A/N: This chapter was insanely hard to write, largely because the death of Cameron Boyce wrecked me a little, and made it hard to write Descendants without being very sad. May his memory be a blessing.
If anyone is interested, I was inspired out of my writer's block by the Lana Del Rey song "National Anthem" which really influenced the Ben/Evie moments. This chapter also marks the beginning of my use of a lot of fairy tale elements from the traditional versions of the famous stories compiled by the Brothers Grimm.
To those who've been asking: No, Hades will NOT be Mal's father in this story, though I want to work it into a later story eventually. I've already firmly established him as a doting father to Hadie, and I can't accept that THIS Hades would have walked out on Mal and not fought for custody of her. Besides, he's very in love with Persephone, and since she's here on the Isle in this story, I can't see him having an affair. Rest assured, I'll unpack all those issues in a different story later on.
Present Day: 35 Days After Coronation
"If you were less pretty I think I should be very much afraid of you."
- Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, Carmilla
King Adam hadn't been seen in the news for almost a week. That didn't seem like a big deal, but the Beast dynasty was Auradon royalty, the darlings of the USA, and Ben had been exposed to the paparazzi every moment of his public life ever since he was a baby, and the only exception was at school, because the walls of Auradon Prep were warded against outsiders without the proper paperwork. In short, it was extremely odd that no one had seen him outside of the palace or the council building in days, and no one had spoken to him but his family and counselors, and even Ben was left out of the loop, only catching odd glances of his father as the media caught him going to and from work.
Mal smirked as she tossed aside the society pages, ignoring the sound of flipping pages as Evie sought out the fashion section. The rumors were running wild, speculating on the sudden silence, and the reporters called out every wild possibility, from a sudden stroke, to a sinister terminal illness, to a bout of amnesia or a long-lost illegitimate child to threaten the succession.
Every possiblity but the one that mattered. There wasn't even one rumor of magic, or that Mal herself might have been the cause of the illness. After all, she slayed a dragon for Auradon, she was their magical little fairy, "one of the good ones."
"How is everyone adjusting?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow. He recalled their own first night in Auradon, when he was so nervous he threw up all the sugary food he'd eaten in the limousine and kept looking over his shoulder like someone was going to stab him in his sleep. He and Jay slept in the same bed because it made them both feel better to have somebody else watching their back, and Ben looked at them oddly when he came to wake them up.
"Hadie's already been harrassed by the headmistress to join her little queer conversion club." Mal replied, sneering at the thought of soft Mrs. Fairweather who thought Hadie needed her help. "For the most part though? Everyone was totally taken in by Ginny's touching interview. The new girls have been visited by at least half the student body now. Everyone wants to help the poor mistreated villain kids."
"I'm kinda jealous, to be honest." Jay sighed. "We didn't get such a warm welcome until after coronation."
"To be fair, we weren't really trying either." Evie smiled warmly as she glanced up from the magazine. "We were still trying not to get attached back then."
She remembered how they were still going to go after the wand then, and they were scared of getting emotionally invested in school kids who might get killed when their parents came back.
And it had been so hard not to get attached to Ben. Evie recognized him as soon as she saw him, despite never having met him before - her magic hummed appreciatively within her chest as it resonated with his very bones. He had a look in his eyes, the look of a child who was desperately trying to gain his parents' approval, who was well mannered and impeccable because it was expected of him, who was raised to be a little adult from the moment he could toddle because his parents had piled all their hopes and dreams onto his shoulders.
She saw a boy who was raised just like she was, and it showed.
Belle and Adam would never acknowledge that they had raised their son the same way the Evil Queen had raised her daughter (and true, they probably used less corporal punishment and verbal abuse), but that didn't make it any less true. Mal had also been raised to be a queen, but it was different - if anything, the fae queen was like a warrior goddess, with none of the airs of Auradon that Ben and Evie had been memorizing since before they could read.
Mal's voice snapped Evie out of her own mind as a sixth sense told her she was being asked a question.
"Do you think we're ready to bring Ben and Jane into the rituals?" Mal asked intently. Evie was usually the best judge of character (with the exception of the Chad Incident), and she mulled it over for a bit, turning it around in her mind before she replied.
"I think Ben would do anything for you." Evie ventured. She wished Ben would do that for her, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that he loved her the way he loved Mal. To be perfectly honest, she thought he was just humoring Mal when he told her he wanted the both of them. "But I think we shouldn't include him in the ritual that will eventually kill his father. It would be... Unnecessarily cruel."
"I see." Mal replied, looking just slightly disappointed. "And Jane?"
"She isn't ready for ritual magick." Evie answered quickly. "She might have a nervous breakdown, or even worse - rat on us."
"I think you underestimate her." Mal retorted.
"I'm with E on this one." Carlos muttered. "Jane may be desperate, but she's also naive and easily influenced. We can't throw her in the deep end like that."
"What would you suggest?" Mal asked earnestly. Carlos was the best of them at manipulating others - it was what gained him the moniker of callous on the Isle.
"I think you need to dangle something irresistible in front of her, something she can't live without. It would be best if it was something she can only get from you, and something that she can't tell any adults about for fear of reprisal." Carlos explained. "Like something magic - she wants it so badly, but she'd never be able to tell her mother about it, and you're the only one who can teach her. That way, she gets hooked - she won't turn on us, because we'll cut her off, and she won't tell anyone because she's already being watched like a hawk after the wand incident."
Mal smiled wickedly at Carlos' answer. "That's devious, DeVil."
"What can I say?" He smirked, with his messy hair falling over his eyes as he winked playfully. "I'm not considered a genius for nothing."
"You know what? I just got the best idea." Evie giggled.
"Enlighten us, princess." Jay encouraged her with a smile.
"I want revenge on Chad for using me the way he did. You know what Jane needs to boost her confidence? A boyfriend."
"And? I'm not putting two and two together here." Mal muttered.
"And, we show Jane how to make the love potion cookies, and encourage her to give one to Chad. Audrey the backstabbing bitch loses her boy toy, Chad finds out how it feels to be used, and Jane gets to feel appreciated for once. We already know that Auradonians don't have a fool-proof way to check for love spells."
"You're right!" Mal grinned, already lighting up with excitement. "If they did, they'd have used it when the crown prince suddenly dumped his girlfriend and started acting stupid, wouldn't they? If they weren't suspicious with the King, of all people, why would they suspect Chad?"
"Not to mention, he already acts completely brain-dead." Evie snorted.
"About that, it was... Very noticeable when Ben was spelled." Carlos noted. "I know they don't have a plan in place to check, but I'd rather be more subtle anyway, just in case."
"According to my spell book, it isn't actually supposed to be so... Potent." Mal laughed a little sheepishly.
"Is that why you looked so shocked when Ben broke out into song?" Jay laughed, recalling the look on her face when he asked her to coronation on one knee after the tourney match.
"Yeah," Mal chuckled. "I think it might have been the addition of chocolate chips, actually. In any case, it's the perfect bait for Jane. She wants so badly to be cared for."
It reminded her faintly of how she felt on the Isle, how she would do anything for her mother's approval, anything to take that world-weary sneer off of her face for a moment. It was the one way in which villain kids and hero kids were similar - they both had such parents, bigger than life with shoes to fill that overwhelmed them.
"In any case, we don't really need Jane for the ritual right now." Jay noted. "Now that Hadie and Freddie and Ginny are here, we'll have enough power. Having an extra would make the number eight, actually, and it isn't as arithmetically sound as seven, anyway."
"Alright then. So we're agreed on the next phase of the plan?" Evie asked, making a note in her personal memo book (an old notebook she'd had ever since the Isle.)
"Help Jane get Chad drooling over her," Mal explained.
"Super-charge the ritual and give Adam a taste of his own medicine." Carlos added.
"Scout Auradon for support from the commoners and other royals." Jay finished.
"And we'll succeed, because I will it." Mal concluded the pep talk, and put her hand forward. "Because we're rotten."
"Rotten to the core!" They all shouted as one - one voice, one goal, one leader: Mal, who brought them all together.
"Attention!" The loudspeakers that took up space in every room in Auradon Prep all crackled to life with a pleasant little chime. "Could Ginny Gothel please come to the office? Ginny Gothel, can you please come to the front office?"
"What do you think they want me for?" Ginny asked, looking up from a thick novel when she heard the loudspeakers gasp with static. She had always loved to read - it was one of her only hobbies during her childhood locked in a tower. She was amazed when she stepped into the library in Auradon Prep and saw just how many novels actually existed in the world. The only library on the Isle was locked, and you had to bribe the Headmaster of Dragon Hall to get inside. Ginny always read whatever she could get her hands on.
"There's no way they know what's going on." Hadie breathed out, carefully maintaining her calm. "As long as we don't freak out, it'll stay that way."
"But what could they want? I haven't done anything wrong?" That they know of...
"I bet you made a C on your remedial goodness homework, and the Headmistress wants to make sure you don't decide to take over the world." Hadie teased. They both knew how easy it was to pass that class with flying colors.
"Please." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Maybe Fairy Godmother thinks that stealing candy from babies is evil, but she's never been to the Isle. Much worse things have happened to babies."
Hadie smiled fondly, and her hair lit up in response, curling and red like blood in the water. She'd gotten Ginny's mind off her worries, and that was all she wanted.
"Now, go get 'em Gin!" Hadie called out as she shoved her girlfriend to the door.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." The Gothel girl rolled her eyes and headed out to face the unknown.
At the head office, she saw a person waiting for her, a person who was both familiar and unfamiliar. Looking at her was like looking at an older sister, and Ginny felt like she knew her from somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Someone came to meet you, Ginny," Fairy Godmother gushed happily, and pushed the new arrival forward to greet her. "It isn't very often that we allow outside visitors to the hallowed halls of Auradon Prep, but I wanted to make an exception, since you missed our last family day."
Ginny had been told about the fiasco that was family day, and she wasn't sure why she should feel bad about missing out on it. For the first four who came over, it was like being interrogated by the heroes of their parents stories, and Ginny had little desire to meet Rapunzel. And then, she looked a little bit closer at the young woman who'd come to visit her, and she recognized the resemblance, from the old photos hidden away in her mother's attic.
Despite her short cut, chesnut colored hair, this girl was Rapunzel. Her step-sister.
"Can we talk?" The woman asked, looking sweet and kind, and happy and vibrant.
"This is Rapunzel," Fairy Godmother said, unhelpfully. The young women ignored her as their eyes met, and something passed between them like a summer morning - bright and dewy and short. Like a firework that illuminates everything in the night for a glorious second of thunder.
"Y-yeah." Ginny breathed out, carefully. Cautiously. "Yeah, we can."
"Might we go somewhere private?" Rapunzel asked Fairy Godmother quietly, and the woman nearly tripped in her haste to lead the way to a quiet conference room.
"Ah, bibbidy-bobbity, right this way!" She exclaimed, and it made Ginny want to hurl.
Thanks for ruining the mood with your stupid catchphrase, Ginny thought harshly as she stepped into the room after Rapunzel, and thankfully, blessedly, Fairy Godmother left them alone. After the connection between them was broken, Ginny couldn't get it back again, and wasn't sure she wanted to. She didn't want to get attached to the stupid girl that her mother had always compared her to. She didn't want to feel anything for the woman she had learned to hate as the magical, obedient daughter she could never measure up to.
(Rapunzel never measured up to it either, but until Flynn Rider showed up, she never questioned Mother Gothel the way Ginny always had)
"Does she still make chestnut soup?" Rapunzel asked shyly, tentatively. "It used to be my favorite."
"Yeah." Ginny replied simply. "There wasn't much food on the Isle, but mom was one of the only villains who dared to brave the dark forest to gather the nuts - I remember lots of autumns when that was all we ate."
Rapunzel seemed a little taken aback by that, but Ginny didn't notice as she usually did. She didn't think much about her days with her mother, and thinking about it made her... Hesitate, in a way she didn't fully understand.
She didn't mention that she hadn't eaten that soup in years, since she'd run away from home as child, back when her mother thought it would be a good idea to murder her.
Evie could have made it, since she and Jay loved to cook, and she often went into the forest to gather herbs, but it was rumored that Gothel had put a curse on the chestnut grove, so that she was the only one who could gather them.
Quietly, sadly, Rapunzel spoke again, with her eyes full of pity.
"Ginny," she asked softly, raising her eyes just a bit, to meet the younger woman's expression. "Would you like to be a Fitzherbert?"
She could have laughed herself sick. Rapunzel knew nothing.
Despite everything her mother had done, Ginny Gothel was proud of her name. The name was derived from Visigoth - what the Coronans called the invaders who came down from Bavaria in ancient times. Bavaria, then called the Black Forest, was the home of witches, the cradle of magic, the land that the Evil Queen had once ruled for the sole purpose of freeing witches and warlocks from persecution. Gothel was a strong name, a witch name.
And Fitzherbert was a surname shared by a princess and a thief, a name so pathetic that the man had called himself 'Rider' for years, just to run away from it. She hated it.
"I'd love that." Ginny said, looking away as if she was shy, when really, she hoped Rapunzel wouldn't hear the half-hearted lie. She wanted the power of being associated with a "good" light-aligned Auradon family. Even if Mal and the others got thrown out on a whim of the royals, Ginny could ride on her connection with Rapunzel, who cared about her at least enough to make her a real member of the family.
It was a means of survival. That was all.
"Oh, oh, thank you Ginny. I-" Rapunzel started to cry, and Ginny heard it in her voice, so she snapped her head up with a start, to see what was the matter. "I - I don't even know your full name! If I want to adopt you into our family, I need to know it, for - for the paperwork."
"Virginia Aradia Gothel." Ginny intoned. She had never told anyone her name before, and she wasn't sure why she was telling Rapunzel now. She went by Ginny on the Isle, because that way, no one knew her real name. A name had power, as Rumplestiltskin would easily tell you. Every part of her name meant something, was chosen methodically, because her mother was a witch, and names were powerful.
Virginia, because her mother wanted Ginny to be a virgin for as long as possible - virgin blood was better for rituals. Aradia, after the first Coronan witch, daughter of Diana and Lucifer. It was a traditional Coronan witch name, and her mother had almost named her Laverna, after the witch-patron of theives. Aradia was more powerful though, Aradia who learned the first magicks. Finally, Gothel, a daughter of the gothic invaders from Bavaria. It was a strong name, a good name for a witch who wanted to invade another land and take it for her own. It was a name, that when examined magically, felt round like the moon, and sharp like the toothy maw of an apex predator.
It was not a name that fitted with the syllables and squirming lines of Fitzherbert.
"That's a very pretty name." Rapunzel sniffed, snapping Ginny from her nervous thoughts as easily as a snap of her fingers. And then Rapunzel said something very unexpected.
"I was named after a cabbage."
Ginny laughed harder than she thought possible, and begged Rapunzel to tell her the story.
It was a warm and pleasant afternoon.