Chapter Seventy Two
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths!
Another chapter for the record books! Honestly it's hard to believe we're almost to the halfway point of the characters reading Choosing Love. Soon it'll be them reading Choosing Home! SMH
Oh before I forget (and of course I'll leave a note at the next chapter as swell) the two scrolls with the blue wax seal are two chapters from LotusQuil's Adventures in Auradon. It's a fantastic read and you should check it out if you're able! :D
JaclynnM: We're actually not that far off, I want to say it's chapter 20/21 when Uma finds out everything in Choosing Love. And I'm so glad you're still enjoying the fic!
Katt Kiki: Hope you enjoy the chapter!
danifan3000: Leah can hear them but they can't hear Leah, though I'm sure that it'll be interesting to see them react to Leah's freak out.
Marcus Emrys: I won't lie, I chuckled at Cameron Bubbles and would like to request to borrow him? All credit to you of course, I just get to play with him :D
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Um…I want to say four? Five at the most! :D
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Yeah I agree, she was strict but she mellowed out by the end of Cinderella 2. Natalie…she's a whole other kettle of fish.
LotusQuil: They definitely are! The next few chapters are going to be intense! Of course Benny's making adjustments for Cotillion, I honestly think there's not a moment that boy's not working in some capacity. Lol, honestly why not just have it in one of the royal castles? Considering there are royal heirs as students… :D
CrystalKaroui: I think that's adorable and if it's possible I'll make it happen! And yeah Audie might just collapse in a dead faint at what's to come. Or there might be some slapping! Either or :D
Bluebird: Probably not but I will be watching it!
Unknown Person67: So glad you enjoyed the chapter! And I know this is going to sound weird but fanfic is how I take it easy :D Besides I try to limit myself to just four active stories at a time to avoid being overworked :D
Chocolate Addict: No need to apologize :D And yeah, I will be doing an aftermath fic like in my WAL series! :D Shayla, Locklyn, Brooke, Morgan are all OCs of mine who've been around since at least Choosing Love. Locklyn's parents are Madam Medusa and Gaston, with Brooke being her cousin. Jessica, the Captain, comes from the Jake and the Neverland Pirates show. Jessica aka Jess from Small Twists is Claudine.
Gutsy Guest: Hi! So glad you liked the chapter! More characters will be coming at some point, promise. As for Posideon not having his wife, that was my choice based on my knowledge of the Goddess/myths :D
smc-smfan1: So glad you liked the chapter!
Heroesweardogtags209: Oh yeah Natalie being there would be great but unfortunately that'd mean I'd have to write more of her than is already planned.
SaikoGoyangi: Oh I'm so glad that you're enjoying this fic! Breaks are in the cards for me coming up—I've got a vacation in September where I'll be out of the country and then another one in November. So I'm just trying to get as far in the stories as I can before the trips so I'm not leaving anyone without (no way I'll be taking my laptop overseas). As for Natalie going on the Isle…anything's possible! And no I haven't figured out brain bleach—I've been told that's called alcohol but most of the people reading are too young for that.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
"Anyone else hoping that this chapter's a bit more lighthearted?" Evan asked.
"Preaching to the choir there Ev," Rose shook her head as Rachel grabbed the scroll she'd be reading.
"Please tell me that's not what you're wearing."
"Wow, not even a sentence in and Audrey's being annoying," Phil Jr. shook his head.
"Phillip," Aurora warned.
"Sorry mom."
Mal sighed as Uma walked into their dorm.
"Huh," Phil Jr. said as Audrey turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Well I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. Sorry Audrey."
Evie had finally gotten around to cornering Mal into gettin a dress fitting for her Cotillion gown.
"…You still have your purple hair here right?" Audie asked Malinda.
"Why wouldn't I?" Malinda asked.
Audie bit her lip. "Well um…in my timeline you went blonde and wore the same dress and no offense to Evie but it works a lot better with the blonde hair than with your purple hair."
"I'm sorry, can you repeat the part where I went blonde?"
"Pressure from the press along with fears that the people would turn against Ben if they thought he was dating a 'villain' pushed you to change everything about yourself…almost like you're doing here. Minus the blonde."
"And did anyone say anything to your timeline's me?"
"Ben offered to cancel a date but other than that, if they didn't show it in the viewing then I don't know."
Malinda shook her head. "Your timeline's full of idiots."
Mal honestly didn't know how Evie had had the time to make her gown but she had—it was a blue and yellow strapless dress that was probably the exact opposite of her style which made it perfect to get people to stop connecting her with the Dragon.
Audie sighed. "Sounds like the same dress then."
"I mean…Mal's getting inducted into the royal court," Rose said hesitantly. "Wouldn't it make sense for her to wear the royal colors?"
"She's also Lord Hades' daughter and everyone knows his color's blue," Audie pointed out.
"…That's a good point."
Privately, Mal had hoped that Uma would be distracted enough by sparring with Harry that the fitting would be done by the time her cousin came back to the dorm.
"Really? If your fitting is in our dorm, I doubt I wouldn't find out about it," Uma shook her head.
"Seriously how long do you guys spar for?" Melody asked.
No such luck.
"Told ya!"
"No one likes a know it all cuz," Mal sighed.
"Seriously Mali, that's not what you're wearing are you?" Uma asked as she sat down on her bed.
"Since when do you care about clothes?" Celia asked Uma.
"When the clothes are going on my cousin and sound like they look horrible on her? I'll always care," Uma told her.
"It's either this or I'm going to Cotillion in my bathrobe," Mal told her. "No one wants to see that, now do they?"
"You'd look beautiful in whatever you wore," Benji said, pulling Malinda close to him and kissing the top of her head.
The dress wasn't that bad either. Evie had really listened to Mal and tried to go all out in terms of Auradon fashion.
"Well…at least we can say that Evie listens to her customers," Emma said as every one of the VKs were shaking their head. "Come on, Mal said she wanted to go Auradon in style and Evie listened."
Sure the colors were a bit...bold and stood out a lot more than Mal was comfortable with but this was the dress for the girlfriend of the king. No matter what Mal did, she was going to stand out.
Ben shook his head. "That shouldn't matter! You should be comfortable in what you're wearing!"
She had to smile though as she saw the boots Evie had designed. It was clear that the daughter of the Evil Queen couldn't resist a bit of the Isle in her designs as the heels were studded with faux spikes.
"Sneaky there, Princess," Uma chuckled with a small grin. Even the nickname didn't seem to be malicious as it usually was.
Not noticeable enough that anyone would comment on them but just enough so that Mal didn't feel like she was totally losing her identity.
Evie couldn't help but smile as she heard that, happy that her scroll self was at least doing something for Mal even if she wasn't helping in any other capacity.
She hadn't even brought this up with Evie whenever they planned her dress. How had she known?
"You can take the girl out of the Isle but you can't take the Isle out of the girl," Dizzy said with her usual face splitting grin.
"No! Just...no! Ugh Mal, this dress is an eyesore! I'm not a big fan of the prissy and the fru-fru but if you have to go out in something prissy, it can't be as busy as it is right now! Not to mention it clashes with your hair!" Uma exclaimed, bringing Mal out of her thoughts.
Evie frowned slightly as she heard that before glancing at Mal. "Yeah, okay, I have to admit…from the description of the shades of colors I'm using, it does sound like it would clash."
"Uma, tell that to Evie," Mal sighed. "I'm just waiting for this fitting to be over. I've got like twenty other things I have to do after this and right now I can't even tell you what one of them is."
"If you're so stressed that you're unable to remember your events, then you need to talk to Ben so he can lessen your workload," Emir said.
"Or get yourself an Emir who can memorize your schedule," Akiho added.
"That only works when I can see her planner, Akiho!"
Uma frowned slightly as she heard that but turned toward Evie. "Princess, you might be good at design judging by the sketches I'm seeing all over the place. But you're clearly not good at matching colors for Mal. What, is this revenge for all the smoke bombs we pelted at you over the years or something? Mal, take that dress off and get changed! I'll change that color for you!"
"Uma, pry into that!" Harry said. "Ignore Blueberry and focus on Mal!"
"Evie wouldn't do that!" Dizzy exclaimed, defending Evie. "She can separate personal and professional!"
"Uma, blue and yellow are the royal colors," Evie sighed and shook her head. "What other colors would the dress be for the event where Mal gets inducted into the royal court?"
"Hey this conversation feels familiar!" Neal chuckled.
"I don't care if the royal colors are orange with pink polka dots!" Uma exclaimed as Mal changed out of the dress.
"No, we're not changing the royal colors to orange with pink polka dots," Beast said as Chip opened his mouth.
"Why not?!"
"Because those colors clash horribly together," Lucas said, shaking his head.
If either blue haired girl was paying attention, they would have noticed that Mal put up minimal fuss over the issue. Something that was extremely out of the ordinary for her.
"Why do I have the sinking suspicion they weren't paying attention?" Sammy asked.
Sadly, they were in fact not paying attention.
"Of course we weren't," Uma sighed.
"Mal is not wearing something that is just going to make her look like a mess. If I have to see her in a dress, it's going to be one that at least looks good!" Uma declared, taking the dress and sitting on the bed with it, her hand and shell glowing dimly.
"The cap'n might not be invested in dresses but she is invested in Mal," Harry said.
Thankfully, transformation magic was relatively easy for her considering both her parents had experience with it—Ursula with turning Ariel into a human and Facilier with turning Naveen into a frog.
"Why? I'd just gotten the image out of my head and now you put it back in there?"
"Ah, I'd been wondering when we might get to mess with Naveen some more," Uma chuckled.
Tiana shook her head and looked over at Rachel. "Does it really say that?"
Rachel nodded and showed Tiana the scroll in its unaltered glory.
"Oh, I see you're right. Sorry Naveen, you're going to have to live with the image," Tiana said with a small sigh.
Changing a dress' color was child's play in that regard. Her magic may have been mostly water based but that didn't mean she didn't have a few other tricks up her sleeve.
Uma and Celia both leaned forward slightly. It was rare that they got to hear about Uma using their dad's type of magic.
"Orange and pink polka dots? Wait, are you saying my dress didn't look good?" Evie exclaimed while Mal grabbed her bathrobe and slipped it on.
"Why is that the thing you focus on and not the fact that she's doing illicit magic?" Audrey asked though her voice was noticeably less shrill.
"Also, we're not supposed to do magic here! Not without royal permission!"
"Thank you! Took you long enough!"
"Your basic design was fine, it was the colors that were a no go," Uma told her.
Rose nodded slightly. "Every designer needs a second pair of eyes and it's not like you're changing much."
"And do I look like I care? I'm changing the color on a dress, not burning down a building. Besides, I'm a Godling just like Mal. We've got to use our magic otherwise we'll have flare ups and that definitely wouldn't be good."
"Yeah honestly we've discovered that with all the monkeying around Natalie's done with Mal's practice hours in the scrolls," Akiho muttered and Audrey shut her mouth.
What? She wasn't exactly Natalie's biggest fan either, but a Princess never went against her elders and her grandmother had pressed hard for her to be Audrey's handler. Grammy was never wrong after all.
"Evie, just let her do this," Mal muttered as the dress changed from the blue and yellow to a single sapphire blue. "You know as well as I that Uma could do a lot worse."
"That is very true," Claudine said. "Considering the history between them."
"There!" Uma declared, holding up the now sapphire blue dress with purple sparkles shining throughout.
"Wow, that sounds like a beautiful dress," Alexandria said with a grin.
"Think you could handle another fitting Mali?"
Emma chuckled. "You two sound like it's torture or something."
"Sure Uma," Mal nodded. I have to admit, it doesn't look as garish since Uma changed it, she thought as she slipped back into the dress.
"Evie wouldn't make anything garish," Dizzy shook her head.
Malinda chuckled. "Maybe I was a bit too cruel with my thoughts. But it was a bit busy. A solid color or pattern might have made it a bit easier to deal with."
"Can you breathe alright?" Evie asked as she zipped Mal back up and fluffed out the skirt.
At least she asked this time, Audie thought. Sure it was cruel but a part of her could still remember Evie telling Mal that she could breathe after Cotillion in the second viewing. And she was just happy that this timeline's Mal didn't have that happen.
Maybe it was Evie's imagination but the dress seemed almost a little too big on Mal. But she was positive that she had the right measurements. She hadn't seen Mal a lot at meals but that didn't mean anything—all the VKs knew what it was like to go without food so it wasn't like Mal would starve herself if she was trying to lose weight. Not that Mal needed to lose weight.
Everyone frowned at the implication that Mal was losing weight.
"Honest opinion, what do you think?" Uma asked, looking over at Mal.
"I like the sound of it!" Celia said with a nod.
"Well thanks Lia but I think scroll me was asking Mal," Uma chuckled.
"Guys, you know I have next to little knowledge about clothes," Mal sighed. "It's covering my body and preventing me from embarrassing Ben at Cotillion. But I...I have to admit, it looks good. Even with my limited knowledge."
"You looked amazing at Cotillion," Benji said with a small smile at the memory.
"I think you might be a bit biased there," Malinda chuckled. "And this isn't even the dress I ended up wearing!"
"It's not?" Evie asked. "What happened to it?"
"You made one that was even better," Malinda told her.
"Good," Uma said with a small nod. "You should be in something that looks good."
"Evie always makes things that look good though," Dizzy said with a small frown.
Evie nodded but there was a small frown on her face that had appeared when Mal mentioned embarrassing Ben.
"Finally someone's catching that!" Chip said in relief. "Now ask her!"
A frown that Uma noticed as she rolled her eyes.
"She's not going to think that the frown's about Mal's comment but what Uma said," Elle sighed.
"Oh don't give us that look Princess. You have to admit that Mal looks a thousand times better than she did in the blue and gold dress," she said, having missed Mal's statement about embarrassing Ben.
"What's going on with my scroll self?" Uma asked with a sigh. "I'm falling down on the job here as cousin and as co-captain."
"Uma, come on, don't be harsh. Evie put a lot of work into the dress, especially with how busy she's been."
Harry shook his head. "Yeah I'm still not used to the thought of Mal defending Blueberry to Uma."
"Hey I'm not being harsh. She's over there frowning like I did something wrong. I changed the color, it's still her design."
Posideon shook his head. "I think you might be too close to the situation here Uma," he said softly.
Evie bit her lip as she studied the dress. "Mal does match better with what Ben's wearing," she said softly. "And I guess it is still a royal color."
"I'm just saying that orange and pink polka dots would be a lot more fun—."
"We're not changing the royal colors to that, Chip," Beast told him but couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips.
"Exactly," Uma nodded. "It's just not as busy now that it's not both of them. Besides, blue's Uncle Hades' color anyway. You really think anyone's going to give the daughter of a God any grief for representing her father?"
"Oh you've been reading the same scrolls as we have, right?" Ashaki said, shaking her head. "I can think of one person who would."
Ben sighed. "I just hope that scroll me finds out soon."
Evie sighed. "I guess you're right Uma. I got all excited about the fact that Mal was going to be a member of the Royal Court, I...I wanted to make a good impression. Finally drive Ben's coronation out of people's minds."
"Hey Evie, a good designer can see where they've gone wrong," Emma said with a small smile. "It's okay."
"I think we should focus more on the 'drive Ben's coronation out of people's minds' line," Neal said, crossing his arms. Yeah he knew Jay could act as a big brother to Evie but sometimes, little brothers came in handy too, or step-nephews in this case!
Mal frowned as she stepped down from the platform she had been on. "Are people still giving you a hard time about that Evie? That was what? Four months ago?"
"Maleficent cursing Aurora was over twenty years ago and some people still won't let it go," Phillip muttered, shooting a look over at Leah's 'cell'. And yes, she was still unconscious.
No, no one cared.
"People have long memories here," Evie said with a small shrug. "It's okay. Audrey's finally stopped spray painting the word 'traitor' on my locker so that's a start at least."
"You knew it was her?"
"She used bright pink spray paint Mal. Who else could it be?"
"As much as I can't believe I'm saying this…Ariana likes pink too," Phil Jr. said with a small sigh. "I mean we all know it's Audrey but your scroll selves don't have much in the way of proof other than circumstantial evidence."
Aurora couldn't help but smile as she heard her son. She knew it couldn't have been easy to defend his sister.
Mal nodded. Evie had a point there.
"Phil has a point though," Malinda said. "Even though we know it's Audrey, I didn't know that at the time and shouldn't have just assumed. I…I was no better than Leah there and I apology Audrey."
Audrey stared in shock. "I…you were right though. No need to apologize right?"
"Just because I ended up being right doesn't mean I had the right to just assume it was you," Malinda said. "If the tables were turned, I know I wouldn't have enjoyed being thought of like that without proof."
"Sleeping Brat sounds like she still needs to be taken down a peg," Uma muttered. "A good smoke bomb or five should do it."
"Please film it," Akiho muttered under his breath so his parents wouldn't hear.
Hey, she may hate the ground Evie walked on but she was the only one who got to mess with the bluette. Her and Harry. Well and Mal but it didn't seem that was the case anymore.
Persephone sighed. "Well…at least it's progress?"
"It doesn't matter," Evie sighed. "Besides this is Mal's dress fitting. The attention should be on her."
Malinda shook her head. "E, if you're under our protection then it does matter."
"Evie, the attention's going to be on me throughout Cotillion," Mal told her. "If someone's giving you a hard time, tell us. We're your roommates. If we can't help you, who can?"
You know that was some smart advice, past me. Why didn't you take it yourself? Malinda thought with a small sigh. Benji gently rubbed her back as if guessing where her mind had gone.
Evie gave Mal a small smile. "Seriously M, it's okay. But thank you."
"M?"
"No matter the timeline, something's just don't change," Audie chuckled. "Evie calls Mal 'M' in my timeline too."
"Too much? I just—."
Mal chuckled. "No I like it. I just didn't expect it from you Evie. Besides, it's not like my name's that hard to say. It's three letters."
"Mine's six letters but people still like calling me 'Hads'," Hadie chuckled.
"Because everyone should have a nickname!" Dizzy told him. "Besides, would you rather I use Celia's nickname of 'flame top' for you?"
"I'll pass. It just doesn't sound the same coming from you Diz."
"Seven if someone's irritated at you, Malinda," Uma chuckled. "So is it a 'yes to the dress' as those ridiculous programs like to say?"
Mal, Jay, Harry, and Hadie looked between Uma and Malinda in shock.
"When did she start watching those types of programs? Who is that and what have they done with Uma?" Mal asked.
"She and Harry liked laughing at the pretentiousness so that's why they watched them," Malinda said.
"That makes more sense!"
"Wait, and who?" Harry exclaimed as Harriet and CJ laughed.
Mal nodded. "It's a yes," she said with a small chuckle.
"Good. That being said, I think we can bring this fitting to a close."
"Oh thank Gods! I miss my normal clothes!" Mal exclaimed, causing both Uma and Evie to chuckle.
"We miss them too! Get out of this Boreadon look and go back to your leather," CJ said, shaking her head.
"Go get changed and I'll put this dress back into the garment bag," Evie told Mal as Mal shed the dress. Mal nodded and scurried into the bathroom. Uma sighed as Evie put the dress away.
"Cue the tension…" Evan said in a dramatic whisper.
Rose rolled her eyes. "You've been spending too much time around Akiho and Emir."
"No such thing!"
"At least that's taken care of," she muttered. She may not have been the biggest fan of dresses but she knew it was at least important for Mal to look nice for Cotillion.
Benji shook his head. "Mal could have shown up in her paint splattered jeans and her leather jacket and I'd still think she looked beautiful."
"Like I said...I may have gotten a bit overzealous with the color choices," Evie said as she zipped up the garment bag and hung it up. "Your color choices suit her more."
"Thank you," Evie said as she looked over at Uma and bit her lip. "I…I want to get this right."
Uma sighed. "You're good at what you do princess. I'll readily admit that even if I don't want to. But your ability to match dress colors with hair colors needs some work. Did Mal pick the yellow and blue or did you pick it because they were the royal colors?"
"And she can learn," Posideon said. "No one's the best the first time they've done something after all and even doing something for a few months still leaves room to grow."
Evie sighed. "It was...heavily suggested at the last Cotillion meeting. I had asked Mal what she wanted but she said she didn't care. Though she then ran off to another meeting so she probably wasn't even listening to the question."
"By 'heavily suggested', why do I have a sinking feeling Natalie was the one who decided on those colors?" Jasmine sighed.
"Because you've been listening to the same scrolls as we have," Cinderella sighed as well.
"Just because it was 'heavily suggested' doesn't mean you make the dress both colors or at least learn what compliments things like skin tones and hair colors, particularly when the girl that's going to be wearing it has purple hair!"
Elsa nodded. "She's right. I was fortunate enough to be able to design my own clothes with my ice powers but I'm sure my hair and pale complexion drove designers to the brink of drink when I was younger. Anna was lucky, her red hair and slightly darker complexion allowed her clothes to not wash her out in the family portraits."
"Uma, you don't think I didn't have at least a thousand sketches with swatches and everything? That was the one that came out looking the best."
"Did you sleep?" Akiho asked.
Uma sighed. "Then you disregard that advice as the designer and put her in a single color. Either blue like we've done or yellow. Honestly, I don't know why I'm giving you this advice. Maybe it's because Mal's insisting you design her clothes and as the Gods as my witness I'm going to make sure Mal at least looks good if she has to dress all prissy."
Evie sighed. "Now that you've done it, it seems so simple that I don't know why I didn't think of it in the first place."
Evie nodded before turning back to her sketchbook.
"Oooh, are you going to show us some of your designs Evie?" Dizzy asked, perking up.
"I um...I have a design for you," she said softly. "For Cotillion. I know we hate each other and you probably already have your outfit planned but it might make less stress for Mal if we got along and she's under enough already. Just...um...let me know."
Uma glanced at Mal before shaking her head. "She's right…the Mal in the scrolls is on edge enough as is, and I probably don't have an outfit planned. Knowing me, I'd go in my regular clothes."
Uma raised an eyebrow as Evie tore a page from her sketchbook and handed it to her.
Well at least have a look. She's clearly decent at what she does, Uma thought.
She stared in shock at the sketch—there was no denying that Blueberry was good at what she did and actually managed to get a bit of who Uma was in the prissy design. The dress looked like it was going to be a teal blue that complimented her hair, with pale blue and turquoise sequins scattered throughout.
That sounds like the dress she wore when Uma came to Cotillion in the viewing in my timeline, Audie thought with a small smile. At least there'll be no love spelling Ben this time around.
Uma's favorite bit of the sketch, not that she would ever admit that out loud, was the note about gold and silver netting folded into the skirt.
Uma nodded slightly. "That does sound nice."
Everyone pretended not to notice the slightly glazed over expression on Harry's face as he tried to picture Uma wearing a dress like that.
If it was anyone else designing it, it might have looked trashy but Evie managed to make it part of both worlds. There was a tiny part of Uma that couldn't help but note that the dress might make her look like one of her mermaid cousins.
"Is-did you just give me a compliment?" Evie asked in shock.
Was that necessarily a bad thing though? Uma thought. After all, your mother is from Atlantica. You've just as much right to call yourself that as Elle and Melody.
"That's right," Ariel nodded. "You've just as much right to your heritage as all the rest of the family."
"Okay now see, this is fine," she told Evie, realizing she was still holding the sketch and pulled herself out of her thoughts. "Why couldn't you do something like this for Mal?"
Malinda sighed. "Because I was being stupid at the time," she muttered.
Evie sighed. "Mal requested we go more Auradon centric for her style. I may not be the closest in terms of our friendship like you are with Mal but even I can see the Isle centric aspect of her style suits her more. If anything, I could weave the two together but Mal wants pure Auradon and that's what she'll get."
"Don't be ashamed at being from the Isle," Benji told Mal.
Mal shook her head. "I'm not. No one can make me be ashamed of being from the Isle."
"Good," Benji said as he held Malinda close and kissed the top of her head.
Uma shook her head softly. She didn't know what was happening with her cousin but she was going to find out.
"And you did," Malinda said softly.
Uma smiled. "Well at least my scroll self finally seemed to do something right. But it took her too long."
"Anyway, thank you for the compliment," Evie said. "I think everyone's going to be happy now."
"Except Natalie but she never sounds like she's happy unless she's tormenting someone," Evan said.
"She's not," Audie muttered.
"You're welcome, though don't get used to it Blueberry," Uma stated. "I think so too—though I think Ben would be happy if Mal walked in wearing her usual Isle garb."
Ben and Benji both nodded as they heard that, causing Malinda to snort in amusement.
"She will be on camera!" Evie exclaimed, looking scandalized at the very thought. "Not to mention Cotillion is an extremely formal event. Lonnie told me that the Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to be engaged to be engaged."
"I'm sorry what?" Hades asked, looking over at Beast and Belle. "They're teenagers! And everybody's okay with this?"
"Hades, calm down," Hera said, shaking her head. "I'm sure the kids are exaggerating. With how modern times have gotten, no mortal would want to get married so young."
Uma rolled her eyes. "So? I'm pretty sure the whole kingdom knows Mal's an Isle kid and Benny wouldn't propose to Mal without asking permission first."
"I don't need permission!" Mal exclaimed. "Mainly because I'm not getting married!"
"You end up doing that," Jay snorted.
Malinda rolled her eyes fondly as she looked over at Benji. "I still can't believe you asked permission."
"I still can't believe they gave it," Benji chuckled.
"From your Uncle Hades?"
"How's he going to get that?" Herkie asked. "Akiho would probably tackle Ben the second he decided to go to the Isle."
"I was thinking more from me, Harry and Jay since there's no way the king could safely go onto the Isle. I think Akiho for one would have a conniption at the very thought of it," Uma chuckled.
"She knows you so well," Emir said, looking over to tease his best friend.
"I apologize for nothing," Akiho said firmly.
"But I suppose you're right about one thing. I didn't tweak that dress for her not to wear it after all."
And yet I ended up wearing a completely different dress anyway. Sorry cuz, Malinda thought with a small smile.
"She's going to look stunning at Cotillion," Evie said with a small smile.
"She always looks stunning," Benji said.
"Beast boy might just fall over when he sees her," Uma smirked.
"No but Harry almost did when he saw you," Malinda said with a smirk of her own.
Evie nodded. "He'll definitely need a moment after he sees her though I'll have to rethink Mal's accessories with the new color. The cape and the gloves aren't going to go very well considering they're pure blue and that dress looks closer to a purplish blue especially with the purple sparkles throughout."
"Evie, just a little bit of advice," Audie said, looking at Evie. "If you decide to add the cape this go around, I'd make it blue. I think you tried to go gold in my timeline and it just came out looking brown."
"Oh!" Evie said, raising her eyebrows in shock. "Of course, that's a good thing to note. Though a cape is a hazard isn't it? If you need to fight someone?"
"Look who didn't forget she's from the Isle," Mal said with a small smirk.
"Well, and I'm clueless when it comes to clothes so you can just ignore me, but can't Mal just wear her regular purple gloves?" Uma asked.
"But…you were able to tell that Mal's dress clashed with her hair," Dizzy said. "How can you be clueless when it comes to clothes but know that?"
"I have eyes," Uma said.
Evie bit her lip as she thought about it. "That could work...I mean she already has the purple hair so it's not like they would clash. Plus the dress now has a tiny bit of purple on it. Oh! I think I know something that would go well! Mal's new teardrop necklace that Ben gave to her the other day! She just showed it to me! It's absolutely gorgeous, Ben had great taste in picking it out. The center has a purple gem, my money's on amethyst though. What other gem is purple?"
"It was actually a fancy sapphire," Malinda said. "Ben asked Doug to ask his dad and uncles to mine it, thinking I'd be wearing a purple dress to Cotillion."
"Well then see, good thing scroll me changed the dress then!" Uma said with a nod.
"You'd be surprised," Uma said with a small smile as Evie hurried over to the shared jewelry cabinet. "But ask Mal if you're truly curious. She'd be able to tell you what it is."
Malinda shook her head. "Evie and Uma, having a civil conversation about jewelry of all things. I think it might be the end of the world."
"Oh yeah that makes sense," Evie nodded as she pulled out the necklace. "Considering her father's the God of Gems after all."
"…I like you."
Evie nodded, though she was still shocked by the statement. "Thank…thank you Lord Hades."
"Hey, anyone who can remember my other title gets liked," Hades shrugged.
"It is nice. Is it real? The gem I mean?" Uma asked as she looked at the necklace.
"I doubt Ben would give Mal a necklace with a fake gem," Chip said.
Malinda chuckled. "You know him well. It was real, it's one of my favorite pieces of jewelry."
"Mal said it is, and I don't think Ben would have given her a fake," Evie told her.
"My kinda guy," Uma muttered.
"Good thing Harry's not there or he'd get jealous," Henry chuckled.
"I heard that!" Mal's voice called from the bathroom causing Uma to shake her head in amusement.
"Didn't mean anything by it Mali," Uma called back.
Uma chuckled. "Yeah Mali, Benny's yours. Blind people could see that."
"Good! Go ensnare someone else in your tentacles," Mal teased as she walked out of the bathroom, wearing some pale green dress with sleeves that looked more like butterfly wings than dragon ones.
"Um, I thought you said that you'd be wearing your regular clothes? Those are not your regular clothes!" Jay said.
"Shame. I actually liked that dress," Malinda said with a small smile. "The fabric's too sheer that it won't work as a maternity dress though."
"Maybe Harry?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Mal."
"Sure you don't," Jay said with a small smirk. "Not like you don't end up marrying the guy."
"Of course you don't. It's not like he's completely devoted to you or anything," Mal said with a chuckle.
Milah couldn't help but smile as she heard that. In a small way, it reminded her of how James had been in the early days of their marriage. She wasn't saying that he changed when the kids arrived but more that he was devoted to one, not two and then three.
Uma rolled her eyes. "He's just a good first mate. We've known each other since we were five after all."
"Um, seems like someone's misremembering," Mal teased. "You and Jay have known each other since you were five and he was six. You and I have known each other since we were three. I can't think of a time where Harry wasn't in your life."
"Uh huh," Mal smirked. "And the fact that he becomes almost like a guard dog if a guy who's not Jay, Hadie, Ben, or his shadows talks to you is completely irrelevant. Oh yeah and he almost killed Gil for pulling a leaf out of your hair the other day!"
"When doesn't he try to kill Gil?" Harriet asked with a small sigh.
"You know perfectly well that Harry would have found another reason to almost kill Gil. He can't stand him."
"Again, why do you hate Gil so much?" Macaria asked.
"Whatever you say Uma." Mal said, smirking in amusement. Ben had told her about the fact that Harry had almost killed Gil the day he brought them over to Auradon and it had looked to be over something to do with Uma. Though her cousin did have a point, if given the chance to kill Gil, Harry would probably take it.
"Thank you," Uma muttered and shook her head.
Ashaki's eyes lit up. "I've got it! He thinks Uma likes Gil! He's jealous!"
"What? No! Gil's a moron, that's it!" Harry exclaimed but everyone could see his bright flushed face.
Uma rolled her eyes again. "Just come tell us what thing you want with your dress."
"Us?"
"I second that!" Jay and Harry said at the same time.
"Hey I had to tweak the damn thing, I'm making sure you look good in it!"
"You know, Uma, for someone who doesn't dress up much, you actually sound like you've got a good eye for matching things," Alexandria said.
Mal chuckled as she walked over, sighing gently as she took in the teardrop necklace. "Gods, I keep forgetting how beautiful this is," she muttered, her fingers brushing over it.
Ben grinned. "I'm glad you like it."
"You just got it though."
"So?" Abby asked. "She can still like it."
"Ben's started giving me gifts almost every day. The even numbered days because he likes to say I'm 'even' more perfect than he thought. They sort've started to blend together," Mal said with a small shrug.
"Oh Gods…" Chip sighed, shaking his head. "I need to teach Ben in the ways of non corny pick up lines."
"I thought it was sweet," Abby said.
"But this one's one of my favorites..."
"So Benny's been spoiling you?" Uma asked with a small smile. Her cousin deserved the best after all and if she couldn't do the 'hurt her and you die' speech, the least she could do is make sure the guy who stole Mal's heart deserved it.
"You got that right!" Uma said. "And quite frankly, I'll still make the 'hurt her and you die' speech! King or not! But I gotta say, from what we've seen you're racking up some decent points Benny."
"Yeah," Mal said softly. The worst part was she couldn't spoil him back.
Benji sighed softly. "You 'spoil' me just by being with me. I don't need anything else."
He was the king after all and Ben was probably the least spoiled person there was.
"You spoil me with love Mal," Benji whispered as he held her close.
He could have had the best designers in the land create his suit for Cotillion but he wanted to support Evie's business.
Benji shrugged. "I'm helping out a friend and I have the best designer in the land creating my suit. Win win in my book."
People tried to gift him books as if to curry favor with him and Ben just went and donated the books to the Isle, stating while he loved books there was such a thing as having too many of them.
Ben nodded. "Any books that you guys particularly want?"
The only way Mal could spoil Ben was to make sure she didn't embarrass him at Cotillion.
Ben and Benji both sighed. "You. Do. Not. Embarrass. Me."
"Mal, you should totally wear the necklace at Cotillion," Evie nodded. "Uma had suggested you wear your regular purple gloves and I think those and the necklace would complete the dress."
"That'll look nice!" Evie said with a grin as she nodded her approval.
"And I can't believe I'm saying this, but isn't it good 'PR' or whatever to wear something your boyfriend got for you at an event he is putting on for you?" Uma asked.
"How can it be good 'PR' or whatever if no one but Benny, Mal, Uma, and Evie know Benny got it for Mal?" Hadie asked.
Mal sighed. "Well yes but you guys and Ben are the only ones who know Ben got this for me. Still it is nice and it would go well with the dress…"
Harry snorted. "Seems you and your sister share the same thoughts, Little Lord."
"So wear it," Uma said with a small shrug. "Look Blueberry and I are in agreement on this. How often does that happen?"
"Hmm, Evie, what's your opinion on Freddy?"
"I don't quite care for him," Evie said, shaking her head. "Actually I'd say I dislike him very much."
"There you go," Mal chuckled. "Something the two of you agree on."
Mal chuckled and shook her head. "Okay, okay, I'll wear it. And the gloves sound good..."
Even if it might remind people I'm from the Isle and make the connection between me and Maleficent, she thought with an inward sigh.
"Who cares?" CJ rolled her eyes. "It'll remind people that you defeated that nutty old Dragon anyway. And if anyone cares past that, they're idiots."
"Tell us how you really feel Ceej," Harriet said with a small smile.
"Mal's one of our Captains. She might not be the one I report to but she's still one of them," CJ said. "Besides most of the Boreadonians are idiots. Present company excluded. Well most of the company."
"I think that's directed at us," Beast whispered to Belle.
"Okay," Evie nodded. "And I'll remove the cape since you're going to wear the necklace. I think it'll be a bit much otherwise."
"It fits with a quote from one of the Auradonian fashion designers too," Ashaki nodded. "Whenever you leave the house, before you actually leave, look in the mirror and take one thing off."
"She speaks sense," Uma said, looking up at the ceiling.
Mal chuckled. "Uma, be nice."
"Hey, I'm nice!"
"You are," Mal nodded.
"Let me correct myself. I'm nice to people who deserve it."
"That's certainly accurate," Jay chuckled. "But then again, it's the same with me and Harry."
Mal just shook her head in slight amusement. That was her cousin. Ruthless yet loyal. Just like the rest of the crew.
"That's our motto after all," Henry nodded.
"Uma, are...are you taking anyone to Cotillion?" Evie asked.
"Why would I?" Uma scoffed.
"Steering into dangerous territory there Evie," Emma said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, Harry looks very interested in that answer," Elle nodded as Harry seemed to straighten up slightly.
Evie shrugged. "Just thought you might. I'm taking Doug."
"Hold the phone. Stalky? Why?" Uma asked. "He's not proven himself to be un-Stalky as of yet and therefore not someone you should be alone with!"
"Of course you are. Look I'm not one for dresses and getting all gussied up," Uma stated. "I'm only going for one person."
"Three guesses who that is," Kitty said, glancing over at Harry.
Mal smiled a little. "Thanks Uma."
"Who says it's you?" Uma teased.
"Oh you mean you're going for Harry?" Mal teased back.
"You know you opened yourself up for that one, right? It's like you lobbed one over the plate for Mal, she'd be a fool not to take it," Li'l Shang said.
"Why would I go for Harry?" Uma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "But he's going too by the way. He and Jay plan on going 'stag'. Whatever that means."
"Going stag means that he's going by himself," Ashaki said.
"Couldn't get a date huh?" Jay said, teasing Harry.
"You're going 'stag' too Jay!" Harry shot back, shaking his head.
"Yeah, that sounds like them." Mal nodded. "Jay keeps saying he doesn't want to disappoint the rest of the school by taking one girl."
"Jay did the same thing in my timeline," Audie chuckled. "He also gave Carlos advice on how to ask out a girl."
"Oh?" Mal raised an eyebrow.
"What did he say?" Carlos asked.
Audie chuckled. "Look like him."
"Oh! Gil asked out Macaria!" Uma exclaimed.
"What?!" Harry spluttered. "How on Lord Posideon's blue sea did Fish for Brains think he could ask out Macaria?"
"I'm with the pirate on this!" Hyllus said, his eyes darkening at the thought of someone dating his sister.
She hadn't even known the son of Gaston had wanted to ask out her Olympian cousin so it had come as a shock when she heard it on the gossip chain. Though Uma wasn't going to lie, it had been quite amusing to see Gil run from Hyllus and Herkie a few days ago.
Harry snickered while Harriet shook her head and reached over around their mother to gently nudge his shoulder.
"Tone it down, will you?"
Meanwhile, Macaria was giving her brothers a death glare of her own.
"Mom, dad, aren't you going to do something?" Herkie asked. "This hasn't even happened yet!"
"And now you know not to chase off your sister's date," Meg said with a small chuckle.
She would have backed up Gil no matter what, but she couldn't lie and say it wasn't funny to see Gil run from an altercation.
CJ nodded. "Yeah, gotta admit…Rats don't usually run from fights."
"No!" Mal gasped. She'd been so busy, it felt that she was entirely out of the loop in terms of the gossip chain. "And what did she say?"
"Good question. Very good question!"
"Shut it Hyllus!"
"You're my little sister Macaria—."
"And I'll date who I want to date with no input from you or Herkie!"
"Yes according to Harry! He spent about three hours ranting about what she saw in Gil because he's, and these are Harry's words, not mine, dumber than a sack of rocks."
Macaria glared at Harry. "If your'e going to act like that, then 'what I see in him' is none of your business. Cut Gil some slack, he's a good guy from what we've read and he might be smarter than you think!"
"Carlos wants to ask out Jane," Evie said as she started to put some materials away, cutting into the conversation and preventing Mal from making a comment.
Jane flushed as she and Carlos looked at each other before looking away. She wasn't going to lie, going to Cotillion with him wouldn't be that bad.
He was certainly attractive…she had to wonder what his scroll counterpart saw in her. She was just a plain Jane after all.
"It's cute."
Yeah…she is, Carlos thought before shaking his head. He was under the protection of the Rats, he knew their rules. No flirtationships for under fifteens, so it'd be easier to not even have those thoughts
Mal couldn't help but smile slightly at that. Carlos was really growing up.
Carlos flushed slightly. "Um…thanks. I guess?"
"DeVil? On a date?" Uma frowned as she leaned against her bedpost. "Seems weird."
"He's fifteen," Evie pointed out. "It's not like he's five or anything."
"Yeah. Still seems weird though."
Evie shrugged with a small smile.
Milah smiled softly as she glanced at her three kids. "I get what Captain Uma means…it's weird to think of a person you know being older when you have a picture of them in your mind."
"At least we know Jane," Mal pointed out. "Could be worse. Carlos could be asking out a girl we never met."
"And it concerns us why?"
"Because unless something's changed since we left the Isle, Carlos is still under our protection."
"Oh...right..."
Mal shook her head and gave Uma a look. "Just because we're not not the Isle anymore doesn't mean our protection stops. You know that."
Mal chuckled. "Not that Carlos really needs it anymore, being off the Isle. He's really come into his own now that he's away from his mother. At the very least he's not cowering behind Jay or Gil anymore."
Everyone who was sitting near Carlos shot him a smile or grin as they heard that.
"True."
"Sometimes it's hard to believe we're not on the Isle anymore," Mal said softly. "Even after all this time…"
"Well it's only been a few months," Phobeus said. "It's only natural that it'd be a bit of a transition after years of living in one place."
"You're telling me?" Uma shook her head. "There are days I'll think 'oh I'll stop by the clubhouse' and then remember the clubhouse is on the Isle."
Mal chuckled a little at that.
"You're probably not the only one," Harry said.
Evie shrugged. "I haven't thought about it to be honest. Now that I have my dad back, I...I'd rather focus on him."
"And you should," Snow White said with a small smile as she looked over at Evie.
Mal wasn't really all that surprised. Even when they were on the Isle, Evie wasn't really considered to be an 'Isle kid'. She'd been raised to be royalty after all.
Evie winced slightly as she heard that.
Malinda sighed. "That was meaner than it was meant to be. Sorry Evie."
"Seriously Princess?" Uma asked, rolling her eyes. "You don't ever think about the Isle? Not even about your mom? I mean, I know my mom doesn't care about me and I still think about her sometimes."
"Do you?" Jay asked as he looked over at Uma.
Harry bit his lip. He understood where Uma was coming from—even though he'd given up on him, he still thought about his father sometimes.
Evie sighed. "As far as my mother knows, I'm doing what she asked me to do. Find a prince and marry him."
"And instead you're dating Stalky," Uma muttered.
"Last I checked, you were dating Dopey's kid," Uma pointed out. "He's not much of a prince."
"Even Anthony would be more of a Prince than Stalky," Uma said firmly.
"I know that, and you know that, but my mother doesn't need to know that," Evie sighed. "Besides, I'll think about Dizzy sometimes but it's...it's painful."
Dizzy bit her lip and went over to Evie, giving her a hug because the last thing she wanted was to think about Evie hurting because of her.
"We'll get Dizzy off the Isle," Mal promised. "Ben's working to get more kids off the Isle. I know Harry's been chatting his ear off to get Harriet off that hellscape of a rock."
Harriet shook her head. "It's sweet Harry but CJ deserves to get off the Isle more than I do."
"You're a VK just the same as us, Harriet," Harry said firmly.
She looked over at Uma, as if to convey the fact that she was fighting hard to make sure Celia was the next off the Isle as well.
"I know you are Mali," Uma said softly. "Cause I know my scroll self's fighting just as hard."
"We'll get the kids off Mali," Uma said softly, as if knowing what she was thinking about. Mal nodded.
"Do you?" Celia asked, looking at Malinda.
Malinda nodded. "You and Dizzy were part of the next group after Uma's."
"Now, I don't know about you all, but I'm going to go find Harry. Leave all this frou frou stuff alone, maybe do some sparring," Uma smirked.
Mal chuckled. "Have fun Uma."
"I always do," Uma grinned. "And you should be coming with me Mali!"
Uma chuckled and waved as she walked off. She was happy to get away from all the girly and prissy stuff. Even if Evie's design for her Cotillion dress almost seemed to suit her style. It really did look good.
Mal, Jay, Hadie, and Henry all snorted fondly.
"It didn't say I was sparring with Harry," Uma said, knowing what the snorts were for.
"It doesn't have to cuz," Mal shook her head.
"Of course, if you spar with anyone else, we'll know the world has ended," Hadie said fondly. "It almost has because of you liking the dress."
"That's scroll me."
"Still you."
But that wasn't who she was—and before coming to Auradon, she wouldn't have thought that this was who Mal was either. It was strange, to constantly see Mal without her leather jacket or her gloves. Her boots, as well, seemed to be a thing of the past; Blueberry putting Mal in shoes that more closely resembled the high heels that the Auradon girls wore rather than the more chunky boots of the Isle.
Uma shook her head. "If you're worried, then say something. You know something's wrong so do something," she muttered.
I miss you Mal, Uma thought with a sigh as she made her way to Harry's dorm.
"I'm sorry cuz," Malinda whispered.
"What's up cap'n?" Harry asked as Uma stuck her head in.
"You up for some sparring?"
Harry grinned and got up. "If there's ever a day I say I'm not up for that, especially sparring with you, assume I'm dying."
"Dear Gods, if they weren't deep in denial, I'd groan just for the mushiness of that line," Celia said, shaking her head.
"Then come on," Uma grinned and the two of them made their way to the gym.
"And with that, another bout of 'alone time' has begun," Jay teased.
"Shut it Jay," Harry shook his head.
Rachel chuckled. "That's the end of the scroll. Who wants to read next?"
"I'll go next," Eric said and began to reach for one of the scrolls tied with a ribbon. However one of the two scrolls that had appeared began to glow.
"Because of events that occurred in the scrolls, we thought it important to have you read things from another's perspective," the Fates said as everyone looked at the eyeball. "Events that transpired outside of the knowledge of Lady Mal or her compatriots of similar age but rather events that transpired in the presence of Lord Hadie."
"Not a Lady!" Mal grumbled and then perked up. "Wait…this could be from Hadie's point of view? Well then let's get cracking!"
Eric chuckled. "You are definitely Ariel's cousin," he said softly as he grabbed the glowing scroll.