Hi everyone! This chapter was originally the first half of a much longer chapter, but I haven't completed the second half yet and felt bad about how long it's been since I updated, so I split it in half. With the Holidays coming up, I wanted to make sure ya'll got something before my writing time really starts to diminish.

The first thing Carlos noticed upon waking up was that the bedroom was sunny. Sure, his bedroom back at Auradon Prep was sunny in the morning as well, but his Auradon Prep bedroom wasn't a magical jungle in a magical house.

Honestly, it was surprising that he hadn't completely freaked out yet. Perhaps he was too tired to do so, or he trusted Antonio's animals more than he did people. Not that that would be surprising, the only animals he'd ever been afraid of were dogs. Even on the Isle, he found the hyenas far less terrifying than the humans. It didn't matter that being caught by one meant death, they were just hunting for food. They weren't hunting for the fun of it.

Anyways, the night before, or early morning depending on how you wanted to look at it, the entire Madrigal Family had waited up to greet them. From the youngest child, to the Matriarch Alma Madrigal herself. Mirabel and Antonio had filled him in on who was who during their journey to the Encanto, so he'd already figured out who everyone was, and his mind had started to catalogue them all from highest to lowest risk.

Pepa Madrigal was the highest risk, thanks to her powers. Antonio had told him stories of her powers, including her lightning going haywire before, even when she tried to control it. On the flip side, her granddaughter Natalia was the lowest risk, given that she was only one.

As he lay there, he went back through his mental list, reminding himself who was who and what their powers were. However, he didn't dare say anything out loud. Even though Antonio assured him that as long as his door was shut the room was soundproof, given that it was pretty much its own magical dimension, the idea of Dolores Madrigal hearing everything freaked him out more than he'd admit.

That power would be worth a lot on the Isle. Someone with that power would either be the most powerful person around, or would have everyone trying to kill them, if not both. On the Isle, words were information, and information was valuable.

"Hey Carlos! Are you up?"

Carlos turned in his hammock, leaning over just enough to see Antonio down below, grinning from his spot on a freaking jaguar. "It's time for breakfast! You want to ride out with us?" He gestured to the right, where another jaguar was laying, lifting its head to stare up at Carlos.

"Uh, no thank you." Carlos said, eyeing the animal carefully as he grabbed onto the rope ladder. "Dude and I can walk. Speaking of, where is Dude?"

He looked around for his dog, panic rising in his chest, not letting go until he spotted him running around the river.

"He's been having fun here." Antonio told him, whistling for the dog while Carlos ducked into a private area to change. "The others have welcomed him."

Something in Antonio's voice shifted, though he couldn't tell what. When he walked out, there was a lizard on the boy's shoulder, and Antonio seemed to be nodding along to whatever the creature was telling him.

It couldn't have been too dire, as Antonio's expression changed back to it's easy grin and the pair headed out.

Casita was lively that morning. The shingles waved to them, causing Carlos to jump while Antonio just waved back.

A jungle for a bedroom, and a house that interacted with you. That wasn't going to take long to get used to, not at all.

It could be worse. He knew it could be. So far, he'd take Casita over his mother's dusty, trap filled manor any day.

"¡Buenos días Antonio!" Soraya Madrigal called as she raced past the boys, her dark braid swinging behind her and eyes sparkling.

"Buenos días Soraya." Antonio greeted. He nudged Carlos and pointed at Soraya as she hit the stairs, which turned into a slide. Her giggles rang through the house as she continued on.

Okay, that was wicked useful. Imagine how much time you could cut from an escape if your house was able to help you? Or if your house could help defend your base? Warn you when a rival gang was too close?

He continued to muse on the thought as they made their way to an outdoor seating area. Antonio guided him to a long table filled with food, where everyone was serving themselves like they did at Auradon Prep, before heading to a different table to sit down.

He was still amazed at just how many people lived in this one house. It didn't matter who he was looking out, the family interacted with each other with smiles and light teasing. Children were laughing, adults were gossiping, they seemed to be constantly touching. They were a family. A family related by blood at that.

Maybe the Encanto wouldn't be a bad place to live when he wasn't at Auradon Prep. Sure, he flinched at any sign of physical touch from those he wasn't close to, and sure he valued his space and was already trying to figure out a spot where he could escape too. But hey! At least it wasn't the Isle.

It had been two days since the Viewing, and that was all Audrey could think about.

Not so much the watching their past and predicted future part, but the reactions people had to her. The whispers she'd heard during the breaks, the way they'd look at her on the screen, the things they'd say in response.

Was she that bad? Was she that disliked? She knew that she didn't handle things well when Ben first announced that he was bringing four VK's over from the Isle, and she knew that she should have treated them better once they were here, but she wasn't some raging mean girl or anything like that. She didn't go out of her way to hurt people, or to exclude them from things.

Audrey frowned, running the brush through her hair again. Okay, so maybe she could be self-absorbed, and didn't make an effort to hang out with those outside of her group, which was primarily made of nobles and the cheer squad, but wasn't having your own group normal? Even Ben, while being friendly with everyone, was only close with a few people. The fact that he had become so close with the VKs was still mind-boggling to her.

Speaking of, she'd spent weeks helping to prepare for the VKs. It wasn't wrong of her to not want to be around the daughter of her parents' villain. Or want her boyfriend to talk about them all the time.

Ex-boyfriend.

Oh, she could already picture the articles that were being published, about how the Princess of Auroria had been swapped out for a villain kid. The daughter of Maleficent, no less. She could already hear the things her Grammy was going to say once she accepted that Ben was with Mal willingly.

"You're going to be a great High Queen, Audrey." Grammy would tell her. "And think of how it will help our family's name! Our status and power!" Her Grammy had insisted on it. Even when Audrey was little, she'd be taken to Auradon Castle to have playdates with Ben. Once they were old enough to date, Leah pushed her into it.

Her Grammy had spent years pushing Audrey and Ben together. She'd remind her that the time of true love was in the past, and they had to be practical now. Ben was going to need a Queen, he'd need to marry within a couple years at most since he had no siblings or cousins. She even managed to convince her that she and Ben could still fall in love with each other… and Audrey thought that they had.

She groaned, throwing her brush down and getting off her bed. She wished her parents hadn't taken her devices away. She didn't care that they'd be full of messages from Grammy, messages she wished to ignore, but she needed to talk to someone. She needed to cry about losing Ben to someone who wasn't her mother, talk through her thoughts on the VKs…, figure out where she stood with her overbearing grandmother

Even the things in her room, from her bedding to the clothes in her closet, had been picked out by Leah. Her hair, her makeup, her hobbies had all been curated. Every decision had to be okayed by her grandmother.

Who was she?

Knocking drew her out of her thoughts, and she turned her head to her door as she called a "Come in," assuming it was going to be a servant or one of her parents.

Instead, Pierre came in, a backpack slung over one shoulder and camera in hand.

Audrey frowned, "Aren't you supposed to be in Corona?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I decided that I'll go later this week and only stay a couple of days." He explained. "I came to see if you wanted to join me on a hike?"

"A hike?" Audrey asked. She hadn't been hiking in years. Not after Grammy told her that it wasn't acceptable princess behavior.

Pierre nodded, and held up his camera. "Yeah, I'm heading down to the moorland to get some pictures. Can't go into the Moors themselves, but it's been a while since I've been in that area."

She glanced at her mirror. Perfect hair, perfect nails, perfect makeup. Untouched, not a speck of dirt. "I don't know." She said, continuing to look away. "It's been a while since I've done something like that. And besides, I'm grounded, remember?" She waved her arm towards the wall. "No leaving the castle."

"I'm sixty-percent sure I can get mom and dad to allow it." He said, "Seventy if we both agree to helping mom organize her office. It'll be fun, like old times. You can bring your journal and a blanket, I can get pictures. We can even take fairy offerings."

She couldn't help but let out a laugh. Grammy really hadn't liked that one, even though the gifts generally ended up with the Neverland Fairies.

Grammy wouldn't like any of this.

She looked back at her image, then to her brother. "Give me ten minutes to change and get my things." She told him, already heading to her closet, catching his grin.

"I'll meet you downstairs."

The Flower Moon Festival was in full swing by Monday afternoon. Laughter filled the streets, there was music and dancing in the square, and stalls were set up throughout the city. Visitors from far and wide had come to celebrate with the kingdom.

After a weekend in the castle, which Mal spent getting acquainted with the ground layout, the staff, and Rapunzel's parents, Elsie had dragged both her and Reiner out of their beds at dawn so they could spend the entire day in the city. They'd gotten breakfast from a small bakery, bought apples for the horses on duty, watched a performance, browsed stalls, painted ceramics that they were meant to pick up later, and had just walked out of a sweet shop that was once owned by a man who didn't like Rapunzel.

Mal thought that the twins were joking when they'd told her that, but it turned out they weren't. Not only did the old store-owner not like the Queen of Corona, neither did the current owner, his great-nephew. Nor did he like Reiner, or Elsie since she was his twin, for reasons yet to be explained. So it was a great surprise to all three when Manfred ended up liking Mal. She'd barely been in the shop for five minutes when he made a snippy comment towards the two Royals, and Mal shot back. The pair had stared at each other and exchanged a few more quips when Manfred slowly grinned, leaning back to examine her. "I like you." He'd said, causing Reiner and Elsie to look at him in shock.

They left the candy shop carrying a small bag of treats that were supposed to be just for Mal, but she'd already started to share them.

As they made their way to the town square, Mal couldn't help but compare Corona to Auradon City. Corona was, of course, smaller than the capitol, but that wasn't all. When she was in Auradon City, when she was at Auradon Prep, she could feel people's eyes on her. No one seemed to know how to react to the purple-haired faeling, generally eyeing her with suspicion, as if she'd come just to ruin their perfect image.

It wasn't until she'd started using her magic that things changed at Auradon Prep, and she wasn't sure how she'd be received in Auradon City as King Ben's new girlfriend.

But here in Corona, the only time people looked her way was when they smiled. There were others with odd hair colors, others who wore leather and dark clothing, other's who didn't look perfect, who seemed like they had stained pasts.

There were even some people who had hooks for limbs, who looked like they could have walked out of one of the Isle bars, and no one treated them differently.

She wondered if there were other places like this in Auradon.

Elsie paused when they went around a corner, backing up and making her way to a small newsstand. Mal and Reiner exchanged looks, and watched as she handed the stall keeper a coin before making her way back to them, frowning at the newspaper.

"What's wrong?" Reiner asked her.

"Nothing, exactly." Elsie said carefully, glancing at Mal before spinning the paper around. Mal recognized the name from seeing students at Auradon Prep read it. It was a paper dedicated to the lives of all Auradon Nobles, reporting on everything from recent romances to new policies that were being introduced. When she asked Lonnie about it, the girl said that it was an odd mix of opinion and actual news, the latter being the only reason the majority of kids at Auradon Prep read it.

It was no wonder the paper had caught the princess' eyes, as the front page had a picture of Mal and Ben arriving to Ben's coronation, with the headline Royal Romance: Fling, or Something More?"

While the article objectively had nothing horrible to say about Mal herself, it made a point to emphasize her mother, where she grew up, and that she was a fairy. It also talked about the timeline of Ben and Mal's relationship, how Ben had been seen with Audrey just a month before. There were heavy insinuations that Mal was just a rebound who would disappear.

Reiner took it and crumbled it up before she could finish reading it. "It's junk." He told her as he tossed it in a nearby trash can. "It should be burned."

"It wasn't so bad." Mal said with a shrug of her shoulders. She was used to the Isle, and that Auradon Paper had nothing on the things that were said over there. "I mean, Ben is the King. He was with Audrey, and now he's not. People are going to be curious." She wasn't entirely sure why, but she'd learned that the hard way after Ben's tourney performance.

The twins looked at each other, and as Mal watched them have a silent conversation, she wondered if that was how she and her crew looked when having their conversations.

No, they were much more subtle.

The twins seemed to come to an agreement, as Reiner nodded and Elsie turned back to Mal with a smile. "You're right." She said, "It's nothing that needs to be worried about today." She took Mal's arm, looping it with her own as she began to quicken her pace towards the square. "Now come on, let's go dance!"

With the article left behind, the trio left to join in on the celebration, and forget about the rest of Auradon for just a little while.

"You know, my sister's don't hate you."

Jay turned his head to look at Marette, who was walking barefoot on a log, her arms stretched out for balance. They'd been out here for a while now, as Marette claimed that she wanted to show him the forest, and Jay just wanted to get out.

Ever since they'd left Auradon Prep, Moira wouldn't let him out of her sight. Her parents were fine with him, he got along with her uncles, and even her grandparents were welcoming, but the girl still seemed to find him untrustworthy. He'd lost track of the amount of minor arguments they'd gotten into over the past few days. Thankfully, Moira happened to have been called away right before Marette asked him to join her. Jay had a feeling that it hadn't been a coincidence.

As for Maisie, she seemed to look down on him. He didn't take it personally, though. Even at school, Maisie only hung around the nobles or her sisters. Since being back in Dunbroch, he wasn't sure he'd seen her even interact with someone outside of her immediate family.

"What makes you think it'd bother me if they did?" He asked Marette, his curiosity piqued.

She shrugged, which looked kind of hilarious since she hadn't lowered her arms, and tilted her head to look his way. "I don't." She told him. "You probably don't really care if people hate you or not, but since our parents are your foster parents, I thought you should know that they don't hate you." She turned on her foot, and Jay almost jumped forward to catch her, but her movement was fluid, as if she'd done it a thousand times before, as she slid off the log, landing gracefully on the ground. She shrugged her bag off her shoulders, pulling out her shoes and continuing to talk.

"Maisie's not a fan of most people, she hasn't been for years. It's nothing personal, and has everything to do with her future goals. As for Moira, she's… stubborn."

"Stubborn?" Jay repeated with a raised brow.

Marette gave him a stern look, daring him to argue with her as she said, "Yes. She's stubborn, and she's protective. She built up a whole image about you guys in her head, even though she shouldn't have, and now has to rebuild it because none of you are what she expected."

"What did she expect?" Jay asked as they started on again. They seemed to be going down a path that only Marette could see. If he hadn't been leaving a trail, he'd wonder if they were lost.

The girl hummed in thought, then replied, "Savage villains who wanted to destroy all of Auradon."

He snorted at that. Moira wasn't entirely wrong, she'd just gotten them mixed up for their parents. "How about you? You didn't build an image of us, then?"

She paused, brushing some of her red waves away from her face so she could look him in the eyes with nothing in the way. "You can't be blamed or judged for who your parents are." She told him firmly. "The world doesn't get that, and it will be a much worse place if people continue to think that way. King Beast's decision was wrong. It's just taken 'til now for change to happen."

He didn't know how to respond to that, and thankfully he didn't have to as her eyes narrowed on something behind him. "Have you been breaking branches?"

His eyes widened, "How did you spot that?"

"I grew up in this forest!" She shook her head, "Maybe I should have left you with Moira. You two are more alike than you realize."

"That is evil." He crossed his arms, and she just grinned. He had no choice but to follow her as they continued on.

He didn't stop leaving a trail, and while he knew that she noticed, she didn't comment on it again.