she could fully process what had happened, Evie felt some things fall into her lap. She looked down quickly and resting on her legs was a roll of bandaging and a rag.
Evie's brown eyes returned to Mal's face. Mal refused to look at her, and she cleared her throat in what Evie assumed was an attempt to rid herself of her nerves.
"I, uhm… Thought you'd want to take care of it. You seemed to insist on it," Mal added quickly, and her eyes met with Evie's for a short moment. Evie smiled gently at the great hesitation in the girl's expression. The bluenette stood up, taking the items in her hand and sitting them on the table before moving over to Mal.
Evie gently wrapped her arms around the shorter girl's frame, bringing her into a careful but warm hug.
"You know I will help you," Evie murmured nearby Mal's ear, reiterating her promise from years past. She felt Mal nod against her shoulder.
Evie stood holding Mal against her for a bit longer before Mal coughed a bit.
"E, as nice as this might be, you think you could let me go? I fell off of a horse and I'm pretty sure I bruised some ribs," Mal chuckled a bit, and Evie pulled away quickly, her eyes wide as she looked Mal up and down.
"Why were you riding a horse?!" Evie questioned incredulously, taking the opportunity of her closeness to lean in and look at Mal's cheek.
"Ben was teaching me," Mal replied, moving her head away from Evie and instead proffering her arm so that Evie could easily reach the scrapes.
Evie turned, grabbing the roll. She then looked back at Mal with an oddly serious look on her face.
"Do you think I could choke him for letting you get hurt? Or would I get in trouble?" Evie questioned, only half-joking as she watched Mal's expression.
The purple-haired girl just laughed, shaking her head as Evie began to bind her arms with the wrap. The bluenette couldn't help but join her in the mirth, the laughter being contagious.
Evie would be there for her. No matter what.
Hey! I hope you all enjoyed! I'm so excited to be posting this for you guys to read. I've got another story I'm working on for this particular fandom, and I really hope you guys stick around to enjoy it as well. It might be released soon, or it may not be, but I'm going to try to work on it and get it out to you all. Just as a sneak peek, it involves alarm clocks and Oreos. Bet you'll never guess what it's about! Please let me know how you felt about this fanfic and hopefully, with your beautiful reviews, I'll be able to release the next Descendants fanfic super soon!
