Who's ready to start a war? Me!
Another cold wind whipped around the edge of a building, carrying the smell of fish straight into her face. Mal winced, wrinkling her nose, and shivered a little. She wished she'd brought more than just her Isle Jacket.
"What are we doing here?" Mal grumbled for the fourth time. They were sitting on a pier looking out over the Auradon bay, located just outside of Oceana, where Ariel and Eric lived. Mal could even see the clouds over the Isle of the Lost if she craned her head around the suburban-type car Ben had insisted they take instead of his/her little five-seater car, though they were so far away they looked to be about the size of a pinprick.
Normally, Mal wouldn't complain nearly as much about Ben's surprises, but this one apparently involved her sitting on a pier with the collars on her Isle jacket turned up for extra warmth for thirty minutes while she flipped through the news app on her phone.
Not that the news was particularly disinteresting. If anything, it was pretty good news. "Queen Mal Heals Isle", "Magical Queen Hard at Work", and "King Ben, I Wish I Could Do That," The footage the crew had caught was wonderful, and Mal was happy she'd let them go. Those who didn't want to be photographed were omitted or blurred, and those who had given permission had made for beautiful, striking photos. Mal herself was featured among many of them. There were pictures of her healing, lifting a bed-frame into a new resident's home minutes after she'd fixed it. There was her and Ben tag-team lifting a young man, who was looking very surprised as they all stared at the camera. The most striking photos were that of the new residents themselves, with faces lit up and smiles alight as they treasured the first glances of new homes, of whole body parts, or of healed possessions. Auradon's hearts were melting.
Mal put her phone away and pulled her jacket closer around her frame. "Isn't it supposed to be warm in June?" She grumbled as she held a hand closer to her mouth to catch her warmer breath.
"The dock doesn't get much sun," Ben explained. He, too, was on his phone, quietly looking at the castle website and occasionally glancing at his watch.
Mal huffed. "What are we waiting for anyway? We're wasting time. I could be out on the Isle right now." Ben rolled his eyes at her complaining.
"Just sit." He sighed, pulling out his watch to glance at the hands. "They must be running late."
"I don't even know why we're waiting." Mal murmured. She picked at the peeling paint of the rusted beam she was sitting on and gave Ben a pointed look. Ben let out a dejected sigh. It was clear Mal's complaining was starting to grate on him, so Mal tried to bite her tongue.
The wharf was freezing, and the smell of fish and the humid salty air was simultaneously making her hungry and nauseous.
Ben sat down beside her. "I swear it'll be worth your time." He promised. "And you'll love it. I know you will."
He took her hands and busied himself with rubbing her chilly fingers, which made Mal a little less annoyed than she was. It was a sweet, somewhat sappy gesture.
Mal smirked and met his eyes. "Yeah… well, I guess I prefer your surprises when I'm not getting cold on the pier."
"You'll love it," Ben repeated. "In fact, this is the pinnacle achievement of my career. I don't think I'll be able to top this."
"Oh?" Mal asked. "You're pretty confident in yourself then?"
Ben nodded with a smile. "Oh yeah." He nodded. "I might even get a kiss for this."
Mal laughed. "Wow, what a hefty payment." She rolled her eyes. "You get those anyways. If this is really as great as you say, shouldn't you get something special?"
"Can I have two kisses?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow cheekily. "Or, can I see you try a new spell? That'd be cool too." Mal rolled her eyes and let out a sharp guffaw. As Ben chuckled, the air quality dropped for a few seconds. Mal felt like all the air was pulled out of her lungs as her ears popped and she was pulled forward, off the rusted beam she'd been using as a bench. Ben looked shocked by the pull too.
She looked out over the bay and saw a magnificent golden road breaking out across the waves and stretching towards the bay like a bridge made of out sun rays. It looked as if it had come from the Isle of the Lost. Traveling on the bridge was something small – a speck that slowly took on the shape of a limo from the palace as it grew closer and closer to the land, traveling at magnificently fast speeds. It slowed as it reached the wharf, touching down on solid soil. The golden bridge had faded somewhat and was suddenly translucent. The car turned sharply, and Mal saw that it was the car Stewart usually drove.
It was dented severely. It looked like something large and heavy had been dropped into the hood. Dark streaks of nasty substances covered it, and a thin white mist was emitting from the engine. Ben exhaled.
The limo faced them and began to approach slowly. Mal took a few steps forward and furrowed her brow as it grew closer and turned to the side. Her fists balled up in preparation for a fight. Even though it was clear Ben had expected the car, it didn't look like he'd expected the damages. She was now staring at the side with the openable door. And even through the heavily tinted windows, she could see frantic movement inside.
No sooner had the car stopped than said door burst open and a blue-haired, fair-skinned beauty leaped out and rushed towards the purple-haired fairy queen. "Mal!" Evie yelled as she threw her arms around her old best friend and lifted her off the ground.
"What – I – Evie?" Mal sputtered. Her arms were pinned tightly to her sides as Evie squeezed her. Over her head, Mal watched as two other figures stepped out of the car. Her jaw dropped. One was Jay, but he'd gotten even bulkier from when she last saw him. Larger, stronger, but he still had those unfading tones of starvation set in his skin. The other was Carlos, whose hair had grown out from the short curls she'd known him with. He still had black roots, but the white had grown out to hang around his ears. Five guards in varying stages of hurt were also behind them.
Even Evie looked different. Her hair was lighter, more electric. And she was wearing less mascara and eyeliner. Instead of shades of black, she was now wearing shades of bright and colorful blue. All three of her friends were extremely dirty and tired-looking.
Jay and Carlos walked over slowly. Jay had a small limp, and Carlos had a quickly appearing bruise on his cheekbone as the two stared hollowly at Mal. Evie set her down and put her hands on Mal's shoulders to examine her.
"Are you hurt at all?" She asked. "There isn't a scratch on you. Have you been okay?"
"I'm fine." Mal gasped. "Carlos… your cheek." She looked behind them, at the guards. One of them was cradling a busted arm and another had a bit of skin missing from his forehead. Their armor had been broken in multiple places, and one woman's leg panel had been cut off, though she herself looked mostly okay.
The front door of the car opened, and Stewart stepped outside. He had a black eye and a split lip. Mal covered her mouth and gasped when she saw him. Stewart smiled at her though. "Not to worry, miss Mal." He said in a kind tone. "Your friends are safe, and our Sophia will fix me up as soon as we get to the palace."
"Yeah, she will." Mal swallowed. "What happened?" She turned to Ben. "You brought my friends off the Isle?"
"Good surprise?" Ben asked with a shaky smile. "I thought it was high-time you had someone to talk to in the palace beside Sophia and me. So I sent people to try and see if they could convince them to come." He outstretched his hand to the three Isle kids. "I'm Ben." He introduced. The three of them exchanged wary glances.
"It's not even our anniversary or anything," Mal said with a small, happy pout. "You did this just for me?"
"Technically, the one-year holiday thingamajig is next month, and you'll be at the Isle. But anyway, you needed this. You need more friends." Ben crossed his arms and exhaled. "Now, what happened? Were you guys attacked?"
"Did you honestly expect our parents to just let us go?" Carlos asked in disbelief. "The villains have shut down everything."
"Everything?" Mal frowned.
"Ben, Mal," Stewart called their attention, stepping forward. "It seems the villains are grouping together. We managed to find Carlos, Evie, and Jay, but the villains attacked us as we were trying to leave. We ended up fighting for our lives. No one escaped the Isle, but a few Islanders were wounded in the scuffle."
"They tried to kill you?" Mal frowned, straightening up. "Who? I want names or descriptions, now." She crossed her arms, lighting up her eyes and leveling her gaze at each of her friends and the guards. Ben took a little half-step back.
"Anthony Tremaine," Evie mumbled. "Clay Clayton. Gil. And our parents."
"I punched Gaston in the face." Jay volunteered. "I think King Candy is the person who dropped Cruella's broken piano onto the car to try and stop it."
"There were too many to count." A guard explained. "So many that they got in the way of each other and couldn't fit through the alleyways. They spoke in many languages and couldn't always understand each other, which may have been the only reason we got away."
"The entire Island is in chaos." Jay stopped the conversation. "They're saying that your city is legit."
"It is." Mal frowned. "Everyone is angry because the city is good, and... because I won't let bad people in?"
"Why would they let anyone have a happily ever after if they can't?" Evie asked. She was watching Ben as he rested a hand against his mouth, watching his wife do her job.
Mal exhaled and closed her eyes. "Have they started holding people back, then?" She whispered. "This quickly?"
"Did you expect this?" Ben asked.
"Of course," Mal exhaled. "I always knew the villains would come around to question my authority. Now the problem is just... the numbers and timing. I was hoping the Isle would be up a little longer." She closed her eyes. "How many are inside who still want to come?"
"Lots," Carlos told her. "People are still slipping through and escaping. Maleficent and the villains are trying to corral everyone inside the ruins and down by the dock."
"At least 700, but probably more," Evie told her. "Because lots of people are just staying quiet so she doesn't try to hurt them too."
"How are they being kept?" Mal squinted at her friend as the sunlight suddenly broke through onto the dock and the smell of fish intensified.
"We were locked in a room," Evie admitted. "A basement room. One of the ones with the small windows. There were eight others, and the floor had been ripped up to open to the ground. We had gunk freeze on us from the air."
"Prisoners." Mal frowned. "Why were you being locked away?"
Evie frowned at Ben, standing behind them, and looked away. "Well, your escort, she... insinuated I was afraid to talk to you again." Evie sniffed and crossed her arms, gaze hardening as her tone turned to something akin to grit. "And so I came to see if I could protect you. Maleficent caught me leaving right after she was rejected by your... workers."
"I don't need protection," Mal responded immediately. She exhaled, wiping her hands on her legs. "I'm fine. I'm safe. And now, you are too." She examined each of her friends. "We need to go to the palace now." She decided. "I need to be in my office for this."
There was a long pause where Mal looked each of them up and down, looking at their outfits and the shape of their faces. A smile broke through her tight, worried expression. "I can't believe you're here." She laughed and stepped forward to wrap Jay and Evie up into a large hug. Jay buried his nose into her hair for a few seconds and examined Ben as he straightened up with a smaller smile behind them. Carlos took a sidestep around Mal and put himself between her and the young king. Mal bumped into him as she relinquished Jay and Evie, and turned to throw her arms around him. Carlos put his arms around Mal and shuffled her closer to Evie and Jay, effectively blocking Ben away from her. Jay kept a steady gaze on Ben, who was starting to realize his wife's three friends weren't exactly keen to meet him.
Mal laughed and disentangled herself from Carlos. She turned around and tried to sidestep Carlos. "Excuse me." She hummed, brushing past him. Carlos caught her arm and furrowed his brow at her in confusion. Mal pulled out of his grasp and went to give Ben a hug and a quick kiss. Evie stood still, holding her hands out like she wanted to snatch Mal back and looking thoroughly shocked at Mal's behavior. "Thank you." Mal smiled and kissed his cheek. "But... you went around my back to pull three of my citizens off my territory." She sighed and stepped back. "You and I have to have a discussion on how Auradon still has access to my barrier."
"Fair." Ben sighed in acquiescence. "I would ask you next time. I just wanted this one to be a surprise."
"Next time we'll do things my way, without your loopholes." Mal decided. "However they were able to summon that bridge and open the barrier, I don't want it to happen again. Ever." She folded her arms.
"It's a remote." Ben nodded. "I'll hand them over to you. I probably should have done that when the Isle separated anyways."
"Yeah, I'm a little upset I'm finding out about this now." Mal pinched her lips together. "How long will it take you to gather up all those remotes?"
"A day," Ben assured her. "I'm sorry I went behind your back with your kingdom."
Mal hummed. "Well, I liked your surprise. It was well worth freezing on the docks for. Just, uh, not again." She looked over at her friends, whose faces had become overshadowed with doubt and confusion. "And are you sanctioning them? Or just bringing them for a visit?"
"They're free to stay in Auradon as long as they want." Ben nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Just like you."
"Free to... stay in Auradon," Carlos repeated slowly.
"Free?" Jay scoffed.
Mal pinched her lips together and closed her eyes. "There are things I need to explain to you guys." She exhaled. "But not here. At least for the ride back, I want to just be happy that you made it. I've missed you so, so much." She sniffled a little.
Ben took her hand and together they walked down to the damaged palace limo. Ben outstretched his hand and shook every single one of the guard's hands. They straightened up as he passed. Stewart took Mal's hand and patted it. "I called a new car down, and a tow service." He informed them. "Head on up, and we'll return within the hour."
"Thank you, Stewart." Mal smiled. "You're always right there when we need you."
Stewart smiled and he and Mal shared a quick hug before they led the three villain kids down to Ben's car, which they had driven down. Ben opened the driver-side door and turned to smile at his wife. "Do you want to drive, or do you want me?" He asked.
"I can." Mal smiled and stepped inside. Ben leaned down to kiss her again, and then shut her door. Evie, Jay, and Carlos looked on in absolute shock.
"Here," Ben invited, opening the rear driver side door and gesturing to the back row. "We'll take you up to the palace, and Mal will catch you up on everything." He walked around to the passenger seat and got in there as Mal's three friends exchanged worried looks and took hesitant steps towards the car. They climbed inside, watching as Mal put music on that they didn't recognize from a phone that was clearly hers, pulled her seat belt across her shoulder, and slid the car into gear like she'd done it thousands of times before. Ben started humming along to the song as Mal put on a pair of sunglasses to shield from the light outside and then dropped her hand into his.
Jay watched it all, feeling like someone had shot him through the chest.
"Lumiere, can you call Eliza Deavor on the Isle of the Lost and inform her I won't be coming down today at all?" Mal asked as she, Ben, Jay, Evie, and Carlos wandered through the Main Hallway, where the aged attendant was shaking hands with a group of schoolchildren who were going up to Belle's library as part of a palace-endorsed school event. The young children's mouths dropped open and the teachers straightened up as they watched the two young leaders appear. Mal waved a little at the young children before she continued. "I also need to page the docks and tell the supply boat I usually take that I'm not making it so that they don't keep waiting on me. Will you have a moment to do that, or should I ask someone else?"
Lumiere nodded with a smile. "I'll see to it that it gets done, Miss Mal." He agreed. "Where will you be? In your office?"
"Yes." Mal nodded. "I'll probably be meeting with these four for the rest of today and discussing a problem on the Isle of the Lost." She gestured to the four behind her and Lumiere nodded, examining the three dirty young adults with her.
Mal brushed her hair back a little and exhaled. "Thanks, Lumiere!" She bid, and then led her friends into the west wing, where the offices were. Ben followed her up and the three Isle kids grouped increasingly away from the pair and closer together as they watched.
Mal flipped the light on in her office and stopped to watch everyone walk in. Evie, Jay, and Carlos kept their distance from Ben. Ben leaned against the wall by Mal as she stood at the door, watching her friends examine her office. Carlos ran a finger along her computer screen. Mal had no doubt that, given enough time, he'd be better at using it than she was. Jay looked out the windows, down towards the palace grounds, and then tucked his hands into his pockets. Evie looked over at the wall opposite the windows and exhaled. It was covered in sketches of the Isle, of Mal's plans, and of them.
Mal took a few steps into the room and closer to Ben at the same time. He put an arm around her shoulders and watched all of her friends gear up a little, getting ready to protect her. He looked down at her. Mal's face was expressionless.
"You made it back?" A voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned and a smile spread across Ben and Mal's faces.
"Hey, Mom." Ben smiled as Belle and Sophia stepped into the doorway. Sophia and Evie locked eyes, and Evie turned a little green. He held an arm out to hug his mom, but Belle wrapped her arms around Mal first, leaving him to stare at her incredulously. "Rejected." He whispered.
"Sorry, sweetheart. You know I always wanted a girl." Belle hummed, kissing Mal's cheeks as she laughed at Ben. Ben held a hand to his chest as if he was suffering a mortal wound.
"I brought you these," Sophia announced, holding up a ceramic bowl. "There's blueberries mixed in so that you're not eating the same fruit all the time. Congrats." Mal's eyes lit up as she took the bowl from Sophia. It was full of her favorite snack. Jay finally managed to look at her face as she took one and bit down. She set the bowl down on the desk.
"How did it go?" Belle asked, hugging her son as he rolled his eyes.
"Cars busted." Ben sighed. "And we have problems from the Isle of the Lost to deal with now."
"We're happy to be here too." Jay snapped. "About time you actually started dealing with us instead of always sweeping us under the rug."
Ben, Belle, Mal, and Sophia turned and stared at the large, imposing man as he took a pencil off of Mal's desk and twirled it in between his fingertips. Ben swallowed. "Um, I didn't mean that, Jay. I was talking about-"
Jay crushed the pencil in between his two hands, from the lead to the eraser, and tiny pieces like sawdust fell out from between his fingertips. Mal balled her fists up. "Right. There's also this issue to deal with." She exhaled and turned back to the Auradonians. "I need you guys to leave for a while, please. Ben, will you be in your office?"
"Yeah," Ben nodded. "Are you... will you be okay?"
"I will be." Mal nodded. "Just go, now. I'll call you if this conversation gets into Auradon at all. And hey, if you get off before I get out, you should set up a movie. Something I haven't seen yet." She kissed his cheek and Ben sighed and nodded. He and Belle stepped outside and Sophia hovered in the doorframe. She nodded her head to the Villain Kids, whose expressions darkened at the gesture.
"Will they be okay?" She whispered.
"We'll see." Mal sighed. Sophia nodded, stepped back, and Mal shut the door. She turned around and peeled her Isle jacket off. Then she stood, unsure of herself for a few seconds as she twisted the collar. Finally, she exhaled. "I don't know where to begin." She sighed.
"Let's start with where are you hurt?" Evie suggested, reaching over and taking Mal's arm before guiding her to her own chair. Jay turned and brushed folders and things off of her desk and Carlos moved her computer screen away as the stood in front of the desk.
"No, let's start with correcting this premise that I need rescuing." Mal decided. She tossed her jacket over the back of her chair, brushed Evie's grip off of her, and pushed the chair in. "Because I'm fine."
"Mal, the palace isn't around." Carlos frowned. "And if the office is tapped, we can barricade the door and help you escape."
"The curse is broken," Mal revealed. Evie, Jay, and Carlos's hands fell slack at their sides. Mal pinched her lips together and met each other their eyes in turn. "I'm free to leave. I don't have to stay." She planted her hands on her desk. "I want to stay."
Evie's legs shook and she grabbed onto the desk for support. Mal snapped her fingers at the chairs on the side of the room. "Move these chairs into this space so we can sit down in this place." She mumbled. Three chairs moved out of place and pulled themselves towards the desk. Slowly, Evie, Jay, and Carlos sat down. Only Carlos looked relatively distracted by the magic. Mal picked up a trashcan and held it out to Jay. Jay dropped the splinters from the pencil into the bin, and Mal set it down without a word. "When I arrived here, they weren't expecting, well, me. They thought I'd be older, that I'd know everything about the plan. They thought I'd destroy Auradon. Instead, I was small, far younger than Ben, completely ignorant to my mother's plans, and I forfeited as much power as I was able to. They recognized that the situation was unfair, and so they set about doing their best to make things as equal as they could be given the circumstances. They gave me my country back and allowed me freedom without my having to fight for it. I can leave. I can not come back. I can invite people into the palace. I have power."
Mal took a seat behind her desk with a sigh. "I... can't bring people into Auradon. Ben is in control of the barrier to Auradon. I recognize now I need to restrict Auradon from going over without my knowledge, but that's a story for another time. I'm not allowed to bring people over, I can command individual servants of the law but never entire battalions or the army. I can't..." Mal trailed off. "Well, there's not a lot I can't do anymore." She hummed and picked up a strawberry from her bowl before nudging it a little closer to her friends so they could steal some if they wanted. None of them moved.
"How long has the curse been broken?" Evie whispered. Her hands were shaking in her lap.
"Not long," Mal responded. "Since the beginning of the month. But even from the beginning, there was the option that I never had to be queen, that I could just live in the palace so long as we were married in secret and I could technically have that power, even if no one knew. I chose to step up." She picked up some files off of her desk with a heavy sigh. "I could technically forfeit my kingdom back to Ben and have him continue everything that I've been working on, but I don't want to. I'm here to stay. I want to fix the Isle, strengthen the moorlands, teach Auradon some manners and stay married to Ben." She folded her fingers together on top of her desk.
"Ben captured you." Jay annunciated slowly, staring at his oldest friend in shock.
"King Adam sent the guards, not Ben. And they were expecting, at the least, a villainess who was older than Ben and who would maul him the second she stepped out of the car." Mal pointed out. "And let's get this straight, right now, because it took me eleven months to work through this." She tapped all five of her finger on the desk twice and exhaled. "I am in love with Ben. For real. This is all for real. It started with him telling me I deserved a happily-ever-after, and it got worse when he taught me to drive and make snowflakes, and then he supported me with the moorlands and all my endeavors on the Isle, even when things didn't work out well for him while I was gone, and now I'm in all the way. This is the end-all statement to my entire being. I have fallen in love with him, and I don't want out."
Jay sat back, face white, and looking a little ill. Carlos's expression had gone slack, and he was leaning forward to watch Mal's face intently. Evie was tearing up, and struggling not to let any tears fall. Mal swallowed as she watched them break. "I know what you've been thinking." She whispered. "I... visited the hideout a while ago. I saw the wall and everything you did to the pictures, and I don't know how to convince you otherwise, but I swear I'm not being hurt. Ben is... everything Auradon claims they are. He's good. He's kind. He supports me even when I hurt him. Even when I push him away, and I yell, and I tell him to get out. He never gives up on me."
"Why didn't you try to talk to us?" Carlos asked. "You could have reached out way before we were locked in a basement room for trying to escape."
"I was afraid my mother would hurt you." Mal squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't want her... stringing you up as bribery. I was worried the Islanders would kill you if you looked like you were too close to the Royals. And I couldn't bring you over. What was I supposed to do, show up on a dangerous island full of people who hate any connection to the crown of Auradon, who doubt me even now, every day? And with my mother there, who was waiting for me to bring her over? Or was I supposed to send guard over to hunt you down every once in a while so they could relay pitiful messages about how I was that you wouldn't have believed anyway? How many times do you think I could have sent guards over to find you before the Islanders would have gotten brave enough or desperate enough to hurt them and try to get the palace to pull them off in exchange for their lives? You saw today, there were five guards, plus Stewart. Sure, the Isle is in a panic about that city, but I doubt the situation would have been too much less drastic if it'd happened, say, after I took power over the Isle. Or after we started construction? They would have assumed, every time, that I was going to pull you off just because we were once in a gang together."
"Was it Ben's idea?" Jay snarled.
Mal slammed her hands on the desk. "Stop attacking him." She demanded. "I mean it." She took a deep breath. "He asked if it would be a problem. I made the decision. Just like I made the decision to try and sneak in alone to leave you something later on. You can call that manipulation or careful planning, but that same thing has happened to Auradon's government since I stepped in. You may not have noticed, but people are actually accepting the fact I use magic in the moorlands and on the Isle and, sometimes, in the palace." She exhaled and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders gave a small tremble, and she closed her eyes. In all her imaginations, in all her fantasies, she'd never imagined her first conversation with her friends going like this.
"What can I say that will convince you guys?" She whispered. "I can sit here and talk about the Isle and Auradon and the Moors. I can tell you about Christmas and let you in on every detail that has gone down since I came here. But I can't explain... his honesty to me whenever I need help with my kingdoms. I can't explain how hard it was for him to put up a brave front to Auradon when he felt guilty that I had to marry him before I could drink in Auradon. Or when Audrey told him I'd never be enough for him or especially when the curse was broken and we started laying out plans for me to leave." Mal looked up and reached across the desk for Evie's hand. Evie placed her palm, shaking, in Mal's. "He didn't beg me to stay. He couldn't look at me. He just sat there and wept as Belle was talking about whether or not I wanted an annulment, because he loves me enough to let me go if I want to leave. But I can't explain any of that to you without you thinking he's manipulating me." Mal squeezed Evie's palm and withdrew a little bit, leaning into her chair. "What can I say? Really?"
Silence stretched across the desk. None of her friends wanted to say anything else. Mal couldn't bring herself to meet their eyes. She swallowed, one last time, and closed her sermon. "If I'm lying, if I'm being tapped by the palace, I can always come back and ask for help later. Nothing has to be done now. But what happens if I'm not trapped? What are you guys going to do if everything has been the truth and I'm happy and in love, and I don't need to be rescued? Can you live with that?"
Evie started to cry silently, panicking as her mascara began to run in blue streaks down her cheeks. Mal found a box of tissues under her desk on an exposed shelf and pushed it forward. Evie took four or five, dabbing at her eyes and nose and trying her hardest to not completely break down. Carlos covered his face with his hands. Jay pushed his chair back and began to pace back and forth behind the desk. Mal pressed her fingertips to her forehead as she watched their movements. After a minute or so, Evie stood up and hurried to the door, taking at least seven or eight more tissues with her in white fistfuls. She slipped out and walked off down the hall quickly, but Mal could still hear her best friend's unabashed sobs from a distance. Jay put his hands down, one on the back of Evie's chair and the other on the back of his, and stared at her. "So what next?" He spat. "You think Auradon is actually going to let you, a villain's daughter, have a happily-ever-after?"
"You think Auradon can stop me?" Mal challenged, rising to her feet. "I'm not even an Auradonian citizen; I'm just married to one."
"So, what next?" Jay repeated, his demand growing more insistent and violent.
"What next?" Mal sputtered.
"What next?" Jay affirmed. "You say you're staying, so what? You going to have his children and then stay in the palace, cooped up every day with no sunshine until you're old and-"
"What is it with everyone asking us about children?" Mal exclaimed, exasperatedly. Her voice started to rise dangerously. "No, no, you've got it all wrong. I'm going to finish the Isle, save all those poor people from the villains, help the moorlands design and build their underground city, and Ben and I are going to legalize magic in Auradon!"
"You're not thinking far enough!" Jay proclaimed. "Because there's only a matter of years before you're older and he's older and what are you going to do then? You can't run off to the moorlands and to the Isle every day if you have Prince Useless the second hanging on your legs!"
"Prince Useless?" Mal demanded in a high shriek.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and Mal wretched it out to glare at the screen. A message from Adam to Belle, Ben, and herself read: "What is going on? We can hear screaming in the library." She growled at the notification and slapped her phone onto the desk before stomping over to the door and listening out into the hallway. "Evie?" She yelled. "I'm closing the door again!" She pressed the door into the lock and heard it click shut, then turned around with a deep breath.
Jay slapped Carlos's arm. "Did I say it right?" He demanded. "You understand what I'm saying, right?"
"You said it right." Carlos nodded, keeping his face turned towards the floor. "And Mal... he's kind of right. Ben's going to want you to stick around eventually, especially if his family is on the line. And when you're old and you can't move as well... are you really prepared to stay here forever?"
Mal closed her eyes. She loved Ben, she knew that, but she was still thinking short-term, temporary. One foot in front of the other. One goal first. "I don't know." She bit out. "We've talked about it in the past, but the fact is I'm too young for him to consider a family path with me. As for when I'm old..." She trailed off, trying to imagine herself with wrinkles and grey hair. She wouldn't be able to climb the palace walls or run to the Isle every day. Maybe the Isle and the moorlands wouldn't even need her. She didn't know what she'd do. "I don't know." She admitted. "But I do know I want to stay with him because he makes me happy."
"We make you happy." Jay protested, stepping forward and taking her upper arms. "What can he give you that we can't? Freedom, hope, you've already got a title! Carlos could build you a car, I bet!" Behind Jay, Carlos looked very unsure of that statement.
"It's not about what Ben gives me, it's about who he is!" Mal stressed, brushing his hands off. "You guys can't be Ben for me. It's true, I love you all, but I married him and he's part of my life now."
"But you could get someone who... who doesn't-" Jay, apparently, couldn't think of anything off the top of his head that he knew Mal would hate about her husband. "There's Carlos and I!" He tried.
Mal's cheeks flushed scarlet red, and so did Carlos's. She swallowed. "I, ahem, hope you weren't insinuating what you sounded like you were." She fumbled.
Jay suddenly seemed to realize what he'd said. "Oh, no, of course not." He backed off with his hands falling to the side. "Just... don't you want what we had before? Never caring about what anyone said about us and screaming and making people run away from us?"
Mal sighed. "I mean, yeah, I miss it, but not enough to want to go back. I kind of look back on it as a fond time. But my life is better now."
Jay stared at her like she was a new person. He squinted at her like he was seeing the sun after being stuck in the dark for ages. Mal patted his arm. "I know this is hard on you, but I just can't leave when I finally feel like I'm where I'm meant to be."
There was another long, uncomfortable silence. Mal reached forward and put a hand on Jay's shoulder, but he ripped it away and stomped towards the door. "Where are you going?" Mal demanded.
"Out," Jay said in a gruff tone, wrenching the handle open and pushing the door outwards.
"Don't leave the grounds," Mal commanded. "I'll have the servants set something up for you." She turned, covering her face with her hands. Her phone buzzed again on her desk. It might have not been the first time. She could have sworn she'd heard it vibrating through her argument with Jay. Carlos picked up the phone and skimmed the messages.
"I think it's the Royals," He announced in a dull tone. "'Mal is in meeting with her friends, trying to catch them up on her life', 'They're not the biggest fans of Ben, I see.', 'what's this about legalizing Magic? Ben, that's an important law we made for a reason.', 'Relax. No concrete plans on that. Let her finish. I think she closed the door so the palace can't overhear.'"
Carlos handed her her phone and Mal set it in her pocket with a weary expression. "I'm sorry." She mumbled hollowly.
"Me too," Carlos agreed in a bitter tone. He stood up, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "We'll fill you in on the Isle later. For now, we just need... space."
Mal nodded and watched him leave her office to find the other two. She pinched the bridge of her nose and pulled her phone out. One text to the palace guards: "Do not let the VK's leave the estate." One text to Ben and his parents: "Don't talk to them. They had a lot of misconceptions on what was going on and it will take time and space for reality to sink in." And finally, a phone call to Eliza and Evelyn on the Isle. She drummed her fingers on her desk as the line connected.
"Eliza Deavor?" A girl's voice confirmed.
"Eliza, this is Queen Mal," Mal hummed, sitting up and glaring at the clock on the wall. "I need you to get a message out. The Rotten Isle is unsafe, and people are only to venture out with the utmost caution. I'm going to be returning soon to set things straight with our parents."
There was a long pause, and Eliza swallowed. "Yes, your Highness," She confirmed.
Mal's mouth pinched into a line, but she didn't correct the young girl. Just this once, she'd let it slide.
And finally, one text to Ben.
"I'm going to have to go into the Isle to rescue those who are being held back. I think the villains will be more likely to back down if we have more numbers. In short, I want to take the day we said we'd let Auradonians come into the Isle, and I want to actually show them the Isle. You okay with that?"
"How have I done so far?" Mal asked, looking over all the pages of her story on the computer screen.
"Really well. Is this an intermission?" The person behind the computer screen asked.
"I don't know. Geesh, I'm tired. But what I need to do right now is introduce something that I didn't actually get to see, and set the stage for the next and final part of the story."
"Sounds like this is our intermission, then. It's about halfway at any rate. Please continue."
"Here's what happened. Evie, Jay, and Carlos had a... hard time accepting Mal's new life. They still couldn't trust Ben entirely, and it's something that would follow them for a few years. Still, they did manage to pull themselves together long enough to tell Mal what had happened. And boy, was it intense.
"Maleficent had been confident Mal would do her bidding and had no reason to think otherwise. After the Castle issued their proclamation that Mal would be coronated, everyone on the Isle had all figured that Maleficent had actually done it, and the villains would win after all. The Isle had celebrated up until the day it was explained that the Isle would be severed from Auradon and that Mal would have no power over its inhabitants. Maleficent had laughed and assumed it was Mal integrating herself into Auradonian society before striking. Mal had been married, had spent her honeymoon becoming the queen of the moors, and then set to work on the Isle… all with her deranged mother believing on some level that her daughter would save her. Over time though, she'd grown more and more doubtful, and had retreated into herself. For months, she had waited. Maleficent had deluded herself into believing that everything – the new city, the talks with Auradon, her website blog – everything had been Mal waiting for the moment to pounce. And she believed this right up until she'd arrived at the gates of the new city and been denied entrance.
"At that moment, reality spoke depths into Maleficent's mind. She went home to find Carlos and Evie packing their bags, intending to get out while their parents were in the other room, and exploded. For days, she kept all of her sector on lockdown, hoarding everything and keeping everyone on the surrounding five blocks in the same vicinity. Other villains had traveled from different parts of the Isle to bond together and keep their children from running off and stealing away. There were so many people packed in such a close area that many were starting to get sick, and people were beginning to starve. Due to the highly concentrated numbers, some were able to escape unnoticed. Meanwhile, murderers and thieves scurried among them, taking out people from the rooftops for fun and stealing things to create massive hoards away from everyone else. Mal's city was safe and orderly, but the rest of the Isle was descending into chaos." Mal let out a little breath as she finished explaining, in short terms, the two-hour meeting.
"Is this where I come in?" Her assistant looked up, furrowing their brow a little.
"Not quite. Almost, though. You come in when Auradon starts being more involved in their politics. Before that, something really bad happened up north."
"Oh, now I remember."
"Yeah. Our sea monster returned for a second look. A short scrimmage confirmed to it what no one had known - that our continent existed. Auradon was about to change forever."
It was dark. The air tasted of stagnant salt and musky mist. The waves crashed against the metal hull of the Auradonian Auxiliary Craft and made the overseeing officer brace a hand on the railing as he stared out into the night. 22:47 and his shift ended on the new day. It seemed like forever since King Ben had ordered them northward. They were currently on the far west side of Auradon, patrolling for the creature.
There was a flash of something rough in the water down below and the officer looked back over with a frown. "Off the Starboard Beam!" He called, pulling a flashlight out of his belt and shining it down on the dark waters below.
Another call came from the bow. "Starboard Bow!" they called, and the overhead lights flipped on from above.
After several seconds, a call came from the bridge. "We've picked up something on the radar!" They announced. "It just appeared off the beam side!" As if this announcement had called for some sort of drastic response, the boat rocked immediately towards the right side. The officer was thrown into the railing as the boat swayed, and an alarm sounded on the ship. The two other boats that had been skirting the Auxiliary Craft also began to blare alarms. Spotlights were shot down into the water from the craft that had been following on the right, and a long, hideously greenish brown tentacle was revealed to have hooked around the anchor. Another three tentacles took hold on the railings of the ship and the sea monster they'd been chasing down pulled itself up and out of the water.
Boy, was it ugly. Large and brown with hideous fins behind two eyes that reflected off the spotlights. The officer pulled out his gun, which had been strapped to his back, and fired. The creature let out a bellow of agony. On the other ship, two naval guns were being directed to the monster. The officer shot once more and then dove out of the wave as another tentacle came down on his head. Where he'd been standing, the creature punctured the hull and opened up the dining area, thankfully empty, to the dark and salty outdoors.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!" The loudspeakers on the other ship bellowed. A barrage of gunfire echoed over the officer's head, and the creature bellowed in agony and released the ship. He rolled into the wall as the watercraft righted itself, and could hear the openings for underwater missiles opening as the sea monster began to swim away, with the spotlight following it. The companion ship on the right side was also ordering for missiles. The officer scrambled to his feet and dashed to the bow of the ship, where four other naval soldiers had hurried to watch the creature flee. He barely had time to take hold on the railing and look down when the missile was fired and they watched a flash of silver travel forward, towards the creature. At the last possible second, it dodged, and the missile sailed past it. In the moment it passed, a second was loosed from the right-side ship. This one met its match, as a sudden upwards waterfall appeared. A gigantic cloud of water mist rose out of the sea, and there was the same bellow from the sea creature. The men cheered and bellowed as he pulled his binoculars from where they were slung around his neck. He looked in the direction of the explosion and completely missed the second explosion, from the first missile.
It exploded about a mile away, and in the darkness, an entire wall of purple light lit up the night sky. Dozens of cracks like lightning scattered across a wall that was higher than he could see and expanded further than the eye could tell. His mouth ran dry as sparks flew in the distance and the large, purple wall stabilized and then remained visible, dimly lit.
"What was that?" One of the underseers demanded of his peers, a shocked expression frozen onto his face. "I thought the monster was there?" He pointed to the bubbling water in front of the ship, about fifty yards away.
"It is," The overseeing officer snapped. "Oh, Sh-" He swore. "The King is going to have our heads." And if not the King, then the Queen, considering this concerned her far more than it concerned King Ben.
"What?" The younger soldier asked, with the same wide-eyed, baffled expression. But the overseeing officer couldn't say anything as the other ship shifted the spotlight, and they watched something zoom past under the water's surface. It was black as the water and almost invisible except for the faint white spots covering its scales. The young soldiers yelled as they watched it vanish into the night. The overseer's mouth was still dry as he turned away.
"Is there anyone in the bridge?" He yelled up to the controlling sector of the ship, cupping his hands around his mouth. A few seconds passed, and then an officer in bright blue appeared, waving his hand to signal he'd heard. "Summon the Captain and open a connection to the Palace so we can speak with the King immediately!"
"What's the emergency?" The man shouted back.
The officer heaved a sigh and began to walk up to the bridge, knowing he'd have to explain this story at least fifty more times before the situation passed. The second ship began to approach the spot where the mountain of water had occurred, hoping to recover the body of their monster while the officer turned over in his head what he'd witnessed. "We may," He began in a yell, picking his words carefully, "Have just declared war on the Moorlands."
Queen Elsa of Arendelle trudged up the carpeted steps in her childhood palace. Her cane made clicking noises on the ground. She pushed the door open to her room and slipped inside, pulling her icy train in behind her. She shut the door softly with a heavy sigh. Another long day. Another few arguments with dignitaries. Another fight with Ericka. She was sick and tired of battling everyone. Elsa kicked off her shoes beside the door and slumped against the wood. A cold wind whipped around the room. She glanced around for the source.
The window was open.
Elsa slid the deadbolt into place on her heavy door and traveled to the window. She peeked outside, making sure to keep a straight expression as she did. No one was there except for the cold wind. Most people would have assumed the wind had blown open the window, but Elsa knew better.
Outside, the moon was rising into the sky above Arendelle. The sky was clear except for cloud hovering on the North Mountain. Lights flickered in the village. Some disappeared as people went to bed and others appeared as people got up to continue work in the dark. She tried to imagine what it would be like to not be Queen. To have a normal life and a normal family with a normal husband who would kiss her every day when he came home. And two normal daughters, one of which who would be dating normally and not dumping boyfriends and causing mayhem, hoping Elsa would somehow manage to call their father home to deal with her antics. Elsa pulled at the ends of her braid and trailed her fingers up and down the length of the stone base the window was set upon. After several minutes, she finally let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm not going to wait all night." She told the night air. "If you're just going to stare, you'll have to do it through the window pane, because I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." Here was another thought: Could people see her window, even faintly, from the village? Probably, if she could see theirs.
There was an impish chuckle that broke her out of her thoughts. She looked up and spotted a bare-footed man hovering above her, about twenty feet away and framed in moonlight. He wore a dark blue hoodie and brown pants. Clutched in his hands was a curved wooden stick, almost like a shepherd's crook.
Elsa's face didn't change as he floated down to be almost nose-to-nose with her. "You're so pretty to look at, though." He smiled. His breath smelt like frost. "And the night air is so refreshing."
Elsa rolled her eyes. "I see." She said. She turned and left the window to sit on her bed. The young man floated through her window and landed on his feet. Jackson Overland Frost, forever frozen age twenty. Nineteen, really, but twenty seemed close enough. It seemed far from her age now, but it hadn't so much when she'd been younger. A true winter spirit with powers not too different from her own. He came from a far land up north that, unfortunately, was not nearly as 'happily-ever-after' as Auradon was.
Elsa traced her hand over her lacy bedspread, leaving small patterns of frost behind as she thought. "You're usually more talkative." She told Jack.
Jack smiled. "You always render me speechless." He replied smoothly.
"Is something bothering you, Jack?" Elsa asked, turning her icy blue stare onto him.
Jack Frost settled down on the floor by her window. "You were gone for a little while." He began in a soft tone. "When I last came by, Abigail said you had left for Beast's Castle. I've just been worried about you. Is everything alright?"
"There's no one else, Jack," Elsa whispered. "I won't forget you."
She watched Jack fall silent and curl his toes into the floor. Elsa got down onto the floor beside him, carefully pushing her train and dress skirt aside. Jack's eyes lingered on her leg, but it was nothing he hadn't seen before.
"Sorry." He croaked after a minute. "I really do trust you, but… old habits die hard."
Elsa nodded. "I understand." And she did, on a much smaller scale. She'd isolated herself, but Jack hadn't had the luxury of choice. She couldn't imagine what three-hundred years of forced isolation would do to a person, but she could definitely appreciate the principle of loneliness.
Jack twisted his fingers, "I wish I could be around more." He sighed. "It's hard, having to leave so often. How are the girls?"
Elsa sighed and leaned against the wall beside him. "Ericka is still struggling. She can't control her powers and nothing I know helps her. Jessie gets along just fine, but Ericka just wants to fly, and be free, and use her powers as much as possible. She has a special affinity for snow." Elsa paused, tapping her fingers alongside her knee. "The Queen asked if she'd ever tried using a wand or staff." She sighed. "I wonder if… her powers are just more suited to you than me."
"I hope not." Jack sighed. "I'm a spirit of nature. If she's like me, she might not age. She might… freeze in time."
"Still." Elsa probed. "It's worth a shot. If you could just tell me where you got your staff, or even tell me where to find it-"
"The lake where I was reborn has been destroyed." Jack interrupted shortly. He gripped his staff with a rock-hard grip. "Even I can't go back now, with the villains overrunning everything."
"Oh." Elsa sighed. "Things have gotten worse, then?"
"Much," Jack admitted. "The swampland has been taken over. Trolls and Bergens have been forced to move out of their homes and three monsters have escaped from the sea of monsters while I've been busy with Pitch Black. Most of our people want me to try to fuse a barrier around the sea, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it."
Elsa took his hand, which was the same cool temperature as hers. "Maybe if I helped you with it?" She asked. "We could do it."
Jack was silent for several seconds. Then he sighed and rolled up the cuff on his sleeves, which caused Elsa to remove her hands to herself. "Who did you say the queen was?" He asked. "Belle?"
"No." Elsa shook her head. "You've been away for so long, things have changed. Belle's son is on the throne now. Since he married, we have a new queen here. Her name is Mal."
"Is she pretty good at her job?" Jack asked, twiddling his thumbs around his staff.
Elsa smiled brightly. "I like her a lot. She's kind of an interesting situation. They brought her from the land of the villains. We didn't know we were going to have a queen until two months before their marriage. She's technically not the real queen, but I would throw my support behind her any day. She's smart as a whip, a wise-crack, clever and brave. Also…" Elsa nudged Jack. "She's magical."
"No way." Jack breathed. "Auradon let a magical person on the throne?"
"I think they like her too, for the most part," Elsa said. "And she's got really expansive magic. Not like ours, where we control snow and ice. She works on the fundamentals of magic. She could probably do anything she wanted with the right spell, but her power growth was stunted by the barrier."
Jack nodded. "Makes sense." He mumbled. He looked at Elsa. "Well, I'm technically not here for you. The guardians have asked I contact Auradon in relation to our missing swine."
"Wow." Elsa raised her eyebrows. "This'll be the first contact between our two lands since…" She trailed off.
Jack took her hands. "Us." He finished for her, dark eyes boring into her soul.
Elsa smiled. "Us." She agreed. The words were like a promise between them. Neither you nor I. Neither alone nor together. United, joined, one. Us.
Jack let out a long-suffering breath. "I'm glad the queen is magical. Even if she's only the puppet queen, maybe that'll help the king to be friendlier to our cause."
"Ben." Elsa nodded. "He's a good young man. He'll help you."
Jack took Elsa's hand again. "I know you just got back a while ago, but is it okay if I hang around for a bit while you get back into the groove of things?"
Elsa smiled. "Of course." She nodded and leaned against his shoulder as more frigid air blew in through the window. When Jack let out a breath, snowflakes materialized in front of him, and Elsa could do nothing but smile contentedly as a storm materialized outside of Arendelle.
Reminder: Chapter 23 will be out Monday instead of Wednesday.
I do not own Disney's Descendants, Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmanations, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Aladdin, Cinderella, Tarzan, Wreck-It Ralph, Incredibles 2, Frozen, or Dreamwork's Rise of the Guardians, Trolls, or Kung Fu Panda.