A/N: If you are reading this, then you have obviously watched Disney's Descendants. The continuity errors aside, I enjoyed the movie. When this idea first struck me, moments after the movie ended, I knew I had to start writing it down. After some time away, I've come to the realization that this needs some work. I have rewritten and reorganized the story, and I hope you enjoy this 'Version2' as much as the first! Read & Review, please.

P.S., I am not meaning to bash/villainize any Disney hero or heroine. I will preface this story by saying that Belle and Beast/Adam are my favorite Disney royals and always have been. Enjoy!

P.P.S., each chapter title is in reference to a segment or a song from a segment of the Magic Kingdom's nightly firework show Happily Ever After.

P.P.P.S., ALERT: MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER! THE ISLE OF THE LOST IS A DARK AND DANGEROUS PLACE!

Can I Say Something Crazy?

Wednesday morning dawned bright and golden. Evie woke in her room and spent a few extra moments just letting the past few days sink really sink in for her. She was off the Isle of the Lost for good, and she was meeting with the King and Queen of Auradon for breakfast. Of course, she had also had dinner with them on her first night there, and they had been amongst the group that had rushed to Rose and Jay's room the night before when the alerts went off that they'd left the castle grounds.

While the happy thoughts swirled around in her mind, the worried ones crept upon her as well. Dizzy, though she was happy to know was safely ensconced inside the cottage with Gabriel, Harry, and Ari, was in danger because CJ Hook knew how much she meant to all of them. Harry had been forced to hide from the children that had become his purpose for being thanks to his sister's drunken rampage, but Evie didn't blame CJ, not entirely. She knew well enough who was really to blame. Maleficent had told everyone on the Isle about her plans for the teenagers to steal Fairy Godmother's wand for her, and CJ had been easily enraptured by every word the wicked faerie spoke. Evie herself had learned long ago to never take Maleficent's word at face value, the sheer number of times Mal had nearly been killed by her mother serving as all the proof the young witch needed, but she knew that not everyone could see through the so-called Queen of the Isle the way she could. She had never once even contemplated going along with Maleficent's plan, but she deeply regretted disappointing her mother.

Evie was never supposed to have been born, she knew this to be a fact. Her mother had conceived her shortly before her father's death. It had been an unexpected and sudden demise for the Good King Hansel of the Summerlands, and Grimhilde had not been prepared to raise a little girl and an infant at the same time. She had used every spell and potion at her disposal to stall her pregnancy for fifteen years before the villains were locked up on the Isle with their access to magic severely limited. Without potions and spells to continue suspending or eventually terminating her pregnancy, she'd had no choice but to have Evie once her limited stock she'd been able to bring with her had run out over a year into her confinement. Most people thought that Evie was short for Evilette, her mother's pet name for her, but it wasn't anything even remotely related. Her mother had named her Evangeline, a name meaning "Of good news," as Evie was one of thee last things Grimhilde had of her late husband. Her middle name, Adriana, was a nod to her sister as one of its meanings happened to be "dark," and she happened to share Snow White's ebony locks. Evie had only had Dizzy dye it blue to make herself look less like her sister before anyone's suspicions could be raised as to her father's identity. All in all, Evie was well aware that Grimhilde had honestly done what she thought was best in raising her and did actually love her. She loved her mother as well, but she knew how dangerous her mother could be. Her grandmother, Corynna, had been just as jealous of Grimhilde as Evie knew her mother still was of Snow White, and her jealousy tended to set off her more violent tendencies. She had still been alive when Grimhilde had been forced to move to the Isle, and she hadn't died until Evie was almost eight, so she had some memories of the harsh old woman who had lived with them. Giagiá Cora had tried instilling the same jealous-heart in Evie, but Ben had put a stop to that the very day that he'd snuck Doug Kurzmann through the enchanted mirror so that they'd still have equal teams for the games they used to play whenever Jay had to help Jafar with the shop and couldn't sneak away to the cottage.

Doug was, so long as Evie was being honest with her subconscious as she lay in bed that morning, one of the first people who didn't immediately think her bad because of her mother. Even her family, then just friends, had had their own opinions of her when they'd first met. Of course, they'd all thought that everyone on the Isle was bad. Doug hadn't, not one bit, and it still made Evie smile. He'd shrugged off who her mother was and told her that she'd been raised by the same woman who'd raised his godmother. His godmother happened to be Snow White, and she had been wondering ever since that day what Doug would say when he found out that she and Snow shared a father. Letting out a contented sigh, Evie stretched in her bed before getting up to get ready for the day.

On the opposite side of the castle, Carlos woke in a similar, pensive state to Evie and stared at his ceiling as varying scenarios played through his head. His father had only been just a few years older than Ben and Jay were now when Cruella had locked onto him while he was repairing things on the Isle; it was her own actions that had caused the goblins to take over maintenance work, as Adam had pulled all human contractors from the Isle after getting the report from Carlos' father's case. Chances were high that the man would want nothing to do with his son, and Carlos was prepared to accept this. He had gone fourteen years without his dad, so he could manage the rest of his life without him just fine. It was if his father did want a relationship with him that scared the youngest VK more than anything.

How was he supposed to respond to having something he'd never had before without completely freaking out at every turn? The closest that he'd personally had to a father during his childhood had been Hades and Captain Hook, but he was always firmly in the category of being their kids' friend who just needed a little guidance occasionally. His main male role models had been Ben and Jay for as long as he could remember, and he hadn't put much thought into his own father until the year before when Cruella had finally told him the truth.

Anthony Tremaine had been terrorizing the marketplace with a more than slightly tipsy CJ Hook, and the older boy had begun spouting off derogatory statements at anyone who got in his way. Carlos had gone to the market with Evie and Dizzy to act as their pack mule to haul all of their fabric finds back to the cottage, and Anthony had, as expected, attempted to accost them in the street. When he'd grabbed ahold of Evie's bottom, Carlos reared back and punched the wicked step-nephew in the face. He'd asked Anthony where he'd learned to treat women in such a manner, and Anthony had merely told Carlos that Cruella had used similar tactics to ensure her son's birth, so he should run home and ask his mother. Carlos punched him once more before rushing back to the cottage with the girls and their fabrics. Once Rose and Mal had gotten him calm, and had convinced the two older boys to not do what they'd been threatening to do by skinning Anthony Tremaine alive, Carlos went back to Hell Hall and confronted Cruella.

For all her years of lying about how much she'd loved his father, Carlos had found Cruella to not care about anything more than ensuring that she had an heir to carry on her legacy in the way that Maleficent, Grimhilde, Jafar, Ursula, Captain Hook, and Gaston all had done before her. Carlos had asked for his father's name, thanked his mother once she'd given it to him, and swiftly returned to the cottage to research the man he now knew had contributed to half of his DNA. His father was brilliant, and he had clearly passed on his intelligence and gift with technology to his son. Carlos had quickly become eager for the day that he'd go to Auradon and meet his father in person.

Being this close, however, the teenager was starting to second guess himself. Laying in bed, Rose's words from the night before they'd all left the Isle came back to him. It didn't matter if his father didn't want him, she had said, because he would always have Ben, Mal, Evie, Jay, and herself at minimum. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself out of bed and padded over to his closet to pick out an outfit for the day. He did have breakfast with the King and Queen of Auradon that morning, after all.

Arriving at breakfast together, Carlos and Evie were equally surprised to find that the other four teens in their family were missing. Belle and Adam sat at the table, talking quietly to one another, and the table was laden with food. As the two teens neared the table, the king and queen looked up and smiled.

"Where's everybody else?" Carlos asked tentatively.

"Ben and Mal are having breakfast with Audrey, and Jay and Rose are with hers and Ben's Granny; it's fine, though, as this was really more so about the two of you than them." Belle told them.

"Are we in trouble?" Evie asked, her worry not masked as well as she'd hoped.

"Oh, no, no one's in trouble. We actually asked you here to give you some good news." Adam said with a grin. "We've contacted your families here on this side of the barrier, and everything's going good."

"Really?" the two teens chorused.

"Yes, really." Bell affirmed. "Snow White and Florian would like to have dinner with you on Friday, Evie, after the Tourney match."

"Your father, though he was shocked to find out about you at first, has made a similar request, Carlos, and he knows that you're on the team. He isn't sure if he'll be at the match, still a bit nervous about being a father, but he wants to meet with you afterwards." Adam added, and both teens beamed.

After breakfast, it was time for the first class of the morning. For Evie, this meant she was headed to History of the United States of Auradon with Professor Cogsworth and his incredibly accurate internal clock that made the bell null and void. As always, Evie slid into the seat that Doug had saved for her and greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Evie." Doug said, adjusting his books so that there was room for hers on the shared desk.

"Good morning, Doug." she chirped, and he chuckled.

"Someone's in a good mood today. Did you finish a new outfit last night?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"I had breakfast with Adam and Belle this morning. My sister and brother-in-law want to have dinner with me Friday night." she whispered, and he smiled at her.

"Seriously? Evie, that's amazing!" he remarked. "Are you ever going to tell me who your sister is?"

"Depending on how Friday goes, maybe." she told him just as Cogsworth made his way to the front of the room and cleared his throat.

The stout man began lecturing on how each state joined the Union, and Evie took detailed notes. Doug wrote swiftly on her right-hand side, and Chad Charming goofed off on her left. When Cogsworth's lecture reached the segment on the Summerlands, the blue haired girl's ears perked up and her focus was entirely on each word he said.

"It was during this time that the Summerlands underwent a massive change in leadership. Queen Grimhilde, who had held the throne ever since the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, the good King Hansel, had been overthrown by her stepdaughter, then Princess Snow White, and stepson-in-law, Prince Florian after the latter broke the sleeping spell on the former." the former clock lectured.

"'Sudden and unexpected'? I think we know how that happened." she heard Chad say to Prince Aziz of Agrabah, and she bit her tongue knowing better than to say anything in her mother's defense.

"Each of the Seven Dwarfs who helped Snow White during her banishment period were awarded with a dukedom in the Summerlands, and all of them maintain a close relationship with the now Queen Snow White to this very day. It was actually at the insistence of Grumpy, the Duke of Brash Hills, who advocated for his king and queen to join forces with King Adam and Queen Belle to fight the war against the villains and relocate them all to the Isle of the Lost, that the Summerlands agreed to become a part of the United States of Auradon at the war's end." Cogsworth droned on, and Chad started commenting again.

"It's no real wonder that they each got a position of power. What kind of woman moves into a house with seven men she doesn't know other than a common whore?" he said to Aziz, and Evie felt the tears spring up in her eyes at this.

"It should be of note, and will likely be on your test, that Queen Snow White and King Florian declined to rule Auradon after the war because the queen felt that she had too little experience to be a ruler due to her young age." Cogsworth continued.

"Can you believe that they used to start 'em out that young? She couldn't have been any older than Kitty, but she was already with seven guys? Grimhilde must've taught her something after all." Chad commented again, and this time was just too much for Evie to take.

She put her pen down, swallowed hard, and turned towards the pampered prince she knew was the step-cousin of her dear Dizzy. She intended to tell him where he could shove his opinions of her mother and sister, but no words would come when she opened her mouth to speak. Her eyes were shining with furious tears, but she couldn't put into words how she was feeling after hearing his comments. Someone else, however, was more articulate in that moment.

"Chad, shut your mouth before I have to shut it for you." Doug snapped, and everyone froze.

"Wow, Dougy, you're just as whipped as your old man." Chad replied, but Dopey's son was not backing down this time.

"My father is a good man, my mother is the only woman he's ever loved, and not one member of my family would look at a thirteen-year-old girl as a sex partner." Doug growled. "This has nothing to do with Evie, though I'm sure your running commentary has been aimed at her since you're just as jealous of Evie and the other VKs being Ben's friends as you are of your siblings for getting your parents' attention. Someone stopped paying attention to you for five minutes, so you have to make them cry, is that it? Shut up, or I will shut you up myself."

Chad smirked as he leaned in towards Evie, and the princess had the strong urge to backhand him while he was within reach. Unfortunately, she was busy keeping Doug behind her. Thus, the ponce of a prince was able to speak.

"I didn't think he'd be your type, not exactly a prince in line for any titles, but who you give it up to is your choice, I suppose. Could've had someone a little more, I dunno, princely if you catch my drift. I doubt you were the paragon of abstinence back on that little Isle of yours anyway, so what's the harm?" he said, and Evie couldn't keep the tears back this time, so she fled from the room instead.

Evie ran, no clear destination in mind, as Chad's words rang in her ears. He had no idea what the Isle was like, he had no idea how many innocents were raped and beaten each day in that hell-hole no matter how much her generation had tried putting a stop to it, and he had no idea what it was like for next to no one to see past your outer shell. She would never forget the day that Carlos found out about his own origins while protecting her from Anthony Tremaine, and she would never forget the day that Harry Hook and his father found her beaten black and blue behind Ursula's Fish and Chips after a near miss with Rick Ratcliffe the first time she'd tried going to the marketplace alone after hitting puberty. There had been a reason that Captain Hook was one of the most trusted adults on the Isle for their family, he often asked that they refer to him as Uncle Jimmy if they so wished, and his home was one of the safe havens for victims who needed a helping hand.

Memories flooding back to her, Evie came to a stop when she reached the rose garden. She made a mad dash for the gazebo and curled up on the sun-warmed bench just inside the wooden structure. She held the nearest throw pillow to her chest like a life preserver and sobbed. Moments later, she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see a rather worried Doug kneeling before her.

"You should know that nobody in that classroom agrees with Chad about what he said about you, your mom, or your sister. Everyone thinks that he's an ass for that, and Cogsworth gave him detention for two weeks." he told her softly, and she sniffled.

"How'd you know?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"To anyone who didn't know you as a kid and who didn't know Snow White so well, it's difficult to see. But me? I've always kinda known; it's your eyes, both of you. I never said anything to you because I didn't know if you knew. I wasn't sure until we talked a few weeks back about you being scared to leave Dizzy on the Isle with reduced protection." he admitted.

"Just because they think Chad's an ass for saying those things doesn't mean that no one else believes them, though." Evie said, but Doug shook his head.

"If they chose to believe Chad's asinine assholery, they're morons who don't deserve your time. No AK in their right mind knows a thing about the Isle outside of what we learn in class. I find it ironic that the one spewing the most bullshit about women on the Isle is the guy whose step-aunts are statistics on both ends of the Isle's spectrum, but it doesn't matter what he says. You've got your family, and you've got me, so who cares what the others think? If Chad steps out of line again, we can sick your brothers on him. I'll even bring the popcorn." he told her, and she actually giggled.

"You are an amazing man, Doug Kurzmann, and I don't want you to ever change." Evie told him before kissing his cheek.

"Wanna hear something even more amazing? I got Cogsworth to agree to email me his lecture notes so we can finish reviewing the lesson later." Doug said, and Evie let out a laugh as the two continued talking through the rest of the class period.

At lunch, Evie and Doug were met by a shared curious glance by their friends. It was apparent that news of their altercation with Chad had reached every corner of the student body. All six people at the table had varying degrees of worry behind their expressions, and Evie shrugged them off as she took her seat.

"E, are you okay?" Mal asked quietly.

"I had a good cry in the garden, and Doug talked me off the proverbial ledge. The comments won't matter if I don't let them." Evie answered. "I think I'll be okay."

Each one of them, Audrey included, let their gaze linger on Evie for a moment longer before turning back to their meals. While they ate, Carlos informed the others of what Belle and Adam had told him and Evie that morning. After the ordeal that Chad had started, the news was received with smiles, a few claps on the back for the youngest of their group, and a bout of genuinely happy congratulations for both Carlos and Evie.

"I hope he does make the game, bro, since you'll definitely be playing. With the amount of detentions Uncle Cogsworth gave Chad for the sh-stuff he said in class, he's not an eligible player for the final match." Ben said, editing himself when he remembered that he still had some semblance of an image to protect while in the crowded dining hall.

"I'm actually going to play Tourney on Friday? Is Auradon Prep really that desperate?" Carlos asked, and all three of the other males at the table stared at him.

"Yes." they chorused, and the girls rolled their eyes good-naturedly.

"We've lost to the Sherwood Academy Falcons for the last three years, and they're our main rivals. Every year, they win, and every year, it's at least a week's worth of 'Auradon Prep is just a bunch of pansy princes' until ROAR season kicks in and they get slaughtered." Audrey explained, barely looking up from her lunch as she spoke.

"Great!" Carlos drawled sarcastically.

"Hey, look at it this way, man. You've played on the Isle with Ben, Harry, Gil, and me enough times to not be completely useless, and you're usually pretty great about seeing the bigger picture that we usually miss in the heat of the moment." Jay said, and Carlos sighed.

"Just don't let me get squashed, deal?" he said to the two he considered as his brothers, and they gave him nearly identical grins.

"Deal!" they chorused, and the group fell into laughter just as Jane approached their table nervously.

"Hey, Ben, can I sit with you guys?" she asked timidly, and the crown prince nodded before motioning to the empty seat beside Carlos.

"Janey, is everything alright?" Audrey asked, years of knowing the fairy telling her that it was more than the VKs making her nervous.

"My mom's mad at me because of what Chad said to Evie and Doug." she whispered, and all of those at the table let out varying sounds of displeasure, Ben's growl being the loudest, and Carlos quickly noticed the glimmer of fear cross her face.

"Hey, none of us are here to scare you, Jane." he told her gently. "It's just that we don't think that your mom should hold you responsible for what Chad says or does."

"Carlos is right, sweetie, it's not your responsibility to control the moron." Evie added. "And about what he said during history class, not only is none of that true, but I also know better than to let myself continue to care about what people like him say."

"It's not that I don't agree with you all, because I do, but my mom just sees it as me not being good enough to live up to and carry on her legacy. The fact that I've had no formal training with my powers probable hasn't helped either." Jane said, and the trio of Isle girls shared a look.

"If you were being trained, would you tell anyone?" Evie asked.

"Tell anyone? No, I'm not stupid enough to do that. Everyone knows how taboo of a subject magical training is around here. Kids with magic are trained at home during school breaks by their parents, if at all, when they live in Auradon." the fairy said.

"Would you like to be trained?" Mal asked, and Jane's eyes grew wide.

"More than anything, yes." she said. "I don't know how to let my magic out, so it bottles up inside until I burst emotionally and magically. It's…messy."

"Meet the three of us in Evie's room tonight before dinner." Rose said simply, and Jane nodded before continuing on with her lunch.

When Jane finally made it to Evie's room later that day, she was met by the other three magical girls motioning for her to be quiet and follow them. They led her to the hall where Ben's office, his and Mal's room, and Rose and Jay's room all were, and they stopped outside Ben and Mal's door.

"Are you three sure that it's alright for us to be in Ben's room?" she asked nervously, and the three giggled before Mal opened the door with a flick of her wrist.

"Let's just say that Ben sleeps alone so seldom that he actually doesn't sleep much at all when he's alone." the faerie replied, motioning for the door to close itself once all four of them had passed through it.

"Mally, don't tease." Rose said with a roll of her eyes while planting herself on the lounge at the foot of the bed.

"Ignore her, she's just being a killjoy because she's worried about some friends back on the Isle." Mal said to Jane. "Now, what all do you know about magic?"

"Honestly, not a whole lot. I know that faeries, fairies, and pixies all originated from the same place but are very different beings. I also know that magic can sometimes bond two people's souls to one another if the pull between them is strong enough. Age doesn't usually matter, though, and I think the youngest bond I read about was between a couple in their late teens to early twenties." she answered, and Evie laughed before she could stop herself.

"May I present the new record holder, Mallory D'Arcy." she said with a chuckle as Mal stuck her tongue out at her.

"Wait, what?" Jane asked, and Rose sighed.

"What these two are getting at is that, while Jay and I were fourteen when we were bonded and had our blessing ceremony, Mal and Ben's bond first formed when they were six. It became fully formed six months ago, but it's been ten years in the making. As far as we know, they are actually the youngest bonded pair." the young enchantress explained, and the fairy girl gaped.

"Of course, the two of you share a room because you're pretty much married. That makes sense." she said after a moment, and the purple haired teen nodded.

"We don't even really hide it. We wear our rings all the time, and Ben prefers holding my hand if we're walking together." Mal pointed out, raising her left hand to show Jane her dragon ring.

"But, back to why we're here in the first place, what do you know about the fundamentals of magic?" Evie asked, and Jane thought for a moment.

"Every action must have clear intent behind it for it to work; magic itself is neither good nor bad, but the intent is always one or the other; and things done by magic can only be undone by magic with the exception of magical bonds." the fairy answered.

"Exactly." Rose said with a soft smile, not wanting to intimidate the younger girl as she began conjuring books. "With Evie being a witch, Mal being a faerie, and me being an enchantress, each of us can help you with something different."

"When we first started training together, each of us decided to write down our magical journey in a book. It's a mixture of spells, potions, curses, charms, and diary entries; if you want, you can read them and learn some of the theory that we've figured out by trial and error." Evie said, and Mal was quick to add her own comment.

"Just don't try out any of the spells without one of us present because some of these can be really dangerous." she said, confusing the fairy.

"Why would you need dangerous spells?" Jane asked, and the three shared a look.

"The Isle of the Lost…it isn't a nice place, especially for women and more petite men. People do what they have to do in order to survive, and most of the Isle is a war zone. Mini uprisings break out every so often, and it gets bloody. When one gets reported to the mainland, my parents and the council generally send aid; that's actually how Captain Hook's wife ended up on the Isle in the first place. She was an aid worker who got left behind on accident, and Uncle Jimmy saved her from several of Ratcliffe's men. She was lucky that he was there, and a lot of others aren't half as lucky as she was. The only ways to be completely safe is to either go out in groups or give people a reason to fear you." Mal explained, and Jane frowned.

"Why do I feel like I should know who Captain Hook's wife is?" she asked, and Rose answered.

"Probably because her two children from her first marriage are still trying to figure out what happened to her and have made hers the biggest missing persons case in Auradon." she said, the grief-stricken look on Harry's face the night he showed up at the cottage after his mother had died flashing in her mind. "Wendy Moira Angela Darling Hook died from pneumonia four years ago, and we couldn't even get anyone from Auradon to bring her back so she could be buried in the family plot."

Jane's jaw dropped, looking at the other three as if waiting for someone to deliver the punch line to what was obviously a joke. No one did, however, and the young fairy began realizing that it was the truth. She shook her head and looked at each of them, her blue orbs watery.

"Is there at least a cemetery on the Isle?" she finally asked quietly.

"Space is kind of at a premium, but we make do with what we have. My dad, I'm adopted because my mother is clinically insane and my father abandoned me, founded an underground mausoleum." Mal said. "It's protected from the elements, and no one can get inside without knowing exactly where the entrance is. We found that this prevents grave desecrations and robberies exponentially."

"As much as I don't think I could do it myself, I'm glad that you guys were there to protect at least a bit of the Isle." Jane said after soaking in what Mal had told her.

"Jane?" Rose called, and the fairy looked over at her. "Just read the books, and you can decide afterwards if you still want us to train you. If you do, we'll take you to our training grounds, protected from anyone not keyed into the spellwork warding the property, and train you there. This is entirely your decision, not your mother's or anyone else's, so take your time in making it."

"Okay, I will." Jane said with a nod. "If I can have them now, I'll drop the books off in my room on my way to dinner, and I'll see you guys there?"

"Oh, sure, take them." Evie insisted, pushing all three books into Jane's arms.

"We'll see you at dinner." Mal added.

"But, please, don't tell anyone outside of our group about this, about the Isle, or about Wendy." Rose said finally. "Ben's already working on a master plan, and we can't risk anyone finding out and deciding that he's not fit to be king. Chad's the next in line."

"My lips are sealed." Jane said before leaving the room, and the three followed soon after for dinner.

A/N: Hey, guys, so I decided to try something a little different for this chapter and I hope you all liked it! I don't feel like I've paid enough attention to Evie and Carlos in this story, and every character deserves to shine a little. For anyone who is interested, my Marvel fic over on AO3 is called Galaxy Brain and is under the name MoonWillow23, and I will continue bouncing back and forth between projects. Now that we're all home indefinitely, I hope to have more time to work on this story, and I have loads of ideas that need to be put to page! I hope you enjoyed this, I will try to update soon, and please write a review and hit that nifty little submit button!