"Come on, Mali. Say 'Hadie'." Hades watched as Hadie sat in front of Mal. His son was sounding out his name slowly, while his daughter held onto her stuffed purple dragon and just watched her brother in curiosity. "'Hay-dee'. It's easy!"

Mal looked down with a tiny frown, before holding up her dragon and yelling, "Ah!"

Hadie groaned, and Hades couldn't help but chuckle. "She's only ten months old, Bud. It might be a while before she's saying anything other than random sounds, ma-ma, and da-da.

As if agreeing with him, Mal looked at him and held up her dragon, "Da-bah!"

With a sigh, Hadie flopped backwards like a starfish. "I just want her to say my name." He whined. "I have to leave again tomorrow, and won't be back till Christmas!"

The reminder dampened the mood of the room, and Hades wasn't entirely sure what to say. Mal, on the other hand, had no issues with that and crawled to her brother's side, laying her head down on his stomach.

"I'm okay Mali," Hadie said, stroking her hair and laughing a little bit. Hades couldn't help but smile at the pair. Especially when Hadie got back up and returned to his attempts at getting his sister to say his name.

For the next day Hadie tried. From morning to night, he was determined to get Mal to say his name. Eventually, though, it was time for him to return back to school.

He had just given Mal a hug and turned away from her to step through the portal to the Underworld, where Persephone would then take him up to Demeter, when Mal started to squirm in Hades arms.

This wasn't unusual. She didn't like Hadie leaving. The difference this time was her squeal.

"Dee!"

Hadie turned with a gasp, and Hades looked down at his daughter. Tears were running down her face and her arms were held out to Hadie, who took her carefully.

"Did you hear that, Dad?" He asked as Mal curled her arms around his neck.

"I did," Hadie said. "She's trying to say your name!"

Hadie laughed and hugged Mal. Mal, of course, had no idea why her dad and brother were acting strange and continued to hold on tightly, even as Hades went back to try taking her from Hadie.

"I really do have to go, Mali." Hadie said a few minutes later as he attempted to move Mal away from his body. Mal was stubborn, though, and it took both father and son to get her away from Hadie. With a teary goodbye, and Mal crying "Dee!" Hadie was one.

For the next few days, Mal was upset. She'd ask for "Dee" at random times, and it broke everyone's hearts. It became the adults missions to bring a smile back to the little girl's face. Maleficent flew around with her, Borra and Diablo played peek-a-boo, Persephone grew plants down in the cave, and Hades told her stories.

Eventually, Mal did start to laugh. After all, babies tend to forget easily.

But they don't forget the important things easily. At least, this baby didn't. Because a few days before Christmas, Hadie was back on the Isle. Once again, Mal was in the cave as Maleficent, Borra and Hades were all working on Maleficent's castle. Winters were becoming harsher on the Isle, and they were doing their best to make the castle as warm as possible. Because of this, Persephone was watching Mal. Her mother was in charge of bringing Hadie, much to her ire, and Persephone waited patiently.

It didn't take long for the sound of the portal to be heard, and Persephone made an exaggerated gasp, gaining Mal's attention. "What was that, Mal?"

Mal turned her head towards the portal room. Together, they watched the door open. Then, "DEE!"

Hadie raced forward, ignoring his mom in favor of his little sister. Mal squealed as Hadie hugged her tight. "Hi Mali! Did you miss me?"

Mal grinned and repeated, "Dee!" making both Hadie and Persephone laugh. Mal didn't know what was funny, but the soon-to-be one year old didn't care. She had her big brother back.


Soon enough, Mal's first year was over, too quickly for Maleficent and Hades liking. Their little girl was a sweet child, quiet and creative. A personality that didn't quite suit the Isle. She adored her parents, who adored her right back. She loved to spend time with her big brother, and Borra had quickly been dubbed Uncle Borra. Persephone, when Mal saw her, became 'Sephie' and it was clear that Mal was the only one who could call her that.

For all parties concerned, things were relatively peaceful by Isle standards. When Maleficent wasn't dealing with the Isle residents, she was at home with Mal and when Mal wasn't with her, she was with her father or step-mother. More births happened in Auradon and the Isle, and the Evil Queen revealed her child, a little girl a couple months younger than Mal who had a shocking head of blue hair. (Some believed it was dyed, but at the moment no one was sure whether or not that was true. It was becoming more common for the children with magical heritage to have odd hair colors, and in the end the Evil Queen was a witch.)

Mal and Uma bonded, despite their young age, and both babies were happier when together.

But as anyone on the Isle knows, peace can only last for so long, and trouble came when Mal was two.


It was one of those days where everyone was busy. Borra was sorting things out at the barge and arguing with the goblins while trying to send complaints that would never be answered to Auradon. Hades was working in the Underworld, and Maleficent had errands to run. Since hers would be the least dangerous, that meant that Mal would go with her.

The first few errands went fine, checking up with Ursula and Uma, getting some fish from Captain Hook and pretending to be interested when he mentioned that he had a son not much older than Mal, putting fear into the hearts of some other villains. Normal things. It wasn't until they got to the market when the day took a turn.

Mal was toddling next to Maleficent, holding her mothers hand tightly when something had caught her eye. Being the curious two-year-old that she was, she reached for it, ignoring the odd feeling that was in her hand.

The screams that came quieted the entire market and Maleficent had Mal wrapped up in her arms and took off towards the castle before anyone could react. The flying calmed Mal down only a little, but it would have to do. She had a feeling she knew what had happened but wouldn't be sure until they were home.

Hades was there waiting, which was concerning, and it took both parents to fully calm the toddler down. When she finally let go of her mother, Maleficent took in a sharp breath. There on Mal's hand was a burn.

It took over an hour to fully fade, and in that hour Mal could barely stop crying. No one could blame her. Maleficent and Borra had both been burned by fire and iron, and if given the choice they'd take the fire. But it was something that every Fae had to go through. What was startling was how long the burn took to go away. In a way it made sense, Mal was only half Fae, but on the flip side of that she was half-god. If anything they all expected that it would go away faster instead of slower.

After what happened, Hades went on a mission. Within a week, almost all the iron on the Isle of the Lost was gone.


After that incident, Maleficent kept Mal home more. But, that couldn't last forever. Not with who they were. So after Mal's third birthday, she started running errands with her mother more. Those errands also involved Maleficent teaching Mal how to act around the other islanders. No please, no thank you, no helping. Don't look others in the eyes, and show you're tough. It confused the young girl, and it shattered Maleficent's heart to think of how she had to push her daughter's innocence away. But it was either innocence or survival, and the later was what needed to be chosen.


AN: For the guest about Mal's name, Mallantha is of Greek origin (from the name Melantha) and means 'Dark Flower.' With Hades being her dad, I wanted a Greek name and I sorta fell in love with the meaning as soon as I saw it XD

and Danifan3000, yes Poseidon is Ursula's father and Uma's grandfather in this. So Mal and Uma are cousins.