Chapter Eighty Four
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.
Gah! I don't know what's crazier—the fact that in two days I'll be flying off to Paris or the fact that we're sixteen chapters away from 100!
Just a friendly reminder that I'll be going on hiatus soon for the holidays and will be coming back in January. I'll try to still post updates when I can but they may not be as often or at all depending on how hectic the holidays are!
Flaresouth: That's always a possibility! :D
Marcus Emrys: Oh I'm so glad you liked the chapter! :D And you know that's not a bad idea, having the kids attend the Learning to be Royal meetings :D
danifan3000: Maybe it was the Alantians? They were so much more advanced than the surface world was after all!
smc: Glad you liked the chapter! So in the first drafts of Princess and the Frog, Odie was going to be Facilier's mother. I don't know why they scrapped it but I decided to go with it. :D
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Well I've got some of the best readers a writer could ask for, that's what you did! You're not wrong, the Freddy drama will be coming soon—in terms of Choosing Love, we're about four chapters away from chapter 30…. :D
BriarEvans: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! In terms of when the next break chapter will be, it'll actually be the chapter after the next one!
Katt Kiki: Ooh yeah that'll be a fun chapter for sure!
OceanBlueSeaEyes: Sarcasm is a good skill to learn lol
JaclynnM: Oh thank you so much! And yeah we're getting close to that chapter!
twilightgirl587: Yep the dark kingdom's another part of the Tangled series! Highly recommend watching it! And oh man I bet that costume was so cool!
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Elsa couldn't help but smile as she unfurled her scroll. Yes she'd admit that it was a little odd reading about her nephew's future along with the future of his friends, but at least nothing bad had happened so far.
Knowing Akiho would have a good future was worth an odd experience here or there.
Mal grinned as she sprawled out on the couch in Ben's office, her cousin sprawled out next to her.
"Hey, a scroll that doesn't open on you sighing!" Hadie said with a grin.
Mal chuckled and shook her head. "True but it does open with questions. Such as why are Uma and I sprawled on Ben's couch?"
After what felt like a lifetime, they were finally going to go ahead and start picking more VKs to come across the bridge.
All the VKs perked up as they heard that, happy to know that more of their allies would get the chance to leave the Isle.
Though they'd have to take me kicking and screaming, CJ thought. No way I'm leaving Ryan alone. Plus the Isle's my home!
Or at least they'd pick the method in which they were going to select the next group of VKs.
"What, like names out of a hat?" Rowyn asked.
"That might have been a better way than what we did," Malinda said, shaking her head.
She had hoped Ben wouldn't have to work on paperwork during their planning session but to be fair to him, they had pretty much barged into his office. Well where else would they plan the next group? Their dorms?
"I mean…that would be the most logical of places to plan something like that," Aziz said.
Emir shook his head. "You know how much I care for logic—."
"You don't," Ashaki cut in.
"Exactly," Emir nodded. "But in this case, going to Ben's office would be more logical since it's technically related to an official policy."
Still…he looked almost miserable surrounded by all that paperwork.
CJ snorted. "If anyone looked happy surrounded by paperwork, I'd say they weren't sane."
Mal wished there was something she could do for him. After all, he'd done everything for her. He brought her off the Isle…had been there when she needed someone…
Benji shook his head. "I didn't do those things because I expected repayment, Mal."
"I know," Malinda said as she leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Which is why I wanted to do something for you."
"I still think it should be via application," Carlos said from his spot on the floor, looking up from petting Dude who whined slightly as the pets stopped.
"Poor Dude…" Squeaky said softly. "Why isn't he here?"
Audie gave Squeaky a kind smile. "Because we don't know which Dude the Fates would provide us. Do you want a talking Dude?"
"Oh…I don't know."
Estelle laid on the rug next to them, his legs in the air as if hinting for a belly rub from Carlos.
Estelle plodded over and plopped on his side in front of Carlos, partially exposing his belly as if hinting for pets.
"Go on Carlos," Malinda said. "Estelle's friendly, I promise."
Carlos nodded slowly before going to pet Estelle. One pet, that was it. Until it turned into two pets. And then three. Before Carlos knew it, his hand was going faster than Estelle's hind leg.
"There you go," Malinda said with a smile.
"That way it's not just the people we like getting to come but all the VKs get a chance."
"Do all the VKs deserve to come though?" Harriet asked, clearly thinking of Freddy.
"You and I know perfectly well that there are VKs who don't deserve to come over here, DeVil," Harry told him, leaning over the couch so that his head was between Mal and Uma as Carlos finally picked up on the hints and gave Estelle a belly rub.
"Took the words right out of my mouth Harry!"
"Freddy and Zevon for instance, plus Zevon's sister Yzla and Mad Maddy."
"Yzla's surprisingly okay," Malinda said after a minute. "Zevon's still cuckoo for coco puffs though."
"You know I just want to say, this Zevon's name sounds like it should be a laundry detergent," Akiho said as he came in and sat on Ben's desk.
All the VKs looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Yes, even the Smee twins, Dizzy, and Celia. They couldn't help it, just imagining the look on Zevon's face if he ever found out about this.
Mal chuckled. "I would give you all the chocolate in the world if you told him that to his face. His reaction would be priceless. But what are you guys doing here?"
"Oh boy," Kristoff shook his head as he saw Akiho perk up. "No, you're not going to the Isle of the Lost to tell this Zevon that his name sounds like a brand of laundry detergent just to get chocolate."
"Worth a shot," Akiho shrugged. "I mean it's all the chocolate in the world dad!"
"And we don't need you on that big of a sugar rush."
"I'd share with mom and Aunt Elsa!"
"Ben texted us and said you all had taken over his office to plan out the next VK group," Emir said from the doorway and held up a tray of sandwiches that Mal could only assume had been created by Akiho. "So we brought snacks for you guys."
"Hey!" Emir exclaimed. "I can make snacks too!"
"Ooh!"
"We didn't take over his office," Uma chuckled. "We just walked in. He wasn't even here!"
"The day Ben's not in his office at all is the day the world ends," Chip said, shaking his head.
"Yes he was Uma," Mal shook her head. "You just couldn't see him because he was buried under a mountain of papers when we walked in and set up shop."
"So pretty much a normal day right?" Ashaki asked.
"Yep," Emir and Akiho nodded.
"Yeah! I mean, he's right here doing paperwork!" Akiho said, shaking his head in amusement as he pointed to Ben, Emir crossing the threshold of the doorway to join in the madness. The teenaged King, to his credit, only looked bemused at the whole thing. Almost as if this was something that he was used to.
Benji shook his head. "You guys realize you're implying that, after years of growing up with the insanity that is Emir and Akiho, that I wouldn't be used to that by now?"
Though knowing Ben and the insanity of the friends he has, he probably is used to things like this, Mal thought.
"You know them so well," Benji said with a small snort.
"We're getting off topic," Harry said as he snatched a sandwich off of the tray that Emir was holding. The Agrabah prince shook his head and made the rounds, offering sandwiches to all the VKs and Ben. "What's so wrong with just picking the next group ourselves? After all, that's what Mal and Jay did."
"Yeah but we kinda knew exactly who we wanted to bring from the Isle," Malinda said. "Once the group got bigger, it wouldn't have been fair to expect people to compromise like that."
"We do that, then it looks like the only kids who get to get off the Isle are the ones who're close to us," Mal sighed as she too took a sandwich.
"And it was a good sandwich too," Malinda said with a small smile. "Though I made sure to leave the peanut butter and jelly one for Ben."
Ever since the picnic, she'd noticed that Emir and Akiho at least were determined to make sure all the VKs got food whenever possible. Not that they were complaining of course.
Harry tilted his head. "Why would we complain about easy access to food? It doesn't seem like we've been in Auradon that long that we'd forget about the Isle."
"Carlos is right, it's only fair to do an application. That way, kids don't get disheartened if they don't get picked this go around."
"We're VKs? Since when do we get disheartened?" Celia asked.
"Mal, be honest. If you saw an application with Freddy or Zevon's name on it, would you give it a fair consideration or would you turn it to ash?"
"Oh ash to be sure," Mal nodded and then paused. "I see your point Harry."
CJ shook her head. "Crazy idea, I know, but why not just make sure Freddy or Zevon just don't get access to an application? Can't get picked to leave the Isle if they never turn in an application."
"I know why we don't want Freddy," Ben spoke up from his never ending mountain of paperwork. After all, he wasn't exactly fond of the guy who hit Mal in the shoulder with a dagger and he wasn't exactly crazy about the idea of bringing gang warfare to Auradon even if every kid on the Isle deserved their chance to be in the sun. "But why don't we want Zevon?"
"Now that I know about Freddy attempting to murder you at age nine, I retract my thought about every kid on the Isle deserved their chance to leave," Benji murmured into Malinda's ear.
"He's got a crush on Mal," Jay and Harry spoke up simultaneously, causing Mal to roll her eyes and Ben's back to stiffen up.
Mal and Malinda both rolled their eyes. "He does not have a crush on me!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Jay said.
"Honestly, you think every guy I interact with has a crush on me!"
"Not true. We don't think Emir or Akiho has a crush on you," Jay pointed out.
"Considering they both have girlfriends, I should hope not!"
Chip shook his head as he chuckled. "I can't tell you how odd it is to hear Emir and Akiho be called someone's boyfriend."
"Be nice Teacup," Lucas said but he snorted slightly in amusement.
"We also don't think Charming or DeVil or Fish for Brains have a crush on you," Harry added, acting as if Mal hadn't spoken. "Though if I had to be fair to Zevon, we at least know what his next move would be if he got to Auradon. Freddy's unpredictable."
Claudine sighed but nodded her head. "He's always been like that. Even I can't honestly say I'd know what his next move would be. It really all depends on if he feels like he's been slighted or not."
"Great. He's the next Maleficent," Audrey said, shaking her head.
"Huh…I can't say she's wrong," Hades said, almost sounding impressed.
"I think for the second group, it couldn't hurt to have an application," Ben said, bringing the conversation back to stable waters and giving a nod to Carlos' point. "We keep it fair that way. Plus then it builds the framework for future groups."
"Wouldn't this be the third group though?" Rose asked. "Harry, Gil, Uma, and Hadie were the second group."
"Okay but then who reviews the applications?" Jay asked from his spot leaning against the wall by one of Ben's bookshelves. "Your shadows? Because I'm pretty sure we just made them biased by going on about why we don't like Zevon or Freddy."
"Honestly I think just saying that Zevon has a crush on Mal would have biased them against him," Phil Jr. said. "Those two are pretty loyal to Ben and his happiness after all."
"To be fair, we don't like any of the Angels or the Casters," Mal pointed out as Estelle got up from his spot by Carlos to go over to her. "Well...except for Brooke and Quinn."
Claudine sighed and looked over at Malinda. "Do…do Brooke and Quinn get off the Isle?"
"They do," Malinda nodded. She wasn't surprised that Claudine was asking about Quinn, that was just the type of person Claudine was.
"Good," Claudine said and rested her head on Henry's shoulder.
"That's only because the lass didn't exactly have a choice in leaving our crew and Quinn's pretty much harmless in that she's the only Caster who can't use magic," Harry told her.
"Just because Quinn is harmless doesn't mean a non magic user isn't harmless," Malinda spoke up, electing to ignore the part about Brooke for the sake of her unborn child and to keep Benji from freaking out too much. After all, she knew Brooke got off the Isle. "Freddy's a non magic user after all."
"Right. You'd said Locklyn basically told Brooke it was us or her."
Harriet shook her head. "Freddy has to have something on Locklyn. I mean she's not exactly the smartest girl on the Isle but even she knows how stupid it is to leave the Rats and guaranteed food for Freddy of all people….no offense Claudine."
"As always, none taken," Claudine said with a small smile.
"You know it's a good thing Gil's not here otherwise he probably wouldn't like where this conversation was heading, talking about his sister and cousin like this," Carlos said, shaking his head.
"I have to agree with Carlos," Evie nodded. "It's a good thing Gil's not here with us right now too."
"Because he doesn't have to hear this or because Harry won't kill him from prolonged exposure to Gil?" Jay asked.
"…Both?"
"Where is Gil anyway?" Ben asked. While the blond wasn't necessarily close to the other VKs, Ben would have thought the son of Gaston would have been at this meeting in case there was someone he wanted to get off of the Isle.
"Like his sisters," Sammy pointed out.
"Maybe that's why Carlos is there, isn't he allies with Gil?" Harriet asked.
Evie wasn't there either but Ben had pretty much expected that—her father had officially been released from the hospital and Snow White was helping him get set up in a guest room in her castle.
Evie perked up and gave Snow White the biggest smile she ever gave, not even caring about the potential for wrinkles. "Thank you! Oh thank you so much—."
"Evie, sweetheart, you don't have to thank me," Snow said. "You're family and therefore so is your father."
Something that Evie was more than happy to help with.
It was Snow's turn to look over and smile at her step-sister. "I have no doubt that the room will look amazing with your input, Evie."
Ben had already sent a card to Daniel, hoping that the older man continued to have a speedy recovery and that whenever he was ready, Ben was more than happy to meet with him to set up guardianship for Evie.
"Thank you Ben," Evie said with a small smile.
Benji chuckled. "No need to thank me Evie. Just doing what should have been done in the first place."
"Gil's on a date with Macaria," Mal told him, a small smile pulling at her lips at the thought.
"We don't have to hear about it, do we?" Hyllus asked.
Macaria rolled her eyes. "Gods, how are you the older sibling? I think Herkie is more mature than you are."
Of all the things she'd seen since coming to Auradon, that was probably not something she had ever expected to happen. But, and she'd deny she even thought it if anyone actually asked, it was cute.
Uma chuckled. "No denying it now cuz. It's written there in black and white."
Sometimes Mal would see the two of them watching R.O.A.R practice on occasion when she'd sneak in to watch Jay and Carlos.
"That's…an interesting date idea," Herkie said, tilting his head.
Macaria shrugged. "Scroll me probably wanted to show him the R.O.A.R. team since he's in a pirate crew. Either that or we're rooting on Carlos since they seem to be friends."
Plus Lonnie had finally decided she was good enough to try out for the team and there was no way Mal was going to miss that.
"Oh wow!" Lonnie grinned. "I hope they have that in one of these scrolls!"
"I hope so too," Lil Shang nodded. He was sure his sister would make the team and he wanted to read about it!
"Harriet," Harry stated, pulling them back onto their original topic. "If anyone's coming off the Isle, it should be Harriet."
"Hey!" Dizzy and Celia both exclaimed.
CJ shrugged. "Fine by me, I'd rather stay on the Isle."
"You're going to Auradon," Milah, James, and Harriet all said at the same time.
"Oh come on!" CJ exclaimed but noticed there hadn't been a comment from Harry. She didn't know if that was a good sign that their mother's talk with him had finally gotten through or if he just didn't care.
"Excuse me? Why not Celia?" Uma asked, leaning her head back to look at her first mate and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Exactly!" Celia nodded. "Thank you Uma!"
"You know I always have your back Lia," Uma told her.
"No reason they both can't come cap'n. In fact Freddie might prefer it if Harriet was with the young shadowling."
Uma chuckled. "I know for a fact that Freddie would probably feel better if Harriet was in the group. At least until the group got to Auradon and Lia was with me."
"I thought we didn't want Freddy?" Ben asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Freddie with an 'ie' is Uma's older sister. Freddy with a 'y' is the spawn of Satan himself," Harry explained and Ben nodded.
"In Benny's defense, it is easy to get the two names confused unless you're listening for the pronouns," Uma nodded.
"Harriet probably would want us to take a younger kid instead of using a spot for her," Mal pointed out. "She's what? Eighteen? Nineteen?"
Harriet nodded. "It's sweet to think of me Harry but Mal's right. There are younger kids who could use the spot more."
"Yeah but none of them are my sister," Harry said with a small shrug.
"She's still a VK," Harry stated firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest and Mal couldn't help but give him a small smile. She knew that while Harry loved both his sisters, his older one would always have a preferred spot in his heart.
He's got a funny way of showing his so called 'love', CJ thought as she lightly bit the inside of her lip as to prevent herself from showing any outward emotion.
Harry would die before he let anyone harm Harriet. But then again, Harriet would die before she let anyone harm her younger siblings.
"You got that right!" Harriet nodded.
"How about no one dies?" Milah suggested. She loved the fact that her children were so protective of each other but she didn't want to even think of one of them joining her in the Underworld. Not until they had great-grandchildren and even then it would be too soon.
"What about CJ or Ryan?" Hadie spoke up as he took over giving Estelle belly rubs as Carlos got up from his spot on the ground. "Or Dizzy, if we're listing non crew members?"
"Thanks for remembering me Hadie," Dizzy said with her typical grin. She thought that, with Evie not there, she might have to wait before she'd see Auradon.
"You know I've got your back, Diz," Hadie promised.
"One of these days, you're going to tell me how you managed to make friends with Dizzy Tremaine of all people," Mal told her little brother. "Especially seeing as dad rarely let you out of the Underworld with the exception of trips to the ship."
Malinda snorted. "It's Hadie. You're honestly surprised he made friends with someone? Let alone Dizzy of all people? I don't think it's possible for Dizzy not to be friendly with someone except for maybe Freddy."
"Mom would take me on her walks sometimes and we'd go into the neutral zone to check on dad's restaurant. Dizzy works over at Curl Up and Dye which is right next to the restaurant," Hadie shrugged.
Dizzy grinned. "Hadie was and is always a welcomed break from the non-stop sweeping Granny has me do."
"That makes sense now that I think about it."
"The fact that it didn't make sense at first should scare us all," Uma said, shaking her head.
"If we're talking younger kids, Squeaky and Squirmy Smee have got to come to Auradon," Jay said firmly. "Think about it. If being here brought Carlos out of his shell, it'd do wonders for those boys."
"Are…are we really going to Auradon?" Squirmy asked softly, looking up at Sammy.
Ben nodded. "Of course. You all are. As soon as I can make it happen, I promise."
"Hey!"
"Three words DeVil. Fear. Of. Dogs." Harry told him as Dude wagged his tail and nudged Carlos' hand to indicate his want of more ear scratches.
"Three words for you Harry. Obsessed. With. Hook."
All of the AKs and VKs chuckled as they heard that.
"Way to go Carlos!" Harriet cheered.
Mal chuckled and Uma shook her head. "Pup's got some bite to him now I see. Though you're just proving Jay's point that Auradon would probably do wonders for Squeaky and Squirmy."
Sammy nodded. "I agree, not to mention I want them off the Isle if possible."
"You guys really think you'd be able to get them away from Sammy?" Carlos asked.
"Pup's got a point," Harry nodded and Carlos rolled his eyes as Dude barked in agreement.
"…Can Sammy come too?" Squeaky asked.
Mal bit her lip. "You know...if Harriet came with them, the twins would probably come across the bridge. They'd be terrified but at least they know her. She's Sammy's best friend after all."
"There's no one I'd trust more to look after my brothers in my place than my Captain," Sammy said, giving Harriet a smile.
"But…we'd miss you," Squeaky said softly.
Sammy looked over at her brother and gave him a small smile. "And I'd miss you too but someone has to stay with papa right? You don't want him getting lonely do you?"
"No…" the twins shook their heads.
Smee sighed. While he didn't want to send his children off into a strange world without him, he wanted more than anything for Sammy to be able to join her brothers. He didn't want her denying herself a good life just because of him.
Well, she was more than just her best friend but like all the Hooks, Harriet seemed to live in a permanent place of denial. Maybe it was because she was a pirate? They did like to spend time in the water after all—and the Nile was a river in Egypt as Emir liked to constantly spout.
Harriet froze as Elsa read that, trying her hardest not to look at Sammy. The scroll…it wasn't actually going to…no, it couldn't. Not in front of Sammy. Not in front of her parents. Could it?
If Harriet wants to be in denial, that's none of my business, she thought. Just like with Dustin, I'm not going to say anything until they're ready. Besides, she might be worried about how Harry would take that. Not that he would be anything but happy for his favorite sister and her first mate. It's really the Captain that Harriet would have to worry about—which is just another reason to get Harriet at the very least to Auradon.
"Who's Dustin?" Emma asked. "Have we met him in the scroll yet?"
"He's one of the crew," Henry said simply. "But perhaps we should move on?"
"That's a good idea," Malinda nodded, looking over at Elsa who thankfully took the hint. Harriet shot them both thankful smiles.
She didn't know if Sammy felt the same…and she didn't want to be surrounded by other people when she found out that her best friend only liked her as a friend and Captain. And she was fine with that.
"But again, Harriet wouldn't want to take a spot from a younger kid," Jay said, pulling Mal back into the conversation. "And if there're going to be only four spots again—."
"Why though?" Emma asked. "Mal, Uma, Harry, Gil, Jay, Carlos, Evie, and Hadie all know who they trust and who they want on the Isle. Why not do a one fell swoop and then you can do the four spot applications?"
"But why do there have to be only four spots?" Mal asked as she stood up and began to pace back and forth. "I mean, really think about it. The only two people who'd object to us increasing the number of VKs that are in the next group would be Natalie and Leah. Natalie really has no power legislatively and well...to be as crass as humanly and Godly possible, Leah's dead."
"Hmm…was that really as crass as humanly and Godly possible?" Hades asked.
Persephone sighed. "Hades…"
"Right, right," Hades nodded before thinking over to Mal. We'll talk more about your ability to be crass.
You realize Hadie was in the room in the scroll right?
…I retract my complaint about the level of your crassness. Well played.
Well Audrey might object as well but let's not pick that scab with Ben in the room, Mal thought.
Benji sighed. "Thank you," he whispered to Malinda.
"You really think I'd be that cruel?" Malinda whispered back to him.
"It is rather hard to be a pain in the ass when you're dead," Uma nodded. "Not impossible as she's proven but still incredibly difficult."
Aurora sighed as Phillip gently squeezed her hand. There was no arguing against that fact—Leah was, in fact, being a pain in the ass even after death.
"So we could increase it," Mal said.
Ben sighed. "Four is a nice round number though and if there are any incidents or accidents, they're—."
"But that's not exactly fair is it?" Harriet asked. "I mean, if Squeaky and Squirmy both got to come but you kept the number at four?"
"What do you mean Mistress Harriet?" Smee asked.
Harriet shook her head. "If you're going to count the twins as one spot, since we always call them Squeaky and Squirmy, then it should stand that there be someone else coming with in the group. If you only have four spots, since Squeaky and Squirmy are each one person, they'll take up two of the spots. I'm not saying I want them separated from each other but if you're going to bring twins, you're going to have to increase the number of spots."
"Easily contained?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow. Ben at least had the common decency to look sheepish at that and Mal sighed.
"I mean…he does have a point," Robin said. "I mean I'm not saying that more kids shouldn't come but it also makes it easier for you all if there's a smaller group. That way, there aren't arguments against the VK program from some of the saner members of the council."
"Benny, one more VK's not going to ruin anything," Uma pointed out.
"And it would give Sammy peace of mind if Harriet was going with the twins," Jay added. "You know, if they got selected."
Neal snorted. "Right, like we don't know they're not going to be selected this time around."
Akiho shook his head. "I don't know why we're all pretending the people you all just named aren't going to be the ones who're in the next group of VKs to come off the Isle."
"Shh, don't break the fourth wall," Audie said, gently teasing Akiho.
"We need to make it at least appear fair," Emir reminded him.
"Ah good point."
Ben shook his head. "Insane, the both of them."
"You two may be insane." Jay chuckled.
"Thank you!" Emir and Akiho said with identical grins.
"I didn't even say it yet," Jay shook his head.
"What does that say about you though? You spend as much time as you possibly can around us," Emir teased.
Jay shrugged. "Just because you're insane doesn't mean you're not good people. Just look at Harry."
"Exactly…hey!" Harry exclaimed.
"Wait, how are these applications even going to get to the Isle?" Carlos asked. "It's not like we've got wifi or even any internet over there. Plus no one sends anyone mail on the Isle."
"That's not exactly true Carlos," Evie shook her head. "We've got the vultures for our Isle mail service. It's how Lord Hades delivers my mother her food deliveries."
Mal snapped her fingers as an idea popped into her head. "Ben, we were going to do a food run to the Isle right? Before the barge came in so that we could check on the hospital that was being built?"
Akiho sighed. "Were there at least guards this time? A guard?"
"There was Harry, Jay, and Uma," Malinda said. "Oh and me!"
"That doesn't count!"
"We were? Oh right! We were!" Ben nodded. There hadn't been any reports on the progress of that and it was probably a good idea to make sure there was a fully stocked hospital on the Isle before people who were used to eating rotten food and essentially garbage got a shock to their system with fresh foods.
Chip shook his head as Belle sighed.
"You know you can do this thing called delegating, right Ben?" Abby asked as she looked at her brother.
That wasn't to say that they weren't sending any fresh stuff to the Isle. Harry and Jay had pretty much taken over the food delivery drives, much to the amusement of Emir and Akiho who had been in charge of the drives before, and were making sure only light stuff was making its way over to the Isle of the Lost.
"Why not have the four of you work together?" Fairy Godmother asked. "I'm sure Emir and Akiho would be happy to propose new ideas for the drives."
"We can get the applications passed out then. If there's one thing my crew can do, it's spread the word around the Isle," Mal nodded, bringing Ben back to the present. "We can pick up the applications the next time we go over."
Henry nodded. "If I know Ryan and Derek, they'd probably make it a competition to see who could pass out more applications," he said with a small chuckle.
"We could call it 'VK Day'," Uma chuckled.
And then a week later, Ben could propose to Mal, Audie thought but didn't say out loud. She didn't want to cause more of a commotion and she knew Chip would probably stop the reading to ask for details.
Lots and lots of details.
"That's not a bad idea actually," Ben grinned, moving his paperwork off to the side so that he could be fully focused on the conversation at hand. "It'd certainly get people interested if there was a day specifically dedicated to them."
Chip shook his head. "Let this be a day for the record books! Benji actually took a break from his paperwork!"
"I don't do paperwork all the time!" Ben exclaimed.
"Uh huh," Lonnie, Chip, Emir, Malinda, and Akiho said in unison.
Harry nodded. "If Mal's endorsing it, they'd definitely be interested in it. After you took down Maleficent, there was a group of VKs who insisted you were more evil than the Dragon and that was why you took her down."
Malinda snorted. "I still have to wonder how they came up with that. Taking Maleficent down didn't make me more evil than her, it just made me more powerful."
"Seriously?" Mal scoffed, not noticing Ben seemingly relax at her lack of reaction.
Malinda shook her head. "I knew Harry, Uma, Jay, Carlos, and Hadie didn't think I was the next Maleficent," she said. "It was Auradon's reaction I was more worried about."
"Um…?"
"Akiho, would Ben ever be in danger of being rebelled against by you?"
"Never!"
"Exactly my point, and that goes for Emir as well!"
"Hey, I'm just telling you what happened," Harry chuckled. "Ginny Gothel actually took one of the Dragon's cloaks but the VKs made sure your 'room' was left untouched if you ever came back."
"Oh that was nice!" Snow White said with a smile.
"Nice of them."
"I think they're just scared of you."
"Still nice of them though," Herkie said.
"Still, I'm in Auradon. For all they know, I'm never coming back to the Isle. It could have been really easy for them to just sack my room along with the rest of Maleficent's castle." Mal said with a shrug. "Plus, anything I really care about is over at my dad's or the clubhouse anyway. It's not like I'd be that upset if they turned it over."
"I keep anything I care about at dad's because I know Maleficent will destroy it if she finds it," Mal said with a shrug. "Hence why they could have sacked my room with the rest of it."
"…Persephone, do me a favor?" Hades asked.
"Depends on what the favor is," Persephone said, slightly taken aback by the use of her full name from Hades.
"Could you bring something iron with you the next time you're on the Isle? I need to have a talk with Mal's birth giver."
"I thought we finally stopped providing that image!" Chip exclaimed.
"They'd run the risk of upsetting dad though," Hadie pointed out. "And he runs the Isle now that Maleficent's a lizard."
Hades shook his head. "Why? There are so many other villains for them to appoint ruler of the Isle. Why did it have to be me?"
"Seriously?"
"Oh yeah, did I not tell you that?" Uma chuckled.
"Pretty sure she wouldn't have reacted like that if you had, Um," Celia said with a small chuckle.
"I think I'd remember if you told me that!" Mal exclaimed as she shook her head in amusement.
"To be fair, there's been a lot going on," Meg said with a small chuckle.
"People come to him all the time with their grievances about other villains. At least according to Aunt Steph."
"Then go to Frollo if you have a grievance! Did you go to Maleficent? No! Then why go to me?"
"Dad must love that," Mal shook her head again, this time in slight exasperation. He wasn't really one to suffer fools as he liked to say and most of the residents of the Isle were dumber than a bag of rocks. Sure there were a few who had more than two brain cells to rub together but they were few and far between.
"I can tell you right now, I most certainly do not 'love' that I'm apparently ruling the Isle!" Hades exclaimed.
At least now the kids of the Isle will be guaranteed food no matter what side they're on, Mal thought. If dad's truly the leader of the Isle, he can't be seen favoring anyone. Then again, he never charged any of the kids at the restaurant when they came in for a meal. Well, any kid who wasn't an Angel or a Caster. Those kids had to pay.
Harry shook his head. "You know what I just realized? Lord Hades can't make the Angels or Casters pay if he's running the Isle. He'd have to be fair."
"The Isle's not fair, why does dad need to be?" Hadie asked.
"Oddly enough, he doesn't really seem to be enjoying it," Uma told her. "Though according to your mom, he does love starting his day with a gloat to Maleficelizard about how her plans failed and that he won."
Hades grinned. "That sounds like a great way to start my day. Any chance we could make Maleficent into a lizard now?"
"Fairy Godmother said she could turn back if she grew to love," Mal stated.
"Does that really seem like something the Dragon would do? Learn to love?"
"...touché." Mal nodded but then shook her head. "I feel that we've gotten extremely off topic."
Ben snorted slightly in amusement. "When your brother's Chip and your best friends are Emir and Akiho, you get used to that happening."
"You have," Akiho nodded. "It's quite entertaining to watch."
"You know you and Emir are just as bad, right?" Ben asked.
"And when have we ever claimed otherwise?" Emir asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course! We never claimed otherwise!"
"Exactly my point!"
Ben shook his head as his phone pinged with a text from Jane.
"Why…why am I texting you? Is everything okay with Cotillion?" Jane asked softly.
He smiled as he opened it; Jane had been helping him put together a gift for Mal that would be presented at Cotillion.
Malinda shook her head. "You really didn't have to get me anything you know?"
"Yeah but I wanted to," Benji said, giving his wife a smile.
A stained glass window similar to the ones that were seen in his parents' castle.
Audie shook her head with a small smile on her face. "The more things change, the more they stay the same. Ben did the same thing for Mal in my timeline."
It was the two of them, with Mal in a purple dress that almost made her look like she was a dragon as the skirt was designed to look like dragon scales while the sleeves at the shoulders stuck out to look like wings. While he was in a suit almost like the one he wore at his coronation.
That…that almost sounds like the dress Mal wore when Ben proposed to her, Audie thought, more than slightly stunned at the similarity. But…no, it's just a coincidence here.
However, it was the background that Ben really liked. Working from his memory of his coronation, Ben had instructed that there be a dragon that looked like Mal's dragon form. It needed to be somewhat prominent since Ben wanted to show Mal that he loved all of her. That he would never be embarrassed by her.
Benji nodded as he held Malinda close to him. "That will always be the case," he whispered in her ear. "You never have to worry about me being embarrassed by you."
It'd been a couple of months since Natalie had been fired and Mal hadn't said anything, but Ben knew that it wouldn't go away overnight.
Malinda sighed. That was certainly the truth, even now she still would flinch at certain words that reminded her of Natalie.
That's why he had made it a point to dress down a bit more, much to Evie's delight since she could design casual Auradon clothing and dip her toes into new fashion trends.
"Ooh! I wonder what all scroll-me's made?" Evie asked, her eyes lighting up in delight at the thought of learning about her new designs.
In fact, Ben was wearing one of the new items Evie had designed—a short sleeved light blue shirt with tan slacks. To quote Evie, he was dressed down enough so that he actually looked like a teenager but was still dressed up enough in case he had to go into an emergency council meeting or got snagged by any reporters.
Audie chuckled. "You know, that almost sounds like the outfit Ben wore on his first date with Mal in my timeline. Only it was a blue dress shirt, not a short sleeved one."
Evie had also designed a jacket in the style of Isle fashion for him, since Ben had a feeling that there were going to be repeated trips to the Isle. Sure Chip and Chad might think him insane to repeatedly return to a place that had been set up by his dad but Ben wanted to see the Isle with his own eyes.
"Excuse me? Why only Chip and Chad?!" Akiho exclaimed. "I also think you're insane thank you!"
"Yes but you go without saying," Abby told him.
"The acknowledgement would still be appreciated!"
After all, no one had checked the reports for twenty years and the Isle had suffered from rotten food. Reports could be falsified after all.
Belle and Beast sighed but couldn't argue against that fact. It was clear that seeing things for oneself was far better in terms of what the Isle needed than any report.
"So we're in agreement?" Mal asked, and Ben brought his head up to make sure he wasn't agreeing to anything he wasn't fully listening to. That had happened once when he was seven and he had vowed to make sure it never happened again.
Beast raised an eyebrow as he looked over at his son. "Why do I have the feeling I don't want to know?"
"Because you don't," Ben said with a small sigh. "It was a promise from Akiho and Emir too."
"Oh dear Gods…"
"Hey! We were only seven!" Emir exclaimed.
"And yet you were still insane," Ben told him.
"Compliments will get you nowhere!"
"Five spots instead of four?" Ben clarified.
"Yep."
"No Ben, I was going to make it five hundred spots," Malinda said as she shook her head in amusement.
"I think that's doable," Ben nodded. "But we'll need to do the applications if that's the case. I'm sure Lonnie and Jane could review them if we need an unbiased party or Fairy Godmother could help if they don't have time considering I know Jane's on the cheerleading squad with Rose and Evie."
"Plus Jane's planning Cotillion," Audrey pointed out. "As we've said, that takes up a large amount of time even with her partnering with Mal."
"Honestly we could just give the applications to the cheer squad. Now that Audrey's off of there, they're probably the most unbiased group we've got in terms of reviewing applications and then Ben and Mal can give their final approvals," Akiho said.
"That…is a fair point now that I think about it," Rose said. "Plus I'm sure Cassie would make sure we were fair about it, looking over the applications."
"Yeah and the Tourney Team could help as well," Emir nodded. "I mean, Chad might not but he's one guy."
"Why would Chad be out?" Alex asked. "Because Dizzy's mom's step-niece?"
"…Sure. Let's go with that," Kitty said, not wanting to bring up scroll-Chad's behavior. Not when it was clear Chad was slowly coming out of his shell.
Miguel and Brendan would be two good choices for reviewing who would come off the Isle, considering who they wound up with, Malinda thought with a small inward chuckle.
"Carlos and Jay couldn't help either. Otherwise it becomes biased," Akiho pointed out.
"Oh yeah!"
Aziz shook his head. "The fact that you needed that pointed out should frighten me but I know you too well."
"Love you too bro," Emir chuckled.
None of the VKs wanted to point out that it'd be biased with Evie there too. Hey, they were wicked not stupid. Even if Evie acted the most like an AK, she was still from the Isle.
Evie bit her lip before smiling at the other VKs. "I'd…you know I'd make sure Celia got off the Isle too right?"
"…I do now," Uma said after a minute.
"That...could work," Ben said as he thought about it. "I wouldn't want to give them more work than they already have though."
Chip shook his head. "How is it he understands the importance of not overworking others but not himself?"
"It can't hurt to ask and Yi-Min and Tiger Peony would be more than happy to help at the very least," Emir said. "Plus Ashaki and Melody would definitely help."
"Of course!" Ashaki and Melody said with matching grins.
"I can get the applications drafted and sent over to you Ben," Mal offered.
"Mal, I can't ask you—."
Malinda shook her head and looked over at her younger self. "Welcome to the rest of your life. Even when it's your job, he's still trying to avoid giving people work."
"You're not asking me, I'm offering," Mal told him. "Besides, I'm a VK. Who better to handle the VK groups than someone who has been on the Isle?"
Esmeralda chuckled slightly. "She raises a good point. If you try to set something up for people without knowing the people in question, you might set yourself up for failure."
"She has a point," Emir nodded.
Ben chuckled. "Just let me know if you feel like there's too much on your plate," he told Mal.
Malinda sighed but gave her husband a small smile before kissing his cheek. While it might have been frustrating, she also knew that Ben had just wanted her to have a chance to relax after the whole Natalie debacle and to maybe make up for not realizing what was going on before.
"Are you ever going to tell people when you have too much on your plate?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope," Malinda shook her head. "You want to know how I know that? Because he still doesn't."
"...I don't have too much—."
"Ben, you're fooling no one," Akiho stated. "I'm pretty sure you were close to falling asleep in Grammar yesterday."
Chip shook his head. "I should be surprised but I'm not. Because I know Ben and I know how much work he puts on his plate."
Mal shook her head. "Come on Benny. I think it's time you took a break. And maybe a nap."
"Mal!"
"Hey! Don't knock naps!" Rowyn exclaimed.
"Yeah, naps are great!" Rose nodded. "I know I always need one after cheer practice in order to have energy to get through my homework."
"Ah ba ba ba! If you want me to take breaks, then you need to take breaks." Mal said as she took Ben's arm and began to drag him out the door.
Chip nodded. "That sounds fair," he said as he looked over at Ben.
"But—."
"No arguments here," Benji said, cutting off what his younger self was going to say.
"Ah, it's nice to see someone who's not me drag him out of this office," Akiho grinned.
"It's nice to read about it too!" Akiho said with a grin.
"You know it's weird if we're here without Mal and Ben," Uma said. "Anyone want to go spar?"
"Is that all you do?"
"Of course not. But right now, it's what I want to do."
"You always want to spar though," Henry said with a small chuckle.
Uma raised an eyebrow. "Really? You really want to go there Mr. Spars Constantly?"
"Um I believe I train constantly. I don't spar," Henry shook his head.
"In that case, I want to watch!" Emir grinned as the VKs chuckled and began to file out of Ben's office and made their way to the gym.
"Harry and Uma sparring is always worth watching," Jay nodded.
"Only if you've got about four hours carved out of your day," Harriet said with a small chuckle.
"You say that like it's a bad thing Harriet," Harry shook his head.
Elsa smiled before looking at the group. "Who wants to read next?"
"I'll read," CJ said with a small shrug.
