Chapter Text
Not everything goes according to plan, but Mal doesn’t really mind. She has a perfect love cookie carefully prepared, and there’s still time before she gets to see Ben. However, there’s something that keeps bothering her. Even though her friends insist that that girl—God or whatever she is—might actually be a good person, Mal isn’t convinced.
Of course, she hasn’t had many interactions with her, but she knows Carlos, Jay, and Evie have talked to her. She’s even been friendly with Doug, agreeing to study together, and that’s another thing Mal doesn’t understand: why does she always seem to be studying?
Besides, she’s noticed—like everyone else in Auradon—how close she seems to be to the future king, and that’s not a good thing. If anyone can notice that Ben’s infatuation isn’t real, it will be her, and that would put everything at risk.
So Mal waits to find her, preferably before seeing Ben. This is the moment to lay the cards on the table, and she needs to know that her next move won’t be affected.
It isn’t as difficult as it seems. Evie was right: looking in places with fewer people is the key. She finds her by the lake near the school, sitting on the grass and staring at the water.
This time she doesn’t seem to have her head buried in a book. She simply looks… sad. If an expressionless face can even look that way. Hadea notices her presence, but she doesn’t make any move to leave, so Mal keeps walking and drops down on the grass far enough away from her.
Neither of them says anything, simply watching the place. It’s a very small lake, not nearly as pretty as one would expect. Everyone knows the Fairy Godmother hates when people throw trash there, and yet some students still do it. It seems even a pitiful group of royalty can’t take care of the environment.
Eventually Mal feels she has to say something, or her companion won’t say anything at all.
“We need to talk.”
Hadea doesn’t turn to look at her, and neither does Mal. Sitting like this is more comfortable anyway, and the girl has about as many expressions as a rock, so there’s no real need to look at her.
“Go ahead. Talk.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“Well…” Out of the corner of her eye, Mal sees Hadea running her fingers through the grass. “You’re the one who came here. I assumed you had something to say.”
There’s a strange feeling in Mal’s chest. She knows her irritation comes from the fact that she doesn’t trust this girl, and she hates feeling threatened. How many bad things has this girl done to make her feel this way? She helped Carlos with his panic attack the other day! The boy told them everything, and that she didn’t make him feel weak. So at least she wasn’t entirely bad.
Mal tries to remember her purpose. She has to stay calm. One thing was trying to manipulate the Fairy Godmother’s daughter—so naive and desperate for friends—but Hadea, even though she also doesn’t have friends, doesn’t have a single foolish bone in her body.
“I think I know why you’re here,” Hadea says after a long silence. “I assume it’s the same reason all of you came. But honestly, it’s exhausting having to repeat myself all the time: I’m not interested in your plans, I don’t intend to interfere with them, and I don’t want the same things you do.”
Mal is one second away from saying Do you even know what we want?, but she knows Hadea does.
“Actually, I came here because the other day you helped Carlos with his… attack. I know you’ve been getting closer to him and Evie, so you know… if you’re friends with one, you’re friends with all of us.”
Finally, Mal turns to look at her with one of her kind smiles, just like she did with Jane. Hadea stares back at her. Those gray eyes don’t do much for a face so empty of expression.
“I didn’t know you wanted to be my friend,” Hadea says.
“Well, we didn’t know each other before, right? And now Carlos and Evie genuinely like you. Even Jay has said good things about you.”
Hadea frowns and looks at her as if she had suddenly grown another head.
“We still don’t know each other at all, Mal.”
A sting of irritation runs through Mal.
“Well, yes, that’s true,” she continues, forcing a wider smile she hopes looks genuine, “but you’re getting closer to my friends. So as far as I’m concerned, it seems inevitable that you and I will be friends.”
And there it is. It’s as good a resolution as any. She has to make Hadea believe that they, the VK, are her real friends. Not the people of Auradon. Not Ben. That way she won’t step in to defend him.
“Besides, I think we both know what this is like, don’t we?” Mal continues. “I’ve noticed how they look at me when I walk to my next class. People always seem scared of me—repulsed, even. Though not as much after what I did for those poor girls’ hair.” She makes a pitiful face, as if she shares Hadea’s pain, hoping she’ll understand that only she gets it. “But I know you see it too, the way they look at us. It’s awful. Isle kids have to stick together. These princes and princesses will never accept us, but we can accept each other.”
Hadea stays quiet, watching her carefully, until she seems to drift into her thoughts. When she returns, she frowns again and looks toward the lake.
“Such noble words,” she says. “But next time you try to persuade someone, make sure your expressions match your words. Those ‘princes and princesses’ might be too foolish to notice, but I’m not. I grew up on the Isle. That won’t be enough. Why don’t you bring out the heavy artillery?”
That irritation returns, stronger this time, and Mal finally lets it show. Hadea is already figuring out things she shouldn’t.
“Fine. I do have a plan, but I’m afraid you’re in the way, so to speak. You could ruin everything. Although if I play my cards right, it’ll end up being my word against yours. And soon, mine will be worth a lot more.”
Hadea scoffs, amused, raising an eyebrow.
“Was that so hard?”
Mal wants to bite her.
“So what’s this grand plan of yours to get your magical thing? If you’re so sure you won’t fail and I won’t expose you, you can tell me now, right?” Hadea continues.
“I’m going to make Ben go out with me.”
Hadea stares at her again with that distant, thoughtful expression. Eventually, she seems to reach a verdict. She shrugs.
“And why would I be in the way of that?”
“Because you’re… close to Ben. And he seems to like you. If you… well, soon he’ll be closer to me.”
Hadea wrinkles her nose slightly.
“Pfft. I don’t even think it’s the same thing. You’re planning to make him go out with you. I have no intention of going out with him. Not the same thing. So your closeness to him doesn’t threaten my closeness with Ben.”
That infuriates Mal. Does this girl not see that she’s being threatened?
“No—you don’t understand what I’m saying—”
“I know exactly what you’re saying,” the pale girl beside her interrupts. “I just don’t care about getting in your way. Even now. I won’t let you hurt Ben, though. If your plan is to cause him pain or something like that… then yes, I might step in. Otherwise, there’s not much I can do.” She shrugs again. “And your plan sounds like a double-edged sword, so you should be careful.”
That catches Mal’s attention.
“Why?”
Hadea almost smiles, looking away.
“Because I know Ben. I know how deeply he can get into someone’s life…”
Mal scoffs. Honestly, it sounds ridiculous. What could a simple king possibly do to her?
“So that means you won’t be an obstacle?” she insists.
Hadea shrugs again. That annoying tic is irritating Mal more than she wants to admit.
“I meant what I said.”
*****
Mal isn’t the best person in the world, and she knows it. She wants to prove she’s a great villain and step out of her mother’s shadow, so she’ll walk over anything and anyone to achieve it. However, even she admits she has weaknesses, and those are her friends—the three boys who came with her to Auradon and who are more her family than anyone else.
That’s why it deeply irritates her that they want to spend time with Hadea. Carlos insists, saying the poor girl is alone, without friends, in an unfamiliar place. But why should that be Mal’s problem? If the daughter of a god can’t handle that, then she’s weak.
And yet she listens to them. That’s the only reason she’s sitting beside her now, watching the boys play Tourney. As soon as Evie found the two of them, she latched onto the gray-eyed girl with an iron grip and refused to let go. Even when Mal gave Ben the cookie and it became inevitable that everyone would find out exactly how she planned to get a king to go out with her.
Hadea stayed quiet, apparently satisfied that there would be no pain for Ben. And she didn’t try to pull away from Evie while she dragged her to the bleachers. On the contrary, she accepted sitting beside her while they watched the boys play.
Surprisingly, Hadea looks much more like someone her age when she’s with Evie. She claps when she sees Jay and Ben playing, though she doesn’t scream or make as much noise as the other girls around them—which Mal greatly appreciates.
It’s right when they win, and Ben decides to announce to everyone that he’s now in love with Mal, that she notices Hadea smiling faintly. It looks honest.
Mal likes reading people. She’s good at it. And it bothers her a lot to look at Hadea and feel no threat at all, even though she knows they’re on the same level. No, there’s no danger looming over her.
What does that say about her?