If Val were a normal person, he woud have been flailing in his sleep and crying out at the nightmare he was having. As it was, though, he wasn't normal. Nor were his friends, Jay, Evie, and Carlos, for that matter; and on that night none of them should have appeared to be sleeping soundly. At least, from the perspective of a regular, law abiding, fearful citizen of Auradon. From the point of view of an Islander, they most certainly should be sleeping well. For Maleficent had gained control of Auradon.
There was a sudden knock on the bedroom door and Val awakened immediately, eyes snapping open and bolting upright. His wings flared outwards in alarm, and ended up hitting Jay and Carlos in the face. He had never been a deep sleeper. To be otherwise was almost a death sentence on the isle.
"What?" Val snapped groggily. He looked to Jay and Carlos, who had yelped at the assault and were now clutching their sore faces, wide awake. Only Evie still lay asleep. The girl was the exception to the deep sleeper rule. Val couldn't blame her, she had been raised away from the majority of the islanders by a mother who actually cared for her. In her own way, that is.
The door was pushed open by a sorry looking servant. He was on the older side and spoke through a thick French accent, "Master Val, Mistress Maleficent requires you and- oh you are all..." the man trailed off wearily, noticing all four of the teens in the room. Val shot him a disinterested look. He knew what the man was probably thinking. Auradon bed sharing rules were weird.
"What does my mother want?" The boy demanded and the servant shook himself out of his thoughts.
"The mistress requests the four of you in the throne room in fifteen minutes, sir."
Val frowned. "And how much time did you waste coming here to tell me?"
The man blinked, "Pardon?"
"How long did it take you to get from Maleficent, to here?" Jay reiterated in a more casual manner than Val, though his tone was also somewhat cold.
The servant looked down in thought, "Five minutes?" He offered and Val let out a dissatisfied huff.
"We got ten minutes then. Alright. You can go now," he directed to the servant, who looked relieved to go, scurrying off and shutting the door behind him. Val didn't bother watching him leave and instead pushed himself to get out of bed, climbing over Jay in the process.
"Hey, watch it," Jay huffed, batting away one of Maël's wings.
Val ignored him. "Carlos, wake Evie," he instructed, rifling through a nearby dresser. He chucked a shirt at Jay.
Jay caught it and pulled it over his bare torso before standing, and heading to the wardrobe and fishing out a pair of dark red leather pants. While he and Val got dressed, Carlos shook Evie awake. It took some doing, but eventually her azure eyes fluttered open.
She yawned and sat up, "What time is it?" She asked sleepily.
"Don't know," Carlos said, "But Maleficent wants to see us. We have about five minutes to get dressed."
"Five minutes?" Evie near but screeched, shooting out of bed and running to the mirror. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"
"E, we only woke up a minute ago," Vel defended, pulling on a pair of jeans.
Evie paused in her assesment of her appearence briefly. "Oh," was all she said before she continued. She thought a moment before muttering, "Act swift, make haste, paint me now with style and grace." There was a shimmer of dark blue light and Evie's face was instantly done over with makeup, which she scrutinised in the mirror closely.
"Nice one," Jay commented.
Evie smiled dazzlingly, looking away from the mirror approvingly. "I've been practicing. Still can't do my hair that fast though," she sighed, looking to Vel with puppy-dog eyes. The boy rolled his eyes, but waved his hand. Evie grinned at him as her hair untangled and styled itself. Her smile dropped to a scowl though when she was almost hit in the face with a flying skirt. "Watch it!"
"Get dressed," commanded Val.
"I was getting to that," she huffed, picking up the skirt from where it had landed on the floor.
It didn't take long for all of the four to be ready, and they had three minutes left to get down to the throne room. They had to go at a bit of a run to get there on time, but they made it, pushing open a side door and entering.
Maleficent was waiting for them, perched proudly on what was once King Adam's throne, and what should have been Ben's. Beside her on either side stood Grimhilde and Jafar. Cruella was nowhere to be seen, but the four could hear her in the distance, off in an adjoining room, cackling madly. Lining the walls were goblin guards decked out in dark armour, all with nasty looks on their faces. They stared at the four teens as they entered, assessing threat.
In the back corner of the room behind the throne stood Lady Tremaine, a hand clutching her grandson, Anthony's, shoulder with an iron white grip. Beside her also stood Judge Frollo, with his son Clement. The two villains had taken up tertiary advisory roles to Maleficent, being only on slightly lower footing than Jafar and Grimhilde.
Lastly, on the far end of the throne room was Gaston, leaning boredly against the wall beside the main doors, playing with a hunting dagger. Val knew that his twin sons were on the opposite side of the door acting as guards to the outside world, joking and guffawing stupidly, as efficient as blunt pencils.
As the four teens entered, Val saw Jay mess with his sleeves out of the corner of his eye. It was a habit that the boy had picked up since he had come to Auradon, and one that had worsened in the week the villains had been free. Val didn't blame him for being paranoid.
Beside Jay, Val noticed Carlo flinch at Cruella's muffled laughter, and clutch at a fluffy, tan coloured dog's tail he had attached to his belt. It never left his side, ever. Just as it did when the poor thing was still alive.
Next to Vel, Evie had schooled her face into a blank mask. No smiling. No frowning. No wrinkles. Refined and elegant, demure and soft spoken. That was the mask Evie was forced to wear.
Val straightened his back, walking with purpose and faked pride. Chin up and horns high. His eyes were cold and calculating, showing no fear. His wings were neatly trailing after him, and he had finally gotten used to the weight of them as he walked. Who knew it only took a month to get used to having wings.
"Finally," Maleficent crooned. She had a smug smile on her face and she watched as the teenagers filed into the room and stood before her. "We've been waiting." She stood effortlessly. "I have a treat planned," she declared.
"A treat, mother?" Asked Val curiously. Knowing his mother, whatever treat she haad cooked up was nothing pleasant.
The dark fae nodded, "We will be entertaining guests. You are going to fetch them."
"Guests?" Evie questioned softly, her voice like silk; but Val could sense her unease. She was looking at Grimhilde rather than Maleficent, and the evil queen smiled at her with cold anticipation.
"Who?" Jay was equally unnerved, and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He masked it well, however, acting casual and curious.
"Aurora," Maleficent's expression darkened somewhat.
"Aladdin," Jafar spat ruefully.
"Snow White," Grimhilde sniffed haughtily.
Vel was hardly surprised by the revelation. It was bound to happen at some point. He was surprised it hadn't sooner, but then, Maleficent was remarkably patient. She waited 16 years for a curse to be acted upon after all.
"Oh, and that boy king, Fen or something, and his father," Maleficent added as an afterthought, and Val's heart sank. Of course she would want them too. He forced a smirk.
"What are you going to do with them?"
"Now that, my dear boy, is for you to wait and see." Maleficent waved her hand and a key materialised. She tossed it to Val. "This will let you into the dungeons and unlock the cells," Maleficent explained flippantly. The boy stared at the key in surprise. Maleficent hadn't let anyone go anywhere near the dungeons over the past week, and now she was handing him they key? "Those two will assist you," she gestured to Anthony and Clement, who stepped forward. Val stopped himself from scowling. Ah. Of course. She was going to send someone to keep an eye on them.
Anthony and Clement were two of the oldest Isle kids. Anthony in fact was the first child born on the isle. Both boys were cold and cruel in their own ways, living up to their heritage, and Vel knew they would spill every little detail of what Vel did, if Maleficent so demanded.
"Now go," Maleficent ordered, waving away the teens, who obeyed after a brief moment of hesitation. When they got to the door, however, Grimhilde spoke up.
"Oh, not you, boy. Cruella wants you in the other room."
Carlos froze, paling. Val looked to him and nodded subtlty. He looked terrified, and rightfully so, but he had to do as he was told. He nodded back to Val and turned on his heel, scurrying his way to the opposite side of the room and disappearing through a side door that was guarded by one of the armoured goblins.
The path to the dungeons was long and confusing. Val, Evie, and Jay had only been there once, helping their parents lock away the prisoners in the first place. That had been a difficult task. Every single prisoner had to be carried in some way or other, thanks to Maleficent's living statue spell.
Thankfully, Jay had a good head for directions and he led the way through the maze of corridors. They didn't pass anyone as they went, besides a handful of nervous servants thoroughly scrubbing and dusting, and a few goblin guards. None of the trio dared speak, not in front of Clement and Anthony. Instead, Val worked things through in his mind. He knew this was some sort of test, likely to prove they hadn't been softened by Auradon and its ways, but what was Maleficent going to make them do? Was she going to torture the Auradonians? Or was she just going to monologue? Turn them into animals? Val honestly didn't know. His mother's unpredictability was one of the most dangerous things about her.