Hey guys! Sorry for the delay with this update! I was finishing up with some school stuff, and then holidays and family visiting...anyway, I was delayed, but I won't be this late again, I promise! Hopefully this massively long chapter will make up for it? Hopefully? :)
On to my reviews! (You know the drill, skip to the Author's Notes if you don't want to read.)
Tiredandlazy: Aw, your reviews always make me laugh! I love that you love this story so much and are so enthusiastic despite your sleep deprivation. ;) Your description of Mal was perfect and definitely made sense. Sweet in a not sweet way. And yes, I decided to make Audrey nicer in this version, because it just didn't feel right to me, her characterization in the movie. So more nice Audrey ahead, and Mr. Kropp's punishment won't be long in coming, I promise.
Forever-Furuba: I didn't mean to make that a HP reference, but it does work that way, doesn't it? Although I did intend for the fireplace to be reminiscent of the chimneys and crawl spaces, so yay for picking up on that! ;) And they're definitely more the type to go along rooftops, as you'll see shortly. :)
theNiceDevil: Your username reminds me of Carlos, lol! I'm glad you think this story is so awesome, and that you don't think I need to up the rating. I'll definitely keep adding warnings though, just to be safe.
Rowan: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you liked the chapter!
anonimo: ¡Perdón por la espera! Esperemos que este capítulo satisfaga. Y no hay necesidad de morir, usted estará descubriendo lo que le sucede a Kropp pronto!
keirstinpaige: *maniacal laughter continues* It will be fun indeed, muahaha! You will be finding out what his punishment is soon, though the actual event won't be until a little later. But enjoy the anticipation!
Guest: I think you're the only guest I don't have a name for, lol! I'm glad you loved the chapter and I hope you will continue to enjoy and review.
Faye: I'm so sorry for the lack of update! Hopefully this 10,000 word chapter will make up for it! ;)
Invited: Thank you for the review and the kind words! I will work to keep updates more regular and I hope you will continue to read and enjoy.
Call Me Random: Tears of laughter? ;)
ATimeInFantasy: I'm glad you liked Dark Carlos. It was something completely different from what we're shown of his character, so I was worried it wouldn't go over well. Mr. Kropp will be punished, don't you worry about that! And yes, Audrey is nice, though I'm not yet sure what other relationships I'll explore with the rest of the group. But I know Evie won't be attracted to Chad in the least!
Ok, quick Author's Note and then chapter! This chapter contains Language! and mentions of child abuse, though nothing explicit. Language definitely is, though, so be warned! Also more sign language, and science.
Also, for those who were wondering, Mr. Kropp is based on the Mr. Kropp from the Incredibles, the teacher that Dash put a tack on his chair. And Emil is based on a random member of the tourney team; I could only see the 'E' on the back of his jersey, so I took the liberty of naming him. As for Kory, I'll let you keep guessing. ;)
And so, without further ado or delay, enjoy the latest chapter. I hope you all enjoy and I can't wait to hear what you think! I promise updates won't be so late in coming in the future. :)
- Raven
Audrey
If someone had told Audrey two weeks ago that Auradon Prep would be hosting a group of villain kids, she would have shrieked in horror and possibly fainted. (No comment as to whether that had actually been the case.) If you were to go one step further and say that not only would the villain kids become part of the student body, but that Audrey herself would actually feel any sort of positive emotion towards them….
And yet here she was in Ben's room, pacing back and forth in front of the massive fireplace, worrying about everything that had happened earlier. Ben watches her pace, and though he's tried to set his expression to reveal nothing, she knows him well enough to see through it; he looks likes his entire world has crashed down around him, and she can't quite say he's wrong to feel that way.
"How did we not know about Carlos?" she asks the air. "A villain with a stutter; how do we not hear about something like that?"
"There's a lot we still don't know about them," Ben replies quietly from the bed.
"And Chad!" Audrey huffs. "I still can't believe he would do something like that." She paces a few feet before turning sharply on her heel. "I mean, I can, but..."
"Give him time," Ben says slowly, but his tone his far away, like he's thinking even as he says the words. "He'll come around."
"He's not going to come around to the two villains who attacked him, regardless of the circumstances," she counters sharply, but she falters when Ben grimaces in response.
"Stop…calling them that," he says, and she frowns, pausing in track across the floor.
"Calling them what?"
"Villains," he says, looking up at her with eyes like a heartbroken puppy. "They're not villains," he insists. "They're just kids."
"Kids who've clearly shown proficient use in lethal weapons," she counters sternly. "Kids who were raised by villains who did horrible things; who only know how to do horrible things."
"Stop it!" Ben cries, leaning forward on the edge of the bed. "You know there's more to it than that. This…this isn't you."
She sighs, crossing to sit next to him on the bed. "Ben, I know," she relents. "I get that there's more; that their life was…less than ideal."
She grimaces herself at the choice of words. Things were definitely worse than that. But…
"I know you want to help them," she continues. "And I do too, but you need to think."
"Think about what?" he asks, and she can tell even without seeing the crinkle in his brow that he's battling the urge to get defensive.
"Ben, they attacked Chad, Emil and Kory." She hates how harsh she sounds, but he has to see. "And, I know, I know that the situation wasn't…that they were acting on instinct. But that alone should tell you that this runs a lot deeper than just not getting enough to eat."
They'd seen further proof of that particular aspect over dinner. It had been worse than lunch in some aspects because some of the teachers and other adult faculty members had been present, and the villain kids had cringed back from them each time an adult had come near their table, as if expecting something terrible to happen to them. And Audrey could have sworn she'd seen Jay and Carlos slipping food from the table.
"I have thought about it, Audrey," Ben says, and she knows he's frustrated now. "And I'm not ignoring what they've done. But I have to think about what they could do; what could be better for them here."
"You want to help," Audrey says. "But you also have to be prepared for…things like this."
"Things like this," Ben repeats slowly, and she loves him, she really does, but he's just so naïve sometimes.
"With whatever life they've know, they might not be used to help; they might not even want to be helped," she explains gently.
"But," Ben begins to protest, and she takes his hands in her own, squeezing gently.
"We'll get there," she reassures him with a smile. "But we take it slow; one at a time, and try and give them the chance to open up to us."
"Yeah. Yeah, ok," Ben relents slowly, but she can still see the worry in the set of his jaw. "But if they don't? If…if this really is a mistake and…and they can't be reached?"
It's a valid concern, but Audrey knows better than to admit that it's also one that's been on her mid. Instead, she kisses away the anxious crease in Ben's brow, smiling when he laughs in response.
"Then we'll deal with that when it comes," she says simply.
"What would I do without you?" Ben sighs.
"Nothing," she says with a laugh. "Absolutely nothing."
"Hey, give me some credit," Ben protests, but he's laughing too, and Audrey settles back against him, relieved.
At least this crisis was averted. Time would tell just what others would be resurfacing.
Evie
They were all gathered in the boys' room again. Evie didn't want to admit it, but it was nicer than her and Mal's room. The pink and lace was everything that she could have ever dreamed off, but the cozy darkness of the boys' room felt more like home. Mal lay upside down on one of the beds; Carlos', judging by how neatly it was made up; flipping through her spell book and muttering the curses under her breath as she came upon them. Jay and Carlos fought over a game near the massive TV, Carlos' arguments alternating between rushed and staccato yelling, and signing when he got too worked up to speak.
Evie, for her part, was doing her best to organize the closets. She grumbles to herself, grabbing random leather articles and attempting to match them together. It didn't make sense to her; the closets were huge, with one easily able to hold all four of their clothes together with room to spare. And yet, only one closet seemed in obvious use, and judging by the amount of red, gold and brown, it was all Jay's.
"Carlos," she calls over her shoulder. A startled yelp, followed by a dull thud meets her words, and she turns to see Carlos sprawled on his back with Jay laughing atop him.
"Pinned again and he is down for the count!" Jay crows victoriously, as Carlos squirms beneath him.
"Mal!" Carlos cries in protest.
"Jay, stop pinning Carlos," Mal scolds, but she barely raises her head from her book, and Jay uses the opportunity to viciously ruffle Carlos' hair.
"Eeevie!" Carlos whimpers, and Evie huffs, crossing her arms.
"Honestly how anything gets done with you two," she mutters, but she stalks over anyway, daintily stepping over the tangle of the boys' legs to reach Jay, who was attempting to wrestle Carlos into a headlock. Evie grumbles in annoyance, reaching down and easily twisting Jay's wrist, freeing Carlos from the older boy's grip, the smaller boy instantly retreating to the opposite bed beside Mal.
"Fucking shit, E!" Jay growls angrily, shaking out his hand.
That gets Mal's attention. She sits up, slamming her book closed sharply and scowling. "Jay," she snaps, and there's an unquestionable power in her voice as she glares at the older boy.
"But…" Jay protests, and Mal's eyes flash green. He instantly cuts off his argument, but that doesn't stop him from complaining as he glares at Evie. "That's is low, E, real low."
Evie smiles sweetly at him, and blows him a kiss when he flips her off, turning back to prance back over to Carlos.
"Now then," she says, poking the boy to get his attention. "Where are all your clothes, de Vil?" She pokes him a few times as she speaks to emphasize her seriousness, though that doesn't keep her from noticing the way he shrinks on the bed, refusing to look at her as he shakes his head.
"Yeah, I did notice that, too," Mal chimes in, her book completely abandoned beside her on the bed as she leans forward. Her eyes narrow, and Evie watches her scan the room before turning back to Carlos.
"Ok spill," Evie demands. "This closet is amazing, why would you not take advantage of that space?"
She realizes only belatedly, when Carlos shrinks a little further, that there was in fact, good reason for his lack of taking advantage. But she doesn't get a chance to take back her words, because Carlos is pointing to a corner of the closet that Evie had overlooked in her previous examination. Examining it now, she sees what she'd missed before; a large black trash bag, only half full, nestled into one of the closet's many alcoves.
"You haven't unpacked yet?" It's Mal who voices Evie's thoughts, the other girl leaning so far forward that Evie was certain she would fall off the edge of the bed.
"And what is with the trash bag, bro?" Jay asks with a laugh. "What, you really couldn't find one suitcase?"
"Oh, I'm ssorry," Carlos mutters. "I w-wa-was a little busy rrunning for my l-life." But his sarcasm does little to hide the anxious way he begins fiddling with his dog tail, studiously avoiding all of their gazes.
Evie vaguely remembers some kind of commotion as they were leaving the Isle. She and Mal had already been in the car, the other girl silent in the midst of her "plotting," as she called it. Jay had happily let the Auradon driver pack his bags into the trunk for him, entering the car himself with a particular glint in his eye that Evie had known meant he'd just successfully stolen something. Then Carlos had come running up, throwing himself into the car with hardly a backward glance, practically leaping into Jay's lap as he'd rushed to slam the door closed behind him.
Evie frowns, remembering hearing Cruella shouting something through the glass windows. Whatever it was must still be ringing in Carlos' ears, because he's shivering as he huddles on the bed beside her. Mal and Jay exchange knowing glances; a silent conversation that Evie wasn't privy to. She sighs quietly, glancing back at Carlos. While none of the kids' parents were particularly...nice... Carlos had especially had it worse. And with his stutter...Evie herself shudders as she recalls many times when Carlos had come crawling through her bedroom window, half dead and desperate to escape whatever horrors Cruella inflicted in her maddened states. With all that they had endured together, and all that Carlos had been through, for that teacher to think they'd been coddled of all things...
"Hey," Evie hisses, tossing a pillow at Carlos to get his attention. "Get dressed; dark."
"What's this now?" Jay asks, while both Mal and Carlos straighten quizzically.
"We're going out," Evie announces. "To the science lab, to be exact."
"E, what are you thinking?" Mal questions, eyes narrowing slightly.
"I'm thinking it's about time we started on Mr. Kropp's change of heart," Evie says with a sly grin.
Carlos smiles slowly as the idea gets into his head, an enthusiastic sort of smirk that completely washes away the fear and worry of before.
"Jay, do you still have the dust CJ gave you?" Evie asks, turning happily on her heel to face the other boy.
"Yeah," Jay confirms with a slight scoff. "What, are we gonna make him fly?"
"Up you go with a height and ho, to the stars beyond the blue...you can fly you can fly you can fly," Carlos hums quietly, but he stops singing when Jay glares at him.
"Oh don't worry," Evie assures, standing to readjust her cloak so its darker side was now showing on the outside. "I've got this."
"Sure," Jay says skeptically.
"Mal, we'll need your spell book," Evie continues, ignoring the other boy's comments.
Mal nods, grabbing the book up and tucking it into a hidden pocket inside her jacket.
"And Jay, you've got the dust," Evie reaffirms, then turns to Carlos.
"Carlos, we'll need..." She starts to say 'your knife,' because instinct and habit aren't silenced easily; but she recovers and finishes smoothly. "Your kit."
Carlos nods, and pulls his small lock picking kit from his back pocket. But he's looking at Mal, and Evie notices that Jay is, as well, waiting for the girl to tell them what to do. Mal raises an eyebrow at them both, and shakes her head.
"Hey don't look at me," she says. "Evie's in charge of this one."
Evie grins even wider, not so secretly pleased. It was a rare moment when Mal gave anyone else control, and so the opportunity at hand was one that Evie did not intend to waste.
"Alright then," she says, clasping her hands together. "Everyone ready?"
There's a scattering of solemn, but eager nods, and Evie turns to the boys. "Jay, Carlos; go up," she directs. "Mal and I will take the school route, backtracking to the library if things go south."
"Which they won't," Mal is quick to add, and Evie nods, understanding the silent warning.
"No," she concedes. "But if we're seen, we have the alibi. And it's best Jay and Carlos stay out of sight."
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder of that, E," Jay mutters, but his eyes glint darkly and Evie know he's just as excited about this as she is.
"Carlos, stay in front," Evie directs. "Once you and Jay reach the lab, use your kit to get inside."
"And y-you?" Carlos asks, and it's almost sweet the concerned look he's giving her.
Sweet, but Evie can't help but think that it's also a sign of weakness that would definitely have gotten him killed on the Isle. But this wasn't the Isle, she reminds herself, and it is sweet that he's worried for her. It means he cares, unlike….
"Mal and I'll be fine," Evie assures him, smiling as she shoves aside her concerns. "You'll probably get there before we do, anyway, and if you don't, we'll let you in."
"Ok," he mumbles, but she can tell he's still worried.
"It'll be fine because we'll make it fine," she says, and she makes sure to catch his eyes, injecting her words with a certain steel so he knows it will be ok.
"Right," Carlos says, but he's confident this time, slipping into his role with a bit more ease.
Evie smiles then, placing her hand in front of her in an outstretched fist. "Rotten?"
"To the core," is echoed around her, as three other fists press against hers.
"Alright then, let's go," she says.
Jay
There was nothing quite like the rush of sensation that running along rooftops brought. The night cloaking his skin in darkness and shadow, every footfall precise and carrying him one step further to a successful goal; in this case, a break in. Break ins definitely ranked high on Jay's list of favorite types of robberies. The classic 'weapon to the throat, give me everything you have and no one gets hurt' act was always a favorite, but at least with break ins, he didn't have to get his hands (or his clothes) dirty.
Jay grins as he sprints across the dorm roof, spying a ledge up ahead that separated their current building from the one next to it.
"Jump," he calls quietly to Carlos, who'd fallen behind as leader, but was still keeping pace beside Jay despite the older boy having the longer stride.
Carlos nods, his eyes straight ahead, but the slight twitch of his lips told Jay that he is just as excited about it all as Jay is. Jay pulls ahead and clears the jump with ease, crouching low and leaning his weight forward as he lands, the balls of his feet absorbing most of the shock of the sound. He grimaces as there's still a hushed thud as he hits the opposite roof, but he'd made it, at least.
He turns to watch Carlos leap, rolling his eyes as he notices that the other boy had slowed his pace. "What's a matter, bro?" Jay teases softly. "Is the puppy scared of falling?"
Carlos' eyes narrow, but he doesn't retaliate, instead launching himself forward in a dive, his palms hitting the roof by Jay's feet without a sound. Jay blinks as Carlos completes his dive with a tuck of his body, his shoulder absorbing the rest of the weight and sound, and then rolling its way down until Carlos pops back up, rocking from his heels to his toes and straightening with a grin.
"Tha-tha-tha-that's how it's done," Carlos murmurs, brushing his shoulder in a haughty gesture as Jay scowls.
"Shut up," Jay hisses, jogging off across the remaining rooftop. Carlos laughs behind him, easily catching up and ignoring the glares Jay shoots over at him as he began to sing in an undertone.
"Think of the happiest things, it's the same as having wings. Take the path that moonbeams make; if the moon is still awake you'll see him wink his eye. You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!"
"Damn it, Carlos," Jay growls, and Carlos giggles from his side.
"Ssorry," the boy whispers. "It's st-stuck in my hhhead."
"Yeah well if you get it stuck in mine, I'm gonna beat it back into yours," Jay mutters darkly.
The rest of the sprint across the roof passes in blessed silence, only the slight shuffle of feet echoing between them as they run. Jay chances another glance at Carlos, but the smaller boy is completely silent, his jaw clenched and his eyes on the line of roof ahead. Jay sets his own jaw in frustration, slowing his pace to a jog as they near the next ledge.
He knows his choice of words had been particularly harsh, and it's a threat that most definitely would have been carried out on the Isle. But here in Auradon, it feels wrong, somehow. Carlos slows to a stop and hovers warily, and Jay can feel the other boy's cautious gaze. Jay knows what he has to do, but the fact that the idea had even come to him in the first place, and in a way that was more than just a laughable suggestion, was more than a little frustrating.
"Damn it," Jay grumbles to himself. "One lesson with the Fairy Godmother and I'm going soft."
Carlos makes a muffled choking sound that Jay knows is a laugh, and he scowls as the other boy creeps over to him, raising a hand and poking Jay's cheek. Jay swats his hand away, but the other boy laughs again, his eyes glinting mischievously in the darkness.
"N-nope," Carlos chuckles. "Y-y-you're still pretty ssolid."
"Shut up," Jay mutters, shoving the boy away, but his own lips flicker into a smirk, relief surging through him at the accepted -albeit unspoken- apology.
"La-lab's down there," Carlos says, pointing to the building adjacent to them that extended out into the grassy lawn; close to where they'd been…ambushed…by that creep Chad and his group.
"After you," Jay says, gesturing towards the ledge, and Carlos shimmies out, twisting and dropping easily off the side, his hands going out and latching onto the brick patterned wall. He lowers himself down hand over hand, his feet kicking in time with his movements and keeping him balanced as he makes his way down.
"Show off," Jay grumbles, but he vaults over and climbs down himself, landing in the grass beside Carlos.
"Good?" Carlos asks, raising a brow, and Jay nods, undeniable excitement filling him at the prospect of what was to come.
"Let's do it."
Mal
Sneaking around had always been something that came easily to Mal, and was something the girl prided herself on. She liked to think that it had something to do with her half-reptilian heritage, though she knew Evie just called it a combination of privilege and practice; the privilege being that most people were too terrified of her to call her out when (if) they caught her. But none of that privilege mattered in Auradon; it was sheer talent that was getting Mal through this now.
"So when we get to the lab," Evie murmurs beside her as they creep through the halls together. "I'll use your spell book and start figuring out the translations and what I'll need for the potion."
"Start figuring it out?" Mal repeats lowly, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You do know what you're doing, right E?"
"Of course," Evie scoffs mildly, but Mal catches the uncertainty in her eyes. "It's just, there aren't really magical ingredients here that I can use, since everything is back on the Isle..."
"And therefore entirely useless," Mal finishes.
"Yeah," Evie mutters. "So I'm sort of...improvising."
"Mm-hm," Mal hums skeptically. "And you need my spell book, why, exactly?"
Evie huffs impatiently, ducking down the hallway that would lead them to the library. "I don't want to have to explain it all twice," the other girl says with a sigh. "Can't you just trust me till we get there?"
Trust. A difficult concept for any of them to fully understand, but Mal understood enough of it to know what she felt for her team.
"I wouldn't have put you in charge if I didn't," Mal responds, and is rewarded when Evie relaxes, smiling back at her happily.
"Come on," the other girl says. "We're almost to the lab."
Mal follows with a tad less reluctance as they near the library, watching carefully down each hall as they approach. She pauses as she catches a glimpse of a shadow against the opposite wall, and whistles quietly to Evie. The other girl stops, immediately noticing what Mal had seen. Mal creeps up to Evie's side, eyeing the now visible figure nervously.
"It's Doug," Evie breathes in an undertone, and Mal frowns.
"Doug?"
"The kid who was with Ben when he introduced us," Evie explains impatiently. "He's the one we're supposed to go to if we need anything with the dorms."
Oh. Mal vaguely remembers him now. A nerdy kind of guy; glasses; couldn't take his eyes off Evie. Mal smirks as she notices Evie's slight blush as she stares at the boy. Clearly, she remembered that part too.
"What do we do about it?" Mal questions, noting that the boy wasn't really blocking their way. He sat just inside the library lobby, just across from the doors that opened into the hallway. His face was buried in a book, but Mal didn't doubt that at the slightest suspicious movement from them, he'd look up and they'd be caught.
"Casual," Evie murmurs, straightening from her spot against the wall.
"Casual?" Mal repeats.
"Honestly Mal," Evie sighs in a dramatic whisper. "You know nothing of the art of sneaking."
"Excuse me?" Mal snaps, a little louder than indented. She flinches, and Evie ducks back against the wall, but Doug hadn't stirred from his chair.
"If we look like we're sneaking around and up to no good, then people who see us will automatically be suspicious," Evie explains quickly. "So if we walk like we're just passing through…."
"Got it," Mal intervenes, straightening from her defensive crouch. "Casual."
Evie nods, and they both move out from the wall, heads raised and bodies relaxed, but eyes watchful and wary. Mal draws a breath and holds it as they begin to pass the library doors, and Doug half-glances up from his book. The boy does a double take, and Mal tenses, thinking it's all over. But Evie simply pauses, turning to look the boy in the eye and smiling icily.
"Can we help you?" Evie says sweetly, but Mal knows that particular look, and she stifles a laugh as the boy pales, then blushes, shaking his head rapidly and stammering out a negative.
"Have a good night, then," Evie continues, then turns sharply and continues easily down the hall towards the lab.
"Way to go, E," Mal cheers, still vainly trying to stifle her laughter.
"Poor thing," Evie croons, her own eyes alight with vicious amusement. "Didn't know what hit him."
"Come on, let's hurry up and beat the boys to the lab," Mal cajoles, jogging lightly down the remainder of the hall.
The door to the science lab is locked, but it pops quickly once Mal rattles it, Jay grinning boldly down at them as he lets them in.
"About damn time," he mutters. "We found the lab, raided the library and broke into the snack machine in the time it took you guys to walk down a few flights of stairs."
"And across the lawns, and into the main building, and then through the library," Mal snaps, but Jay just laughs off her defense and locks the door securely behind them.
"Th-the-the-there's still ssome left," Carlos offers from inside the classroom. He motions to a pile of food spread out at the metal table before him.
"Yeah," Jay agrees, sifting through until he finds that same red rope-candy he'd eaten in the car ride to Auradon. "With everything Carlos and I snagged from the feast, we've practically got ourselves a second dinner."
Evie gasps quietly in delight, but Mal shakes her head. "I'm good," she says shortly, beginning to browse the rows of metal desks and grabbing beakers and glass containers off the shelves.
She knew the basics of making a potion, but Evie was the real expert. The best Mal could do was brew a simple poison, and even then it was only effective enough to offer a gradual death; unlike the instant deaths that Evie's skilled potions granted.
"You sure Mal?" Jay asks her, and Mal glances over and surveys the pile of food critically. She was still pretty hungry, but she didn't want to take from a portion that the others might need more.
"There's still some of those fruit tarts," Evie tries to tempt her. "And chocolate."
Carlos shakes his head vehemently, making a negative humming noise in his throat. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-chocolate's mmine," he says fiercely, and Mal feels her lips twitch.
"Save me half of a fruit tart then," she decides, and Jay tosses her the half he hadn't finished.
"There's no apple," he promises, and she bites into the soft pastry as she finishes setting up the makeshift cauldron.
"E," Mal calls when she's done, not bothering to finish chewing first. "All set."
"Right," Evie says, licking her lips clean and wiping her hands on Jay's jacket, ignoring the other boy's swears of anguish.
Mal places her spell book down on the table, guiding Evie through the different sections of the book as Jay and Carlos explore the rest of the room.
"What kind of spell are you looking for, exactly?" Mal asks, as Evie frowns and shakes her head at a page for the third time.
"Don't you have a section for brews and potions?" Evie questions, and Mal purses her lips, trying to recall.
"Yeah," Mal drawls, nodding as she squints at the tabs she'd colored along the side of the binding. "Try the orange tab."
Evie flips to the section and grins triumphantly. "Yes, there it is!"
"What?" Jay asks, coming over to peer over Evie's shoulder.
"I'm adapting Ursula's voice stealing spell," Evie explains. "It's equal parts spell and potion, but I'm only using the potion aspect."
"Wait, what?" Jay frowns. "You're going to steal Mr. Kropp's voice?"
"Not exactly," Evie says with a dangerous grin. "More like I'm muting his voice and adding another."
"Oh," Mal says, suddenly catching on. "Oh, Evie that is…" she trails off, shaking her head in amazement. Wicked, brilliant, and any other evil adjective she could think of.
"Ok, enlighten me," Jay demands.
"Not enough time to translate it into lay man's terms," Evie says, picking the locks to the compartments beneath the desk that holds an array of chemicals and elements.
Mal silently exchanges a fist bump with the other girl in appreciation of the burn, while Jay grumbles and joins Carlos in a raid of the metal cabinets along the opposite wall. Evie mutters to herself as she pulls out a few vials of chemicals, comparing some against the spell book and replacing what she deems unnecessary.
"Ok," Evie says finally. "Ok I've got the base ingredients going now, so all that's left is the specifics."
"Uh, hold up, E," Mal cuts in, scanning a line in the book. "It says you need some kind of vessel to…."
"That's only if I'm taking his voice," Evie breaks in smoothly, lighting the hidden burner in the desk and setting the beaker over it. "I'm not stealing his voice, only…changing it."
"So then, the specific ingredients," Mal presses.
Evie grimaces at that, shaking her head slightly. "Ursula and all her aquatic oddities," she complains. "Most of these I can just substitute, but the crucial ones: sea urchin venom, dried crushed kelp, powdered coral root, shriveled cod head and scales…" Evie huffs a sigh as she finishes. "There's very little room for substituting there, and the measurements!"
"One of the tricky ones?" Mal guesses.
Contrary to popular belief, potion making was an exact science; too much or too little of a certain ingredient could literally be the difference between life and death.
But Evie shakes her head, throwing up her hands in frustration. "No! I swear she just threw everything into a boiling cauldron and called it a day!"
"P-pretty sure she did, ac-ac-actually," Carlos chimes in from the other side of the room.
Mal shoots him a glare and he falls silent, picking the lock on another metal cabinet.
"And that's not even the best part," Evie continues. "While Ursula's brew was quick and more…explosive in nature, the potion I'm adapting from it will take a few days to fully settle."
"Wait, what?" Mal snaps, and Jay and Carlos exchange nervous glances. "A few days?"
"Maybe two," Evie amends, wincing. "A good bit of it is just making sure all the ingredients incorporate fully, and we're starting now, so that gets rid of some of that time."
"But where are we even going to get these ingredients?" Jay asks. "I mean, sea urchins, kelp?"
"Ooh!" Carlos lifts his head, his eyes widening slightly. "M-m-miss Ly-lykke."
"Who?" Mal asks, furrowing her brows at him.
"The music teacher," Evie clarifies, nodding thoughtfully. "One of Ariel's daughters."
Jay laughs. "Well if anyone would have oceany things it's her."
"Ok," Mal says, relieved that some solutions were being found. "We'll see what we can find out there."
Evie nods, turning the burner down a notch. "Ok, then…."
A dull clang, followed by a startled scream cuts her off, and Mal stands sharply, turning to find Carlos frozen in front of the now open metal cabinet. One hand grips the metal door tightly, while the other signs jerkily by his side; a flat palm that he twists over in a flip-flop motion.
[Dead.]
"Carlos?" Evie says carefully, but the boy is frozen, his hand repeating the sign over and over.
[Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead]
Jay leaps over a desk, landing by Carlos' side and peering into the cabinet. He whistles sharply, reaching in and pulling a glass jar from the shelves before slowly closing the cabinet door. Mal leans over the desk, frowning at the object.
"What is it?" she questions sharply. Anything that could paralyze Carlos like that must be dangerous.
Jay plops the jar down beside Evie with a flourish, wiping his hands on his jeans. "You asked for fish head and scales?" he says, motioning to the jar.
"Ugh, Jay that's disgusting," Mal grimaces, turning her gaze away from the lifeless fish that was crammed into the jar, black eyes wide and staring as it floated in tepid water.
"No it's perfect," Evie cries, not hesitating to open the jar and begin scraping scales into the boiling beaker before her, then severing the head with a scalpel and adding it to the mix.
"Right, well, someone should make sure Carlos isn't having a mental breakdown," Mal says pointedly as Jay begins stabbing at the remaining fish body with one of the other tools.
Jay glances up and catches her glare, and he sighs, dropping the scalpel disappointedly. "Got it," he mutters, walking across the room and taking Carlos by the shoulders, dragging him away from the cabinets.
"Out of curiosity," Mal says, taking up the scalpel and continuing Jay's cause. "Why do the Auradonians have jars full of dead things?"
"For when they do dissections," Evie guesses, adding another small amount of some chemical.
"Alright, well what now?" Mal asks, eyeing the potion, which was steaming and had turned a pale lavender color.
"Jay," Evie whispers, and Jay glances up from his place in the corner with Carlos. "I need the dust," she instructs.
"How much of it?" Jay asks warily.
Evie frowns, studying the potion critically before looking back up at him. "All of it."
"What?" Jay protests. "Why do you need all of it?"
"It's the magical activator in the potion," Evie explains apologetically. "Normally, I'd be able to pull from the available magic, or use my own, but…." She trails off in slight embarrassment, and Mal feels a twinge of sympathy, which she immediately fights to shove away.
Despite the fact that magic was allowed in Auradon, it was so rarely used that it was left to simply float around at will, wild and free as it drifted the air. The magic could be channeled through something, or even syphoned off into a vessel- say, a magic wand- or even be drained into a potion. Unfortunately for their purposes, the magical barrier of the Isle prevented anyone from being able to channel or use any kind of magic; even the magic already contained in vessels, like Grimhilde's magic mirror.
And so, the lack of ability to actively use and practice magic (small potions not withstanding), led to this painful stalemate. Evie hovers anxiously over the still steaming potion, pleading silently with Jay while Mal tries to influence him through a far more obvious and dangerous glare.
"I just don't get it," Jay complains, stubbornly holding out. "If you can do magic, and there's plenty of it here, why can't you just magically activate it yourself?"
Mal growls a warning curse, while Evie sighs, rolling her eyes.
"It's not that simple," Evie huffs in frustration. "Yes, there's magic, and I can feel it." She whimpers longingly, and Mal grimaces, understanding because she could feel it, too. "I just can't reach it," Evie finishes with a mournful look at the brewing potion before her.
Carlos hedges over, a sympathetic frown on his face despite his slight shivering. Jay grumbles under his breath, but Mal knows he's relenting because he draws the small bag of pixie dust from his pocket.
"But do you really have to use all of it?" he whines, hefting the bag in his palm. "It wasn't easy convincing CJ to let me have even this much."
"Oh, I'm ssure it w-w-wasn't," Carlos murmurs slyly, jarring Jay's arm with his elbow and catching the bag as it tumbles from the other boy's fingers. Carlos tosses the bag to Evie while Jay splutters, and Mal chuckles quietly.
"See Carlos," Mal says, ruffling the boy's hair. "I knew there was a reason I brought you into the group all those years ago."
The smaller boy peers up at her, his eyebrows lifting in a way that was both curious and hopeful. "Y-yeah?"
Mal nods, still smirking. "You've got all the resourceful and quick thinking we need."
Jay scoffs, rolling his eyes, while Evie adds the fairy dust to the potion and it begins to glow faintly.
"I thought you said it was because having a mute psychopath as an ally would be beneficial for the group," Jay mutters, and Mal's eyes flash as she shoots him a glare.
"Shut up," she hisses sharply.
"W-wa-wait, wwhat?" Carlos says, his brow furrowing as he glances around at them all, but especially at Mal.
"To be fair," Evie chimes in, an amused smile playing about her lips. "You were pretty hardcore at the time."
"B-but a sssych… I w-wasn't crazy!" Carlos protests, to their resounding laughter. "G-guys, really?"
"It was a long time ago," Mal murmurs, leaning against the table closest to the door and beginning to listen for motion in the hallway. "We know the truth about you now."
"W-asn't that long ag-ag-ago," Carlos complains, crossing his arms sullenly.
It really hadn't been, Mal muses quietly as she watches Evie begin to pack away the half-finished potion, and Jay starts scouting out escape routes. They had barely been in their adolescent stages; Mal was pretty sure Jay had been the only one in double digits at the time. She grins to herself as she remembers that initial encounter with the son of Cruella de Vil.
"If anything you should be mad at Evie," Mal says quietly, as the girl in question finishes stowing the potion in the very back of the cabinet of dead frogs. "Since she's the one who found you."
"Ammbushed is b-etter," Carlos counters, and Evie makes an indignant noise.
Jay whistles softly from his spot by the window, and they all freeze. Mal straightens, raising her hand in a tight fist; their signal for total quiet and eyes on me. She creeps over to the other side of the window by Jay and glances at him worriedly. She signs; bringing her left hand up in a flat, slightly angled palm and drawing the tip of her right index finger down across it in a quick sliding motion.
[What?]
Jay brings a hand up, two fingers spread apart and tented like legs, and he makes a 'walking' motion with the fingers. Someone was coming.
Mal tenses, but doesn't dare glance out the window to see for herself. Instead she signs back; bringing both hands, palms up in loose 'O' fist shapes; then she lifts her hands slightly, spreading her fingers as she does so, her brow furrowed in question.
[How many?]
Jay lifts his chin and adjusts his head so he can peer out of the corner of his eye. He frowns, then turns back to Mal and whispers. "Two," he says. "One is definitely Ben; couldn't tell who the other was."
"Doug," Evie hisses sharply from behind them. "He was the only one who saw Mal and I on our way here."
Mal growls, and begins plotting revenge against the boy, but Jay shakes his head. "Nah," he denies quietly. "Too tall."
"It doesn't matter," Mal interjects. Well, it did, but... "What matters is getting out of here unseen."
Jay and Evie nod, but Carlos is trembling, face ghostly pale against the darkness of the room. His hands shake as he signs, motioning to himself and Jay before gesturing upwards.
[Should we go up?]
"No," Mal says, a little too harshly. The boy flinches and she grimaces as she softens her tone minutely. "We stay together and stay low. Jay and I will scout us a route. You and Evie make sure everything is as it should be in this room."
"Got it," Evie agrees with a firm nod, and Mal looks to Carlos, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Carlos?" Mal questions, but the boy is frozen, trembling in fear and anticipation. "Damn it Carlos," Mal hisses under her breath. "Now is really not the time..."
"Go," Jay says firmly, abandoning his post to gently push Carlos against the wall, where the smaller boy slumps weakly, still shaking. "Evie and I will take care of the room and Carlos; you find the way out."
Mal nods, grateful, and slips quickly and silently from the room. It's not a fear of showing weakness that caused her hesitation with comforting Carlos. She'd done her fair enough share of that, however horribly. But she wasn't as good as Evie at getting in touch with her emotions to be able to empathize well, and Jay had more experience with the younger boy's traumas than she did. It was simply a happy convenience that she was better at scouting escape routes than hand holding.
She creeps along the hall, in the opposite direction of the library and the way that Ben and whoever would most likely come in. She scans the rooms on either side of her warily, tense and ready for anything that would come at her. It was dark and quiet, just as she liked it, but she knew better than to let her guard down, especially for this.
A map appears in an intersection ahead of her, and she jogs rapidly over to it, squinting through the darkness in an attempt to make out where they were. It was a vain attempt; the hall too dark, with no windows to let in the dim moonlight. She makes a noise of disgust and turns on her heel, only to come face to face with a suit of armor. She fights to regain control of her heartbeat, the traitorous organ suddenly speeding up in the light of her surprise.
Checking the hall, and satisfied at the lack of sounds of an approach, Mal crosses to the suit of armor and presses herself against the wall beside it. If anyone were to come down the hall now, they'd only see the tin knight. Mal taps the side of the knight with the back of her fist, her voice barely above a whisper as she asks:
"How can I get from here to the dorms without being seen?"
It was a risk, especially if the suit of armor decided to shout his answer, but the helmet barely creaks as it opens, and the hollow voice that rings out in response is just as quiet as her own voice.
"The dormitories are in the Fantasia building; you are currently in the main school building."
"Yeah, like I didn't already know I was in the school," Mal mutters, but the suit ignores her and continues his instructions.
"To reach the Fantasia building from the school without being seen, proceed across the lawn from the right wing and continue along behind the dining hall. Enter the Fantasia building through the back exit and ascend the Merlin staircase. You will reach your desired location without notice."
"Wow," Mal marvels, nodding in approval. "You know you're pretty chill for an inanimate suit of armor."
The suit doesn't respond, but Mal doesn't expect it to. She rushes back down the halls to the science lab, but freezes when she hears voices coming up from the library.
"…wouldn't want to disturb you from your rest, would I, Aziz?" A voice which Mal recognizes as Ben's murmurs quietly.
Another voice answers, one Mal doesn't recognize but almost could have mistaken it for Jay's if she hadn't known better.
"Ah, I figured you wouldn't unless it were a 'real emergency,' right, Your Highness?"
Ben scoffs quietly at the sarcasm surrounding 'Your Highness,' and it takes Mal all of two seconds to put the pieces together. She's cursing herself furiously for not noticing it earlier, but doesn't have time to react further because the voices have come to a stop just outside the science lab.
"Well, there was definitely a break in," the strange voice known as Aziz murmurs. "Whoever broke this lock must be a genius." There's awe and pride in the accented voice, and Mal frowns.
"And why is that?" Ben asks, and Mal can almost picture his own frown from the unamused tone of his voice.
"Well, for one, this is not an easy sort of lock to pick," Aziz responds, a dull clicking following his words. "And whoever did it not only broke the lock, but put it back together again perfectly."
That's Carlos, Mal thinks, a smug pride of her own filling her as she hears the strange boy's complements.
"Wait, Aziz," Ben splutters softly. "Did you just pick the lock?"
"Hey, to catch a thief," the other responds easily.
Mal can practically see the easy shrug and casual smile; it's exactly something Jay would say and do. She almost wants to creep further forward to see what this Aziz guy looked like, but she knows better, and keeps to the shadows as the light within the classroom flickers on suddenly.
"What do you think?" Ben's voice asks from inside the classroom.
"I gotta say, whoever broke in is definitely a genius," the voice that was Aziz responds.
"You mentioned that," Ben says, not sounding amused at all. "Is anything missing? Broken?"
"No," Aziz replies, his voice still full of that strange pride, like he'd accomplished this feat himself. "Nothing is broken or stolen; everything is exactly as it should be."
Mal feels relief, but also a hint of panic. Her group wasn't in the classroom; that much was obvious. But if they had managed to get out, then where….?
"…except the window," Aziz says, and Mal stiffens, tuning back in to the conversation. "It's open. Sloppy exit if you ask me; and, you are, so…" The boy makes a disappointed noise, and Mal stifles a curse.
Who had left the window open? She was going to kill whoever had left the window open! The voices inside the classroom draw closer, and Mal begins to back away from the classroom; quiet, but rapidly.
"Whoever it is must be heading back to the dorms," Ben guesses. "We could try and catch up to them…"
"No," Mal hears Aziz say as she turns a corner, their voices now in the hallway. "They would figure we'd think they'd be going to the dorms, and go a different way."
"…the rest of the floor, then," is all Mal manages to catch of Ben's response, before she is sprinting out of the building and out onto the lawn.
She spins on her heel and hisses a curse as she realizes she's nowhere near the right wing of the building, and still with no clue where Jay, Carlos and Evie were. She crouches low to avoid the windows and jogs back around to the correct section, the presses herself to the side of the brick and waits, scanning the yard as she catches her breath.
Think Mal, she tells herself. They'd know better than to go back into the school if there were people approaching, and they wouldn't go straight to the dorms; not if we were all split up. She straightens from her defensive pose and draws a slow breath, releasing it in a series of four, slow whistled notes. She pauses a moment, then draws another breath and whistles again.
She holds her breath, listening intently, and is rewarded when two short whistles ring out in response. Relief surges through her and she jogs towards the sound, still alert, but hopeful as she stops just before the lawn turns into the gardens. She whistles again, and a voice whispers:
"Mal!"
She turns, and spots Evie and Carlos pressed into the crook of a white gazebo. She jogs over and they creep out, and Mal frowns, glancing around the rest of the garden.
"Where's Jay?" she asks, and the tree beside the gazebo shakes before the boy in question drops down from its branches.
"At your service," Jay whispers, grinning at her. She glares at him, and his smile falters. "What did I do?"
"You left the window open, that's what!" Mal growls. She knows it was him; Jay always got sloppy when he was rushing.
"What? No I didn't," Jay protests, crossing his arms defensively.
"You did," Mal insists. "Because Ben and that kid he was with searched the place, and said that whoever broke in left the window open."
"Shit," Evie whispers, her eyes wide. "They're searching for us?"
"Yeah," Mal confirms tightly. "But they're searching inside the school, so we need to get back to the dorms now."
"Right," Jay says firmly, and Evie nods in agreement.
Mal glances over at Carlos, but he doesn't seem to be completely there. His eyes meet hers and he blinks, nodding quickly; but Mal had seen the distant, haunted look in his eyes. Whatever memories that had been shaken loose in the lab were still bothering him, and judging from his reaction to the dead things in the jars, Mal has a painful suspicion she knows what it is.
"Carlos, stick with Evie," Mal decides. "Jay and I will take point. We stay low, and stay close; in sight."
"How are we getting back to the dorms, then?" Jay asks, and Mal relays the information the knight had told her.
"So we all know the plan?" Mal asks, scanning everyone's faces closely for certainty. She receives it in tense nods and glittering eyes, Carlos' eyes shining just a little brighter than the others. Mal tries to tell herself he'd be fine as long as he stuck with Evie and the plan, but even she doesn't quite believe it.
"Let's go," Mal whispers sharply, starting forward with Jay close at her side.
Evie and Carlos peel off from their trail and continue a steady pace across the lawn, ducking low to avoid sight from anyone looking out from the school. Mal waits until they're well away from the gardens before deciding to voice her thoughts.
"What happened in the lab?" she asks softly. Jay doesn't respond right away, but the subtle clench of his jaw is more than enough of an answer.
"He's tough," Jay says, eyes scanning the yard ahead as they run. "He'll be fine."
Mal wants to say that it wasn't a matter of Carlos being tough or fine, it was a matter of survival, but she thinks better of it and stay silent. She can see the dorms building up ahead, and she slows her pace, signaling for Jay to do the same. He does, shortening his stride, and picks up on Mal's intentions when he catches her scanning the yard. He whistles shortly, and the four note whistle is repeated back from up ahead.
Mal jerks her head and they start up again, reaching the building just as Evie and Carlos do. Evie catches Mal's eye and smiles victoriously, but Mal keeps her own expression blank and solemn. It wouldn't do to celebrate too early. One of the crueler lessons the Isle had taught her.
Evie understands and resumes her serious attitude, as Jay cracks open the bottom window. It opens at an angle and threatens to drop the moment he releases it. He grabs it again and holds it, and Mal quickly begins to delegate.
"Carlos, in," she commands softly.
The smaller boy jumps, but quickly swings himself through the window and lands soundlessly on the other side.
"Jay, go," Mal whispers. "Straight up the stairs."
Jay doesn't hesitate, and lifts himself through and secures the window behind him. They share a nod through the glass before Jay disappears from view, taking Carlos with him.
"Wait, Mal," Evie starts, but Mal quickly cuts through her confusion and explains quickly.
"If Ben is searching the school, odds are he'll find Doug, who will tell him he saw you and I in the library."
"Oh," Evie whispers, realizing.
"No one saw Jay and Carlos, so they can slip in the side, while we go the more direct route; the route they'll be expecting from us."
"Yeah, ok," Evie agrees, and they sneak around to the front of the building.
Mal fights to regain her 'casual' demeanor, following Evie's lead this time as they enter the building, whispering nonsense to each other but keeping watchful eyes on their surroundings. Thankfully, they climb the stairs with no incident, and Mal practically melts with relief when they finally reach the boy's room.
"You did great with the potion, E," Mal murmurs, and the other girl laughs quietly.
"It's not even finished yet, M," Evie answers back. "But when it is, then you can tell me how great I am."
Mal scoffs, rolling her eyes and placing a hand on the doorknob. "I wouldn't go that far," she says, but Evie's laugher cuts off suddenly as Mal shoves the door open and they walk in.
The room looks like one of Carlos' improvised bombs had gone off; and while the mess isn't exactly a surprise, the fact that the boy himself is nowhere to be seen -and Jay is pacing and cursing furiously throughout the room- is more than enough to send a chill down Mal's spine.
"Carlos?" she demands. Jay grimaces, rubbing his hands nervously as he jerks his head towards the closet.
Mal frowns, striding over to the closet and sliding the door back. Carlos is tucked into the farthest corner, a pile of random objects, screws and springs and batteries scattered around him. His concentration is on the small black box in his hands, and he doesn't even look up when Mal calls his name.
"I swear Carlos, if you're making another explosive…," Mal warns, but it's only half-hearted because she knows that when Carlos' tinkering turns destructive it means he's one shove away from falling over the edge.
Mal sighs and backs out of the closet, but she leaves the door cracked enough to let in some light. She turns to Jay and Evie, who've both taken nervous seats on the edge of the beds.
"What is it?" Mal demands of Jay as she moves to sit beside Evie on the bed.
"One of the remotes for the TV," Jay replies, his lips twitching in brief amusement. "He's taken it apart and put it back together at least twice in the five minutes it took you guys to get here."
Evie giggles quietly at that, but Mal snorts in mock derision.
"Only twice?" Mal says. "He's losing his edge."
But inwardly she's simultaneously relieved and worried. He wasn't building an explosive, but he was definitely retreating into himself too much if it had really taken him that long; he could easily have smashed the remote to pieces and still have every piece perfectly back in place in half that time.
"He's not losing his edge," Jay retorts, rolling his eyes at her. "It's just that now we know the potion isn't going to work right away-"
He pauses to glare at Evie, who sticks her tongue out at him with a glare.
"-we have to endure another biology lesson with Kropp," Jay finishes with a grumble. "Not to mention our first of a week's worth of detentions."
Evie straightens and hisses so sharply Mal is reminded of a cat. Mal is no less startled, but reigns in her terror and channels her anger instead, standing coldly and towering over Jay as she fixes him with an icy stare.
"Detention?" she repeats, and Jay shrinks beneath her glare, his tanned skin seeming to pale slightly in the face of her wrath.
"Shit, Mal," he starts, then falters, tugging at the edge of his hat nervously. "Fuck, it's not what…."
"Not what I think?" Mal finishes fiercely. "Don't you dare say it's not what I think!"
"Mal," Evie murmurs behind her, but Mal ignores the girl's attempts to calm her and continues her relentless glare at Jay.
"P-please," Mal hears a whimper, and she turns to see Carlos hovering in the door of the closet, face pale and anxious as he stares up at her. "Do-do-don't yell."
Mal growls through gritted teeth, and she wants to be mad at the boy, wants to scream at him 'what were you thinking?', because fuck it all it had been him who'd started the whole thing. But she can't; not with him staring at her, all eyes and shrunken small, weak and vulnerable and fucking pathetic.
Mal swipes a hand tiredly over her brow, shutting out her view of the trembling boy. "Fucking hell, Carlos, what were you thinking?" she breathes softly.
"Hey don't take it out on him," Jay snaps, and Mal pries her eyes open to glare at him once again. "It's not all his fault."
"I didn't say it was," Mal replies, forcing her tone to remain even, if only because screaming profanities like she wanted would only make her head hurt.
"I only asked what he was thinking; because pulling a knife on an Auradon kid; getting detention…." Her stomach clenches painfully at the very thought of the word. "It's not exactly sticking to the plan."
"I-I-it's not dete-dete-detention like the Isle," Carlos whispers, edging carefully around Mal to join Evie on the bed. "It's with Fffairy G-odmother, so…if that he-helps…."
It didn't, not in the least, but Mal wasn't going to risk being the one push to drive Carlos to turn that TV remote into a detonator, so she forces herself to breathe. She tries for a smile, but knows it's more of a grimace.
"Just try not to cause any more trouble than necessary?" she asks, and Carlos nods sheepishly, ducking his head to hide the sudden flush of his cheeks.
Mal snorts and turns to Jay, fixing him with another cold look. "I mean it," she growls at him, and Jay spreads his hands innocently.
"When have I ever caused trouble?" he gasps. "Carlos is the psychopath, remember?"
"Oh c-c-c-ome on!" Carlos splutters indignantly. "I thought wwe were ov-ver this!"
No, Mal thought as Evie and Jay began to laugh and pester Carlos with memories. We're not over this. Not until they succeeded; not until she'd made Maleficent proud; not until they got the wand and exacted revenge on every single prince and princess who had cursed them to their miserable existence. Not until then, would they truly be over it. And Mal couldn't wait for that day.