How Times Change

Age 9

(Inspired by the request of JEN-M)

I wasn't my fault I got caught in the storm.

Cruella didn't like it when Carlos had friends over but the Evil Queen was entertaining and Jafar had already kicked us out. The mine certainly wasn't an option. That was the one thing dad wouldn't budge on. Even for me.

No one could know.

He'd been drilling that single rule into me for four years.

Carlos' room was a windowless nook at the back of his mother's closet. He didn't have much. He'd started with a mattress and a thin blanket, but Jay and Evie kept bringing him things they were 'throwing out'. Carlos now had a pillow, a number of thick blankets, a set of sheets and smell collection of nick-knacks that he could call his own.

Cruella didn't like us there; it took time away from Carlos' duties but if we stayed quiet, she usually something to entertain herself.

In the heart of Hell Hall we didn't hear the rain start, and without windows we didn't see it. We didn't see it grow worse and worse until it was lashing the streets with gale force winds. When we were finally ready to leave and noticed the rain I should have stayed at Carlos', but I thought I could make it.

That's why I was stuck in bed with a cold.

I'd never seen dad so worried. He checked on me constantly, made sure the fire raged and force fed me soup, I knew by now not to ask what was in it.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Sit down, you're making me tired just looking at you."

That got his attention and he sat down next to my bed. "Sorry, but both little dragons and little demons don't do well in the cold."

I shivered; he was certainly right about that. "What about you?"

"I don't get sick."

"Even here?"

"Even here, Mali, even here."

"So, you'll stay with me?"

"For as long as you want me." He smiled. "Forever and a day if need be."

I snuggled deeper into my blankets. "Tell me about Olympus and the Underworld." I wanted to know what freedom looked like.

Dad's smile turned sad. "Olympus is always sunny and covered in gold. Demeter makes sure the flowers are always in bloom, while Poseidon makes all the fountains flow." It sounded beautiful, even better than Auradon. "But I much prefer the Underworld. Everyone thinks it's a dark and gloomy place." He leant closer. "But I'll tell you a secret, little demon, it's not. I just tell everyone that so they leave me be."

I leant forward in awe. "What's it really like?"

"It's beautiful, Mal, I can't wait for you to see it. Elysium, the final resting place of heroes, is as stunning as Olympus. The Asphodel Meadows is where most people go. It's not wonderful but neither is life on earth." His smile finally died. "Tartarus is where the truly evil go. It's what everyone thinks the whole Underworld is like, what some people call hell. That's what people don't understand; there is no heaven, no hell. There is only the Underworld."

"Tartarus. Is that where I'll go?" I was wicked after all.

Dad shook his head. "You'll be with me, Mali, and we will rule it all."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were you sent here? You said you regret it." The sliver of information had stayed with me, villains didn't regret.

He sat back. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes." I wanted to know everything.

"I was a sucker for a love story." The smile returned. "A girl named Magara came to me, her love had died and she wanted him back." He leant forward again. "One thing you must remember, Mal, is that nothing is free, even if looks like it, everything comes with price." Dad sat back again. "A soul for a soul, that was the price I demanded. His life for hers."

"You killed her?"

He shook his head. "I never kill. I bargain for souls, his life for a life of servitude from her. She gladly paid."

"And they sent you here for that?"

Dad sighed. "No. Years before, my brother Zeus had a son, Hercules. Fate decreed that he would destroy me. I acted. I cast him down from Olympus, cursing him to a mortal life." I went to asked again but he shook his head. "I wasn't sent here for that either. Over the centuries I had grown unhappy with my lot, the joke of my family, stuck in the underworld while they thrived on their golden mountain. I turned against my brother, against my family, I sought to strike them down. But as prophesied Hercules returned, and with Magara by his side, he cast me down as I had him."

"You didn't make her give up her soul and they were the ones that laughed at you and they cast you down first." I took his hand. "You did what was best for you."

He squeezed my hand. "And if I hadn't, I wouldn't have you, little dragon, and you are worth all the punishments the gods dare throw at me."

Present

I turned the stone over in my hand as I lazed on the bed. Had the explosion come from me or the Ember. Maybe both.

Evie burst into the room; I pocket the Ember just in time.

"I heard what happened. Are you okay?"

"Fine." Shaken but fine.

"I have to ask…"

"I didn't start the fire." I hated to lie to her but she couldn't know the truth. No one could.

Evie huffed as she sat on her bed. "I wouldn't blame you of you did."

I rolled over onto my side to face her. "What happened?"

"I met a prince." I expected her to be gushing. She wasn't.

"And?"

She threw herself back. "He's handsome and he's charming. He has a big castle." Exactly the kind of boy the Evil Queen wanted for her daughter.

"But?"

"He's an idiot. Augh."

"Wouldn't be the first time you've dated. Remember Spare?"

The Queen of Hearts had actually named his sons Heir and Spare. As close to a prince Evie had ever been able to get on the Isle.

"Don't," she cringed. "Not my brightest idea."

"So, this prince?

"Chad. Prince Charming Jr."

Audrey's moron friend. "That guy's a prince?" Of course, he was, who around us wasn't.

Evie nodded. "Cinderella's son." A small smile touched her lips. "Doug says he got all of the charm and none of the brain."

"Doppy's son?"

A blush spread across Evie's cheeks. "Yeah."

"You like him?"

She threw a pillow at me. "Shut up."

"And this prince?"

"I'll think about it."

On the Isle Evie would have jumped at the chance to date a prince, but the longer we stayed in Auradon the more we all changed.

Carlos and Jay had both been sent to the tourney field, to participate in a team sport. Augh.

And me…

The fire and magic weren't the only things that had changed within me.

Ben.

I could take care of myself but I couldn't deny that my heart had skipped a beat when he jumped to my defence.

"Oh," Evie sat up. "I found out something about the wand."

I didn't bother to sit up. "Oh?"

"It's in a museum but it will be brought out for the coronation."

Ben's coronation.

"When is it again?"

"A month," Evie answered after a moment.

A month, that brought me some time.

Evie came over to sit on my bed. "Do we just grab it out of her hands?"

"We'll think of something."

The coronation would no doubt be televised. I dreaded to think what my mother would do to my friends if she saw us so close to what and we didn't act.

I had a month.

I would come up with something.

I would have to come up with something.

There was a knock at the door.

I looked at Evie, wondering if she was expecting someone.

She shook her head.

I shrugged. "Come in."

The girl from the forest opened the door. "Hi."

I sat up. "Lonnie, right?"

"Yep."

"What can I do for you, Lonnie?"

"I was hoping for a favour." A favour, she had to be kidding. "And I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil."

"A great way to ask for a favour."

"Did you guys learn to fight on the Isle?"

"Ew," Evie looked like she would be sick. It was an act, though. Evie could hold her own against the best of Uma's lackies. "That is so not lady like."

I looked from Evie back to Lonnie. "Fists or swords?"

"Either." A smile spread across her face. "Both?"

"Both." After I broke my fingers dad made sure I could rough house with the best them.

"Can you be my sparring partner?"

Sparring partner? "Isn't there someone else?" Anyone else.

"Until I can beat the boys none of them would even think about training with me. And the girls," she risked a side glance at Evie, "are you…you know."

I stood up and crossed my arms. "What do I get out of it?"

"A big screw you to all the pampered princes and princesses?" Now she was speaking my language. "And I'll pay you thirty bucks a lesson."

"Fifty."

"Forty."

"Fine."

She held out some notes. "An advance on our first lesson."

"Where and when?"

"Tonight? Same time and place as last time?"

"Sounds good."

Lonnie head back through the door, waving over her shoulder. "See you tonight."

Evie turned to me after the door closed behind the warrior. "Same time and place as last time?"

I shrugged. "I snuck out, she did too."

"You snuck out?"

"Curfews aren't exactly my thing."

Evie smiled. "I'm surprised it took you so long to find a rule to break. Just don't get caught. It was your plan to get them to trust us."

"I never get caught."

A/N: I always thought that everything was a bit rushed in the movie, Ben and Mal, the coronation etc so I spread it out a little more. That's why there is a month until the coronation.