"Is this meant to be an upgrade from your mom's fish shop?" Mal said as she eyed the area they'd been lead too. Under the docks, in what was honestly an impressive base. Not that Mal was going to let Uma know that. They'd completely taken over a section of the docks, a boathouse serving as their main hold. They were on the second level, the lapping of the water sounding below the boards under them.

"It's more put together than the mess you've caused in your neck of the woods,"

Mal narrowed her eyes at Uma. They were positioned on opposite sides of the room. Harry was at Uma's side. Gil perched on a shelf behind them both.

"What are you talking about?"

"Those VK's stirring up trouble. You think we wouldn't hear about that?"

"Just say your angle and let's get to why you really wanted us here,"

"As much as I love the idea of you failing as a leader for the kids on your end, I can't ignore how that's going to affect our bottom line here,"

"Your bottom line?"

"If kids stop going over that's just more people for us to keep in line here," Uma said with a simple shrug.

Something seemed off about that statement to Mal, but Uma had always infuriatingly difficult to read.

"We don't trust you to deal this problem yourselves," Harry said, twirling his hook on his finger.

"So we want to help," Gil said.

"Gil," Uma shot him a look over her shoulder.

He hunched his shoulders a little, "On account of you not being able to handle this without someone as powerful as Uma,"

Mal snorted, "We don't need your help,"

"Sure you don't. Just like you don't need that little blue prize in your pocket,"

Mal's hands twitched, almost checking to make sure she hadn't been pick-pocketed somehow. But she wasn't going to show her uncertainly to Uma.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Please, Mal, nothing happens on this island that I don't know about. You went to Hades. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why. You're not stronger than your mother's staff. You needed something that is,"

"You still haven't said your angle,"

"But we did," Uma countered, "We don't trust you to deal this. So out of the goodness of our hearts, we're going with you. Clean up this mess up,"

"Ha, no," Mal chuckled, "That's not happening,"

"Get off your high horse and admit you need help,"

"Hard to see this as out of the goodness of your heart when you threatened us here in the first place," Jay said.

"Oh, Jay, did you think that was me being threatening?" Harry grinned, "Auradon has made you soft if that scared you,"

"I wasn't scared,"

"What do you want, Uma?" Evie asked, the authority in her voice cutting across the tension of the room. "You must want something, in return, for your gracious offer,"

Uma looked at Harry for a beat, "Enough of this invitation lottery," She said, "Any kid who wants to leave the Isle get to leave when they want,"

Evie's expression didn't betray the flurry of thoughts that crossed her mind at that moment to anyone, except, of course, for Mal. She looked to Mal out of the corner of her eyes. From the look in Mal's eyes, she knew she hadn't been expecting that either.

Evie barely arched one brow, a silent question woven into the fraction of a movement, 'How should they proceed with this?'

The edges of Mal's eyes tensed. She didn't trust any of this.

Evie couldn't argue with that. She didn't buy into all this yet either. But Uma's demands weren't something she was against. Just the opposite. But the problem was…

"That's easier said than done," Evie said.

"Bull,"

"Bringing kids to Auradon is always tied up in red tape,"

"Are you saying you don't have the king wrapped around your fingers?"

"We're saying it's more complicated than that," Mal said.

"Then make it less complicated," Harry said.

"Or you're not making it off the isle," Gil said.

"Or what? You're going to kill us?" Carlos challenged.

"Maybe," Gil said.

"You can try," Jay snorted.

"If anyone has the best chance of stopping Maleficent's staff it's Mal," Carlos said, "You could get rid of us, but then you'd be stuck on the isle with some zealot villain worshipers still out there gunning for VKs,"

"What?" Uma stood at that.

Carlos hesitated to continue, questioning if he'd given away too much.

"Whoever stole the staff has VKs on their shit list," Evie filled in instead. Keeping that bit of information secret served no one right then, "They've already made a few attempts,"

"There was a news report about you getting attacked," Uma said, looking to Mal, "Nothing about other VKs,"

"They showed up at the manor, the house where most of the VKs live," Evie said, "They've got a real complex about us,"

"See. This is why you need the backup," Harry said.

Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay exchanged a quick look. "Give us a moment to discuss," Carlos said.

Uma nodded once in acknowledgement of the request.

Mal read her friends' faces and narrowed her eyes at Evie, "We're taking this offer?"

"No," Jay hissed, "We can't trust them,"

"They're holding us hostage," Carlos pointed out.

"We can't trust them," Jay repeated.

"Umm," Celia spoke up, "I don't know if you care about my opinion but Uma would be the lesser of two evils here,"

Mal looked at Evie, tilting her head.

"You want Uma,"

"Yes," It was a simple statement, leaving no room for uncertainty.

Mal was quiet for a moment, "Alright,"

"Alright?"

"Alright,"

"Uma, if we're doing this, you're the only one coming," Evie said.

"Oh no. My crew is coming with me,"

"No way," Jay said.

"Just Harry and Gil," Evie said.

Uma arched her brow, a small curl to the edge of her lips, "Did I miss the memo when the Princess here took over as leader?"

"Unlike you, I don't run a dictatorship," Mal said.

"Seems like you don't run anything at all," Harry snickered.

Mal narrowed her eyes, but didn't dignify him with a response, "We can't promise you the kids will be allowed off the isle freely,"

"You have to do better than that," Uma said.

"It's not up to us," Mal argued.

"I'll promise it to you," Evie said.

"E," Mal looked to her.

"Alright then, you have yourself a deal," Uma said.

"Good, now you can give us our bikes back,"

"About those," Harry started.

"We crashed them," Gil said cheerfully.

Carlos groaned.

"Guess we're still walking," Celia said, with an annoyed roll of her eyes.

"Oh no, I'm not walking," Uma said.

"Well, you should have said that before your crew stole our bikes," Jay said.

"What did you expect to happen when you left them out, just ripe for the picking," Harry countered.

"Guys," Evie cut in.

"We have a boat," Uma said, "I'll need to double-check a few things because we've never actually run it. Give us…" She looked at Harry, "Half an hour…" Harry nodded, paused and added an uncertain shake to his hand, "Roughly an hour and we can leave in it,"

"Even with an hour wait, a boat would be faster than walking," Carlos said.

"We don't have any better options," Mal said.

"Great. You're welcome to hang out here if you want," Uma said with a saccharin smile.

"No thanks," Mal said, "We'll be back," She turned, internally relieved when Uma's gang parted, allowing them to leave.

Outside Carlos said, "Actually, I want to stay. See what this boat is about, make sure it's not a trap,"

"That's not a bad idea," Jay agreed, "I'll check out their docks and make sure there isn't anything else we need to be prepared for,"

"Celia, do you want to go with one of the boys?" Mal asked but her tone made it clear it wasn't a suggestion.

"Oh, okay… I'll go with Carlos,"

"Can we go talk somewhere?" Mal asked Evie.

"Of course," Evie already knew what this was about.

"This looks, macabre," Jane said as they stopped in front of the dark store. she tried to peak through the windows, but couldn't past thick curtains.

"Looks like its right up Freddie's alley," Dizzy said. She tried the door and it opened without issue, "Seems like she's open,"

"The fates gifted me the foresight of your pre- oh, you?" Freddie's voice shifted instantly when she saw who'd entered her little storefront.

"Does that smoky voice work on people?" Dizzy asked.

"The suckers who come in here?" She smirked a little, "Oh hook, line and sinker. But I'm guessing you're not here for a fortune reading,"

"Not unless you can tell us how to find Maleficent's staff," Jane said.

"I could try, but fortunes don't work in exact measures," She offered. She pulled out a deck, shuffling the cards.

"We're not here for help. We're here to help you," Dizzy said.

"More like a warning," Jane added.

"I've seen the news. I know some crazy freaks made off with Malifecent's scepter,"

"The news hasn't covered they're coming after us specifically," Dizzy said.

Freddie stopped shuffling, "... How bad was it?" She asked, not missing the tone of Dizzy's voice.

"First Mal, then the manor,"

"Was anyone hurt?"

"Well..." Dizzy hesitated.

"Don't sugar coat it for me,"

Dizzy took a breath, "Flori got turned to the stone. A couple other of the staff too,"

Freddie closed her eyes as she took in that information. "And any of us,"

"The kids were mostly safe. Thanks really to Dizzy and your sister,"

Freddie smiled, "Good on Celia,"

"Honestly I got the worse of it," Dizzy said, showing some of her half-healed bruises.

"Geez, Dizzy, what did they do to you?"

"This isn't as bad as they wanted to do,"

"Fuck,"

Jane said, "We moved the kids out of the manor for now,"

"Where's Celia?"

"So, about that," Dizzy started, "Don't freak out,"

"People say shit like that right before they something worthy of a freak out,"

"She's on the Isle right now,"

"Why?"

"Helping Mal," Jane said quickly.

"Why are they on the Isle?"

"They went to steal a magical item from Hades,"

"And that's why they took Celia. I swear if they get her involved and Hades' finds them..."

"Mal's more competent than that," Dizzy said, "She's not going to get caught,"

"Sure," Freddie didn't seem convinced.

"We're not asking you to come with us, but you can if you want," Jane said, "If not, you should keep a low profile for a while,"

"Maybe get out of town," Dizzy suggested, "They were bold enough to attack the manor. I wouldn't put it past them to track you down here,"

"I'm in no hurry to make new friends. I'll take your offer. I was hoping to come up a weekend and see Celia anyway,"

"Perfect," Jane smiled, "No one else has taken us up,"

"Zevon and Ylza told us to dick off," Dizzy said.

"They would," Freddie snorted.

"CJ at least said she was going to take an extended boat trip,"

"How many people have you been to?"

"Everyone we have a location on outside of Auradon," Dizzy said.

"Almost everyone," Jane amended, "We have one more stop on our list,"

"Who is it?"

"My cousin,"

Without having to discuss it Mal and Evie went to their old hideout to talk. Some of the furniture was gone, but otherwise, it hadn't been touched. Surprising no one else had tried to claim it. Mal chose to be surprised rather than putting any stock into her father's words about keeping tabs on this place.

Her murals were still on the walls, somewhat faded from time and weather. One wall had water damage, ruining the portrait of Jay. She let herself feel a moment of sadness for that before turning to Evie.

"I know what you're going to say,"

"Oh?" Mal crossed her arms, "Good. I'm still going to say it. You can't promise that to Uma,"

"I can't," Evie agreed, "But I can try,"

"E, you say that like we haven't been devoted to keeping the program running. You more than anyone else. Maybe even more than Ben. The council pushes back every time we're ready to bring more kids over. They tried to shut it down because Hades stuck his arm out of the barrier. It's going to be so much worse with mother's staff in the hands of those so-called VKs,"

"That's why I want to Uma to help us. Uma's a villain to Auradon. If she helps us take down the bigger threat, it could help public perception,"

"You think Uma helping us once if enough to sway the perception of VKs?"

"I think we need to have a plan or this isn't going to end when we get the staff. If we don't handle this well no kid may be allowed off the Isle again,"

"And Uma's our ace in the hole? Uma. You know how insane that sounds. We don't know what she's going to pull,"

"She asked for the kids be allowed off the isle freely. Why would she do that?"

"I don't know," Mal shrugged, "I don't pretend to know how her mind works,"

Evie's look called all of Mal's bullshit, "If you didn't trust her on some level you wouldn't have agreed to her joining us,"

"I trust you. If you want to put stock in her, I will too. But even more than I don't trust Uma, I don't trust we'll able to keep that promise to her. What if she turns on us then?"

"Then, we'll deal with it, together," Evie took Mal's hands in her own, "Like we always do,"

"E, getting all the kids from the Isle..."

"I know. I know it's crazy," Despite it all, Evie smiled, "But, it's good crazy. If we could… can you imagine? All those letters we read every month, we could make their dreams come true at once,"

"It's a hard sell,"

"I know," She chuckled and sighed, "But if we're the heroes this time, we can win them over. I feel it Mal,"

In spite of everything, Mal could feel it too. Because Evie could. Evie had the annoying the knack of making Mal believe in anything she put her heart into. Faith hadn't been part of Mal's vocabulary before Evie and now here she was, a ring burning a hole in her pocket because she had more faith in Evie than she did in the cosmos themselves. As much as Mal hated to admit it, Evie was right. The council was who they had to convince, but the council always ruled with the public majority when there was an outpouring of support. Even if Uma had her own plans, they could use her. People could rally behind a reformed villain. They had for her. If they could make lightning strike twice with Uma and they were the ones to take out this threat, they could use the momentum to win a vote for all VKs to be brought over at once.

Standing there in that moment, listening to Evie already breaking down talking points for the next council meeting Mal got caught up in just how diligent Evie was. And how brilliant. Here she was, trying to plan five moves ahead to get her mother's staff out of the wrong hands. Evie was twenty moves ahead, thinking about the VKs and leveraging this to their advantage. She was terrifying and Mal loved her for it. But Mal couldn't pretend she didn't see the other game Evie was playing here too. Uma wasn't just a power play to give all VKs an image boost.

"So, you wanting Uma with us has nothing to do with the fact I got spelled the first time I fought this guy?"

The glimmer of hope Evie had in her eyes thinking about a near-future faded, "You picked up on that,"

So Mal was right, Evie wanted Uma for her. "You were terrified when I woke up,"

"M, you're mother's sleeping spell didn't work on you, but this one did. This is no petty street magician,"

"Mother's spell didn't work because, in a great irony, raw magic cares more about shared blood than my parents actually do,"

"M,"

"I'm not deflecting or trying to diminish. When they attacked Sixth Circle I wasn't scared once I got the others out of there. I had one moment of panic, it was when I tried to call mother's staff to me and they called it back to them. I didn't know if it meant they were more powerful than me, or just more attuned to the staff. When I choose to run, that's when I felt the sleep seeping in. But even then I wasn't scared. I knew if I was cursed, you'd wake me,"

Evie huffed, "I'm glad you had that much confidence in us,"

"You… wait, didn't you?"

"I…"

"You didn't think we have true love?"

"You had true love with Ben,"

"I-I did, but that was in the past,"

"But what if magic didn't care about that? What if true love was a one and done kind of deal? I didn't know… I didn't know if it would care that I loved you because you already had love with Ben,"

"Hey, I'm here, awake now. So it's obviously not that,"

"Well, we know that now. But how could have I known before?"

"E…" Mal kind of chuckled, the sound barely more soft quick exhales, "I loved Ben once, I did. But love wasn't everything. Just love couldn't fix everything between Ben and I. Evie. You are my true love. My only love. My love and my everything,"

"Again, it's all moot now, post a true love's kiss,"

And... oh. Mal wasn't the only who had doubts sometimes. That, somehow, was a comfort. Here she had been, tormented about the idea this mold of a perfect happy ending that she couldn't fit into for Evie's sake. She'd been so distracted by her questioning if just love was enough for the happy ending. Evie had doubted the same thing. Knowing that made it seem stupid now. The meticulously planned nights where she'd just chickened out anyway. Dizzy's constant berating. It was all so stupid.

Of course, they loved each other. Mal hadn't doubted for a second that Evie wouldn't be able to wake her when she felt the sleeping curse claiming her. So why had she doubted before?

Mal laughed again, "You know what, fuck perfect,"

"What?"

Mal reached into her pocket, hesitating for a moment when Hades' voice echoed in her mind.

'Are you happy? Are you doing this because you think you have to?'

No, screw him. He wasn't getting the privilege of space in her mind. Not right then. With a slow breath, she pushed those thoughts from her head and pulled out the small velvet sack she'd been carrying around for too long.

Taking Evie's hand, she placed it on her palm.

"What's this?"

"Open it,"

There was a deceptive sturdiness to the weight of it in Evie's palm. Pulling at the string at the top Evie turned it over, emptying onto her hand. Only one thing fell out. Small, round, gold. Her mind raced to take it in at once. The gem, blue and bright, set into the gold flanked by smaller gems, these clear, set into small, yet intricate patterning of the ring, stems curling around the main gem like vines. The inscription gracing the inner edge.

Evie's breath caught, understanding what was happening and utterly confused at the same time.

"Mal, wh-"

"Marry me?"

"Yes,"

"I know it's the worse time. We've been going for hours, we're exhausted. We're on the Isle of all places,"

"Mal,"

"Hold on, let me get through this. I don't want you thinking I'm asking now because of the adrenaline or I'm scared or something. I'm not. Okay, maybe I was scared. But not because of what happened. I was scared of not being good enough for you,"

"Mal," Evie placed her palm over Mal's mouth, "I said yes,"

Pulling down her hand Mal blinked once, "Oh, you did."

"Yeah, I did," She laughed, her hands weaving around her neck.

"Oh… I'd been working out this whole speech in my head,"

"Do you still want to say it?"

"No," Mal said, "No. It's horrible. You heard the start of it. It's awful,"

Evie's laugh was so free and light, "Come here,"

When she kissed Mal, for a moment, just that moment, the day couldn't touch them. Nothing before or after mattered.

"You were scared to ask me?" Evie asked, eventually, her words whispered against Mal's lips, "You thought you weren't good enough?"

"I wanted your happy ending to be perfect,"

"Mal, haven't you noticed? I've been living my happy ending for a while now,"

Mal laughed.

"I'm so happy right now I'm not even going to question your logic of bringing an engagement ring to the Isle," Evie said, punctuating her words with brief kisses.

"Today's been one thing after another. Cut me some slack that I had it on me. It's habit to keep in my pocket,"

"Habit?"

"Uh…"

"How long have you had this?"

"You don't want to know,"

"Mal?"

"Remember when we moved into the castle? Subtract a couple days from that,"

"Mal," Evie managed to sound amused, questioning and dejected at once.

"The plan was to ask the night we moved in, but then we got into that bottle of wine Carlos gave us and we were waylaid by other activities,"

"And what are your excuses for all the other days?"

"I'll tell you because I definitely have them,"

"Mhmm,"

"Really. Dizzy has heard them all,"

"Of course D knew about this,"

"She helped narrow down ring choices,"

"And she's kept your secret this long,"

"Oh, don't worry. She gave me shit every time I didn't ask you,"

"Good," She kissed her again, "You picked the stupidest time to ask,"

"I'm aware,"

"I wouldn't have it any other way,"

So, naturally, if Mal was going to propose, she'd do it at literally the worst time.

Nardragon- until the next page.