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Mal sat in the decrepit room that passed for an apartment on the Isle of the Lost, waiting patiently for her mother to tell her why she was summoned. She had errands to run, on Maleficent's behalf to boot, on the Isle and its citizens were not known for their patience. An entire island slum originally filled with over five hundred people, who were exiled, deemed "villains" in the eyes of the newly created United Kingdoms of Auradon. In twenty years, those five hundred had more than doubled the population. Not only with having children, but the UKA would add exiled citizens they deemed unfit for their Kingdoms over the years.
Not the type of people she, or anyone in their right mind, wanted to deal with being late.
So while Maleficent was deemed the "worst" villain of them all, she and her daughter did not enjoy better living quarters than the rest. Twenty years of decaying infrastructure meant that there was no such thing as a "hot" property on the island. It didn't help that most villains were not social engineers, architects, or anything that could help maintain a well working society. Maniacal villains and thugs didn't convey to useful occupations.
Wonder if King Adam had that in mind all along. Create a cesspool with no way to make things better and forget all about us. Perfect revenge. We'll suffer for decades more.
The Isle did, however, have a working postal system. Even with the little technology they had from donations from the mainland, landline telephones were one thing no one had as no one was ever trained to or figured out how to maintain such lines. So the post office worked as their main messaging system although it was slow, even for regular post as it took about eleven days to traverse the island from tip to tip by foot.
It was a rare event that they'd get something from the mainland, rare in the sense that it hadn't ever happened before in living memory. Auradon citizens who had family members exiled to the island had no problem forgetting about their blood connection and went on with their lives as if the banished had never existed.
Maleficent had a special delivery from Auradon Prep, a royal proclamation from His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Ben of House Bourbon, son of King Adam and Queen Belle of the same. The gilded stationary with perfectly flowy pitch black calligraphy and even sealed with wax with the Royal Seal of Auradon and presented on a velvet cushion; the letter and pillow probably cost more than the entire Bargain Castle consignment shop they ran. Her mother had read over the royal invitation, seethed in hatred at the audacity of the offer. It took Maleficent days to finally calm down enough to speak with her.
The missive was a joke. Not in the sense they thought it was a prank, done in mischief or otherwise. It was a joke in the cosmic sense of malevolent irony. How could the Crown Prince of Auradon think she interested in "turning away" from her mother to go on a different path? What did that even mean? She was stuck on the island, what exactly did they she was doing? Who did he think he was? How could he even begin to imagine what she did and did not want? For most of her life she assumed the royal family wasn't even aware of her existence. Why would he think she would automatically follow her mother at all? The sheer presumption of it all riled her more than anything else.
To further rub salt into the wound, why would he send the invitation to her mother with the intent to turn her daughter against her? Did they think the years in banishment had robbed Maleficent of her senses?
Mal sneered at the letter, rolling her eyes at the idiot. She didn't know if it was utter naivety or hubris that compelled Crown Prince Ben to invite her to the Academy. Perhaps his intentions were benevolent, but they were several years too late. King Adam ordered a magical barrier around the island, filled it with the magic kingdoms' worst villains and their allies or subordinates, and then left them to their own devices for two decades. Most of the main villains had come from nobility or money, they were then reduced to poverty on the island. Most of them let their bitterness fester and grow as they toiled away to survive, forgotten by the golden royals of Auradon. She was certain that was by design: Let them rot there until they died, then the gods could sort them out.
After so much time of neglect, the Isle was barely habitable. What was one year in Auradon versus seventeen in hell?
The villains were not who they used to be.
The "Evil Queen" Ravenna, who once conquered kingdoms and brought armies to its knees was now the Madame of the island's most notorious brothel.
Jafar, once Grand Royal Vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah and dark sorcerer, now bartered for whatever junk he could scrape up or his son could steal. He was constantly on the hunt for another lamp, to have a chance at wishing for the power he always wanted.
Maleficent, who once could shapeshift into a monstrous dragon and terrified a kingdom to the point of sending their only princess to live as a commoner, now lived above a consignment shop. She also moonlighted as the resident midwife, reduced to being a hedge witch who sold potions, poisons, and natural remedies.
Then there was Cruella de Vil, former heiress to the de Vils of London; one of the country's wealthiest families. She grew up in luxury that rivaled the royalty of Auradon, only the finest furs ever touched her skin and the world's delicacies could ever tempt her appetite. She went from a life of absolute comfort and every whim and desire fulfilled to abject poverty. She never quite accepted her exile, trying to recreate the extravagance she had been raised in; even naming her residence "Hell Hall" after her townhouse in the heart of London. She had raged the most out of all the so-called villains. Deeming it a great injustice that she was exiled to the island, she believed her family name alone should have granted her clemency.
But her pathetic attempts to make the Isle a mirror of what she had lost had caused her to lose her mind. She merely ghosted around town and the shack she called Hell Hall, muttering, sometimes screaming at empty air, about puppies and fur coats; sometimes she would talk to the stuffed dog her husband had managed to procure and sew onto her coat. Her halfwit spouse the only person keeping her alive, feeding her the few times she would accept food.
Each villain was an echo of who they used to be, their fury or apathy growing over the years.
Mal grew up in the shadow of Aurora, otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent's defeat; her mother forced magic lessons onto her, determined to get revenge. She expected Mal to help finish what she could not over twenty years ago. While magic would not work on the Isle, that didn't stop Maleficent from coercing her daughter from reading magic books for hours on end. Other days, she forced her to recite incantations that left with the wind and nothing would come of them, but everyday experimenting with trying to compel Mal's magic forward. Maleficent's theory that pain would break through the magic binding their powers, as if it were a mental block rather than outside magic restricting them. Mal's back and arms crisscrossed and littered with scars, proof of her mother's experiments, madness, and cruelty.
Sometimes Mal could still feel the blade slicing into her back, her mother convinced that wings lay dormant under her skin, and her voice going horse from the screams. There was one week where her voice so horse she didn't speak at all, for if she did she would cough up blood.
When she was eight, she had spent the entire year bald in Maleficent's hopes that horns would grow.
There was also the looming threat that she had no magic at all. Mal might be the daughter of the most reviled dark fae ever seen in any kingdom, Maleficent's fury and might unmatched by any villain before or after her, her unknown father had been of human origin. That meant that there was the small chance that Mal had not inherited magic and was essentially fully human. The only thing that kept her alive when she showed no signs of magic was her plum hair, a sign of fairkind blood.
If not for your hair, so like your grandmother's, I would have drowned you at birth.
A harsh thing to hear at thirteen, when still no magic had come from her.
Her magic didn't come at seven, twelve, thirteen when she reached menarche, or sixteen: all typical magical milestones where fae or otherwise would come into their powers if they weren't full blooded.
There wasn't a day that went by where Maleficent didn't sneer at her inability to do magic and blaming it on her weak human heritage. Mal had started to fear that once she turned eighteen, she would run out of chances to manifest her powers and her mother would kill her. Maleficent abhorred weakness of any kind and humans were only ever weak in her eyes. Maleficent would have no hesitation to kill the legacy of her father.
The human father she had never met, nor does she even know his name. If there was anyone Maleficent hated more than King Stefan, Queen Leila, and their daughter Aurora, it was the man who sired her.
Mal knew her mother's spell books by heart, every motion needed for every spell, the encyclopedia of magic herbs, poisons, and cures. All in the vain hope the barrier would ever fall and she would be ready to help raze Auradon to the ground. If she had been raised anywhere else, she'd probably be a full-fledged witch at only seventeen.
But she wasn't anywhere else. She was on the Isle of the Lost, where magic was bound and the residents unable to escape. All her magic and power was in theory, if it existed at all. She sometimes helped her mother with potions and poisons – natural magic that even humans could do and the only thing that worked on the island - selling them to whatever dupe was willing to barter for a few hours of enhanced beauty, or poison a way-ward lover. It was about as impressive as balancing a spoon on her nose outside of the Isle. But it was what kept them fed, at least most of the time.
There have been several winters where she had thought she would die from starvation. The crops not coming in or a plague had wiped out most of their customer base. There were times where it didn't matter how much or what they had to sell, if there was no food to buy or people to sell to; they were at the mercy of fate.
Perhaps Crown Prince Ben had a sadistic streak and some villain ancestry somewhere. Knowing the invitation would never be accepted but to rub it in the villains' faces, to remind them they were powerless and imprisoned.
But even Maleficent could surprise her daughter when she decreed that Mal would attend Auradon Prep at the beginning of the semester.
She remained silent, unsure if she had heard correctly and waited for further instruction.
"You shall attend this school. Those fools thinking you could ever be anything other than my daughter, a dark fae of the Moors by blood," in her frustration, Maleficent struck her staff to the floor. Mal knew if her mother had any magic, there would have been much more damage. "You will find Nadine FéeMarraine's wand and bring it to me."
It turned out after the rage had burned out, her mother started plotting.
If Maleficent had ever loved anybody, which Mal highly doubted, that loved burned out of her during the years of exile and certainly before she was born. All the former protector of the Moors knew was spite and vengeance.
So instead of seeing the invitation as a way for a better life for her only child, all she saw was an opportunity to punish those who put her in her island prison.
"You will take the Maledictae Grimoira with you. Your magic should finally manifest itself. We will gain our revenge. They left us here like dogs, imprisoning us because they feared our power. But no more. We will have justice. We will be freed, and my daughter you will taste the power that should have been yours all along. Everything I have done, I have done to make you stronger."
The wild look in her mother's eyes and the retribution in her tone made her almost believe her. That perhaps all the pain and scars would be worth it once she was outside their island prison and she could wreak havoc and hellfire on Auradon, which Mal was raised to think that's what the citizens and royalty richly deserved. Mal could admit that it sounded most tempting, even if her mother deserved the island, she certainly didn't and shouldn't those who wrongfully condemned her to such a life pay?
But would life outside the Isle but still under her mother's power be worth it?
Maleficent had to be ardent, because the Maledictae Grimoira was the one book Mal was never allowed to touch. The tome too dangerous and too precious to be handled by anyone other than her mother; the book so steeped in dark magic that no apprentice should dare try to wield its secrets. A book so magical it has somehow made its way to the Isle despite the barrier. The villains were dumped with nothing, King Ben worried of contraband. The fact that technically Mal wasn't even her mother's apprentice as she literally had no practical magical training was beside the point. She would be outside the barrier; whatever she had learned would have to be enough. But as she ghosted her hands over the pristine and symmetrical scars that lined her arms and knew there were matching ones on her back, they were nothing more than the product of Maleficent's own malice. Mal might be a lot of things, but she was no fool. She was nothing but a means to an end to her mother. If she turned out to be fully human, then she was worth nothing. She would never be convinced that her mother ever had her best intentions at heart. Her mother had ordered her to go against a full grown fairy, one who was powerful enough to enact a barrier that kept the worst of them locked up and powerless. It felt like a suicide mission and she wondered if her mother cared at all.
Her doubt must have shown on her face as a searing pain shot down her spine, her senses feeling as if they were set aflame.
Maleficent didn't like how her daughter didn't immediately acquiesce to the plan and punished her without hesitation, her eyes glowed an unholy green as she wielded power over their connection; something all familial fairies shared. Mal's own eyes glowing a matching chartreuse, trying to fight the mental onslaught but could never throw off her mother's control over her. She could never defeat her mother who was so much more powerful, her body crumbling to the ground in agony.
Once Maleficent felt her point had been made, she let up on her attack and smirked, all but saying "I win."
"You will find Nadine FéeMarraine and bring her wand to me." She repeated. "I will then have power over both the dark and light magics that course through our world. If you do not, then you are as useless as I have always feared you would be and I'll do what I should have done seventeen years ago."
The promise hung in the air as Mal breathed heavily, regaining her wits and knew her mother never gave idle threats.
"Of course mother, my apologies. I was just thinking how idiotic these royals are. What exactly are they expecting? It'll be pitifully easy to dupe them all, typical White Hats," Mal sneered, ignoring the pain that rippled through her body and acted as if her own mother didn't just torture her.
"Good," Mal's obedience much more to Maleficent's liking, "you leave in a week. The corsets are finished and each is laced with a lust potion. There are also more virility potions to spike the apple wine. Deliver it all to Fleur de Pomme." Maleficent referring to Mal's duties and ordered, dismissing her and ending the conversation.
Mal picked up the packages, immediately departing for the island's notorious brothel. There was no such thing as a luxurious building on the island, but Fleur de Pomme would be the closest. It was one of the few businesses that were basically recession proof. While the magical boundary kept all the villains on the island, it didn't stop the citizens of Auradon from coming and going. So there was always a steady stream of clients, the Auradon citizens bringing with them silks and velvets to decorate the reception hall and rooms to pay with instead of coin, as Auradon currency was useless. The saloon next door also served that clientele, easy targets for pick pocketing.
Something Mal took full advantage of when she "ran into" what looked to be an Auradon royal guard; she gave a contrite apology and looked humble as she looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes.
"Watch where you're going!" the unknown soldier grumpily scoffed at her, making his way out of the establishment. Looking down at another street rat that littered the Isle of the Lost, wondering why they didn't take more care to not breed so many bastards.
I thought fucking was supposed to make you less stressed.
Mal thought to herself. Out of his eyesight, she tossed the coin purse she freed from his person in her hand and felt that it was probably his monthly pay. Mainland coin was useless there, so clients normally brought items to barter for a few rounds with one of Ravenna's "blossoms." Not only was the gold currency proof Auradon citizens visited the Isle so no soldier wanted to leave it, gold and silver (sometimes gems) held no real value on the island. What would any of them do with a horde of shiny metal or gleaming rocks? Fleur's was rich in fabrics, food, and creature comforts; the whores were the best fed citizens on the island.
Not bad for so early in the night.
She thought it would be prudent to start saving up the money as it would be useful where she was going.
The sounds of moaning, high pitched screams of the whores faking pleasure, and skin slapping permeated the air; the scent of incense overpowered her senses. Something needed in a brothel; otherwise the stink of stale sex and sweat would drive off the more refined customers. She climbed the mountain of stairs, no modern conveniences such as elevators, until she reached the attic; it was where her best friend Evie, the daughter of the Madame, resided.
The so called Evil Queen was nowhere to be found, Evie sat alone amongst a mountain of clothes that she was dutifully stitching and mending.
"Hey Eves, what are you working on?" Mal greeted her friend.
"It's a new costume; autumn is almost upon us so mother thought to have new outfits for Apple, Pear, Cranberry, and Fig. 'Parade the blossoms of the season.'" Evie mimicked her mother.
"I thought Pear had to quit, the customer had cut her face, and my mother couldn't heal them."
"The new…Pear. She's already been replaced," she blue hair friend said quietly, not wanting to discuss it further and Mal was sorry she asked.
Mal took comfort in the memory giving the offender matching cuts, as well a few more, before he died and then dumping his body in a shallow grave. Evie was not the type to do the same.
"Are those the new corsets?" she asked, noticing the package Mal was carrying, both were glad to talk about anything else.
"Yeah, all made to be super tight and laced with lust potions."
"Mother will be glad, she says the Auradon clients are getting stingy lately. Your mother's potions help loosen their purses."
"I'm sure they loosen all sorts of things."
Mal smirked at the innuendo while Evie raised her hand to cover her mouth, hiding as she had been trained never to smile
No laughing, wrinkles!
Ravenna scolding echoed through her head every time she even thought of something funny or wanted to make any real facial expression.
While Evie had to hide her mirth, Mal knew her friend well enough to know she found the joke funny. Their laughter, silent or otherwise, was cut short at the entrance of Madam Ravenna. None of the villains banished to the island would ever be considered to be pleasant company, but right after Maleficent, Ravenna was probably the most feared one there. The witch had at one point been powerful enough to take over several kingdoms before her defeat. Her own undoing was listening to a magical mirror that didn't proclaim she was the fairest of them all.
Mal didn't understand why she didn't just break that mirror and create another with more desirable answers.
"Evie, darling. Go to Cherry's room and redo her make up. Her last client seems to be half vampire."
Evie immediately dropped her sewing project and went to pick up her make up bag. Mal politely greeted the Evil Queen, knowing her mother probably would beat her blue if she disrespected her closest ally and business partner. She accepted the bag of coins for the new corsets, potions, and a percentage of the profits. The brothel was the only establishment that dealt in coins, minted in house as credits for time with the whores. Maleficent used them to pay for produce and goods, the farmers and tradesmen more than happy to accept payment in the form of fucking the local talent.
"Mal, I'll also need more tansy tea. The latest batch of clients seem to be particularly virile, some of the girls are in trouble."
Mal never understood why Ravenna never made her own tea, or relied on Maleficent for potions at all. The Madame was an accomplished enough witch in her own right, but she suspected potions were too close to cooking and the former queen thought it beneath her. Ravenna was no longer in the shadows and didn't have to do such tedious work such as growing herbs and brewing potions in secret herself when Maleficent was more than happy to make Mal do all the grunt work.
"How far along are they?"
"Does it matter?"
"If they're too far, it could kill them."
"So it doesn't matter. If one of my girls pushes out any of their brats, it'll ruin them from working. Men don't like it when their petals are stretched. So either way, they need the tea."
Either way, they had a potential death sentence. Either they die in childbirth or survive long enough to starve, or they die from the tea.
"Of course. I'll brew some tonight and deliver it in the morning," Mal replied, unfeeling. The working girls chose their fate, she merely provided an option.
"Thank you darling," the endearment said with no real affection. "And congratulations on getting into Auradon Prep. It seems you an Evie are moving up in the world."
Mal's eyes widened at the implication, not having the time yet to talk to her best friend about the new development.
"Thank you," she quickly said and walked with Evie down the corridors, making their way to the private room of one of the more popular girls.
"You got an invitation to Auradon too?" Evie whispered as she clutched her make up bag, using it as a shield as she walked through the brothel.
"Not here," Mal replied and looked around to make sure no one overheard them.
Evie understood that it wasn't safe to talk. There were too many ears in the establishment, even if there was supposed to be a thieves code. She wouldn't be surprised if even one of her mother's girl's would rat them out to an Auradon soldier with hopes of getting off the island herself.
"I'll text Jay and Carlos, we'll meet at the Warehouse at midnight."
Evie nodded and went into a room to do as her mother bid. Mal made her way out but had run into one of the older girls.
"Well if it isn't little Mal, all grown up I see. When are we going to see you grace one of these rooms? I think Plum's is free."
Within a second, she had the woman pinned to the wall with a bejeweled blade millimeters from her face.
"I think all the fucking has knocked what little brain you had out of your head," Mal snarled, never one to let such disrespect to go unanswered.
"I'm not afraid of you," she sneered. Mal couldn't even remember what stupid fruit code name she had, so she figured the woman had nothing to lose and didn't care who she pissed off. Normally just being Maleficent's daughter was enough for all the citizens to give her wide berth.
"Your mother is just another helpless villain, banished to this hell like the rest of us."
But maybe after twenty years of being a villain imprisoned with no hope of escaping had dulled that fear. Smelling the sour apple wine on her breath, she figured the whore was simply drunk and stupid.
"Perhaps, but I still have a very sharp knife I'm not afraid to dig into what is left of your pretty face. I'm sure Madam Ravenna would have no trouble replacing you, if she doesn't have one lined up already. And perhaps you need a lesson on exactly how 'helpless' my mother is. Would you like to take a walk through Death's Vineyard?"
While the courtesan was skilled in many areas, fighting wasn't one of them and Mal was stronger than she looked. She thought of the final resting place of Maleficent's victims, named so because grapes had grown wild there. The one patch of fruit on the Isle no one would touch, thinking the berries were cursed. Although Mal had the thin and lean frame most on the island had, she was probably leaving bruises on her throat. She knew her days at the brothel were numbered; she wasn't ready to be kicked out into the street just yet and she certainly didn't want to be a victim of Maleficent's thuggish daughter. The threat was enough for her submission.
The prostitute had looked away, silently admitting defeat. Mal let her go roughly and made her way home. She forgot about the incident as soon as she turned away, life on the island was rough and it was kill or be killed.
She settled in her room, her mother was never one to bother her that late at night and she suspected she was abusing sleep potions that stained her lips purple. She un-lodged a loose floorboard and pulled out treasures she feared her mother would find. There were sketches of her friends and a few nick knack's she was sentimental about and didn't want to give up to her mother to destroy in a fit of anger; deeming keepsakes as soppy weakness. One item was a jailbroken device that Carlos de Vil had managed to make able to text. All other internet and Wi-Fi capabilities were non-existent on the island, but Carlos was a genius with technology, able to create items from the scraps from Auradon. He was one of the main reasons there was any working technology on the island at all.
Meet warehouse midnite Mal blasted to all her friends. They all replied in the affirmative and she waited to sneak out to their secret hiding place. She opted to sketch to pass the time, wondering if Auradon had more art supplies than homemade charcoal and natural paints she was able to make from the local flora or pigments.
Mal made her way through town; most of the island was asleep by then. When everyone was a villain, there was no point to doing business in the shadows so most worked during daylight hours. There were a few night owls out, those who had no purpose and just wondered. No one paid her any mind as she made her way to her and her friends' secret hideout. It was an abandoned building on the outskirts of town, too far for most to bother. It was also one abandoned building among many.
Mal looked around to make sure no one was watching, picked up a rock from a pile kept handy and hidden by bushes. With practiced aim, she hit a "Danger Flying Rocks" sign she had made herself. The yellow sign swung back with force and a hidden door that led to stairs revealed itself.
One of Carlos' many ingenious contraptions.
They had no idea what building was used for before it was abandoned but they had rigged it into apartment. They furnished it with stolen beds, tables, chairs, an ancient TV held together with hope and Carlos' help, and the walls donned Mal's artwork. In the main area, she painted the four of them, the other walls were forest scenes and flowers, places she wished she could see. Places she imagined from stories her mother used to tell her of the Moors and fantasizing about escaping. They had the place all to themselves and they all took advantage of it when things at home got to be too much.
It was their own personal escape.
When she walked in, she saw that Jay and Evie wasted no time and were making out on red worn but serviceable couch.
Carlos stood by a window with multi-color checkered stained glass, ignoring the two on the couch and fiddling with something in his hands. He was always tinkering with something, probably another layer of security for either their apartment or for one of the many businesses that paid him for his devices. He had top notch security equipment; it's what kept their hideout so well guarded. He had always worried about being found. It was the only place on the island they ever got a real sense of privacy and it'd be devastating to lose it.
While she was never one to be as open with her affections like Jay and Evie, she made her way across the room and hugged her boyfriend.
It was rare they ever got to spend time together, basically only when they were in the Warehouse. So she reveled in their closeness, hugging him close and he placed his chin on her head, the perfect height to do so. She loved him no matter what but she couldn't help but appreciate his growth spurt in the last year. She breathed in deep, memorizing the feeling of being in his arms; the smell of leather and ozone that was uniquely Carlos imprinted in her mind. She took comfort in his warmth and his steady heartbeat.
In the hell that was the Isle of the Lost, the only time Mal ever really felt happy was with her friends.
"So I'm guessing we all got invitations to Auradon Prep?" Carlos asked, figuring out why they were called to the midnight meeting.
The tension in Mal's shoulders lifted, worried she would be separated from them and relived that it wasn't just her and Evie being sent away.
"You got one too?" she asked to make sure, looking into his deep eyes and worried it was too good to be true.
"Yeah, it was sitting on Cruella's boudoir. Glad she had a fit and told me to clean her room today otherwise I doubt I would have ever seen it in time," he rolled his eyes at the former debutant. No doubt in his mind she had no intention of letting him know of the invitation.
"Is she going to let you go?" Worried the mad woman would try to keep him there, and contemplating she ought to get rid of her once and for all. No matter how much she loved Carlos, she wouldn't let the mad woman squander this chance for him.
"I'm not giving her the opportunity to say no. She doesn't know I know, and by the time we're gone there won't be anything she can do about it. Even if she found out before hand, I'm too strong now for her to stop me. She can set her own bear traps and brush her own coats. Or she'll make Fisher do it, I don't care anymore."
Fisher de Vil was the meek husband of Cruella, he was getting frail and could no longer do a majority of the cleaning and other de facto slave labor she demanded on a regular basis. A Sisyphean task as nothing on the Isle was ever truly clean and it was a hovel. No amount of cleaning could ever make it a mansion. Since she had lost everything when she was banished, she was still intent on living as close to the lifestyle as she could. That meant Carlos had to meticulously maintain what furs she managed to obtain on the island and Hell Hall. Mr. de Vil was still a skilled furrier and kept her happy by slavishly creating coats for her, even if they weren't the quality minks and other exotic animals she was used to. She had to have some type of fur, not caring what it cost to those around her. Carlos had grown up sleeping in her coat room, the limited spaced used for her things and not a proper bedroom for him. He was not even allowed to use them for warmth on particularly cold nights; he had to protect them from Cruella's imagined enemies who wanted to steal them. He bore scars from the traps he had to set in the wild to catch animals for Fisher to skin, and the traps in her coat closet.
Thinking of all she had put him through and knowing how shellfish she was to try to prevent him from leaving and having a better life finally drove Carlos to his limit; his eyes started to change, turning from a beautiful deep chocolate to a hellish crimson in his rising fury, his anger deepening at the thought of losing that chance with Mal.
"Shhhh, it's alright. We're almost out of here," she said trying to sooth him. She ran her fingers through his newly cut hair, longer than he usually had it, and straight as well. He must have done a favor for one of the lesser brothels, the only establishments that catered to grooming and had the ability to straighten hair. It was a change she was first seeing and she had to keep herself from being annoyed because it was evident how long since Maleficent had let her have a break and been able to see him.
He closed his eyes and took deep breaths to keep his temper under control, enjoying the feeling of Mal scratching his scalp. She always knew how to calm him down.
"So wait, we're actually going Kingdom side?" Jay asked, finally taking a break from sucking face with Evie.
"Did you want to stay?" Mal asked incredulous, not sure why any of them would say no.
"Well, no. But this is a trap…right?"
She actually hadn't thought of that, too preoccupied with her mother's machinations to really think the roles could be reversed; a slight burgeoning respect developed for Crown Prince Ben if he were to be that devious. It wasn't often she could be caught unawares and she had accepted going with no hesitation, so desperate to get off the island.
"I mean, why else would they want us there? Don't tell me you believe this bullshit about giving us a chance and proving we're not villains. Second chance? What was the first chance we squandered? Being born?"
Jay had a point, it sounded suspicious and it was. Normally the thief was not so mindful of such things; she felt a little embarrassed how easily the prince could have fooled her.
He also had a point about second chances, further irritating her about Crown Prince Ben's invitation.
Yeah, second chance? What did we ever do to the UKA?
"We're going to turn eighteen this year, what's the point of sending us to Auradon Prep for one year? Where was this altruism say, seventeen years ago? Why start caring now? This plan sounds a few dips short of a poisoned apple," Evie questioned and voiced her own skepticism.
"Prince Ben has been given his principality which includes where Auradon Prep is located, I think this is his first decree," Mal thought out loud, feeling the need to defend the edict even if she were uncertain as well. She certainly didn't want them to decide to stay. A trap they could prepare for, escaping the Isle had proved impossible so far.
"What would they even be setting a trap for? The adults are still on the island and no one in twenty years has been able even make a dent. Even with Auradon citizens coming and going, no one's been able to steal whatever they're using to get through the barrier or even figure out what it is. If they think they can use us against any of them, which again would be pointless, the royals are barking up the wrong tree if they think any of them would care," Carlos interjected bitterly.
They all agreed to that, Crown Prince Ben must have actual compassionate intentions, no matter how futile they may ultimately be. If he wanted them dead or harmed, there were easier and less risky plans.
"What did Maleficent have to say?" the white and black haired boy asked his girlfriend, still holding onto her, taking advantage of the time he had with her.
"She wasted no time in coming up with a plan for her escape. She wants me to find the Fairy Godmother and steal her wand. That would allow her to destroy the barrier and let them all out."
"Are you going to do it?"
"Hells no. I was for a second when I thought I was the only one going, but since all of you are too I figure what the hell? I think we can try this 'good' thing. How hard can it be?"
"Mal, have you met those assholes who visit Fleur de Pomme?" Evie asked sardonically.
"Can't be that hard to act like we have a flying broom up our ass and better than everyone else."
Her friend rolled her eyes, not looking forward to Auradon Prep if the students were anything like the Isle's regular visitors.
"Well I'm going anyway, mother wants me to nab a 'perfect prince with a castle that has an in-law wing and lots of mirrors,'" Evie said, rolling her eyes at her mother's plan, resentful that her mother's plan for her only daughter was to sell herself to any prince that would have her and let them live comfortably.
She was given an ultimatum. Snag a prince and lose her virginity that way or have it be sold to the highest bidder and join the working girls. It was an easy decision, especially when she found out Mal and her closest friends were going.
Jay laughed, it was a ridiculous plan but it wasn't as if it didn't have its own merits.
"Hey, maybe I can get a princess and we'll be neighbors," he joked while his hand wandered scandalously up her leg and beneath her skirt. Evie turned her head, loving the idea of both of them marrying some hapless Auradon royal and cuckholding them. Only after years of knowing her and her slight head movements could they know what she was thinking, her face never giving anything away. They felt they had all talked enough and got back to passionately kissing, both eager use the privacy of the Warehouse to its fullest.
Carlos rolled his eyes at his friends, both he and Mal walked to a separate room in the apartment. A place just for the two of them, a worn mattress sat in a corner, the walls decorated with her more of her paintings. The bed had some comfortable simple cotton sheets, rejected from the brothel for not being silk or Agrabahian 1000 thread count cotton.
Their time together was always slower and more romantic in Mal's opinion than Jay and Evie. Their two best friends weren't in love like they were, the thief and enchantress were more about having fun and they trusted each other. Both Jay and Evie had raging hormones, more than they knew what to do with but weren't willing to endanger themselves by fulling giving themselves to each other.
Pregnancy could kill on the island. If not in childbirth, then certainly Maleficent and Ravenna would slaughter them.
Mal and Carlos, however, loved each other. Their refrain from making love was all the more frustrating.
That didn't mean they were totally abstinent. There was a boon to working around a brothel. Not every working girl there was resentful of Mal and Evie. The latter was kept from working there with clients because Ravenna wanted to keep her daughter a virgin to be able to hook a prince. Maleficent would poison the entire island before she had a daughter of hers resort to prostitution.
Mal's mother more often than not stressed abstinence as she saw sexual desire as a weak human trait. And if she absolutely couldn't refrain herself, there was always tansy tea. Mal was tempted to use it but it had the unfortunate side effect of killing the mother along with the fetus if it was taken too late. Since there were no reliable pregnancy tests on the island, by the time a woman figured out she was pregnant she flirted dangerously close the fatal time period of taking the tea too late.
There was also the possibility of permanent infertility since the tea was technically a poison. While Carlos and Mal hated both Maleficent and Cruella, both had hoped that maybe in the future, the far, far future, they would be able to escape the island and start a family. Mal was confident that if they couldn't find a magical way to break the barrier, then Carlos would come up with a way via technology, he had been working on it for years. While Cruella was content to waste his talents being her servant, he was a prodigy with gadgets.
Mal kissed him deeper and removed his shirt, straddling him, her attentions becoming more fervent with the hope of their escape. She let her hair out of the twin French braids she always kept them in, only ever feeling comfortable around him to let her hair down.
The working girls taught her all the ways they could enjoy each other's body without the threat of pregnancy.
They both smiled through their kisses, happier than they had ever been. They were getting off the island, they would be free. That night felt like a celebration. They wouldn't have to sneak around or hide at the Warehouse. Their time together wouldn't be tainted with the fear of getting caught. They would be on the mainland, where they could show and tell everyone of their love.
They were both touch starved, their hands roaming over every inch exposed; eagerly clawing at each other's clothes, lifting their tops off and throwing them to the side, desperate for more exposed skin. With skilled practice, he had undone the cloth band she wore to bind her chest while their mouths still danced with each other. Carlos pulled her closer, cupping her bottom to push her against his hardness. His hands moved to the small of her back, careful not to touch her scars as she hated acknowledging they existed, moving them to her front and cupped her breast. He smiled wider at the sounds she made, gently rolling a rosy nipple between his fingers, loving how sensitive they were.
She desperately started to rub against him, wishing the large hardness she felt could be inside her. Pausing to look into his eyes, she smirked at how dilated they became. Feeling of pride swelled in her as she noticed a thin red ring, knowing she could rile him up so. She continued to ride him, the friction causing shocks of pleasure to bloom inside her.
Carlos started to kiss to her neck, lightly sucking at her pulse points and a growl rumbled in his chest as her moans grew louder as he knew all her favorite spots. He wished he could leave a bite; his teeth ached to bite down gently. A primal instinct inside him wanted to mark her, leave proof that she was taken and his. But it was too dangerous, flirting with courting Maleficent's wrath.
Mal started to get impatient, wanting to do more than kiss and touch him. She dragged her nails down his back, his body lighting with sensation. She suddenly found herself flipped onto her back; a wolfish smile donning his face with his hair falling over his eyes. Perhaps her vision was hazy with lust but she could have sworn she saw his teeth glean and sharper in the dim light of a dying lamp.
He started to kiss his way down her body, laving at her breast with his tongue; one of his favorite areas to give attention to.
"Carlos, please," Mal whined, wanting him to satisfy the fire he started inside her.
He could never deny her anything, and he hooked her bottoms with his thumbs and pulled them down. His hand then gently pushed her legs open, magenta curls glistening with her arousal. He slowly opened her up, careful not to be rough with her delicate folds, teasing the bundle of nerves that caused her to whimper out. He did a long lick, loving her taste. She was unearthly and ethereal, reduced to a quivering live wire under his attention. The whores at Gemma's, the rival brothel of Fleur's, had given him advice in exchange for maintaining their security system and other appliances. They advised him to trace his tongue to the alphabet but he preferred the periodic table. With their instruction and his experience with Mal, he knew exactly what she liked, long strokes with his tongue and alternating direct attention to her clit. On average he could have her a quaking mess by krypton. She must have been particularly keen that night as she had stilled and pulled his hair at magnesium. He started short kitten licks to extend her peak until she became oversensitive and pushed him away gently. Breathing heavily, she had relaxed into the bed. He smiled at how he could get her so limp from bliss. He wiped his mouth of her wetness and crawled up to her. She didn't hesitate to kiss him, her hands snaking down and into his pants.
"My turn," she whispered wickedly. She took her place above him, giving him the same attention. He may not mark her as it would raise too many questions. But he did not have the same issue, she dragged her nails down his chest and nipped at his neck; sucking to leave a mark he would see every time he looked in the mirror or changed.
He growled impatiently but kept his hands where they were, he would never rush her.
"Good boy," she praised his restraint. Hearing her approval almost had him cumming into his pants but he was able to abstain. She kissed and licked down his chest, her lips and tongue going everywhere except where he wanted her. The instant his pants were gone, she pumped his cock, admiring his length, veiny and thick. She used the pre-come the pearled at his tip to lubricate her motions. She knew it'd probably hurt to have him in her, but she ached for that day. She had enough practice with him to swallow him whole. She bobbed up and down, looking him at him with hooded eyes, glowing effervescent green. He loved seeing his cock disappear between her plump lips as her head dipped up and down. She flattened her tongue and undulated, paying special attention to the crown; her hand constantly pumping him where her lips left him bare.
"Mal, I'm going to cum," he warned her, his breathing got heavier, panting from the pleasure.
She sped up, his spunk had been an acquired taste but she learned to love it.
Her quickening attention was enough to send him over the edge, his cock pulsating as she swallowed quickly; making sure to not leave a drop. Seeing her not wasting any of his seed only inflamed his passions and he seemed to be cumming for an eternity. It was only until he made distressed sounds did she know to stop, her actions overstimulating him. It was his turn to go limp and relaxed. She smiled shyly at how happy he was, a dopy smile plastered on his face. She crawled back up to, they kissed; they didn't mind their taste on each other's tongue.
The looked at each other, reacquainting themselves as they came down from their orgasmic high; content in the silence and to simply look and hold each other. Both hoping once they were in Auradon, they would never have to go as long between seeing one another.
The light from an old and failing lamp gave the room a yellow tone but Carlos loved how it shined in her purple hair and green eyes, thinking she was the most beautiful girl on the island. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, of all the men on the island she could choose from, Maleficent's daughter, the undisputed heiress to the leadership of the Isle, had chosen him.
He was aware there was a celestial body known as the moon, but they've never really seen such a thing since the constant cloud cover on the island had always obscured the sky.
He bet Mal would be lovely under moonlight.
Mal had felt the same way as she lost herself in his burnt umber eyes, she counted his freckles to make sure there were as many as she remembered. He was too good for the island, probably the only one there that didn't belong. She, Jay, and even Evie had earned their places long ago, adapting too well and too much of their villain parents' blood in them.
Carlos was an aberration, if not for his dual colored hair and some facial features she would have thought he had been brought there by mistake. That he could not be the son of a villain, much less Cruella de Vil.
Carlos deserved Auradon, that much she knew.
Mal loved to rest her head against Carlos' chest, his heart a steady comforting beat that was lulling her to sleep. He played with her hair as it splayed across him.
"So what have you been up to since I saw you last?" he asked, enjoying their intimate time before the sun rose and they'd both have to go back to their lives.
She started to talk about the jobs she did around the island, and the time she spent with Evie and Jay; stealing or just being Isle teenagers. A pang of jealousy at the time the others were allowed to spend with Mal. Even if he didn't hate Cruella, he thought leaving the island would be worth it to just spend time with his girlfriend openly. There wouldn't be anyone to stop them or forbid them from seeing each other.
They spoke for hours, never getting tired of hearing each other talk or being with each other.
A week couldn't come fast enough.
Thanks again for reading everyone! Please review! Also, please feel free to ask me any questions. I love to talk all this disney/descendant's nerd shit. LOL ;-D