I've only just watched Cruella with Emma Stone, who I believe makes the perfect younger Cruella.

I own nothing but feel free to tell me what you think of my work.

Enjoy.

The Reign of Cruella DeVil.

Cruella took a deep breath as she walked into the building where so much of her life had changed - it still seemed odd that so many discoveries could take place in a short span of time; the discovery that the Baroness had been the woman her 'mother' had been referring to on that dark night where she'd made that stupid mistake to sneak out of the car and take a look at the party and that she had taken the necklace her mother had worn her entire life had driven her mad and desperate to get it back, beginning an avalanche to get revenge on the Baroness, only to discover after that fire where she had driven herself mad she had forsaken Horace and Jasper so cruelly after all they'd done for her that her mother, the one she was doing it all for had been a maid whom had taken her away from the Baroness who was her actual mother but had wanted her killed after birth - but she was going to set the world on fire.

No, not like that.

Not in real life.

She grinned as she stepped through the doors, ignoring the looks she got as they took in the dark professional suit that she and Artie had designed together and her black and white hair. She had worked with these people for weeks as Estella, but she had come here openly as Cruella.

As she stood flanked by John, Artie, Jasper and Horace, Cruella took a deep breath as she took in the factory floor with the numerous fashion designers/tailors/seamstresses and the shop managers, like the one who had just relegated her to a life of cleaning. A smirk rose to her face as she saw him take in her appearance, swallowing nervously. He was scared.

Good. He should be scared. Especially since she could fire him. Too bad, he was going to be useful.

"I know you all recognise me, and it's true - Estella and Cruella are one and the same, but that doesn't matter. Yes, the Baroness was my mother, my birth mother, but she was not the woman who shaped my life. I have…inherited her business. And I intend to take her business empire in new directions. That's one of the reasons why I have invited all of you here today; shop managers, shop assistants, tailors, designers, all of you. Today, all of you are here to see this is a new era for this company. For those of you who have seen my….work, I believe in a more…violent fashion."

Cruella studiously ignored the Jasper-sounding snort that said "that's an understatement."

"I am not like the Baroness. I never was. I have worked with dozens of people over the last couple of months, and they are right behind. Jasper," she said over her shoulder, making her long-time friend and fellow thief walk forward, "could you please do the honours?"

"Sure thing, boss," he said with a genuine smile. He was clearly pleased she was in her element.

Cruella smiled as the designers and tailors she had worked with over the last few months to help her bring down the Baroness's empire; after seeing the way the Baroness treated her workers, it didn't really surprise her when Artie had come up with a number of names of people who'd been pissed off by the Countess in the past, some of them had worked with her when they'd tried bringing new ideas to the table but the Baroness had been too traditionally minded to allow it.

There were other fashion designers who'd quickly worked out their brand of style wouldn't fit well with her birth mother, but Cruella had no doubt of their worth. She knew of it perfectly well.

"These people, they are just like you, and I am also planning on rehiring staff members who have been fired over the last 9 months. I am rehiring them due to their expertise and skills. I want us to succeed. I also want all of you to succeed," Cruella looked over them all quietly while everyone wondered what she was going to say next before she just shrugged her shoulders, "I could go on for hours and hours, making promises about what we're gonna do, what's gonna change, but how about we take things as they come today? Now, let's get this show on the road. Let's broaden our minds."

For the rest of the day, the Liberty designers and tailors worked with Cruella and the fashion gurus she'd brought with her to work with them. At first, there was some resistance to their ideas, which were unorthodox to them. Many of them had been at Liberty's for so long they'd become indoctrinated with the Baroness's ideas and her views of fashion.

It was a very narrow view, and it was one that Cruella knew about. She had known when she had first walked into Liberty's and became a cleaner that they were almost afraid of the future. Some of the work she had done had crossed the line of what was considered acceptable by the Baroness, who was a staunch traditionalist who only allowed the smallest of future trends into her lines before Cruella decided she didn't care. But at the same time the fashion designers quickly realised how different Cruella was to the Baroness.

For a start, the Baroness had spent all of her time in her office or getting power naps. It was very rare for her to actually spend some time on the factory floor and work with the designers and tailors to design anything. Cruella, on the other hand, was a very hands-on boss. She had always been that way. She didn't and would never understand why the Baroness had led the way she did since she wasn't only ignoring what her designers, some of whom were as creative as Cruella herself was, but they'd been battered down by the Baroness's harsh standards and never allowed to showcase their ideas aside from a fair few.

Cruella spent a lot of her time working with the others, and surprisingly…she welcomed fresh perspectives and she encouraged debate. Artie and the designers and tailors she'd brought with her already had experience with how she worked. Cruella might have had a keen mind and an instinctive gift for fashion, but she wasn't arrogant enough to believe she knew everything.

At the end of the day, the walls were covered with thousands of hand-drawn pictures.

Cruella walked over to them and grinned at her new staff. "Right, now we've done that, tomorrow we'll get stuck in on the new lines. Any questions?"

A young woman held up her hand. "Yes?" Cruella said.

"I'm sorry, and I am looking forwards to carrying on working here, but I've got a couple of ideas at home, but the Baroness didn't want anything to do with them. I had to take them with me, but I've been keeping them in my portfolio. Do you…do you….?" She stuttered worriedly.

Cruella smiled and held up her hand. "It's okay. Please, bring them in tomorrow."

"Thank you. I think you're right, by the way."

"In what sense?" Cruella blinked in surprise.

"We need to change," the young woman said. "I've seen dozens of people wearing clothes people like the Baroness looks down upon, but…they look great. New. Fresh."

Cruella chuckled. "True," she smiled genuinely. "Bring them to me tomorrow. In fact, if anyone wants to design something new for tonight, take a look around you, and draw."

X - Six Months Later - X

Late at night, Cruella was going through the day to day runnings of her expanding business empire, musing about how far she'd taken things. Sales were extremely high, several dozen new shops had been opened in Manchester, Liverpool, Brighton, Glasgow, Leeds, York, and Newcastle, and Cruella had been extremely busy with all of them. There were even proposals for her to open a couple of stores in Paris, Tokyo, and New York, something to be truly proud of. As she had quickly discovered when she had advertised herself as Cruella at her mother's balls and galas, embarrassing the Baroness who suddenly looked dull and boring, Cruella had brought her own unique advertising style to the world.

Park concerts where loud music played out, blaring for miles and miles while models displayed her work.

Interrupting galas with model work, and magazine editions, and on and on it went.

Cruella was having the time of her life. While she had decided to modify and keep some of the Baroness's classic lines, she had spiced the majority of them up with her own styles and those of others. With Artie's flair for vintage designs, there was a kind of nod to the old while they fully embraced the new. Employment was high and her business was expanding every day.

She looked up when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said.

She smirked when she saw Jasper walk in. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"I brought you a bacon sandwich, just in case you're hungry. You haven't eaten in hours," Jasper held up a paper bag. Cruella practically melted at the offering and the smell. She might have caused her best friends a lot of grief when she'd gone off the rails, but she was glad she still had them as family.

She also noted she was hungry.

"Yeah, I am, thanks," she took the bag and opened the pack before she started to eat while Jasper was looking around.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"I think…and please, don't bite my head off, but I think you're adopted mum would be proud of you. You've fulfilled one of your biggest dreams."

"Just not in the way she wanted," Cruella said, musing about the woman who'd raised her; Catherine might not have been her biological mother, but she had been her mother whereas the Baroness had tried to kill her three times. How could she not love her?