Chapter One Hundred and Seven

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.

Woohoo, the end of my hiatus is finally here! Did my sanity appreciate it? Of course but I still missed being able to write and upload :D

Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D

"So…who decides who reads?" Cassandra asked.

"It's kinda a free for all," Eugene shrugged.

"Oh…you mind if I go?"

"Have fun, Dragon Lady."

"Thanks Flyboy."

Mal smiled as she looked at her ring.

"Wait…what ring?" Ginny asked.

Malinda smiled as she held up her hand. "I don't think we actually broke the news to Ginny and Cassandra that we're married," she said, gesturing to herself and Benji.

Ginny stared in shock. "Mal's going to be the next Queen of Auradon?"

"Believe me, we were just as shocked as you are," Jay told her.

It truly was beautiful—there were honestly days that she thought she had dreamt Cotillion and she was going to wake up to find herself still having Lady of the Court sessions with Natalie.

"She will never be able to be near you again," Benji promised as he held Malinda close.

"Who's Natalie?" Ginny asked.

"The spawn of Satan," Harry said.

"But…I thought you all called Freddy the–?"

"Satan can have many spawns! We've been over this!"

Or worse, wake up and find that she was still on the Isle.

"Never going to happen," Hades said. "Even if I have to talk to Morpheus and warn him about messing about in Mal's dreams."

But it hadn't been a dream. It had been real. Ben was now her fiancé. Her wonderful, optimistic, kind hearted fiancé.

"You forgot 'dragon obsessed' in your descriptors," Akiho said.

"Pretty sure that goes without saying," Malinda chuckled.

Thankfully, that bonk on the head that Freddy had given him at Cotillion had only changed him in the fact that he did actually start using his guards a bit more.

"Oh thank the Gods!" Akiho exclaimed, falling to his knees from his seat. "Thank Lord Hades, thank Lady Demeter, thank Lord Posidon, thank Lady Persephone, thank Lady Hera, thank Odin, thank Freya…"

"Is…is he okay?" Ginny whispered to Carlos as Akiho continued to list Gods to thank.

"Physically? Yes. Mentally? We're still unsure," Carlos whispered back.

Not so much that Akiho stopped ranting at him about the importance of said guards whenever he got the chance but enough that it soothed the worry in Mal's heart.

"Aww!" Akiho pouted as he realized what had been said.

"Think you can get back into your seat now?" Emir chuckled.

Mal sighed as she thought about him. Freddy, she meant though it would have been much more enjoyable to think about Akiho and his many antics with Ben and Emir.

"You got that right," the VKs muttered. Yes, even the new arrivals–it was a fair assumption that anyone would have been better than thinking about Freddy.

Two months had passed since Cotillion and they hadn't found Freddy. They suspected that he was somewhere in Auradon but they couldn't be sure.

"Well…at least you know he's not on the Isle," Sammy pointed out. "He would have needed to steal a barrier remote."

Jay thought maybe he had gone to Apollo to heal his wounds but that idea was shot down as quickly as it came up. Apollo was the God of Medicine yes, but Freddy was so fanatical that he would have eaten his own femur before he accepted help from one of the Gods. It was the reason why he refused to have his wounds healed by magic after all.

"Jay, I think you've been out in the sun too long if you're thinking like that!" Harry shook his head.

Not to mention I'm pretty sure insulting Zeus' granddaughter the way he had at Cotillion put Freddy on the smite on sight list, Mal thought as she shook her head.

"No, I'm pretty sure going after you got him on the smite on sight list, Mal," Poseidon told his niece.

The worst part about all of this was that their plans to bring the next group of VKs over had to be delayed.

Something that had not pleased the VKs in Auradon all that much.

"I mean…on the one hand I can understand the disappointment but on the other…I can see the thinking behind that."

"What do you mean we're delaying the group?"

"Harry, think about it," Mal sighed as she looked over at the pirate. "If Freddy's at large, it's not safe for us to bring over the new lot. I mean he almost killed Ben. What do you think he'd do if he got ahold of Dizzy? Or Celia? Or Gods Squeaky and Squirmy? Sammy would kill us and then find a way to bring us back to kill us again!"

Harry sighed. "Point taken."

Harry shook his head. "Mal, we promised that we'd start bringing kids over as quickly as possible. My sisters are still on the Isle!"

CJ couldn't help the small smile that pulled at her lips as she heard the plural form of 'sister' come from scroll-Harry. Maybe there was still a chance that her brother wouldn't hate her.

"And do you want CJ or Harriet to potentially be on the wrong side of Freddy's sword?" Uma asked as she sat down by him. Both girls had noticed Harry's use of the plural even though it'd been Harriet he had insisted fill out an application to leave the Isle. "Harry, I hate to say it but I'm with Mal on this. Delaying until we know where Freddy is just makes sense. He can't get back on the Isle with the barrier after all."

"She's right. He'd have to break into…where are the barrier remotes kept?" Mal asked, looking at Ben.

"In the glove boxes of the limos," Ben said.

"...change that location," Phil Jr. muttered as he looked over at Audrey.

"We have so many kids who deserve to get off the Isle though," Jay sighed. "CJ, Ryan, Dizzy, Celia, Squeaky, Squirmy, Brooke even if she left us for the Angels…"

"'I'm sorry, what?" Ginny exclaimed. "Why would Brooke leave the Rats for the Angels?!"

"Locklyn apparently dragged her away from the Rats," Mal said.

Ginny shook her head. "She's got her father's brains there, leaving the Rats for the Angels? And roping Brooke into it?"

Mal sighed once more and brushed a strand of purple hair out of her eyes. Ryan, it had turned out, hadn't been fourteen like they'd thought.

"...I'm sorry, what now?" Henry asked, looking more than a little surprised.

"I second that!" CJ exclaimed.

He'd been fifteen, a year older than CJ. He could have joined the face offs and scouting missions.

"He's…Ry's…. He could have… can I have a minute?" Henry whispered, a small amount of panic in his eyes though he tried to hide it.

"Of course Henry," Malinda said softly, seeing the fear and panic in the redhead's eyes.

Henry got up and walked over to the side, still visible to the group but far enough away that no one could see the panic on his face. Ry…Ryan could join the Face Off group, could go on scouting runs. And Henry would have no choice but to say yes now that he knew…he knew Ryan was at least fifteen.

"Hey…hey, it's okay," Claudine's voice entered his ear and Henry looked to see her standing by his side; her hand gently rubbing his shoulder. "You know no one here would let anything happen to Ryan right? Mal'll get him to Boreadon before she allows him to be hurt in a Face Off. Same with Uma, Harry, and Jay. Plus I'll be looking out for him as best I can, sweetheart."

"...Did Claudine just call Henry sweetheart?" Ginny whispered to Carlos.

"Details to follow," Carlos whispered back as Claudine led Henry back to the group.

They of course had no reason to believe he wasn't the age they assumed he was—he wouldn't be the first VK to have his height stunted by the poor diet of the Isle. As well, Mal suspected that Ryan would have put up more of a fuss if CJ'd been older too. Plus…he would have been kept safe for his sister's sake.

"He would have been kept safe for all our sakes," Uma said, looking at Henry as Harriet and Harry looked over at CJ. Even if Harry's look was a bit more subtle than his sister's.

The only reason Mal knew the truth was because she had looked through the registry, trying to help Carlos in updating the digital one. On a whim she went to Ryan's page and had stared in shock at the date. It was honestly likely that Ryan never knew—he always said that his sister was two years younger than him so if he'd been two, about to turn three when she was born…

"He's older than we thought," Mal said with a slow nod.

Not to mention Mal doubted that Ryan's father truly remembered the year his son had been born after Ryan's mom died giving birth to Kristy. There was the added benefit of birthdays not exactly being a big thing on the Isle.

"Sad but true…" James said softly with a glance at Milah, biting his lip slightly.

Mal was pretty sure the Rats didn't start celebrating birthdays until she and Uma became co-captains.

"I mean…I celebrated mine and Harry's and CJ's," Harriet said softly.

And I celebrated mine…even if it was just a way to acknowledge I'd made it another year after mom died, Henry thought. Before I joined the Rats at least…

"Mal?" Jay asked, pulling Mal out of her thoughts.

"I'm fine," Mal said, shaking her head to clear it.

"Too many Queen lessons huh?" Jay chuckled. "Filling up the old brain faster than you thought they would?"

"I mean…he wasn't wrong," Malinda said with a slight smile.

"Hey, as long as I don't walk into our dorm and find you putting in contacts again, I'll be fine," Uma teased and Mal rolled her eyes.

"As has been said, Uma, be glad you didn't walk into her with blonde hair," Audie said.

"Your timeline really is filled with idiots," Malinda sighed.

"Yeah yeah, maybe one day I'll walk in and you'll be out of your denial phase with Harry," Mal teased back and smirked as Uma nearly spat out her drink. "Turnabout's fair play cuz."

"There's no denial!" Harry and Uma exclaimed.

"You marry him, Uma! Unless my future self is lying!" Mal shot back.

Ginny's eyes got wide. "I'm sorry what?!"

"Did we not mention that bit?" Carlos asked.

"No I think I'd remember you announcing that the denial that plagued the Isle would end, Carlos!"

"I'm not in denial!"

"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that."

"How 'bout I keep telling you instead?" Uma shook her head.

A pair of hands wrapped around her waist and Mal had to smile even as they leaned forward against the stone wall she'd been standing by. She had no intention of toppling over, thank you.

"And I had no intention of toppling you," Benji said with a small smile.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same," Audie said with a small smile as she thought about Ben and Mal's first scene together in the third viewing.

"What are you thinking about?" Ben's voice whispered in her ear.

"How lucky I am to be engaged to you," Mal said as she turned to face him.

"I'm the lucky one," Benji smiled, kissing her head.

Ben gave her a small smile. "Emir and Akiho already did a fly by on the magic carpet. There're no reporters hiding in the trees, bushes, flowerbeds or compost pile."

Aladdin sighed before looking at his youngest son and his son's best friend. "Do I want to know why you checked the compost pile?"

"I think the more important question is how did they check the compost pile, dad," Ashaki said.

"How'd they check—?"

"I don't know and at this stage in our friendship I'm scared to ask."

"Very wise of you Ben," Lonnie chuckled.

"But…you're the King…"

Ben shook his head. "When it comes to Emir and Akiho there are two options. Smile and nod as they do something completely insane because you know they mean well or potentially have your mind broken as you try to comprehend their explanation."

"Sounds like a few people I know," Uma chuckled.

Mal chuckled. "I know some people like that."

"It was a dangerous move, having your friends and my friends unite in a common goal. But you, my Queen, have gotten me off topic."

Mal blushed slightly while Malinda chuckled.

"Get used to it, he loves that nickname," she said.

"Not that hard to do," Mal smirked as she kissed his cheek. She loved the fact that, while they had not yet gotten married, Ben still referred to her as 'his Queen' whenever he got the chance. Of course that was in addition to his favorite nickname for her of 'dragon'.

"What about Ben made you think he would stop calling you 'dragon?' Chip grinned.

Even if it brought up another worry of her's. There was a big possibility, in fact probably an almost certainty, that she had become immortal when her mom adopted her. Ben may have had the remnants of the Beast enchantment but that didn't guarantee an immortal life.

Mal froze, biting her lip.

"Oh yeah, I knew we forgot something in our many explanations," Malinda chuckled as she saw the look on her younger self. "Ben's immortal."

"How?!" Chip, Beast, Abby, and Belle exclaimed.

"Perk of marrying me," Malinda said. "He got it as a wedding present."

"Come on Mal. What's on your mind? You know you can tell me anything," Ben said as he gently cupped her cheek with his hand, pulling Mal out of her thoughts.

"She'll get there, Ben," Kitty said with a smile.

Mal sighed as bright green eyes met hazel green. Focus on one problem at a time, she told herself. "Freddy."

"Wait…Freddy's over there?" Ginny cried.

"Yep," Uma nodded.

"Still no sign?" Ben asked with a small sigh of his own.

"Not one whiff of smoke," Mal shook her head. "I suppose we should take that as a good sign, that Freddy hasn't decided to take a leaf out of his dad's book and burn down all of Auradon until he gets what he wants. Me tied to a stake and set ablaze, or if that's not an option then he'll want me tossed into the ocean."

"Over my dead body!" Uma cried. "Grandfather would just have the ocean throw you back if Freddy did somehow manage to throw you into the ocean anyway!"

"Which will never happen," Ben promised her.

"He's got that right!" Harry, Jay, Hadie, and Henry nodded.

"Benny, I'm pretty sure Uma would kill you if you even thought about that, never mind what my mom and dad would do," Mal chuckled dryly but it was short lived. "Any word about Audrey?"

"I don't think we want to know…" Emir sighed.

"None," Ben sighed. Aurora had reached out to them about a week after Freddy's escape, the blonde in tears as she hadn't heard anything from Audrey in all that time. There was a worry that Freddy had kidnapped Audrey but they had checked her dorm. There was no sign of a struggle.

"Of course not, considering she broke him out," Uma muttered, throwing a dark look at Audrey.

Then again, Freddy had managed to convince three Rats to leave the crew, Mal thought with a small sigh as she looked back out toward the Isle. If he could do that, convince Shayla and Locklyn and Strat to leave the security of knowing where your next meal was going to come from, he could easily convince Audrey to go with him without a struggle.

Ginny shook her head. "I would love to know what he did for those girls to be that stupid to leave the best food source on the Isle."

Claudine sighed. "Considering I walked in on him with Shayla…no, no you don't, Ginny."

"Oh…oh! Eww! Now that image is in my head!"

"Hey, it'll be okay," Ben said, rubbing his hand over her arm, trying to comfort her. "We've got guards scouring the kingdom for Freddy. They'll find him, and they'll find Audrey wherever he's holding her. I just can't believe Freddy would steal Maleficent's scepter."

"He didn't though."

"Scroll Ben and scroll Mal don't know that though."

"That's what bothers me too," Mal said as she looked back at him. "He wouldn't. Ben, there's someone else out there with the scepter. And possibly my spell book too. Didn't the security guard list it among the missing items?"

"But there's someone around who would," Chip muttered.

"Well yeah but isn't that good for us? With how Freddy views magic, he'll focus on whoever has the scepter first allowing us time to regroup and figure out where he's holding Audrey."

"Have they tried Fairy Cottage?" Chad sighed softly.

Mal couldn't help but smile as she listened to the slight bit of hope in her fiancé's voice. No matter what Audrey had done to him, there would always be a bit of Ben that had a fondness for the brunette Princess. She'd been one of his oldest friends after all.

Benji sighed and Malinda gently squeezed his hand in comfort.

"Now come on, Harry and Jay are waiting for you," Ben said with a growing grin.

"Oooh for what?" Jay asked.

"I still can't believe we're bringing over more VKs while Freddy's on the loose," Mal sighed as they made their way off the balcony.

"Yes!" Harry and Jay cheered.

"We promised them that they'd be able to get off and—."

"A King keeps his promises," Mal finished. Ben truly was big on keeping promises. After all, Mal had to give him a love potion cookie just to convince him to remove his consent from the betrothal contract he'd been in with Audrey.

"Love potion cookie?" Ginny asked.

"It came from Maleficent's spell book," Malinda told her.

"...Maleficent's spell book makes cookies?"

Akiho grinned. "Oh you can join dad! He's still pondering over that!"

"It makes no sense!" Kristoff exclaimed.

"But it was a good cookie!" Benji grinned.

Thankfully Ben couldn't be love spelled but the cookie did its job—and Mal wound up with a pretty great boyfriend and now fiancé out of it.

"Yeah at my expense!" Audrey muttered.

"Wait, I need to reach out to Uma," Mal said, stopping in her tracks. "She's visiting her grandmother right now but she'd kill us if she realized we went to get Celia without her."

"You got that right!" Uma exclaimed.

"How—?"

"Mama Odie lives in a boat in a tree in the bayou," Mal stated. "She's surrounded by water. Uma should be able to get to us with no issues."

"Um…mind explaining that a bit more?" Evan asked, tilting his head.

After all, mom just started teaching us how to teleport ourselves. It's easier when you're around the source of your powers though, and since Uma teleports in a plume of water like her grandfather… Mal thought as she reached out with the mental link. Uma?

"Ooo I'm so going to try that teleporting!" Uma grinned.

"Only after you've been trained," Persephone warned. "I'm not having you getting hurt Uma."

Mal, are you seriously bothering me right now? Uma thought back to her

Having a good time cuz?

Grandmama Odie's gumbo might just be better than your dad's cooking. Which is why someone better be on fire for you to be reaching out right now.

"Nothing is better than Dad's food!" Hadie insisted.

Wait doesn't gumbo have seafood in it?

Mama's restaurant is called 'Ursula's Fish and Chip Shoppe', you really think I'd have a problem eating seafood? But no, Grandmama Odie made a vegetarian gumbo for me since she didn't know if I'd be offended by it.

"That was nice of her," Tiana said with a small smile. "And now I'm tempted to try her vegetarian gumbo."

"Uma gave me the recipe one time when I was hosting the Learning to be Royal club get together and I made it," Malinda told her. "I'll give you the recipe in the next break."

Nice of her.

I have to say I like her Mali. She and Uncle Hades would hit it off nicely, and honestly now that I know she's got a kid our age, I kinda want to meet my Aunt Opal.

Celia tilted her head. "How…?"

"I'm just as confused, Lia," Uma told her.

How is that even possible? Isn't she over a hundred?

Says the girl who's the daughter of two Gods. Aren't your parents like eons old?

…touché. Anywho I thought you'd like to know that Harry is itching to pick up the new VKs but unless you'd like to wait or meet us at the school…

"He'll wait for her," Jay said knowingly. "If there's anyone Harry'll wait for, it's Uma."

Way to bury the lede Mal! Give me five minutes, I'll be right there.

Mal shook her head as not five minutes later, a pale plume of water seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Cool!" Dizzy exclaimed with a grin. "Can you do that too Mal?"

Malinda nodded. "Only it's purple smoke for me. Macaria's a bolt of lightning, so I think all of us Godlings can do it."

"Can I?" Hadie asked.

"Yep," Malinda nodded. "Blue smoke, like dad. Only your's is maybe a shade or two darker."

"Neat!"

"I am so glad you decided to do that outside," Ben murmured in Mal's ear as the plume dropped with a splash to reveal Uma.

"Deja vu," Audie smiled, thinking of Uma's first scene in the third viewing.

"Miss me?"

"Are you going to share that gumbo?"

"Nope! I will however share this meat lovers gumbo that Grandmama made."

"Oh I see how it is! You only miss me when there's food," Uma teased Mal.

Mal grinned. "Then of course I missed you cuz! Let's put this food away and then go grab us some crew mates!"

"How has Harry not come in and dragged us to the limo?" Uma chuckled.

"Harry would never drag you anywhere Uma," CJ snorted.

"Jay's holding him back," Mal stated. "Either Jay or Gil."

"Jay unless Gil wants to die," all the VK's said.

It had been to the surprise of everyone when Harry and Gil started hanging out without the First Mate attempting to murder the blond. Though with Gil dating Macaria and not latched to Harry's side, it was much easier for Harry to put up with him.

"Really?" Harry tilted his head.

Or at least that's what Harry claimed. Mal held the theory that Harry never truly hated Gil but was just jealous at how much attention Uma would give the youngest LeGume boy. Of course Harry would never actually admit that.

"I knew it!" Ashkai grinned, thinking back to her earlier thought on Harry's worries that Gil was competition for Uma.

"Come on! You lot're more slower than…"

"Slower than what Harry?" Uma chuckled as Harry grew silent upon seeing her.

All of the VKs looked at each other, exchanging knowing smiles. Well…maybe almost all of the VKs.

"Cap'n! I didn't think…I thought you were with your grandma?"

"I was but you think I'd miss this?" Uma said with a smile.

Uma smiled. "I was. But Mal said we were getting the next group of VKs today so I figured I'd join in. I'm not missing Celia seeing Auradon for the first time."

'Exactly!"

"Wait!" Ben said as he rushed over to them. "As much as I'd love to join you guys—,"

"But you know why you can't," Mal cut in.

"He is finally learning," Emir chuckled.

"Yes Akiho I know," Ben shook his head and handed Mal a small bag.

"No, that's Mal, Ben," Akiho said. "She's your fiancee, I would hope you'd remember her name."

"Sunglasses for the new VKs. They're polarized to help lessen the glare of the sun even more."

"Thank you Benny," Celia said.

Mal took the bag and smiled, kissing Ben on the cheek.

"You missed," he teased.

"Oh did I?"

"You did."

"Well let me—."

"TMI!" Hades said, shaking his head.

Uma rolled her eyes and shoved the gumbo into Ben's hands. "You two are so sweet you're going to give me a cavity."

"Well there're dentists in Auradon cuz, you'll be fine," Malinda chuckled.

"You know if you just admitted your denial, you could be sweet with Harry," Mal teased as Evie walked up, shaking her head.

Harry's already sweet with me, Uma thought before she could stop it.

"Honestly," she chuckled. "Give Dizzy a big hug for me. I'm just sorry I won't be able to come with but I know the limo's only so big."

Audie frowned. "You were able to go in my timeline, I wonder what changed," she said softly.

"Don't worry Blueberry," Uma said but giving Evie a kinder smile than those in the past, as if showing the other girl that it was said in jest. "You'll be seeing that little fireball in no time."

"Yay!" Dizzy cheered scurrying over to hug Evie.

"Do you often give people nicknames based on their hair color?"

"Hmm, do I Mali?"

"Nope!"

"Considering you've never called me anything like 'grape head' I'm going to say no," Mal chuckled.

"And you're not going to start either," Mal said, giving Uma a look.

Uma shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you'd have killed me if that was the case."

"Nah. You're my cousin. I don't kill family after all."

"How nice of you" Zeus said, his voice low.

"At least Mal helps her family," Hercules said, having heard his father's mutter.

"I'm growing ancient here cap'ns!" Harry called from the door and both Godlings burst out laughing as they made their way to the waiting limo. Mal gave one last glance toward the balcony before looking forward.

You're immortal Harry. Maybe not at that point, but you will be. You can't grow ancient Malinda thought fondly.

They could worry about Freddy tomorrow. Today it was time for the future.

"Um no, worry about Freddy now. There's no future if you don't worry about Freddy!"

Cassandra shook her head. "That's the end of the scroll.'

"I'll read next," Milah said. "I don't mind going again."