Hey again! I should've updated sooner, but I have been very busy the past week, but now I'm back with another chapter. Two other characters will be introduced today (though I don't know if they'll be important to the story - I'll let them decide that). But first, here are my responses to your reviews:

Kingson24601: Thanks for reviewing! Of course Ben is smarter than he seems, though everyone's a little different in this universe (example: Lonnie with sword). I'm trying to keep him as canon as possible, ust like the others, though it's hard sometimes with this concept. And no, she will not be watched by Lonnie because she's needed elsewhere, but she's found the perfect person to watch her.

PurpleNicole531: I'm guessing she'll try to do both - find the location and befriend them. We'll see if she'll want to become good. Thanks for reviewing!

pinksakura571: Thanks for reviewing! Of course Ben's not naive. And technically Mal is going with "my mother did this to me, I didn't want this", but it does look like that. She thought there would be difficulties, but not like this. I hate ti admit it, but he was right. Lonnie's reason for not being her guid will be explained this chapter.

jaleftwich: I can confirm this will contain Bal, even if it may not be too much present. I haven't decided on any other pairings yet. Thanks for reviewing!

Decembra1998: Thanks for reviewing! Mal and I don't like that kind of system either, but that's the way it is. We'll meet Doug later, but it wasn't him. They just took her bag, which was a standard procedure (so technically, the resistance took it away, not specifically Chad or Ben).

TKDP: She doesn't know yet, indeed, luckily. Yeah, Chad's being Chad in this story. He'll stay like this. The older man isn't exactly an OC because we've all heard of him... (hint: he appears in a Disney movie). Well, Ben technically told Mal he's the leader at the end of the previous chapter - though the real question is: will he stay the leadr when his father returns or not? Thanks for reviewing!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

Mal followed Lonnie through the resistance camp, trying to take in as much details as possible. The camp was bigger than she'd expected, holding more people than she'd imagined. The camp was built in the open air, in the middle of the forest. There were quite a lot of building placed close to each other, made of wooden planks and tarps on top to keep out the rain. There were all kind of buildings, but they never had more than one floor for safety. They all stood rather close to each other but they still left enough space for everyone to move around freely. They were walking to the east side of the camp. Ben had to be somewhere else, but assured Mal that Lonnie would take care of her before he walked away to another spot at the camp Mal didn't know yet.

"So," Mal said, trying to start a conversation with her, "why can't you be my guide?" It would not only be much easier if she was her guide, but it would also give her an advantage if she ever got into danger. Lonnie would know her better, might even defend her when it came to it, even if resistance members were unpredictable. Lonnie answered her question, but continued to look in front of her.

"I wish I could," she said, "but I'm needed somewhere else. I'll try my best to find you the person who can guide you best. I already have someone in mind…" Mal's first thought was about how there were apparently multiple guides and that she would get 'the best', which was good. The best guide might be the most loyal guy in the camp, of whom they'll never suspect to be a potential backstabber.

"Needed somewhere else?" Mal then asked, "What do they need you for?"

"I'm responsible for training and defense," Lonnie answered. She didn't go into detail about the specifics of her job and Mal realized why. She decided not to continue asking about it – she might learn the details one day – and instead focused on finding out how reliable her guide is.

"If you're not going to be my guide, then who will?" she asked. Lonnie turned her head briefly, flashing a smile at Mal. She had no idea why the girl would do that and decided not to question it.

"Don't worry – there are multiple guides, but I think there's only one person qualified and willing to guide you."

"Really?" Mal said, hoping the only qualified guide was indeed the most reliable and loyal person in the camp. Lonnie nodded.

"Yes," she answered, "Considering your background, I think there's only one person who is willing to guide you. We're going to him now." They didn't talk for until they found him. Until then, Mal looked around. The buildings in this area stood closer to each other, resembling a small village within the resistance community. At the end of the improvised road stood a guy against a building. It was Mal's guide – Lonnie pointed at him, saying "there he is".

When he turned his head to them, Lonnie waved at him draw his attention. The attempt worked, because the guy waved back and started to walk closer to them. At the same time, Mal and Lonnie walked towards him to. When they were a little closer to each other, Mal saw how the guy stopped for a moment but then continued, slower than before. She figured it was because he had recognized him, but she thought he looked familiar, too. That face, the auburn hair, she was sure she's seen it before, though she had no idea where.

Eventually, they had come close enough to talk. The first thing Mal noticed was that he didn't look at her with the same angry looks others had been giving her, though it wasn't a friendly one, either. "What is she doing here?" The way he said this wasn't too friendly either. The guy grew more familiar with every passing second. Not only had Mal seen his face before, but she also recognized his voice from somewhere.

"She recently was voted in and she needs a guide," Lonnie explained the situation. The guy nodded as he spoke.

"So you come to me," he guessed her intentions and Lonnie nodded, "Don't worry, I'll take her in." Lonnie started to smile again.

"Thanks, Henry!" She then said and Mal's mouth fell open, staring at the guy. That's where she knew him from! Henry had visited the castle once with his father and was supposed to be there within some weeks, too.

"You're welcome," Henry replied, sending her a smile. Lonnie nodded.

"Great! Well, I have to go now, so you two can get to know each other. Have fun, I guess." Then, Lonnie turned around and walked away from the two. Henry then turned his head to Mal, who still couldn't believe her eyes. He crossed his arms and looked at her, clearly unsure what to think about the situation. Eventually, Mal recovered and spoke again.

"Henry?" she said, sounding surprised, "What are you doing here? We all thought you were dead!" Henry simply shook his head.

"Dead? Where'd you get that from, my father?" He rolled his eyes when he mentioned his father. Mal nodded in response.

"He never found you, so he assumed the worst. We all blamed the resistance."

"Well," Henry responded, "the alliance helped me when I was most desperate." He emphasised the word 'alliance', reminding Mal that if she wanted to gain their trust, she had to start saying 'alliance' instead of 'resistance'.

"How did you get here?" Mal wondered out loud. Henry looked away and shrugged.

"To make a long story short: they found me after three weeks of poverty, hunger and dirt. They accepted me under strict conditions. I had to prove myself to be trustworthy, so I did. Well, not everyone trusts me yet, but I'm on my way to make a good impression. And here I am, guiding you." Mal couldn't imagine what Henry had to go through, because she hasn't gone through something like that herself. She had no idea what to say, so she just went with expressing her gratitude of seeing the Prince here, inside resistance walls and trusted by some (hopefully by the most respected resistance members).

"Well, at least you're here now. At least two of our kind got into the res—alliance." She corrected herself at the last moment. Yet, the look on Henry's face changed. His neutral expression changed into a darker one, a more hostile one.

"Our kind? Are you talking about villains?" Of course she was talking about them being villains, but the place where they stood made it hard to say out loud. She hesitated to answer, but eventually didn't have to because Henry answered the question, "Wait, of course you do. What else would you be talking about?"

"Henry, I…" Mal tried, but Henry didn't let her.

"Mal, I get it," Henry said "I have no idea how you got in here, but there must either be a good reason or you're such a good liar or magician. If you are a good person: okay, one slip up once or twice, they won't judge you. If you're not… they will find out one way or another what your true intentions are. When they do, because they will, the life as you know it will be done. We may be the good guys, but that doesn't mean we won't do anything immoral. If you do something evil and I can prove it, I will personally tell everyone what you did and provide proof."

"Wow," was all Mal could say for a while. Never had she imagined Henry capable of selling her out to the resistance if he had to. Then again, his background may play a part in that distrust. "Well, if you have to, then do it. I no longer want to be evil and I don't want to hurt anyone here." Henry looked at her, trying to find small cracks in the mask she'd put up while she said that. Mal didn't let him see past that mask, though it was hard not to show another villain her true colors. After a while, though, Henry gave up and looked away.

"If you say you mean well, I'll believe you… for now." Mal didn't dare to sigh in relief, for it would give away her position as a spy and that would not be okay. "Now, how's Evie doing?" Mal frowned.

"Excuse me?" After everything Henry had said, that question had taken her aback. After all this time, he still thought of her. Henry waited for her answer, but nodded when he heard her say that.

"As her fiancé I have the right to know how she's doing." He said it as gentle as possible, though it did have a demanding tone to it. Mal couldn't blame him: not only had he, too, fallen for Evie, but she was also promised to him on the day they met.

"She's doing well," she eventually said, seeing no harm in telling him, "She still misses you and can't find anyone else her mother approves of, but she's happy. She'd be much happier if she knew you were alive." But Henry shook his head in response and Mal caught a glimpse of despair on his face, gone as soon as it appeared.

"I can't do that," he said "We work best in the shadows. Everyone who joins is either declared dead or missing. If I told anyone, I'd endanger the alliance. I do wish I could let her know. But if she's happy now then I'm happy, too." Was he always like this? Mal didn't know, because they only met briefly when he visited Evie for the first time and that was months ago.

She was about to ask something when a young boy came running towards them. "Henry," he yelled and Henry turned his attention to the boy. He eventually stopped running. "They need you for an extraction." He waited for the answer.

"I'm on it," Henry responded. He turned back to Mal when the boy was running away from them again. "Well, you're lucky. You immediately get a chance to prove yourself a first time. Let's go." He didn't wait for Mal as he immediately followed the boy. He didn't run, but he did walk rather fast. Mal was just able to keep up with him, unsure what was going on.

"What's an extraction?" Mal wanted to know. Henry answered without looking at her.

"A lot of people support us, but don't want to join. Those people are often in danger of being killed for supporting us, but we can't let that happen. For their safety, we move them to less oppressed areas – the 'safe zones' – where they can continue to live without raising suspicion. We are going to make sure this goes without someone being killed on the spot." That's all he wanted to say about it. It took them five minutes to get to the alliance center. The young boy, a middle-aged man with a red cape and two older women were already waiting for them to arrive. As expected, they all stared at her and recognized her. At least the man was trying not to watch her with a hostile look in his eyes.

"Here I am," Henry said, addressing himself to the man in the red cape. "Let's go."

"What is she doing here?" one of the two women asked.

"She recently joined the alliance," the man in the red cape answered her question, leaving no time for Henry to answer the question himself. When Mal heard the voice, she recognized it, having heard it today - it was the man who led the voting. "Henry is her guide."

"Before we go," Henry then said, "can you do something about her hair?"

"What is wrong with my hair?" Mal then asked a little too loudly. There was nothing wrong with it. The only thing that could cause a problem was the color, but that was it.

"Nothing," Henry replied, "We are going to try and blend in there and with your hair color, that will be a minor problem. Philip, do you have a spell for that?" He was talking to the man in the red cape, whose name apparently was Philip. Philip nodded.

"I'll see what I can do," he said. He raised a hand and pointed it at her, then mumbled in an ancient language Mal couldn't understand. She impatiently waited for him to be done. Mal didn't like the fact that she had to change her hair color, but if it helped to gain the trust of the resistance members, she'd undergo it and ask to change it back later. Besides, he was practicing magic and she had to admit she was jealous because he was allowed to do it out in the open. Once he was done casting the spell, Mal ran her hands through her hair, seeing that it had turned blonde. Really? She thought. Out of all hair colors and shades they could've chosen, the man decided to make her blonde.

"Couldn't you have at least made it black?" She asked, "And why don't you have to change something?" The last question was addressed to Henry, who shrugged in response.

"With blonde hair, you look more sweet than with darker hair," he answered, "and I haven't come out a lot when I still lived with my father. They barely recognize me, wherever I go. Though there was this one time..."

"Talk about it when you are almost at location," Philip suggested, drawing the attention of the five companions, successfully shutting Henry up. "I'll have to send you now before they discover them." Henry shut his mouth, keeping quiet and giving Philip the silence he may need. He did whisper a short "Brace yourself" addressed to Mal before Philip started to cast a spell again.

Mal barely remembered what happened the next minute. Wind blew in their faces and everywhere, pressing her closer and closer to Henry and the three others. Her surroundings faded away and in its place came nothing but black. She eventually had to close her eyes, too, when the wind became too strong and tears started to form. She started to get trouble with breathing when it suddenly stopped. She stumbled on her knees and took deep breaths now she could. When she opened her eyes, she noticed they weren't at the alliance anymore – instead, they weren't very far from a smaller village.

"What was that?" she asked, coughing between words, turning her head. She saw that her companions took deep breaths, too.

"That," Henry said, "is the fastest way to travel without using cars, horses or going on foot. We're trying to improve it. Now, let's move before it was too late." Even if Mal wasn't supposed to be on their side, she admired them for going through that and being able to continue their way soon after as if nothing happened. On the other hand, if they continued to travel like this, it might be a problem to find out where the resistance had made its camp. She soon followed them and no five minutes later, they had arrived in the village.

It wasn't a big village. One long street and a few alleys and roadways was all this village had, good for about five hundred inhabitants. They didn't seem to notice the five newcomers. Wherever they walked, they had to be careful not to look too suspicious. As soon as they had entered, they heard rumors from the talking citizens. According to them, the Savage would come over with twenty goons and kill the person who had shown interest in helping the resistance. As they walked through the crowd, they split up: the young boy set of on his own while the two women continued to walk behind him, one of them pretending to be his mother (though, one of them could really be his mother). Mal and Henry formed their own group.

"We're looking for an older couple," Henry said, trying to make it look like they were talking about something else entirely, "The woman told us she has white hair and would be wearing a red scarf. Her husband is coming, too. When you find them, you bring them back to where we came from and wait for us." The remainder of the time was spent in silence, looking around for the older woman with the red scarf. But what Mal saw could complicate things.

Two goons were walking around. Nobody would recognize them because they were dressed in the same rags the civilians were wearing. Mal only recognized them because they could be recognized by the white piece of clothing, almost like a handkerchief, was laying on their shoulder. Mal had recently learned that was how you recognize the goons in civilian clothing. They'd take it off once they've found the person so nobody would figure out where those goons come from. But Mal knew. She could go up to them, have Henry arrested and have Evie make him talk while Mal could claim the resistance brainwashed him into working for them. For all she knew, Philip would be able to do just that. But if she did that, there still would be a chance at failure. She'd have only a resistance member, not the Fairy Godmother's wand. She had to stick with them longer, make them believe she was good and get the information when the time was right. But if so, there still was something she had to do.

"Don't look," she warned Henry, "two goons straight ahead. White piece of clothing over shoulder." Henry tried to stay natural, though he kept an eye on the goons. They didn't seem to notice the two resistance members in the crowd.

"I'll keep 'em busy, you go find the couple," Henry said and he took a right turn when they reached the next alley, making it look like he belonged there and said goodbye to Mal. She resisted the urge to indeed walk up to the guards and instead walked past them. Not much later, there was trouble at the other side of town, which was probably caused by Henry. She turned around to see how the goons ran towards the troublemakers. She released the breath she didn't realize she was holding and she started to look around.

She found them by accident. An older man and an older woman with white hair and a dull red scarf. They were standing in front of their house and Mal looked at them. They were wary, looking at her with a fake smile and extremely nervous. Mal figured these were the people she was looking for.

"Excuse me, are you waiting for someone?" Mal said, approaching the two. The woman refused to speak, but her husband did say something.

"We are waiting for someone to pick us up," the man said and Mal nodded. They were the older couple she was supposed to pick up. She put up her friendliest smile – though it was hard to smile friendly, even if she thought of all evil things that made her happy.

"I'm one of the people who'll pick you up," Mal said and she saw the look in their eyes change immediately. They were more than willing to follow Mal, away from the village and trouble a little further in the town. Through one of the alleys, Mal lead the couple into the woods and stopped at the point where Philip had dropped them off.

"Wait here," Mal then said, "someone will come to bring you to a safe place." Mal started to look around for her four companions, who couldn't be seen anywhere. When she turned her head back to the couple, they were smiling at her.

"Thank you for saving us," the woman said, "This is why we didn't want to give up hope yet." Mal had no idea how to respond to those words, spoken with gratitude – nobody's ever talked to her like that. She answered it the way she thought people usually answered – "You're welcome." – and hoped that would be good enough.

After she had said that, a strange feeling welled up in her, something she's never felt before. It was a good feeling, one that made you smile no matter what was going on. She found it particularly hard to name it, to place it between all other emotions she's felt. Since she had no idea what it was or why it was such a pleasant feeling, she decided to try and name the source. Was is the place or time? Could it be because of the gratitude in the older couple's voice and eyes?

She was glad she didn't have to think about it too much because the boy and two women on her team arrived. One of the women told the couple they were going to bring them to the safe location. The couple said goodbye to Mal before one of them took out a phone to warn Philip. Mal was surprised to see it – only the rich and evil could afford technology like that. She decided to ask questions later as she watched how a small tornado formed where the five stood. She watched the magic do its work from the outside and the whirlwind almost pulled her closer and into it. It stopped abruptly and when the wind was gone, the five were gone. Mal stared, fascinated by this fast way to travel without needing a car.

"Hey, Mal," she turned around, slightly jumping in the air when she heard Henry's voice. She became a bit angry – how dared he sneak up on her like that how dared he scare her. she didn't literally say that, but the words she used expressed those feeling perfectly.

"Don't do that to me again." she said and Henry crossed his arms in response.

"Am I hearing a hint of evil?" Mal shook her head when he said that. of course she'd said it in an evil way, why wouldn't she? But that didn't mean Henry was supposed to know.

"Old habits never die," she said, explaining it the best she could, "especially since I turned good just this morning. You can't expect me to leave everything behind and not sound a little evil once in a while?" She awaited his answer, could see he was trying his best to deduce if she was being honest or not. Eventually, he responded to her words.

"I'm still keeping an eye on you," Henry said, "C'mon, let's go back to the alliance." Mal nodded. For some reason, the pleasant feeling resurfaced. She tried to push it back, but it didn't happen. Instead, she distracted herself. One day, you won't have to feel it anymore, she thought. One day, you'll bring the resistance to its knees. You'll find the wand, you'll destroy everyone there and then you'll never have to feel it again.

She didn't contradict the fact that she may miss feeling that way because it was the best she's felt in a long time.