A/N
Hello again everyone and a giant welcome to all the new followers and viewers to the story.
If you haven't noticed it already, I published a holiday one-shot titled "A Red and Silver Christmas", detailing Harry and Evie's first Christmas in Auradon together, so be sure to check it out as well. It's very lighthearted and has fluffy moments in it.
I hope you all have a happy Christmas and a delightful holiday. Enjoy the chapter and story and I'll see you all next time!
Five sets of eyes shot themselves towards Evie, who stood there shaking like a leaf. Her face was plastered with anxiety, horror, and shock wrapped up in one. She knew that something bad was happening here, but this was the last thing she would have expected. The pirates and her mother...the rulers of the Isle?
"My...my mother?" she stuttered out, still not released of all the shock that fell over her.
"Yeah. I thought you guys would've heard about it when it happened?" Hermie said, slightly confused. Surely Auradon heard all about the daily happenings on the Isle considering they were a part of the kingdom.
"Well, you clearly thought wrong" Uma replied.
"How did this even happen?" Jay asked.
"Think about it. It was her and my mother vying for the title. Once my mother was defeated and once Uma left, there was no one left to stand in her way. She simply swooped in at the right moment" Mal answered.
"But that still doesn't explain why the pirates teamed up with her" Evie pointed out.
"It was weird after you guys left" Hermie cut in. "Once Uma left, they started to trickle over into these parts of the Isle. It was like they had nothing to do with their time anymore."
"Then once she saw them, she probably asked them to team up since she knew Uma left and they had no leader now" Mal said, slapping Ben on the arm once she realized what happened.
"Precisely" Hermie affirmed.
The group fell silent at what Hermie revealed, trying to digest it all. They didn't give the Isle much thought after Cotillion since they had no high risk situations to deal with. It's no wonder why they treated this plan nonchalantly, besides Harry and Evie. They didn't think anything was wrong over here.
Harry looked over his shoulder, thinking he saw someone standing there watching them, but his suspicion was proven wrong when the alleyway was free and unoccupied. Only sights of people passing by filled the space with their indistinguishable chatter.
It all made perfect sense though, what Mal said. Once the previous two queens were out of the way, it left the spot open for anyone. And without their leader, the pirates had no one to give them orders on what to do. All of the pieces fell into perfect alignment. Uma's crew now had a leader and the Evil Queen had her henchmen to support and defend her title.
"What do we do now?" Jay asked, interrupting everyone's racing thoughts.
"Let's get back to the castle and talk about it. Don't think we should be discussing this out in the open if the pirates are invading these parts" Mal said, grabbing Ben's arm and leading the way out. "Bye Hermie!" she called over her shoulder.
Hermie shouted a goodbye to them and exited out the other side of the alleyway, intending on meeting up with her brother.
They exited the alleyway and turned onto a corner street, heading down to the main road. On the main road, it seemed perfectly normal with all the resident occupants of this part wandering around and conducting normal day to day business. Out of the corner of her eye, Evie saw the same triangle-pointed pirate hat, and she knew her vision from this morning was true. She could've sworn he was looking directly at them, but she didn't dare look up from her shoes out of fear of confirming the rumors of their return. Uma and Harry went into the Slop Shop to grab something to eat, while the other four headed up the stairs into the living room.
Once inside, Jay and Mal sat down on the couch; Evie paced around the room, avoiding the stains on the grimy, dusty floor. Ben sat down in Maleficent's throne with his hands in his head. Ben was feeling guilty about indirectly putting them into this position. Evie desperately tried to talk him out of it, but he was being stubborn like his father and refused to take "no" for an answer. A few minutes later, Harry and Uma came back with the food, but no one was in the mood to eat anything.
"What do we do now?" Jay asked again. They had to think of a solution immediately or risk being caught unprepared and vulnerable.
"Do we call the whole thing off and go back?" Harry asked, his eyes following his girlfriend's wear pattern on the floor.
"We can't go back" Ben replied, lifting his head up and releasing a sigh. "We have no way of getting back."
"Doesn't the runt have the mirror?"
"Yeah, but it was only to be used if we are presently in trouble" Mal pointed out.
"And what do you call this?" Uma quipped.
"Technically, we're not in trouble. Nothing's happened" Harry told her.
"Nothing's happened yet..." Evie mumbled.
This was the problem that was brewing up on the Isle, but this was the last thing any one of them expected. But it left them with more questions than answers. Why would the Evil Queen partner up with the pirates when they were hell-bent on staying away from each other? What was the whole purpose of their alignment when there was nothing left? Maleficent and Mal failed to tear down the barrier, and Uma failed to tear down the barrier as well. With all the important people in Auradon and no circumstances happening that required a trade-off, they had no way off the Isle. There was no magic left.
"So, are we just going to stay inside for the rest of the trip? I think he's seen enough already" Jay mentioned.
"No, we can't do that. They way they win is if we start hiding and act like cowards. Second, we can't keep going back and forth carrying food and eating it on the floor" Mal responded, running her hand through the ends of her hair.
"But you heard what she said. The pirates are wandering around here, and I can guarantee they've been sent out here to look for us" Evie replied.
"But my question is how they know we're here in the first place" Ben added. "No one knew about the plan except Gil, Carlos, and my parents."
Silence descended on the group as they tried to figure out the flaw in the plan. On paper, everything was locked up and sealed tighter than a drum, but somewhere along the line, a giant crack formed and blew their cover. It could've been any one of the other VKs, but they didn't talk to the Evil Queen that often. If they blew their cover, they surely got the short end of the deal by not getting anything in return.
After a few minutes, Evie's face lit up, the gears in her mind turning.
"Ok, I see the gears turning, but I hear no words coming out" Mal said, looking at Evie intently. The focus and attention of the group now fell on her.
"Captain Hook..." she whispered.
"What about Captain Hook?" Uma asked, trying to figure out where she was going with this.
"He saw Harry and me out there last night on the docks and we trashed his store. But, he was also drunk so he probably had no filter on his words and he told everyone that we were back. One of your pirates must have overheard him and tipped my mother off. That explains why they're only around this way and not anywhere else."
"Oh, so it's your fault that this whole thing is blown to shit" Uma said. At least she wouldn't be blamed for this disaster.
"It's no one's fault" Ben said, standing up. "We never thought that this would happen."
This statement struck a sour note with Evie. Did he really just say they didn't think something like this would happen?
"You didn't think this would happen?" she asked, annoyance painting the edges of her voice. "Did you forget all the times I pointed out that something bad was going to happen on this godforsaken dump?!"
"Evie, just calm down..." Jay said, standing up and holding out his hands, like he was approaching a wild animal.
"Calm down?! You expect me to be calm when my mother and a bunch of rift raft pirates are out there looking for us?!"
"What I'm still trying to figure out is what they're trying to accomplish" Mal interjected.
"Trust me, if the Evil Queen offered them something in return, they would've taken it. She probably told them that she had a way off the Isle and they latched onto it. It's how I got them in the first place when the trident incident happened" Uma said.
"I knew it. I knew something bad was happening and now it's coming back to bite us in the ass."
"If you knew something bad was going to happen, why did you ask us to come along and why did you agree with the plan in the first place?" Jay asked.
"I tried my best to talk Ben out of it that day, but he never bothered to listen to me. He found a way to shoot down every argument and fear I had about this place so that this would happen. I got backed up into a corner and had no choice but to accept it."
"Wait...are you saying that this is somehow Ben's fault?" Mal asked, her tone suggesting that Evie lose the train of thought she was on.
"No, I'm just saying that if we never agreed to this, our lives wouldn't be in jeopardy right now, so give it up for the dumbass King who once again put us in danger with his poorly thought-out decisions."
With a throw of her hands, she strutted down the stairs and walked right out the castle, leaving the others confused and upset. Harry moved off his place from the wall to follow after her, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't. You've been there enough times. I think I can handle this better" Mal said. Harry gave her a look that told her he was grateful. They may have their differences, but they both loved the blue-haired princess.
"Just make sure she's alright" he mumbled.
"Cross my heart" Mal replied, squeezing his shoulder and heading down the stairs, hoping Evie wasn't that far ahead of her.
"Tell her I'm sorry for all of this!" Ben hollered before Mal left the store.
She didn't know how long she had been walking, but she knew it had been a while since her feet were starting to hurt her. She begrudgingly took a page out of Uma's book and slipped her shoes off, walking through the grungy streets barefoot. She could've sworn a blister was starting to form on her left foot, but she could care less about the pain. Talk about a barefoot Cinderella.
Before long, she knew where her feet were leading her: Hell Hall. She didn't know why they were leading her this way, but she didn't question it. She just had this strong, gravitation pull towards the Victorian mansion, or someone there. With a heavy sigh and a slip of her shoes back on her feet, she pushed on the iron gates, surprised to find them squeak and groan under her touch. She cracked the gates open just enough to slip through.
The dead trees loomed over her, even though it was still somewhat sunny outside. She could sense vultures staring at her as she passed by them, ready to swoop in and devour her. She navigated her way through the forest of dead trees until she reached the side of the house and followed it towards the backyard. The backyard was covered in weeds since Cruella never bothered to do any type of lawn maintenance or gardening. A few times, she had to stop and release her heel from a weed that had wrapped around it. She made her way to a lone tree in the center of the backyard with a ladder hanging from it. With an exasperated sigh, she climbed the ladder, huffing and puffing as she went. This was the most exercise she ever received in one day.
Carlos' tree house lab looked exactly like she remembered it almost a year ago. The television with fifteen antennas sat in the corner, now covered in a thick layer of dust. The glass jars, vials, and beakers filled with various liquids and substances still sat proud on the shelves that lined the tree house. Carlos was always a bit of a nerd back on the Isle and Evie could see why. The place was littered with technological gizmos and gadgets and the small collection of various chemistry and biology books that he had.
She turned her gaze up to stare at the ceiling and found the hole where he pierced the barrier with his battery core. Even the most powerful piece of magic was susceptible to the human invention of technology. She could picture what Fairy Godmother's reaction would be if she heard that a fifteen year old managed to break through her powerful magic.
"To be honest, I never thought you would be here" a feminine voice said from the entrance of the tree house.
Evie turned her gaze towards the entrance and found Mal standing there, her hip jutted out and a gloved, jeweled hand resting on it. Evie knew that only she and Carlos had any knowledge of this place, so she figured Mal must have followed behind her.
Mal spun around in a circle, taking in the various sights and trinkets that were present. Her gaze worked its way towards the hole in the ceiling. "So, this is where it all started huh?"
Evie moved to stand by her and looked up back at it. "Yep. The start of the rest of our lives" she said with a nostalgic sigh.
Everything seemed so much simpler back then. She didn't have to worry about pleasing customers, making sure homework was turned in on time, or making sure she was well behaved. She could run rampant through the streets without a care in the world. Everything was open for the taking.
"Do you miss it?" Evie asked out loud.
"Miss what?" Mal asked right back, looking at her friend quizzically.
"How much simpler everything was? No rules, no responsibility, nothing to fear at all?"
Mal shrugged her shoulders and gave her friend a sigh. "Sometimes. There are still days I just want to pack everything up, run back here, and leave my royal life behind."
"What's stopping you then?"
"I don't know to be honest. There's so many reasons to stay. You guys, Ben, the crown, the fear of this place."
Evie looked at her friend with a stunned expression on her face. This was the first time she ever heard Mal admit that she was fearful of this place. The daughter of the most feared villain was afraid of her own territory. That is like Ms. Potts making a terrible meal: an absurd thought.
"You…fearful of this place?" Evie asked, a sarcastic scoff making its way out of her mouth.
"Don't act so surprised. I may be a villain's daughter, but I can make one hell of an actress."
Evie rolled her eyes and gave her a small, amused smile. Mal was always good at cracking a joke or two during tense and dark situations, and Evie was grateful for her in this moment.
"Look, E. You may not believe it, but I do know what's going on through your mind right now, and trust me, you have every reason to have those thoughts."
Evie was trying hard to not break down at this moment. She knew what Mal said about being courageous and brave, and she couldn't let her emotions betray her, even though she was downright terrified right now.
"I'm just scared of what she'll do" she said, her voice soft and quiet.
Mal placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and rubbed it. "I know. Believe me, I was there." She removed her hand and started to tour all the various gadgets on an un-level table against the far wall. Some peaked her interest, making her pick them up and examine them intently.
"I know what it's like to be afraid of your mother. I know what it's like to come home at the end of the day and tell her what you did only to have her disappointment spat right back in your face. God knows my mother was horrible when you told her you failed to do what she asked."
When she thought about it, they were both in the same boat. Mal had all these expectations and these plans thrusted on her at a young age, and when she failed to meet them, it meant punishments and lectures from Maleficent. But now, the roles were reversed. Now, it was Evie afraid to see her mother after failing to follow through on their plans. She went against everything her mother taught her. She wasn't in love with a prince, and she turned her back on evil. Her mother had perfect motivation at this point for revenge and punishment.
"How did you deal with it?" Evie asked, her voice becoming stronger.
"I just decided to not let her rule my life or allow myself to be afraid of her" Mal said nonchalantly. "Our mothers may have been rulers of this place, but at the end of the day, they were just another human being that had no real power over here. It was all empty threats and big talk. But as long as we don't turn into submissive subjects, they can't affect us in anyway."
Mal worked her way back over to Evie and gently placed both hands on her shoulders, drawing her attention and focus.
"You are not going through this alone. We're all afraid right now to some degree. We don't know what will happen, but we'll get through it. Because we're better together."
Evie's lips started to twitch into a smile. "Stronger side by side." Mal gave her a grin and pulled her in for a hug.
"You're an amazing sister" Evie whispered in her ear.
"I know" Mal said, causing Evie to laugh. "By the way, Ben wanted me to tell you that he's sorry for putting you in this position."
Evie brushed off the statement with her gloved hand. "Don't worry about it. I wanted this as much as he did. It was all stuff said in the heat of the moment."
They released their hug and proceeded down the ladder and into the weed-filled backyard. They slipped through the gates and headed down the road. The sun was becoming lower in the sky, and it wouldn't be long until the sun set and darkness clouded their vision. Darkness on the Isle was the perfect time for mischief and mayhem.
"Hey, what do you think they'll have for dinner tonight?" Mal asked, turning to the side where Evie was, or so she thought.
"Evie?" she called out, looking around the surrounding area. No one was out on the road except her, and the only place of interest was Castle Across the Way. Mal gazed up at it, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up and her heart rate to pick up. She may be one of the most feared on this godforsaken place, but she knew she was in trouble at this point, and she had a feeling that the trouble was coming from the Gothic castle.
"Evie, if this is a prank, it's not funny" she called out to the empty void around her. But then she remembered that Evie never pulled a prank in her life. Her mother always thought pranks were petty and unnecessary as they distracted oneself from the overall picture: the prince and the mother-in-law wing with lots and lots of mirrors.
"Oh shit…" she whispered out, realizing what had happened. Her feet picked up their pace into a full-out run back to the center of town, her purple hair flying behind her. She burst through the shop door and ran up the stairs, the sound alerting those above to her presence. She bent over at the top of the stairs trying to catch her breath and make up for all the oxygen she just lost.
"What happened with you?" Ben asked, concern etched on his face.
"Where's Evie?" Harry asked, peering down the stairs to see if she was making a grand entrance.
"Evie…Evie's been…Evie's been taken."