It's here, it's done! Finally! I've been working on this fic since August and I'm finally done. This is the longest one I've ever written, mainly because I love the world but also because I was fixing plot holes and giving the movie the third act it deserved.
I have made changes to canon which are explained later on but it's still the same story with the evil twist. Enjoy!
Chapter One: New Kid in Charge
In Auradon, all your favorite fairytales are true, just not in the way you expect. It was founded thirty years ago when Hades married Maleficent, uniting evil forces with one very tiny ceremony. And how do you think they got all those villains to coexist?
Simple: by banishing all the heroes to the Isle of the Forgotten.
That's where the next generation of heroes grew up, many you probably have heard about including Lonnie, Doug, Maxwell, Audrey, Chad, and Jane. They helped High Queen Mal and High King Ben free the Isle so that all those with wickedness in their hearts could go between the barrier freely, while all the goody goodies stayed trapped.
Now that those two are on the throne, anyone can be whatever they want to be. But they're sailing off with Jane and Audrey on a new adventure, forming 'alliances' with distant lands.
Stone golems hefted large trunks and suitcases up the gangplank that led to a wooden pirate ship, the sail snapping in the brisk wind, a flag flying from the mast with the fiery Auradon crest.
Mal, Ben, Jane and Carlos stood on the docks, just about to walk up the gangplank, saying goodbyes. Audrey, though, was already on board, working on finding a home for all her shoes, while secretly stealing looks at the captain of the ship.
"One week at sea and then we visit with the clans of DunBroch for a week and then we're back on the boat for a bit and you're meeting us in Columbia, right? With the transport potion Mal gave you?" Jane rattled off, holding Carlos's hands. She hadn't let them go since arriving at the boat.
He nodded eagerly. "I'm not missing my chance to see a magical Casita."
Jane smiled weakly. "Right."
"And I want to see you." Carlos squeezed her hands. "Because I will miss you."
Jane's throat was tight, so she pulled him into a hug. His hands pressed against her waist, and she tried to memorize the feel of her cheek on his leather coat, his hair tickling her ear.
All too soon, a bell rang on the boat. Harry leaned across the railing, his captain's hat with a jaunty feather sitting crookedly on his head.
"All aboard that's going aboard!"
Jane hesitantly pulled away from Carlos. "Text me?"
"Every day," he promised. He brushed aside a tear that fell down her cheek, then pressed one last kiss on her forehead.
Mal suddenly came over, looping her arm in Jane's. "Don't worry, I won't let her get into too many fights."
Carlos laughed at his old friend's antics and watched them walk up the gangplank together. He stood waving on the docks as Harry steered the ship out of the harbor and he only left when he could no longer see Jane standing on deck. Then he wiped away his own tears and began heading home, his hand curling around the ring box in his jacket pocket that he was saving for just the right moment.
Mal and Ben watched the stars overhead, lying flat on the deck of their ship. The evil queen shifted closer, pressing her face against Ben's chest, when Harry's whistle suddenly rang across the air.
"Why did you pick him to be our captain again?" she groaned.
"Because no one's a better pirate then him." Ben wound his free hand through her purple hair, twirling curls around his fingers. "And I was running out of things for him to do as penance for trying to usurp us. This is the last thing he has to do then I'll declare him absolved and forgiven."
"Very kingly," Mal laughed. Ben's pointed nails scratched her scalp, and she felt her eyes close. "Do you think Auradon will be okay while we're gone?"
"Mal, honey, your parents did rule the kingdom before you. And you gave them so many instructions and rules that even if they try and ruin the kingdom, they will find it very hard to do," he assured her. "Isn't it time for another adventure?"
She sighed and felt Ben's strong arm wrap around her body, pressing her closer. "Who knows? Maybe another story is unfolding right now."
Outside the headmistress's cottage of Auradon Prep, the manor belonging to Cinderella's family before Lady Tremaine turned it into a school for evil, stone golems took down the shiny sign with Lady Tremaine's name and began hammering in a new one with Li Lonnie's name carved into the gold.
The warrior in question pushed through the frosted glass doors that led to the office, startling Lady Tremaine who was still in the process of packing up.
Lonnie's ponytail swished as she looked around, held in place by her mother's jade and lotus comb. A black armored corset covered her short coral dress, covered with hand-painted cherry blossoms, a square neckline, and wide sleeves. Double slits soared high up her thighs and her armored boots matched the gauntlets on her arms. Her mother's sword, won from the Huns, was hooked onto her waist.
"I've never been to the principal's office before," Lonnie said, her nose wrinkling, "but I didn't think it would look like this."
The room was covered with maroon wallpaper and portraits of Lucifer and Lady Tremaine's daughters in gaudy frames. An ancient bookcase held dusty tomes, and her massive desk sat in front of dismal curtains, hiding large windows.
"The golems brought up tea," the former headmistress said, gesturing to flowery couches with a ready tea service on the table between them. "Sit."
Lonnie perched on the couch and watched Lady Tremaine expertly prepare two cups of English black tea.
"It's not an easy job, Lonnie," she warned, spooning in sugar. "But it can be fulfilling. When a protégé casts their first spell or executes their first scheme. Or when you watch the freshmen run in terror."
"I've run a band of warriors since I was twelve." Lonnie took the cup and smirked. "I think I can handle a few prep school kids." She turned back to the door. "Let's go!"
A crowd of warriors, led by Doug and Maxwell, fell into the room. Thanks to the wealth of Auradon, they were much more put together than they had been on the Isle. They all wore matching black armor chest pieces with winged shoulders edged in gold with a-symmetrical fighting pants and square necked shirts in their chosen color. Maxwell had an undercut and his wand strapped to his belt. Doug's long hair was in a top knot, tied around a wickedly sharp pin with a massive emerald on the end, a gift from his girlfriend Evie.
"You just enjoy retirement," Lonnie told Lady Tremaine, sipping her scalding tea as the warriors got to work redecorating.
"I'm not retiring." The older woman's gaze was reminiscent of a hawk. "Are you sure you want to put that there?"
Maxwell had cleared the wall of paintings so Doug could hang a banner with Lonnie's new warrior crest: a lotus bloom in front of two crossed swords.
"I've been chosen as the new president of Auradon University." Lady Tremaine walked back over to her desk as another warrior dragged a suit of samurai armor to a corner, while yet another was opening the musty curtains, letting in the weak sunlight. "And to ensure a seamless transition, I have created a list."
Lonnie set down her teacup, still mostly full, and joined Lady Tremaine at her desk.
"It is color coded by priority."
"Of course." Lonnie barely glanced at it before setting it back on the desk. "My first order of business, though, will be reaching out to invite kids who have previously not been accepted. Kids from all the kingdoms."
Lady Tremaine closed her eyes briefly. "Fine. You are…in charge, after all. Who am I to say no?"
"Even Wonderland."
"No."
Lonnie just raised brow.
"Wonderland is hostile."
"I've heard," Lonnie shrugged. "Their queen is a tyrant."
"A tyrant is common in Auradon. But the Queen of Hearts, who joined Auradon in its inception, sealed the rabbit hole ten years ago and forbade travel between her kingdom and the others when Queen Mal was crowned and brought over children from the Isle. The other kingdoms attempted to do the same, but the crown was able to bring them back in line." Lady Tremaine looked out the window. "If Queen Mal was here…"
"Well, she isn't," Lonnie replied, moving an old-fashioned clock off her new desk, replacing it with a mini cherry blossom tree. "And do you think she and Ben would have left me in charge if they didn't want me to shake things up a little? No offense, your ladyship, but you don't know Mal, and especially Ben, like I do."
She glanced over at her crest, dominating the wall, with a table of photographs underneath it. There was her, Doug, and Maxwell training in the dojo as preteens. Her and the warriors with Ben and Mal at their wedding. And there was one of her and Ben standing on the bridge to the Isle, moments after it had been created. They were both beaming.
"I used to hate Ben," Lonnie admitted, looking at that photo. "Most people have heard but him and his dad wouldn't let me join their band of knights just because I was a girl. They were extra upset when I started my own band of warriors. Then Ben left and turned his back on goodness. But then, when he freed the Isle, do you know what happened?"
Lady Tremaine looked like she could not care less.
Lonnie plowed ahead anyway. "We reconciled. We saw the potential in each other, the potential we could have together. And we grew to respect each other. When Mal and Ben changed the Isle, they gave every hero a second chance. It's time Wonderland got one too."
She pulled a folded envelope out of her skirt pocket and held it out to Lady Tremaine. "This is for Princess Red. We'll start there."
Lady Tremaine did not take it.
"Plus, if it is an utter failure, you take none of the blame." Lonnie was smirking. "You can tell Mal exactly how you warned me against this and exactly how I messed up."
The old headmistress smiled for the first time since Lonnie had walked in.
"Now that is a deal we can make," she replied, taking the envelope.
She placed a golden stamp on the envelope and watched it start to shake and glow. Then, with a sudden whoosh, it leapt off the desk and out the newly opened windows, flying all the way to Wonderland.
