Chapter 1 – His Name is Lancelot

Notes – This is my first time writing for the Descendants fandom, though it will definitely not be my last! I already have a few other stories in the works because my brain has decided to latch onto Chad Charming in an effort to make him a more redeemable character. This fic will post regularly once a week, usually on Sundays, maybe Monday at the latest.

Much love and adoration for my beta, Kei Luna Shoryu for reviewing this bad boy despite having never watched the Descendants movies. You are a peach, Kei, and if you guys are by chance in the mood for some power rangers' fanfiction, you should check Kei's stuff out. She is very talented :)

Sidenote – Chapter title comes from the song 'His Name is Lancelot' from Spamalot, because I could not resist :D

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It took Chad what would probably be considered way too long to realize that his time had passed.

The time for charming princes who were all about the look of royalty – strong posture and a dazzling smile with not much consideration for personality – that was over. People wanted substance now. They wanted feelings and compassion and more than a two-dimensional representation of what they thought they wanted.

Which was unfortunate for Chad, because he'd spent a lot of time perfecting his image while allowing his 'personality' to fall to the wayside because he honestly only had so much time, so much energy, and his father was called prince charming for goodness sake, how would it look if Chad couldn't live up to that?

So… sacrifices had been made. He'd adhered to the status quo and learned how to swordfight and followed all the rules and tried to do all the things that his grandfather let him know were expected of him, because his father was busy running a kingdom and he didn't have time for Chad's failures.

But Chad had failed. He'd given his love and support to a princess who – admittedly – had never really liked him, but she was strong. His grandfather had been pleased when Audrey had taken an interest in Chad (to make her ex-boyfriend jealous but whatever, it counted), though less pleased when she had turned evil, and then when she returned to normal it was sort of a relief when she broke up with Chad because it kept him from having to do it himself. There were lines to these things, and Audrey had sort of let the entirety of Auradon know that she was still into Ben, and Chad would have looked like a laughing stock if he stayed with her. Well, more of one, so… it worked out for both of them.

That brought Chad to that moment, staring at the gilded invitation in his hands. It seemed like Ben was hosting a masquerade ball. No, he was hosting a masquerade festival, which would include several masquerade balls over the course of a week and then some other masquerade events and the entire thing seemed ludicrous but deep down Chad knew it was so the king could get the people who had lived on the Isle a chance to integrate with the public. If everyone was in masks then everyone was equal, and who knew who you'd end up rubbing elbows with.

It was a stupidly thoughtful and dramatic idea that was probably Evie's, because Evie was smart. Sometimes Chad wished he hadn't listened to his grandfather's advice about avoiding her. Using her had seemed like a fun compromise because Chad had been failing chemistry in an effort to keep up his sword mastery and riding mastery and designing a new batch of clothing for his mother's fashion line and hey then maybe he could make grandpa come around because Evie was cute. And as long as Snow White continued to not have kids Evie was technically next in line for Hanover's throne so…

But that, of course, didn't work out. Despite being quite charming, things didn't tend to work out for Chad. He wasn't Ben, okay?

So there was going to be a festival. And for once, Chad's artistic side was excited about it because he felt inspired, ready to design costumes instead of high end commercial ware (Chad had commissioned Evie to make his Cotillion cloak because he just- hadn't had time to do so himself, and he thought maybe contributing to her business was sort of like apologizing?). He could get behind this mystery thing. Have a little fun with it.

Maybe he'd even…

Since Ben and Mal had lifted the ban on magic in Auradon, Fairy Godmother's wand had returned to Sardinia, safely nestled in the depths of the castle. Fairy Godmother was comfortable living a life without magic and Jane had insisted on creating her own wand, which left one of the most powerful magical artifacts basically just sitting in Chad's basement.

And, okay, so maybe he shouldn't have taken Aunt Anastasia's story about anyone being able to use the magic wand to heart because now that it was there… well, it was his duty as future protector of Sardinia and all its inhabitants (which included the wand) to learn how to use it. So he could protect it.

There was the slightest chance that maybe Chad had just wanted to be special for a bit. And he wasn't bad with the wand. Granted, he was only levitating objects and casting basic transformations (that did not have a time limit, take that Fairy Godmother), but that was like, more than Jane had done when she'd tried to grab it at Coronation. And she was made of magic.

Chad might not have time but he had a wand and a plan, and if anyone could Bibbidi Bobbidi their way into a new outfit, it was him. That was like, written in the stars.

He had this.

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Chad couldn't change his facial features but he could change his coloring. In the end he made his curls a dark black that shined in the light, made his blue eyes a deep brown and his skin as pale and fair as Snow White's. He kept his outfit simple, black and white with dashes of red to make things pop, and chose a simple white mask to stand out against his borrowed black curls. The end result was a nobody who could maybe pass for Snow White's kid which Chad was fine with, because he'd always admired the queen. He imagined if his mother was still alive the two would have been great friends, as they were both champions for kindness.

The evening started off well enough. Chad walked the festival, glamoured and sporting his new clothes and was completely unrecognized. Pedestrians graced him with smiles not out of obligation or envy, but because it was a joyous occasion and Chad was sharing that second with them, that moment.

There may have been a few appreciative stares but that was to be expected (he was cursed with a natural bone structure of the forever enchanting, there was no changing that), and soon Chad found himself giggling away, strolling the fair without the expectation of being perfect or blasting social media with selfies or worrying about accidentally causing a diplomatic incident. This was his best idea ever. He should have them more often.

The cheerful tunes of a rustic band drew Chad towards the city square – a large expanse of stone tiles forming a dancefloor from back in the olden days of Auradon, before cars became the predominant mode of transportation. The dancing seemed to be going in full swing and Chad was excited, because here he could ask someone to dance as not Chad, and maybe they'd say yes and maybe they'd say no but whichever way it turned out, it wouldn't be because he was Chad. He searched the outskirts of the crowd for a target and paused when he recognized Jane in a fluffy pale gown from his most recent formal collection, her mask a complimenting blue with light pink accents.

This was perfect. If anyone could call him out, it would be Jane. She'd recognize him and give honest feedback on his plan and maybe he'd have to change his image tomorrow but it seemed like a good plan because what if she didn't recognize him?

There was only one way to find out.

Chad strode forward, not with the confidence of a king but a more careful step, shoulders hunched a little in on himself, shying away from contact instead of demanding room. Wow, this was fun. Different and so deliciously wrong, but fun.

He stopped right beside her, sparing a quick moment to wonder where Carlos was. Maybe she was waiting for him?

"Excuse me, miss," Chad said, pitching his voice a little higher than he normally would have just to go the extra mile. He bowed awkwardly, like he hadn't since he was a small child. "May I have this dance?"

Jane was smiling at him when he looked back up, though she still seemed kind of nervous. "I have a boyfriend," she replied, which gave Chad the feeling she had been turning down advances from more insistent suitors already this evening. It was bold and so refreshingly not like the Jane he knew, and it left Chad a little distracted.

"I know," Chad said before his brain could think to do otherwise. "I mean- that wasn't a 'I know and I'm going to steal you from him' because like, I don't think that lowly of either of you, that was more of a 'I know but you look like you wanted to dance and I know I wanted to dance and if you asked me to walk away right now I wouldn't be offended'." What the hell was wrong with his mouth? "Seriously, no judgement. In fact, I might just do that anyway."

"No wait-" Jane was laughing now, small crinkles forming at the edge of her eyes that just might have been the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "You're right, I do want to dance. And if you're okay with um-"

"You having a boyfriend?" Chad asked. "I am in fact okay with this, because I'm not an asshole."

At this moment.

She giggled. "Okay then," she said, taking his arm. "Lead the way."

Chad was pretty sure she didn't recognize him because Jane never indulged him like this anymore. Maybe when they were children, but too much time had passed for them to be considered close, and again, normal Chad was kind of an asshole so she rightfully avoided him.

It was kind of nice to have her near again, though. Nice to have her smile and not have it be one of mockery.

Chad did his best to keep his dancing average, and it wasn't hard because they were too busy laughing, Chad pointing out the more um- excessive masquerade masks and Jane tittering about hair choices that were, well, choices.

"At least they're having fun," Chad said as the dance came to a close. "Which is the point, I guess."

"It is," Jane laughed, tugging him back towards the edge of the crowd. "Thanks, that was really great."

"Thanks for humoring me," Chad replied. At least this indulgence didn't come with the sickly tinge of patronization. "I'll just get out of your hair now."

"Wait." Her grip stayed firm on his arm. "I didn't catch your name."

If this was his mother's story, the clock would have struck midnight and he would have had to run through the crowds like a mad person to keep from transforming back into rags.

Unfortunately, this was not his mother's story, because Jane certainly wouldn't chase after him, which left Chad with a conundrum.

For lack of better phrasing, Chad panicked, because he honestly hadn't expected his ruse to be any kind of successful, and either Jane was a phenomenal actress or she really didn't know it was Chad and Chad hadn't come up with any kind of plan – which was not like him, that was not a thing he did, so in a rush of adrenaline he latched onto his favorite of his father's many names – the one synonymous with the bravest knight of King Author's court, and blurted-

"Lance." Yeah, he was- that was a good name. "I'm Lance."

"Hey, Lance." He felt the arm hook around his neck half a second before the words were murmured into his ear, and it took Chad a moment to realize it was Jay being all predatory and weird. "You bothering Jane?"

"Jay," Jane tutted. Was she pouting? That seemed like a pout on her lips. "Knock it off. If anything, I'm bothering him."

"I don't think you could do that if you tried," Chad noted, because it was true, and then he panicked again because Jay's gaze got a little scary. "That's just a general observation, I am not flirting. That was not a flirt."

"Damn straight, it wasn't," Jay purred? Dragging Chad away from Jane and closer to his side. "Because that was just weak, man."

"He already knows I have a boyfriend." Jane was definitely pouting now.

"Who I was going to leave her to meet," Chad said. "So I'll just like- go."

He got it. Honestly, of the VKs close friend group, Jane and Doug were the easy targets if one wanted to dabble in sabotage. This was the first big event since the villains on the Ilse had been set free, so of course there were security concerns. Chad wouldn't say Jane and Doug were weak links, exactly, just that they would appear to be, so it made sense for Jay to be lurking in the young fairy's shadow looking for potential problems.

Jay raised a brow at him. He was- really close. Closer than they'd ever been for Tourney. "Leaving so soon? But Jane looked like she was having such a good time. I think I want a go."

"What?" Chad blinked, and then Jay was dragging him out onto the dancefloor, whirling him through the crowds like a deadly tornado. This time Chad's clumsiness was organic because he didn't dance with guys, hadn't since he and Ben had tried to practice with each other when they were younger and his grandfather had caught wind of that and stopped it real quick. Chad's grandfather was a traditionalist and didn't let things like 'play dancing' persist even if they were ultimately harmless. Better to be safe than sorry.

It was weird because Chad was the one following, Jay taking the lead and holding him way closer than propriety would allow.

"Hey," Chad could feel his cheeks flush with exertion. "Leave room for um- Hades."

"What?" Jay's look of confident uh… seduction faded into confusion.

"Or, you know." In Auradon it was usually 'Leave room for Hera' because the idea of using Zeus was just- hysterical. Guy got around too much.

"No." Jay's brows furrowed. "I don't know."

"I guess it doesn't work anyway," Chad huffed. "Since the Isle's…" He decided to quit while he was ahead and focus on his feet.

"You," Jay decided after a few seconds. "Are weird."

"I was homeschooled, okay?" Yes, that was a plausible backstory, and not even entirely wrong, with all the additional tutoring required of 'a person of his status'.

Jay laughed, and he definitely held Chad closer, arm sliding to rest on his lower back until they were essentially chest-to-chest. "That explains the lack of swag," he mused.

"Excuse you," Chad did not sputter because even as not-Chad that was beneath him. "I have just the right amount of swag. And I don't need to use swag on Jane, she's-" He motioned towards where she and Carlos were now chatting, gazing at each other like they were the only two people in the universe. "Happy. You don't mess with happy."

"Don't you?" Jay asked, back to saying low, gravely things in Chad's ear. He supposed if he didn't know Jay, this would have been- attractive? He didn't know. "How do you know Jane, anyway?"

Ah-ha, so there was the real question.

"Um…" Chad allowed an honest blink of confusion. He was so talented. "She's dating one of the Core Four? Everyone knows her. And that Doug guy." Chad actually hadn't seen him yet so he assumed Lance's uncertainty would be fine. "I really don't have any nefarious plans here, okay? I asked her to dance, we danced, and now I'm going to check out the rest of the festival."

"Alone?" Jay asked. He was- really all about eradicating all traces of personal space. "Not meeting anybody?"

"I already told you I was home schooled," Chad muttered. "And I am a strong, independent um… human being." Not a prince. "I can handle a festival."

"You probably could," Jay agreed, hand sliding just below Chad's waist to rest on the upper curve of his ass.

"Okay!" The only reason Chad was likely able to pull away was because the other teen hadn't been expecting it, but Chad could be wily when he wanted to. "Thanks for the dance, I'm going now," he said in a rush, stalking towards the edge of the dancefloor.

After a second, he could hear Jay scrambling behind him, and then a hand settled on his elbow. "Hey-"

"No." Chad shook him off, or more accurately, Jay allowed Chad to shake him off. "I'm not a um- floozy. Or-" He flapped his hand angrily. "There's an order to these things. Within five minutes of meeting you is not part of that order."

"Did you learn that in home school?" Jay asked, maybe trying to be flirtatious as a recovery but Chad had used that tactic too many times to be swayed by it.

"You don't want to know where I learned it," Chad muttered, deciding to be dark and foreboding and prompt some guilt so maybe Jay would leave him alone. Ugh. He hadn't considered the VK's flirtatious nature when he'd approached Jane, but then again, he hadn't been expected to see Jay at all. "Look, this doesn't have to be a thing, we can just-" He let his gaze go wide as he stared over Jay's shoulder. "Hey, it's Mal!"

Jay, continuing to underestimate Chad, looked over his shoulder immediately, but Mal wasn't there because Chad was a liar who used momentary distractions to duck into crowds and run away as stealthily as possible. It only took a few seconds before he heard Jay's cry of deceit, but Chad was already speeding into an alley and down another staircase, thoroughly done with the exchange.

Maybe he should change his outfit and try being someone else. Someone who could watch the maypole dance in peace who definitely didn't ask Jane to dance like a foolish fool. What, Chad had wanted to test his skills at deception? Great, he'd passed with flying colors. Problem solved.

"Hey!" He heard Jay's cry from behind him about the time he had thought it would be safe to slow down and- yes, that was Jay, jumping across crates and shit to get to Chad's position. "Stop!"

"Um, no!" Chad ducked down another alleyway, because Jay might be good at parkour but Chad knew the city better and also why the hell was he even chasing Chad? It wasn't like his honor had been insulted. This entire situation was a net loss to him.

They were beginning to attract stares, so Chad ducked into the rarely-used back streets, twisting between buildings and trying to map a course back to his car, all the while keeping an eye out for Jay who probably wasn't still chasing him? Like, there had to be a limit. Eventually he had to get bored.

This was the thought process going through Chad's mind when he was bodily tackled from the side, both him and his attacker skidding into an abandoned fountain boxed in by buildings.

Chad was too surprised by the sudden barrage of wet that he bypassed his instinctual reaction to fight back, which was fortunate because the lunatic that had tackled into the fountain in the first place was Jay, who seemed just as confused as he was to be suddenly soaked.

"What-" Chad seethed, staring down at his ruined outfit. "Is wrong with you?!"

"Um…" Jay brushed wet hair out of his eyes, moving to crouch in the clear water. "I… why did you run?"

"Why did you chase me?" Chad shot back, floundering towards his feet. His clothes were completely waterlogged and his curls were plastered to his head and his shoes were wet. "Why did you tackle me into a fountain?"

"Okay, the fountain thing was an accident," Jay allowed as Chad began to crawl out of the pool, dripping water everywhere. "I uh… just didn't want you to think I was just dancing with you because of- you know, that."

Because he wanted to get some, he meant.

"No," Chad snarled, ringing excess water out of his coat helplessly and knowing there would be no saving it. "You wanted to interrogate me about Jane because you think I'm a villain when between the two of us you have done way worse stuff like tackling people into fountains!"

He combed a hand through his hair and gave up on it as a loss, stepping away from the fountain to give him some space from Jay as the other teen got onto dry ground.

"Okay," Jay allowed, holding out both hands as though he were approaching a wounded animal. "I can see why you'd be upset-"

"Because this is upsetting!" Ugh, was this what it was like for other people to hang around Chad? It was awful, he hated it.

"But let me make it up to you," Jay continued. "My friend Evie has a fashion line; I can hook you up with some new clothes-"

"I don't want your pity clothes," Chad snapped, fingering his waterlogged vest. He'd been really proud of this outfit. Subtle but rugged, constructed from scraps, like his mother would have done. And now it was ruined. "Just- go find someone else to harass, okay? I got the message. Don't talk to Jane. Goodbye."

He turned on his heel and hated the way he slid a little on the stone, but he ignored it, marching determinately into the distance with as much respect as his soaking clothes would allow. He could only hope Jay wouldn't follow him this time.

If this was his mother's story, she probably would have punched Jay in the face and stolen one of his shoes.

But this wasn't a fairytale. And now Chad had to walk all the way to his car with wet socks.

Ugh.

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Endnotes:

EDIT - Check it, Kybee1497 on Archive of Our Own made an awesome picture collage for this story! It is now the thumbnail for this fic. If you want to check out more of their stuff, look them up on tumblr!

Regarding the story:

I realize technically Snow White's kingdom is called 'Charmington' in Descendants, but I renamed it Hanover for the purposes of this story (an old kingdom in Germany, where Snow White is rumored to take place) for my own aesthetic appreciation. The same went for 'Cinderellasburg', which I renamed Sardinia (an old kingdom in France, as the brief research I've done shows Cinderella to have taken place on the France/Germany border). I got super attached to this name before I realized Sardinia is also like, a region of Italy, so… hooray for sharing!

Cinderella III – A Twist in Time, is one of the better Disney animated sequels. It also features Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters successfully using Fairy Godmother's wand, which meant that normal, non-magic people are capable of wielding it.

The idea of a weeklong festival was stolen from the musical 'Into the Woods' – where Cinderella attends several balls before finally losing her shoe.

Not necessarily Disney, but in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical 'Cinderella' prince charming has like, twelve first names. As you can guess, one of them is Lancelot ;P

My beta, who has been subjected to this story for a very long time, requested that disguised-Chad look like Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, so this was my compromised equivalent.

More notes:

Every year on the anniversary of my first posted fanfic I try to upload a new story to mark the occasion. This year marks my ninth year writing fanfiction (how time flies!). On the very offhand chance that you are interested in reading Power Rangers fanfiction, here are my previous anniversary pieces:

1. Any Moment – Chapter 32: The Rainbow Connection

2. Songs About Rainbows

3. Beyond that Road Lies Despair

4. All Things Great and True

5. Happiness is a Firefly

6. The Time Love Takes

7. Breaking Space-Time

8. Such a Calamity

Until next time :)