Chapter Text
United States of Auradon
Before the Beast became king
Will Byers hadn’t had a full meal since three whole nights ago, Lonnie had spent all Joyce’s hard working money in nearby villain gambles. Every time Lonnie had come back, he could smell the cigarette and booze oozing off him, like it had become his signature scent.
“What the hell are you doing?” The man boomed, his hand preparing to strike Will.
The small boy couldn’t do anything but stay still and await what came from him everyday.
Only six, but well aware of the schedule of his life.
“Lonnie!” Joyce rushed beside Will, quickly yanking his small arm and putting him behind her body, Jonathan couldn’t do anything but watch, terror paralyzing him.
The last thing Will heard that night was the repeating sound of smacks and screams.
Auradon Prep
Present
Mike watched carefully as the prince and the annoying girl walked away to whatever fancy business they had planned.
The older boy beside them coughed loudly, trying to get their attention. “Well, I guess I'll show you the way around as they’ve left.”
“There's no need, we just need the class names and our dorms.” Lucas replied in return, his eyebrow raising slightly.
Mike stepped forward, looking the young man in the eyes, he couldn't have been much older than Mike, maybe around Nancy’s age, but he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
That was funny considering they had better everything in Auradon.
Jonathan looked mildly surprised–a small speck of fear flashing across his dark eyes, but quickly put his neutral face on again, “Oh yes, well i put you in the more important and required classes, such as, Safety on the interweb, history of good and evil, and-” the man stopped, biting his lower lip, “and, remedial goodness 101.”
Mike scoffed at the last class.
This mouth breather had nothing but pure stupidity coming out of his mouth.
“Let me guess, ‘Remedial Goodness' is new and just for us?” Mike put on his biggest, flashiest fake grin.
Jonathan was clearly taken back, he scratched the back of his head, his eyes dropping down to look at his feet. “Well y-”
“Doesn’t matter. Let's go guys.” Mike grumbled.
Without waiting for an answer MIke had turned around walking right, with the three others quickly rushing behind him.
“Uhm, your dorms are that way.”
Mike turned around, watching Jonathan point to the opposite hall of where the group was going.
“Yeah, okay.” He mumbled.
Watching the four leave, Jonathan exhaled a sigh of relief, "God, I thought they were going to murder me.” he mumbled under his breath.
“Were those who I think they are?” A voice whistled playfully behind Jonathan
Great. Jonathan thought.
He turned around to see none other than Steve Harrington, ‘son’ of Cinderella and Prince Charming, beside him was Robin ‘Rider’ Buckley, daughter of one of the most famous ex-convicts of Auradon and the queen with luscious long hair, Rapunzel.
“Yep.” Jonathan mumbled, glaring at Steve.
“What is the freak of your kid-brother thinking?”
“Shut it, Steve.” Robin mumbled, she, just like Jonathan, had quite a clear disliking for the most popular ‘well loved’ prince.
“Just saying.”
-
Will was pacing around his now half empty room, the boy wasn’t at all sure if he had made the right impression.
He stopped for a moment, letting out a loud shaky breath, he tapped his foot on the ground slowly, trying to relax his nerves. He wasn’t expecting the son of one of his father’s kingdom (soon to be Will’s) sworn enemy, to be so..however he didn’t want to describe it.
Few hours ago (First encounter with the v-kids, Will’s pov)
Will watched as the car turned around the unnecessarily huge fountain, the tires screeching at its sudden stop.
“Well, here they come.” Audrey mumbled, her eyebrow raising slightly as her lips tighten around the corners.
“Yep.” Will mumbled, he placed his hands behind his back, the gagging sensation in his throat didn’t seem to want to stop any time soon.
“Ow, shit, Lucas!” A decent height boy with curly hair, with streaks of white peaking through. yelled.
Cruella’s son. Will thought to himself, mentally ticking off the boy’s name off his imaginary list.
Will watched back and forth how the boys fought, another tall boy popped out of the car, his pale hand sticking out to whack the darker skinned boy.
If that’s Jarfar’s, and the girl is the evil queen’s…then that can-
“Guys. We have company.” The girl coughed out, she quickly fixed her brown curly hair, which had small streaks of blue all over the place.
All three boys stopped whatever silly argument they were fixated on and turned around quickly.
Mike Wheeler.
Will, who had an uncomfortably big smile plastered on his face, couldn’t help but stare at Maleficent’s son, whatever speech he had planned to welcome them was thrown out to a trash bin, his eyes lingered a minute too long on the boy’s hair, which looked soft and seemed decently taken care of.
Just for one minute they caught eye contact, Will could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.
“Oh, well. Welcome!” Pipped Fairy Godmother, she had promised to help Will with the welcoming, although he was supposed to be doing the talking.
She eyed the son of Jafar, Lucas carefully, as he helped the boy he had rudely pushed to the ground.
The Fairy Godmother smiled, her eyes lingering on the stuff the boy had clearly stolen from the car, “If you don’t mind, please leave it where you found it!”
Lucas Sinclair nodded, but his eyes were somewhere else.
Audrey.
“Why hello there..” Lucas whistled, his eyebrows raising slowly.
Audrey, who gave a quick glance to Will, simply let out an awkward tense laugh.
“Well, welcome to Auradon prep, as you may know, I’m Fairy Godmother, aka the headmistress!”
Will quickly nodded along, a smile still on his face.
Mike, who Will was trying his best not to look at longer than needed, poked a small joke. “Fairy Godmother? As in the whole Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo?”
The Fairy Godmother smiled, a small chuckle escaping her lips, “You know it.”
Nancy Wheeler, the daughter of the Evil Queen, walked carefully beside Mike, signaling it was her turn to talk, “I always wondered how it would be like to be Cinderella, you know with that wand of yours..”
The Fairy Godmother let out a nervous chuckle, fixing her long skirt,“Hah, well it was quite an adventure, but let’s not get stuck in the past. Oh, Will, why don’t you introduce yourself?”
“Right.”
Fairy Godmother glanced over at Will, signaling it was his time to shine. (or fail miserably)
Will quickly stepped forward, awkwardly placing his arms by his sides, “I’m Will, nice to personally meet you..all.” His eyes betrayed him, and landed back to Michael Wheeler for a quick minute.
What on Earth was wrong with him today?
Mike’s eyebrow rose slightly, a small smile spreading across his face.
Will quickly let out a cough, pretending nothing had happened.
“Soon to be King.” Audrey added, her arm wrapping uncomfortably Will’s.
“Well, I myself would be considered a princess.” Nancy Wheeler added, a soft smile on her lips.
Before Will could answer, Audrey had annoyingly beat him to it. “The Evil Queen has no royal status here, so no.”
Will couldn’t help but sigh, bringing his free hand to fix his shirt’s itchy collar. “Oh, uh, this is Audrey.” He added.
“Princess Audrey, his girlfriend.”
Fairy Godmother patted Will’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring hopeful look. “Well, Will and Audrey here will give you all a nice long tour, now if you don’t mind, I have to go!”
Will carefully shook Audrey off him, a small smile appearing on his face once more, “Well.. like I said it’s nice meeting you guys,-” he glanced over at the son of Cruella, Dustin, who was licking chocolate off his fingers, “Chocolate?” Will asked, his eyebrow raising in amusement.
Dustin Henderson nodded slowly, giving Lucas a small nudge. Dustin extended his hand showing a 3-musketeers bar, Will stared at it for a second, a small laugh escaping his lips as he dragged his eyes away from Dustin.
“Well, aren’t you going to show us around?” Mike Wheeler gave a smile that could seem to melt off more than chocolates on a sunny hot day. Will watched the boy shove his hands into his pockets.
“Aren’t you the son of Malficent?” Audrey suddenly blurted out, one of her fake smiles on her face.
“Well yes.” The boy mumbled.
And that’s exactly what gave Will a reality check he needed.
“You know, I have nothing against you as the daughter of Sleeping Beauty.”
“Cool.” Mike whistled.
Will couldn’t take another minute of Audrey’s new, unnecessary rivalry, “Well tour!” he blurted out, his feet moving faster than his tongue.
–
Will had suddenly remembered his great speech that was filled with facts anyone around knew, “Auradon prep was built around three hundred years ago, turned into a school just right after my father became king, and no need to worry about the statue, he wanted it to morph like that to remind us anything is possible.” with a simple soft clap of his hands, the once middle aged man turned into a beast.
Dustin, son of Cruella nodded, but still jumped at the change of the statue. (which Will felt guilty about.)
Will continued walking quickly, slowing down his pace as a question came from Mike Wheeler’s mouth.
“Do you guys, you know, use magic daily?”
Will turned around, his finger pressing against his lip, “Well, it exists.. But we don’t use it.” Will began walking beside Mike, which for some reason felt like a small win, “We are just ordinary people.”
“Who happen to be kings and queens.” Nancy added.
“Well..yeah.” Will murmured, scratching his head.
As they entered the school, Will couldn’t help but feel bad as he saw the villain kids look around in absolute awe.
All their life, they had basically nothing.
Just like Will did for a few years.
Will shook the thought of his mind and began looking for his older brother, “Jonathan! Oh there you are.”
Jonathan appeared beside them, a small smile on his face appeared as he began talking, “Hi, I’m Jonathan incase you don’t know-”
“He is my brother.” Will randomly added.
Dustin nodded, eyeing the boy carefully. “So why isn’t he becoming king instead of you?”
“Gave up the position.” Jonathan smiled.
Jonathan had gotten an interest for cameras and photos, leaving Will to become king.
“Anyways, I have to go.” Will mumbled,a surge of annoyance going through him as he remembered his coronation practice, “Have fun with everything else.”
Back to the present,
Will winced out of embarrassment at the sudden memories of a few hours ago, he couldn’t believe he, for just a minute, found the son of one of the most hated, disgusting villains in the planet attractive.
Out of everyone in the school.
-
“Nice dorm you got…fits you.” Mike mumbled, glancing around the bright pink dorm Nancy had received.
“Well, I like it fine.. I believe I’m sharing with the daughter of Rapunzel.” Nancy smiled, carefully unpacking her two small bags, which consisted of the essentials, or whatever she called ‘essentials’. “Who are you sharing with?”
Mike slumped on the bed, which sheets felt like heaven, “No clue, Dustin and Lucas got put together. Hopefully alone, that gives me time to write.”
“Don’t get the sheets dirty, for God’s sake Mike.” Nancy grumbled, pushing the boy to the side, almost knocking him off the bed. “Try a shower, please, you need it.”
“I’ll do that later, don’t worry.”
“Well, do it now, and check your dorm, might find a nice surprise roommate"
“Fine.” Mike hopped off the bed, clapping his hands together.
-
The walk to Mike’s dorm was long and full of stares, they looked as if he were about to cast some spell on them. (which really he had no issue with.)
Mike opened the door slowly, and Nancy was right.
He did get a surprise roommate, although Mike wouldn’t consider it exactly nice.
Who else would it be, but the prince himself.
The prince turned around slowly from whatever he was painting, a small look of genuine shock on his face, “oh hey-”
“Well, did they put you in here to make sure I didn’t murder anyone?” Mike said, half joking.
Will immediately shook his head, fumbling the paintbrush he was holding, “Gosh no, I told them to put me with one of you guys, I don’t get placed in dorms but since I learnt that there was only three boys, and we don’t have dorms of three here, sorry I’m just rambling…I didn’t expect to be placed with you, sorry if that’s what it seems, I’m so sorry-”
Mike couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the boy’s flustered expression, “I was joking, no need to apologize.” Mike said, his tone gentle.
“Right, sorry.” Will mumbled.
“Anyways, do you know where Lucas and Dustin are?”
“Oh, right, um, just five rooms down.”
“Thanks, majesty.”
“You can just call me Will, really I don’t like titles..”
“Right, Will.” Mike tasted the name in his tongue, slow and steady. , “Well, see you later.” Once I get that wand and open the barrier. Mike thought.
–
Lucas and Dustin’s room
“Alright, guys, put down the game.” Nancy groaned, rubbing her face with her hands.
“Nancy’s right. We have to get that stupid wand.” Mike mumbled.
Lucas shrugged, placing random objects down on the small glass table.
“What’s this?” Nancy asked, her eyebrows raising in disbelief.
“It’s called stealing.” Lucas said, his tone full of sarcasm.
“I know you idiot, why do we need this?”
“Who knows, but it’s me buying whatever I want, for free!”
“We don’t have time for that. World domination? Evil?” Mike suggested, flicking Lucas’s head.
“You sound exactly like your mother.”
“I would rather you not say that.” Mike grumbled.
Lucas rolled his eyes, “You do evil your way, I’ll stick to mine.”
“Got the game set up!” Dustin exclaimed.
Mike glared at the silly figures laid out, although he would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested, "Dungeons and dragons? Really?”
“What, I might as well try out some new things.” Dustin mumbled.
“That’s not what we are here for, Nancy, use that weird mirror your mom gave you.”
“Don’t boss me around, and fine.”
Nancy carefully reached into her pocket, pulling out the small mirror that had intrigued Mike earlier. “Mirror, mirror, in my…hand, where is The Fairy Godmother’s wand?
Mike watched in awe as the mirror’s screen flashed blue, a spinning pattern showing clearly.
“Holy shit.” Dustin mumbled.
“There it is!” Lucas said, pointing his finger right at the wand.
A long, shiny fancy looking stick.
“Zoom out, please.” Mike murmured.
“Magic mirror, not so close..”
“There!” Mike exclaimed, “Where is that?”
Dustin rushed towards a small laptop beside them, his fingers typing quickly. “Auradon Museum, just around 2.3 miles out from here.”
“Better get going.” Lucas mumbled, stretching his arms out.
–
The night sky didn’t make it any easier for them to head out, Mike, thanks to his luck, had to share a dorm with the prince, who could kick them out just as easily as King Hopper did to everyone on the isle, thankfully the boy believed Mike’s lie of wanting to sleep in Dustin and Lucas’s dorm just for the first night.
Nancy’s roommate however didn’t need any lie, for she was fast and deep asleep.
“Hurry up!” Mike hissed, waiting up for Dustin.
“Fine.”
Dustin quickly rushed beside Mike, a loud sigh of exhaustion escaping his lips, “God, I’m tired.”
“Hurry, both of you!” Nancy yelled from ahead.
–
Mike’s eyes scanned the museum room through the glass, there was unfortunately a guard, who seemed to be well at his job.
“Pst, Mike.” Lucas whispered, nudging Mike’s shoulder.
“What?” Mike hissed, giving Lucas a simple cold stone glare.
“Isn’t that your mom’s wheel?”
Mike’s dark eyes followed Lucas’s finger, carefully Mike reached slightly further, his eyes squinting. “Yeah..seems so.”
Nancy hit Mike’s shoulder gently, a sign to concentrate on the job, “We don’t have time for that, how are we supposed to get in?”
“Looks kinda dorky.” Dustin whistled.
Mike rolled his eyes, “It doesn’t need to look scary. Wait. I have an idea.”
Mike quickly grabbed his old worn out backpack he had been carrying since the day the barrier was set, carefully and quietly the boy unzipped the backpack, pulling out the dusty old spell book his mom had given him for use.
“Nancy, if you don’t mind, could you move?” Mike mumbled.
Quickly Nancy switched places with Mike, giving him a small thumbs up.
Mike looked down at the spellbook, opening it with care. He would die of embarrassment if his plan failed, “Magic spindle, do not linger, prick the finger, prick it deep, send my enemy right to sleep.”
“Are you sure that’s going to-”
“Shush it.” Nancy snapped quietly.
The four of them watched in surprise as the bald guard stood up from his position and headed for the sharp needle of the old wheel. In a matter of seconds, the man dropped to the floor, letting out a loud thud.
“Is he dead?”
“No. just asleep..I hope.
“Well, Mike did his job, now I’ll open the door, stand back” Lucas grinned, taking a few steps back.
Mike opened the book again, his eyebrow raising at the sight of the new spell, “Make it simple, make it quick, open the door without a kick.”
The door swung open, but that ‘sadly’ didn’t stop Lucas from jumping at it.
“Shit!” Lucas hissed as he landed flat on the ground, his eyes wide.
Nancy let out a small mumbled laugh, “Coming or not?”
Nancy hurried in front of them, Mike following behind.
“Come on Lucas.” Dustin grumbled, extending his arm out.
Lucas grabbed Dustin’s arm, letting out an annoyed hiss.
“Hurry!”
“Coming!”
The four hurried up the stairs, and a door for a special event room swung open.
“Is this where the wand is?” Lucas mumbled, squinting his eyes.
“Shit.”
The sight in front of them was everything but a wand.
Their parents.
Frozen as if they had been murdered and turned into simple toys for a child to play with.
“Mom?” Nancy gasped, taking a step back.
“Killers.” Was all Lucas managed to out.
“I..I’ll never forget mother’s day again.” Dustin swore, quickly turning his back in disgust.
Mike had always wanted his mom fixed in some way, but never like this. On multiple occasions, he imagined a pleasant life where she was the kind and proud woman Mike yearned for her to be.
But never was she dead, never was she fully out of his life.
Isle of the lost, the early days
“Mom..why can’t we leave?” A small Mike asked, his hand reaching towards his mother’s cold harsh hands.
The woman slapped his hands away, “We have been locked like animals, and I will not have it.”
Mike grabbed his hand back, placing his stinging arm behind his back, his eyes found his new friend, whose deep dark eyes looked just as sad and confused as his.
“I want mom.” The boy mumbled, the man beside him tossed a disappointed look.
“She left with your sister, now hush.” The man turned towards Mike’s mom, a glint of fear flashing across his eyes, “What will we do, Maleficent, there is no way out..and spells don’t work.”
Mike’s mom turned towards the man, her lips tight and small, “I won’t be locked here like some animal, Jafar. I won’t have this treatment directed towards me. They will learn, they will pay for everything they have done, I swear that on the rest of my days.”
The man, Jafar, nodded. “But how long until we get out?”
“I don’t know, but it won’t be long, Jim Hopper, the Beast will not be shown mercy, him nor his wife, or children.
Mike remembered the small short boy that had crawled in cries and fear once the rumbling of the world began, he remembered how the boy climbed to the arms of a man Mike couldn’t recognize.
But hopefully the boy would be safe.
Small, poor Mike had tried his best to run towards the other boy that he had been friends for just less than a month before the barrier was placed, he wanted tell the boy not to be afraid, but there was only so much a small afraid child could do for another child.
–
Back to the present.
“You will not fail me.”
After this, Mike wouldn’t. Not ever again.
All those other pathetic attempts Mike had tried to do to impress his mother wouldn’t compare to this.
While Nancy, Dustin and Lucas disappeared, Mike couldn’t help but linger back, carefully he stepped towards the hard, cold frozen form of his mother.
That looked just as wicked as she did.
“Tell me what to do..please.” Mike pleaded, his knees shaking with every slow, small step he took.
And for just a slow moment, Mike Wheeler could have sworn he saw her grin.
“Mike!” Nancy popped her head in the room, “Hurry!”
But Mike couldn’t move, it was as if he were one of the statues, frozen in the moment.
“Hurry now Mike.”
Mike’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Mom?”
“We found the wand!”
Mike’s head snapped at the sound of those words, he hurried back to the door, but not before looking at the statue of his mother in a long regretful sorrow.
-
Will had stayed well past lights off hours, he glanced down at his small old sketchbook, which had been filled with quick drawings of Mike Wheeler.
“Gosh, what am I doing?” He grumbled, quickly he glanced at Mike’s empty, neat bed, the boy had told Will, he would be sleeping at Lucas and Dustin’s dorm for the first night, Will knew well it was against the rules, but just who was he to deny something to someone whose existence had been denied most of their life?
Will didn’t have the guts nor the heart to do so.
–
“Well, here it is.” Lucas whistled, “The great famous wand.”
“Yep, now how do we get it out?” Nancy mumbled, her brow furrowing as she went deep in thought.
-
Will’s pencil carefully traced over the paper, it was almost one, tomorrow was busy like always, maybe he would get lucky and get to know all the v-kids better, after all, it was one of Will’s jobs, since he was remotely in charge of them.
Will didn’t mind that at all, at least not this time.
-
Mike noticed the glimpse of something magical, it seemed almost like the barrier around the Isle of the Lost.
“I’ll get it!” Lucas grinned, taking a huge step back.
Nancy had seemed to catch onto what Mike had noticed, and quickly turned around to face Lucas. “Lucas don’t-”
But it was too late.
A loud siren immediately went off as Lucas’s body got pushed by the force field.
“Shit!” Nancy hissed, quickly she helped Lucas up, signaling for the rest of them to get moving.
Mike hurried down the stairs, Nancy had already managed to get out with Lucas, all there was left was him and Dustin.
Dustin, however, seemed to have other plans, the boy grabbed the walkie from beside the guard man’s table, trying to figure out how to turn it on.
“Dustin! What on earth are you doing?!” Mike hissed.
“Uh hello,” Dusting gave Mike a glare, telling the boy to shut up, “It was just a small malfunction, no need to worry, uh the malfunction happened in the LM 714 chip, and it accidentally went off, yeah I got it fixed, but the siren just keeps going off, no need to worry once more, uh say hi to me to your wife or husband. Bye.”
“Seriously?” Mike groaned, yanking Dustin.
“Well, you're welcome.”
–
They had failed.
Horribly.
Nancy had snuck back in her dorm and assured Mike they could simply try again tomorrow, with a better and quicker plan.
Dustin and Lucas shrugged it off, and left for their room.
Now Mike had to come up with an excuse if the little prince was awake.
Slowly Mike opened the door, but that didn’t help at all.
And thanks to his bad luck, the prince was wide awake.
“Oh, you are back?” Will mumbled, turning on the small lamp beside him, Mike eyed the boy carefully, it was almost funny how messed up his hair was, but Mike was in no good mood to laugh or point it out.
“Yeah, I got kicked out.” Mike lied, slamming the door gently and walking towards his neat, soft bed.
“Mhm.” Was all Will could manage to say, his cheeks were slightly red.
“B-Better get going to sleep, long day tomorrow.” Mike mumbled, his awkwardness had gotten the best of him and caused him to stutter.
“Good night..Mike.”
Mike swallowed at the sound of his name, “Good night.”