As Loki's family took their leave from the Family Day "festivities" it was decided to retire back to Arendelle's embassy where the Royal family was currently staying rather than the dorms. Jay and Carlos looked on in somewhat impotent concern as Mal retreated off to be alone with her thoughts, with Anna soon following after her to keep an eye on her clearly distraught cousin. Anna knew it was crucial that Mal knew she was not alone at a time like this after learning something so earth-shattering.
As for Loki, he was snarling to himself in a foul temper as he stormed into the library after about an hour of waiting to see if Mal and Anna would return anytime soon, his helm tossed carelessly into the nearest chair as he cursed his foul temper. When would he learn to curb his impulses where family could get caught in the crossfire? First there was Thor managing to get himself banished, then there was the incident with the Kursed that eventually led to Frigga's demise, and now his foul tongue and desire to put that irritating little ant Leah in her place her put Mal's entire world off-kilter. The only salvageable thing about the whole debacle as that it painted Mal in a very sympathetic light and would curb much of the animosity toward her. Audrey lost a lot of credibility now that others would just assume any attack on Mal was equal parts her own jealousy over Ben and spitting back Leah's acrimony toward her hidden stepdaughter.
Still the emotional turmoil of the whole mess had Loki scolding himself at every turn. "I should have just dealt with the situation like Thor would have and crushed them both into paste with my bare hands. It would have made less of a mess," Loki growled to himself.
Thus he was somewhat surprised as he was answered with a sardonic, "That would be debatable. Although I suppose it would have been no less troublesome than my essentially threatening war with at least Charmington and Auroria, if not the whole of the United States of Auradon itself," from behind as Elsa entered the room.
Loki looked concerned for a moment before smiling mirthlessly as he noted, "That might be concerning given the two are on opposite sides of the capitol. And that Charmington is the nearest kingdom to the Isle of the Lost. But I think they were mostly distracted by my loose lips."
"I would say so. Before we even got back to the embassy I had missives waiting from Queen Belle, Prince Benjamin, the Fairy Godmother, Evie's friend Doug, and the Fairy Godmother's daughter Jane all asking after Mal and Evie both," Elsa noted wryly.
"Ah, probably the whole of this nation that truly cares for any of the children here. Although that Lonnie girl seemed to be on mostly good terms with them as well. The others seemed to see them as an easier alternative to going to a hairdresser or seamstress for the most part," Loki snorted derisively.
"That will change. Especially when others start doing research about you. I don't think many of them would relish courting your anger. Or mine. Or Aunt Hela's for that matter," Elsa pointed out.
"As if Hela cared about what went on in this realm. Or had ever met any of you. Your eldest aunt prefers to keep her own company," Loki noted with a scowl.
"Yes, we all seem to have a habit of crawling into our own heads and living with self-recrimination until someone pulls us kicking and screaming back into the light of day. I think we all have you to thank for it," Elsa pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
Loki was going to protest until he noted the look Elsa was giving him as she pointed her chin at the empty library as if to challenge him to defy he was doing that very thing at the moment. He let out a little sigh as he wondered once again how his little snow pea took so much after Frigga without sharing a drop of blood with the woman. "Fine. But this is still mostly my fault and you know it. Damn me and my sharp tongue," Loki snapped frustratedly. "I should know better after a few thousand years."
"And I should have relied on Anna instead of locking myself away to hide from my powers, especially after losing Mother and Father. We all make mistakes grandfather. We're none of us perfect," Elsa pointed out as she stepped closer and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I should have been there to help you as well," Loki noted. "Not that I would have had any clue what was going on at the time," he added bitterly.
"I can think of worse things than inheriting a portion of your natural Jotunn abilities," Elsa told him kindly.
Loki looked her in the eye for several moment before sighing heavily as he commented, "I would have argued long and hard with you over that just a few short years ago, little one."
"And Amma would have probably given you an earful for doing so," Elsa gently pointed out.
"I wish you all could have met her. She would have loved you all so much. Certainly better than I know how to," Loki lamented.
"None of that, Grandfather. Amma Frigga may have loved us with all her heart ahd she had the chance to know us, but you did what you must to protect us from Odin. We have never doubted your love for us. Not even Maleficent," Elsa insisted.
"Maleficent would deny even understanding what love was. To this day she insists she felt nothing for Stephan but friendship," Loki noted.
"I suppose it must be hard to admit even to yourself that you have a softer side when you style yourself as the Mistress of all Evil," Elsa pointed out with a sad shake of her head.
"She comes by it honestly. There are many across the Nine Realms that would call me the God of Evil as easily as the God of Mischief," Loki noted with a hint of disgust.
Elsa snorted in a very unladylike way that seemed more appropriate coming from Anna than from her as she pointed out, "I have never known you to do anything with the thought 'how can I do this and be EVIL about it.' You just did what you felt was right. Or at least what you wanted to do in the moment. It was others that judged you for your actions. Maleficent...tries to be evil. She wants to lash out at the whole world. Not that I can fully blame her."
"Nor I. I just wish she had not tried to involve the children this time," Loki said sadly.
"We're putting a stop to that. That's all we can really do," Elsa replied.
Mal spent a good twenty minutes silently fuming at herself for allowing herself to cry as she had clung to Loki after his revelation of her parentage. That wasn't supposed to happen. She never cried. She was bad. She was evil. She was rotten to the core! She was supposed to be beyond emotional outbursts like that. But learning that the source of her mother's ire was also the one that sired her? Well now she understood how Gramps felt when the Old Bastard told him he was really Laufey's son, at least.
And that thought brought out her anger toward her grandfather for revealing the whole thing publicly like he did. Oh she understood it to a degree. Loki wasn't going in for the kill with Leah, he was going for the pain. He was tearing at Leah intimately, deeply, in every way he knew she feared. It was exactly what Maleficent had taught Mal to do to those that truly wronged her. She just wished she hadn't been a casualty in the crossfire of the whole mess. Although she was glad he had hurt Leah as much as he could. Served the Old Bat right for calling Mal's mother a whore. Had she not been so shocked about learning the identity of her father, Mal would have decked Leah then and there.
It was probably close to an hour of pacing and fuming to herself before she finally noted Anna sitting in the corner patiently watching her. "Do you need something?" Mal snapped even as she regretted the words the moment she uttered them. Anna and Elsa had been nothing but good to Evie and Mal all day. And they were family. But then again, so was Audrey now, apparently. Ugh.
"I'm just waiting for when you're done so you have someone to talk to. Or rant at. Whatever works for you," Anna noted with a sympathetic smile.
Mal temper flared again as she folded her arms and petulantly sneered, "What, afraid I'm going lose it and run off to curse someone?"
Anna looked wholly unperturbed as she noted, "Well, Grandpa did try to use the Bifrost to destroy his birth realm after assassinating Laufey after he got similar news."
Mal had a bit of a brain freeze as she recalled that very fact before seeming to deflate as she sat heavily in a chair and conceded, "Point taken. But Laufey's life was forfeit the moment he touched Amma Frigga."
"No argument from me there. He might share blood with us but Laufey will never be family. And he's not important right now either way. You are," Anna noted with a sad smile.
Mal looked pained for a moment before she groaned, "Did it have to he Aurora's father? Of all the men in the world she could have developed the hots for, King Stephan had to get Mom's motor going?"
"You never wondered why she went for such an odd curse like putting Aurora to sleep? Or why True Love's Kiss alone would break it? She was making a pretty bold statement, I thought. Even if she didn't fully understand it herself," Anna commented.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mal demanded in confusion.
Anna took a moment to gather he thoughts before she continued, "Think about it Mal. In more than three hundred years your mother had never had a single lover until Ste... your father. Does that sound like a careless nymph that can be physical without any kind of emotional attachment to you? Or does it sound like someone that thought she found a deeper connection and reacted... violently when it turned out to be both more and less then she expected?"
"Mom doesn't do love, Anna. I mean, yeah, she's my mom and I know she loves me in her own way; but human relationship type love? It's literally impossible for her," Mal protested.
"Nonsense. She's as much Grandpa as she is her mother's people and he can certainly love even is he's very careful about how much of his heart he lets anyone outside of the family see. He wouldn't give a damn about any of us if he didn't. Just because your mother was never raised to recognize what she felt, or thought she needed to deny it, doesn't make it go away. If she didn't love fiercely she would not have cared about what your father did. Or more importantly, that he left the second time," Anna argued.
"Somehow knowing that is not at all helpful. If anything I think it makes me want to throw up at little," Mal complained.
Anna smiled sadly as she agreed, "I know. But we're all here for you. Including Grandpa. At least he will be once Elsa gets done with talking to him and making him stop berating himself."
Mal stared at Anna for a moment until comprehension dawned upon her as she snorted as she said, "Wish I could say he doesn't deserve it but he really complicated things here."
"I know. But you have your friends here. And your family. And I imagine Ben will probably come knocking tomorrow if not sooner. You're not alone Mal. You're never going to be alone with all of us around you," Anna swore.
Mal looked truly touched at the sentiment Anna was showing her before her expression fell into a rueful smirk as she asked, "Can we let him stew for another hour so before I let him apologize?"
"Oh he'll take longer than that even with Elsa's help. You won't see him before this evening even if he uses his magick to check on you periodically to make sure you're ok. He really doesn't handle emotional pain well and seeing you upset bothered him to no end," Anna assured her.
"How can you be so sure?" Mal asked.
"Natural empath, remember? And my gifts are much stronger where family is concerned. I can use it to find all of you, including Kristoff, if I concentrate. It's probably how I found Elsa the when she ran off after her Coronation. Most people wouldn't have been looking at a random mountain to find an Ice Palace that had been created out of nothing, you know. My magick might not be overt, but it's still there," Anna reminded her with a smirk.
"Good gift to have," Mal acknowledged with a small smile.
"With our family; the best," Anna agreed.
As those related in one way or another to the royal family of Asgard were hashing out some of their issues, other conversations were taking place throughout Auradon.
"Do you realize what kind of political nightmare this has turned into?" King Adam asked as he paced back and forth through his office.
Queen Belle was glad she had instructed Ben to return to him dorm and try to deal with calming the rumors no doubt circulating through the student body already. She was well aware of the possible political backlash of today, but as ever she was the calming influence to her husband's mercurial temperament. "It could have been much worse, dear," Belle said after seeing that Adam was waiting for an answer instead of just venting his frustrations.
"How?" Adam demanded.
"The Charming boy could have landed that swing he looked ready to take before Jafar's son moved to protect Evie. Or did you like the thought of a god that can ignore the barrier around the Isle at will being upset someone hit his daughter for no reason? Or Arendelle and DunBroch siding with him?" Belle reminded him.
Adam actually shuddered at the thought. Auradon might have been several times larger than Arendelle and its allies, but they were hardly geared for any kind of war. Especially not against someone of Elsa's power. But just imagining a creature that could be Maleficent's father and Elsa's grandfather...
"How powerful are we talking if it ever came to that?" Adam asked.
"The Dwarves have a saying: 'There is nothing as dangerous in the Nine Realms as having Loki's full and undivided attention.' Considering what we know and what we don't know, like not knowing how to try to ask for aid from Asgard, assuming they would help, it's not good. The Fairy Godmother seemed confident Loki could stand against Zeus on an even footing or better. And he's known to be one of Asgard's master tacticians on top of it. Chad Charming and Queen Leah have no idea how fortunate they are that he was content to keep himself to mostly words. Or that Mal and Evie were good enough people to stop him from going any further," Belle elaborated.
Adam seemed to slump in defeat at his wife's words, "I'm just glad I didn't manage to put my foot in my mouth any further. I was halfway ready to agree with Leah until Loki started explaining the source of hers and Maleficent's animosity between each other. What a mess."
Belle smiled sadly as she responded, "I'm just sorry so many of the kids got caught in between in it. Mal seems like such a nice girl for all she puts on a tough exterior. And Ben simply adores her. I can see it in his eyes. It almost reminds me of us, just in reverse."
"Well Ben always did take after you. Probably explains where he got his goods looks from," Adam conceded with a smile of his own.
"And his protective streak from you. I would not want to be Chad the next time our son talks to him. But either way, Mal and Ben caring for each other can only help at this point," Belle added.
"That much is true. I just hope it's enough. I don't want the start of my son's reign to begin with a major disaster because a couple of spoiled kids don't know how to behave like actual royalty," Adam groused.
"It might not hurt to start looking more closely into how things are handled with the Isle the way Elsa has asked in the past either, no matter what the Royal Council says. I get the feeling we'd be in a much better position if we hadn't turned a blind eye at the wrong time to some of our nominal peers and how they dealt with their enemies," Belle cautioned.
"Just what I wanted for my last few days of being king. More paperwork," Adam slumped.
"We can at least try to enjoy a lunch with the group from Arendelle tomorrow or the next day to try to forge some closer ties. That will take your mind off of some of it," Belle offered sympathetically.
"Oh joy," Adam replied in a deadpan.
And in the halls of Auradon Prep itself, a certain "prissy pink princess" was ranting about the unfairness of the world to her closest friend/hanger on.
"I mean seriously. First she steals my boyfriend and now she's trying to horn in on my family. Are you kidding me?" Audrey demanded.
Anxelin winced a bit as Audrey's voice neared a screech at the end of her sentence before nodding sympathetically as she replied, "Tell me about it. My mom is already telling me about how I should get to know my 'new cousins' from Elsa's side of the family. I tried to explain to her we're not related to them by blood, but you know how she gets."
"Well apparently I am related to them by blood. Or at least to that... faerie. God, did grandfather never hear of taste?" Audrey spat.
"Are we going to have to invite them to the Princess Club now? They kind of are royal. Kind of really royal, apparently," Anxelin asked anxiously. Whatever Audrey decided Anxelin would follow her lead. After all, it was Audrey that taught what it even was to be a princess all the way back to when they were kids. Her mother was certainly clueless about royal behavior being raised by that horrible witch Gothel that had kidnapped her. They could still hardly get her to wear shoes, for crying out loud! And her father had been a thief, for goodness sake. If not for Audrey's influence, who knew how Anxelin might have turned out?
"Of course not," Audrey snapped, before stopping herself and taking a deep breath to try to calm down. "Actually, scratch that. Mal is so into her punk bad girl thing she would never be caught dead in a club dedicated to acting like proper Princesses. And even if Evie wanted to join she would never go without Mal. Send them the invitations. It will irritate her and not cost me anything. Win-win."
"Got it," Anxelin agreed as she made a note in her smartphone.
"Ugh, I swear I have no idea how Mother is going to take this. Imagine having a half sister by way of Maleficent. Mal being my aunt is disgusting enough, but a sister? Eww," Audrey commented with a grimace.
For her part Anxelin tried to stay quiet and not draw too much attention to herself. Although she would never admit it, part of her felt bad for Mal and Evie both, but especially for Mal. The faux blonde (although it looked natural after she had paid Mal to style it for her with her magick) had seen the broken look on the purple-haired girl's face. She had never seen the tough girl from the Isle of the Lost looking so vulnerable before.
It was honestly almost as scary as that Loki guy tossing Chad around like a rag doll. Not that the cheating jerk deserved any less. Apparently he had been stringing along that Isle girl Evie the same way he had Anxelin, one of Ariel's nieces, and a few of the other cheerleaders, before tying himself to Audrey at the last Tourney game.
Honestly, if he wasn't so close to Mal, and Audrey wasn't so against her, Anxelin might have tried to make a move on Jay. At least he had been a gentleman and tried to defend Evie when Chad looked like he was going to hit her. And he was way better built than Cinderella's son, too. But what kind of world were they living in where a villain's kid was acting more gallant and "princely" than an actual prince?
Meanwhile, in a tower the existed only partially within the reality where Auradon resided, a stately older man in blue robes with a flowing gray beard watched the events of Family Day with his crystal ball for a third time.
Master Yen Sid's brow furrowed as he paused the replay at the point where Mal was clinging to Loki. He had been well aware of the Silvertongue's visits to this realm, of course. He had also been aware of the seeds of family he had left in various kingdoms. Until now Yen Sid had been content to ignore them. Loki always left the realm with little more than a ripple to show his passing, treating what became Auradon as little more than a vacation spot.
But now it looked as if he was planning to stay there on a more permanent basis given rather public display of power he had shown. And the wards he had placed, while certainly helpful to Yen Sid in keeping out certain invaders, could also be the start of trying to forge his own kingdom. His youngest granddaughter was certainly poised, intentionally or not, to become one of the most politically powerful people in the land, never mind her considerable mystical powers. And unlike most everyone else in the Realm outside of Loki's family, the aged Sorcerer was not ignorant to Loki's most recent exploits, nor the fact he was currently thought to be dead in Asgard after giving his life to defend Thor. (Not that Yen Sid doubted for a moment that the Lady Hela would not release her father is she felt she must.)
But this all left the man that would be considered the local Sorcerer Supreme in a quandary. Was Lord Loki a boon or a threat to his home? And who could he ask to get more information? Odin Allfather? Certainly not. The king of the Nine Realms would be hugely biased and was well known to get in the most contentious of arguments with his second son. And with the recent death of Queen Frigga Yen Sid could not help but doubt the stability of Asgard's ruler to some degree. But who else was there? Ordinarily, one Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme would ask their counterpart for aid in such matters but Asgard had no one that held such a title. In fact with Frigga's death there were only two that had the power to try to claim the title, although neither did for their own reasons. One was the cause of Yen Sid's concerns in the form of Loki, who would have been disqualified as he had to remain free to assume Asgard's throne should something happen to Thor. The other, Lady Karnilla, kept mostly out of Asgardian politics due to her animosity and borderline enmity with Odin.
Truth be told, Yen Sid almost wished the situation was reversed. He knew it would be easier to get a straight answer out of Loki than it would be Karnilla. And considering Loki's title as the Liesmith, that was saying something. But all things considered, he didn't really have a choice. If nothing else, arranging for Asgard to learn of Loki's location could act as a test to gauge the god's intentions. If they were pure, he would have another asset that could likely match Yen Sid himself to help deal with threats like Chernabog. If not, at least Yen Sid would have a better understanding of where things stood.
With that thought in mind the aged master summoned his cap, something he never left behind anymore after the... incident with his young apprentice that one day became a great King in his own right, and faded from sight. He hoped things with Karnilla went relatively smoothly. He had no desire to deal with Odin's posturing if his first attempt failed.
Author's note: Yes, I did put another KH Easter Egg in there using Yen Sid as the Sorcerer Supreme of the realm. And yes, the king he is referring to is King Mickey. No King Mickey does not reside in Auradon or the Descendants Universe.
I hope the pacing here is working for everyone. I want to keep the perspective mostly focused on Loki and the Descendants but sometimes I am worried things are moving too slowly. Expect another couple of chapters or so (at least one, maybe two or three) before we get the coronation. And from there we go into truly uncharted waters.
As always I await your feedback. It truly is the coin of the Realm.