Prologue
If there was one mystery to the people of Auradon, it was the magic behind True Love's.
No one could explain it. Their mere existence confounds those who tried to understand them… All they knew was that True Love's were tied to souls, and when going far enough back in history, you could spot when the name changed…
When Soulmates became True Love's…
But even that information was scarce… Only few knew of it, and the Evil Queen was one of them… She knew the minute she saw it, the marking of a blue flame on her younger daughter's wrist… She knew what it was…
And she knew who it belonged to.
Ellie Queen was perhaps the oddest child on the Isle of the Lost. It was common knowledge, and since she was strange, the bullies left her and her twin sister alone… Though that may have also had something to do with that they were the children of the rulers of the Isle…
And friends with the other ruler's kids…
It was Ellie, Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos until the end… they were each other's ride or die…
They were rotten to the core.
The problem with true love was that you never knew if it was true until it was put to the test…
Ellie knew they were testing fate when Mal decided to put Ben under a love potion. Though the chances of Audrey being Ben's true love was about as low as the bottom of the ocean floor.
"All right," Mal glanced over at her spell-book which was propped up against a toaster. They were in the Auradon Prep dorm kitchen, and it was in the middle of the night. The perfect time to do this… Or at least, that's what Mal said. "It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry."
Carlos shrugged from his spot sitting against one of the stainless-steel counters, "Let's just chop up some onions."
The daughter of Maleficent rolled her eyes, "No, idiot. It says we need one tear of human sadness. And this love potion gets the best results, so we have to follow it exactly."
"A tears a tear, right?" Jay was sitting next to Carlos. He looked over at Ellie, who was sitting on the counter across from them. She had the pieces of a red stand mixer around her as she fiddled with its circuits. "Right, El?" Ellie said nothing, ignoring him, and Evie tried to not laugh. Jay groaned, "Are you still not talking to me?"
Carlos chuckled, nudging him in the shoulder, "You're the one who told her that she couldn't fix that computer."
Jay huffed, "Can't we just use a normal tear? It'll work, right?"
Evie gave him a dry look, "that's not true, Jay. They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."
Ellie's pinkish-red hair fell in her eyes as she lifted her head, grinning, "Hey, listen to you."
Jay scoffed, turning away sheepishly, "Yeah, I knew that."
Carlos grinned at his best friend, "And she speaks! Welcome back to the land of the living, Ellie." the younger twin daughter of the Evil Queen laughed. The son of Cruella then smirked at Jay, "And you didn't know that."
Jay glared at him, "I did."
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"Boys!" Mal snapped, glaring over her shoulder at them. "Will you quit-" the door opened, causing the daughter of Maleficent to turn around abruptly.
Lonnie stood there in her pajamas, smiling, "There you are, Mal! I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" Her attention fell to the mixing bowl on the counter in front of Mal, "Midnight snack, huh? What are you guys making?"
Mal stirred the batter, "Nothing special. Just cookies." Lonnie dipped her finger into the bowl, making all of their eyes widen. "Oh, no-"
But the daughter of Mulan was already licking the batter off her finger. She blinked, "What? I'm not gonna double dip."
Evie leaned on the counter, "Feel anything?"
"Yeah," Mal continued, eyeing Lonnie carefully. "Like maybe it might be missing something?"
Jay hopped off the counter and walked over to Lonnie, smirking. "Hey there."
The daughter of Mulan stared at him blankly… "It could use some chips." she turned on her heel, leaving Jay standing there and Ellie snickered. Lonnie went into the cabinet, pulling out a yellow bag. She opened them, dumping some in Mal's batter. They all stared at her in confusion…
Lonnie saw their stares and frowned, "Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group. Wait…" sadness pooled in her eyes. "Didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and…"
Lonnie watched as all of the children of the villains looked at her in bafflement. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Mal shrugged, "It's just… different where we're from."
"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought… Even villains love their kids." A single tear fell from Lonnie's eye, which Mal quickly whipped off her cheek, dropping it into her batter. The daughter of Mulan blinked, "Oh… How awful."
"Yeah, well big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by." Mal smiled fakely and verbally pushed Lonnie out of the room. "Really, really have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams." The minute Lonnie was gone, Mal turned to them, breathing a sigh of relief, "Glad that's over. Alright."
She snapped her fingers, "Boys, cookie sheet. Evie, help me mold these. Ellie, put that-" Mal looked at the younger girl's project oddly. "Thing back together. Last thing we need is somebody catching onto what we're doing."
'Ellie sat on the hard cement ground, a piece of white chalk in her hands. The young girl was surrounded by circles and circles of writing, another drawn circle surrounding that. She looked over at her mother, a wide smile pulling at her lips, "Mom! Look!"
The Evil Queen walked around the script; her eyes judgmental as she looked for a mistake… But then… she realized there wasn't one. Her eyes widened a fraction… this spell… The Evil Queen patted Ellie on the head, the hints of a smile on her face. "Very good, dear."
Ellie beamed under her praise, and the Evil Queen didn't have it in her to correct the girl on the action'
Mal wanted to listen to her heart…
But they had a choice to make.
Layers of glowing deep blue circles appeared around Ellie's wrists as she stood by her friends and her sister… the people that had been by her side since the very beginning… Even if Ellie didn't wish to return, she would for Mal… for Evie… for Carlos and Jay… because she didn't want to tear apart her family…
They were all she had…
Mal held Fairy Godmother's wand in her hands, holding it in front of her; the royals cowering and skittering away. Ben looked at the wand, then at the girl he loved, "You really want to do this?"
The daughter of Maleficent sniffled… her eyes were so sad, tears wanting to fall, but she pushed them down. "We have no choice, Ben! Our parents-"
"Your parents made their choice. Now make yours."
Hers… her own choice… Mal had never had that before… Green eyes shifted to look at her friends, Carlos… Jay… Evie… and Ellie… "I… I think I want to be good."
"You are good."
Mal whipped around, staring Ben down, "How do you know that?!"
"Because…" he smiled gently at her. "Because I'm listening to my heart."
"I… I want…" Mal smiled shakily, turning to look at her friends… "I want to listen to my heart too. And my heart is telling me we are not our parents." Her gaze fell on Jay first. "I mean, stealing things doesn't make you happy. Tourney and victory pizza with the team makes you happy."
Mal turned to Carlos, "And you, scratching dude's belly makes you happy. Who would have thought? And Ellie…" She looked at her first best friend, Ellie's bright pinkish red hair shining in the light, her large deep brown eyes warm. Mal reached for her hands, "Taking apart machines and tech makes you happy. And Evie-" Mal's other hand grabbed Evie's, holding the twins hands tightly.
"You do not have to play dumb to get a guy. You are so smart…"
Tears wheeled in Mal's eyes… "And I don't want to take over the world with evil. It doesn't make me happy. I want to go to school… and be with Ben." she turned around, her watery gaze falling to Ben as she held up her hand that held his ring. "Because Ben makes me really happy."
The king of Aurdon's eyes widened, but then- he smiled… Mal turned back to her friends, "Us being friends makes me happy. Not destroying things. I choose good, you guys."
Mal held out a fist, and Ellie's magical glow faded from her hands. She thrust his fist out to meet Mal's without hesitation… "I choose good."
No hesitation…
Ellie never hesitated…
Never before, and not now…
Jay grinned and thrust hit first to meet Ellie's and Mal's. "I choose good, too."
Evie looked at her sister, then her best friend, before putting her hand in as well. "I choose good."
They all looked over to Carlos, who glanced over at Ben. "So, just to be clear, we don't have to be worried about how pissed our parents will be? Because they're gonna be really, really mad."
The king smiled, "Your parents can't reach you here."
"Okay, then-" Carlos smiled at his friends, then put his fist it. "Good."
They had chosen good…
To go against their parents…
As Maleficent stared down at her daughter… all she could see was him…
'Mal was only two months old… She stared up at the blue-haired man, her eyes wide with wonder… He smiled down at the baby… and right then… Maleficent could see it… the dreaded emotion…
Love.'
Ellie had the mark her entire life…
Her oldest memory was of her mother teaching her how to apply make-up to cover it… the pale blue flame on the soft, fleshy inside of her left wrist…
Maybe it was what made Ellie such a romantic deep down… Why she was so happy when Mal and Ben got together, because she could see it… the makings of true love…
Maybe it was the reason she was so stand-offish around boys who flirted with her… Maybe the mark was the reason no one at Auradon held her attention… Maybe it was the reason Ellie never dated, despite her twin's insistence…
No, that was definitely the reason…
Ellie couldn't bring herself to be with someone that wasn't the owner of this mark… It wasn't right…
Her mother always told her she'd know when she felt it…
Ellie was still waiting, but she was happy, so she'd wait a little longer if she had too…
Ellie used Alchemy.
It was a branch of old magic she learned from her mother. It combined science, mathematics, and magic all in one. It was most commonly used by Rumpelstiltskin to turn straw into gold (he was long since dead and was now a bedtime story for children) and less commonly known, it was used by the Evil Queen to poison Snow White.
The Evil Queen was not dumb… Alchemy was not for the faint of heart…
Evie always wondered if their mother would be displeased by seeing Ellie use her magic to make… well, to fix a hand-held video game console that she and Carlos had matching sets of to play this dorky dog-walking game…
But Evie is always worried about Ellie… Because whenever Ellie overused her alchemy, when she didn't use it properly, when Ellie didn't use her magic circles, instead overriding them entirely…
Ellie would fall ill…
She'd be bedridden for days, sometimes even weeks… when it was weeks it was the worst…
But as long as Ellie didn't fall unconscious… Then it would be okay…
That's what Evie told herself, anyway. Ellie hadn't had an episode since coming to Auradon and Evie figured that was because Ellie's magic was no longer blocked…
It was the main reason, the most important of all, that the twins could never return to the Isle.
Ellie and Carlos were there when they saw the cracks grow…
They should've been more surprised when Mal left… Evie and Jay were… but they weren't…
Even if they didn't want her to leave, to throw everything they worked for away…
It was why they went after her.
Even if it scared them to the bone.
Mal returned to the Isle…
And yet, when Ben was in danger, she did everything she could for him.
Mal returned to Auradon, and the Cotillion was to proceed as planned…
But as Ellie stood there in her Evie original designed dress, watching as Ben escorted Uma down the stairs of the luxury cruise liner… She knew something was wrong… And then Jane unveiled the stained-glass portrait that Ben had commissioned for Mal…
And it was then Mal knew Ben truly did see her for herself…
Mal put it all on the line after that…
And broke Uma's spell with True Love's Kiss.
The resulting battle was epic, Ellie using her Alchemy to keep the people onboard safe as the daughter of Ursula and daughter of Maleficent fought- each in their most powerful forms, each so similar to their mothers.
And then Ben intervened…
He stopped the battle…
And his offer to Uma still stood…
But she didn't take it, instead retreating back into the sea.
Ellie's first episode was the day after Cotillion…
It made them all worry, and Ben hadn't ever seen Mal like this. He put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, his gaze flickering between her and the others after they explained what happened, "We have the best healers in Auradon here… We'll be able to help her, I'm sure of it…" Ben looked at Mal and gave her a small squeeze, "You could have told me sooner. Before Ellie had another episode."
"I… We didn't know how…" Mal's words were a whisper… Being in Auradon was supposed to fix everything… So why was Ellie still like this?
The pink-ish red-haired girl rolled over on her side, clutching her left wrist to her chest as she listened as Ben made plans to bring in the doctors… Ellie shut her eyes tightly, letting out a shaky breath as her entire body ached…
It was worth it… protecting them… her family…
But she still couldn't let them see it… her mark…
And even with her eyes closed, Ellie could still see the blue flame burning on her skin…