Chapter Twenty One

A/N: I do not own anything with the exception of my OCs. Everything else either belongs to Disney or the Greek Myths.

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Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Mal sighed as she crossed out yet another design for her tags. Ever since she had gotten the spray paint and a proper sketch book from Steph, she had been trying to design tags for her crew to put on the buildings on Hades' side of the Isle.

After all, how were the other gangs supposed to know who's territory they were entering without them?

She winced as she shifted and accidentally brushed the bruise she knew was on her left leg. Maleficent had finally found out that she was staying at Hades' most of the time. It was safe to say her reaction wasn't pretty.

"Mal!"

"Yes mother?" Mal said, trying to keep her voice calm but knew it was no use. Maleficent was clearly angry about something and Mal was about to pay the price.

"The goblins had some interesting news this morning," Maleficent stated, stalking toward her daughter. "Would you care to guess what it was?"

"Something idiotic as it always is?" Mal asked, trying to not show any fear. Fear was the enemy when it came to facing off against Maleficent. Mal may have only been six but it had been something she'd known for a while.

"Normally that would be an acceptable answer but not this time," Maleficent hissed. "They told me that you've been seen multiple times on that so called God's side of the Isle, near the Underworld. Why?"

Mal swallowed to try to remove the pit in the back of her throat. She had figured that Maleficent would find out, she just didn't think it would be so soon. "Am I not allowed to spend time with my father, mother?"

That had been the wrong thing to say as Mal had been met by the back of Maleficent's hand, but it was light compared to what might have occurred if Mal had said she was Hades' errand rat. The slap had been so powerful that Mal had been knocked down from the force. She bit her lip to keep the tears prickling in the corners of her eyes at bay.

Her father might have said that no one was going to judge her for crying but she knew crying would only make Maleficent madder. The dragon may not have had her powers but Maleficent didn't need magic to make Mal's life a living hell.

"Your…that weakling is nothing but trouble. You honestly think he cares about you? All he's waiting for is a chance to destroy what we've built! Remember Mal, he walked out and never looked back."

"But, mother, he and Steph seem to really—"

Mentioning Steph seemed to be another mistake, as Mal quickly learned due to the scepter hitting her leg. Mal bit her lip again to make sure no tears slipped out—there was a reason most of the Isle kids had numerous sayings about the importance of not crying. You cry, you die was the most popular, and was the most likely to ring true.

"Do you think I care about that tart? The so called Goddess who thinks she's better than the Isle her family helped create? All she's waiting for is a chance to have a child with Hades."

The one thing Maleficent could claim that Steph could not, Mal thought. However, Mal knew that wasn't the case anymore. Steph was pregnant with Mal's sister. Oh sure there was no way of knowing until the baby was born but Mal just knew she was getting a sister.

After all Harry had a little sister. Uma had a little sister since Celia had been born a couple weeks prior. Jay didn't have a sister but he had a cousin—Jade. They weren't exactly the closest but family still meant something on the Isle. Hell, Freddy boy of all people had a sister—granted Claudine was the most timid thing known to man but she was still his sister.

Honestly, there were times Mal wondered how people like Claudine and DeVil survived on the Isle being as timid as they were. Granted DeVil at least had an excuse, being about four or so.

Maleficent had resumed ranting about Persephone and Hades and their lack of a 'true' child. Mal had taken the opportunity to back out of the room. She may have been six but she wasn't an idiot. Persephone was safely off the Isle but that didn't mean Mal should blab to Maleficent.

After all, Persephone would be back at some point and the last thing Mal's sister needed was Maleficent on her case. Of course, even if that happened, Mal would be there to protect the little Cerberus pup.

"Hey," Uma said, bringing Mal out of her thoughts as her cousin walked up the stairs and into the clubhouse.

"Hey," Mal said with a nod, looking up at the teal haired girl. "Thought you'd be at your dad's?"

Uma shook her head. "Celia won't stop crying ever since Lady Tremaine dropped her off, insisting having her lowered Anastasia's chances at a favorable partnership. I told you the whelp would be useless."

"You know if anyone but you called her a 'whelp', they'd need to be fished out of the harbor." Mal said, ducking her head back down to get back to work on the tag, starting a new attempt at a sketch. Honestly, she didn't really care about Lady Tremaine's opinion on Anastasia's partner—everyone on the Isle knew about how the older woman had practically shoved the red head toward Ratcliffe who then left her high and dry after Anthony was born.

Not that it bothered the young Tremaine boy. No, if Mal had to hear him insist people call him 'Lord Tremaine' one more time…well let's just say Blueberry was going to get a break from being their smoke bomb target for a while.

"Of course! Only I get to complain about my sister!" Uma said as she plopped on the bed next to Mal. "Whatcha sketching?"

"A tag design for our territory," Mal said, glaring slightly in annoyance as the bounce from the mattress made her pencil slip and caused her to have to reach for the eraser. "Freddy boy and his crew keep invading and while we can take him, I'd rather he have a visual of who's territory he's in. Put the fear of the god he keeps touting in him before we crush him."

"Just Uncle Hades' side of the Isle?" Uma asked. "You'd think you'd want to do one for Maleficent's side too. After all Blueberry's on that side of the Isle and Jay's dad is in Maleficent's gang."

Mal flipped to a previous page and tore it out of her sketch book to show it to Uma. "Maleficent's side was easy. Just do her outline and green flames with something about evil. Play up her ego, stuff like that. I've got one for Jafar too—his is a bit more fun. I've got a red genie and then I've also got a giant snake."

"So what's the issue with the tag for Uncle Hades' side?" Uma asked, setting the page Mal handed her to the side.

"I don't know if I want to go with blue flames or a Cerberus," Mal sighed, leaning over to pet Estelle who had looked up upon Mal mentioning the word 'Cerberus'. "Plus I can't really use anything about evil. Dad's not evil. He's…he's more of an anti-hero than anything else. At least compared to the villains around here."

"Mal, Uncle Hades stole a baby and tried to then kill said baby."

"Scar killed his brother, Evil Queen poisoned Snow White, Maleficent had originally cursed Aurora to die and we're supposed to be hot and bothered because my dad had his minions steal a baby and couldn't even properly finish the job? As for his deal with Jerkules, it's what my dad does. Not to mention he kept his side of the deal—twenty four hours without powers, if nut-Meg got hurt it was null and void. Meanwhile, Wonderbreath makes the deal to stay in the Underworld if he can save Meg. Where is he now? In Boreadon, not looming around here."

Uma paused and then nodded. "Good point. Uncle Hades may be one of the more powerful villains on the Isle but he's not the most evil."

"Exactly," Mal nodded. "If dad was evil, like Maleficent levels of evil, I don't think he'd put up with Virgil as much as he does."

"Your dad really is loyal to his minions," Uma nodded. "Like my mom is to Flotsam and Jetsam."

"I swear if you start calling Celia your little 'poopsie' I've lost all respect for you as my cousin."

"If that happens Mal, just chuck me off the Isle to Boreadon because I've clearly become a prissy pink princess pondering for my pampered prince."

"Nice wordplay there."

"It was nice wasn't it?"

The two girls chuckled and Mal shook her head. "I guess you could say dad's ruthless. He did spend eighteen years working toward one goal, not caring who got hurt along the way—even his own family."

"But like you said, he's loyal. To his minions at least and his kid," Uma said with a smile as she nudged Mal's shoulder.

"Hey! No nudging while the pencil is on the sketch pad!"

"I nudged your left shoulder! You're right handed!"

"That's still nudging!"

Uma shook her head and leaned forward to pet Estelle who was curled up by the girls' feet.

"How's Aunt Steph doing?" Uma asked, scratching Estelle behind the ears. "She's in Boreadon right now right?"

"Yeah," Mal nodded. "She says she's doing okay. Honestly, after the constant nausea she had at the beginning, I don't know how it could be worse. If Uncle Zeus could give birth to Athena then how bad could it be?"

Uma chuckled. "From the swear words I learned when Celia was born, it's no high tide."

"Anastasia's a mortal though. Steph's a Goddess. Besides Harry says worse than anything Anastasia could say."

"A Goddess that will be on the Isle that's surrounded by a magical barrier."

"She still has full access to her powers though."

"She's the Goddess of Vegetation. What good would her powers do her here?"

Mal shrugged. She was trying to look on the positive, to try to ignore the voice in her head that sounded like Maleficent.

Everything is going to change once the baby's born. Your weakling of a father can only devote so much of his attention to one child—which one do you think it's going to be? The one who's fully a God or the one who's half the woman he hates?

"Ruthless yet loyal."

"Huh?" Mal asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts and looking over at Uma.

"That could be the words for your tag on Uncle Hades' side of the Isle. Ruthless yet loyal."

Mal nodded. "I like it—it fits dad almost too well. But what about the image?"

"Why not both?" Uma asked. "A Cerberus surrounded by blue flames? That way, it's similar to Maleficent's."

Mal nodded before sighing. "Except the moment I spray this, I'll be announcing to the Isle that I'm dad's daughter. He doesn't want me dealing with the target it could put on my back hence why you, Jay, and Harry are the only ones who know."

Uma was quiet for a moment. It was a real conundrum since they needed a way to keep the other gangs out of their territory but the villains of the Isle weren't dumb. Well maybe Gaston was but others weren't. They'd be able to connect Mal walking around with a Cerberus to her spraying a tag with blue flames and a Cerberus on it.

"Teach me."

"What?"

"Teach me how to spray paint," Uma said. "That way, I'll do the tag. Everyone knows my mom is Uncle Hades' niece. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch if people saw me spray painting a tag with Uncle Hades' logo on it."

"I don't know Uma," Mal said as she bit her lip. She wasn't going to lie, she liked the idea of spray painting being her thing. Art may have been toeing the line at being something a prissy pink Boreadon princess would be into but Mal couldn't help it. She loved sketching and drawing and spray painting….it felt good being decent at something that wasn't evil.

She could never say that out loud though. She may only be six but she knew the score on the Isle. Besides, she was seen as Maleficent's daughter—and Maleficent would never be caught dead with a sketch book in her hands.

"I'm not going to steal your thing if that's what you're worried about," Uma said, rolling her eyes and not for the first time since Mal had known Uma the purple haired girl was left wondering if her cousin could read minds. "You can keep graffitiing random stuff all over the Isle and sketching to your heart's content. Heck you can even spray paint another tag—maybe an octopus with the words 'we roll with the tide' near the docks just as another reminder for Freddy boy. But you're the one worried about people finding out about you being Uncle Hades' daughter. This is a win win—we get the tag up there and no one finds out."

Mal sighed. "Sometimes I really hate it when you're right."

"Really? I kinda like it."

"Of course you do," Mal chuckled as she put the torn out page back in her sketchbook, closed it, and hid it under the mattress. She had another book in her room in the Underworld but it wasn't worth the risk of carrying the sketchbook in the open.

Oh sure she might be able to play it off like it was a spell book the first time someone caught her with it. But as mentioned before, the villains of the Isle weren't dumb. If word got back to Maleficent or the dragon caught her with the sketch book…well Mal knew what would happen. The sketchbook would probably be turned to ash and Mal would be taught another 'lesson'.

Thankfully, no one but her crew, Steph and her dad knew about the clubhouse so she knew her sketchbook was safe.

"I'm serious Mali. Teach me. We can do it at Uncle Hades so no one needs to know it's your design."

"I already said yes, stop pressing."

"Sometimes you can never tell with you." Uma said as they got up. "Are we doing it now or…?"

"Well we can do it today but I figured while we're here, we'd get a sparring match in," Mal said with a smirk.

"Oh so you feel like losing today?"

"Hey, you're sleep deprived. I think I could actually win this time!"

"Ha! In your dreams, cuz!"

"At least I'm getting dreams!"

"Not for long. Once Aunt Steph has her baby, you'll be joining me in the lack of sleep club."

Mal chuckled and tossed Uma her sheathed sword. "Just draw your sword Uma. The sooner you do, the sooner you can lose and the sooner I'll be able to teach you how to spray paint."

Uma chuckled and unsheathed her sword just as Mal did the same. The two cousins smirked before the sound of clanging steel broke the silence. This was how Harry and Jay found them about half an hour later, still going strong.

"Why am I not surprised?" Harry asked, shaking his head.

"Because you know our captains well," Jay chuckled. "I'd say we should spar too but then we run the risk of running into them."

Harry nodded. They all knew it was better to start two spars at the same time—that way each of them could have their own area and not risk bumping into each other.

Having to explain an injury they got from sparring to their parents would not be fun.

"You meet your dad's quota?" Harry muttered and Jay nodded.

"Just barely," Jay muttered back. "But I still made it."

"Good. You know I'd have snuck you onto the ship if Jafar locked you out of the house again."

"Thanks Harry but I would have just come to the clubhouse. The weather hasn't been too bad and you or Uma would have probably been here anyway."

Mal normally would have been at the clubhouse too but ever since she revealed the news about her father, she'd been spending her nights in the Underworld—or her once a week night at Maleficent's.

Jay frowned as he noticed the mark on Mal's face. "Harry, is that a trick of the light or—"

"No, I see it too Jay."

"Who do you think—?"

"Who do you think is brave enough to slap the girl the Isle knows as Maleficent's daughter? Maleficent. Yesterday was Mal's 'appearance' day after all. The dragon must have finally caught on that Mal's been spending her time around Lord Hades."

"But Mal's been Lord Hades' errand rat for at least a year."

"Maleficent isn't the most attentive of mothers," Harry muttered before sighing. "Hey, are…are you going to be okay? This week…"

"I'll be fine Harry," Jay sighed. They were coming up on the three year anniversary of his mother's death. Jay wasn't sure how Harry knew but assumed Mal had told them at some point once Jay joined the crew. "I'll probably be spending a lot more time around the clubhouse though. Dad seems to get worse around this time of the year."

Harry nodded. "Captain papa's the same. Though Harriet always makes a fuss because it's also the little runt's birthday."

Jay nodded. Harry did not care for his little sister—though Jay knew that if anyone else said anything about CJ or went after her, Harry'd be the first one leading the charge to defend the younger girl.

Their families may have been horrible but they were still blood.

The sound of a sword crashing to the ground broke the silence and the two boys looked in shock as Uma stood empty handed.

"I won?" Mal gasped but then laughed as the realization sunk in. "I won!"

"You got lucky," Uma scoffed but with a small smile on her face. "If I wasn't sleep deprived from the whelp—"

"All's fair in sparring Uma," Jay chuckled as he walked up. "Congrats Mal."

"Thanks Jay," Mal said as she put away the sword. "But I can still beat you all the way to Boreadon and back."

"Hey I've gotten better!"

"Jay, Celia could probably beat you and she can't even walk yet!" Mal chuckled. "Heck, Steph's baby could probably beat you."

"Okay, I'm not that bad! I've beaten you a couple of times and I've come close to beating Harry!"

"Close is not a win," Harry chuckled. "Ah don't feel bad Jay. We've got more experience than you is all."

"Which considering you're a year older than us is not something we get to say often," Mal chuckled. "What are you two doing here? I thought you'd be out putting the fear of the Gods in Freddy boy and his Angels?"

"Well we did. Then we got bored and wanted to see where our captains were," Harry said. "At first we thought you'd be out pelting Blueberry with some more smoke bombs—"

"But there were no ear piercing shrieks so we dismissed that about fifteen minutes after we came up with it," Jay chuckled. "So the next option was to come here."

"Want to go grab a bite at Lord Hades'?" Harry asked. "I think Smee's working today."

"I don't know Harry," Mal said with a sigh. "The Boreadon shipment is late. Again. I wouldn't want to cause dad to run low on supplies that could help feed other kids."

"What if we all share an order?" Uma suggested. "That way, we're not taking up the wares and we still get something to eat."

"What about your—"

"I'm your cousin. We can do that any day."

Mal nodded. "Well, if we're all good with sharing a dish, I'm down with grabbing a bite at my dad's."

"Great!" Jay grinned and Mal grabbed Estelle, hooking the leash back on him. The crew quickly made their way to the restaurant, the girls slightly ahead of the boys as Harry and Jay kept an eye out for any possible attackers.

They may have only been six and seven but they would still protect their captains. They were loyal to their core after all.