"Nice place." Jay offered as they warily followed Audrey into the small cottage she had brought them to. Still, he wasn't sure if he could put a hundred percent of his 'trust' in her right now, but she was the best option they had; the only option really. "It's…charming." A slight choking sound to his right told him that Carlos was trying not to laugh at his comment. He couldn't see Evie as she was behind him with Kenzi, but he knew she had rolled his eyes at him. What, he couldn't play nice?
"I'm sorry it's so small," Audrey began as she dropped her bags next to one of the couches, "but I seriously doubt anyone will come all the way out here. The gray couch pulls out into a bed, but the blue one doesn't. The chair reclines as well."
Evie moved from behind Jay's protective stance and relaxed into the room. "It's perfect. Thank you."
Audrey beamed at her and then moved towards the kitchen, beginning to pull things out as well as give the group some time to decompress. "I'll get dinner started, you guys are free to make yourselves at home."
Jay wasted no time in pulling Evie back and snapping his fingers for Carlos to scope out the cottage with him. He nodded for Evie to stay in the living room until they were done, and left Ember for her to keep an eye on. Audrey's eyes followed him a bit of the way, but he was shocked to see that she didn't comment on it, especially when Carlos opened up a closet to peer in for potential intruders. From what he knew about Audrey, it could still be a trap and he would treat it as such until he gave the all clear.
"You guys like pizza, right?" she asked Jay when he caught her eye again. "I mean, who doesn't like pizza."
That wasn't the question he thought she would ask. "Yeah, pizza is good." After he was satisfied with his check, he collapsed onto the couch and Ember climbed back into his lap. The little girl was beyond tired at this hour, and she was starting to gently cry for Mal. In fact, everyone was worrying for Mal.
"Jay, what if something happened," Evie worried. "What if they didn't bring her to the hospital and instead dropped her back off at the Isle. What if they locked her up somewhere here in Auradon. What if-"
"Eve's," Jay warned, but he still really didn't know what to say. "Im sure- '' But before he could even say another word, Audrey butted in. She had been listening in and overheard their worries. Jay didn't like that.
"It's Auradon," she stated flatly. Her flour coated fingers kneaded the pizza dough as she tried her best to give them all a little hope. "Even if Auradon hated you, there is no way they would let Mal suffer, especially in the state she was in. I'm sure Ben stuck to his word and has her in the hospital.
Carlos couldn't help but snort in disgust from the other couch. He didn't like what Evie had told them when Ben barged in to take Mal, and left Evie alone. "Ben is an asshole. Save Mal and leave the rest of us to rot?"
Audrey stopped kneading the dough and sighed, slightly agreeing with Carlos, but also knowing how Ben worked. "What he did wasn't right. Evie did say that he saw what happened to you all on the Isle, and based on the condition Mal was in, I know it was bad. I also feel like other things happened as well that has him on edge."
"Why are you defending him?" Jay asked as he narrowed his eyes at her. She may have saved Evie and hid the girls from Ben, but now it seemed like she was on the royals side. It would take a lot more convincing for him to be comfortable around Audrey. He figured that he would play nice for now since they were safe for the moment, but he would change that in an instant if he deemed her threatening. The only thing dangerous about this princess so far was her sharp tongue.
"Jay, I'm talking," she scolded. Now that got Evie and Carlos to snicker before a glare from him shut them right back up. "As I was saying, Ben was in class, some of them with you guys all day today, right? Did he ever once suspect that something had happened?" When no one answered her, dread hit her when she realized what had happened the same time everyone else did.
It was Evie who voiced it first. "He saw what happened after class, right before he rushed it to take Mal."
"Damn it," Carlos muttered through his hands while rubbing his face in frustration. "He saw a whole week of horrors crammed into a miniscule amount of time. He had no time to process it."
"But he knew what we went through," Evie said, still hurt at what he had put her through. "He had six guards. Six guards were with him; men." She subconsciously pulled Kenzi a little bit tighter but found herself relaxing when Jay shifted his leg closer to her.
"Maybe he didn't bring the guards with him?" Audrey plaused, but also squashed down the question she wanted to ask about what the fact the guards being men had to do with anything. "I mean, what if King Adam sent them after him, but he was too caught up in his emotions to do much about them?" The glare that Evie gave her sent a shiver down her back. It made her ask herself how dangerous exactly was this girl?
"No," she argued. "He commanded them, he's at fault. Even Fairy Godmother was in shock. She told me to run for goodness sake. Why would she even do that knowing that we had nowhere else to go?"
They all argued back and forth until Ember went into a full blown tantrum. She was tired, and all of this talk about Mal had her longing for her. It took Jay a full ten minutes to get her to quiet down again, and no one dared to raise their voice in the meantime. Jay told them about his plan to go and find Mal a little deeper into the night when everything settled down some more. He needed to lay eyes on her at least; make sure that she was okay. Everyone was able to relax some at that news, but they were all still on edge. As they dropped their voices lower, Audrey got the hint that she wasn't invited to listen to their conversation, but she didn't mind. Who knew what was going on inside of their heads right now.
Carlos had moved in closer to them, keeping his voice low in an effort to not let Audrey hear. "Are we really going to trust her? I mean, she hated us before."
Ember chose this moment to chime in, a little calmer now that no one was using their angry voices any more. "Bubbles?" she had asked Evie. It confused Jay, and Carlos just thought she was talking gibberish.
"I don't know if there are any, Em'" Evie told the little girl whose face fell at the news. She realized that she may be in trouble now that she introduced the little girl to the wonderful world of bubble baths. "You do need a bath though. We can ask Audrey in a minute, okay?" she asked her while finishing off with a tickle to her arm. A tiny smile crept back into Ember's face as she relaxed. She now knew that baths could be warm, but the bubbles just made it so much better. The tiny girl then shimmied down from Jay, and then bounded away from them and fell into her new pile of stuffed animals Carlos had dumped out for in the midst of the tantrum. She immediately began babbling with them and making up stories to tell them.
"Just drop it for now," Jay picked up again with a sigh as they all subconsciously turned toward Ember. It was just an instinct they had; protect the innocent, especially in new and unknown places. He was tired of hearing about the Audrey thing, and he still needed to process the night. "You know that we dont trust anyone but ourselves." He desperately wanted to bundle up all of their things and high tail it out of here, but he knew that would make no sense. They had nowhere else to go; no one to trust. They could be hiding out in the freezing cold with two babies. No, he had to be smart about this.
Evie sighed at Jay's response. "That's not what he meant." She and Carlos had been throwing it around for the past few minutes, and Jay had glared at them each time, just like he was now. It ached when she realized that they were literally out of options, and Jay was trying to figure out their next step. It was so much harder with having Ember and Kenzi to think about here with no other help. "I think we should let her in," she tried again. "She hid the girls when I asked her to. She helped me with them when I was trying to save Mal. She apologized for being so shitty to us for crying out loud."
Jay began flexing his fingers in agitation, pleased when it made them both shut up about it, even for a moment. It would be good to have a royal on their side. And like Evie had said, she protected the girls. She even smuggled them out of Auradon Prep and got them here to the cottage so that they could hide out and figure out their next move. She wasn't pushing them to talk either. Either she was playing the long game to get information out of them, or she really was on their side like she kept saying. Out of everyone on this side of the water, it was Audrey trying to help them. Maleficent had hurt her family the worst, and she wasn't even blaming them anymore. Could she really be an ally?
Jay let his eyes wander back over to Ember. She had just gotten up and ran into the kitchen as he tensed, holding up the purple lizard for Audrey to inspect. The brunette immediately put down what she was working on and kneeled to the girl's level to listen to what she had to say, which probably made no sense, but Audrey acted like it made all the sense in the world. When Ember ran back over to her pile of stuffed animals, Jay watched Audrey's eyes travel with her. There was sorrow there. He didn't see anything cunning there, or any hint of betrayal that he was usually so good at picking up. She must have felt Jay watching her because when she noticed, she immediately offered a genuine smile before going back to cooking. She already knew something had happened on the Isle that had the royals all riled up. And instead of running to them, she stuck to their side and offered support. He wasn't going to call it trust, but there was something there. And not to mention, she knew the royals better than anyone. Maybe they could use a Raven. "We don't have to go all deep and dark," he decided, trying not to grin when Evie cracked a triumphant grin. "If she can help us until we figure out what the hell we are going to do to get out of this mess, she needs to know what she's signed up for. I don't know how dangerous this is going to get."
Carlos wasn't very excited with the answer Jay came to, but even he knew it made sense. "Does that include telling her about Maleficent's reign and Shan Yu's army?"
"Yes," Jay sighed before getting up. "But if later on she uses that to hurt us, I'm killing her myself. And besides, if we dont tell her now, she's either going to aggravate the hell out of me, or Evie is going to spill."
"Hey!" Evie said in a lighthearted protest, "I would never!"
Jay's face grew darker when he had to ask. Evie was always right when it came to her gut instinct, and he used that to the Dragons advantage many times over. She saw and sensed things than none of the rest of them could at times. "Do you really think we can 'trust' her? You only started talking to her today after all."
Evie dropped her smile and sank into the cushions of the soft couch. "With my life. Something changed in her, Jay. If some of the villains of the Isle can be redeemed," she started, thinking of Anastasia and Lady Tremaine, "then why can't she?"
Jay gave her a nod, not missing the annoyed look Carlos gave right next to her. "My stories are off limits," he growled, making sure that Evie understood what was being asked.
"Mine too," Carlos chimed in. "I may not like this, but I don't want my business out there just yet."
Evie was happy where this conversation had headed. She stifled a big yawn and then pulled herself off of the couch, grimacing with a smile when her broken hand throbbed along with her heartbeat. Sometimes, she was forced to use pain just to make sure that her heart was still in there. Her mother had damaged more than just her body over the years. She had shattered her sense of reality. Handing Kenzi to the outstretched arms of Carlos, she then sauntered over to the kitchen, her stomach growling when the smells of pizza sauce invaded her senses.
"Is everything okay?" Audrey asked when Evie joined her at the counter. She was just putting the pan into the oven when she noticed the blue haired girl join her at the counter. Curiosity still plagued her as she wondered what their little secret meeting was about, but she could bet on it being about her.
Evie pulled out a chair and began picking at frays in her jacket before answering. Here she was with Audrey of all people, ready to join sides and help each other through the perils that life was now throwing at them. "Yeah, it's fine." Was it really? "We were just trying to figure out what to do."
"Why do you all wear so much leather?" Audrey couldn't help but ask, abruptly, but there were so many questions bouncing around in her head and that one just slipped out.
Evie shrugged before she answered easily, not holding back because hell, Jay said she could share after all. "It's harder for weapons to break through. Warmer, keeps the wind out, and is easiest to come by."
Audrey leaned closer across the counter and inspected the jacket. It was actually the one she wore on the first day she arrived in Auradon so long ago. It was designed so beautifully, and she just knew that Evie had made it. That girl was seriously talented. "What do you mean?"
She knew she shouldn't have been taken aback, but Audrey literally had no idea. "Well, do you know how many couches, chairs, and old scraps of fabric are shipped over to the Isle? It's so easy to cut the pieces we need. As for protection, there is a lot of fighting that goes on over there."
When Ember noticed Evie talking with Audrey, she ran back up and tugged on Evie's sleeve. "Bubbles?"
"Em'-" she started, but Audrey chimed in.
"Bubbles? What kind of bubbles, Ember?"
As outgoing as she was, Ember hid behind Evie and poked her head around at her before Evie turned to grab her and plop her on her lap with a small wince. Evie knew that Audrey saw it, but she deflected easily enough. "Miss Ember has fallen in love with bubble baths. I gave her one when we got back to Auradon and now she's obsessed. I know you may not have any bubble bath here, but do you have a tub I can bathe her and Kenzi in?"
Audrey laughed and leaned closer to Ember, her tiny grin contagious as she smiled back at her. She looked like a mini, happy version of Mal. "Not only is there a big tub, but I have quite the collection of bubble baths. Do you want to go pick out which one you want to use?"
"Yes!" Ember cried.
The excitement in her face had Audrey laughing and soon, Evie was chiming in. The boys glanced over to them like they were crazy at the commotion. "We are going to go get the girls bathed," Evie told them as she guided Ember to the floor while also looking to Jay to see if he was okay with that.
Jay hesitated for a moment, but a swift kick from Carlos had him giving in and letting his guard down. It was only a few rooms away if trouble arose, and Evie could handle herself. He gave her a small nod before moving to the recliner so that he would have a perfect vantage point down the hallway, as well as the front door.
Audrey circled around the counter and grabbed the tv remote, tossing it to Jay before giving them a warning. "Do not open that oven until we get back. It will be about 45 minutes until it's done, but there should be some snacks in the pantry. I restocked before fall break."
Jay snorted, not believing that this prissy princess was giving him orders. "How often is it that you stay way out here?" Evie shot him a warning look as she put Ember down and grabbed her bag from next to the couch, and then took Kenzi from Carlos, but he ignored her.
"Most weekends I stay," she answered. "I like the peace and quiet. Sometimes it's nice to escape the pressures of being 'a royal'," she mocked with an over exaggerated curtsey. She had noticed the name the VK's were giving the citizens of Auradon.
Jay decided that he liked her answer and let the tense look dissolve from his face. Maybe she really wasn't that bad. "It's pretty cool I guess," he tried. It sounded like Carlos behind him was choking again as he tried not to laugh, but all he could do was roll his eyes before hurling a pillow at him. He was finally starting to relax.
The bathroom Audrey led the girls to was huge. It was adorned in pastel pinks, blue and greens, and the large tub against a pale, recessed stone wall had wide rock steps leading up to the rim. Evie perched on the stone steps and leaned against the wall with Kenzi and a set of clothes on her lap. She thought she should make herself comfortable because Audrey made a rookie mistake with Ember.
"Which one?" Audrey asked Ember for what she thought was the dozenth time. She had opened every single bottle she had and the little girl had smelled them all…several times.
Evie was trying not to laugh as she picked at the seams of the clothing she had pulled from her bag, leaving Audrey to wonder about that as well as how long it was going to take for Ember to choose which bubble bath she wanted. "I told you to just pick a few to show her, not all of them." There were at least a dozen different colored bottles now lining the bathroom sink.
"Yeah well," Audrey sneered back, "a girl has to pick her favorite or else it could ruin her whole night."
"Ember," Evie said with authority, "pick one, or I put them all back." She elected to ignore the angry 'Mal' eyes the toddler shot at her as she continued to pull the child's clothing from the seams of theirs. She was having a hard time as Kenzi kept trying to grab at everything put in front of her. "I can guarantee she's going to pick strawberry."
In the end, Evie was right. "It's Mal's favorite, isn't it?" Audrey asked. When Evie nodded, Audrey realized that it was baby clothes that she had been pulling from within the seams. She did have to smuggle them in, so it made sense to hide anything in relation to the babies as well. She hated that she had to do that. "Ember, do you want to pour in the bubbles?"
Evie got Kenzi bathed rather quickly, because Ember was having a blast splashing in the water and getting it everywhere. She was holding the baby against her as both she and Audrey leaned against the wall on opposite sides of the tub, facing each other as they kept an eye on Ember.
"So, it's Ember Aurora," Audrey brought up with a smile on her face, especially when the little lavender-eyed girl shot her gaze at her at the mention of her name. "Who would have thought?"
"I thought the same thing," Evie blurted as she held Kenzi closer. "But it's perfect. Middle names on the Isle are usually used to shame us, but I gave Kenzi the middle name of Snow, kind of in the same fashion as Mal."
"Kenzi Snow; that's gorgeous," Audrey told her. "What are all of your middle names? Mine is Fae, after the fairies that raised my mother." When Evie made a face, she almost laughed. "Come on, it cant be that bad."
"That's what you think," she finished with a soft laugh. "The others would kill me if I told you theirs, but mine is...Morva."
"Morva?" Audrey asked, confused. "Evie Morva...What does that even mean? I guess it sounds..."
"Weird?" Evie laughed. "I don't really know where it came from. All I know is my mom hates even calling me by my full name. She said my dad gave it to me, but I don't even know who the hell my father even is."
"Okayyy..." Audrey trailed before shaking her head. "So what led to Mal naming Ember after my mother?"
Evie's eyes darkened before she even spoke. "She didn't even have her middle name until she was about a week old."
"Really? Audrey asked, "why?"
Feelings were still raw in the Dragon safehouse. No one outside of Evie, Jay, or Carlos had laid eyes on their grieving leader since finding her with the Pirates in their territory after giving birth. The battle between the Dragons and Huns raged in the streets below, and only the sounds of a Hun's agonizing scream was enough to soothe Mal as she fought to numb the thoughts and foreign emotions invading her mind. In the first few days of Ember being born, Mal wouldn't let anyone hold the baby or get near her, not even Evie. On day three, Evie tried coaxing her to let her hold her for the hundredth time, even for just a few minutes while Mal tried to get some real rest. Evie wasn't even sure if Mal was hearing her because she wasn't responding, but then her heartbroken gaze met hers and the tears streaming down her once strong face shattered her heart and soul. She didn't care about Mal lashing out this time as she slid in the bed next to her broken and wounded best friend.
"I can't let her go," Mal tried before choking on a sob that finally forced its way from her chest.
Evie immediately knew that she wasn't talking about Ember, and she also knew that there was nothing that she could say or do to make Mal feel better. She had lost Ash, her daughter; had never even heard her cry. Evie cautiously slipped her arm along Mal's battered one, stilling it as the newborn began to cry as Mal's sobs jostled her tiny body. Somehow, Evie was able to pull Ember away from her and into her own arms while trying to pull Mal closer. It worked, because Mal collapsed into Evie and just in time. Jay and Carlos had miraculously chosen that moment to enter the room. Evie beckoned a very concerned Jay closer with her eyes and slipped Ember into his arms, nodding for him to go to the couch with her and Carlos so that Mal would still know where her daughter was. Now, both arms wrapped around the Dragon and Mal finally let herself fall apart, letting out everything she had been trying to bottle up and fight to keep to herself. Evie, Jay, and Carlos had never heard Mal cry like this before and it was absolutely breaking them just the same. It was terrifying, and not a single one of them thought they would ever recover from this tragedy.
Day five was drying up the majority of the tears and letting Dahlia into the room, and day six was leaving Ember with her so that she could go see where Ash was buried and tell her goodbye. On day seven, everything changed. There were no more tears, no more red eyes rimmed with sadness. A mask, although a false one, slipped onto Mal's face and the misery was locked into a cage in the back of her mind. Ember got her middle name then, and no one could argue with how perfect it sounded. Aurora was a strong middle name; a name that helped to defeat the most evil being in the kingdom. It was a name that exuded innocence and not evil; evil had killed her sister. Ember Aurora would also have to be hidden away from Maleficent, just as the princess Aurora had. She would be raised with love, she would be protected, and her name would be a reminder that there was good in her too.
Evie debated on whether or not to tell Audrey any of that because of what they all had been through with Ash, but that would mean telling her that Ember was a twin and one of them died. She didn't want to hurt Mal and spill something so personal, so she didn't. Instead, she quickly changed the subject, choosing to chastise Ember for sending a small wave up the sides of the tub as she quickly scooted across with a shrill scream of laughter. "I swear that child is something else. When she's not asleep, she's climbing the walls."
Audrey couldn't help but laugh before it took a darker turn. "I can't believe you and Mal are mothers. I mean, Mal, really? How old are the girls if you don't mind me asking?"
Yeah, Evie thought as her mind returned to that night. She didn't have a choice in the matter, but Mal did. "Ember's two, and Kenz' is only six months old. And I was just as surprised about Mal when I found out." Should I share more? "Mal is actually a great mother. She made a stupid choice, but Ember is the best thing that has ever happened to her. She would die for that little girl."
Audrey gave her a soft smile, giving her the chance to continue sharing if she wanted to, and god did she want her to. But then something she said made her wonder. Wait. "Evie you said Mal made a stupid choice…? Her and Jay weren't together?"
Jay? What was Audrey thinking? "Together? Her and Jay have never been together? What the hell- Oh my god…" Audrey then burst into laughter, and Evie did as well at the very thought of Mal allowing Jay to even think of her like that. "No way. Her and Jay do have a bond that goes back to before I even knew them, but it's nothing like that. Mal did choose him of all people to take care of Ember if anything ever did happen to her though."
"I could have sworn that Ember was Jay's! He's so good with her!" The laughter continued for a few more seconds, until that same phrase hit her again. 'Mal made a stupid choice.'
"Well then what did you mean? And don't tell Jay I thought that."
Shit. She didn't really want to go there. "Yeah," Evie said, saving herself for the moment at least. "She kept seeing this guy from another crew. She was being stupid, but he's dead now." She wasn't about to tell her what he did the night of the Hun attack because her anger had started to rise, and she didn't think she could stop herself once she started. And she wasn't about to just spill her own deepest secret about Kenzi, but...Audrey asked the question. Could she answer it?
"You're deflecting again. And I don't want to push, but did something happen with Kenzi's father too? Did he die as well?"
Instead of sadness or fear, even more anger bubbled up as she clutched Kenzi closer. "Yeah, he's dead. Mal killed that bastard and made him suffer for what he did." When she picked up on Audrey's horror switch to confusion and then to horror once more, she sighed, knowing that Audrey connected the dots. "Mal made a stupid choice, but I had no choice. He grabbed me one night after escaping my mothers...after leaving my mothers. Roan, another member from our crew, found me hours later bleeding half to death in an alley." She was surprised that she was able to make it this far without her voice cracking. "We all knew who it was; he's done it a dozen times over to other girls on the Isle without consequence. Mal and Roan tracked him down and killed him for what he did."
Audrey was at a loss for words. Evie? Sweet, perfect Evie had been assaulted like that, and had a beautiful daughter out of it. And for Mal to actually murder him? "Evie I-" but soft laughter from the blue haired girl stunned her from saying more.
"Do you know what Mal got out of it?" but she didn't wait for an answer. "She got attacked by Shere Kahn as they were leaving Jungle territory. I know you saw those claw marks on her that day on the Enchanted Lake. She got hurt because of me."
"Wait," Audrey said as yes, she did notice those marks. They had hooked from Mal's hip and wrapped around to her back. It looked like it had been deep and would have taken weeks, if not months to heal. "Shere Kahn?"
Evie had finally composed herself and felt horrible for how she had told Audrey. "Yeah. None of the beasts are in their cages anymore. Auradon left them to starve when not enough food was being sent over. Food was so scarce, villains taking it for themselves, that some of them let all of them go so that they wouldn't starve to death in those cages. Now they roam mostly in Jungle territory, kept in check and sometimes poached by McLeach, Clayton, and Amos Slade."
Rapists, starvation, not enough food...was it really like that over there? "Evie, can you tell me about the Isle? I thought King Adam was taking care of everyone over there."
"Taking care of us?" Evie repeated with a little bit of hostility to her voice which made Ember look at Audrey in distrust as she scooted towards Evie. "It's okay Em'," Evie told her, "Audrey is safe. I just got a little upset, okay?" Ember gave Audrey one last uneasy look before she returned to playing with the shampoo bottles that were bobbing in the bubbly water. "King Adam left us there to rot. We get two shipments of supplies in a month, but the villains get first pick, leaving the rest of us with the scraps."
"The rest of you?"
"Villains don't love their kids, Audrey," she told her with all the seriousness she could muster. "We had to form 'gangs' just to be able to survive. I was fleeing my mothers the night I got...the night I was attacked. She threw me into the nightstand, cut me with shards of a mirror I was thrown through, and called me so many names that I started to believe her. Jafar beats Jay on a regular basis, but at least he tolerates his own son. Cruella doesn't even know who Carlos even is half the time. And Maleficent, she has tried to kill Mal so many times…" but she had to pause, despair filling her as she reflected the state Mal was in when she was found. "She almost did it this time. She did that to Mal."
The wave of emotions that coursed through Audrey made her want to retch. She knew it was bad over there, but she had no idea it was like this. Mal and the others were covered in signs of abuse, but she had chalked it up to gang activity, just like she did the day she saw them wearing all of their scars that day at the Enchanted Lake. She had no idea...Auradon had no idea! Did King Adam know? Oh no, did King Adam know? If he had the same mindset as she did, he would for sure be campaigning to arrest them all and throw them back onto the Isle. Was this why they were trying to hide from the royals?
"Audrey!" Evie yelled, getting her attention. The girl had disappeared into her own head, leaving her with trying to decipher the torrent of emotions running across Audrey's face.
"What? I'm fine," she said, though she knew Evie picked up on the lie.
"Look," Evie started. "I really don't want your pity. That's just how it is for us over there."
That's just how it is? It shouldn't be like that. Evie should be screaming all of the horrors of the Isle from the tops of the highest buildings in Auradon. Why wasn't she screaming? Because Auradon wouldn't believe her.
"None of us would even be alive if it wasn't for Mal. She has done so much, sacrificed so much for every single one of us."
And then she asked. She couldn't help it after everything she had heard. "Evie, why are you all here?" The way Evie looked at her sent a shiver down her spine, as did her answer.
"Isn't it obvious, Audrey? We are here to save the Isle. I've barely even scraped the surface of what I told you tonight, princess. There are things that happen there that you could never even imagine. Things that would give you nightmares, and things that would put a small voice in the back of your head with a warning that something bad was about to happen, all the time. We are here with Mal, and we are trying to find a plan to free the innocents stuck there in an endless loop of violence and tragedy. We are also here with a warning; Maleficent has an army and a plan on getting through the barrier. Now, we just need someone to listen and not act rash, dooming us all in some rushed and nearsighted attempt to trap us all there forever to cover up what is going on."
Of course, Evie elaborated a little more and answered a few more questions, but she quickly began to panic at the weight of it all. Audrey could tell, and eventually paused in her questions and instead shifted her focus back to Ember who was having the time of her life in the warm water. Was there even warm water on the Isle? Once again, she found herself asking; why me?
Eventually, Ember got tired of playing and asked to get out. Audrey handled it, because she saw how much it pained Evie's hand to put her in there in the first place. And after giving Kenzi her quick bath, all traces of makeup on her hand in combination with rolling up her sleeve exposed a very broken hand. Something had to be done about that.
After the toddler was dressed, the shower started to beckon to Evie. "Audrey, could you bring the babies back to the boys? I'm going to grab a quick shower."
"Sure," Audrey said as she took Kenzi from her, a tinge of sorrow still in her voice.
As Evie washed the last traces of makeup and dried blood from her body, she watched as the discolored water swirled around her feet before disappearing down the drain. Now if only she could get her scars and imperfections to do the same. She couldn't help but think of how she could possibly be ruining Audrey's perfect life with the Isle's problems. But she wanted to know, so it really wouldn't be her fault, right? Audrey knew what she had signed up for. She was beyond relieved that she was on their side, and she was certain that she wouldnt rat them out to the royals. The steam billowing around her from the hot water was doing nothing to hide the bruising she saw as she looked at her damaged skin. She couldn't help but think of how unremarkable it all was when compared to Mal's body, but her mind was screaming at her and calling her the names her mother recited to her day after day. She wasn't perfect, she was never perfect. She was dirt; how could she have ever thought of herself as the fairest? Still, she couldn't bear to look at that word carved into her skin. It was burning, infact, all of her most recent injuries were burning which was probably a sign that she needed to get out of the shower and get them dressed before they got infected. That was going to be hard on account of her broken hand that trembled in pain. Washing her hair was hard enough.
After she stepped out of the shower and carefully dried off, she managed to pull on her new favorite shorts and bra, but hesitated before dressing her injuries. She was glad she didn't just restitch them after her fight with Jay, but they still bled and she had to cover them. She didn't even think to grab their first aid supplies back at the dorms. Evie could hear sounds of Audrey in the room outside of the door, most likely gathering bedding together for the night. She could see if Audrey had any, but then that would require her answering more questions. With a sigh, she looked at the angry cut on her side and sighed. She needed supplies and another hand. It was making her sick to her stomach with what she had already told Audrey, now could she show her? Never in their lives had they ever let someone new in like this. Her gut was telling her to trust though, so she was going to follow it.
"Audrey?" she called as she peeked through the crack she made in the doorway. "Do you have any first aid supplies?"
"Yeah," she answered as she came into view. She threw a bundle of comforters onto the bed and then went to the closet to search for the kit. "Just a minute!" she called as Evie watched her dig around.
How was she supposed to ask her for help? How was she going to be able to stand a stranger touching her? Maybe she could ask her to go get Jay or Carlos. If she did that though, she would just be delaying the inevitable and give Jay another reason to doubt that she wasn't entirely sure about Audrey. Audrey needed to see her to know exactly what the Isle had done to her. She needed to see it all without any spells or makeup. This was going to suck.
"Found it!" Audrey was turning the quite large kit over in her hands, not even noticing that Evie had opened the door all the way.
She was standing in the open door, arms cradling herself but baring the rest of her body to the royal as her mind fought for her to slam the door shut. When Audrey noticed her standing there in the light, her heart dropped to her stomach. "Could you help me? Please?" Evie hated asking, and she hated the look on Audreys face. She had frozen in her steps, and even though she was minimally clothed, Evie suddenly felt naked in the small room.
"Of c-course," Audrey stammered when she noticed how uncomfortable Evie must feel right now. This girl really did trust her. Suddenly, she hated everything that the Isle stood for as she shook the shock from her bones and stepped towards the bathroom. Evie was skinny, but she was too skinny for her liking. Her ribs stood out beneath her black bra, and her dark blue shorts did nothing to cover her hip bones. And that wasn't even the worst part. She saw everything the same way as she did at the Enchanted Lake, but she also saw so much more and so many colors littering her skin in a mosaic of sickly bruising. It was at that moment that the last of any doubts she may have had were chased away. She was helping these kids whether Auradon or her family liked it or not.
"If it's too much-"
"Stop," she told Evie as she opened the box and set everything out on the counter that she thought she would need. "I told you I was on your side, and part of that is helping you when you need it. I haven't once seen you look at your pocket mirror since you've been back. Is that because you are afraid of what you see?"
A tear slipped from the corners of Evie's eyes as another piece of her broke. "I can't stand to even look at myself. I'm just...dirt."
"Oh stop," Audrey told her as she nodded for her to take a seat on the stone steps of the tub. "And relax." She was hating how Evie was holding herself as if she were trying to hide. When Evie did as she was told though, Audrey almost vomited. There was something carved into the skin of her ribs, a word that she knew would be so detrimental to the princess based on what she had just called herself. This had to be a part of the mental manipulation Evie was telling her about. She dropped down a step and started there, knowing that Evie would want it done and over with.
"Mother used to tell me that I was the fairest of them all, when her mood was good of course. She found me when we went back for fall break. Her goons grabbed me and my mother...she beat me before carving that there." Evie hissed in pain when the antiseptic brushed over the wound, causing not only her to cringe, but Audrey as well. "Do you want to know why she did it?"
No. "Yes." Audrey didn't want to know, but she did at the same time.
"Because Kenzi didnt come from royalty."
"Evie, That's not your fault," Audrey told her. "Besides, there aren't any royal men on the Isle to begin with, so what was her deal?"
Evie squeezed her eyes shut as Audrey finished cleaning the engraving and began covering it with gauze. "Not anymore," she told her, her mind slipping back to the month she was Blaze's plaything, after her mother had sold her.
"What happened, Evie? Do you want to talk about it?" When Evie got a far away look in her eyes, Audrey hated that she had even asked.
"Not now, okay?" Tonight was already too much.
"Okay," Audrey said after a pause. "But he's dead now. If he wasn't, I would march over there right now and kill him myself."
That got Evie to calm down; she didn't expect her to say that. "Mal had the entire crew searching for me. My mother was bragging about what she did one day, she sold me, and one of the crew heard. Mal killed him with her bare hands, and then Jay threw his body off of a cliff and into the ocean."
Mal killed him. So far that was two people she had learned that she had killed. "Evie, I'm so sorry." She offered her a half smile as she continued dressing her wounds. Her bruised hand was worrying her, no wonder she had asked for help. "Is your hand okay? I heard you tell Mal that you punched Jay."
"He deserved it," she told her. "We were arguing over getting help for Mal, and he was being an ass. I didn't even feel it until it was all over. I'm pretty positive that it's broken."
"Ouch. It looks like it needs medical attention."
"Probably," Evie agreed, "but that's out of the question for the moment. "I'll just stick to wrapping it."
Audrey got to work on the cut to her other side, learning that it came from after her mother carved that word into her daughter's side. She had then thrown her to her men to have their way with her. It was no wonder she had freaked out at the royal guard. She couldn't imagine the terror that Evie must have felt after everything she had been through. As she worked, she got a few more stories, but it was clear that Evie wasn't in much of a sharing mood anymore. A scar on her stomach from a turf war, the multitude on her back and sides from her mother along with the drips of acid that had left her skin raw. Then there was a cut here from a fight with Mal, a cut there from a fight with Dahlia. Deep scars from that night with Malachai, broken glass having left their marks behind. And then there was the one on her chest right over her heart.
"Your mother," Audrey started, already guessing the answer to her next question. Honestly, she was surprised that Evie had shared this much. "Your mother did that too, right?" She nodded to the same scar she was immediately drawn to the day all of theirs were uncovered weeks ago. She was hoping for the story, but all Evie did was nod and turn her head to hide the tears that were making her so vulnerable.
I can't believe it. Across the kingdom at United Kingdom's Hospital, Ben was wearing a hole into the floor from his pacing. We didn't know; we had no idea! The white linoleum tile beneath his feet was warping into the bloody wooden planks that Mal almost died on. Her mother had no remorse for what was happening to her daughter. She allowed Steel to hit her, to burn her, to…
The dark metal stick that Steel had brandished waved menacingly in front of Mal as if daring her to take another step. And of course Mal took that step, she had to. It was either meet the end of the cattle prod, or be forced to submit herself to Maleficent's evil visions. She had gained the upper hand against Steel several times, but now they were playing dirty.
Another person joined Ben then, startling him out of his thoughts before he remembered how Mal had jumped like that and tensed each time Steel had touched her. Mal's own blood coated his hands as he pushed her against the wall, pinning her arms above her with one hand as he pressed himself against her body. Ben could see the desperation in her eyes as they connected with her mothers in a plea for help, but the evil fairy scoffed at her and returned to cleaning the blood off of her precious scepter. Even King Adam had tried to pull the man off of her, but he wasn't really there, none of them were. Ben, King Adam, Queen Bell, and Fairy Godmother were forced to watch the horror unfold before them.
Ben was just holding on to the fact that he didn't get the chance to even do it before Mal killed him. But the worst part of it all was the words that Steel told the trembling girl.
"Oh Mal, it's just like old times. The nights we spent together were so...delicious," he had said as he ripped her overshirt off, laughing to himself when her undershirt posed a new challenge.
She managed to headbut him, cracking his nose, but that only seemed to excite him more. He pressed against her harder, savoring the small whimper she let past her lips while being pinned to the wall with nowhere to go. "Get the fuck off me," she spat, trying to reign in her fear that was threatening to overwhelm her.
"I remember the last time we were together, do you? I went back for you after getting a drink, but you were gone."
Maleficent gave a low growl then. "That was the last time you lived under my roof, you rotten little leech. Where did you go anyways?" she asked.
Mal tried to squirm away from Steel, trying her hardest to wrench her arms out of his grip as a hand lightly trailed along her cheek before it turned into a fist and slammed into it instead. She was forced to spit out a wad of blood before she answered. "Jay found me after your lackey left me there to bleed out into the streets."
"That's right!" Maleficent had realized, "that was right around when you two began running together."
Ben was pulled from that memory when a sweet voice lured him away from those thoughts, right before seeing Steel's hand travel up Mal's blood soaked undershirt.
"Ben, honey," the voice asked. It sounded like it had been trying to get his attention for some time now, but he was reliving the horror show he had seen hours ago. "Ben, you need to look at me," the voice asked, so he did his best to squash down the memories and focus.
"Fairy Godmother?" he asked, "what's going on? Did I miss the doctor?"
"No, I don't think you did," she told him as she led him towards the chairs and had him sit. "Have you heard anything?"
Ben sighed in disappointment, trying so hard not to let his mind run away with him. "Nothing yet. She's still in surgery. Fairy Godmother, why didn't they tell us?" When she looked at him with a bewildered expression, he looked back at her in confusion.
"Ben, you saw what they went through," she told him as if it were obvious. "They were forced to live on that Isle, with no help, trying to survive their parents as well as the rest of the villains who threatened to kill them everyday. They dont trust us yet, child."
"But…"
"But what, Ben?" she asked him, probably overstepping, but she was upset and confused. She was kicking herself for not offering Evie a place to hide. She knew they would come here eventually to check on Mal, and she was going to be there when they did. They needed someone to lean on. "You have no idea what you did to Evie, do you?"
Oh god, Evie. Ben's mind pulled him back into the darkness as the scenes replayed for him. She was walking through the market looking for Mal. There was another girl with her, as well as Carlos, but he was about a block behind. Out of nowhere, men had them surrounded and were pushing them into the alley as the rest of the people milling around ignored them, like men pushing girls into alleys happened every day; and it probably did. None of the royals had ever seen Evie fight in Auradon. Seeing her here on the Isle for the past week, she had skillfully held her own, and even killed. Evie and the girl named Dahlia fought the men, but there were too many. Evie seemed to recognize some of them, and she used herself to give Dahlia a way out of there. She told the girl to run while she bought their time, and when she was in the clear, she just...gave up. She knew that there was no way she would win. Ben watched as his father followed closely to the two escorting Evie to who knew where, as if he would be able to do anything about it anyway. It was like he was trying to watch over the girl.
Evie wasn't even in the room she was brought to for five minutes when the Evil Queen barged in and stripped her down to her undergarments. Ben and King Adam averted their gazes for a moment, but they shot back to her when sounds of pain erupted from the girl. It didn't take long for his mother to fall to her knees in anguish as Grimhildes words cut Evie harder than the blade that later carved into her skin.
'Whore' 'dirt' 'worthless' 'imperfect' 'unclean' 'failure' 'fool' 'shameful' 'disappointment' 'fat' 'useless'
Those weren't even half of the words that dripped like venom from the Evil Queens ruby red lips. She pinched the skin on Evie's stomach, telling her how much of a cow she looked like, but all the royals saw were her ribs and hipbones that stood out too sharply. She was immensely underweight. The Evil Queen's blade glided across Evie's porcelain skin, spilling red as it dripped down onto the floor while she remained frozen in place for fear of moving an inch against her mothers wishes. After instructing her men to hold her in place after the Queen got an idea, Belle and Fairy Godmother couldn't help but scream in unison with the princess as the word 'fairest' was carved into her ribcage. The royal's screams rose after that, when Grimhilde threw Evie to her men.
King Adam roared in anger as he tried in vain to throw them off of her. Their hungry eyes made the royals stomachs turn as they were forced to watch them fight over each other to be the first one. Ben had never heard those sorts of traumatizing sounds come from his mother as she sank into Fairy Godmother's arms, who was equally just as distraught. None of them could believe it when the wall to the room seemed to explode in a shower of brick and dust as a flash of light illuminated the room. Evie was too out of it in terror to move, but most of the men in the room took off as bits of rubble grazed their skin. The ones that remained tried dragging Evie with them, risking their own lives for a chance to be with one of the most gorgeous girls on the Isle, but members of Evie's crew swooped in.
It was Carlos who made it in first, a look in his eyes that threatened murder to the men who remained with hands on his friend. He ripped them off of Evie with strength that the royals wouldn't have guessed that he possessed. Faster than they could see, Carlos' knife plunged in and out of the remaining ones stomachs over and over before they even realized what had happened. They fell over, dead and forgotten as Carlos ripped off his coat and wrapped it around Evie. He held onto her as she tried ripping herself out of his arms, but Carlos held on and held up a hand for the rest of his crew to hang back for a moment. It took a while, but Carlos was able to calm her down enough for her to recognize him, and right when she did, the Evil Queen returned.
"She's mine," the woman spat as her very presence had the crew stepping back in fear. More of her goons popped up behind her and slipped into the rubble coated room, but they weren't looking at the crew, they were looking hungrily at Evie in Carlos' arms.
Carlos forced himself to rip his gaze away from the Queen, and gave some sort of signal to Roan that had him inching forward until he was able to pull Evie away, just as Carlos rose to meet the Wicked Queen. "What is it going to take to leave her alone? For good," he asked bravely. There was absolutely no trace of hesitation in his words.
"Leave her alone?" Gimhilde asked as she laughed in bewilderment. "There is nothing on this rock that you could possibly give me to sell her to you."
"She is NOT an item for sale," he yelled at her in frustration. The royals were floored by his bravery, as was the crew behind him, but they could see the sheer rage in his eyes.
Grimhilde rolled her eyes. "Could have fooled me, though the last time I sold her, her fiance mysteriously disappeared and the deal dissolved into dust because of it. No, I won't sell her to you; not even a wagon of gold would ever-" but she trailed off, because Carlos was suddenly wielding something that he had stolen from Grimhilde long ago. Something he had stolen right after rescuing Evie from the Wonderland side of the Isle, but the royals didn't know that. He regretfully knew that he would have to use it as a bargaining chip one day, and he was right. "Where did you get that?"
Carlos knew he had to lie, but Grimhilde had suspected that the Queen of Hearts had stolen it from her in the first place since it was right around that time it came up missing. "I lifted it from the market. Now, do we have a trade? And emphasis on the word 'trade'."
"Do we have a trade?" Grimhilde asked as her eyes never left the magic mirror in the DeVille boys hand. "My daughter, for the mirror?" It was almost too good to be true. Of course she wanted that mirror. It was the most important thing to her in the world. "Deal. The bitch is yours."
Carlos wasted no time in tossing the mirror to her and then backing away with the rest of his crew. He only hoped that she kept to her word. They got Evie out of there and on their way to saving Mal with the things the Evil Queen let slip that night. Carlos only hoped that Evie would find comfort in the fact that her mother would leave her alone, but the terror in her eyes were convincing him otherwise.
"Ben! I swear child you have the shortest attention span," Fairy Godmother chastised. "I said, do you realize what you've done to Evie?"
"Me?" he asked, confused but also a little ashamed that he hasn't checked in on her yet. He wasn't even sure what room she was in. "What did I do?"
"My goodness child, where have you been? You left her as soon as you had Mal. You left her with those… I don't even want to call them royal guards after what they did, but you left her after knowing what she had been through. You grabbed her friend, and left her there to deal with the fallout."
"She should be here," he said in confusion. "Jay and Carlos should be here as well-"
"They are gone, Ben."
Gone? Ben froze in place as realization set in.
Fairy Godmother had to take a deep breath before she broke it down for him. "You know good and well that Auradon hasn't accepted those kids, your father especially. They grabbed Evie and out of fear, she knocked one of them out, Ben. They grabbed her and held her in place as her mind no doubtedly threw her into the worst possible scenarios as they tore her room apart looking for those babies. And then there was what I would call a manhunt for Jay and Carlos-"
"A manhunt? I told them to bring them all here though," he said sadly. "I told dad that I could handle it, but I guess he sent them after me. I guess I was too caught up in getting Mal to the hospital that I handled it all wrong. I gave orders, but…" How was he going to fix this? "Were you there?"
"Yes, Ben, I was there. I was the one who told Evie to run," she admitted.
Run? "Why would you do that? You saw what happened to them, they need medical attention."
They needed way more than just medical attention. Fairy Godmother closed her eyes to try and get her anger to dissolve before getting Ben to the same mindset she was in, but he was just a kid. He had never faced hardships like this. "Do you know where your father is right now?"
"No-"
"Well neither do I!" she yelled a little too loudly. "He went into this with the intention of exposing the Isle of all of their tricks. He learned of how horrible it was over there just like we did. Violence constantly going on without consequence, villains making plans to escape, and even that some of these kids had killed several people in just one short week. Do you really think that he is on these kids' side right now, or do you think he wants to lock them up until he deals with these problems his way? For goodness sake Ben, it's no wonder they wanted to take this slow and hide the horrors of their parents until they knew they could trust us. And after you told Evie that we knew what had happened to them, of course she ran. They don't trust any of us, your father, the ruler of Auradon especially."
Ben was silent for several moments. Everything Fairy Godmother was saying was true. What were his fathers intentions? "Oh my goodness, you're right," he told her as his anxieties built. He really hadn't thought this through.
"I know I am." With a sigh, she reigned in her anger and anxiety replaced it. "Mal would have rather died than expose their secrets. That should tell you something."
"I need to find them," he decided as he grabbed his jacket from the chair he had carelessly thrown in on hours ago. His feet fought with his mind to go find them, or stay here and wait for an update about Mal. But it wasn't just about Mal, it was about all of them. "I need to fix this; apologize and-"
"No, you don't, Ben," Fairy Godmother told him as she reached for him to give him a comforting hug. "You need to go find your father."