Author's note: This is my first fanfiction, so tell me what you think about it with many reviews :) English isn't my native language (I'm Italian), so if you find grammar errors, or wrong expressions, or anything that I could have got wrong, please just tell me, and I will correct it ;) Thank you :D
Author's note 2: About the age of the characters, they're two years older than they are in the movie (which means that Mal, Evie, Jay and Ben are 18 and Carlos is 16), because I needed Carlos and Richard (my OC) to be in a relationship at least a few years long, and I didn't want Carlos to be excessively young when they got together.
Chapter 1: Away from the Isle of the Lost
While Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos were on the Isle causing chaos, another kid watched them disappointed through the lenses of his glasses; he was about their age, 18 years old, a tall boy with shoulder-long black hair collected into a ponytail, apart for a tiny braid falling down from the back of the head to the broad chest. His clothes highlighted his muscular physique, the black skinny jeans perfectly adhering to his thighs and the violet shirt encircling his slim torso and sharpening his strong arms. A black leather shoulder bag perfectly completed the outfit. As soon as the other finally ended their showing off, concluded stealing a lollipop from a little baby, he moved to them with an angry look:
"You should really stop doing this… Life here on the island is already difficult, you really don't need to worsen the situation going around stealing things and disturbing other people… I already told you, what if someone started doing to you what you do to them?"
Mal's reply was the same as always: "They wouldn't dare… We're the descendants of the most feared villains, nobody is reckless enough to try doing something to us!"
"She's right, sweetie; besides, we're just having fun" said Carlos getting more close and starting to play with Richard's hair, knowing that this was going to calm him down.
He started to insist, "Still, you should try to find a different way to have fun…" but he stopped when he noticed the crowd that took part in his friend's "fun" running away. The group immediately understood what was happening, and in fact Mal turned around to greet Maleficent:
"Hi, mum!"
As always, the mistress of all evil was surrounded by those she liked to call "her henchmen", a group of big men even more stupid than they looked, with a constant blank stare, waiting for someone brain-gifted to give them an order. She, in the center, still as evil as she was before the exile on the Isle, with a glimpse of craziness caused by the long confinement, approaching her daughter:
"Stealing candy, Mal? I'm so disappointed!"
"It was from a baby!" Mal was trying to get her mother's approval, as always.
"That's my nasty little girl!" said Maleficent, grabbing the lollipop and spitting on it under the dazed look of the five teens, then proceeding to order to a henchman to give it back to the little child. She then went on trying to teach Mal to be truly evil, but Richard wasn't listening, he intentionally got distracted, starting to play with Carlos' short, white, marvelous hair; he fell in love with that hair the very first time he saw that boy, but he couldn't understand the feeling yet, he was only 9. At that time he only knew that he wanted to spend some time with that kid and his friends, and so he did: one day, while they were at school, he went there and introduced himself, despite what the other kids said of them. They acted like a little exclusive club, but it didn't take a lot of time to him to enter, and probably the fact that he was Ursula's son helped, to the point that in less than a month he was part of the group as much as the other... And then, after many years in which he managed to understand and accept his sexuality, his being gay, and to come out, for Richard's sixteenth birthday Carlos did something marvelous: he came out too, and asked him out. His birthday present, offered by all of his friends, was a date with Carlos in the less decaying pub on the Isle. He was absorbed in these memories when Maleficent shouted:
"There's news! You five have been chosen to go to a different school, in Auradon!"
Richard wasn't sure if she was serious, but was still amazed by the possibility: he would have loved to finally leave the Isle of the Lost and have a real life, eating real food! His friends didn't seem to be as happy as he was, they were all staring at her both scared and disgusted.
"What?! I'm not going to some boarding school filled to the brim with prissy pink princesses," was Mal's first reaction
"… and perfect princes!" added Evie, gaining Mal's exasperated look. Jay added:
"Yeah, I don't do uniforms, unless it's leather, you feel me?" expecting Carlos to high-five him, only to find Carlos' terrified look.
"I read somewhere that they allow dogs in Auradon. Mum says that they're rabid pack animals that eat boys who don't behave," he said, while Jay sneaked behind him imitating a dog bark, scaring the younger boy. Richard moved in to defend his boyfriend:
"Jay, let him live, please. I heard that they're not that bad. Actually, some people keep dogs as pets, and none of them has been eaten." Then, speaking also with the others:
"I think we should go! Maybe life outside isn't that bad. Maybe it's even better than the life here! There are surely prissy pink princesses, but even more surely there is fresh food, lots of chocolate, and definitely magic! After all, if we end up not liking life there we just need to do something bad to get back on the Isle in the blink of an eye. What do you say?"
"Actually, you have nothing to say about it. You should all surrender to the fact that you're going. Getting angry is useless, it's a royal proclamation, so you don't have the chance to discuss it. Besides, you're thinking small, kiddos… It's all about world domination! You'll be picked up from my house in less than two hours, so go prepare your luggage and don't be late! Mal, come with me!" Maleficent left, walking towards her home, gesturing for Mal to follow her
"I'm, coming mum… See you later guys," was all Mal could say, before being surrounded by her mother's henchmen.
"We'd better go too, we don't have much time before the appointment. Bye, guys!" said Richard, kissing his boyfriend and waving to his friends. His house was quite distant from the other's: they lived facing the central square of the Isle, while his mum, when given the choice, preferred a house on the edge, near the barrier, and near the sea. When he got in, he found her standing, her eyes filled with joyful tears:
"Have you heard the news? You're going to Auradon!"
Ursula was the villain that changed the most: after the failure of her plan involving Ariel to get King Triton's trident, she was thrown in jail, where she stayed for the three years that passed before Belle and Beast's wedding. In this time, she grew aware of the bad and trouble she caused, starting to question her motives, and ending up asking King Triton to be turned into a human before being exiled on the Isle of the Lost. In a moment of pity, the King agreed, knowing that she was going to lose her powers once inside the barrier, never being able to regain her original form. Now she was a beautiful woman, apparently younger than all the other villains, and passed on this beauty to her son.
"Yes, Maleficent informed us. I'm so happy, mum! Finally, I'll get out of this infernal cage! I'm sorry that you can't come with us…"
"I already told you: I am as guilty as the others, my actions caused troubles for many people. I actually deserve to be closed here. You, on the other hand, my dear, are innocent; you should be outside, living your life as a normal person. You kids are not villains! You can decide what to do, if you want to be good or bad, but you have to decide on your own. Probably Maleficent will make up something, some plan, to break the barrier with your help, freeing us and bringing back chaos to Auradon, but I want you to decide what you want to do. Don't let her, or anybody else, tell you how to behave, and listen to your heart, it will always know what's the right thing to do!"
Richard hugged her, then started packing up all his things and clothes, managing to put everything in two suitcases and his shoulder bag.
"Before you go, take this" said Ursula when he was ready, handing him a little notebook with a violet cover "It's my notebook. I spent the last few years writing down all the spells and potion recipes that I knew back in the days. I don't know if you'll need it, but if you will, you'll have it with you. Now go, don't be late to the appointment!"
The boy put the notebook in his bag, hugged his mother and kissed her cheek one last time, then grabbed his luggage and left, directed to Maleficent's house. As expected, the others were already there, living in the same neighbourhood, waiting for the royal limousine that would take them out of the island they called home for their whole lives. There were also their parents, the great villains: Jafar, Jay's father, declined from feared Vizier to trader of stolen (usually by Jay) goods; the Evil Queen, Evie's mother, once the terror of those who met her glance, now disfigured by her pursuit of beauty through plastic surgery; Cruella de Vil, Carlos' mother, still hoping, after all that time, to be able to wear some dalmatians at least as gloves, not due to her fashion sense, but to her thirst for revenge; and Maleficent, perfect hostess of the house in which the four old allies had met for the last twenty years.
"Finally you're here too!" was Maleficent's greeting.
"How's Ursula?" asked the Queen with false concern, to which Richard answered:
"My mum's fine, thank you."
He then put his luggage near the other's, in a corner, and moved near Carlos, Jay, Mal and Evie near Maleficent's throne, while she started speaking:
"Very well! Now that you're all here, let's see if we can get something useful from your trip outside the Isle. As soon as you get in Auradon, you will find the Fairy Godmother and you will bring me her wand. Easy peasy!"
"And what's in it for us?" was Mal's first reaction to the plan.
"Matching thrones, hers-and-hers crowns," answered Maleficent; Carlos then intervened:
"Um, I think she meant us" gesturing towards his friends. Maleficent, with a malevolent expression on her face, signed for Mal to get near her:
"It's all about you and me, baby"
Knowing how the affair would develop, and that it was a lost battle to argue with Mal's mother, Richard decided to distract, letting his mind flow, like he learned to do in the past years. Being friends with Maleficent's daughter had always meant being present when the evil fairy tried to include Mal in her crazy plans for world domination, so he knew that the girl was going to give up at the end, probably after losing the concentration during that weird trick, a sort of staring contest with Maleficent. Richard never understood how they could do it, it surely wasn't magic…
He was brought back to reality when Cruella spoke; he knew that Carlos was little more than a servant to her, and in fact he tried to spend the most time he could with his boyfriend also to pull him out of her clutches, so he rolled his eyes when she said that Carlos wasn't going anywhere because she would miss him too much.
"Really, mum?" was Carlos' surprised reaction.
"Yes. Who would touch up my roots, fluff my fur, and scrape the bunions off my feet?" was the predictable answer, that made Carlos bitter:
"Yeah, maybe a new school wouldn't be the worst thing…"
It was clear that she was going to add something, but Richard's hateful glare stopped her, while he hugged Carlos from behind:
"You'll see! I'm sure that in Auradon no one will ask you to scrape the bunions off their feet" he whispered to him, making a smile appear on the younger boy's face.
The sight of the two boys embraced made Cruella look away disgusted; she never accepted that her son was gay, and she never even tried to like Richard and his positive influence on Carlos.
"I wish my mum was like yours," commented the young de Vil in a whisper, "Ursula is fantastic… She loves me more than my mum ever did… And don't try denying it, you know it's true."
While they spoke, they moved in a corner, isolating from the others.
"Well, it's true that your mum is not the perfect mother, but you know that there will always be, at least here on the Isle, a bed and some brownies for you, the only thing you have to do is knock at the door of the little blue house on the edge of the Isle. I already told you, my mum was shocked when I told her about your parents, yours and of the others, so she took it as personal responsibility to make you feel what it means to be loved." With a smile, Carlos told him:
"I know, and she was fantastic! Since the first time you invited us to your place…"
"The safe, the safe!" They were interrupted by Maleficent, shouting loudly while she approached the "safe", actually a refrigerator of which she never learned the function, mistaking it for a strongbox. While the two sweethearts were talking, Evie had received from her mother the last piece of the Queen's shattered magic mirror, which would help the group to find things, and now Maleficent was going to give her daughter her own help: after Evie's mum helped her to open the "safe", the dark fairy took her spell book out of it, and gave it to Mal in a rush of nostalgia:
"There she is! It doesn't work here, but it will in Auradon… Remember?" she now addressed the Queen, "When we were spreading evil and ruining lives…"
"Like it was yesterday" was the Queen's equally nostalgic reply; then Maleficent looked at her daughter:
"And now you will be making your own memories, by doing exactly as I tell you!"
As soon as the door of the fridge was closed, a honk was heard, signalling that the royal limousine had arrived to take the villain kids to their new school, and possibly new lives. The five descendants picked up their suitcases and headed downstairs, finding an even bigger car than they thought waiting them, with the driver standing near it, ready to help them to put the luggages in the truck. Richard was amazed, to the point that he missed the evil glance that Maleficent directed to Mal, a glance full of expectation, with the precise purpose to make the girl feel the whole weight of the mission she and her friends were assigned.
They got in the car, finding themselves in front of the greatest amount of sweets they had ever seen: right under their eyes, jars and boxes full of candies, chocolate cookies, cakes, and many other things. Carlos and Jay, unable to resist the temptation, started catching handfuls of everything they could grasp, filling their mouths of all those incredible foods.
"Sweetie, try to control yourself" was the only thing that Richard managed to say, still too late, before seeing his boyfriend's face covered in chocolate.
"You know me, I can't resist the chocolate's call!" was Carlos' reply. Rolling his eyes, the older villain reached for his bag, pulled out one of the handkerchiefs that he kept there, and gave it to the younger:
"Keep this, and try not to present yourself to whoever is waiting for us covered in chocolate"
In the meantime, the girls, after taking only a few candies each, had started looking around, until they found a remote; after pressing a button, the window that divided them from the driver opened, and a frightened Evie shouted:
"Look!" They were approaching the edge of the Isle, and the group started panicking.
"It's a trap!" shouted Carlos, pressing against his boyfriend's chest, finding it calm and reassuring. In fact, out of the five, Richard was the only perfectly calm. Maybe because the sea was his mother's element, or maybe because the thought that it couldn't possibly be a trap was glued to his subconscious, the son of Ursula wasn't even slightly worried; his calm revealed to be the right attitude: as soon as the car moved over the edge, a powerful light surrounded it, and they had the impression of moving through the air, levitating above the water.
"What just happened?" was Carlos' confused reaction at being still alive and dry; the five kids watched through the rear window, and saw the marvelous bridge that just appeared, which seemed to be made of pixie dust (or of something resembling the villains' idea of pixie dust), connecting the Isle of the Lost to the mainland.
"It must be magic!" said Evie, smiling with excitement; Mal turned to speak to the driver:
"Ehy! Did this little button," she said, pointing at the button she pressed on the remote, "just open up the magic barrier?" The driver raised his right hand, showing a smaller remote with a single golden key, and said:
"No. This one opens the magic barrier. That on opens my garage. And this button…" he didn't finish the sentence, leaving the evidence to speak, and pressed a button above his head, that closed the divider.
"Nasty… I like that guy!" was Mal's only comment, before going back to her handful of candies.
The trip wasn't long, but they still had some time before getting at their destination, so Carlos asked Richard:
"How did you stay calm before? You couldn't know that a bridge would appear, but you weren't freaking out like us…"
"I don't know. Maybe I was just hoping it not to be a trap, but I think that being the son of the sea witch I was subconsciously sure that the sea wouldn't hurt me…"
"If that's the case, tell your subconscious to care also for us, not related to sea witches or anything," replied the younger boy with a mocking offended face, making the whole group laugh.
