Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants, 2015.

"Hi Jay!" Evie's exuberant voice reaches him, and he turns with a knowing smile, sweeping her up into a tight hug.

"Evie." He kisses her nose, laughing as she shoots him a look. "What's up?"

Evie beams at him as she waves a letter in the air. "I got invited to Auradon Prep!"

"Wait, what?" Jay blinks, confused. How in Hades had Evie managed to secure an invitation to the most prestigious school in Auradon? The Isle of the Lost was a permanent prison, as anyone knew. And yet, as Jay takes the offered envelope and scans the paper inside, he sees Evie's name and the words 'Auradon Prep'.

"Apparently, the new king wants to get to know us, so he's inviting a few of us to Auradon!"

Jay frowns at Evie's enthusiasm. He knows about Evie's obsession with princes, imposed onto her by her mother from a young age. But he had never expected Evie to wish to leave him so badly. It stings a little, to be honest, but the feeling is swept away when Evie continues in that breathless voice of hers.

"So once we pack, we'll be taken to Auradon in a couple of hours!" Evie beams up at him. "And then we'll get our happy ever after, and maybe even get to see a castle together!"

And then Jay stops, feeling something cold well up in him. "Evie, how long have you had the invitation?"

"Since yesterday." Evie sighs. "I wanted to look for you, but mother wouldn't let me out the house."

Jay gently grips Evie's hands, letting her focus on him. "Eves, I didn't get an invitation."

Evie's smile immediately drops from her face as her eyes widen. "What?"

"I didn't get an invitation." Jay repeats quietly, handing her back the piece of paper.

Evie's confusion is evident in her expression. "Have you been home yet? Maybe they just got the wrong address. Or maybe your dad's just hiding it. We should go back to the shop. Forget about packing. I can make something in Auradon. I hear their curtains are of the finest material-"

"Evie." Jay gently cuts into her ramble as she nervously grips his arms. "I'm sure. I didn't get one. But at least you'll-"

This time, he's the one being cut off. "Then I'll decline my invitation. I'll stay here, with you."

"Don't be ridiculous." Jay chides. "Evie, you've been talking about castles and horses and handsome princes ever since you could talk." He lets out a low chuckle. "Auradon is your chance to finally get all those things."

"I'm not going without you." Evie says stubbornly. Her eyes light up with another idea. "Maybe we can forge an invitation for you!"

"Eves, I'm pretty sure they've got a way to check the invitation and they should have a list they can check."

Evie's eyes are tearing up now, and Jay's heart lurches at the sight.

"Hey, princess. Don't cry." He gently wipes away a tear that's started making its way down her porcelain cheek. "You'll get your happy ever after, and your handsome princes and castles and mirrors."

"You're my happy ever after." Evie whispers.

"Look at me, Eves. I'm a thief. What kind of life can I give you?" Jay murmurs. "Auradon is everything you've ever wanted. Everything you've ever deserved." He gently lets go. "Go and find your prince."

"Jay..." Evie shakes her head adamantly. "I'm not going."

"Sure you are." Jay tries for a smile. "If you're not there, I'll hunt you down and carry you over myself. Just..." His smile is shakier now. "Just invite me to the wedding?"

Evie swallows again the onslaught of tears, but before she can say anything, Jay disappears into the alley, clambering over the wall and leaving Evie standing there, one hand pressed over her mouth as the other unknowingly crushes the invitation in her grip.

"I'll go, Jay." Evie whispers into the silence. "But only so I can get you there as well."

"Jay."

Jay barely glances up. "Mal."

"I heard you broke my best friend's heart."

Jay sighs. "She deserves better than the Isle. You of all people know that."

"I do." Mal sits next to him, glaring at any onlookers. "That's the only reason why I'm not looking for a way to curse you for all eternity."

"So why are you here?" Jay asks, disinterested as he goes through the plethora of things he had stolen in his grief.

"Just here to tell you that the limo left for Auradon." Mal shrugs. "And to ask whether you'd like to go and harass people around here to hide having to talk about our feelings."

Jay chuckles humourlessly and nods, rounding up his collection of items. "Let me drop these things off at my dad's."

"Meet at Ursula's Fish And Chips?" Mal asks, standing up and dusting herself off. "If we're going to annoy people, might as well be Shrimpy over there."

Jay shrugs. He didn't mind having to face off against Harry Hook. "Fine by me."

"Jay! Mal!" Both of the VKs suddenly found themselves being hugged by a pair of strong arms. The sickly stench of cologne clued them in on who it was.

"Gil?" Jay scowls.

"Let go, or I'll have you for dinner." Mal threatens. Gil immediately lets go, but his smile is still plastered all over his face.

"I'm so glad you guys are still here! Uma and Harry both left a couple of hours ago to Auradon, and I've been looking for friends ever since."

"We're not friends." Mal says automatically. Then her brain processes his words and her eyes widen in outrage. "Shrimpy and Hook got to go to Auradon?!"

Jay growls in frustration at the thought of Hook with Evie, all of them going to the golden land of opportunity while everyone else was stuck rotting on the Isle.

"Just who chose the people?" Mal demands. "How the hell did they choose them?"

"I think it was Prince Ben." Gil says, happily oblivious to her anger. "Four of us were chosen at random." He shrugs. "I guess that they thought Maleficent, Jafar and Gaston were too dangerous or something."

Pride lurks in Mal's eyes as she nonchalantly twirls her hair. "Huh. Well, I guess that's true."

"Gaston?" Jay asks sceptically.

"Well, he did shoot King Beast." Gil pipes up enthusiastically.

"That may be his only redeeming quality." Mal rolls her eyes. "If he has one." She then nods at the shop. "How'd Ursula take it?"

"I don't think she's figured it out yet." Gil mentions mildly. "I mean, it's not Uma's shift until midnight, so..."

"Urgh." Mal scowls. "Looks like we'll have to go somewhere else for entertainment."

As she and Jay make to walk of, Gil immediately hops beside them. "Can I go with you guys? I don't have anyone else to follow now."

Jay raises an eyebrow at how Mal's eyes gleamed at the thought of having a follower. "I guess we could use one more lapdog. Safety in numbers, after all." She shrugs and says casually, as she examines her nails.

"So who else was chosen?" Mal asks. Gil, for some reason, seems to know the most about this exchange-student-thing.

"Oh, Evie and Carlos."

Mal snorts. "I thought he hadn't been around lately. Thought that his mom had just kept him working."

"Weren't you at the send off?" Jay asks.

Mal shakes her head. "Mother was murmuring about something or the other to do with EQ and her lack of ambition." She growls, running a hand through her hair. "Imagine all the evil we could do there! All the diabolical schemes! We could've broken down the barrier around the Isle of the Lost!"

"Uh...I heard Uma was going to do something like that with Harry." Gil offers.

Mal rolls her eyes. "Please. The day Shrimpy succeeds is the day I'll eat mom's horns."

Jay snorts at the image.

"Hey, aren't you sad though?" Gil continues, staring at Jay.

"Why would I be?"

"Evie's left. I mean, I thought you guys had that thing going on-"

Gil suddenly finds himself slammed against the wall. Jay's snarl is heartening and slightly more concerning than Harry's hook, and Gil swallows nervously. "Leave it."

Gil nods hurriedly, miming zipping his mouth shut.

Jay lets go and stalks off. Mal shakes her head in amusement as she snatches an apple that a woman was tossing to herself, taking a bite in it and then tossing it back to the woman.

Gil shrugs. Mal and Jay are much like Uma and Harry, now that he thought of it. And he's always liked being their friend. Mostly because of the free food he got, but he supposed Jay could also get some cool stuff. He'd heard how the thief had gotten Carlos some gimmick or the other.

This was going to be awesome!

Evie waits until Ben is leading them on the tour to ask the prince a question, letting Audrey distract the other three. "Oh, um. Prince Ben."

Ben turns, a friendly smile on his face. "Yeah?"

"Are you, by any chance, going to let more villain kids into Auradon?"

Ben's face brightens. "Well, I hope so. I was-"

"Ben!" Audrey shrieks, scandalised. "Aren't four of them enough?"

Uma scowls. "Isn't one of you too many?"

Ben sighs as he lets Audrey start arguing with Uma. He shoots Evie a kind smile. "Well, I'm hoping. But things are quite difficult at the moment. Maybe sometime after I settle down as King?"

"Oh. And uh, roughly how long will that take?" Evie asks, hoping she doesn't sound too eager.

"A couple of months?" Ben says, sounding like it was a question. "I mean, my coronation is coming up soon."

"Yes!" Audrey says, lured by the word 'coronation'. "Benny-boo here is going to be crowned King of Auradon in a week, after Family day!"

The quartet of villains exchange confused looks. Or in Uma's case, a roll of the eyes. "What's family day?" Carlos finally asks.

"Oh, it's when our parents come to Auradon Prep and see how we're doing." Ben smiles.

"Except our parents." Carlos deduces.

Ben's smile turns sheepish as Audrey gasps in shock. "Yeah...sorry. Getting you guys over here was already a bit of a risk, at least to the council members."

Evie nods and sighs, thinking back to Jay. "Can we bring visitors from the Isle?"

Ben looks surprised but thoughtful. But Audrey steps in, giving Ben a sharp look. "Absolutely not." She snaps. "It's bad enough you're here."

Another argument erupts between Uma and Audrey, and Evie sighs again.

At least it'd be a couple of months before she'd see Jay again. Maybe she could start making outfits and collecting things in preparation.

Doug is sweet, funny, clearly smitten with her, and...

And not Jay.

Evie sighs as she lies back on her bed. Jay's still firmly entrenched in her heart, but he had seemed so sad when he let her go, almost pleading for her to find a prince to make their breakup worth it.

And if so…

Doug is no prince.

Chad Charming is a prince.

But Doug is the sweet understanding one, while Chad is the arrogant, self-centred prince.

Evie knows from dating a thief, that maybe a prince wasn't the one for her.

But…should she give Chad a chance?

Evie looks down. She had promised - well, not really, but in her heart - to try and find a prince so it's worth it. So leaving Jay and the Isle was worth it.

Therefore, she'd give Chad a chance. And if he didn't work out, she always had Doug she could fall back on. She feels slightly bad that Doug is her backup because of his lack of a title, but it doesn't last long. She left Jay for this.

And…she bites her lip. If this thing with Ben gets nowhere, maybe she can get Chad's influence to get Jay out of the Isle? Better that Jay is out and free in Auradon than imprisoned in the Isle, even if Evie has to marry someone else to do that.

She growls to herself and picks a pillow to bury the sound.

"What in Hades are you moaning on about?" Uma demands, finally fed up. "Can't you see we're trying to plan?" She gestures to Harry and herself.

"Plan what?" Evie asks, sitting up and looking at the scrolls of parchment in interest.

Harry steps forward and blocks her view. "None of your business, sweetheart."

Evie bristles, before a lightbulb goes off in her head. "Are you trying to break the barrier to the Isle of the Lost?"

Uma raises an eyebrow. "Turns out you're not so much of an airhead after all."

"Well, are you?" Evie demands impatiently.

Uma and Harry exchange looks. "And what if we are?"

"I'll help." Evie offers.

"You, lover of all things princess and castles, want to help us take over Auradon?" Uma asks in disbelief.

Harry snorts. "Everyone here knows that you just want to get your little thief boyfriend off that Isle, love."

"And what if I do?" Evie asks. "We have the same goals. Get Auradon. You guys do whatever the hell you want. I just want Jay, and maybe a teeny castle. There are thousands here in Auradon. It's a win-win situation."

Uma considers this. "And what do you have to offer?"

Evie smiles and holds up her magic mirror.