13
Aurora frowned, looking over to where Anna stood and excusing herself to go to her roommate. She knew what she was about to do, and she needed to stop her. "Anna, you don't want this. Please. Don't do something you'll regret."
Anna scowled, trying to pull her hair up and out of her face where she had let it hang wildly, partly due to Mim's persuasion that it looked better that way. "Only thing I regret right now Aurora… is letting her into my life. I wish I knew how many strikes she has."
Maleficent came up beside her, looking at her and then away as she often had when she would ask for permission to speak during their meetings. It was, Anna realized her duty to give her that permission since she was the only other member of their group present. She nodded, waiting patiently. "I was in on it too. But it was supposed to happen here. At least there was time to figure things out if it happened before she even left. And for the record? Your sister was right. That dress made her look terrible."
Anna frowned, hurt but also understanding that her friend had done them a small kindness. "Well do half strikes exist?"
Maleficent stared at her, her eyes wide. "Half strikes? Like… you're still one step closer to being out, but you can still be redeemed? I wish those did exist."
Anna smiled. "We'll make them exist. Call a meeting for me. Tonight."
Maleficent pursed her lips, watching her. "Mim won't like you taking leadership from her."
Anna glared. "Well I don't care what she likes. And you know what? You shouldn't either. You're so much better than she is. If anyone should call themselves marvelous, it's you. Not her." She placed a hand on her mentor's shoulder, smiling at her. "I've at least learned that working with you these last few months. She's just mad. That's all there is to it. We don't need her." She walked to her sister's room, smiling as she sat on her bed and looked across. "We're inventing half strikes tonight."
Yzma stared at her, her eyes narrowed. "Half strikes? Anna, you can't get half a strike. And who named you leader to begin with?"
Anna smirked a little. "Well, I named myself leader. You know, since you're clearly not coming out of here for more than a few minutes. But I still remember the first meeting we had after I was recruited. I actually think about that a lot. You told us it wasn't going to be said you didn't do anything your last year here. Come on Yzma. Don't give up on that now. You're not the person I used to know, but I'm not the good girl I've always been either. So what if Rapunzel couldn't reverse it? It's just a spell. It'll wear off."
Yzma laughed a little, unable to help herself. "It will. Never. That's the design. But you know what? This won't stop me Anna. I just don't really feel like ruining the night for other people. I've experienced enough of that myself. So… why don't we see if your sister's friends will take us?"
Anna nodded and took her hand. "Okay. After the meeting. Because let's face it. They won't accept me as their leader unless you tell them to. The truth is Yzma, they're scared of you. I'll bet that's part of why this happened. People do bad things when they're scared. Ask Elsa later." She leads her from the room careful to take as many deserted corridors as she could until they reached the courtyard.