So, here we have another chapter :D

***The Market***

It wasn't often that Gaston Legume went to the market if it wasn't for his usual activities, which were mainly playing cards, and those never included shopping.

But that day neither Gilly nor Gabi could go for groceries since they were taking care of Laurette who had not been feeling well since the night before.

He thought about getting some remedies from Lady Tremaine, but as he passed by the salon, Gaston decided that Laurette wasn't that bad and instead detoured to his usual shops.

The former hunter saw some men playing cards, which almost never ended well for at least one person, and he didn't want to speak with them and tried to pass by unnoticed, but they did.

"Mr. Legume! Long time no see" He heard Hans say in a tone that could either be mocking or just his usual tone.

The auburn haired man was with James Norrington, one of the Stabbington brothers (Gaston could never tell them apart) and one of Hook's pirates (he could never remember their names except for Smee). It was just the usual people who played cards, either at his tavern or at Dr. Facilier's stand.

Nowadays, they preferred the doctor's place since the tavern's food had started to decline as Laurette couldn't cook and the girls were taking care of that.

(Gilly was not a good enough cook, and he would never hire someone else, they had to stay on budget, and they hadn't lost that many clients)

"Greetings" Gaston simply said and was about to resume his walking when another one of the men called him over.

"Why don't you stay for a little while with your friends?" Norrington said, and Gaston noticed that his voice carried a bit of alcohol on it.

He had always been a good client, drinking two or three bottles each visit, but the former hunter could never consider him a friend.

(Gaston had not had a friend since Lefou had fallen ill and got bedridden, maybe he should have visited, but his former companion lived in a rundown flat near the docks and his son said that he was well)

"I'm in a hurry" He excused himself and started to turn to keep walking but was stopped by Hans who stood in front of him.

"Ah, your wife is in her confinement* already?" Hans asked and when Gaston nodded, he added "So you'll be having your tenth child soon, maybe in a month?"

"Not that soon" He said after a second of thinking about the dates.

Gaston knew that his son wouldn't be born yet, he was sure that there were some weeks left before it was time. But he had to admit that the fever Laurette was having was not exactly normal, and needed to have her daughters by her side.

"Congrats" The Stabbington man said.

"Cheers for the once more father" The pirate raised his glass.

"Have you chosen a name yet, or is he going to be Gaston the Fourth?" Hans joked and didn't falter when he saw Gaston's face.

The former prince knew how to get on his nerves, but he didn't want to have a fight that soon in the morning. Also, he knew that Hans was prone to cheating while fighting and that Norrington would join the fight (which was never good)

"Thank you" Gaston said and rolled his eyes, "I haven't chosen a name yet"

Then the Stabbington man started to speak about something he couldn't catch on, and so Gaston took the opportunity to leave. He passed by many of the stands, mainly searching for liquor, and tried to haggle with some of them, which didn't work the way he wanted but still saved him a pretty penny.

(Lady Tremaine fees weren't cheap and each year that passed, she charged more for each birth)

He wasn't accustomed to deal with the vendors, so he simply accepted whatever lower price they offered after some discussion, he especially hated the goblins and the Stabbingtons.

Despite being fit at his age; he would never fight that family without back-up and a bit of overprice wasn't worth it, maybe he would have asked for more

He was about to return to the tavern when he saw his sons running behind, the one they called Mad Maddy and the Gothel girl. The four of them seemed to be in a hurry and hadn't paid attention to the angry vendors who were shouting at them for knocking down their stuff.

He would not have found that strange, he knew that all kids skipped school sometimes and there was nothing to do about it, had he not seen that they were going to the other side of the Isle.

That was not usual.

Also, as far as he knew, their gang didn't go there because of their issues with others who were there.

It had always been strange for Gaston to see how the children had formed their own way of keeping some order between them, with Maleficent's daughter being the one at the top of the food chain.

"We have to get there, now!" He heard Mad Maddy yell to the other teens.

"Maybe the other way would have been better" Junior responded without turning to see her face.

"We would already be there if someone wasn't taking breaks every two minutes" The Third said mockingly to Ginny who was breathing heavily and had put her hands on her knees.

The dark haired girl said something that Gaston couldn't hear, but he knew that she was insulting his son. Then Junior lifted her on his back while she mildly protested, but she let herself be carried away as they kept on running.

A good father would go to give them a talking to, but he thought that it would be good for them to learn not to go against their enemies unprepared.

Gaston knew that the young pirates were far more than the four teenagers, and he knew that those two girls weren't trained to fight.

(Women weren't good at fighting in general, but he had trained Gilly and Gabi to use knives, as they were the only acceptable weapon for ladies)

The man kept his eyes over them till he lost them and then shrugged his worries off.

It wasn't like him to worry so much about something so minuscule as his sons getting into fights, he wasn't Laurette to coddle them and freak after every fight.

He was turning the street, while managing not to get robbed by some pirate kids, they seemed to find funny how people reacted to them. When he bumped into someone and almost punched the person, thinking that he would be one of those Huns or pirates that seemed to be quite skilled at robbing people.

"Father" That someone said with some contempt.

Gaston would have turned the person away but decided against it, he didn't need an argument today, and he wasn't fond of getting stabbed for a nuisance.

"Gianna" He said curtly and looked at her too worn out boots. He almost wanted to say that he was no longer her father as she had decided to leave their family to live with other troublemakers at that silly project PH de Vil had started, "What do you want?"

The young woman in front of him shrugged and seemed to be thinking about something, then she said looking to the side "I was just wondering how is my mother"

He was about to tell her that Laurette wasn't her mother (any more) and that she knew better than to speak to him after being publicly disowned by him. But he decided to be as nice as he could be, he was in a good mood, and so he simply said "My wife is alright, my son will be arriving soon enough"

There was another uncomfortable silence, Gianna muttered something while looking at her boots and then suddenly looked at him while saying "Genna wants to visit her when the baby is born"

Gaston raised an eyebrow and waited for her to say something else, which she did after a deep breath, "Would that be possible?"

"Only her" He said after thinking about it.

Genna had been a good daughter and, even though she would never admit it, she had been Laurette's favourite; so it wouldn't hurt to have her visiting when her younger brother was born. Still, he wouldn't receive her back home, she had made her choice to live with Gianna.

He saw some expression on Gianna's face at his response, but she quickly recovered, something that he had to admit was worth admiring, and then she nodded stoically.

"Then, I'll be sure to send her to the tavern when the news reach or ears" Gianna said turned her back and walked away as swiftly she had appeared.

Gaston didn't need to ask how would they know, his eldest just always did, and Genna had a knack for getting the juiciest gossip first.

***Castle Across the Way***

The lack of servants was starting to really become a bother for Grimhilde.

It wasn't like she had lived well during these twenty years, but now it had become even more troubling because Evie was not there to do the chores and the girls that sometimes came to clean were sick.

At least Evie's pet was no longer around, Othello may have been taken in by that Legume girl who liked to rescue animals or died, and so she didn't have to think about its litter.

Also, she was starting to feel somewhat alone, though she would never admit it. Most of her knowledge about the happenings in the Isle was from the maids and their constant gossiping while cleaning or sorting out the left-over cloths Evie had left lying around the castle.

Since Maleficent had failed at stealing that damned wand, people at the Isle snickered at her, like they had done after she and her Evie had been banished for not inviting Mal.

She almost wanted to yell at them that it hadn't been her idea, that it had been Maleficent, and they would have succeeded had the little lizard had not fallen in love with Beast's son.

The former queen had her pride hurt when she saw the purple haired girl with the King, her Evie would have been a much better future queen from her upbringing, and she was of royal blood. But there was also some gratification in the fact that her sewing and designing lessons had come to some fruition every time they showed her creations in the magazines that the De Vil girl would bring sometimes.

The only ones who currently came by were Cruella, and her minions and her niece, and sometimes Jafar, when he was free.

Apparently, their alliance was strong, but Grimhilde didn't know how to make use of it and how to avoid them using her.

Not that she had much use of them these days, though she had been thinking about taking charge of the Isle and

There weren't many options to ever leave the Isle, not after them trying to steal the wand, and she was almost sure that the new batch of children that were taken to Auradon had a plan.

Sure, Hades' kids would try to do something, and they would have Persephone's help despite not being her kids, and maybe Yzma's girl since her brother had managed to escape once.

Zevon had become quite a legend among those who still had any hope to leave and conquer at least one kingdom, which were many of the youngsters, or those who were mainly curious on how he had done that. The boy had been in hiding since the day he was sent back to the Isle, not even his mother knew where he was actually at (not that she cared much) and it had been driving everyone crazy.

Maybe he actually was with his mother in the sewers, but Grimhilde wouldn't actually go and check on that or in anything that had to do with the outside world for that matter.

Instead, she was currently relying on the older Westergaard's gang to keep her updated on the matters around the Isle and sometimes outside of it, since she had never had a telly in her castle.

(Not that it bothered her much, especially when most of the shows featured her insufferable stepdaughter or some of her friends, and she had the magazines to keep up with Evie's life and her occasional letters)

The only price she had to pay in exchange for their information was lending the lower level's of her castle for their gang's reunions, and pretend that she didn't know that they were there. It was a fair trade, at least that was what she reasoned, since she didn't have any henchmen after the Hunter had died.

(He had been just a henchman, and all the same perfect companion during those first years…)

The woman shook her head to dissipate the memories that were starting to flood her head just as there was a faint knock on her quarter's door. She was about to tell the intruder to come in yet the person had already opened the door and was now standing on the doorway.

"Rude as always" She scolded sharply and added "Good afternoon, Ms. Rourke"

"It would be good afternoon, your majesty" The young woman said with a smile and a small curtsy, "I had to came here as soon as I could"

"Are there any news from the mainland?"

"Not yet, thought there have been some developments on who is going to take leadership in the Isle" Lila said walking towards the ex-monarch.

Grimhilde signalled her to sit down across her, and so the blonde did. Then she continued in a very paused tone "The new council has decided to recognize Mal as the Queen of the Isle of the Lost, all of them have agreed to send her a letter detailing the situation here"

Lila made a pause to see her reaction, and when she saw Grimhilde's poker face, she decided to add "They also have decided to wait two weeks at most for response"

"The usual time to receive a letter from Auradon" The royal muttered and thought for a moment before asking, "And if she doesn't respond?"

Lila shrugged in a way that almost made Grimhilde scold the young woman. She seemed to consider her answer for a second and immediately said with a frown, "I suppose Gianna and Hansel will go to war to each other, or them together against Edward Norrington or Hubert of Hearts"

The former queen blinked a few times as it had not been the answer she had been expecting, she had thought that they would at least consider her now that Maleficent was no longer available to rule the Isle. Or at least think about Jafar or even the Queen of Hearts.

The younger woman's words had hurt her pride, but she also needed to know her prospects.

They may be young, but they didn't have the same experience as her, she had already become queen once. And she had some allies that could be useful.

***Jafar Junk Shop***

Jafar was watching the news on the newly acquired (meaning that one of the Smee twins had stolen it for him) TV he had at his store when he saw King Benjamin delivering a speech about something regarding the Isle.

"The crown has requested the collaboration of all regions to help us continue the integration program" The monarch said with a firm voice in response to a question made by an annoying reporter. He seemed to be frustrated by something and Jafar wondered if he would be storming out, it wouldn't be the first time a royal did that, though he seemed like too much of a good boy to do that.

There was another question that Jafar didn't really listen, but the moment perked his interest when he said a glimpse of two of the Rotten Four. The king thought for a moment before answering "The first four are the example why we should continue with this labour, we all are capable of doing good, the Lady Mal and Jay would be better suited for this kind of question"

The former sorcerer snickered a little, the young king may be growing into his position, but he wasn't going to sway the nobles' hearts with such words. Something he had learnt while on his father's court* was that most royals didn't have much heart for street rats.

Then the camera focused on the future queen, the faery seemed to be bothered by something, and Jay, who flashed a smile.

He seemed to be doing alright. To be honest, Jafar had not thought much about his traitorous son since the Auradonians came for him, not even when he had the task of stealing that fairy's wand and stuff.

"I have been well, mostly playing Tourney and thinking about which university to choose" Jay commented to the press "There are just too many good offers but soon enough I'll make my decision"

His little Jalil didn't seem any different from Aladdin's son, who was standing behind Jay and Mal, and looked like he had been born and raised in Agrabah or any Sultanate.

"But he will always be seen by them as Jalil bin Jafar Al-Jazeera*" Jafar muttered "Not that he could ever return to the Isle, he is no longer one of us"

From the moment his son had stepped into that limousine, the boy was a lost cause as the task had been, despite Maleficent's encouragement and obviously false promises about ruling all the kingdoms and giving them power.

(He had some to get out of the isle but as things turned out for them, it was good for him to have his expectations low)

Still, he could not help but feel some pride swelling on his chest when he saw that his son was among those who were going to be scouted by some Tourney teams. He never called his son, but he liked to (occasionally) keep up with his life through Snow White's gossip show.

At least he was doing something for himself.

Unlike a certain niece of his who had decided to drop everything to join the Jolly Roger crew by marrying a second–rate pirate, who would not even show his face around the store after the wedding.

A mistake his own sister had made many years ago.

"I don't love him yet, but I think we can be happy together" She had declared the day of her wedding. Perhaps she could have, but the marriage lasted less than six months, and it left her with a tiny girl and a flat near the wharf rats.

Not that he could really criticize their choices of partners, his wife had not been the best choice either.

Saleen* had been one of the worst choices he had made, and that included signing up the street rat for the cave.

Who knew that not all mermaids were interested in living permanently on land?

He remembers his wife cursing every day that she lived as a human and how relieved she seemed to be dying. The only thing that she asked of him when she was on her last days was to burn her body instead of burying it.

They had spoken about throwing her body in the ocean, but Saleen had then decided against it. She didn't want to risk her remains being used by the sea witches for those rituals they tried to cast during the first years in the Isle.

At least his son had never shown any interest on sea despite having those damned eels as pets.

(He still kept them though, they were good company despite being fish)

Business was slow these days, not only because Jay was no longer supplying for the store, and he had not been buying much from the pirates, but for the lack of customers in general. Jafar knew that not many noticed that, unless they were vendors like him, and it started to remind him about the plague.

He shuddered at the thought and wondered how many would die this time if it was truly a new wave of grey sickness. The old vizier was aware that he wouldn't survive easily, as he had got into his years; maybe he would have had he still had some of this genie powers.

Sometimes he missed the magic on his blood, others the were glad to be fully human again. Still, now and then, he grabbed his staff and tried to use its powers over some annoying customers to no vail.

At least it gave him a few good laughs when people opened their eyes in fear when they saw the cobra in front of them with its red eyes glowing.

Those eyes were his key to power when he was in Agrabah, and they had been glowless for almost twenty years.

Until that day, the little fairy had decided to steal her mother's wand and had broken the barrier just for a few precious minutes.

He had not noticed the change on the cobra, Jafar had been more focused on seeing where Maleficent was going, till a few moments later and had almost used it on Cruella.

Sometimes he wondered if a little magic had stayed inside their jail and if they could be able to use it. However, he wasn't as crazy as Gothel, who had tried to use her blood for some sort of ritual over a plant, or Madam Mim, who tried to cast spells over people.

(The old woman didn't do so any more, Alameda Slim had taken care of that with some bullets he still had on his guns)

The sound of some faint knocks on his backdoor interrupted his thoughts and he almost yelled at the person. At first, he decided that he was going to ignore it but as soon as the knocking increased, he opened the door tiredly.

"Who?"

"Peace be upon you, uncle*" Jayda greeted him without a look as she entered the store as if she owned it.

Jafar was about to remark that he had not invited her in but noticed that she was carrying a basket. He would never turn down food, even if it came from the Jolly Roger.

"Are Lagan and Derelict doing well?" The young woman asked as she unloaded the groceries, which seemed to still be good, and Jafar wondered why he was being given them.

"I suppose, they are getting larger" He said looking at their tank, they had indeed grown since Jalil had left. Not wanting to have her there for long, Jafar asked in an almost sweet tone, "How is married life treating you?"

His niece seemed annoyed at the question and simply responded, with a shrug and a sniff to the air "There is not much to tell though people like to stick their noses where they should not"

"It's just natural that a relative would want to know about his newly married niece"

Jayda seemed thoughtful for a moment and stopped her task, then she continued absent-mindedly "Sammy is good enough, his father is the nicest man ever to exist, and the twins are a handful"

"Hook?"

She smirked a little before responding, "For some reason he has been somewhat sober these days, though it may not be voluntary"

That perked Jafar's interest, he had known that less cargo had arrived these few weeks, but Captain Hook was not one to skip his daily bottle.

"Have the ships been delayed?" He inquired curiously and hoped Jayda caught the underlying question, "Is this why you have brought me the basket?"

"Not only delayed, they are not full any more" Jayda said with a wince, "Sometimes I wonder if they are trying to slowly kill us from starvation or illness"

Jafar knew that Nasira's death could have avoided had she had her herbs and other medicines around. Also, he knew that Jayda would always hold that against Auradon. Not that he would blame her, he held a grudge against the so good Auradonians.

"Try not to eat all of these at once, I don't know when we will have more"

Even if they were family, Jafar knew that she was not doing this from the kindness of her heart (she never did have much of that). What would be the price? And when would she be asking something in return?

The former vizier noticed that she was eyeing discreetly the staff.

*** Tremaine Château***

Anastasia was never close to her older niece, as Diana had already developed a dislike of her by the time she was sent to the Isle, and that had never changed.

But that didn't mean that she would turn Diana away when she needed help.

"Aunt" Diana greeted with an expression Anthony would have called a poker face, but Allana would say that she was not even good at it and Anya would have simply laughed.

"Diana" She simply responded as she couldn't shake her astonishment at having her oldest niece speaking directly to her.

Her amazement was also for the fact that she was there so soon, she had been there around a week ago if her memory was good enough.

(Anastasia had stopped dissociating most of the time since Anthony had gone to Auradon, she didn't know why, but she was mostly "here" now)

Drizella's oldest daughter had stopped sleeping regularly at their home around the time she was sixteen, not that someone would blame her, and having a friend in Gianna Legume had been good for her.

"I'm here to ask for a favour" The young woman muttered, but it was loud enough for Anastasia to hear. She first looked down to the floor, but afterwards she stared up to her aunt's eyes "I know that you are the only person I can ask, aunt"

Diana was not gorgeous, but she had striking blue eyes, and so she had many young men after her, even if Drizella would question why.

That had made her Lady Tremaine's favourite granddaughter, as one advantageous marriage could change their position in the Isle. But her allure had become a problem when the young woman had started to pit her suitors against each other just to have some enjoyment at seeing them fight.

And it had almost made them lose the salon when one fight escalated beyond what everyone had been expecting.

Not that it surprised Anastasia when she saw that the two boys involved were Harald Westergaard and Vincent Stabbington, those two were what one would call hotheaded troublemakers.

(Now, Harald was more interested on Drisha for some reason)

The little incident had earned her being thrown out from the Château, by her mother, and being almost totally cut out of the family, by Lady Tremaine. Still, both expected her to keep working at the salon.

And so, she appeared from time to time, mostly to take whatever money she could get and get yelled by her mother that she wasn't her daughter any more.

No one in the family knew where she had been living all this time. Though Anthony may have had an idea, nevertheless, he never did reveal what he knew about the matter.

Anastasia used to think that their mother was the worst, apparently Drizella could be more dreadful. At least Lady Tremaine had loved their daughters once, or at least enough to give them what could be the best education she could give them with their little fortune.

"Which kind of favour?" The red haired woman asked after a moment. Then she pointed out, "It's not your way to ask for something"

Diana seemed to be pensive for a quick moment, but then she shrugged, "This time I can't do it alone" There was a pause, and she seemed to hesitate "And I know I haven't been the best family member, but as I said, you are the only one I can ask"

Then she huffed and lifted her upper jumper a little, and Anastasia blinked a few times before querying, "Are you-?"

"Yes" She pressed her lips on a thin line, "That's why I could only ask you"

"Is Vincent the father?" Anastasia asked in a whisper, she knew that if Drizella knew that…there would be hell in earth.

The Tremaine never quite liked the Stabbington and avoided doing business with them, though they weren't as bad as the pirates from the east side.

The young woman nodded and assured her "He is, we have been together for a while despite whatever Harald says" She scoffed "Not that it would matter, mother has always been keen on having one of us with one of the Westergaard, maybe my little sister will get my leftovers"

Anastasia resisted the urge to chide her, and instead she offered, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

Tea had always been a good start for conversations and a mean of having someone to tell what was bothering them, even if they never actually drank it.

"No, thank you" Diana turned down in a tone that reminded her of her own childhood lessons, it was just the proper way to redirect a conversation. Then she said "I'm almost seven months, give or take, that's why I haven't been around that much… Vincent has fallen ill, I'm worried that I will too"

"Are you asking to stay here?" Anastasia interrupted in surprise.

"No, I have my own place thanks to…a friend who has recently married" Diana replied with a strange expression. She seemed to think for another moment and then explained "I may need your help when the baby is born, you may know that I haven't learned anything about birthing from mother or Lady Tremaine"

There was a silence.

Anastasia was still at awe about her niece having a child and her sister becoming a grandmother. She knew that if Drizella knew about this, the cruel woman would lose her mind and would probably take the anger out on her other daugthers.

"Will you be able to help?" Diana queried, trying to make eye contact with the older woman, who just gulped a little before nodding. The younger Tremaine sister couldn't send her away, so she reaffirmed her answer "Of course"

Diana gave her one of those rare smiles one saw very scarse times in life and Anastasia knew she would treasure it for she just noticed a grey spot on her niece's hand.

Chapter notes:

*Confinement

* In Once Upon a TIme, Jafar was the ilegitimate son of the SUltan of a city near Agrabah but he was treated as any servant and afterwards he becomes the apprentice of a sorcerer. Here, the same kind of happened.

*Saleen was a mermaid and an enemy of Jasmine, she was happy enough at the sea but she turned briefly into a human just to mess with Aladdin. Since Jay's pets are eels, she seemed a fit choice for his mother.

*It's the usual greeting in Arabic countries, which are the inspiration of Agrabah.

Well, thanks to everyone reading and those who leave kudos and comments. Please comment if you liked it and if you have any suggestion.

See you next time :D, feel free to read my other stories.