Thank you so much for the welcome to the Descendants world! I really fell in love with the movies and have the books on my reading list. I hope you all enjoy my story and feel absolutely free to leave a review or comment. I love hearing from you guys!
We find out Belladonna's parentage pretty early on in the series, but this isn't a mystery series. This is about overcoming obstacles, friendship, romance, and becoming your own person.
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership to the Descendants series, only Belladonna!
Long ago, a powerful sorcerer placed a spell on the world, filled with music and song. If there was enough emotion in someone, they would suddenly be able to sing out with their feelings. 'Magic in the Air' was to help bring out the song in you. By now, very few people could actually do it by themselves. And on the Isle it was next to impossible for even a group to start it. It's why our group was infamous. We were the only ones able to activate Magic in the Air in a near magicless land.
So when we pulled up to the school we saw just how much the Welcoming Committee had worked to give us a 'proper greeting,' with the assist of the spell. Complete with a full marching band, dancers, people with welcoming signs, and us being pulled up right to the center.
"Show offs" I muttered to Evie making her giggle.
Mal and Evie got out first followed by me. And then the boys rolled out, fighting for the things they were trying to take from the inside.
"Guys! We have an audience." Mal said through gritted teeth in the shape of a smile.
I took the initiative and grabbed both boys by the collar, separating them from themselves and the ground. In my heels I was taller than Jay which I fully used to my advantage.
"Just cleaning up?" Jay tried to convince with a smile at the group waiting for us.
"Leave it like you found it! And by that, I mean leave it." the woman in the center said. She had a very proper way about her. Completely dolled up but very sensibly in a light blue and pink sort of theme.
I let the boys go but Jay immediately strutted up to the girl at the woman's right. She was a nice looking girl. Brown hair. Dressed completely in pink.
"Hello foxie. The name's Jay." he flirted, but I grabbed his collar again and pulled him back. Evie giggled at my side at Jay's chagrin look.
"Welcome to Auradon Prep. I'm Fairy Godmother. Headmistress." the woman announced.
Well that was easy. The four of my friends gaped for a second before Mal plastered a smile on her face.
"The Fairy Godmother? As in "bibbity-bobbity-boo?" she asked, playing nonchalant.
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi- you know it" Fairy Godmother threw back with a wink and, once again, I chuckled. She had an alright personality. Feisty.
"I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared out of nowhere with that sparkly wand and warm smile." Mal flattered. The boys looked sick and I just couldn't stop smirking. Fairy Godmother looked completely flattered.
"And that sparkly wand." she stressed. Patience Mal.
"That was a long time ago" Fairy Godmother stressed. "And as I always say, 'don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future" she finished with a wave of her hands.
"It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben." The boy behind Fairy Godmother stepped up. He looked like an eager puppy all done up in his blue and gold suit.
"Prince Benjamin. Soon to be King," the girl gushed suddenly, gripping onto Ben's hand tightly.
The son of Beauty and the Beast. He had a kind face.
Evie perked up and skipped over.
"My mom's a queen. Which makes me a princess." she gushed. It might have looked like flirting, but I knew Evie. She was just excited to meet another royal like her. After all, on the Isle, the Evil Queen was the only evil monarch in the whole place.
"The Evil Queen has no royal status here and neither do you." the girl snidely said. I guess she took it as flirting.
My gaze hardened as I watched Evie deflate.
"Uh oh" Jay muttered to Carlos.
"Don't worry Evie. It seems that apparent royalty don't learn things like tact and respect over here in Auradon." I said, trying to keep the venom out of my voice but fully showing it as I stared down the girl. Her frightened gaze seemed to get the message.
And Evie got a message too. Suddenly she gasped and stood straight up. I could imagine her eyes wide and mouth wide open.
She realized it.
"We're in Auradon" she whispered, amazed. It made me smile. Mal, Carlos, and Jay were smiling too.
"Yes dear" Fairy Godmother said confused.
Evie whipped around to us and her gaze landed on me.
"We're in Auradon!" she shouted.
Then suddenly she was running and leapt in my arms. I barely had the chance to grab her but once I did her legs wrapped around me and she was planting kisses all over my face.
"We're really really really here" she said before finishing off her assault with a kiss to my lips. I held her tight against me, not able to hide the smile.
It felt so good like this. Not having to worry about something like this. Her lips moved against mine and I could feel her own smile on her face. The warm and bright feeling felt tenfold in me. I felt like I could do or be anything. Her hands were by my neck and her legs were squeezing around me tightly. Not for fear of falling, I would never let her fall.
After a moment I set her down but both of us were now cupping each other's faces with our hands.
"...This is Audrey." Ben cut in awkwardly, motioning to the girl next to him who looked like she had swallowed something sour. Fairy Godmother just looked a little wide-eyed but not in a negative way.
Evie didn't stray far from me. She just nestled in my side so I could wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"Princess Audrey. His girlfriend. Right Bennyboo?'' She tried to save face, but it only made me turn and laugh into Evie's hair.
"And this is Belladonna. My girlfriend" Evie said, proudly and all to pleased with herself when she gestured to me. She looked like the cat that ate the canary with the use of the G word.
"Ben and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow." Fairy Godmother said, stepping away from us and the royal couple.
"The doors of wisdom are never shut. But the library hours are from 8:00-11:00 and as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews." she finished before walking quickly away.
"I like her" I muttered to Evie.
"It is so so good to finally me-...meet you all." Ben started to say, although he got a little tripped up with his words when he shook Mal's hand. Interesting. Not even Jay's iron-like handshake had phased him.
"This is a momentous occasion." he continued, shaking Evie and then my hand, very eagerly. He had a solid grip, even if it was a little too excited.
"And one that I hope will go down in history...is that chocolate?" Ben once again paused when, after shaking Carlos' hand, he realized he did indeed have chocolate all over his fingers.
"As the day our two peoples begin to heal." he finally finished.
"Or the day that you showed five people where the bathrooms are." Mal teased.
"A little bit over the top?" Ben asked.
"A little more than a little bit" Mal teased.
"Well so much for my first impression." Ben...flirted? Very interesting.
"Hey!" Audrey cut in. Here we go.
"You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you? Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff." Audrey started, very fake. Wait is she-
"Oh! My mom's Aurora." she explained. Well shit.
"Sleeping-" "Beauty! Yeah." Mal cut in, suddenly very tense and very fake like Audrey. Evie and I shared a look.
"I've heard the name..." Mal continued. "You know, and I totally do not blame your grandparents for inviting everyone...in the WHOLE world but MY mother to their stupid christening" Mal said, grinding her teeth by the end of it.
"Water under the bridge" Audrey lied.
"Totes!" Mal fake laughed before both of them sighed.
"I thought your mom ended up wearing the blue dress?" I cut in, adding loads of snark to take Audrey's gaze away from Mal, and to draw attention to her pink dress. Now Audrey was the one grinding her teeth.
"Okay! So, how about a tour?" Ben cut in, spinning Audrey around to start it. I fist bumped Mal as we started walking.
"Auradon Prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became King" Ben prattled on.
We stopped next to a statue of his dad and he clapped his hands together. Suddenly the statue of a man morphed into a statue of a beast. Which of course freaked Carlos out.
"Carlos it's ok" Ben soothed. "My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man. To remind us that anything is possible." he explained, quite proudly. I could tell he had a deep respect for his father.
"Does he shed much?" Mal joked, one of her usual mechanisms when she is bored.
"Yeah mom won't let him on the couch." Ben threw right back. I could tell it caught Mal off guard. I could feel Evie twisting and turning her head to take in everything around her. Her little gasps when she saw things she liked caused me to squeeze her shoulder every time.
As we entered the school, it seemed Mal was back to passively getting the answers she needed.
"So you guys have a lot of magic here in Auradon? Like wands and things like that?" she asked. Again, stressing the wand, you can do better Mal.
"Yeah, it exists of course, but it's pretty much retired. Most of us here are just ordinary mortals." Ben said, stopping by a staircase.
"Who happened to be kings and queens." Mal teased.
"That's true. Our royal blood goes back hundreds of years." Audrey cut in, bragging.
"Lucky you." I said dryly, making the villain kids laugh.
"Doug! Doug come down!" Ben said, looking like he might thank God for a familiar face coming down the stairs. The fairly geeky boy rushed down to meet us. I recognized him from leading the marching band.
"This is Doug. He's going to help you with your class schedule and show you the rest of the dorms. Belladonna you will need to see Fairy Godmother this afternoon to figure out what you will do at Auradon Prep since you have technically advanced past our terms of graduation." Ben explained. I nodded in thanks.
"I'll see you later, okay? And if there is anything you need -" "Ask Doug" Audrey cut off Ben before dragging off to who knows where.
"Hi guys. I'm Dopey's son. As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and..." he trailed off when he caught sight of Evie. I pulled her, by the waist, closer to me and gave him a hard stare.
"Evie. Evil Queen's daughter." Evie introduced herself.
"Belladonna. Evil Queen's daughter's girlfriend" I said afterwards, ignoring the elbow into my side and the snickers from the other three.
"So...your classes. I, uh, put in the requirements already. Such as, history of woodsmen and pirates, safety rules for the internet, and...uh...remedial goodness 101." Doug stammered out, awkward by the end.
Yikes.
"Let me guess. New class?" Mal asked the boy. He nodded, looking down at the floor.
"Come on guys let's go find our dorms." Mal said, leading us off in one direction.
Only for us to go off in another once Doug showed us the correct way.
When we got to the girls dorm it was...
"Pink" I said blankly as we all stared.
"This place is so amaz-" "Gross" Mal cut Evie off.
"Oh yeah amazingly gross" Evie corrected herself, but I could tell how happy the room made her.
A room fit for a princess. There were three beds all with white and pink bedding. The walls were pink. The curtains were pink. Pink. Pink. Pink.
Mal was only satisfied once the curtains were drawn shut. I wanted a chance for more sunlight, but I had other times I could bask in the glow of the sun. I threw myself on the bed and relished in the one good thing about this room. The heavenly soft bed.
Only for Evie to throw herself on top of me with a giggle from her and a groan from me.
"You two are gross." Mal said, but I heard the smile in her voice.
"Why thank you" I said, although my voice was muffled by the pillow.
"Do you really have to go see Fairy Godmother?" Evie pouted, still on top of me. But it grew to be comfy too. She even started stroking my hair. It always made me tense at first, but I knew I could never hurt her.
"We have to keep up appearances. At least until you guys get the wand" I reminded gently. That seemed to be the general census of my friend group. Once I saw some doubt, that was when I would strike. I knew my friends. They would try for it tonight and go head first and then realize they needed to be strategic.
"Don't worry Evie. Hopefully tonight we will get it all taken care of and Belladonna won't have to sit through any more boring meetings" Mal said with a lot of pride in her voice. Oh Mal.
There was a knock at the door causing Evie to get off of me and go to answer it.
"Hi Doug." she greeted, making me sit up.
I knew he was no competition, but until I knew him better I would keep an eye on him.
"Hi." he said before focusing his gaze on me.
"Fairy Godmother is wanting to see you before it gets too late" he said. I nodded.
"Give me a second and I'll be right out." he agreed and stepped out.
I immediately took off my trench coat and mesh shirt leaving me in my scoop neck. I took a large baggy black sweatshirt with bleach stains on it and threw it on, along with a pair of black converse I switched my heeled boots for.
"Let's get this show started." I said with a wave of my hands.
"Meet us at the entrance when you're done," Mal said. I saluted her.
Evie caught me by the wrist before I could go and quickly kissed me.
"Don't miss me too much." she teased. I kissed her nose before stepping out to walk with Doug.
It was a tad awkward. I didn't think he knew what to say to start a conversation.
"I don't bite" I spoke, causing him to jump.
"Sorry. You're all just so...different to what I've seen. The meanest person I ever met before was Uncle Grumpy. Not saying you're mean! I mean-" "I get it" I cut off his ramblings.
"I know we are a lot to take in. You are all different to what we have seen. We want to be here Doug. We need to. Especially me and Evie." I said, amping up a little bit of the pity card. But if I could get Doug on my side, then that was one ally in case any of us messed up. Or got caught.
"Why?" he asked, curiosity overtaking him.
"The Evil Queen's daughter was expected to do things a certain way on the Isle. Dating the Orphan of the Isle? The female Orphan of the Isle? That wasn't one of them." I said, some bitterness in me over the Queen and her behavior.
"Oh...I'm glad you don't have to worry about that here" he offered.
"Me too...Nice band stuff today." I awkwardly tried to compliment. But it made him smile.
"Thanks! I wanted to maybe stray away from the cliche of doing the school song, something more modern, but Fairy Godmother insisted on tradition." he explained.
"You're alright." I said, giving him a smile back.
It was silent for a few more moments.
"Can I ask one more question?" he asked, even stopping in his walk. I stopped with him and nodded.
"Orphan of the Isle. Did...I mean-"
"Did anyone know who my parents were?" I finished his question. He nodded.
"No one on the Isle knows who my parents are. To them I just appeared in an alley when I was eight years old." I explained. Leaving out the details of myself knowing and Maleficent.
"Oh..." he muttered.
"Trust me Doug. It's better to be an orphan. I haven't had to live up to expectations of jealous and vengeful parents. Believe me. Being an orphan is better." I explained, although I knew it was a lie.
Because I wasn't an orphan. And there were expectations, but ones I couldn't possibly meet.
He seemed to come to terms with what I said and led me the rest of the way.
Fairy Godmother greeted me warmly in her office and had me sit down.
"Now Belladonna. I was hoping to run a game plan with you. About your time here at Auradon Prep." she started.
"Fire away." I said, leaning back in the chair.
"Good. Now...we will need to have you participate in Remedial Goodness with the rest of your friends...I'm afraid that is a stipulation." she started with, doing her best at not looking so awkward. Good effort really.
"I expected that." I said with an easy-going nod.
"Otherwise you really have completed most of your classes. Are there any you might want to retake? Or other courses you might be interested in?" she asked, sliding a pamphlet to me.
"Whatever science class Evie is in, I want to be in. Even though she's great in her schooling, science always freaks her out." I said. Fairy Godmother nodded.
"We can definitely work with that." she agreed. Then proceeded to slide the pamphlet further to me.
"I'll take whatever math class Jay is in too. He struggles with it. I'll take art with Mal, she likes art, but in a certain way and she'll need someone there to understand her muses. Carlos gets nervous in English when you have to present so I'll go to his English class." I explained, still not looking at the pamphlet yet.
Fairy Godmother blinked before a warm smile came across her face. Gave me the creeps.
"What?" I asked.
"You really care about your friends," she said.
"I'd do anything for them, " I answered honestly. She nodded again, writing the things I said down.
"We will be able to accommodate all of that. That still leaves you 2 extra classes" she said, tapping the pamphlet for further emphasis.
I couldn't help the roll of my eyes, but took it and scanned the document. Two classes ended up catching my eye. Music was the first. We didn't really have a music class on the Isle because most instruments were broken. The second class was Strategy and Tactics. That sounded like planning out things, making sure things went right or exactly how you wanted them.
"Music. And I'll do Strategy and Tactics" I said. She paused but ended up nodding again and wrote it all down.
"Is this a suitable arrangement then?" she asked, sliding the paper over.
Literature of Fairies – Carlos
Remedial Goodness 101 – The Gang
Art Through a Cricketical Lense – Mal
Strategy and Tactics
Lunch
Chemistry: The Modern Study of Alchemy – Evie
Arithmacy - Jay
Music
"Does this seem suitable for you?" Fairy Godmother asked. I nodded.
"Yeah. This is good." I said. "Good" she emphasized.
"Is that all you needed from me?" I asked. She nodded and we said our departing words before I left. Thankfully Doug was able to lead me back to the main entrance no questions asked.
I saw the four of them pretending to be nonchalant at the bench by the statue. Evie ran up to me when she saw me.
"Everything go ok?" she asked worriedly. I nodded to her.
"Yeah. We just figured out my classes. I'll show you later. Find the wand?" I asked.
"Yeah we did. With my mirror." she said, pleased with herself. I kissed her forehead to show my praise. Using the mirror successfully was something to be proud of.
We ended up going a couple of miles before making it to The Museum of Cultural History. We found the entrance where it would be but there was a guard at the entrance.
But so was Maleficent's spinning wheel.
"That's your mother's spinning wheel?" "It's kind of dorky" Jay and Carlos teased.
"I think Audrey's mother would disagree" I quipped at them making Evie giggle.
"It's magic. It doesn't have to look scary" Mal defended the thing.
"Magic spindle, do not linger. Make my victim prick a finger." she tried. But it didn't work.
"Impressive." "I got chills" The boys continued with their taunts.
"Okay you know what? 'Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep" she tried again. And this time it worked. We watched the man slowly get up, like in a trance, before going to the wheel, pricking his finger, and falling asleep next to it.
"Hopefully that's not eternally as your mothers" I said wide-eyed. I had to admit, for Mal's first real foray into magic, it was impressive.
"Not so dorky now, huh?" Mal said proudly. Of course, when trying to open the door, it was locked.
"Stand back" Jay said, backing up to break down the door.
"Make it easy, make it quick, open up without a kick." Mal quickly said, making the door fly open and for Jay to go flying to the floor as well.
"Coming?" Mal teased, before skipping in. We all followed, Carlos helping Jay up much to Jay's disdain.
We made our way through the halls, ending up having to pass through the Villain's Hall. The first room we came through made them stop cold.
Their parents were there. Well, their statues.
They were all impressive, imposing, and scary.
"Mommy" Evie whimpered. I took her hand softly and squeezed as she gazed at her mother's statue. All the kids were lost in thought for a moment before Jay led us off. Well most of us. When I noticed Mal wasn't with us I turned to go back for her.
I felt a wave of magic go through me and knew Mal had activated Magic in the Air. That was very impressive. We had been here a day, and she had already been able to do it on her own. I resisted the call the spell had on me as I made my way to find her.
But I passed another room. And saw her.
Grandmother.
I slowly walked into the room.
The grouping was Dr. Facilier, Ursula, Hades, and Grandmother.
Her statue was leaning against a mirror. The familiar maroon dress against her body. She was staring into the mirror deeply. Her face was morphed. One half old, the other half young. To show her never ending quest for youth.
Well it did end.
"Donna?" Evie said from behind me. I jumped, violently, and turned to see my girlfriend looking at me in worry.
"You ok?" she asked. I nodded, going over to her and taking her hand. I pulled it up to my lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.
"You keep me balanced," I said quietly. She squeezed my hand before leading me to go find Mal again. I guess they found the wand.
Of course that ended exactly how I thought it would. Jay jumped the gun and we had to run out of there fast. Thanks to Carlos' quick thinking, it would be considered a false alarm, but it meant we would have to go to school tomorrow.
Mal didn't say a word to anyone and went straight to bed once we got back to the dorms. I got changed into a pair of black sleeping pants and a black tank top. I put my hair into a braid, not wanting to have to deal with untangling it terribly tomorrow.
Once I climbed into bed it was only minutes before I felt someone join me. I hummed as I felt Evie wrap herself around me.
"Princess Evie. The scandal" I teased, my voice heavy with sleep. She placed a kiss at the corner of my mouth.
"I can't believe we can do this" she whispered, burying her face into my neck. I kissed the top of her head and held her close.
"Believe it"
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