A/N: Please note that some references from Maleficent will come soon, and be integrated into the Descendants canon. Being familiar with that film is not necessary, but those of you who like it will probably enjoy this. In this AU, I've kept Disney's scrapped idea that Ursula is King Triton's sister, so Uma has the same last name. Also note, I don't dislike Audrey, and I hope to portray her sympathetically. She's kind of ditzy and self-absorbed, but it's largely her parents' fault for not teaching her how to be a proper ruler.
P.S: Who's hyped for the new season of Tangled!?
• • •
"Hello? Is this thing working?" Ben murmured to himself, as he tapped the misty mirror on his wall. Of course, not having magic, Ben couldn't cast the spell himself, but he was able to trick Jane into saying the words, and apparently, that was good enough. Slowly, the static of the mirror began to sort into a clear image, a display that showed five teenagers, the same age as him, sitting around a table. All guilt about fooling Jane was tossed out the window, because Ben finally got to see them, got to see her.
Mal.
"Prince Ben." Mal nodded into her own version of the looking glass, quite politely. "I am Mal Morgana, Queen of the Isle, scion of the House of M."
The woman who sat beside his magical dream-girl had bright blue hair and pale skin, with lips as red as blood. She was equally as beautiful as Mal, and twice as exotic.
"I'm Genevieve Morgana, wife and advisor to the High Queen."
The young men at Mal's left hand introduced themselves, and Ben couldn't help but notice how attractive they both seemed. The white-haired boy with his freckles like constellations, and the tan young man with dark hair and darker eyes, and arms that could probably lift him, easily.
"Carlos DeVil, scion of House DeVil." The pale boy nodded.
"Jahid Jafarson, chief advisor to Carlos."
"Uma Triton, of House Leviathan." The girl beside Evie announced proudly, wearing a captain's hat, and dreadlocks that looked like seaweed, swept up out of the blue-green ocean, (and damn it, she looked attractive too, Ben thought idly, trying to remember his speech and his very identity).
He found it odd, because Ben had been really certain he was straight. He had been really convinced that he didn't like other guys, but here were Jay and Carlos, and they captivated him as much as Evie and Mal and Uma did.
Ben didn't understand it at the time, but it was the magical principle of like-attracts-like. Prince Benjamin was a magical being, raised among humans, fighting back his inner beast, pretending to be human. These teens were effectively humans thanks to the barrier, but they were raised with full knowledge of their heritage and power. Mal was a human, trying to be fae. Ben was a besst, trying to be human. He didn't belong in Auradon, Ben felt in that moment. He belonged with them - the magical ones.
"Is something wrong with the volumes, Prince?" Mal asked, barely containing her amusement. "Can you hear us?"
Ben realized he'd been staring for the past minute, so he opened his mouth to speak.
"Ahem. Apologies, High Queen Mal. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that your council is composed of people around my own age." Ben covered his awkwardness with all the skill he'd been born and bred into, with his mother's tutoring and his political science classes.
"We are, frankly, the best of our peers, Prince Ben." Evie interjected smoothly, ever the diplomat. "Shall we continue on with the business of the hour?"
"Of course, your majesty." Ben conceded, and Mal began the meeting.
"Prince Ben, it has come to our attention that some heinous rumors are being spread around Auradon, concerning my regime." The purple-haired girl explained. "Having heard that you might be sympathetic, we thought we'd talk to you about it first."
She emphasized that you in a way that made Ben feel like he was the only man in the world.
"Firstly, to clarify, Mal did not randomly murder forty-seven people." Carlos practically growled. "Every person executed that day was guilty of felony child abuse, including child sex trafficking."
"Wait- what? That actually happens on the Isle!?" Ben exclaimed, and the four shared a look, as if to say 'can he really be this stupid?'
"Yes, prince-boy, it really does." Uma rolled her eyes. "Mal took those children from parents who didn't deserve them, and then she fed them and taught them a trade. She's a real-"
Evie cut her off before she could say something about Mal being a disgrace to villains everywhere. They were trying to make a good first impression, after all.
"Okay, so that's good to know..." Ben nodded solemnly. "Our council's criminologist kept trying to convince my father you had a motive. Now I know how to point them in the right direction."
"Secondly, Mal killed her own mother. She did that because Maleficent stood between her, and ruling the Isle." Evie explained, and Ben blanched a little, feeling sick to his stomach. He'd hoped that part was just a rumor, a lie, a mistake.
"I had to kill her, because overpowering her wouldn't work, she wouldn't step down, and she attacked me first." Mal explained. "I need to control the Isle, not because of any ambition for power, but because people are starving here, Ben, and fighting for scraps."
"I hate to admit it," Uma added, "But ever since Mal took power, there have been fewer riots, more food to go around, and less crime in general. Not to mention, we don't see beggar kids in the street anymore, since 'Mother Evie' over there adopted them all."
"I never wanted to have power, Ben. It was just... thrust upon me, as I imagine it was with you." Mal explained, so sweetly, so convincingly. "I had to take control though. Some people here were exiled for truly minor crimes, and they don't deserve to suffer like our parents do, Prince Ben. Especially not the children."
"I... I see." Ben nodded. "How can I help?" He asked, innocently throwing himself into their world, into the world of politics that he had fought for so long to stay out of.
"Coincidentally, I have a list right here..." Evie purred, and Ben didn't see it, but Mal smiled triumphantly.
• • •
"Ugh! Evil damn it!" Mal sceamed, throwing the book across the room, where it smacked into the wall with a dull thud. "That stupid woman lied to me!"
"Mal! Are you okay?" Evie cried out, as she rushed into the room.
"There is no bastard law. Mom lied to me, again." Mal snarled. Barely calmed by her lover's encircling arms.
"Let's calm down and think about motive," Evie crooned. "Maleficent knew she was dying. She knew you would kill her, so why would she tell you that story about Phillip, about your inheritance?"
"She... she..." Mal trailed off, before inspiration hit her. "She told me that, so that I'd believe Aurora's kingdom was mine by right."
"Maybe so that you would pursue it, even after getting the Isle? She didn't want you to stop short of her revenge." Evie explained her tentative theory.
"So... Even though she was dead, she'd be vindicated..." Mal mused. She hated thinking about that awful day, and how Maleficent had laughed, laughed triumphantly, even as the life drained from her body.
"Even from beyond the grave, I'm still just Mother's pawn." Mal groaned.
"Look on the bright side, darling! At least you have some pawns of your own now!" Evie comforted. "Ben is totally in love with you."
"But he's such a dope." Mal retorted.
"A cute dope, and a prince, too." Evie purred in reply.
"It makes me sick that he doesn't know what goes on in his own damn kingdom." Mal snapped right back, and Evie broke down into giggles.
"Oh Mal, you know I love to toy with the blond naive ones." Evie laughed. "Not that we get many around here... Hey, at the very least, we can get him to give us stuff until we finally succeed in destroying the barrier."
"Yeah... It'll be a lot easier to clean things up around here when we aren't struggling to survive..."
And meanwhile, while the girls were talking, Jay and Carlos had assembled some labor from the local job-seekers, and began assembling the greenhouse they'd planned. Yen Sid had provided the seeds and the fertile soil that they desperately needed on the Isle, and Ben had provided that scores of plastic bottles which would normally be sent to a recycling plant, were instead redirected to the Isle of The Lost.
Crushed down and melded together at the seams, multiple pounds of plastic recyclables formed the walls and pointed roof of the new greenhouse. Hopefully the house would be able to take the sickly, magic-filtered sunlight on the Isle, and use it to make food. Of course, Ben could have sent multiple greenhouses, had he more money and power, but for the moment, it was agreed that they should all keep a low profile. King Adam was too caught up in royal politics to notice a few stray bags of plastic borrowed by the Prince for his "science project".
"Beans, there." Carlos ordered, overseeing the planting of several rows of vegetables. "Tomatoes and peppers go together."
A goblin approached, speaking quickly in the goblin language, and Carlos recognized him as his own assistant, the only one allowed in his workshop besides Jay. This goblin called himself Dan, which was short for something unpronounceable by human tongue.
"English, Dan." Carlos chided, because his mind was elsewhere, and while he ran schematics, putting them aside in his mind, and also directing the gardeners, he couldn't also be bothered to mentally translate Goblinese at the same time.
"There's been a change in the device!" Dan shouted, sweat pouring down his skin.
"Jay! Supervise!" Carlos shouted to his counterpart, who was busy sowing a row of seeds. Carlos didn't ask Dan which machine he meant, because he said the device. There was only one which wasn't yet named.
On the way to the workshop, Carlos pulled out his simple cellphone. It was just a cheap phone, the kind that had been out of style in Auradon since before he was born, but he'd rewired it to be useful for one purpose: contacting the twin cellphone owned by Mal.
"Hello, Mal? Good news." Carlos spoke into the homemade walkie talkie. "My assistant just came to get me, and he's told me that something's happening with the device. Don't fuss yet, because I'm not sure. Just letting you know."
Normally, Mal couldn't care less about Carlos' projects, except when they benefitted her. This one, however, would benefit them all. Carlos DeVil had learned that the device he had invented to pirate satellite stations from Auradon, could probably actually punch a hole in the barrier. This was big news.
When they made it back to the workshop, Carlos nearly fainted in shock.
"What happened here, Dan?" Carlos croaked out, as he surveyed the device on his counter, blowing off steam, with scattered parts all around it.
"It wasn't like this when I left! But that's why I came to get you!" Dan explained, cursing Goblinese when a burst of steam shot a gear past his head. "It was shaking, and warm to the touch!"
"I suspect it was just a coolant or fan failure..." Carlos mused, pulling a toolbox from a high shelf. "Thanks again for your help, Dan."
"No problem at all, Master Carlos." The goblin grinned, bowing deeply. Carlos had already tried explaining to Dan that he didn't need to be called Master, but like a good butler, goblins used it for employers they respected. Dan had actually been sent to Carlos as a Christmas gift from Mal. Not in the way that goblins were slaves to be bought and sold, but more like she'd found one who was terribly unsuited for kitchen work, and thought he might prefer helping Carlos instead.
Thus Dan had become something of a regular fixture in the junk shop, a presence for which Carlos was grateful, as the days just seemed to get busier and busier.
• • •
"Ben? What's got you so distracted lately?" Audrey asked one day, as Ben read over a legal book he'd checked out of the library.
"Do you ever think about your subjects, Audrey?" Ben asked absently, because he knew Audrey, and if he didn't answer her, she'd just keep asking.
"Of course, Benny Boo! I love my subjects, like a good princess should."
"But do you think they suffer? Is there anyway we can help them, Audrey?" Ben mused.
"Of course they don't suffer, silly." The girl giggled. "We sent the villains away, so who could cause them any pain?"
"What if they don't have enough money? What if they're hungry?" Ben offered, hoping to stimulate a conversation.
"Why wouldn't they have money? Mama enacted a law that all peasants must be paid a living wage." Audrey insisted.
"Well, sometimes people get sick, and can't work. Then they can't afford food or medicine, so they get sicker." Ben patiently explained.
"I... I suppose I never thought about that before." Audrey mused quietly, and her boyfriend's phone rang - the tinny version of 'Once Upon A Dream' echoed out through his study.
"Hello?" Ben answered, and his father was on the other line.
"Ben, we have a situation in the Black Forest, Snow White's territory. I want you to come along with me, and see how disturbances like this should be handled." Adam explained over the phone, and Ben politely hung up, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
"Gotta go, Audrey. Princely business calls." Ben explained, giving his girlfriend a chaste kiss on the cheek before running off.
She was still thinking about the conditions of her people.
• • •
"Now what in goodness' name is going on here?" Adam asked, as Ben followed attentively behind him. They had arrived as soon as possible, and the scene before them was... surprising, to say the least. The dwarves were on strike.
"Fair prices!" One female dwarf shouted. Ben noticed one or two of his classmates among the protesters. Many carried signs, which bore slogans like 'Dwarfs are people too!' And 'Unfair taxation!' A particularly well-penned picket sign read: 'We farm your gold, the food you eat, and still we have no council seat!'
"The riot broke out this morning." Lumiere explained. "The miners left their stations and blocked entry to the mine, bringing production to a standstill."
"Is that legal?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow behind his glasses.
"Yes, m'lord. It says in by-law four-hundred thirty that the common man is legally allowed to protest working conditions." The former candlestick explained. Ben vaguely wondered if he had ever wanted to protest his working conditions.
"But what about by-law forty-seven?" Adam asked. "Didn't that say that no party can stop production of an Auradonian industry without prior government approval?"
"That's true, sir, but I believe there is no statute for that law to apply in the case of protesters." The majordomo clarified.
"We'll have to discuss this with the council. No point in losing approval over an unprecedented law." Ben added.
"Good argument, son." Adam nodded.
"If I were you, I'd also arrange a meeting in the near future to hear their complaints." Ben said quietly, showing off his considerable knowledge in politics. "Even if we can't help, it'll go a long way in approving public opinion."
"I agree, son. Not to mention, we need to contact the Whites, to see what they know about this." Adam noted. "In the meantime, I think you should offer them a time for the meeting, and try to convince them to return to work."
"Yes, father." Ben replied, a little irritated about how his father was treating the dwarves. It wasn't as bad as it could be, but he got the sense that Adam saw this as a mere disturbance of spoiled and ungrateful dwarves, and not a symptom of a greater underlying problem.
Meanwhile, across Auradon, Mal was dealing with a diplomatic incident of her own.
• • •
It was barge day, the first since Mal had taken full control of the island, and she wanted to avoid the pandemonium and thievery that had always characterized the second Monday of the month in past years. She'd brought her entire rag-tag contingent of soldiers, and had ordered Uma to bring several of her crew. The rest were left to patrol the isle, making sure no one got away with any crimes while the action was focused at the docks.
"Listen up!" Mal told the assembled commoner who had gathered to await the barge. "I don't want any violence today, not because I disprove of violence, but because it's a real fucking waste to fight over Auradon garbage!"
A cheer rippled out through the crowd at that statement, and Mal smirked triumphantly.
"Shopkeepers, Line up according to what you sell! Everyone else, get outta here!" Mal shouted, to a grumble of disapproval.
"No one gets handouts!" Uma confirmed. "If you want food, you'll have to sign up with me or Mal, or get it yourself! No more brute force at the barges! From now on, theft is illegal!" The captain smirked, to a chorus of gasps from the crowd.
"If you want it, work for it!" Uma laughed. "If you steal it, don't get caught."
Mal grinned, as she triumphantly watched Uma working as a mouthpiece for her ideals. It sounded quite villainous, not just randomly helping people, but as always, they had an ulterior motive. Up until now, life on the Isle had largely been up to luck and fortune. By refusing to give anyone a free ride, Mal planted the idea that people could work to change their fate. Life on the Isle was now ruled by effort and cunning, not luck, and that was important. Anyone who needed help would get it, but not for free. Even children helped out with age-appropriate chores, as the kids of Dragon Hall could attest.
When the barge arrived, many teenagers had to brandish their swords at the crowd, to keep them from instinctively rushing forward, as they had for every year since the Isle of The Lost was founded. Mal conscripted Carlos to talk with the Goblins, and Mal set aside ten bags to split with Uma, and two for Jay, payment for the use of his weapons. Next, the pirates slit open the remaining bags, and filtered through them, forming human chains to each of four tables between them, and the crowd.
The first table was for bread and other quickly perishable items. The second was for paper and cardboard trash. The third table was for canned and otherwise preserved foods, and the last table was for non-paper Auradon trash that could be repurposed. All the truly worthless stuff was shoved back into a garbage bag, and sealed up.
"Bread sellers, over here!" Gil called out from the first table, and started doling out what he had, in exchange for coins. The bread was sold pretty cheaply, and the merchants would raise the price for the general public. In this way, some truly poor peasants would be unable to pay for it, and run straight into Mal's welcoming arms. It was a damn good arrangement, and even though some might consider it evil to make people work for food, Mal thought of it as a mercy. After all, no one was starving to death any more.
The money made from this venture would be split with Mal. Uma was putting in more manpower, but Mal was the leader, and it was she who provided the idea, and the authority to make people listen without a fight.
All in all, it took over four hours to hand out the supplies, and afterwards an hour to sign up new hands to work for them. Uma and Mal's gangs each left with five bags and a hefty pile of money, while Carlos and Jay left with two, and some money Mal gave them in exchange for Carlos' goblinese translation. It was a good day. The plan had gone well (without a hitch, really), and everyone was ready to go home and relax. Mal leaned over to her wife, and kissed her fiercely, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"How would you feel about starting a clothing business?" Mal purred, remembering all of the people who'd signed up to work tomorrow. Apparently, it was the right thing to say, because Evie grinned wickedly, and pressed their lips together once again.