Chapter Twenty Five
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths.
Well here we are, honestly it's hard to believe we've already gotten twenty five chapters under our belts! Kinda makes me excited to see where the next twenty five are going to take us.
Smh, guys! We're eleven reviews away from 600! I…I can't…thank you all so much! I didn't think we'd have that many reviews so quickly! To get to 600 reviews in 25 chapters is amazing!
darkpegasuzz: Oh thank you so much, I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
Tracie Adams: I'll try to do a double update but I want to try to maintain the rhythm of this story, Choosing Home, The Last Bridge in terms of updates.
Guest: So glad you enjoyed the chapter!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Yeah, she really is and of course Estelle's adorable! Ah but Ben wouldn't be Ben if he didn't have his books!
Katt Kiki: Oh those reactions are going to be intense to say the least.
Guest: I have to say I love that suggestion and I'll definitely see if I can implement it!
Guest: I want to say there's about six more chapters until that scene—and right now I'm leaning heavily on Esmeralda reading that chapter.
danifan3000: Well that's not really fair is it? That Auradon doesn't age while the Isle does!
Marcus Emrys: Ah but that would require Audrey to look past her inflated sense of self worth!
billyandkimfan1994: Yeah, Hadie's not really going to like it when that comes up.
LordsofDead: Oh dear Gods, I love this! I know I'm probably repeating myself but I love the one shots!
quil . theimperial: To be honest, I forgot about that scene too—it'd been so long since I wrote Choosing Family. Yeah, poor Hadie's going to have a shock when he realizes it's not just because Mal thought he was going to be a girl. Ah Freddy's ruin—this pleases me! :D
princess: So glad you liked the chapter!
Ghrumfwggrvjdafbhs: Glad you liked the chapter!
Anonymous Reader: Well for Demeter, I 'disneyfied' the relationships of the Greek Gods a little—at least the married ones—because the whole 'uncle/niece' thing weirded me out.
twilightgirl587: Leah really is lucky Estelle was only glaring though he wouldn't attack unless Leah attacked him. Do we really think having Maleficent there would be a good idea though? Jay was going to ask about why the driver thought it a good idea to scare the living crud out of the VKs when he took them to Audraon. Sabor is the leopard from Tarzan! :D
Dance love 2007: Thank you so much!
Urmimala Hazra: Yeah, he really will but I'm glad you liked the chapter!
jedblack1997: Oh I plan to! And to answer your question you sent in a PM (because I just realized I never responded) I am going to bring some more VKs into the story, I'm just waiting until they become more relevant to the story (like how I brought Uma in for the D2 reactions).
lilyflower101: In about six chapters in fact!
AthenaArtemis25: Oh thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Fangirlnerd001: Thank you!
LOST MUSES: Yeah I can definitely see Demeter being like that as well!
Roxas Itsuka: Yeah things will definitely be tense and I can see about having a reaction from the Charmings about Anastasia helping to deliver Hadie.
SapphireKiddTaeyeon: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!
Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Dizzy grinned as she reached forward and snagged a scroll.
"I think that thing might be as big as her," Mal muttered to Uma as the scroll became unfurled.
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.
"You know I can't wait to see your designs," Rowyn said. "Maybe someday we could collab on something?"
"Hmm, maybe," Mal nodded though she wasn't going to lie. There was a part of her that was oddly excited by the idea.
After all, how were the other gangs supposed to know who's territory they were entering without them?
"And how else do we annoy the hell out of Freddy?" Uma asked with a smirk.
She winced as she shifted and accidentally brushed the bruise she knew was on her left leg.
Persephone frowned. "Mal…how'd you get that?"
"I'm sure it's nothing," Demeter told her daughter, though she was tense too. Gods I hope that's just from roughhousing. After all, it does seem like they play rough on the Isle.
Maleficent had finally found out that she was staying at Hades' most of the time.
That can't be good, Elle thought as a knot began to form in her stomach.
It was safe to say her reaction wasn't pretty.
"I think that's obvious," Phillip Jr. muttered, looking worriedly at the scroll in Dizzy's hands.
"Mal!"
"Yes mother?" Mal said, trying to keep her voice calm but knew it was no use.
"Still a calm reaction was probably better in front of the Dragon than a scared one," Uma muttered.
Maleficent was clearly angry about something and Mal was about to pay the price.
"But…she can't really be angry that you're spending time with your father can she?" Jane asked.
"Maleficent once cursed a baby because she wasn't invited to a party," Mal stated. "What do you think?"
"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.
"Was it really a good idea to quip like that?" Lil' Shang asked.
"Insulting the goblins usually got her on a different tangent and I could have scurried out of there," Mal shrugged.
"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?"
"Because I'm looking to see if he has any weaknesses so we can take over his side of the Isle and truly rule it," Celia said.
"…where was she when this was going on?" Mal asked Uma.
"Being a baby. Literally."
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?"
"If she had her way? No," Hades muttered, his hands curled in slight fists as he listened.
That had been the wrong thing to say as Mal had been met by the back of Maleficent's hand,
"What?!" Persephone exclaimed as Demeter's eyes flashed in anger and Poseidon's hands curled into tight fists. And if anyone was paying attention, they'd have seen a dark look flash over Hera and Zeus' faces.
"Hades, you never told me—."
"Would you have wanted to know?" Hades asked, a low growl in his voice. He still wasn't happy about hearing Mal getting hurt, even if he'd gotten the chance to freak out about it.
but it was light compared to what might have occurred if Mal had said she was Hades' errand rat.
It was Ben's turn to have his hands curl into fists and Lonnie's eyes flashed dangerously. They knew they'd have no chance against Maleficent but…if they ever got the chance to go up against her…
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.
Carlos bit his lip, trying his best not to give Mal a sympathetic glance. He knew she'd see it as him thinking she was weak.
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.
"None of our parents really need magic if they wanted to make our lives hell," Jay muttered under his breath.
"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."
"That's a lie!" Macaria growled. "Uncle Hades walked out on you Maleficent but he never walked out on Mal!"
"But, mother, he and Steph seem to really—"
Oh honey, thank you for defending your father but not if it means you'll get hurt, Persephone thought as she chewed on her lip.
Mentioning Steph seemed to be another mistake, as Mal quickly learned due to the scepter hitting her leg.
Evie gasped, hiding her mouth with her hand to muffle the sound as to prevent Mal from thinking she was being pitied. She had always thought that Mal had it easier than the others, being Maleficent's kid.
Then again…she actively called Lady Persephone 'mom'. She may have been biologically Maleficent's but it was growing clear to Evie that the Mistress of All Evil was no mother.
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.
Survival of the fittest probably but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have the chance to cry if you're in pain, Lonnie thought; biting her lip to keep the tears from streaming down her face.
"Do you think I care about that tart?
"Oh the Dragon asked for it now," Jay muttered to Uma, seeing the look of hatred on Demeter's face.
"You think she'd let us watch her take the Dragon down?" Uma muttered back.
The so called Goddess who thinks she's better than the Isle her family helped create?
Hades sighed and gently pulled Persephone close to him, though it was harder than he thought considering Persephone was still holding Mal close to her.
"It's okay," Persephone whispered to Hades. "I don't let anything Maleficent says about me affect me."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Hades whispered back, kissing the top of her head.
All she's waiting for is a chance to have a child with Hades."
"That's you Maleficent, not me," Persephone growled, her fists clenched.
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.
Hadie chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint you there Mali."
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.
The logic's not far off there, Cinderella thought. Though…that poor girl, having Freddy as a brother.
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.
"You're two years younger than us?" Jane asked, looking over at Carlos who nodded slightly.
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.
"Good, get out of there!" Emma nodded.
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.
"That is a very good idea," Phillip Sr. muttered softly. The last thing he wanted to hear about was Mal getting hurt again because of 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.
Mal nodded, suppressing the pang of guilt that nestled in her stomach. She hadn't been there though. Not for several weeks. All because of her stupidity.
"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?"
Tiana couldn't help but smile at that. It was clear that Facilier really did care for his daughters.
"Facilier…Ursula…why?" Naveen muttered.
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.
"Wait…what?" Celia asked, looking over at Uma. "Anastasia's…she's my mom?"
Uma bit her lip as she nodded. "I'm…Lady Tremaine didn't want anyone to know and dad didn't want you getting hurt, Lia."
"Wait a minute, that means we're cousins!" Dizzy exclaimed with a grin. "Celia! We're just like Mal and Uma!"
Celia gave her best friend a small smile but Mal and Uma could tell that it didn't reach the little Shadowling's eyes. Then again, they understood. It was rare to know who both your parents were and she'd lived her whole life just thinking she only had a father.
I told you the whelp would be useless."
"Celia's not useless!" Dizzy exclaimed and Celia gave her another small smile. It was…it was hard to wrap her head around the fact that she knew who her mom was now.
Was this how Mal felt? And Uma? She thought, lightly biting her lip.
"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.
"Of course! Only siblings get to mess with their siblings," Neal stated.
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.
"He did what?" Cinderella exclaimed. Anastasia had always been the kinder of her stepsisters, actually offering her condolences when her father had passed. While she'd never forgive her for destroying her mother's dress, the strawberry blonde knew that her stepsister didn't deserve that.
"It's Ratcliffe," Uma shrugged. "The only reason Tremaine even shoved Anastasia in his path was because he was a governor and that was a title."
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.
"I think you guys did change targets for a bit there," Jay chuckled. "Ah Anthony. You know he never does realize when I steal his watch?"
"But you do it every time you see him," Mal pointed out.
"Exactly!"
"Of course! Only I get to complain about my sister!" Uma said as she plopped on the bed next to Mal. "Whatcha sketching?"
"See? Uma agrees with me!"
"No one said you were wrong Neal," Emma said with a chuckle.
"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.
"Ro, did you take over Mal's body there?" Rachel asked with a chuckle. Her sister had the same reaction if anyone caused her to mess up on a piece she was working on.
"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."
"Ah my favorite part of the day," Harry said with a smirk.
Phoebus shook his head. "I want to be surprised that the kid is like this every time we hear about him but I'm not."
"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."
"Oh ye of little faith," Mal said with a smirk. "You know I had a backup plan there."
Mal flipped to a previous page and tore it out of her sketch book to show it to Uma.
"…how? It was a composition notebook, do you know how hard it is to tear something out of one of those?" Rowyn exclaimed.
"Um, Ro, weren't you paying attention? Mal's using an actual sketchbook here," Rose pointed out.
"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."
Jay grinned. "Remember when we climbed on the roof so you could paint it?
"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'.
Estelle's right head looked over at Dizzy and gave her a doggy grin, the other two heads maintaining a watch on Leah.
"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."
"Um…so are we just going to ignore…?"
"Mal, Uncle Hades stole a baby and tried to then kill said baby."
"My point exactly!" Hyllus nodded.
"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?
"There's still the intent though," Hyllus pointed out.
"I should have known the grandson of the God of Law would bring up intent," Mal said, shaking her head.
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."
Hercules sighed—there was no denying the fact that Mal did have a point. He'd made a deal with Hades to save Meg and he hadn't upheld his end of the bargain.
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."
"Excuse me?!"
"Uncle Hades, you give free food to the Isle kids," Uma stated. "A truly evil person would have charged us extra."
"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."
Hades sighed. While he knew his daughter had a point, and he loved the fact that she was sticking up for him, he wished that she could have phrased that any other way. If only because there was a room of Auradonians smiling at him—he'd have to do something big to get the reputation of being a big bad villain of the Isle back.
"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."
"I actually forgot Ursula said that," Ariel said.
"To be fair, you were kinda out of earshot when that happened mom," Elle told her. "At least if our history textbook is accurate."
"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 alliteration," Ben said with a small smile.
"Nice wordplay there."
"It was nice wasn't it?"
"Yep, she's definitely related to me," Mal said, wrapping her arm over Uma's shoulders and giving her a smirk.
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."
Ah there we go. Thank you Mal, a nice boost to my rep, Hades thought even as he ignored the stabbing pang of guilt at that. It had been easy to ignore at the time that Zeus' bouncing baby brat was his nephew. But now?
"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!"
"She sounds just like Rowyn," Evan said with a chuckle.
"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.
"Okay did Rowyn and Robin learn how to take over people's bodies or something?" Ruby asked. "That sounded almost similar to some of the interactions I've heard from them!"
"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?"
"Oh the innocence of youth," Rapunzel said and shook her head.
"Blondie, you had an epidural with every—."
"Not with Rachel remember? She came so fast that the doctors said there wasn't time."
Uma chuckled. "From the swear words I learned when Celia was born, it's no high tide."
"You got that right," all the mothers in the room nodded—well except for Leah of course.
"Anastasia's a mortal though. Steph's a Goddess. Besides Harry says worse than anything Anastasia could say."
Milah shook her head. "No teaching your little sister those words."
"You're not mad that he could say the words?" Aurora asked.
"Why would I be?" Milah said, raising an eyebrow. "My husband was a pirate captain. They're not exactly known for their clean vocabulary. However, if CJ hasn't already learned those words I don't exactly want her knowing them."
"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?"
"There has to be a way to get something to grow over there," Ben muttered to himself.
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?
She…she has negative thoughts like that too? Carlos thought as he glanced at Mal. Mal's so confident though, it's hard to imagine her having thoughts like what…what run though my head at times.
You're so weak….worthless…ingrate…
"Ruthless yet loyal."
"Huh?" Mal asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts and looking over at Uma.
"The birth of our motto," Jay said, though his voice was soft as he looked over at Mal.
"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."
"I like it!" Hadie said with a grin, trying to get Mal's mind off of her past thoughts.
"Of course you do, storm cloud," Mal chuckled, pulling him close to her.
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."
"That's an excellent point," David said with a small sigh.
"Couldn't someone else spray the tags?" Snow asked.
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.
"Um…all of the villains?" Herkie asked.
Well maybe Gaston was but others weren't.
"Whenever the villains of the Isle are mentioned and we bring up their intelligence, it's safe to assume we're not talking about Gaston," Harry stated.
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's brilliant!" Ariel gasped, giving Uma a smile. "That way, you can still have the tags put up but Mal's secret remains safe."
Uma nodded slowly, more than a little taken aback at Ariel saying something she thought at six was brilliant.
"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."
"Even though your mom and Uncle Hades aren't exactly the closest?" Macaria asked.
Uma shrugged. "We're still blood and it's a relationship that everyone on the Isle knows and wouldn't question."
"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.
Ben looked over and gave Mal a small smile. I knew it! I knew she wasn't evil, that they weren't evil, he thought. All they need is someone to give them a chance!
"Art's not prissy though," Rowyn said, shaking her head. "You can do anything with art. Some of my favorite things to draw are the battles from our history textbooks after all."
"…that's an option?" Mal asked, looking intrigued despite herself.
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 sure she'd rather have a spell book," Audrey muttered.
"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.
"Well I mean…all Olympians can technically," Macaria said with a small smile.
"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.
"I thought it was 'we ride with the tide'?" Mal asked.
"It is," Uma nodded. "I couldn't read Gil's handwriting when he came up with it so I thought it said 'roll' instead of 'ride'."
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."
"That really is quite clever," Eric nodded.
Mal sighed. "Sometimes I really hate it when you're right."
"Really? I kinda like it."
"Of course you do," Jay said with a small chuckle.
"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.
Mal sighed. There hadn't been time for her to get that sketchbook from the Isle before she was carted off to Boreadon, and she doubted there'd be a way for her to get it back without someone looking through it.
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'.
"Do you really think anyone would question you again if you told them it was a spell book?" Jane asked, her voice growing meeker as Mal looked at her.
"Maleficent would have asked to see it," was the only thing the purple haired Godling said.
Thankfully, no one but her crew, Steph and her dad knew about the clubhouse so she knew her sketchbook was safe.
Persephone smiled, making a mental note to get the sketchbook from the clubhouse so she could bring it back to Mal.
"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."
"Oh Gods, it's Akiho and Ben!" Emir chuckled.
"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.
"Of course. Uma's Mal's sparring partner no matter what," Jay said, shaking his head fondly.
"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!"
Chad chuckled slightly and looked over at Ben. "Who does that sound like?"
"Will and Conner," Ben nodded with a grin.
"Who?" Jay asked.
"Our team mates," Emir told him.
"Not for long. Once Aunt Steph has her baby, you'll be joining me in the lack of sleep club."
Well…you weren't wrong there, Mal thought with a small sigh.
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."
"You know, I'm surprised there were any empty walls for Uma to learn," Jay said with a slight smirk.
"We practiced in the Underworld," Mal said.
"Specifically in the room that became my room," Uma added.
Poseidon looked over at Hades. "You gave her a room?"
"She was over so often, it just made sense," Hades said, shrugging slightly.
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.
"Half an hour?" Neal exclaimed.
Mal shrugged. "That's short for us. We've gone as long as three hours before."
"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.
"That's smart," Lonnie nodded. "Our R.O.A.R. team could learn to do that."
Having to explain an injury they got from sparring to their parents would not be fun.
"That would require them to care," Carlos muttered under his breath.
"You meet your dad's quota?" Harry muttered and Jay nodded.
"Just barely," Jay muttered back. "But I still made it."
"Good," Emir said with a nod of his head. At least he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. He's in Auradon now—good pick Ben.
"Good. You know I'd have snuck you onto the ship if Jafar locked you out of the house again."
And you were the one insisting we didn't need him in the crew Harry, Mal thought with a small smile.
"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."
"Why would the weather impact your decision to stay in the clubhouse rather than the ship?" Elle asked.
Jay shrugged, not wanting to reveal the fact that sometimes kids opted to sleep in alleyways if they couldn't go home for the night. They may have been revealing all their secrets but that didn't necessarily mean Jay trusted the Auradonians.
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.
"I'd have preferred if it was every night in the Underworld," Persephone said with a sigh. "And you three know you've got rooms if you need them."
"We know Lady Steph," Jay said, nodding his head as Milah gave Persephone another grateful smile.
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—?"
"The only person who could," Harry said with a slight growl.
"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 hasn't it been around a year?" Lonnie asked. "Surely Maleficent would have noticed before then."
"Maleficent's not the most attentive of evil beings," Mal muttered.
"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.
"I'd like to revise my statement to what Mal said," Harry spoke up. Maleficent was not Mal's mom after all.
"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.
"Oh! The poor dear," Fairy Godmother said softly.
Jay wasn't sure how Harry knew but assumed Mal had told them at some point once Jay joined the crew.
"Of course I did," Mal said softly. "I…you know Harry thinks without speaking Jay. I didn't want him to say something incredibly dim witted around that time."
"I'll probably be spending a lot more time around the clubhouse though. Dad seems to get worse around this time of the year."
"Worse how?" Aladdin asked though he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"His quota mainly," Jay said, shrugging slightly and pretended not to notice the sigh of relief from the former street rat.
Harry nodded. "Captain papa's the same. Though Harriet always makes a fuss because it's also the little runt's birthday."
Milah sighed and gently rubbed Harry's back, holding him close to her. She hated how Harry seemed to hate his sister—and of course she knew about that. There wasn't a moment that went by that she didn't check on Harry, on Harriet and CJ.
"You call your sister 'runt'?" Melody asked and Harry gave a stiff nod.
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.
"Like when Freddy made that comment," Jay added. "I thought Harry was going to kill him for that."
"You all should have let me," Harry muttered, a dark look flashing across his face.
"What was the comment?" Emma asked.
Mal shook her head. "Can't say it with under fifteen present," she said.
Their families may have been horrible but they were still blood.
"Well actually the saying is 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'," Ben said. "Meaning the bonds we've made with others are more important than the bonds bound by blood."
"Why am I not surprised you know that?" Chip asked, shaking his head.
The sound of a sword crashing to the ground broke the silence and the two boys looked in shock as Uma stood empty handed.
"The first time I ever won against Uma," Mal said with a small grin.
"I won?" Mal gasped but then laughed as the realization sunk in. "I won!"
"Congrats!" Macaria said with a grin.
"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."
"Besides, you could have always slept in the clubhouse," Mal pointed out. But you wanted to be with your sister.
"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.
"I wasn't that bad!" Jay exclaimed as Celia chuckled.
"Heck, Steph's baby could probably beat you."
"That would be pretty impressive," Hades said, giving Hadie a small grin.
"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."
"That's changed though. Jay's now one of the best swords we have in the crew," Harry said with a grin.
"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?"
"What makes you think they didn't?" Akiho asked.
"Because they normally grab us first," Mal told him.
"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—"
"Except for the fact that Anthony was our target at that point," Mal said, picking at her nails.
"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."
"From what we've heard, it's a pretty safe bet that you guys will be in your clubhouse," Kitty said with a small smile.
"Want to go grab a bite at Lord Hades'?" Harry asked. "I think Smee's working today."
"Why does that matter?" Emma asked.
"Smee tends to sneak us more food," Harry said. "Even more than if Lord Hades is working."
"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."
Chip leveled a glare toward Leah. Mal's six and she's having to think about things like rationing food because of your actions, he thought.
"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."
Belle couldn't help the sad smile that appeared on her face as she heard that. You poor kids…Auradon really did fail you didn't we?
"What about your—"
"I'm your cousin. We can do that any day."
"Not like we have any pressing matters to uphold on the Isle," Mal muttered.
"I dunno, remember that time we strung Dustin up the mast by his underwear?" Uma said with a chuckle.
"That was because he was spreading information about his flings in front of Hadie!"
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.
Chip gave the two boys a sad smile; that shouldn't have had to be something they would have to worry about .
They may have only been six and seven but they would still protect their captains. They were loyal to their core after all.
Hades had to smile as he heard that; happy that his daughter had such loyal minions. Oh sure she called them friends but he knew they were her minions.
"Who wants to read next?" Dizzy asked.
"I'll read," Fairy Godmother offered.