Chapter Nineteen
A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else is owned by either Disney or the Greek Myths.
Brain, do we have to fire off the chapters? Why yes Ginnyrules27 otherwise you won't be able to actually focus on anything else throughout the day. …I hate that you're right.
As always thank you so much for your continued support for this story!
Ghrumfwggrvjdafbhs: Thank you so much!
61394: That's an excellent point!
Urmimala Hazra: That's right! And yep, Carlos sure is growing a spine. As for Hadie, it almost seems cruel to have him leave for those two chapters. At least Mal can explain herself to him. Of course you can call me Gin! And I'll see about bringing Abigail in—I've been toying with the idea tbh!
Marcus Emrys: I actually liked the joke! And yeah, I'm sorry! I should have mentioned that it was Triton's wife Athena and not the Goddess Athena Poseidon was talking about.
Tracie Adams: I can definitely see about having Mal and Hadie do a little magic!
MarvelGirl2005: Ask and you shall receive!
shortanamx: Glad you liked the chapter!
jedblack1997: I think the only AK who wouldn't join is Audrey lol!
quil . theimperial: That's not a bad idea! And yeah, I'm doing the whole series!
darkpegasuzz: Glad you liked the chapter!
Anonymous Reader: I understood that reference! :D Hey, Hades may have to deal with that but he can still hug his daughter something Beast can never do. Sort of a grass is greener moment. And yep, I can see your reviews! :D
Guest: Yep, she really is!
danifan3000: Well I mean, people still gotta eat! As for Cassim, if they can't catch him, they can't put him on the Isle!
Dance love 2007: Thank you so much!
Katt Kiki: Hope you like this chapter!
Guest: It's going to be over a hundred chapters!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Yep, Jay's in and the Rotten Four's complete :D As for Zephyr I may have borrowed a bit from my childhood there, only I was three and no one told me I couldn't be one!
billyandkimfan1994: He sure is!
Guest: I read the Aladdin one—it was really good! I'll have to check out the Tangled one :D
GabrielleMaria: I feel for everyone's eardrums!
twilightgirl587: Hey, if Romeo and Juliet can exist in Beauty and the Beast, Cat in the Hat can exist in Descendants! :D
midnight rose112358: I'm so glad you liked it! Yeah I honestly see Naveen as a bit of a jokester now that he's not a playboy.
AthenaArtemis25: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story and yeah I'd like Phillip's sword to do something harmful to Maleficent too! Aurora's going to be heartbroken that's for sure! Truthfully I find Uma the more complex of the three villains in Descendants canon, just because her aim was to get the kids off the Isle (as opposed to Maleficent who just wanted power and Audrey…who threw a coup because her ex-boyfriend proposed to his current girlfriend). And unfortunately, coups shouldn't be something that are covered by mere apologies. Though I won't say a redemption arc isn't possible!
Guest: I mean, if I was the only one not invited to a party, I'd be pretty petty too!
Guest: I agree completely!
Hope you all like this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Snow White took a scroll and sighed softly. While it was interesting to learn more about the Isle, she found herself hoping this would be a more positive scroll than the ones that came before it.
Mal had to give Evie credit. When she made a threat, she stuck with it.
"Well that's not looming or vaguely threatening at all," Rose tried to joke. Tried being the operative word."
With all the excitement of bringing Jay into the fold and teaching him how to sword fight, something Harry was all too eager to do though that may have been due to the fact that Jay was a beginner and not because Harry just wanted to teach, Mal had forgotten about her little head to head with Blueberry. The days passed by and all too soon, the princess's birthday had arrived.
Harry couldn't help but smirk at the reminder of the first few training sessions with Jay. "Those were fun."
"You say that because you kicked my…butt," Jay muttered, changing his word of choice after remembering there were under fifteens present.
It seemed like everyone on the Isle had been invited to the six year old's party. Everyone but Mal, that is.
"If I remember my history and all the stories correctly, maybe it wasn't a good idea to not invite the person you saw as the daughter of Maleficent to a party?" Phillip Jr. spoke up.
Trust me, I learned that rather quickly, Evie thought with a small frown.
That's okay. I didn't want to go to Blueberry's dumb party anyway, Mal thought as she stared out from the balcony of Maleficent's castle, one of the few mornings she opted to stay around the dragon.
"Uh huh. Me thinks the Godling protests too much," Hyllus shook his head.
Using a discarded telescope that had made its way from Boreadon, Mal could see that the guests were getting animals as party favors.
"Who…who uses animals as party favors?" Alexandria exclaimed.
"Evil Queen," Uma shrugged.
"I mean, it's not like we had much else in terms of stuff to use as favors," Jay added.
"I think she used them to curry favor," Carlos spoke up. "I got a cat but I…I also got a hyena pup. I think Evil Queen was trying to lure my mom over to her side with the promise of more fur."
Mal shook her head. "Thank Gods we got that pup out of there."
"I wasn't going to let anything happen to the pup, Mal," Carlos said.
"Who else got a pup?" Cinderella asked.
Jay tapped his chin in thought. "There were four pups, two girls and two guys. Evie kept one of course on top of having Iago's son. Carols, you just heard, had one. Gaston Jr. got one and the last one went to—."
"Maddy," Mal said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm sensing history?" Akiho asked.
Uma nodded. "Mad Madam Mim's granddaughter. She and Mal used to be friends until they had a falling out when they were three. That's when Mal met me."
Cats and eels and all sorts of creatures would find their way to new homes.
"Eels?" Ariel asked.
"Flotsam and Jetsam's kids," Uma said. "I think Jay got them."
Jay nodded and then smirked as he looked over at Uma. "Does that make you the mother of my eels?"
"Make that joke again and Harry might smack you," Mal chuckled.
Mal rolled her eyes and put the telescope down. Jay, Uma and Harry had all gotten invitations too. Harry had to go because his dad was attending but Jay and Uma had offered to skip it once they realized that Mal hadn't gotten an invite.
Jane couldn't help but smile at that. Those were some true friends, to offer to not go to a party just because their friend wasn't invited.
She wished she had friends like that—she had Lonnie of course but she wouldn't say no to more friends.
She had told them not to, that there was no reason for them to be miserable just because she hadn't gotten an invite.
"That was very mature of you Mal honey," Persephone said with a smile. She knew this chapter wasn't going to be easy for her to hear.
That being said, that same day Mal and Uma had unleashed hell on Blueberry with their stash of smoke bombs.
That being said…she was five, Persephone told herself as Hadie chuckled.
Her skin matched her hair, that's how many blue smoke bombs they ended up pelting her with. Then again, her hair had several spots of purple hue based solely on the fact that they had to dip into their stash of purple smoke bombs. The princess had run off before they were able to use any of the red ones but the Isle was only so big.
Mal and Uma smirked and exchanged a fist bump at the memory, the purple haired girl avoiding the disappointed puppy dog eyes that were once more coming from Ben's direction.
I get she was disappointed and I know that was a mean thing of Evie to do, not invite Mal when she was inviting the whole Isle. That's why our class has the rule that we can't invite people to a party at school if we're not inviting everyone, he thought. But Mal didn't have to pelt her with smoke bombs!
There was definitely a chance they'd run into her again. Oh, Mal almost counted on it.
You're not going to get away with insulting me like that. It was bad enough when I thought I was the only one out of my crew not to get an invite but to be the only one out of the Isle? Oh Blueberry, you should watch your back, Mal thought with a small nod of her head.
"I mean, I know you were disappointed but there had to be other ways to—."
"Inviting everyone but me to that party was a deliberate insult and I'd have been remiss to not enact my revenge," Mal told Akiho. "Turning the other cheek is Boreadon levels of thought."
Still, she wasn't going to lie. It stung watching everyone else have fun at the party.
Hercules gave Mal a small smile. He could remember what it was like growing up and being left out of events because of his strength. He remembered how much that stung, especially since the other teens would always talk about said event in front of him if they saw him.
Even if she was just there with Uma, Harry and Jay, it'd be better than being at Maleficent's by herself.
"I think being covered in honey, tied to two logs, and then descended upon by fire ants would be better than being at Maleficent's by oneself," Alexandria said.
"I like her," Mal said with a smirk.
Hearing movement in the other room, Mal quickly left the balcony. She knew what Maleficent would say if she saw her moping over not getting an invitation to Evie's party. Parties are for the rabble.
She says that but yet she cursed my daughter because she wasn't invited to the christening, Leah thought with a roll of her eyes.
Yeah you say that now, Maleficent but who was it who cursed a baby because they didn't get invited to a party? Mal scoffed as she made her way to the front door of Maleficent's castle.
Of course Leah then made a slight face at the thought of sharing anything with a VK, especially one who was the daughter of Maleficent.
Thankfully, the dragon had been tormenting the goblins all morning so she hadn't paid any attention to Mal. The last thing Mal wanted was to try to come up with a passable lie as to why she wasn't at Evie's party.
"You…you mean you didn't tell her you weren't invited?" Evie asked, her voice soft with shock as she looked over at Mal.
Mal scoffed. "Of course not. Uma was down there after all and who knows what the Dragon might have done to her if she'd known."
She wasn't feeling well? Maleficent would call her weak and order her to go.
"Then again, calling me weak was pretty much her MO," Mal shrugged as Hades growled softly under his breath.
Does…does he sound like a platypus? Emir thought as he heard the growl.
Tell the truth and say Evie didn't invite her? If Evie was lucky, Maleficent would just accuse Mal of lying and tell her to go anyway. If Blueberry wasn't lucky….well it was hard to say what the dragon would do.
I know what she'd do, Evie thought as she softly wrapped her arms around her as if to give herself a hug.
"David, is Evie alright?" Snow asked, whispering to her husband.
"I'm not sure," David whispered back. "Why don't you check on her in the next break? She might not want to be called out in front of everyone if something's bothering her."
Snow nodded and turned back to the scroll that was in her hands.
Say she got an invite but didn't feel like going? Mal would definitely end up getting one of Maleficent's 'lessons' on not making a fool out of her in front of the others of the Isle.
"Would…would it really make Maleficent look like a fool?" Robin Fitzherbert asked. "I mean, she runs the Isle. Meaning if Mal got an invite and didn't feel like going, it'd be an insult to Evie since it would tell the rest of the Isle that Maleficent's daughter didn't deem the event worthy enough for her to make an appearance."
"Yes but that would require the Dragon to not be an egomaniac," Jay told her.
There wasn't anything good that would come out of Maleficent finding out. Thankfully, Mal knew she had another place she could go where she wouldn't have to stare at Blueberry's party.
Hades couldn't help but smile at the thought that Mal felt safe enough in the Underworld to go there instead of wallowing and watching a party she wasn't invited to.
In another life, one where she was raised in Boreadon, Mal probably would have run down the street toward her dad's place. But this was still the Isle. Running was only acceptable if you were being chased or if someone had just been stabbed. An occurrence that was more common than one might think.
"I'm sorry, stabbings were common?" Aurora asked.
Uma nodded. "Mama has a sword check at the restaurant to make sure there's no stabbings there. She doesn't want to deal with the blood stains on the floorboards."
Obviously Mal wasn't being chased and, unless someone had been stabbed and she just didn't know, she couldn't use that excuse.
"I mean, who was going to know?" Emir asked.
So Mal walked; the empty streets being a godsend in that she wasn't delayed in getting where she wanted to go.
"Exactly my point! If the streets were empty, there wouldn't be anyone to know you were running without knowing if anyone got stabbed!"
"Hello?" Mal called softly. There was no response but that didn't mean anything. Mal had been over enough by now to know that her dad was probably just deeper in the Underworld and Lady Steph was probably waging war with the dishes that had piled up again.
"If you had a dishwasher, that would make life so much easier," Persephone muttered to Hades.
"Dear, the only way I'd get a dishwasher is if one got recalled over in Auradon," Hades muttered back. "You know appliances with defects were the only ones that get sent over to the Isle."
Chuckling a little at the mental image of a Goddess waging war against a sink full of dishes, Mal walked deeper into the Underworld.
"It is rather funny…no offense Lady Persephone," Ashaki said quickly.
Persephone smiled at the youngest Agrabah heir. "No offense taken, Princess Ashaki. I do agree, it is a rather humorous mental image."
The silence was a bit unnerving; usually either her dad or Steph would have come out to say hello by now.
"Hello?" Mal called again as she walked into the den. The only thing she managed to do was startle Virgil, who'd been sitting on the sofa. Mal rolled her eyes.
"Oh the poor dear," Aurora said softly.
"Virgil's always that jumpy," Mal said, a fond smile pulling at her lips.
"You didn't hear the door?" She asked him.
"H-headphones," Virgil said softly. "E-even without music, it dampens m-most noise."
"Where'd he get those anyway?" Jay asked.
Mal shrugged. "Dunno. He's always had 'em since I've known Virg."
Persephone, though, gave a knowing and loving look to her husband. He had never said how he found the headphones but he had given them to the young boy as a thank you for a job well done when Virgil was six.
Mal shook her head but couldn't help a small smile. The jury was still out whether or not Virgil was her cousin, so he wasn't in the loop in terms of Mal's relation to Hades, but Mal didn't really care all that much. The timid eight year old never treated her like she was an outsider barging into his turf.
"You're the daughter of his dad's boss," Rowyn pointed out.
"He doesn't know that though," Rachel told her.
"W-what brings you here, M-Mal?" Virgil asked, taking his headphones off while they talked. Mal shrugged.
"That was nice of him, to give his full attention to Mal like that," Eric said with a small smile.
"Blueberry's having a birthday party," she said before looking at Virgil. "Why aren't you there?"
"Why did I even ask that?" Mal muttered to herself, shaking her head.
Virgil chuckled. "N-no invite," he told her and Mal felt a small rush of anger toward the wannabe princess. It was one thing to insult her but Virgil was another thing. Even if he didn't know or care about Evie, it would still bother the older boy.
"But…mother handled the invitations," Evie said as some of those in attendance turned to look over at her.
Uma scoffed in disbelief and Mal rolled her eyes.
Then again, Virgil's not a prince or even the son of a high end villain. He's the son of a minion—and everyone knows those kids are on the lower end of the Isle's totem pole.
"W-why aren't you there?" Virgil asked softly but seemed to grow silent when Mal looked over at him. "N-never mind."
"It was a fair question," Mal shrugged.
Mal shrugged again before sighing. She could tell Virgil—he was the one kid on the Isle who wouldn't blab to anyone. Mainly because he'd spend a week overthinking whether or not it was a good idea before he did so but regardless.
"That's certainly the truth," Harry chuckled.
"Be nice!" Dizzy said with a frown. "At least while Virgil's not here to defend himself!"
Harry shook his head. "I'm a VK and a pirate. We're never nice."
"You and I could form a club," Mal told him, sitting down on the sofa. "The only two kids not to be invited to Blueberry's birthday."
"If anything, the Evil Queen was playing a dangerous game," Lucy spoke up. "To not only risk insulting Maleficent by not inviting the girl the Isle saw as her daughter but insulting Lord Hades by not inviting the son of one of his minions? If it wasn't for the fact that Lord Hades seems to hate the ground Maleficent walks on, I wouldn't have been surprised if they teamed up to make the Evil Queen's life hell."
Virgil gave her a small smile. "Maybe your invite just g-got lost in the mail, Mal. I-I'm sure—"
"We have a postal service?" Jay asked, looking at the other VKs.
"Not that I'm aware of," Mal shrugged.
"Then how—?"
"Virgil was probably just looking for a way to make it not seem as bad that I wasn't invited."
"Virg, Maleficent and the Evil Queen have had a rivalry since the Isle was founded," Mal scoffed. "I'm sure the princess thinks I'm in her rightful spot or something, the daughter of the ruler of the Isle."
"So why did Maleficent bring the Evil Queen into her gang if they were rivals?" Melody asked.
"Keep your allies close and your enemies closer so you know their every move," Mal stated.
Not to mention if mother didn't join, who knows what would have happened to dad? Evie thought.
Sighing, Mal looked at the other boy. "Not to sound like Maleficent or anything but the little Bluette invited everyone else. Everyone, Virgil! Jay, Harry and Uma all got invites too. I mean, not that I wanted to go but still…"
"You say you didn't want to go but you're awfully upset about not getting an invitation," Evan pointed out.
Virgil frowned a little but didn't comment, choosing to let Mal rant. It was rare that Mal actually let loose like this and it was probably only because there was no one else in the room.
Hades held back a sigh. He had figured that had been the case when he and Steph had heard Mal start to rant from their spot in the kitchen.
"And they're getting pets! Can you believe it?" Mal asked, breaking Virgil out of his thoughts.
"W-What?"
"Honestly, who gives pets as a party favor?" Aladdin shook his head. He may have been royal now but that was just a level of extravagance that irritated the former street rat.
"Evil Queen just wanted to prove she could," Uma said as she rolled her eyes.
Mal nodded. "Yeah. Pets. Now every kid's going to know I wasn't there since I won't have one either. All that'll do is increase the chance of Maleficent finding out there had been a party I wasn't invited to."
Maleficent, you'd better not have touched a single hair on Mal's head because of this! Demeter thought with a growing glare.
Blueberry had better hope I can hide the 'lesson' Maleficent will teach me for letting the Evil Queen embarrass her like this, Mal thought with a small frown.
Hades and Persephone glared at the scroll as they heard that, and Mal had to give credit to Snow White for not running out of fear for her life.
One God glaring in your direction was terrifying. Two or more?
"I just…who does Blueberry think she is?" Mal sighed.
"I'm guessing someone who's going to quickly learn not to mess with you?" Virgil asked softly.
"You got that right!" Harry smirked as Mal and Uma fist bumped again.
Mal nodded. "Oh, the next time I see that little blueberry, she'll be so covered in smoke bomb smoke she'll be blind," she growled, not noticing in her anger that Virgil hadn't stuttered. "I'll get Uma involved too! Blueberry won't know what hit her!"
"You could have just ignored it," Ben pointed out.
"Why?" Mal scoffed. "Unless you're saying the better revenge would have been to do nothing and let Blueberry stew in her own nerves, jumping at every cracking twig until she became a jittery mess?"
"…you really don't like Evie do you?"
"What gave it away?"
The pelting Evie would get would make the one she got when Jay, Uma and Harry all got their invites look tame.
Persephone sighed. She had hoped Mal would try to use a bit of diplomacy to reach out to Evie but then again, she was five at the time. Plus grudges were something Hades was notoriously known for—I mean he still resented Zeus for not getting eaten as a baby.
Hope Blueberry enjoys red hair for a while because she'll be hit with so many of Harry's smoke bombs that she'll have to!
"But…if what Evie says is true and it was her mother who handled the invites, should she really have gotten the smoke bomb pelting?" Kitty asked.
Mal shook her head slightly, not wanting to get too angry. She might take it out on Virgil which she didn't want. Virgil was letting her rant to him, he didn't ask to have her bite his head off.
Aurora smiled as she heard that; despite the hurt and the anger that Mal was feeling at the time she was still kind enough to try to not take it out on Virgil.
"And yet another hit to my rep," she heard Mal mutter.
Besides, she didn't want to risk admitting how much being left out had actually hurt.
Estelle got up and walked over to Mal, resting his heads on her leg. He wasn't sure why his Mali was so tense but he was happy to be by her.
"Good boy," she whispered, scratching him behind the ears.
Virgil got up from the sofa, catching Mal's attention. "W-Wait right there Mal," he told her, the stutter returning but not as bad as it had usually been, before he quickly raced over to his room.
"You gave him a room?" Zeus asked Hades.
"Of course!" Hades said, rolling his eyes at his brother's surprise. "The kid's a timid mess most of the time. You really think he'd be able to handle the Isle at night?"
Hades wasn't horrible after all, his minions deserved a place to crash if they got overworked and errand rats fell under the 'minions' category. Not to mention Virgil was eight. There were some days where it was just too dark at the end of a day for him to head back to Vanessa if Panic worked past sunset.
"That was really smart Uncle Hades," Uma said. "After all, the hyenas and the big cats patrol the Isle at night. Virgil might have gotten a pass from the hyenas since we had our alliance with them but Zira or Shere Khan wouldn't have cared."
Walking back into the den, Virgil held up a can of what looked like liquid but the solid nature of the can made it hard to tell. "Let's have our own party," he said.
"Aw!" Ariel couldn't help but let out a soft sigh at the image that produced. Her two cousins having a celebration of their own.
"What's that?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I f-found it when I was scoping out the barge," Virgil said, setting the can down on the table in front of them. "The c-can caught my eye—the bright red seemed out of place. I think it m-might be a Boreadon drink."
"Oh that's right," Chip nodded. "I think we started sending soda to the Isle around that time."
Mal paused and looked over at the older boy. "You'd trust something from Boreadon?"
It was Ben's turn to feel as if he'd been punched in the gut. At five, Mal had trouble trusting the food and other deliveries they sent. He was the future King, hearing that people in his kingdom were living like this…
"If you don't trust it, I'll take the first sip," Virgil told her, shrugging a little.
Mal shook her head. "No, no. I just mean…what's the catch?"
Belle sighed. A five year old shouldn't have to think there was a catch to someone being nice to them.
"No catch Mal," Virgil told her. "Just something that I thought might brighten the day. You deserve to have a party too," he said, holding the can out for her to take. "It's something Blueberry doesn't get to have. Besides, you might like it and if you don't, just spit it out."
"He knew exactly what to say to get you to take it," Uma said with a slight chuckle.
"Hey, did anyone notice Virgil's stutter's almost nonexistent?" Jay asked.
Poseidon couldn't help but smile a little at that. He assumed it meant that his grandson felt at ease around Mal.
Mal nodded and took the can, still a little unsure but trusting her gut. Virgil wouldn't give her something dangerous on purpose.
"He'd be too nervous to do so," Harry nodded.
"Yeah, he's the one person we can trust outside of the crew to not betray us," Jay added.
"Mainly because as Mal said, he'd spend a week overthinking it," Uma chuckled.
Opening the can, Mal took a small sip of the liquid inside. Her eyes widened as the liquid touched her tongue. "It's sweet," she said after she swallowed. "It's like a sweet version of the bottled water Lord Hades has at his restaurant."
Chip sighed. "It'd gone flat," he said. "Mal would have mentioned if there were any bubbles from the carbonation."
"Is sweet good?" Virgil asked.
"It's very good," Mal said with a grin, taking another small sip.
Ben made a mental note about the color of the can. Granted a red can wasn't exactly the most descriptive but hopefully he could find the soda and make it available for Mal and the others to have at the school.
Virgil returned the grin and his shoulders sank in relief. "Oh good," he said.
"What, was he worried you wouldn't like it or something?" Elle asked.
"Knowing Virgil? More than likely," Mal nodded.
"Hang on, I'll get you a cup," Mal said, setting the can down. "If this is supposed to be our party, I shouldn't be hogging the drink."
"How sweet!"
"You're only doing that because your mother's reading the scroll, aren't you?" Mal asked, glaring slightly at Emma. The intensity of the glare, though, was diminished by the faint flush on Mal's cheeks.
"Okay," Virgil said softly as Mal walked into the kitchen. To her surprise, Hades and Persephone were in there and they seemed to be deep in conversation though it stopped once Mal walked in.
"Was everything okay?" Demeter asked, looking over at her daughter.
"The six month mark was about to come up," Persephone told her and Demeter nodded, understanding what Persephone was saying.
"Mal, honey," Persephone said, her tone hesitant as if she didn't want to have the conversation. "Can I have a word with you?"
"Worst thing a parent could ever say. Gets you to think about everything you've ever done," Emir nodded.
"Um…sure Lady Steph," Mal said, walking up to her. She wasn't really in the mood to talk but this was Steph. "What's up?"
Persephone let out a small sigh before looking at the young purple haired girl. "Sweetie, there's no easy way to say this but..I have to leave—"
Eugene hid a wince. During his time in the orphanage as a kid, he had heard that phrase more times than he could count and no matter how many times he heard it, it still stung.
Mal froze, unsure of what Persephone meant by that. "Like to go to the docks?" She asked, hoping that's what Steph meant.
Cinderella hid a sad smile at the childish innocence in Mal's question even though there was a desperation to keep Persephone there.
"No honey," Persephone said with a small sad smile. "I have to go back to Auradon."
"What?!" Mal exclaimed. Way to make a horrid day worse, she thought with a small frown.
"Mal—"
"I can't do this," Mal muttered, shaking her head. First Blueberry's party and now this! I have to get out of here!
It was Jay's turn to look over at Uma and tilt his head softly to the side. Uma picked up the hint and wrapped her arm around Mal's shoulders, squeezing it slightly.
"No matter what, we're here for you Mali," she whispered. "Ruthless yet Loyal right?"
"Right," Mal whispered back.
Rushing out of the kitchen and past Virgil who was still in the den, Mal set her sights for the clubhouse.
"But…there wouldn't be anyone there," Melody said, her voice soft as if she wasn't sure if she should comment.
"Exactly," Mal stated, her voice flat—clearly not in the mood to talk about that.
The one place that wouldn't ruin her day. Granted that'd be because no one would be in there but that didn't matter!
It shouldn't matter whether or not people are there. Mal should feel safe enough to be able to show all her emotions, Akiho thought.
Shaking her head, Mal shoved down the frustration she was feeling. She would never admit it out loud but amidst the frustration, she felt a tiny bit of sadness too. Of course Steph was leaving! Why wouldn't she? She had the chance to go to Boreadon after all! What was Mal compared to that?
"Oh honey," Persephone said softly. "Trust me, I would much rather be with you than be alone in Auradon."
Mal nodded slightly, not trusting herself to speak at that. While she knew her mom loved her, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop with the AKs. They had been rather quiet.
Reaching the clubhouse, Mal threw a rock to open the gate. No one need ever know it took more than one try due to the tears welling in Mal's eyes.
Mal's back stiffened and she braced for the onslaught of comments to finally come, effectively destroying her reputation among the AKs as someone dangerous and not to mess with.
But they never came. Oh sure, they might have thought that Mal was just a kid, like them, but none of the AKs said it out loud.
Though in Audrey's case, it was because her mother was watching her like a hawk.
Racing up the stairs, Mal burst into the clubhouse shaking. Wrapping her arms around herself to try to stop the tears that were threatening to fall, Mal sat down on one of the milk crates.
Audrey rolled her eyes. Honestly, how dramatic did Mal have to be?
She should have known it was too good to last. But did it have to happen the same day as Blueberry's party? Couldn't the Fates have given her only one blow today?
Persephone sighed. That was a fair point, and she could have waited a day or even a week to tell Mal. After all, she was in the kitchen listening to Mal's rant; it wasn't as if she didn't know.
But…there was a part of her that had seen Mal in the kitchen and didn't want to lose her nerve. The longer they waited to tell her, the worse it could have been.
"Mal….oh honey. Sweetheart, let me explain."
"You followed her?" Hera asked.
"Of course I did," Persephone said. "Wouldn't you?"
"Steph?!" Mal exclaimed, looking up upon hearing her step mother's voice. "How'd you get up here?"
"I'm going to guess it's not that hard to figure out how to get into the clubhouse," Phillip Jr. said, his voice trailing off as Melody and Evan both gave him a look
Persephone didn't answer but gave Mal a sad smile as she knelt down, wrapping her arms around the young girl. She had followed Mal as soon as the young girl rushed out of the kitchen and had seen Mal throw the rock to open the gate. But even if she hadn't seen her, Persephone did have eyes. She would have seen the small pile of rocks by the 'falling rocks' sign and may have put two and two together.
"Huh," Uma said. "I didn't think about that. We should figure out a way to change that."
"I…I have a couple of ideas," Carlos said. "A…a pulley system? Where there's a rope attached to the sign?"
Jay shook his head. "That'd make it more obvious than the rocks. At least the rocks could be explained away as being part of nature."
They should have furniture in here, if this is going to be Mal's hide out, Persephone thought as she glanced around the room. At the very least chairs instead of milk crates.
"Really Steph?" Hades murmured, shaking his head.
"Am I wrong?" Persephone murmured back to him.
"Mal honey, it's not forever," Persephone told her, breaking herself out of her thoughts. "It's just for six months and then I'll be back."
"Why?" Mal whispered. "W-what did I do?"
Belle's heart broke for the young girl while Mulan found herself longing to stick her sword through Maleficent for putting so much doubt into the confident teen that sat before her.
Lord Hades and Lady Persephone are to thank for that, not Maleficent, she thought.
She didn't mean to voice her insecurities but there was only so much a girl could take in a day before it became too much.
You know, bad enough that my insecurities are being read aloud to the Boreadon elite who are the reason I was trapped on the Isle but did they have to be read in front of Blueberry too? Mal thought, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh Mal," Persephone said with a small, sad smile as she brushed a bit of hair out of Mal's eyes. "You didn't do anything. This has been the arrangement since the Isle was created. It's the deal Zeus made with King Beast and my mother."
"Because someone didn't like the fact that I fell in love with my husband," Persephone said, raising an eyebrow at Demeter.
"Stupid deal," Mal muttered. "Why can't you just stay here all the time? What can King Beastie even do if you refuse to leave? You're a Goddess after all."
"Well nothing but Steph wouldn't be able to help the Isle if she was on the Isle year round," Hades said, his voice soft.
Persephone sighed. "It's the way the deal is set up Mal. Besides, we got lucky in its set up. The deal could be worse. I could not be allowed to see you two at all."
"No!" Mal exclaimed before she could stop herself, her eyes widening and shaking her head a little.
"I'm with Mal on that! That doesn't happen right?!" Hadie exclaimed.
"Oh honey," Persephone said with a small smile. "If I wasn't able to see your father and sister, you wouldn't have been born."
"I know sweetie," Persephone said softly. "Six months isn't much but it's better than nothing right?"
"But…" Mal said softly. She hated feeling like this but she couldn't help it.
Feelings are normal Mal. The fact that Maleficent hasn't removed them and made you just like her only proves that you're stronger than her, Ben thought with a small smile. The VKs were good. They just needed a chance.
"I know sweetheart but I'll be back. I always am. Plus I'll call on the portal every day I'm gone."
Mal gave Steph a weak smile. It was a little reassuring to know that Steph would be in contact even if she wasn't there in person.
Persephone gave her daughter a small smile as Uma continued to wrap an arm around Mal's shoulders, giving her as much of a hug as she could surrounded by the Auradon royals.
"Mal I promise, six months will be over before you know it."
"And…you will come back right? Promise?" Mal asked softly, looking up at her.
"I will always come back for you and your brother," Persephone promised.
"I promise sweetheart," Persephone said with a small nod. "I'm just sorry I'll be missing your birthday."
Mal shrugged. "My birthday doesn't really matter."
Emir and Akiho glanced at each other. They normally handled Ben's birthday parties but they'd be more than happy to throw one for Mal.
In fact, someone would have to stop them!
"Think Hadie would know Mal's birthday?" Emir muttered to Akiho.
"Worth a shot," Akiho muttered back.
"It does to us Mal," Persephone said with a slight frown. She hadn't expected Maleficent to make a huge deal about Mal's birthday but from the sounds of things, the Fae seemed to just ignore it entirely.
"Yeah well is anyone really surprised?" Phillip Jr. asked. "Maleficent's not a mom. She shouldn't even be called a parent with how she treats Mal."
Mal just shrugged again and Persephone vowed that if she ever came face to face with Maleficent, the Fae wouldn't know what hit her.
"Again, can I sell tickets if and when this occurs?" Chip asked.
"We'll do something special for your birthday when I get back. Okay Mal?"
"Oh boy did we," Mal let loose a soft chuckle as Estelle gave her a gentle lick on the hand.
"If you insist," Mal muttered but couldn't help but smile a little at the idea of someone other than Uma and Harry celebrating her birthday.
"And Jay!" Jay exclaimed, looking over at Mal. "What, did you think I'd ignore it?"
Persephone nodded. "Now, how about we head back? I'm sure your father is wondering where we ran off to."
"Actually I was busy stemming Virgil's rambling as he was worried he'd done something to upset Mal," Hades said.
"Oh the poor thing," Snow White said softly. "He sounds like a sweetheart."
"Okay," Mal said softly.
The two of them got up and started making their way back to the Underworld. Persephone couldn't help but give Mal a small smile.
I may be leaving the Isle Mal but I'm not leaving you, she thought. I would never leave you and I never will.
Persephone nodded. No matter what, if Mal needed her she would find a way to get to her.
Persephone wanted to grab Mal's hand, to let her know that she would always be there. Normally though they wouldn't risk it, as Maleficent's spies would be everywhere.
Hercules glared slightly at the scroll. Mal should have been able to hold her mother's hand in public without fear of Maleficent.
However, today the streets were empty. Everyone was likely either at Evil Queen's party for her daughter or at Maleficent's likely getting yelled at for their latest incompetence. Gently taking Mal's hand, Persephone couldn't help but smile a little when Mal didn't pull her hand away.
"Aww!"
"Uma, the AKs are corrupting your sister!" Mal exclaimed as Celia smirked.
"Urusla?" Naveen asked.
Celia shook her head. "I don't know who my mom is but it doesn't matter because I've got Uma and Freddie."
"I thought—."
"There's a girl on the Isle also named Freddie," Mal explained as Phoebus looked at them with a frown. "We like her. We hate the boy Freddy."
The two quickly made their way back to the Underworld where Hades had taken Virgil's place in the den.
Looking up as his two girls walked in, Hades glanced at Persephone as if silently asking a question.
"Don't you just love the hidden parental language all parents seem to have?" Ashaki asked, shaking her head.
"I told her," Persephone said softly as Mal gave Hades a small, sad smile that Hades returned.
"Hey dad, at least now you had someone to miss mom with!" Hadie pointed out.
"Hey Mali? You want to have a spray paint lesson?" Hades asked, thinking that might cheer the younger girl up. He didn't even notice he had referred to her by the nickname he'd given her as a baby.
Hades smiled as he thought back to that day. He hadn't thought about it, the nickname had just slipped out. But it felt right. Plus Mal hadn't said anything so he had figured it was okay to call her that.
"Really?" Mal asked as she perked up a little at the offer. She had found near empty cans of the stuff on the boats that came from Auradon but there wasn't anything that really made an impact. Besides, the little squirts she did get out of them were just ignored by Fred Frollo's gang as they marched into her territory.
"You mean our territory right cuz?"
"Right," Mal nodded, a smile growing on her lips as she realized what Uma was trying to do—distract attention from the emotional stuff by focusing on the territory drama.
There was no way to secure full cans of spray paint but it might be something they were able to make.
"I mean you can make anything if you set your mind to it," Rowyn grinned. "But if you manage to, I'd love to know how you do it. It'd save me a fortune in paints!"
"Yeah," Hades said, nodding his head a little as he smiled.
"Okay!"
"Remind you of anything?" Belle whispered to Beast.
"You mean like how Ben could be easily distracted from a bad mood with a book at that age?" Beast whispered back with a small chuckle.
Hades and Persephone couldn't help but chuckle a little at Mal's reaction.
"Come on," Hades told her, walking out of the den as Mal trotted after him; a small smile on her face. Persephone shook her head in amusement. While she wasn't entirely thrilled about the idea of Mal being so close to those chemicals, it would be okay as long as Hades was there with her.
"I wouldn't let anything happen to her," Hades promised.
"I know," Persephone nodded.
"Mom!" Mal exclaimed, the faint flush coming back as Uma, Jay, and Harry chuckled.
Well, time to prepare for another six months in Auradon, Persephone sighed. There really wasn't much to do to prepare as her 'Auradon' clothes were in her closet in her apartment off the Isle. All the preparation was really mental in getting used to not having Hades and now Mal around.
"It's the first two months that are the worst," Persephone said, shaking her head. "Though, it's the same the other way too; getting used to someone being there and wanting to do things for you."
Though now I can look into getting a certain four legged present for Mal, Persephone thought as she left the den. She and Hades had heard bits and pieces of Mal's rant to Virgil while they were in the kitchen; after the life Mal had so far it was safe to say she deserved to be spoiled as much as they could do so on the Isle.
Mal couldn't help but grin as Estelle wagged his tail.
"Is it safe to assume who the four legged present is?" Elle asked with a smile on her lips.
Mal was her daughter. Persephone may have to miss Mal's birthday because of the agreement but that didn't mean she wouldn't make it up to Mal when they saw each other again.
"It wasn't your fault though mom," Mal pointed out. "You didn't need to—."
"I wanted to," Persephone stated.
Snow White smiled at the interaction between mother and daughter. "That's the end of the scroll. Does anyone want to read next?"
"I'll read," Kit said.
