Hey Descendants!

Happy Monday! We hope you enjoy the new chapter, and don't forget to check out Twisted's end of chapter questions!


The following Wednesday...

Mal frowns, slightly disgusted by the sand as she marches her way to the beach. She hated the fact she had agreed to do this- But Wednesday was Jay's day to do as he pleased, and she'd needed him to handle some of the more social bits of leadership for her. She couldn't stand talking to the underlings that followed her and her gang- But it needed to be done every month and this time the day just happened to fall on a stupid Wednesday.

Now she was stuck giving the freak sword lessons on Jay's behalf. Not that she actually minded the sword work. She had some tension she would love to work off on the kid. And Maleficent only knew Jay was probably taking it easy on the kid.

Her frown deepens when she finally catches sight of Hyades and T lounging on the beach. The former seemed to have her hands buried in the sand. Most likely to make glass. The latter looked like he was soaking up what little bit of sun.

"Mal?" Hyades furrows her brow as she looks up from the pool of molten glass under her hands, "What are you doing here? I though Jay-"

"Yeah, Jay's busy." Mal rolls her eyes, as she pops the gum in her mouth, "So ya get me instead."

T finally cracks his eyes and languidly stands up. "Sounds good to me." He shrugs, glancing to make sure she'd actually brought two swords.

"Woah… Let me just collect my glass and get out of here." Hyades shakes her head as she hurriedly pulls her hands away from the sand.

T turns to look at Hyades in confusion. "Don't want ta jump in this time?"

"Funny." Hyades smiles humorlessly as she rolls her eyes. "I left you both an apple tart, they're in the boxes." She tilts her head towards them.

"Thanks." T grins, "See ya later."

"You're too nice." Mal comments in a tone that implied that it was not a complement.

Hyades shrugs, "I take criticism if that helps." She mixes sand in with the cooling glass.

"Clearly." T snorts, "Or the two of you wouldn't be friends."

Mal shoots a nasty glare at T, before turning back to Hyades. "Good to know." She says unable to keep her annoyance from her tone.

"Yep." She pulls the hot glass from the sand and rolls it in her hands like clay while it cools.

"Have either of you ever thought about how awful it would be if your temperaments were switched?" T observes in amusement. "The isle would be ash by now."

"Nope!" Hyades glares at T before she all but runs away. "Have fun slicing each other up. Bye."

T turns back to Mal, looking unaffected by her glare. "So… Sup teach?" He lifts his brow.

Mal smirks, "Oh there is so much to teach you… Unfortunately today we're only working on swords."

T smiles at the taunt. "Well whatcha waiting for?" He holds out his hand for the sword, rolling his eyes as she tosses it at him. He doesn't even bother to try to catch it by the hilt; his hand wraps around the blade.

"Cute." He grumbles, before he adjusts his hands to it's proper hilt.

"Your such a fucking retard, who catches a blade like that…" Mal points out as she brings her sword up to the ready, "You didn't hurt yourself did you? Can't have you dropping your sword because it's slick with blood."

"It barely scratched me-" T shrugs, "But glad to know you care." He teases.

"Right." Mal snorts, "Then I don't want to hear you bitch if you drop it."

"Eh, I suck, you don't. Doubt I'll bitch much."

Mal rolls her eyes, "At least you know where you stand."

"Always." He assures her.

"So get to it," Mal's eyes flare with anticipation, "Let's see some fucking action here."

T smiles, "This should be fun." He sinks into an awkward stance for the sword before Mal comes at him, her blade crashing down against his. Before he knows what's happening he finds his legs swept from beneath him, and just as quickly he eats his first mouthful of sand for the day.

"Not a dagger." Mal chimes sweetly down at him before she moves back to give him space.

"Thanks for the reminder." T grunts as he picks himself back up and drops into a sturdier stance. A devil-may-care grin pulls at his lips as his eyes spark at the challenge.

"Well?" Mal taunts, letting her sword dip slightly to even give T a slight opening.

"Right." T nods at the invitation, and launches an attack. He deflects the first strike. Then the second, but misses on the third. He flinches as Mal's blade cracks against his back, the force pushing him mouth first into the sand. "My bad." He admits as he pulls himself back up.

"Remembered it was a sword at least." Mal rolls her eyes.

"Progress not perfection." T grins at her.


Mal stares at the kid in front of her with a new found respect as he picks himself back up without complaint after what had to be his fiftieth time getting his ass handed to him. Even she was starting to get sore, and she hadn't been hit more than three times. "Want to call it a day?"

T's lips literally pout, "But it's only been like two hours."

"Yeah, and you're human…" Mal rolls her eyes as stabs her sword into the ground and leans on the hilt, "And your ass is getting handed to you."

"Of course it is, you've been doing this for years." T shrugs, "And your not. So what's the problem? Don't tell me I'm out pacing a half fairy..."

"If you ain't tired, I can keep going." Mal shrugs as she pulls her sword back up, "I just didn't want to continue if you couldn't even fight back. That's like, animal abuse or something."

T's eye twitches, "I was fighting back."

"Shittily."

"No fucking shit." T huffs, "That's why I wanna keep going."

"You know, fighting in the sun, what little there is, under all those layers has to be holding you back." Mal points out as she eyes at least four layers of clothing T was currently wearing, "You move so slow during the day."

"You think that would help?" T asks curiously, his eyes wandering over her in thought.

"I know layers help at night when it gets cold, but aren't you frying under all that black?"

"Frying? No…" T frowns before he looks around making sure they were the only two on the beach. "Hot, more than I like to admit." He continues, before he shoves the sword in the sand. "Do you really think it'll make that much of a difference?"

"I know you're making me hot looking at you." Mal quips back, "And the length of the sleeves is probably messing with your grip, and making it easier to knock the sword out of your hand." She points out offhandedly.

"Huh." T frowns houghtfully before he sighs and starts stripping off the outermost layers of his clothes.

Mal stands a little distance off, inspecting the grit under her nails in disgust before she looks back up at the small pile of clothes. At the third layer removed she growls, "Are you fucking serious? How many fucking layers do you wear?" What she had thought was a few more than four layer had easily grown to possibly nine or ten.

T turns back to Mal with a frown as he takes off his fourth shirt. "Eight? And yes?"

Who wore eight layers of clothes all day every day? "Okay… But why?"

"I mean it saved my ass at the well." T shrugs. "And never interfered with my ability to use my daggers." He turns, to pull up the sword. "But if you think this will help, I'm willin' to try it."

Mal's eyes widen as she bites back a curse when she sees T's back. Her eyes narrow as her gaze lingers over blood, some old, some fresh, staining his shirt in what looked like strips. What the fuck?

There was no way her blows could have had done that. But who the fuck was stupid enough to fight in that condition? And why the fuck would you want too?

Her eyes sweep over the boy, doing a quick inventory. Her eyes flash green before she turns away from the sight of bruises circling the boy's wrist. What the hell was she seeing?

No wonder why the kids swings were so weak. She wasn't sure why her chest constricted at the sight. Or why it ached.

The sudden flare of unknown responses in her own body annoyed the shit out of her. Whatever. The kid was Jay's responsibility. Her only job was too train him tonight. She could do that. She could control that.

T turns back to her, sword already in his hand.

"Better?" Mal attempts to quip as she pulls her sword up. The last thing she needed was to set him off and send him running. She might not know much about the freak, but she did know that at least.

T shrugs, "Won't know until I try."

"Waiting on you fucker."

"Heard." T nods before he lunges at her. Their swords clang together with a metallic ring.

The fight lasts about twenty seconds longer than usual before Mal kicks him in the chest and sends him to the ground her eyes flashing with irritation.

Whatever, If the kid insisted on fighting she wasn't going to hold back. His enemies certainly wouldn't- And clearly didn't.

"Fuck." T grunts, as he pulls himself back up rubbing his chest. "Can't wait to add kicking in. That's getting old."

"Fat chance. You can't wield the damn sword longer than a minute." Mal sneers, already standing in defense.

"Yet." T grins, before he attacks her again, not waiting for her instruction.

The two go at it again, several times. Mal's blows seem to get wilder and more powerful each time T pulls himself back to his feet. She hated this. Hated knowing something like that. Hated the way she had to stand in her rage at the marks. But she had to give credit where it was due. His stance had become better, and his attacks more precise.

"You lasted almost a whole minute on that last one." Mal bites out begrudgingly as she struggles with the urge to stomp the kid's back. Though whether it would be out of spite or to teach the freak a lesson was beyond her realm of understanding at the moment.

She had no idea how the fuck the kid was still standing, let alone fighting, through the pain of whatever the hell was going on with his back. And bruised or broken ribs if the rib bindings she'd caught a glimpse of were any indication. Not to mention his bruised wrists. She was surprised he was even able to wield the damn sword properly.

And if they weren't hurting before, they definitely were now. She refused to hold back in the slightest with her kicks. Not to mention all the times she'd cracked her sword across his back, enraged that the kid wouldn't just fucking stay down.

She'd be impressed if she didn't find it so stupid. And if the kid wanted a damn fight, who was she to hold back? Hadn't he yelled at Hyades for the exact same thing? She smirks, hell no, dragons never back down.

"See," T beams as he pulls himself up. "Progress. Shitty progress, but progress nonetheless." He gets out through heaving breaths.

"I think we're done for the day." Mal can't help to bristle at the kid's persistent positivity. Did he even feel pain? "I'm sick of kicking your ass," She comments in irritation. The last thing she needed was to kill the kid. She was pretty sure her gang would never forgive her, even if it was the idiot's fault. Not that she would ever be able to convince them of that.

Mal glares when T has the audacity to pout, but lets out a relieved sigh when he doesn't argue.

"Thanks for the practice." He adds genuinely. "I obviously need it." He hands back her sword.

Mal can't help the snarl that creeps over her lips in disgust. Was that supposed to be a joke? Was he referencing his whatever happened to his back? Or just the ass kicking?

"Yeah, you do." She agrees in her nastiest tone.

T nods as he walks back to his pile of discarded jackets and starts layering up again. "Appreciate your time Mal. Takin' off the jackets definitely helped- I think I'll start trying that with Jay."

"Don't get used to it, my time is valuable." Mal grumbles, doing her best to try to contain the urge to beat T over the head with the swords in her hand for being a stupid fucking idiot. "And you should." She adds coldly, "Take him by surprise next week. You really are faster without the extra weight." She adds as an afterthought.

There, Jay could deal with his freak of a stray and get the fucking story out of the bastard. It was one thing if an original villain, or even an adult had marked him- But Mother help her if she found out it was another VK.

"Good to know." T smiles as he looks back at Mal, "Did it seem like I handled the blade better too?"

"I had a harder time knocking it out of your hand." Mal admits as she sheathes the blades in her hands, before she was tempted to back hand him with one. Who the fuck cared more about how they handled a blade than the fact their back was in fucking ribbons. No, better question.

Why the fuck was it pissing her off so much. It wasn't her problem what the kid got into.

"Sweet." T beams as he throws on another jacket and zips it up. Then the next one, until he finally gets his last layer in place, becoming the annoying, pain in the ass shadow once again. "Catch ya later Mal." He walks away, throwing up a hand behind him before his back disappears.

Mal stares after T for a long time, her eyes glued to his back where she knew, under the eight layers, his back was cut up to shreds. She couldn't unsee it. Couldn't help the slight awe that seemed to creep beyond her frustration.

She must have knocked T on his ass a couple dozen times. She'd landed some pretty solid hits too. And yet, he kept getting back up. No complaints, no whining, nothing. Just determination that set her teeth on edge.

Was he trying to learn how to protect himself from his abuser? Her frown deepens. The thought made her growl. Who ever had done that to his back had clearly been intent on causing him as much pain as possible without killing him.

And the fucking dumb shit was just acting like he did every fucking time he saw him. Positive and indifferent. A growl rumbles in her chest and her jaw tightens. She hated how well he dealt with that. That had to be nearly unbearable. She bites her bottom lip hard. Could she do that? Continue to fight. Continue to snark and be witty in the face of so much agony? Her eyes flare green as a tiny trail of blood escapes the corners of her lips. No… She shakes her head. She couldn't do what T was doing. Stupid or not, she wouldn't be able to continue while in that much pain.

Her eyes narrow in suspicion. Who the fuck was doing that? And better question. Why? She clenches her fists. Two faces flash through her mind.

Atilla and Cora.

She could picture either of those fucking psychos doing that to someone. Was that the real reason behind T's interest in them? She shakes her head before her thoughts rabbit holed.

Or was it simpler than that. It wouldn't shock her to find out everything the kid told them had been a fucking lie. The smell of deception and secrets clung to him like the shadows he loved to disappear into.

She drags her hand down her face with a groan. She could do this all night if she let herself. That wouldn't get her any closer to any real answers though. She spits out her gum.

Great. She huffs. She finally had information on the kid she was absolutely certain no one else knew- And she had no idea what the fuck to do with it. Her face twists into a scowl. She should do something about it- Not for herself obviously, but E and the pup would be fucking devastated, and that would affect her. Jay too, knowing her luck. And like fuck did anyone want to deal with a Hyades' tantrum if she ever found out.

Her discovery had done nothing but raise a hundred more questions. She drags a hand down her face in irritation. Was this how the gang felt every time they learned something? Was this the reason no one seemed motivated to learn more about T in the first place? Because it made her angry, and even worse sad. She groans.

"Progress, not perfection." She repeats with a scowl. The saying really fit what little she knew about T.

Oh well, she'd officially labeled this a Jay problem. There was no way T wasn't gonna take off his layers now, she'd ensured that. So there was no way Jay wouldn't see it. Maybe he could navigate that conversation maybe he couldn't either way, it was his student, his problem.


So did this chapter surprise anyone? Starting to connect the dots with T? And why he's got so much composure? It seems the VKs slowly are. Did you enjoy the Mal and T fight session? Are we doing a good job with Mal? What do you think of our version of her? Are you happy or upset? Let us know!