How hard could it be? Was his initial, very naive thought. Then, succeeding it once common sense knocked him upside the head: Very, very hard.

His gray-blue gaze sidled over to one of the two floor to ceiling windows in his spacious - but cluttered- room, and he let out a muffled sigh as he caught sight of the golden, almost transparent dome of magic encircling the Isle, an island in the middle of the ocean rid of magic that made up the prison for the Villains who had done wrong against the Heroes of Auradon, as well as their children. The young prince let his eyes graze over the whole of his kingdom, the barrier included-the Isle was a part of his kingdom, regardless of the people who lived there. They were still his people, too, regardless of what they'd done.

It made no sense what the children of these villains had done. How would have they have harmed them? Their parents were bad people, Ben. You can't tell what they might grow up to be. That was the answer his parents gave him when they took away his friend, Tiberius, once they found out who his father was. He and Ben had been six. What damage exactly would he have been able to do?

Was that what they did with the others? Lock them away with their parents out of fear of what they could be with their blood, their genetics?

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists harshly. Everyone seemed to agree that was right. It didn't feel right.

But they were the heroes. They were never wrong. If they said it was right, it was right. Right?

Except not all of them agreed. At the last few meetings of the kingdoms to discuss the issues of the Isle, his father had let Ben attend. It was only proper as he was the next king of Auradon. His father had thought Ben wouldn't pay that much attention since at the age he was when he first began attending, most children had the attention span of concussed hummingbirds. But Ben had done his absolute best to listen. Because if his father said it was important, it had to be.

Within the past few meetings over the last few years, Ben had heard them discuss issues about clean water sources, medicine and hospitals, education systems. And he heard every single one met with indifference and spite. There were a few that voted against that way of thinking, those that voted for proper resolutions to those issues. And his father's solution to that was to "forget" to send them invites to such meetings, even if it never worked.

He thought Ben didn't notice.

He did. Peeking into his study in the middle of the night, jumping and standing on the tips of his toes to be able to see over the podium where his father stood when Ben was a child. Ben may be naive. But certainly not stupid.

A sharp turn of his head by the tailor made him turn forward once more. It took all of his willpower not to return his glance to his window as thoughts trailed once more to the almost-proclamation permanently stuck in his head like an annoying song. Desperate to keep his eyes trained on something other than the Isle of the Lost—the official title for it—he blinked at the open balcony where he saw his parents approaching

Children of the Isle. The Lost. The Forgotten. People like us, but not.

"How is it possible that you're going to be crowned King next month?" Ben's meandering gaze turned towards his broad-shouldered father, King Adam, nicknamed Beast by neighboring kingdoms, and his petite mother, Queen Belle. His trademark, blinding bright white smile bloomed across his face. "You're just a baby."

"He's turning sixteen soon, dear," Ben's mother chimed in, and although her voice was much gentler and serene than his father's booming timbre, it was still as authoritative.

"Hey, pops," Ben greeted his father and tugged uncomfortably at the sleeves of his jacket, which caused the tailor to click his tongue in a disapproving way, and Belle picked up a coat from the foosball table and brushed off the inconceivable layer of dust on it.

"Sixteen? That's far too young to be crowned king. I didn't make a good decision until I was at least...forty-two." Belle rolled her eyes and her husband, initiating a chuckle from their son.

"You decided to marry me at twenty eight."

"Well, it was either you or the teapot." Ben laughed loudly when his father shot him a wink, and he recalled the kind face of the stoutly woman who now taught a cooking elective at another one of Auradon's prestigious schools. Belle shook her head, feigning annoyance. As silence fell upon the room, Ben drew his shoulders up, trying to push down the anxiety that had settled in the pit of his stomach, and he took a breath, preparing himself.

"Mom, Dad," Ben began, cautious as he tested the waters, and took a step forward, but the tailor stopped him, tugging on the hem of his pants leg, beckoning him to stay on the pedestal. "I've chosen my first official proclamation." Belle drew in a sharp breath, and exchanged a proud glance with Adam. Here goes nothing.

"I've decided that the children of the Isle of the Lost should be given a chance...to come and live with us, here in Auradon." The coat that Belle had been holding fell out her limp hand onto the cluttered floor as she let out a slight whimper, and Adam was paralyzed, mouth open in shock. Stepping forward quickly, too abruptly for the tailor to hold him back, Ben folded his hands behind his back, trying his best to look as official as possible. "Every time I look out there, I feel like they're being abandoned."

Adam pulled his hand out of his pocket slowly, dropping his fatherly demeanor and pointing out the window, a strange combination of placidity and fury creasing his forehead. "Ben, listen to me now, and listen to me well. I know you hadn't been born yet, but haven't you learned enough about the history of the kingdoms to reali—"

"I know that, Dad! I've heard the stories, seen the aftermath, felt the people's sorrow." He drew in another deep breath. "But the villains' children are innocent! And besides." Ben paused, feeling a bit sheepish. "I've been researching their parents and I think I know who to pick.

"Have you now?" King Adam growled, voice alarmingly low, and Ben flinched back, away from his father's commanding aura of power.

Queen Belle rested a comforting hand on Adam's arm. "I gave you a second chance," she murmured, and blinked at Ben. "Who are their parents?" Ben couldn't ignore the hint of disappointment in his mother's voice, and he had to fight back the urge to give up, to make another proclamation, one less life threatening than the one he had just suggested.

"Cruella di Vil, Jafar, Evil Queen..." Ben steadied himself, for he knew how his parents would react to the last name. "And Maleficent." The tailor gasped and stumbled back before quickly bowing and scurrying out the room.

"Son," King Adam began, and Ben could hear him trying to keep his beastly temper under control. "What has gotten into you?" Ben bowed his head. I knew this wouldn't work.

"Ben, these people took everything from us, and we had to fight to get it back. Who's to say the villain's kids destroy everything we have now?"

"I'm sorry-"

"Apologizing won't make things right!" Rage boiled through Ben's veins. He was going to be crowned king soon, just like his father had said mere minutes before the argument had begun. He deserved to make his own choices now. "What they all did was unforgivable, and they don't deserve-"

"The children are innocent! What did they do? They deserve a shot at a normal life!" The people in the room grew silent. King Adam grunted wordlessly, and Queen Belle grimaced, smiling pitifully at Ben.

"We'll think about it," she said as she ushered out her husband.

Once he was alone, Ben found he couldn't breathe. They'll think about it? He knew too well what that meant.

His father would end up calling a council meeting of the kingdoms, and they'd decide on whether or not to go through with it, and then it would depend on how well Ben represented his case. And he'd known too well from the last meetings he had watched that most of them didn't even care what went down on the Isle as long as they stayed out of Auradon where they could do no no harm. Ben knew the opposition he'd meet, he knew if he wanted even a chance at consideration, it would take a long time indeed.

His father might even rig it to go in his favor by "forgetting," as he always did, to send announcements for the meeting to the representatives of kingdoms and countries who he knew would vote for Ben's proclamation. And then claiming they were late or obviously didn't see the importance of such matter.

And the longer it took, the longer the kids of the Isle, the forgotten, the abandoned, would stay stuck there.

With that thought, Ben remembered his dream about the Isle, the girl with the purple hair and the enchanting green eyes. How the land about him had looked before he had fallen into the hole, it made him wonder how they all lived on a daily basis. After all, in the meetings, most of the kingdoms hadn't cared about the conditions of the Isle.

Fine. If that was indeed how his father would play it, Ben would make sure he could represent his case well. That way no one could ignore it anymore

But how?

Author's Note: Hey, here's my AU fanfic. Besides Disney, this will hold elements of Dreamworks and Pixa, so please read on and I hope you enjoy!