Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in the Descendants franchise, I just own the characters that are obviouly OC's.

Chapter 14: Winter Break, intrigues and doubts

***At the Bell Tower of Notre Dame***

For the first time in her life Claudine was decorating a Christmas Tree.

For the first time in many years Quasimodo was setting up Christmas Tree.

Claudine was happy, also for the first time in weeks she was feeling relaxed and so she was pouring all her cheerfulness in the decoration of the tower.

Esmeralda dropped in just to keep an eye on Quasimodo since it was the first time in years that he was celebrating Christmas, of course Phoebus and she had invited him over the years but he has rarely accepted and when he did he always left early. She had brought some groceries that she knew that her old friend always forgot and also she had included some things that she knew that Claudine would need.

Both women were getting the groceries out of their bags in silence until the olive-skinned woman asked: "How have you been?"

"Great" She responded quietly and shrugged.

"Zephyr has said that you were paired up for a homework"

"Mmm…"

"You two have been getting along"

"Aye"

"Also he has mentioned that the environment has been tense lately at school" Esmeralda mentioned and waited for an answer, of course she had known the effects of King Ben`s proclamation and had asked her children about it but they gave her vague answers.

Claudine seemed to be surprised about the comment but also she seemed to calculate if it was worth to give a truthful answer. Then she sighed and said "It has been…awkward and tense, but they have mostly left me alone"

"That`s…good" Esmeralda managed to say.

"I think so" The blonde said and sighed "If the truth be told I don`t want to talk about it...I only want to spend my first Christmas as a normal person"

"You have been enjoying your time here" The gypsy was referring to Auradon.

"This place feels like a home" The green-eyed girl muttered, she was referring to Notre Dame and looked to Quasimodo who was crafting something in a table while the gargoyles were getting some old decorations out.

Then both of them returned to their chores, but Esmeralda was thinking about the girl who was the daughter of Judge Claude Frollo …that blonde-haired green-eyed girl was something so innocent and pure that it was hard to imagine that she was the child of that monster…but also she saw something on her that reminded her of Quasi when she had met him all those years ago.

Before returning to her own home, to her family, she saw her old friend and the green-eyed girl interact and knew that they were forming a family of their own and hoped that nothing could shatter it.

***At the Kuzco Palace ***

At dinner Yzla was analyzing Tupac, the only son of Emperor Kuzco.

They got along fairly well but he always seemed a little…too different from his flamboyant father, at age fourteen he was one of the top students at Auradon Academy and he spoke in a bored tone when someone started a conversation with him…and still he was one of the few persons that noticed her existence and was kind to her though she was weak, unimportant and the daughter of one of the most ridiculed villains.

Empress Melina was the one accompanying them that noon, she was always a silent companion and only asked trivial things when she felt like talking. Emperor Kuzco was at his room with a killer headache as he always was when Yzla was at the palace.

The usual awkwardness that was felt during the weekends was replaced by a mild hostility towards her since King Ben`s announcement, she knew that the topic of the "redeemed villains" was a torn on the side of some…well most of the auradonians.

At one moment the Empress decided to retire and left without a word and some of the uneasiness dissipated. Then Tupac spoke non chantingly: "I know that you weren`t aware of the conversation between the De Vil cousins and the King"

"Oh" She said quietly.

After a few seconds he added: "Do you know the damage that it caused to the stability of Auradon?"

"I can imagine" Yzla responded with sincerity but didn`t know what to make out of it.

"Be aware of your surroundings" He said out of the blue "These days will be awfully …tricky and treacherous"

"I didn`t know that auradonians could be tricky" She commented.

"You don`t know many things my dear friend" He responded with a small smile and continued eating.

Yzla could only fathom the message behind those words.

***At Cinderellasburg***

Anthony was sat on a chair next to Christian`s bed reading a book he had borrowed from the school`s library while Buttercup was sleeping at a carpet by the side. They had been silent for a long time before Christian said: "Could you call Chad, please? I have something to tell you two"

The Tremaine raised an eyebrow but went to his other cousin`s bedroom and returned with him in silence. After a few seconds the older spoke "As you may have noticed I`m ill and possibly dying…"

"Don`t say that" Anthony said rather quickly, of course he had known that but had decided to avoid to acknowledge that, he had always seen people dying of sickness at the Isle but had refused to see the signs of that in his cousin.

"The healers said that you are getting better…" Chad said hopefully. He had also denied the fact that he knew that his older brother was dying as were some patients at the hospital his mother had taken him some years ago.

Christian smiled but responded "You know that I`m not healing I`m just having my last good days…" He took a pause to look at the other two boys "That`s why I`m talking to you now that I have you at home…There`s going to be a great conflict very soon, Ben`s announcement about the villains has stirred the emotions of the people and some traitors will try to get the best of it"

"There are no traitors at Auradon" Chad said firmly.

"I have been learning under our father for many years Chad, there are always traitors in the court"

Anthony was trying to let the words sink down, of course he knew the ways of trickery as his grandmother had tried to teach him about politics when he was young and she had wanted him to take the title of Lord Tremaine. Of course after a while she decided that it was futile and stopped her teaching but he could remember the lessons well.

Chad looked to his brother and sighed, he knew what he was talking about but had tried to ignore his suspicions about a plan against his High King and friend. He was never interested on politics or court games; he had always been just a second son who would never inherit anything. But as his brother grew sick he had to take the place of the heir.

"Promise that you will protect each other…and those that are yours"

Then the cousins looked at each other and made a silent vow, but they didn`t know that one of them would honor that vow one day at a great cost.

***At Arendelle***

Unlike the other regions of Auradon, in Arendelle people received the proclamation fairly well. The Ice Queen almost looked happy about it.

Hal couldn`t understand why though, and it bothered him a great deal since he had always thought that auradonians were transparent people and had assumed that in general they were easy to read.

He was spending time with the Royal family at the shore since it was one of those rare warm days at Arendelle.

The sea had always frightened him for a strange reason, but now it soothed him and maybe it was because he was with Emma and Klaus. Hal knew that if he stood by their side nothing bad could ever happen to him and also that he would do anything to protect them.

He looked at Klaus, he was the perfect blend between Princess Anna and her husband Kristoff. As always the young man was looking at the Arendelle children while they played and at the eyes of Hal he was a protector.

Then he looked at Emma, who he had started calling in his mind the Silver Princess because of her likeness to her father Jack Frost. She was something magical at the eyes of the people. For Hal she was just one of his best friends and one mystery he couldn`t decipher.

"You`ll return to school when the Winter Break is over" Emma said taking Hal out of his trance.

"Aye" Hal said "I`m not eager to return though"

"I thought that you missed your friends" She said writing something down in her notebook.

"I do miss Anthony, Harriet and Claudine" He admitted after thinking about it for a few seconds.

"And Veronica Fitzwalter?" Emma asked with a sly smile.

Hal blinked "Ronnie? She is not my friend; I don`t even like her"

"But she has written many letter to you since you isolated yourself here" The silver haired princess teased him.

The auburn haired boy rolled his eyes and said "She is just feeling guilty for leaving me alone that day and surely all of her letters are apologizing for it, Ronnie actually doesn`t care about me"

Emma laughed, hearing her laugh was something rare since she was usually an apathetic person (for most people) or in the eyes of her family something ethereal. She said "Someone who mails three letters a week has to care…and just because she is friends with Ratcliffe doesn`t mean that she has to be your enemy"

Hal crossed his arms and looked away, he knew that he looked as a small child but he refused to acknowledge that last conversation he had with Ronnie. It was difficult to leave the rules that had shaped him at the Isle.

"Just think about it" Emma said to him putting her cold hand on his shoulder "You never know who is to be your ally in difficult times"

He just nodded in defeat and didn`t stop to think about her last words.

I`m really sorry about the long hiatus that I unnintentionally made.

Hope you like this little chapter that is a kind of interlude that set some plotlines that will be developed in the next arc of this story.

As always please leave a review and leave a suggestion if you have it.