Chapter Thirty Two
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to Disney.
Smh, holy cats you guys! Four reviews away from 800? I swear sometimes it's like I blink and we come closer to breaking another review milestone! Thank you all so much for the continued support! :D
Oh the ring I used for inspiration for Evie's ring actually exists—I found it on a jewelry website online, it's an Evil Queen themed ring.
CyberDragonEX: Huh, that's very true, I hadn't even thought about that!
Tracie Adams: So…Natalie's already dead…but I'm sure her soul will be tortured!
OceanBlueSeaEyes: No, Audrey was never pregnant. Ben was referring to Brooke being intimidated and (though not confirmed by anyone in story) abused by Freddy in a similar fashion to how Leah abused Audrey.
HufflepuffInDaHealingCoven: Ah sorry! I know I've got a lot of different ships don't I? But I'm glad you're liking Audrey and Derek along with Chad and Ginny! Yeah I think something like that would definitely make Hades' day!
Snowwhite45: lol you've got a point there! I didn't even realize how blunt it really was. Maybe when she was a child? I mean Leah wouldn't have been born evil right?
Anonymous Reader: I hope Leah also has a horrible time in Tartarus!
Liz135: It is not sick and twisted! I'm kinda doing that over in Truth or Fiction but if you wanted to go ahead and do it too, I'd totally read it! :D
Katt Kiki: It really is, isn't it?
Guest: Thank you!
Guest2: Derek was there, he gave Audrey a hug near the end of the chapter.
danifan3000: …does anyone have any descriptions of what Tartarus looks like? If they do, I would very much appreciate that!
Hufflepuff24: I can agree with that, losing a loved one is never easy no matter how horrible they were. I love that Dumbledore quote though!
medical ranger: I addressed Evie's presence in this upcoming chapter!
Maybelle Ross: Thank you!
catdoghorselover123: Sometimes there's nothing better than dog cuddles!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! I have to say I hate Leah too! But at least Audrey's got friends who can help her through this!
shortanamx: Uma, Harry and Mal wouldn't celebrate Leah's death in front of Audrey.
Kaybugg1: Thank you so much!
Balfan: I have a headcanon that Ben has multiple offices—one in his bedroom in the castle and then one at Auradon Prep. Unless otherwise stated, if Ben's in his office, it's at Auradon Prep.
billyandkimfan1994: Yeah she will.
Marcus Emrys: I have to agree, this Audrey is how I always imagined Sleeping Beauty's kid to be like…and go ahead and swing away. *offers aid in the form of a sock filled with butter*
smc-smfan1: Thank you! I mean, there are a lot of Disney movies that don't really seem like they'd be part of Disney *shrugs*.
curious fan: Anything's possible! :D
Shelleymhl: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Urmimala Hazra: I can sympathize a little with Audrey here, I've had a lot of relatives that I can't stand but I did miss upon their passing.
twilightgirl587: He's coming, he's coming. He's just being stubborn about it! Ah Harry, he's another stubborn one! My grandmother died on my birthday and we were visiting the Lincoln Memorial (this was pre-COVID) and I just lost it. I was bawling on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial so I can completely sympathize with you there.
AnniexLove: Oh thank you!
Bananabaot2009: No worries, I understand the feeling of burn out!
Michiemh: Yep, it includes all of them!
lilyflower101: I agree, poor Audrey.
Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Mal bit her lip as she looked in on Evie's design studio. It had been a while since she had heard from her best friend and in all honesty, she was a little worried. It wasn't like Evie not to tell someone when something was bothering her. Hell in the viewing she had been one of the few to actually speak her mind.
So Mal was going to find out what was bothering her best friend. No matter what.
"E? Can I come in?"
Evie looked up and seemed to almost frown upon seeing Mal. "Thought you'd be with Uma or Audrey."
"What?" Mal asked as she walked in, frowning slightly at Evie's tone. If Mal didn't know better, she could have sworn Evie seemed upset about something. "E, what are you talking about?"
"It's just…never mind Mal," Evie shook her head as she turned to go back to work on a dress. "It's nothing."
"E, if we learned anything from those viewings, it's that we don't keep secrets from each other. If we do, then the Blue Fairy comes and has us sit through a viewing where we find out about the secret anyway," Mal said. "Something is bothering you and I'm your best friend. What is it?"
"Am I?"
"Are you what?"
Evie looked over at her. "Your best friend?"
"E, of course you're my best friend," Mal said, walking further into the design studio. "What's all this about?"
"Well I'm sorry M but lately it feels like you've been spending more time around Audrey and Uma! What is this some revenge because I didn't pepper you with questions when you went blonde?"
Mal sighed. "E—."
"No Mal, no," Evie shook her head and turned to look at Mal. "I've been your best friend since we were twelve okay? I kept the biggest secret of your life without asking for anything in return. I helped with the whole 'steal the wand' scheme, even helped you get the prince even though all my life my mom raised me to do one thing and that was the one thing. For what? So that when Audrey and Uma turn over a new leaf, you can toss me to the side like last season's shoes?"
"Evie!" Mal exclaimed. "I may be spending more time with Uma and Audrey but in case you forgot, you've been just as involved in Audrey's change as I have Ms. Made Her A Leather Jacket Free of Charge."
"I did that because I knew everything that Audrey was going through!" Evie told her. "But Mal, you didn't even think to call me when you found out about Leah? Don't you think I would have wanted to—?"
"Evie!" Mal sighed and rested her hands on the blue haired girl's shoulders. "I didn't call you when I got the news because I knew what the previous day had been."
Evie frowned. "You mean…?"
"E, just because we live in Auradon now doesn't mean I don't still pay attention to the date," Mal said gently. "It was the day after your dad's death and I know how you mourn him. You act like everything's fine on the actual day and then the next day you shut yourself away and go into a clothes making frenzy."
"I should have been there for Audrey too! Her loss was more recent anyway!"
Mal shook her head. "E, take it from the daughter of the God of the Dead. You're allowed to mourn the ones you lost. And it's not a competition by the way. Just because Audrey just lost her grandmother doesn't mean you can't still mourn your dad…and just because I'm rebuilding my friendship with Uma does not mean we're not still best friends."
"You…you mean it M?" Evie asked and the almost hopeful look in Evie's eyes made Mal feel like someone had stabbed her in the gut.
"Evie, you were the one who helped me get ready for my first date with Ben," Mal said. "You are the one who's become practically like a sister to me. And yeah I know Uma's my cousin and so are Elle, Macaria, and Melody. But they're not my sister. Blood isn't the only way there can be a family. Ben showed that with Chip and I'd like to think we show that too."
Evie gave Mal a small smile. "Of course Mal. I just…I know it's stupid but I saw you getting closer to Uma and then with Audrey, I just thought…I thought it was going to go back to when we were really young and you and Uma were best friends and all I was was your smoke bomb target."
"That will never happen," Mal promised as she sat down next to Evie. "You know, when you forced me and Uma to talk during the third viewing, I made her promise not to make any smoke bombs and lob them at you?"
"You…you did?"
"Of course I did! I also tried to put a kibosh on the nicknames but Uma said no promises there. Granted it's Uma so nicknames are kinda her thing so there's that. But I told her that if I was going to be friends with her then she was going to have to be used to you being around."
"M!" Evie said with a small smile. "You…you really said that for me?"
"Of course I did Evie," Mal said with a small smile of her own. "And I am so sorry if I've made you feel like you're being shoved to the side or anything. Between the wedding prep and dad being able to come over and of course helping with Audrey and Uma…but that's no excuse. How about we do something? Just the two of us?"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. What would you like?" Mal asked, and she smiled as she saw that the blue haired girl seemed to almost perk up upon getting the question. "Come on E, anything you want. I'll even be your mannequin if you need someone to model clothes or anything?"
"But you hate that!"
Mal shrugged. "So I'll suffer for a day. Can't be any worse than swimming or paperwork really and it's something you enjoy E. You've built a successful business from a hobby that you're good at."
"Oh speaking of that, Carlos finally got the sale of his mom's business to go through," Evie grinned. "I now have the resources of Cruella DeVil's fashion empire! The distribution centers, the machines, everything. Of course I'll still be the designer and a lot of the clothes for one on one stuff will be done here but anything major I need to distribute…"
"E, that's great!" Mal said, giving her best friend a huge grin.
"I know!" Evie said. "Carlos is going to use the money from the sale to finally apply to vet school so he can be a vet tech! Of course he told me he has some set aside for when he needs to ask Jane a certain question."
"No!" Mal gasped. "Really? He's…but he's younger than us!"
"He's going to do it after vet school," Evie said. "So not right away."
Mal nodded. "Good. Gods, if he did it right now, it'd be like Hadie proposing. That's not exactly something dad wants to think about either. Or Steph for that matter."
"You know at some point Hadie will start to date," Evie pointed out.
"And will you be this calm when it's Dizzy dating?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow and smirked at the silence coming from the Evil Queen's daughter. "That's what I thought."
"Speaking of proposals, when do you think Emir and Akiho are going to ask Elle and Emma?" Evie asked, as if trying to change the subject from the thought of Dizzy dating.
Mal opened her voice but was cut off by her ringtone. Pulling out her phone, she shook her head as she saw who it was. "Speak of the devil."
"Which one is it?"
"Emir," Mal told her and answered the call. "Ben's not here right now, may I take a message?"
"Haha Mal," Emir's voice rang through the phone, Mal having put him on speaker. "Actually I was wondering if I could talk to Evie."
"Well you're in luck because I'm here with Evie," Mal said, looking over at her friend with a smile on her face. "You're on speaker by the way."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"What's up Emir?" Evie asked.
"If…If one needed to ask a certain question of Emma's parents, which one would be the least likely to kill me?"
Evie bit back a squeal as she had a feeling she knew exactly what kind of question Emir was asking about. "Well Snow technically would but you know how proficient she is with her bow and arrows."
"Oh don't we all." Emir sighed.
"You're not seriously going to ask permission to propose are you?" Mal asked. "I mean, I kinda get Ben doing it but you?"
"All the royals are raised that way Mal," Emir said. "Akiho was taught it, Chad was taught it. If a student at Auradon Prep was anywhere in line for a crown, chances are they were taught that you ask permission before you propose."
"Poor Chad," Mal chuckled.
"Why poor Chad?" Emir asked but Evie's eyes widened as she realized what Mal was talking about.
"Oh when he finally gets out of his denial and realizes his feelings for Ginny, he's going to have to ask Cass for permission when he finally wants to propose!" Evie gasped.
"Exactly," Mal nodded. "Not exactly the conversation I'd want to have if I was Chad."
"Ever think you'd be calling him by his first name?" Emir asked.
"Yeah well he let me throw smoke bombs at Tremaine so he can't be that bad," Mal shrugged. "Plus Cass wouldn't let her sister near someone she didn't trust. But Emir, Ben said the last time he'd asked you when you planned on proposing, you said you couldn't because Aziz hadn't proposed yet."
Emir chuckled. "Yeah well apparently my big brother's rather sneaky with his love life. He started dating Rachel Fitzherbert about a month ago and no one knew!"
"How'd you find out? Did he tell you?" Evie asked.
"Nope. Ashaki walked in on them kissing," Emir told her. "She has not stopped teasing Aziz for days because of it."
Mal smirked. "What so now that Aziz has a girlfriend, you feel comfortable proposing?"
"Well that and I kinda want to beat Akiho to the punch. Love the guy, he's one of my best friends, but if I'm the last one to do it, I'm going to get all sort of advice from him with his grandparents being, and I quote, love experts."
"Aren't…aren't his grandparents rocks?" Evie asked.
"Yep," Emir told her. "Rocks and love experts."
Evie shook her head. "Okay as much as I love the idea of True Love, 'love experts' seems to be a bit much."
"You're telling me?" Mal chuckled. "In all honesty Emir, the only love expert is Aphrodite and the only reason I feel compelled to say that is because I'm related to her."
"Still no love lost between you and Olympus huh?"
"You got that right," Mal nodded. "Even if they didn't know about me, they knew about Uma and they knew about Hadie. Therefore they knew about two Godlings on the Isle and they didn't do diddly squat!"
"…diddly?"
"I'm trying to watch my language if we're around Kari and Agnarr," Mal explained. "Hence the diddly."
"Ah," Evie nodded with a small chuckle. Little did she know that her boyfriend was also making his way over to Snow White's castle to ask a very important question.
Yes, Doug might not have been born royal but his mother had still raised him to be polite. Plus Queen Snow was practically family to him. If he couldn't ask her for permission to propose to Evie, who could he ask?
"Doug! Come in!" Emma said with a smile as she opened the door. "I was just heading out but I think Neal's still here if he hasn't gone over to Evan's."
"Actually I'm here to speak to your mom," Doug said. "Is she available?"
"She should be," Emma nodded. "You want me to walk with you or do you want some privacy?"
Doug gave her a small smile. "I think for this, privacy would be great but thanks Emma."
"No worries," Emma nodded and Doug made his way to the throne room where Snow and her husband normally took visitors. If they were friends, they started there and then would move to the parlor or den; depending on who they were there to see.
"Your highness?"
"Doug!" Snow said with a large smile. "Come in, come in! I can't believe they didn't announce you! Evie's not here though, she's over at her castle."
"I know," Doug said. "I was hoping to talk to you."
"Oh?" Snow asked.
Doug took a deep, steadying breath. "Queen Snow, I…I wanted to ask permission to propose to Evie. I…I know you're not her parent but in Auradon, you're the closest thing she has. Not to mention you are her step-sister."
"Doug," Snow said with a small smile as she got up and walked over to him. "You don't need to ask my permission. You never needed it. I've seen the way you are with Evie, and especially the scenes we saw in the viewings. I do appreciate it though."
Doug gave her a smile as he pulled out a small box. "I…I already have a ring picked out. I hope she likes it."
"Let me see it," Snow said, her heart filled with joy for her step-sister. No…her sister. They had grown close enough through the three viewings that Snow felt comfortable enough saying it.
Dough opened the box and Snow stared in shock upon seeing a beautiful silver ring with small diamonds throughout the band. In the middle, a red garnet gem was carved into a heart and a rose gold dagger went through it.
"I…I thought it would go with her heart theme," Doug said as he put the ring away. "If you think it's a bad idea I can go in a different direction—."
"Doug," Snow said. "It's perfect. I think she'll love it because it shows you thought of her and you didn't just go traditional for the sake of tradition."
"Thanks Snow," Doug said with a smile as he slipped the ring back in his pocket. "Now I just need to propose to her. I um…I haven't figured that one out yet."
"You've got time," Snow told him. "But if you want help, I know Evie4Hearts just obtained the resources from Cruella DeVil's company. If you wanted to take your girlfriend out to dinner and celebrate…?"
"Oh…oh! Snow, that's perfect!" Doug said with a grin. "You're a genius!"
"Well I wouldn't say genius but thank you Doug," Snow said with a smile. "Now, go!"
Doug nodded and turned to go with a smile on his face. Soon he'd be asking the most important question he could to the girl he loved.
Dear Gods he hoped she would say yes.