Fleshing out the four

Author's Note:

Chapter five was kind of heavy, so I thought I would give you something lighter to end the weekend on. We finally pull the Core Four together here, and you watch Mal start to build the network she is proud of. Someone commented that murder seemed low, even for Maleficent. I agree that it is a bit extreme by Disney's standards, but I'm not Disney so I can do whatever I want. I don't own any of these characters, but I am enjoying molding them into my own vision.

A guest has commented that they plan to write their own story based off of my chapters. They did not comment as a fanfiction user, so I am unable to find where they plan to post them. I have responded in a comment but, if that guest is reading this chapter, then please let me know how to contact you. I am pleased that you found my idea unique enough to expound upon, but I hope that you plan to give me credit when copying my story word for word.

**Warning** This chapter is a bit lighter, but it still refers to child abuse and the potential of rape on the Isle. I explore several levels of evil in this story, as I believe that not all villains are created equal. If abuse is a trigger for you, then either proceed with caution or go back and watch the movies (they rock ;).

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Jay's point of view

Mal and I were out stealing for my father's shop, like we often did after school. I looked up and saw Mal pause, watching two of her mother's stupider goons approaching a young blue haired girl about our age. She looked frightened, but stood her ground.

"Well, well, what do we have here," Mal said as she approached the standoff. "Does my mother know that you are attacking the daughter of the Evil Queen while she is having tea with the girl's mother?" The goons started stammering and backed up. "If you leave now, then I won't tell her that you were acting without orders. And I wouldn't try to get me in trouble for interrupting your fun, because you won't like her reaction when she realizes who you were harassing."

I walked over and stopped just behind Mal's right shoulder, flexing my muscles. I was only twelve, but I was the largest in my class and my muscular frame made me look older. The goons looked at each other and slunk off, leaving the disheveled blue haired beauty behind. "What is your name," I asked her.

"Evie," she said quietly. She suddenly launched herself at Mal, pulling her into a huge hug and crying out her thanks. I was stunned, as no one got away with hugging Mal anymore, not even me.

Mal stood there with her arms awkwardly held out to the side. Evie pulled back and looked at her, "you're supposed to hug me back."

"I don't do hugs," said Mal. Evie wouldn't let go though, so eventually Mal closed her arms around the girl in an awkward hug. Evie took to following us around after that, and basically made herself a nuisance until Mal threw up her hands and accepted the persistent blue beauty.

Mal and I started honing Evie's existing street smarts, and she soon became quite the proficient thief. She usually distracted the vendors while Mal and I made off with their stuff, and was good at flirting with people on the street while she picked their pockets. She came across as innocent so she wasn't suspected, but the younger crowd knew how "bad" she could be.

Surprisingly, Mal actually began to take to Evie. She was more accepting of the girl's affection, actually returning her hugs when she thought no one was looking. It was good to see Mal connecting with a girl her age. She usually stuck with me, and I will freely admit that I am not the most affectionate person. Evie also started to make sure that Mal and I were, not only outfitted with clothes without holes, but that we looked good. Having clothes that fit was a novelty for us, and Evie made them herself! Fabric was something that we added to our watch list for stealing, and our success always resulted in what we now dubbed an "Evie hug".

One day, about four months after Evie joined us, a slight boy with black and white hair showed up at the market. We had seen him before, but had never hassled him because he was timid and did nothing to challenge us. He was limping that day, and Evie's soft heart was touched. "We should see if he's okay," she said as she left us to walk towards the boy.

Mal and I looked at each other. I shrugged my shoulders and Mal rolled her eyes. She asked rhetorically, "Why do I have the feeling that our crew is going to grow again?"

I laughed and replied, "because, despite your outward disgust, you have a soft heart."

"Stop insulting me," she said agitatedly, but she stalked off after Evie and I smiled behind her back. "And stop smiling," she snapped. Sometimes I wonder if she has eyes in the back of her head, and then I caught her smirk in the mirror of a stall display that gave her a clear view of my face. I rolled my eyes and followed her into the crowd.

The young boy, Carlos, seemed to slot into our group seamlessly. He already knew the art of pick pocketing, and was so graceful that he could slip away without being seen. If anyone did notice his actions, then he could run fast enough that he was never caught. The four of us gained a reputation for our skills, and the identity of Mal's mother ensured that we went unchallenged by most of the Isle's inhabitants.

One thing bringing Carlos into the fold did, was give us an in to helping the poorer and weaker kids on the Isle. Carlos may still live with his mom, but he was not treated well and often resorted to the streets to feed himself or obtain clothing. He introduced us to small bolt holes where the abused and orphaned villain kids banded together in an attempt to survive. Mal did have a soft heart, although she tried to hide it, and the clear need for organization and leadership in this instance seemed to bring her alive.

Soon, she had organized the bolt holes, appointing older kids to take care of the younger and train the more promising kids how to steal and where to get the best food without getting caught. She taught them how to take a portion of something, instead of the whole lot, so the owner simply thought that they were going through their food faster than usual and didn't get suspicious. This worked especially well at Ursula's restaurant. We even focused our own stealing towards supporting the kids in our care. None of the adults knew what we did, and even the more well provided for kids were unaware. The only people who knew what we did were those who directly benefited from our actions.

The only way you made your way into our protection, was to be brought in by someone else. The kids were very careful about vetting new kids, because they knew what could happen if their judgement was faulty. If the adult villains or the more successful kids found out about the situation, the bolt holes could be raided for goods an all our hard work would be undone. Moving a bolt hole's location was tedious, but we made sure that portability was a priority in case a group was discovered. We also made sure that there were multiple bolt holes, so that there were places the kids could retreat to if their primary bolt hole was discovered.

We were viewed as evil by the adults and rival gangs of villain kids, but the weaker unaffiliated kids knew that they were taken care of as long as they didn't tell anyone that we were responsible for their bounty.

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Carlos' Point of View

"Up, up up!" I heard a child cry in laughter. I looked over and saw Jay throwing little Violet up in the air. She was the daughter of Claude Frollo, who gained custody of his daughter when her mother died, but he rejected her when she was born with only three fingers on her right hand. He was one of my least favorite villains. He rejected anyone who didn't reach his standards of perfection, and he 'took' any woman he wanted regardless of their objections. Any way you put it; he was the lowest of the low. The only reason I hated Maleficent more, was because she routinely hurt the girl I now viewed as a sister. Luckily, Mal and Evie's moms made sure that they fell outside of Frollo's grasp. Their oddly colored hair also helped. Frollo hated anything he perceived as an 'abnormality'.

Jay smiled as he tossed Violet in the air, watching as she giggled with glee. "Fly little flower," Jay cried. We all loved Violet, she touched our lives more than any of the other kids we cared for. The one she truly connected to though was Mal.

"Mal," I heard Violet squeal. I turned around and saw Mal enter the bolt hole with a package in her hands. I looked at her questioningly and her eyes clearly told me to hold my tongue. I couldn't communicate with only facial expressions, like she could with Jay, but I could read a few obvious ones. Her eyes saying "shut up", was one of them.

"Hello Violet," Mal said, "and how's my little flower this morning?"

"I'm so happy! I'm turning five today! Jay has been tossing me so high! I'm so happy you're here!" Violet had a way of talking in all exclamation points when she was excited, and she latched on to Mal like a leech. Even Evie couldn't rival Violet's hugs. To Mal's credit, she returned the hug as fiercely as it was given. For all Mal preached that love was a weakness on the Isle, she was completely helpless when it came to Violet. No one else got under her skin so effortlessly, and the two years since the abandoned girl joined our group had seen Mal soften. Violet was one of the first kids we actively rescued from an abusive environment, and one of the most precious in all of our eyes.

Mal reached down to where she dropped the package she was carrying. "Since it is your birthday today, I have a gift for you." Mal smiled as she spoke, watching Violet's eyes light up.

"What is it?" Violet asked in awe. She couldn't believe that she was getting a gift. Her father had beaten into her, literally, the belief that she was worthless and undeserving of anything. The night Frollo finally abandoned her, Mal scooped her up and carried her to the nearest bolt hole. We had been watching her for a week, once we heard about the beating's she suffered, and were only looking for a chance to steal her away. She now lived in the bolt hole farthest from her father's home, and was happy as a clam. Well, a clam that didn't end up at Ursula's place anyway. Some sayings just didn't make any sense.

"You'll just have to open it to find out." Mal's voice brought me back to the present…no pun intended…in time to watch Violet open her gift.

Violet let out another happy squeal as she threw herself into Mal's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried out in joy. She was holding a teddy bear with a white body, brown head, three black paws and one gray paw. Apparently, the manufacturer made a mistake and threw the bear out instead of fixing it. It looked brand new, and I knew that the difference in color would only endear the bear to Violet even more.

Life was good. Well, as good as life on the Isle could get. I had three friends who were more like siblings, and groups of kids that looked up to me. I felt satisfaction in providing for our kids, and happiness in working with my friends to do so. Life at home may stink sometimes, and Mal may occasionally need a few days of down time when she took the brunt of her mother's anger; but all in all, life was good.

This continued for a couple more years, until the news came from Auradon of a new king, and his first royal proclamation that would change our lives forever.