The ship that took Ben and his parents was a dark and dingy one. It reeked of rotten food and desperation. Screams could be heard as soon as they stopped at the port they had been instructed to stop at. It was rotting away next to a pile of cliffs with a small opening. There was no sound coming from the opening but Ben could imagine what it would be like if it have been in Auradon. A place of laughter and happiness. A place of sea side walks and coconut drinks with ghastly pink umbrellas for Jane to put in her hair as she read her newest book. Perhaps a restaurant or two along the tops of the mountains.

But this was not Auradon.

There was no sea sidewalks or cliff top restaurants. No pink umbrellas and defiantly no laughter. The isle was a place of coldness and rain. He was so deep into his thoughts, he almost failed to notice a figure emerge from the billowing smoke of the port. A single hand beckons them all forward and he takes the lead, his parents not far behind. The girl was short yet intimidating. He towered over her yet could feel himself shrinking under her gaze yet could not bring himself to look away. Something about her intrigued the king. Maybe it was her eyes or the way she looked at him in almost blatant boredom.

She was armed to the teeth even a fool could assume that. He carried his sword and a small dagger on him and so did his parents, his father holding onto a small gun as well. He hated having to carry weapons to meet someone that he barely knew. This was not war nor was it a battle so why did it feel like this girl was death himself dressed up a simple lilac dress and combat boots. Ben was smart enough to realise that the dress was there so that they would underestimate her. He would not make that mistake.

She turned on her heals and walked into the nearby forests and the royals had no choice but to follow her. The smell filled his lungs and his eyes where burning and stinging yet they journeyed on. They walked for at least twenty minutes and then stopped next to a piece of drift wood that was put aside by the girl or sorry Mal.

"In you go your highnesses" she whispers, daring for them to disagree.

"Is it safe? For those who live there and us" Belle says, casting the girl a look of understanding.

The look told ben two things: his mother knew that there where children down there that she was protecting and that if she was to go down there, if they were to go down there and offend those who live there, they may not come out breathing as easily as they went down.

"It is perfectly safe your majesty. No harm shall come to you as long as you can promise that no harm will come to myself and my people." She smiles and beckons them to go down.

This time, they all comply.

When mal was meeting the royals –

Evie paced up and down the tables where the villain kids where sitting. There had to be around 115

children there and she felt somehow responsible for them all. Many of the kids new how to sew and cook as it was part of their chores and they needed to know how to mend their own clothes instead of getting someone else t do it or simply stealing someone else's. Stealing wasn't prohibited or against the law, it was just simply not done at the keep. They looked after their own.

That's what Evie told herself as she fixed Carlos's jacket and swiped Jay's beanie off his head and handed him a hair tie from her wrist. These boys where going to be the death of her. After knowing them for so long, she now constantly had a needle and thread on her.

In order to help run the keep, Evie was in charge of all food and textiles that arrived from the barge and how it was distributed. She took the job very seriously as she knew how it was to be hungry, to go to bed at night not knowing if she was going to have breakfast when she woke up. Or if she was going to wake up at all.

Evie was raised in an unforgiving household. She mother began to apply make up on her when she was 3, teaching her before that. She had been so used to it that the idea of going to breakfast without it on actually confused her to a certain extent. Mal, Jay and Carlos where 3 out of the 4 people to ever see he without make up on, save her mother. It just goes to show that sme thigs have a lasting impression on people.

She would never downplay her domestic skills, she was proud of them actually. But she wasn't just a house wife. After months of reading and scrounging through old Auradon prep text books, she found that some lethal substances could actually be found on the isle. Now, thanks to her and Carlos, every child in the keep knew what was poisonous and what wasn't. They knew what to bring to them and what not to touch.

Anyone over the age of fifteen was expected to be able to yield a weapon. That's where Jay and some of the other Hun children came in. Whilst being strong and tough, all 5 of the teachers had a knack with kids. Soccer was a large part of their days at the keep but so was sword fighting, hand to hand combat and archery.

Jay not only excelled at teaching but he was also in charge of the protection of the keep. Whilst mal took care of the security outside, the wellbeing of every child in the keep was up to Jay. Anything from a petty fight to an all-out brawl had to be sorted out. He took his responsibility very seriously. It did help that all the kids knew not to fuck with Jay after he got in a fight with hooks children and they both ended up in their little hospital wing.

Carlos was a different story. A tech prodigy and all around genius, Carlos was in charge of all functional things from the running water to the kitchen supplies. As long as he was around, everything ran smoothly. He may not be on the front lines a lot but rather like a ninja, you wouldn't notice when he was here but you know that he was. The whole keep remembers the time Carlos broke his leg when he was caught up in an unforgiving current when he was trying to learn how to swim. The week was horrible with tech failures and malfunctions. Everyone in the keep loved Carlos and knew who he was.

Suddenly the door to the underground caves they called home opened and Mal walked to the front. Behind her was an older couple with a young adult standing in front of them. Jay snarled, the scars on his back aching. Evie held her head up. Determined not to look afraid and Carlos held his hands together to stop them from shaking.

It was now or never.