Hi guys! I'm back at it with a new story! I have no idea how long this will be, when I will be posting or if you'll like it. Bear with me, please. Happy reading!
It was difficult to pinpoint when their story started. Perhaps it started the day that Beast and Belle decided to unite all the kingdoms and started Auradon. Or maybe it started when they banished all villains to the Isle of the Lost. Whatever the catalyst, the story does not get interesting until a glum day in an alley on the Isle of the Lost, when Jay, son of Jafar, quite literally ran right into Quinn, daughter of Queen of Hearts.
Jay hurried down the streets, running from the angry vendor from whom he had stolen a bunch of cheap bracelets. He threw a glance over his shoulder to see if he had gotten rid of the man, only to crash into something. When the object he'd toppled over groaned in pain, he realized that it wasn't a something, it was a someone. A female someone. Jay smirked down at her, making no move to get up as he turned on his charm. "You'll have to excuse me," he apologized, not genuine in the least, "I didn't see you there." The girl was unimpressed, shoving him off of her. He fell to the side, grunting as his back hit the ground.
"Clearly," she spat, standing to dust herself off, "Obviously manners aren't something you possess." She threw dark hair over her shoulder, the light from a streetlamp revealing that it was not black, but rather a deep, dark red.
Jay scoffed, meeting her blue eyes as he stood. "You were walking in my way." The girl glared at him, a phenomenon he wasn't used to, crossing her arms.
"Or perhaps you should have watched where the hell you were going," she bit back, not standing down, "Why were you running anyway?" She couldn't help the curiosity. He was the first person she'd ever really interacted with outside her home or her shop. Her mother would have her head if she found out. A grin spread on the stranger's face at her question and he reached into his pocket to fish out a bunch of multicolored bracelets. She eyed them critically. They couldn't be worth much, but then again, on the Isle most possessions weren't. At least not by Auradonian standards. "And you thought these were worth running for?"
Jay frowned. "I stole them," he told her, watching her closely, "to give to my father so he can sell them in his shop." Her demeanor changed as he mentioned the work he did for his father. She bit her lip, glancing around nervously. He realized with a start that he had no idea who the girl was. "Who are you?" It was unusual for him to meet a girl his age that he hadn't seen before. But his question had her taking a step back. "Okay, wait," he said, holding up a hand as he stuffed the bracelets back into his pocket, "I'll go first." She looked unsure and he was far too curious to let her leave without telling him something about herself. "I'm Jay, son of Jafar." Her face lit up with recognition, likely because of his father's shop, Jafar's Junk Shop.
"It was perfectly terrible to have you run into me," she returned, making him smirk, "but I have to go." She turned around a corner before he could stop her.
Jay tried to follow her, but when he turned the same corner she was gone. Shaking his head, he continued down the path he'd been on, heading to meet an acquaintance, Mal. They'd decided to walk to school together, as their parents were allies and thought it was important that they displayed the alliance by being seen in public settings together. "Hey did you hear," he asks as he spots her outside his father's shop, "that a princess is coming to Dragon Hall?" He knew it irked Mal to no end when he knew things before her. Her mother was considered the most frightening villain on the Isle. At least, if they knew Maleficent could hear. If the conversation was actually private for once, most would probably say that the Queen of Hearts was worse, what with her being rather unstable.
"Since when did we have princesses on the Isle?" Mal didn't have to wait for the answer. The walk from Jafar's Junk Shop to Dragon Hall wasn't long. And outside the school stood Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen. Mal growled at the sight and Jay choked on his laughter. Maleficent had banished Evie and her mother after they'd neglected to invite Mal to Evie's sixth birthday party. To be clear, they'd been banished for eternity, not ten years. Yet, there she was, ten years later, about to start school. But just before Mal surged forward to send Evie back to where she came from, a plan formed in her head. A brilliant, vengeful plan.
Tuning in to Mal's mutterings, Jay reminded himself with a sigh that it wouldn't be very beneficial for his alliance with the purple-haired girl if he surrendered to the desire to walk away from her. So instead he followed with the crowd as they all went inside the school, suitably late to class. He realized quickly that there was absolutely nothing about that day that fit into routine. Evie made a friend, Mal planned a party, Carlos, the son of Cruella De Vil, was forced to throw a party and Jay obsessed about the girl he'd run into. Little did he know that he would get a chance to speak to her again at the party.
Whatever Mal's plan was for the night, any thought of it flew out of Jay's head as Evie arrived. Because a familiar girl with red, almost black, hair stood beside her. It was clear that they knew each other, a fact that only served to further Jay's curiosity. It was no wonder he hadn't seen her before if she knew Evie. Few dared to defy Maleficent and Evie had been banished for the last ten years. Whoever the girl was she must have known Evie before or met her during the banishment, which all but ensured that the girl's parent was an adversary of Maleficent. No one else would have dared to associate with Evie and the Evil Queen. He didn't know when Evie lost her friend in the crowd, but he was glad she did as it gave him a chance to get her alone. Jay tugged her into an empty corridor, caging her against the wall with his arms. "I believe you owe me a name" he whispered, leaning close in an attempt to intimidate her. He was affronted when she chuckled at him with an infuriating smirk on her face.
"And I believe I told you that you didn't have manners," she bantered, raising an eyebrow, "Anything else from this morning you want to rehash or can I go back to the party?" She could tell that he was frustrated and to be honest, she could see why. He was handsome, clever. He must have had plenty of people fall over themselves to get his attention. Only, her mother taught her to specifically avoid his kind of person. The flirty, most definitely not trustworthy kind. He was handsome and clever, indeed, but too much so. Too aware of his own advantages and all too willing to use them to get what he wanted. She refused to fall for it. When he didn't say anything to answer her question, she smiled indulgently and patted his shoulder before ducking under his arm and leaving him in the hallway.
Jay was infuriated and impatient. He had a way with girls, that was just a fact. So the fact that the red-haired girl seemed unaffected by his advances did not sit well with him at all. Growling, he stalked after her, unable to just let her walk away without giving him her name. There was a lot of power in a name, everyone on the Isle knew that. It allowed you to learn more about someone, blackmail them or curse them. A name could induce fear or laughter. He had yet to decide what he wanted to do with hers. All he knew was that he would have her name by the end of the night. He caught up to her quickly enough, blocking her path when the ground started shaking violently, knocking them both off their feet. Jay's shoulder hit the wall and the girl stumbled into him. It was over almost as soon as it began. Despite the strange circumstances, Jay smirked at the girl in his arms. "I think this just brought us to first-name basis," he commented lightly, "Don't you think?"
"That wouldn't be a very good challenge, now would it?" She pushed away from him, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles in her clothes, and smirked before leaving. She could hear Jay mutter to himself as she headed out into the cold night of the Isle, knowing her mother would be looking for her if she didn't return home soon.
Jay sighed, done with the party and whatever Mal had planned, and he too left. Outside, he ran into a blue-haired girl, Evie he remembered. He glared at her. "Watch it!" Evie shrank back at his glare, nodding quickly.
"I… I'm sorry," she whispered, wringing her hands nervously, "It's just… I have to find my friend, Quinn, before her mother realizes that she snuck out." Evie looked down at the ground, the boy she'd run into was intimidating for someone who hadn't interacted a lot with others, hoping he would help. "I… she's got red hair and wore a black and gold dress to the party," she described quietly, glancing up at him, "Have you seen her?"
Jay felt victorious. Because he had seen her and now he knew her name. "Yeah, she just left," he told her, watching as her eyes widened, "But I'll walk you home, help you look for her." Evie visibly deflated with relief, making it all the more clear that she wasn't used to the ways of the Isle, and nodded gratefully. And Jay had no intention of letting her down. She was doing him a favor, leading him to Quinn, without even knowing it. "So, where do you think she's gone?"
"Maybe her shop," Evie replied shyly, twisting a strand of hair around her fingers, "She owns Quinn's Quid Pro Quo down nearby the Goblin Wharf." Evie had always been impressed with her friend's shop and how she managed to run it even when her mother didn't let her out. As far as Evie knew, Quinn had allies and even friends who helped her out when she couldn't be in there herself. Quinn's Quid Pro Quo was the center of medicine on the Isle, where the villains and their kids would trade favors or artifacts in exchange for medical attention. It made Quinn one of the most well-off people on the Isle. It was likely that Quinn had either gone to her shop or to the Lost Revenge to visit Captain Hook and his children, as they were some of the very few that her mother approved of her seeing. Evie's own mother would sooner lose to Snow White again than see her daughter spend time with pirates. She never mentioned the second option to Jay. The rivalry between Mal, Jay's frenemy, and Uma, Harry Hook's ally, was notorious on the Isle and Evie doubted that it would be a good idea to bring him to the Lost Revenge to look for Quinn there.
Jay followed Evie as she led him through the marketplace and toward the Goblin Wharf. When she finally stopped outside a fairly well-kept shop, considering that it was located on the Isle, they were far too close to the Wharf for his comfort. While he generally got along well with most people before he stole from them, it would irk both Mal and Uma, the daughter of Ursula, if they ever found out that he'd been there. Mal would think he was betraying her for Uma and Uma would think he was doing something for Mal and he did not want to get involved in all that drama. Evie opened the unlocked door and stepped inside, surprising him. Even on the Isle, where most people could get into places they shouldn't if they only wanted it enough, the doors were locked.
"No one knows how to use the stuff she trades," Evie explained when she saw the frown on Jay's face, "so they leave it alone." To be fair, no one really knew how Quinn got a hold of the medicine she used either. Evie knew that some of the things her best friend used to make medicine came from the redhead's own garden. But how she turned them into cures or poisons, how she harnessed magic from the broken and left-over things that they got from Auradon, was a mystery. "Quinn," Evie called, walking deeper into the dark shop, "are you in here?" On the counter, next to the wholly unnecessary cash-register, she found a little slip of paper. Quinn had expected her arrival and left a note stating that she was sorry for leaving early but that she was home safe. "She's okay," Evie stated, more for her own benefit than Jay's, "she's not sure when she'll be able to be back in the shop again, but she's home safe for now."
Jay had planned to return to the shop the next day and every day until he could inform Quinn about his knowledge of her name, but his plan, much like his father's attempt to take over Agrabah, was foiled by a street-rat. Mal cornered him in Dragon Hall and told him how her mother's raven, Diablo, had returned and that the Dragon's Eye, Maleficent's well-known scepter, was active again. Unable to resist the adventure, Jay was pulled into a quest along with Mal and, to his surprise, Evie and Carlos. They retrieved the scepter from the Isle of the Doomed and suddenly the quartet became almost-friends. Jay, ever the opportunist, used his newly formed alliance with Evie to get closer to Quinn. It helped that, after the quest, he'd had trouble sleeping. He walked into Quinn's Quid Pro Quo and tapped on the bell on the counter.