Here is the next chapter!
I won't say much about what will happen with this chapter, just that a teenager gets her heartbroken when she finally realizes what the word 'betrothed' means.
Since I have finally finished the 'Raised on the Isle' series, I'm debating on when I should start my other story idea that involves Gil coming to Auradon and practically saving Audrey from a mistake she was close to making. It will definitely be the darkest plot I've imagined, but I think it will be one of my best stories, like this one.
What do you think?
As agreed upon, Mal went with her parents to Ursula's Fish and Chips restaurant, since that is where the mother-daughter duo spent of their time at. Little Mali sincerely apologized to Uma for what she did and promised she would never do such a thing to her again. Of course, Uma refused to forgive Mal and rudely slammed the kitchen door in the young fairy's face. Instead of losing her temper, Mal took a deep breath and calmly walked back to her parents, who watched the whole incident from afar.
A new rivalry formed between the girls that day. Uma always attempted to beat Mal at everything they competed in over the years, but Mal always pulled out in the lead with the grace and maturity of a princess and future queen. It was the reason why so many of the children sided with Mal instead of Uma.
In the first few weeks, they developed a sort of truce so their hatred for one another wouldn't interfere with their parents' friendship. Basically, when Mal and her parents go to eat at Uma's mother's restaurant, the girls would refrain from getting into dispute or confrontation. Of course, Uma would occasionally play a harmless prank, whether it be bumping into Mal's chair when she tries to take a bite or purposely getting Mal's order wrong. Every time Cruella joins the family of three for dinner, she scolds her eldest goddaughter for her petty actions. Since Mal enjoyed the food so much, she endured the tricks to join her parents every meal they had at the restaurant.
However, there was one day that Mal refused to join her parents for the weekly meal.
Mal, now a thirteen-year-old girl, had been waiting on her parents to get ready for their dinner plans when she decided to pass the time by watching the Auradon News Network. She had hoped she would be lucky enough to see the cute boy appear before having to suffer through another prank-filled night. You would think, after obsessing over that boy—now a teenager like herself—for over nine years, she would eventually learn his name, but that didn't happen—
Like seeing the teenager didn't help with her sour mood.
At first, Mal perked up at seeing him as soon as she turned on the television. Her smile was bright and happy, until she caught on to what the segment was about a few moments later. Her smile faltered into a quivering frown as her mood turned miserable. Angrily shutting off the device, Mal bitterly tossed the remote aside before bringing her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs as she rested her chin on her knees sadly. Slowly, she rocked back and forth to comfort herself from being stabbed in the heart with an iron dagger, figuratively, not physically.
In the next moment, her parents walked out of their room in their nicest clothing, having no idea what their daughter just witnessed.
"Baby girl, are you ready?" Maleficent questioned while she checked the position of her crown on the mirror that hanged on the fridge—placed there since Hades enjoyed checking himself out while he cooked. "We don't want to keep Cruella waiting."
"I'm not going," Mal stubbornly insisted, tightening her grip on her legs. "And you can't make me."
Hades, finding the behavior odd, wondered, "Mali, what's wrong?"
Mal hesitated, unsure if she wanted to say anything since they would assume she's being a moody teenager. After a moment or so, she asked her own question, "Why didn't you tell me he was engaged?"
Maleficent tilted her head curiously as she slowly strolled to the living room to stand next to her husband. "Who?"
"That boy on TV," Mal snapped quite rudely. "The one I watch all the time? Why didn't you tell me that 'betrothed' meant he was already engaged to someone else? Why didn't you tell me it was to that obnoxious daughter of Aurora?"
Once again, Maleficent tensed at hearing the woman she watched over for nearly two years. It's been nearly seventeen years since the incident occurred, but it still feels like a fresh wound to the elder fairy. "We thought his parents would eventually call off the wedding since her grandparents are so difficult to deal with," Maleficent claimed. "When you are queen, you'll understand why we—"
"Why do you keep saying 'when you are queen'?" Mal interrogated as she stood from the couch, almost as though she was ready for a confrontation.
The adults shared a look, unsure of what they needed to say to keep the secret a secret. "Well," Hades began slowly, "you already know you are a princess here on the Isle because I am King of the Underworld. Your mother and I hoped that one day, when you go to Auradon—"
"I will never go to Auradon!" Mal shouted almost hysterically. "The King and Queen will never allow children from the Isle of the Lost to live in Auradon. Even if that prince wants to, he is already 'betrothed' to that prissy pink princess. He will never fall in love with me because he can't! That means I will never be queen."
"You don't know that, Mali," Hades argued calmly. "Maybe one day, when he is king, he will decide to—"
"It doesn't matter what he'll want to do because that selfish princess won't allow it," Mal interrupted forcefully. "The only way that I will be queen is if I become the Queen of the Isle, because I will never be the Queen of Auradon. That prince will never love me like . . ."
Maleficent raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Like . . . you love him?"
Knowing she said too much, Mal stormed pass her parents and into her room. Before either one could go after her, she harshly slammed her bedroom door shut. As soon as she did, a picture that had been hanging on that wall fell to the floor, shattering the glass and forming a crack straight through the couple in the image. The photograph was of Hades proposing to Maleficent, the wife's favorite picture of the two of them.
Hades sighed sadly at seeing the broken picture. "Let's give Mali some space," he suggested. "We'll get her something from the restaurant and I'll clean up the mess when we get back."
Turns out, the god didn't have to.
When the married couple returned from their dinner date with their friends, they found no evidence that a mess had occurred a couple hours prior. The broken picture frame was now sitting on the kitchen island along with the shards that fell out of the glass. The parents noticed one of the larger shards had a bit of blood on it and they could hear the sink running in the bathroom.
"I'll go check on her," Maleficent whispered so their daughter wouldn't over-hear.
After watching her husband nod in agreement, the fairy quietly crept to the bathroom door to see her daughter letting the water splash on her hand. Catching a glimpse of her mother in the mirror, Mal grumbled, "Cut my hand on glass while cleaning up my mess. Since it's the hand that has my burn scar, I won't have to worry about hiding this if it scars too."
Remaining silent, Maleficent strolled forward to turn off the water and wrap her daughter's hand in a bandage—since she is such a pro at doing so. After a moment of standing in the uncomfortable silence, Mal blurted out, "I'm sorry, about breaking that picture. I know it was your favorite."
"Don't worry about it, Baby Girl," Maleficent cooed as she focused on her task. "Your father's going to get a new frame tomorrow at the marketplace. He's hoping to find one that fits the picture better."
Mal tilted her head curiously. "Why is that one your favorite?"
"Because it was the day that I realized that your father was my soulmate and true love," Maleficent answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Which one is your favorite?"
"The one where Dad kissed you in the middle of the aisle on your wedding day," Mal answered automatically.
"And why is that your favorite?"
"Because Dad just had to kiss you when he saw you in that wedding dress instead of waiting a couple more minutes to become officially married," Mal teased to get rid of the remaining tension in the small room. "I wish that happens with me; a boy I like finds me so beautiful that he abruptly kisses me in front of an audience without caring what others think."
"Maybe it will be that prince," Maleficent suggested as she finished tying the bandage.
Mal scoffed with a shake of her head. "It won't be," she denied gloomily, "because he's already spoken for. I won't be the Queen of Auradon . . ."
Raising her gaze to look at her mother, Mal smiled sadly. "So I will have to be satisfied with being 'Queen of the Isle'."