Carlos was pacing back and forth, his hands twined together. Every time he pivoted on the spot Ben head turned to follow him.

"You know you don't have to this. We don't need a testimony from any of them. The case is as good as shut against them."

"I'm not doing this because of that." Carlos insisted, turning on his heels again.

It was three days after the fight where Mal, Uma and Ginny had taken down the leader of the Auradon born VKs and things were still in a place of chaos. Mal, Jane, Uma and Freddie were looking for a way to end the stone curse and sleeping curses for those they couldn't find a true love for. The Auradon born VKs had been mostly rounded up, but some had escaped and now they had to figure out who they were and who their parents were. Things were still dangerous and as long as they didn't know the capabilities of anyone still free no one sleeping well at night.

Carlos and Ben were in the jail, waiting to talk with one of the VKs, hoping she could give them information about those few who eluded capture. The door to the room they were waiting in opened, Mal walking in and pulling Carlos into a hug as soon as she saw him.

"I just heard. Why didn't you call me?"

"We didn't want to bother you. You've been looking for the reverse for the stone curse."

"We didn't think you'd want any distractions until you got Evie and the others back," Ben said.

Mal's eyes looked down for a moment, but she took a breath, squeezing Carlos' shoulder, "Bother me, always. Of course, I would want to be here for you. You know Evie and Jay would too."

Carlos nodded, swallowing thickly, "She was the first person I wanted to talk to when I found out."

Ben's fist clenched.

"Hey, none of that," Mal said, looking at them both, "We're getting them back. The others are still researching as we speak."

Carlos nodded, taking Mal's hand, giving her a small squeeze, "Thank you for coming."

"Always. Nowhere else I'd rather be. I mean that."

There was a knock on the door, and a woman in uniform stepped into the room, "Sire, we're ready to bring in if you're ready."

Ben nodded and looked at Carlos, "Are you?"

Carlos took a big breath, slapping his cheeks a few times, "Yeah. Yeah."

The woman called down the hall, "Moving the prisoner to interrogation room D." In the room next to them a light flicked on. They could see it because of a pane of glass in the wall, a one-way mirror. Carlos drifted closer to the glass, watching as a woman about ten years older than him was brought into the room, flanked by two guards. They cuffed her to the metal desk in the middle of the room, pushing her into the chair.

The guard in the room with them had a file tucked under her arm that she opened now, "Amelia Felicity on her records, place of birth, unknown, date of birth, unknown, was discovered in the basement of the former residence of Jasper Briggins. Her last name was given to her because the residence was just outside of the province of Felicity. Doctors placed her at age 8 at the time of her discovery. She was moved to an orphanage Happenstance where she remained until her estimated 18th year after which she was turned out onto the street. Records of her bouncing from job to job along the western coast. She fell off the radar two years ago until she was captured three days ago. Upon her capture, she only said two things. The first, she would only speak with her brother. The second, her proper last name is De Vil."

Carlos' shoulders rose and fell. "How could mother never tell me I have a sister?"

Mal stood next to Carlos. "Who knows why our parents did anything they did?"

"I've had a sister and she tried to kill me."

"Family's a bitch," Mal took his hand, "I know out of the three of us, I'm the last person you'd want here."

"Don't say it like that."

"Oh come on, I know you're closer with Evie and Jay."

"The only thing I want more than you here, if all three of you. But right now, we can't stop and cry. We need to make sure the VKs are safe and that's not going to happen as long as there's even one of them out there."

"You say that like we're ever truly safe."

"One crisis at a time Mal," Carlos said, giving her a small smile. She nodded.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can talk to her."

Carlos shook his head, "No. She asked for me. And I want to speak with her too."

"Okay," Mal nodded and kissed his temple, "We're going to be watching the whole time. Just give me the signal if you want me to come in there."

Carlos gave a short laugh, his eyes focused on the woman on the other side of the glass. "Full dragon Mal?"

"If you want it."

Carlos looked at her, holding Mal's eyes, "I got this."

"I know you do. But I got you."

He held up his fist, "We're rotten,"

"To the core," Mal tapped their fingers together.

Carlos stepped up to the door, taking the handle. Ben placed a hand on his shoulder, "There are guards posted right out the door. You're going to be safe the whole time."

Carlos turned the knob and stepped into the room. Ben and Mal watched as he took a seat on the opposite of the table.

The woman, Amelia, sat up a little straighter when he entered the room, her eyes following him.

"I didn't think you'd actually come."

"Well, the sister I've never met asked for me. How could I refuse that? I'm Carlos, it's good to meet you."

She snorted, shoulders slumping as she slipped down in her chair a little, "Is it? Really? Is it good to meet me?"

Carlos took a breath, "No. It's not. You've been helping people who want me and my friends dead."

"We don't…" Her voice got heated for a moment but she exhaled, "We just feel like you betrayed everything we couldn't have. You have your parents. You have their legacy, their name. And what do we have? Orphanages and broken homes."

Carlos smirked, "You think that we were any better off. Half the kids on the Isle were tossed away by parents who didn't want them. The other half had parents were pieces of shit. Like our mother."

Amelia's head tilted and her eyes narrowed. "Mother…"

"Do you disagree?"

She looked away, "You just don't understand mother."

"And you do?"

"I'm her daughter. I should be the true heir."

"To what? A fashion empire she ran into the ground? A reputation of being mad enough to kidnap puppies for a garment that could never be marketed."

"You didn't get the best of mother."

"And you did?"

Amelia didn't answer. She just sat back.

"Okay," Carlos said, "Then you tell me. What mother did you know?"

Again she didn't answer.

Carlos sighed, sitting forward, "You asked to talk with me. And I'll admit, I was interested in meeting my sister."

Amelia snorted. "Now you want to meet me. Because you want me to tell you where the others."

"No," Carlos shrugged, "I actually don't care if you help me with that or not. I know my friends and I can find them."

"I hear you're quite the tech prodigy."

"Prodigy isn't the word I'd use, but I'm good at what I do, yes."

"If you're so good with tech why didn't you find me sooner?"

"Because I didn't know I had a sister to look for."

"Y-you, you didn't?"

Carlos shook his head.

"She didn't tell you about me."

"Do you think they look alike?" Ben asked.

Mal hummed. Looking at them, side by side, there were some similarities between them. They both had the same fluffy curls and the same arch to the bridge of their noses. Amelia's skin was darker, a rich brown than Carlos' own olive complexion. Their eyes were different too, in colour and shape. But the way vulnerability flashed in Amelia's as she learnt Carlos hadn't known about her until the day before that was the same look Carlos had in his open moments.

"We knew our parents had a whole life before the Isle. But everyone is so obsessed with the parts of that life that lead them to ending up on the Isle, it's easy to forget they'd would have the same mundanities that the rest of us have."

"Do you think you have any long lost siblings out there?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm my mother's only child."

"I don't know if the world could handle two Mals."

She chuckled, "There's only one Mal, Ben. One of a kind."

"That's certainly the truth." Ben said, with a small, tight smile, "But wait, does your father have other kids?"

Mal stiffened for a moment. "I wouldn't know."

Ben looked at her. "I'm- I'm sorry."

"Why? You can't do anything about it."

"I just felt like it was the thing to say."

Mal smirked, folding her arms, "You really are the good king sometimes."

A spot of green and blue on Mal's arm caught Ben's attention. She had on a thick wooden bracelet, which covered roughly a third of her forearm. Set into the wood were two gems, the very things that had caught Ben's attention.

"You're wearing it as jewellery now?"

"I'm going to let it leave my sights until either we've broken all the curses or we know there's no one else who's a threat out there."

"Having not one but two magical artefacts on you at all times, that's going to seem like…"

"Ben, the museum didn't do a great job of protecting mother's staff the first time round. These are the key to undoing the spells. When we find out how to reverse the effects I'm not going to be powerful enough without them."

"Just, be careful. Please."

"Of course."

Ben fell quiet for a moment.

"Carlos told me about you and Evie being engaged. Congratulations."

"Feels wrong to accept that right now when my fiancée is a statue."

"How is the research going?"

"We're making our way through FG's library. Jane is trying to get in contact with Merlin for his advice, but Camelot's relationship with technology has made it slow."

"I'll see what I can do to speed that up."

"Any help at this point would be great."

"And Uma…"

"She's helping. Still a pain in my ass, but in a she's just getting her kicks, not actually trying to hamper us kind of way."

"I'm sure you're giving it as good as you get."

"You know, seeing what our relationship looks like without the power struggle of the Isle, I'm wondering if the snark is just what friendship would have looked like for Uma and me."

"It's never too late to find out."

Mal made a sound in the back of her throat that could have been a dismissal or agreement.

They listened as Carlos slowly got Amelia's story out of her.

She didn't know who her father was. Her mother had her around the same time her company was its height. Not wanting to give up her career for a child she relegated her care to Jasper. She was hidden away so the press wouldn't know she had a daughter and she'd spent most of her time alone hidden away from her mother's image.

"She was doing it to protect it."

"You're living in denial," Carlos said, "Mother was protecting her career. What she did to you is called neglect."

Amelia's hand twitched and her expression fractured.

"Listen," Carlos reached out for her hand but she drew it back like she'd been burned. "Okay," He held up his hand and put distance between them again, "Mom was never great to me either. But she's the only mom I have. I know you feel like you have to love her. She's your mother. She's the person you have to care about. But she doesn't care in return and that's not fair. It's not on us. We're the kids. You were the kid. It took me a long time to learn that."

"You don't decide that."

"I didn't decide that. She did."

"You don't know her."

"Neither do you!" Carlos' voice raised. "And you know what. I tried. I wanted to be her too. But I'm not. I'm not her. And you're not her. The sooner you figure that out. The better your life's going to be."

"Oh, you just come in here, and you know how to make my life better, little brother. You gave up on mother. You abandoned her."

Carlos stood up and walked out. He walked right past Mal and Ben and out the door.

"Carlos," Mal called but he was gone. She looked to Ben and then back to the woman, "Do you want me to try talking with her for information."

"It's okay. Go made sure Carlos is okay."

Mal nodded, hurrying after Carlos.

She caught up with him out in the parking lot, sitting on the edge of the curb. Mal sat next to him. She didn't say anything, waiting for him to go first. He had his head between his knees, hands on his neck.

"Do you think we'll ever not be haunted by the Isle?" He asked eventually.

Mal smiled, "Nope."

"I thought owning it, who we are, where we came from would make it easier."

"But there is always a catch."

"Always a catch," He echoed, "There was a whole person I've had this connection with my entire life and I didn't know it."

"That's not on you. You didn't know she existed."

"I know. But I look at her and see me, I see the Carlos who was terrified of Cruella, and who also wanted to be her."

"Listen, if you want a relationship with her, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't, that's okay too. We can walk away right now and you never have to give her a second thought."

"Wouldn't I be a horrible person if I wanted to know her? After what she's done."

"My mother tried to fry us. And I still wonder every day if I'll find her again. I'm here, whatever you decide." She squeezed his shoulder.

Carlos nodded, holding her hand. He managed a smile. "I think I need space for today."

"Then let's go."

Mal's phone rang as she was walking towards her bike. "Hi Jan- whoa, Jane, slow down, I don't know what you're saying…what? WHAT? Okay, I'm on my way."

"What's happening?"

"Let's grab Ben. The others might have found the cure for the curse."

Nardragon- until the next page.