Put on your war paint

You are a brick tied to me that's dragging me down

Strike a match and I'll burn you too the ground

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July

Setting fire to the sky

Here comes the rising tide

So come on

Put on your war paint

Cross walks and cross hearts and hope to dies

Silver clouds with get lining

So we can take the world back from the heart attacked

One maniac at a time we will take it back

You know time crawls on when your waiting for the song to start

so dance alone to the beat of your heart

Hey young blood

Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?

I'm gonna change you like a remix

Then I'll raise you like a Phoenix

The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy

I didn't pack much. Just a few clothes, a toothbrush, and at the bottom of my bag, I hid my ax. I hadn't bothered sleeping that night. There had been too much to think about. What where the people like there? Did they really turn the villains good?

I doubt it.

I sat at my window watching the dim light of the sun rise behind dark clouds. That was the most light that the Wastelands ever got. I watched and waited as the sun went higher and higher into the cloudy sky. The thought of leaving this place somewhat scared me, though I would never admit that to anyone. I had grown up here. Though this place wasn't great, it was all I had ever known. And now I'm being forced to leave it for someplace new. With people who I had never even met before, yet already hated. I was about to drift into sleep when I heard a knock on my door. I immediately jumped up and opened the door to find two guards. "The carriage is ready to take you to the doors of wonderland." They said.

I sighed. "Alright, I'm coming." I quickly brushed my hair and grabbed my bag. I hadn't bothered changing out of my clothes from the day before. I quickly walked through the door and shoved passed the guards who then turned to follow me to the front of the castle. A black carriage sat waiting for me. In it also sat my mother, who I guess was coming with me to bid me farewell at the exit. I walked down the steps of the castle and hastily threw my things inside the carriage before jumping in myself, and sitting directly across from my mother. As the carriage started to move I watched outside the window until the castle was no longer in my sight.

"Are you going to be silent this whole drive? You know it's a shorter drive than you might think." The queen said.

"No. I'm just thinking."

"Of?"

"Of what Auradon will be like I guess."

"Ha. All you should be focusing on is how your going to cut off that kings head." She stated, glaring at me.

"I'll get it done mother. But do I have to cut off his head? Can't I just kill him?"

"If you don't cut off his head there's no trophy."

"I guess." I replied, and the carriage became completely silent once again. I had turned to look back out the window when she suddenly grabbed a hold of my shirt and yanked me forward so her red eyes where right in front of my blue ones.

"You listen to me. I did not go through all this trouble for you to blow it now. You will kill the king, and you will do it right. You will not disappoint me. Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes." I said, my voice stammering.

"Good." She said before letting go of my shirt and looking out the window. If she really needed too, my mother could be terrifying. She would do anything in order to get her point across, and to remain in complete control. I looked down and noticed my hands shaking. Don't act like a coward, I thought. Not now.

Before I even had a chance to calm myself, she spoke again. "I have a gift for you. Though I can hardly say you deserve it." I stared blankly at her. In all of my sixteen years of life not once had she ever given a gift to me. For a moment I even believed she might be joking. "Don't look so surprised. It's to help you get close to the king. Hold out your hand." I quickly stuck my hand out, my curiosity taking over. She reached forward and placed "the gift" in my hand. I pulled my arm back to see two small shiny gems hanging off of two small necklace chains. One gem was white, and the other was red.

I looked up at her, slightly confused. "What are they for?"

"There called listening charms. There the only pair in existence. They where gifted to me and my sister while we were still young, by a magical witch. My sister wore the white, and I wore the red one. We were surprisingly close at that age." She said, with no change of expression. "If You wear one gem, you will be allowed to see into the memories and the thoughts of whoever is wearing the other gem. Be careful though, if the other person wearing the gem finds out about the power, they could use it against you. The power goes both ways between the gems if you know how to use it." She motioned to the gems in my hand. "Get the king to wear one of the gems, and you'll have his head in no time." I looked down at the necklaces in my hand. Could they really have that much power? I put the red one on, and clenched my fist tightly around the white gem. The pressure of the mission was finally starting to set in.

I placed the white necklace in my pocket, before asking, "Does she know you have these?"

"My sister? Of course not. I told her that I had lost them before she banished me."

I stayed silent for another minute. "But... Why were you and the White Queen given these necklaces?" Suddenly, The carriage stopped. "We're here." My mother stated, ignoring my question, before opening the door and stepping out. I grabbed my bag and quickly stepped out from behind her. We were at the base of a tall grey mountain, with tall green trees surrounding the small clearing that we were standing in. Around us stood at least twenty guards, all wearing the silver armor as a symbol of the White Queen. Our two scrawny guards dressed in red looked pathetic compared to them. Was this plan really going to work?

"Well this is where we part ways." My mother said and turned to look at me. "Good luck, my dear." She said sarcastically. I looked at her and then at the guards surrounding me. I took a hesitant step forward, but stopped as one of the guards moved forward to stand next to me. I stared at him until he spoke. "Keep moving."

I jumped slightly at his voice but walked forward until I stood directly in front of two guards who stood right in front of the side of the mountain. They looked down at me before turning and walking in opposite directions to reveal a small door that had been hidden behind them. I stared at it for a minute, dumbfounded.

"This is it? This is the great exit that you have twenty guards protecting?" I asked, on the verge of laughter.

"One of them." The guard responded, clearly not understanding my sarcasm. Or not caring.

I slowly reached forward and grabbed the door handle and opened the door. Behind the door all I saw was black. I turned and got one last look at my mother, and Wasteland, my home, before stepping through the door and shutting it behind me.

/

All around me was complete darkness. I stood frozen, afraid to move any further. There could be anything in front of me, a rock, a trap. What if it had all been a lie, and the White Queen was just trying to get rid of me? I mean, I had never done anything to her, but my mother sure had. Maybe I'm just paranoid. And maybe the white knights could have thought to give me directions. I mean I know they didn't like me, but come on. How was I supposed to know anything about portals? I wasn't even allowed to use them.

I stood in the darkness a little longer, before deciding that nothing was going to happen by me just standing still. I took one hesitant step forward, and then another, and another. I started to gain some confidence. I hadn't ran into anything yet, and hey, maybe if I kept walking another door would appear. I tried desperately to look around, but to no avail. Everything was pitch black. I squeezed my eyes shut and kept walking. I had to concentrate.

Don't think, don't feel.

I am not afraid.

Don't think, don't feel.

I took another step forward, and suddenly realized that there was nothing there. No ground to step on, nothing. It was too late though, as I had already taken the step, and went plummeting down into a tunnel, screaming at the top of my lungs.

/

I might have only been falling for a few minutes, but it felt like hours. When I first saw the light at the bottom I was releived, but then I began to panick as I realized how fast I was flying towards it. Maybe I was going to die after all. I squeezed my eyes shut and wrapped my arms around my chest, unsure of what would come next. I began to feel a light pressure around me, and it felt warm. Suddenly I felt the soft grass beneath me, and slowly opened my eyes to see a dark tunnel above me. I jumped up and away from the tunnel, unsure of what to expect, but stopped when I saw where I was. I was surrounded by various ethnic buildings, all in different shapes and color. All around I could see plants and flowers with varying shades of greens, purples, and every other color imaginable. And the sky. It was blue. The sky was actually blue! There was so much light, so much color, I really didn't know whether to be terrified or excited.

There was a loud cough behind me, and I jumped at the noise. I turned around to face a large man in a tux and dark sunglasses. "Are you Crimson?" He asked.

"Uh - yes." I said.

"Good. Did you bring any luggage?" I looked around me. Where was my bag? Ask if on queue the bag suddenly dropped out of the portal and onto the ground. I quickly grabbed it and walked towards the man in the tux.

"Right. Then follow me. The schools a short walk from here." The man said, before walking away. I quickly fell into step beside him, looking around the foreign land, trying to soak it all in. Suddenly curious, I began to ask questions.

"Soooo... the portal just kinda sits out in the open like that?"

"That one is just an exit of Wonderland. The entrance is elsewhere."

"And me falling through that tunnel... How did I not die when I hit the ground?"

"I've never been in it. I'd assume that the magic of the tunnel slows you down before you hit the ground." He responded.

"Oh... So what are you like a agent or something?" I asked

He looked down at me with a scowl on his face before looking forward again.

Someone has an attitude.

I decided to stay quiet the rest of the walk, which wasn't long. We soon reached a large white building that looked at least three stories high. The front of the building had a large garden with various plants and a large fountain in the middle. Teenagers were scattered throughout the gardens, either reading books or laughing with friends. They only stopped when one of them noticed me, and pointed in my direction. Slowly, everyone stopped what they where doing to get a good look at me. I could hear them whispering as I passed by. What were they saying? I couldn't make out any of the words. I decided to ignore them and kept my head high as I marched on behind the guy in the tux.

We kept walking until we reached the large fountain in the center of the garden. There was a statue in the fountain of a tall man made completely out of copper. At the base of the fountain stood another teenager in a blue suit, who looked similar to the man in the statue. The agent guy stopped in front of him and gave a slight bow.

"Your highness," he said before gesturing to me. "Crimson Hearts."

The person in the blue suit turned to me and gave me a warm smile. He had a light skin tone and brown hair that seemed to match his eyes. He walked over to me and stuck out his hand. "My name is Ben, king of Auradon. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He said.

I looked down at his hand and then back up at him. So this is the almighty king? This is going to be so easy. I shook his hand and let a small smile form on my lips. "You too." I said. He smiled back broadly before taking back his hand and speaking again.

"We are happy to welcome you here at Auradon prep. We have a few transfer students here as well as in other schools,"- By transfer students I knew he meant villain kids, but I didn't bother interrupting him- "We were surprised when we received your mothers letter, but more than willing to accept. Everyone deserves a second chance." And with that my smile suddenly faded. I don't know why that statement made me so mad. What second chance? Was there ever a first chance? They forced me to grow up in darkness, and now they suddenly think they can change me? These people are idiots.

He must have noticed my expression change, because he was quick to change the subject. "Uh- I have a tour guide waiting for you. She's my girlfriend actually, but she used to live on the isle of the lost, so she might understand a little bit of what your going through. She's gonna show you to your dorm, but then she'll take you on the tour of the campus."

A large part of me was still angry from his statement from before, but I knew I was going to have to get over it. I need to fit in. Get on the Kings good side. Not make him my enemy. I smiled and gave a slight nod before young girl around my age walked up to us. She had long purple hair, and bright green eyes. She wore a dark purple leather jacket and matching pants, with a pair of black boots. Amongst the bright colors and smiling people, she definitely looked out of place. She stuck out her hand."Hi. My names Mal, part of the welcoming committee of Auradon Prep." I shook her hand and said hello, a little shocked and slightly relieved to see someone who looked as out of place as I'm sure I did.

"Alright well I'm going to let you too get to know each other, and if you need anything, feel free to ask me." Ben said to me. I gave him a simple nod before he turned and walked away.

"Excuse him. He just got crowned a few months ago, and now that school started back up, he's been having a hard time keeping up with All his work." Mal said.

"It's fine." I said. She turned and gave me a small smile.

"Listen I understand what your going through. The change from a villains life to this one isn't easy."

And impossible, I thought to myself.

"I was able to transfer with a few of my friends and they went through the same thing. Just stick with us and you'll be alright, ok?"

"Ok." I said. To be honest I wasn't at all interested in her or her friends. They're lying to themselves if they really believed that they had suddenly turned good. No on can just change from evil to good.

"Alright well let's go check out your dorm," she said walking towards the large building.

/

I followed her until we reached a door with the number 310 on it. Mal pulled a key out of her pocket and used it to open the door. As soon as the door slid open though, my jaw dropped. Everything in the room was pink. The blankets where pink, the curtains where pink, even the flowers on the curtains where different shades of pink. I had been excited about the new colors before, but this was... Hideous. The room looked like something out of a pathetic princess fairy tale. I could hear Mal snickering next to me and I turned my head slightly to see what she was laughing at. She stopped laughing when she saw me turn.

"Oh I'm sorry I just love seeing the people's reactions when they get their rooms. Everyone in Auradon seems to have it in there head that every female yearns to be a pretty princess dressed in pink. Mine was like this too when I first arrived. It was pretty awful. But hey, at least you have your own dorm."

"That is a plus." I mumbled, before finally walking into the room and setting my bag on the bed.

"Yeah. Well hey, I can help you spruce it up a bit, get rid of some of this pink." She said motioning to the whole room.

"Yeah that would be great." I was desperate. This room needed to change.

"Alright well you get settled in and I'll be back in ten ok?"

"Ok."

Mal set the key on a nearby stand before shutting the door. I immediately threw myself onto the bed, burying my face into a bright pink pillow. I was exhausted. This place was so different than anything I had expected. I don't know what I had expected really, but it definitely wasn't this. Everywhere I looked there was bright colors and smiling people walking around. Life was going to be difficult here. I looked down at my dark clothes and sighed. It was going to be especially difficult to fit in. Oh well. I reached down into my pocket and pulled out the small white necklace. At least the king would be easy to kill. He was so innocent, so trusting. It was kinda sad really, having all that hope only for me to shatter it. But I was so exhausted. I had spent most of my day traveling and going though magic tunnels, plus I still had a tour to go through. So though I had a job to do, I decided to hold it off until the next day.

Tomorrow I will get to work, I thought to myself.

Tomorrow I will start planning.

Starting tomorrow, things will change.

And things did change, but not in the way I expected it too.