All I'm going to say is, it's here! Not good, but it's here! :)

Caught in the Crossfire

A Descendants Fanfiction

StarGazer95

Melody wasn't used to this. To any of this really.

Okay sure, she was there when everything with Maleficent went down. She was there with her best friends, the VKs, and ultimately changed their lives.

But she definitely wasn't ready for the popularity she got. And ultimately, the paparazzi.

None of them were. And it had died down for a while. Except for one girl. Mal. She had been in the limelight for a while now, now that she was King Ben's girlfriend and a lady of the court.

"Ouch!"

"Well, if you'd stop moving, I wouldn't have stuck you, now would I?"

"Evie! You sound like my mom!" Melody whined, crossing her arms in mock defeat. Evie rolled her eyes, chuckling at the sea princess and moving to pin another fold on her dress. The royal cotillion, another dance that Melody had to go to. It could be worse though.

Since everything had settled down, the VKs had been accepted into Auradon with open arms. Ariel and Eric had accepted their daughter's friendship with them and invited them over many times for dinners. They were still having trouble accepting Melody's relationship with Jay. Eric was taking it hard, his sixteen-year-old daughter was in a relationship. What dad wanted to see his little girl grow up so fast? Melody assured both men that everything would be alright, but there was always trouble.

"There, now once I get the dressed hemmed up and sewn, you'll have your cotillion ball gown. And Jay will love it!" Evie exclaimed. Melody opened her eyes and turned toward the small mirror in their room, smoothing her hands down the dress and swallowing. "Are you sure he'll like it? I mean this is a big deal and... ."

"Since when did you get antsy on dresses?" Doug spoke up from where he was sitting at the desk. The son of Dopey and Evie had become inseparable since they first met a year ago, and Melody was happy for them.

"Don't push it, dwarf." Melody joked and Doug threw his hands up. Evie laughed, smiling. "He'll love it, just like he loves you," Evie reassured the raven-haired girl, helping her down from the step so she could change.

"If he loves me, he hasn't said anything yet," Melody spoke from behind the screen, letting Evie unzip the dress before getting out of it and into her regular clothes. "I mean, I say it most of the time, but he just brushes it off. He hasn't even asked me to cotillion. I mean, I should assume we're going but I still want to be asked and.. ."

"Melody! You've been hanging with Jane too much!" Evie grabbed the girl by the shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. "He loves you. He just has a hard way of processing it like others, and he'll ask you. Just calm down.' Melody looked at Evie, before sighing and hugging the girl. "There's a reason you're my friend." She said, and Evie smirked.

"And what am I?" Doug piped in from his seat. Melody chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair and turning back to Evie.

"I have three shades of green to pick from, Melody. Ben has to make a final decision." Jane spoke as the two girls walked to class. Melody still wasn't all into dresses, as she walked beside Lonnie and Jane, who were wearing floral patterns and bows in hair. Melody was used to her ripped jeans and tank tops, so she stuck with them for the time being.

"This is a big deal to Ben, Jane. He'll make it, but it's going to take some time. He has a lot on his plate right now, the cotillion is just the extra icing that he doesn't like." Melody spoke, shoving books in her bag as they walked. Jane went on about the different things that still needed to be planned, and she just chuckled, watching her as she went around frantically.

"Look, there's Ben right now. Ben!" Jane called, picking up her pace. Melody laughed, looking over at Lonnie, before moving quickly to follow them. Ben was talking to Mal for a moment. Melody still couldn't get over the hair. Mal had used a spell to change it to blend in more, but Melody missed the purple hair, she missed the Mal she used to know. Still, being a lady of the court could do that to you. She watched Jane with Carlos for a while, smiling and looking at Lonnie. "Well, would you look at that?" She joked and Lonnie giggled. "They both like each other, they just won't admit it." She added. "It's cute." Melody mused.

"What's cute?" Melody squeaked as two arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into a broad chest. She settled soon after, looking up to the young thief himself. Jay had changed since he had been here. Captain of the fencing team, grades have gone up. You wouldn't have even expected him to have been a VK if you hadn't met him a year prior. Lonnie rolled her eyes at the two, turning away to check on Evie and Jane.

"You are. . .. did I really just say that?" Melody asked, raising an eyebrow at herself. Jay chuckled. "Thanks, but let's stick to 'cool', or 'macho,' or 'a beast'. Jay mused.

"Or full of himself?" Melody joked, crossing her arms as she pulled away from Jay. He rubbed his neck, laughing. "I better head to my dorm. Gotta get changed for fencing, plus make sure Chad hasn't broken in... again. .ever since Carlos got that 3D printer, he's been doing whatever he can to get on our good side." Jay explained.

"He's being Chad. Since Audrey left, he has no one left to impress. She's not coming back for cotillion. He's gotta do what he has to do to be a king, am I right?" Melody explained. She was hoping any hint of cotillion would help spark the idea in Jay to ask her. But so far, she had no luck.

"I've got a free period for dress fitting so who wants it?"

"Me!" Melody turned to look at Lonnie, Jane, and Evie and chuckled. "I guess I gotta head to cheerleading practice as well. Wait for me after?" She asked. Jay nodded, kissing her cheek real quick, before grabbing Carlos and heading down the path.

"No luck huh?" Melody looked over at Jordan, who chuckled. She pushed Jordan playfully before they were walking off, heading to cheerleading practice. Melody had to keep something good for her mother.

"Alright team, let's get started," Jay called. Melody looked over the balcony that she and Jane were on. Melody was now the team captain, and she invited Jane to be her co-captain on the team, even if she was so busy with the cotillion. She leaned against the railing, sighing.

"So, have you found a date yet?" She asked Jane once she got off the phone. Jane sighed and shook her head. "I haven't even had time to find a date. Everything's just been piling up for the dance. Besides, who would want to go to the dance with little old me?" Jane explained, leaning beside her friend. Melody chuckled. "I think I know one person." She said, looking down at Carlos, who kept making small glances up toward Jane. "Who. .oh hold on." She said as her phone rang. Melody rolled her eyes, watching the fencing practice downstairs. She smiled at Jay, waving softly when he looked up. He smiled and waved back, before going back to practice.

"Hey, look!" One of the girls spoke, drawing back their attention toward the fencing practice, where Jay was going at it with another. Melody smiled, watching the match go on, until the other person pulled off the mask, revealing it was Lonnie. Jane and Melody immediately started cheering her on. First girl to ever go against Jay and win.

That was until Chad had to open his big mouth about girls not being a part of the team. Melody rolled her eyes, pushing back from the balcony.

"You, my friend, I need your help grabbing more dresses," Evie called, finding the other princess. Melody chuckled. "How am I your servant?" She asked. Evie rolled her eyes. "You can just be my little dwarf. Heigh ho, heigh ho." Evie teased. Melody scoffed playfully, pushing her friend playfully as they headed on to the rest of their errands.

Melody laughed, closing the door to their dorm and plopping dresses onto her bed. "How are you not stressed? You're stretching yourself thin!" Melody exclaimed, sighing. Evie chuckled, shrugging. "It's just in my nature to help out. It's what I do." She said with a smile, going over to their closet to grab her sewing kit.

Melody chuckled and looked around for her notebook to help Evie. She moved toward Mal's desk, shuffling through the stuff before looking toward the cage that Mal kept her mother in. She raised an eyebrow. "Evie? Does Mal take her mom out?" She asked.

"Sometimes. . ." Came from the closet. "Why?" She poked her head out.

"She's not in here. Just wondering." She said and went back to find her notebook. She raised an eyebrow, suddenly seeing a note on the desk. She knew Mal's messy scribble anywhere. She unfolded the note, reading it for a moment before her eyes widened.

"Evie!" The blue haired princess sighed, pulling back from the closet once she had her kit. "Mel, what is it? It's perfectly fine to. . . ."

"Mal's gone. She's going back to the Isle!"

Evie stopped, closing the closet and walking over to Melody. She grabbed the note from the raven-haired princess, reading and rereading the scribble. The two girls exchanged looks, confusion and hurt written all over them. "I know she was stressed and Ben and Mal had a fight but. . .." Melody exclaimed, looking back at the note.

"We have to tell Ben." Evie grabbed her hand, pushing the door open.

They had to get Mal back.

But how?