Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

20 years ago, as a gift to his new bride, King Adam kicked off all of the villains, sidekicks, criminals, and anyone related to them onto the Isle of the Lost.

The Isle was literally and figuratively a hell hole.

Correction: It was worse than hell because the Hades siblings have testified that the Isle was worse than the Underworld.

But then Connor and Coraline Hartz, twin siblings of the King and Queen of Hearts, when they turned 14, decided that they had enough of seeing all of the kids on the Isle suffer and decided to boot Maleficent out of power, and instate a new ruling system, which consisted of various generals constantly making sure that no one did anything bad.

And the conditions on the Isle improved dramatically: food was actually being shared instead of hoarded, crime rates went down by 90%, and abuse was practically abolished on the Isle.

Now, many of us on the Isle can actually be who we want to be instead of the stereotypes and mini-me’s that our parents wanted us to be.

And, while the system isn’t perfect, it’s the best a pair of 14-year-olds (now 17-year-olds) could think to do.

Despite all of its flaws, the Isle is what I would loosely call my home.

But the Hartz twins have a plan to fix that.

One that has been years in the making:

One that involves overthrowing the Beastly King.

Chapter Text

Even when Ben was younger, he always knew that, despite what all the textbooks and teachers said, the Isle was a horrible place. Although his parents tried to “shield” him from the reality of the situation, that didn’t stop Queen Hestia’s loud shouting and pleading to save the poor children from the Isle from reaching his ears. The yelling from Queen Hestia was always followed up from a visit from either his mom or dad, insisting that everything was fine.

But it wasn’t fine.

Hestia continually reported murders, abuse, rape, and a whole slew of other activities done to both the innocent adults and the innocent children of the Isle. And his dad continually ignored them.

But Ben wasn’t going to.

“-is it possible that you’re going to be crowned King next month? You’re just a baby!” King Adams voice interrupted his thoughts, causing Ben to swivel his head quickly over to his parents, who had walked into the room.

Speak of the devil and the devil will appear. The more sarcastic part of his brain said.

“He’s going to be 16, dear!” Belle said with a melodious giggle.

“Hey, Dad.” Ben said with a nervous smile as he wrung his hands.

“16? That’s far too young to be crowned king. I didn’t make a good decision until I was at least 42.” Adam said with a chuckle.

More like you never did make a good decision. Period. That rebellious and sarcastic part of Ben’s brain said.

“Uh, you married me at 28.” Belle said, though she only sounded somewhat offended by what Adam said.

“It was either you or the feather-duster.” Adam said with this mix of seriousness and jokingness.

Ben nervously chuckled, forcing himself to laugh at the bad joke while his mother gave this look that screamed “you better be joking”.

“Kidding.” Adam reassured, wrapping an arm around Belle’s waist and kissing her forehead.

“Hey, Mom, Dad?”

Ben tried to move forward but was stopped by the tailor, who shook his head. Sighing, Ben moved back and continued to wring his hands nervously.

“I’ve chosen my first official proclamation,” Ben could clearly see the curious and slightly confused look on his parents’ face as he paused to take in another calming breath, “I’ve decided that the children on the Isle of the Lost should be given a chance to live here in Auradon.” Ben flinched as he awaited the shouting that undoubtedly would follow.

Belle gasped while Adam looked confused and angry. Adam stepped forward, causing the tailor to get up and leave, obviously because of the angry atmosphere that the King had. However, much to Ben’s surprise, Adam just made a gesture for Ben to go on.

“I’m not an idiot, Dad. I’ve heard all of the reports of what's really going on on the Isle. All the rape, murder: everything! No child deserves to grow up in an environment like that! Sure, let the actual villains stay there! But the innocent people on the Isle? Just let them get off of that place!” Ben said, all of his frustration and anger at his father bubbling up and finally showing through.

“They have been raised by their villain parents all their lives! They are all probably like their parents!” Adam said with a growl.

“Both us know that that's a load of bullshit, Dad!” The curse word left his mouth before he even realized it but he was too angry to care, “They’ve been abused for as long as they have lived! And, while things have apparently been getting better, that's only because two of the kids decided that they had enough of seeing their friends and family being abused every single day and decided to change it! Not because us, the supposed heroes did! A pair of 14-year-olds who had to grow up too fast to protect their friends and family! And, what’s worse is that Queen Hestia has been telling you for literal years to help-!” Ben ranted before being abruptly cut off by something hitting him across the face and sent him onto the floor.

Ben looked up horrified and saw his dad looking very pissed off as he glared down at him.

“Hestia knows nothing of how to rule a kingdom!” Adam growled angrily.

“Adam-”

Belle started to interject but was silenced by a glare by his dad. Ben’s vision began to cloud with tears and he felt his chest heave with suppressed sobs.

“Get out, Dad.” Ben said quietly, his voice cracking with sadness.

The rom was silent, other than the small sharp gasps that Ben made as he held back sobs and the sharp intake of breath that undoubtably came from Adam.

“Ben, I-” Adam started to say, trying to step forward but something stopped him.

“Adam, you heard him. He needs some time.” Belle said levely, an underlying tone of disappointment in her voice.

Ben sat there, trembling as he heard his father’s heavy footsteps leave the room and the door close. He then felt his mother’s delicate arms wrap around him, as if he was a child once again.

Only then did he allow himself to cry.

Chapter Text

Mal smirked as many of the villains and sidekicks crowding the streets cowered away from her as she strode through the streets. The ones who didn't cower gave either brief smiles or friendly waves before returning to whatever what they were doing.

It felt nice to be respected and feared for being herself instead of being rebuked and feared for being the daughter of Maleficent.

“Miss Mallory!” A cheerful voice interrupted Mal’s train of thought.

Mal looked over and smiled at Mr. Hartz, who was more or less everyone’s dad. He was a small, round man who had pinkish skin, kind reddish-brown eyes, and orange-ginger hair that was going white at the sides. He constantly wore red clothing that always made him stick out like a happy little beacon but no one dared to bother him, due to his twin children being the rulers of the Isle as well as him being the aforementioned “dad” of all of the Isle kids.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hartz. Are you heading off to the meeting?” Mal said with a smile as she bowed a little.

“I was thinking of it. Connor and Coraline were very vague with me about what the meeting was going to be about.” Mr. Hartz said with a thoughtful hum.

“They usually are. Do you want me to accompany you to it? I was on my way to it anyway.” Mal asked with a smile.

“That would be very nice. David wanted to attend with me but he's currently sleeping to help him deal with his thoughts.” Mr. Hartz said with a slightly sad smile.

“How is David doing? I haven't seen him or Diego recently.” Mal asked as they begun to walk to the meeting in the Hartz fortress, which used to be the Evil Queen's old home.

“He...could be doing better. His depression is getting worse and worse. Thankfully, the animal shelter, the animals, and the volunteers at the shelter are helping him stay distracted from his thoughts.” Mr. Hartz admitted, running a hand through his hair.

“So we have even more reason to get him off of here, don't we?” Mal commented, her voice becoming hardened and serious.

“...You all are really serious about escaping, aren’t you?”

Mal gave Mr. Hartz a quizzical look, not understanding what he was talking about.

“I always thought that it was just Connor and Coraline who was striving to be free of the Isle. But, recently, I’ve heard so many kids talking about it: Freddie, Uma, Gil, Harry, Diego, Pyrros, Ginny. Even Claudine and Jade have been talking about how much they want to leave. And it's bittersweet; because I know it's selfish to want all of you to stay but I know none of you kids deserve to be here. You never deserved to be here.”

Mr. Hartz sounded remorseful and sad, something that always made her heart twist with emotion. And, as much as she wanted to comfort him, she knew that she couldn't tell about Connor and Coraline’s plan to bring him over, as they wanted that to stay a secret as long as humanly possible.

Thankfully, the two reached the Castle and Mr. Hartz was immediately dragged off by Gerard and Gil, who wanted to talk to him about a new project that they were working on and needed input on.

With a relieved sigh, Mal made her way through the crowd of VKs, who greeted her and moved out of her way as she made her way to the stairs that lead up to the balcony that Connor and Coraline usually talked to all of the VKs from.

And, meeting her expectations, Uma was standing at the bottom of the stairs, sharpening her sword that had been a gift from Coraline when they first started dating.

Uma wore her teal and black cornrows in a messy bun and wore her usual green-tinted silver armor over a simple long-sleeved black unitard, brown boots, and black fingerless gloves. On her hip was her trusted gun in its holster and on the opposite hip was her sword sheath.

Mal went over to where her ex-girlfriend was standing and leaned against the railing. Nearby, she could spot Freddie and Jade, who were talking while glancing over at Uma once in awhile to make sure she was okay.

“Hey, do you know what this meeting's about?” Mal asked curiously, examining her own sword casually.

“No clue. Coraline was being super vague about it. All I know is that Coraline said that it was very important.” Uma stated as she sheathed her sword and flipped her cornrows out of her face.

Mal opened her mouth to snarkily remark when suddenly a loud whistle pierced through the air, silencing all of the chatting VKs. Mal craned her head and saw Connor and Coraline standing on the balcony.

Coraline was wearing an elegant long red dress with puffy cap sleeves that was down to a little bit above her knees in the front and trailed on the ground, matching gloves that flared at the wrists, white ripped tights, black stiletto heels, and her signature black beanie with a diamond embroidered onto the side. Her long ginger hair was all tucked into the aforementioned beanie and her heterochromic eyes glittered with something that Mal couldn't describe. Coraline’s pose was dignified and poised, as it always was, with a hint of tension to it.

Connor, on the other hand, wore a sleeveless black turtleneck shirt, gray jeans with rips in them, fingerless gloves, combat boots, and their signature red beanie with a club embroidered onto the side. Their black hair that went down to the middle of their neck was pulled into a small ponytail and their heterochromic eyes kept on glancing and twitching, as whatever they needed to talk about was very irritating to them. Connor’s pose was somehow both relaxed and tense at the same time as they leaned on the railing, their hands fidgeting with something that they were holding in them.

“Sorry to keep all of you waiting. Connor and I had a few things to discuss before this meeting begun.” Coraline said with an amused but apologetic tone of voice.

“Let’s get right into the main point of the meeting, then.” Pitch’s recognizable voice snapped as he glared at his sister.

However, the angered expression melted away and was replaced by a calm and calculating one.

“In a little more than a week, Prince Ben is going to be crowned King of Auradon.” Rouge announced, gesturing to one of the posters about the event, which had been defaced in multiple ways.

Immediately, a whole bunch of the older kidsーMal could spot Zevon, Reza, and Geoff being some of those kidsーstart booing and jeering at the mere mention of Ben. However, the rest of the VKs, started to murmur amongst one another about it, though Mal noticed that none of the Papáaïdes siblings actually did anything; they just whispered quietly to each other.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Mal went over to where her staffーwhich used to be her mother’sーwas in it's hook on the wall, grabbed it, and banged it against the floor to bring order amongst the VKs. Almost as quick as it started, all of the noise from the VKs stopped.

“Because of this, it's even more that we find a way off of this hellhole. And, as much as I hate to be pessimistic, there is a very high likelihood that Prince Ben will be just like his fatherーif not worseーwhen he becomes King. So, if there are any suggestions or known ways of getting off the Isle that aren’t already known, please tell us.” Coraline stated smoothly, glancing over the crowd with a rare hopefulness in her eyes.

“I know a way!” a familiar, bubbly voice said from near the front of the crowd.

Situated between two of his older siblings, Pyrros and Dion, Hadie was raising his hand with a huge grin on his face as his eyes glittered with excitement and happiness. Beside him, all three of his older siblings were motioning for him to shut up. Coraline looked vaguely doubtful while Connor looked very intrigued.

“Would you care to elaborate?” Connor asked, his hands folding neatly in front of himself.

“There’s a pathway underneath Dad’s shop that leads into the Underworld! Dad never uses it because he can never leave the Isle but me and my older sibs have all gone down there to deliver the souls that we reap to our mom!” Hadie affirmed with a passionate grin.

Immediately, everyone started talking around the siblings, most of them asking more more details while others demanding for why they kept it hidden. However, the Hartz siblings only talked quietly to each other for a minute before Coraline caught everyone's attention once more by whistling loudly.

“Dion, Hector, Pyrros. Why didn’t you three tell about this passageway much earlier?” Coraline asked, sounding a mix of betrayed and confused.

“Well, we really wanted to but we literally couldn’t! Mom swore the three of us to an unbreakable oath of secrecy that we would never tell anyone about the passageway! And unbreakable oaths are called unbreakable oaths for a reason.” Hector said, talking with so much emotion that Mal felt like that he had been truly wanting to tell for years so now all of the emotionsーand truthーwas now coming out.

“The only reason why Hadie could talk about it was because he wasn’t sworn to the oath, as Mom didn’t realize that Hadie would also become a reaper like the rest of us. And, by the time she DID realize, it was too late to make the oath, as the oath has to be done at 3 years old, I believe.” Dion added on, sounding mildly regretful over not being able to talk about it.

“Can you talk about it now that everyone here knows about it?” Uma asked loudly, her eyes focusing on Pyrros.

“Yeah. The oath only applies to those who don’t already know of the passageway.” Pyrros affirms, a slightly relieved and sheepish grin appearing on their face.

“Alright! Everyone, except for you four, can all go home while we have a small chat about this passageway. We’ll have another meeting whenever we find out whether or not this can be used as an escape from the Isle.” Crimson said happily, sending an optimistic smile to the crowd of VKs.

With that, the meeting ended.

Connor and Coraline motioned for the four Papáaïdes to follow them upstairs and the six of them all disappeared upstairs. Mal sighed with relief and noticed that Uma had already gone, no doubt to go wait for Coraline with Freddie and Jade. Deciding to find her own significant others, she started to look for them in the now thinning crowd.

The first one that she determined would be the easiest to find was Jay, as he usually had to break up fights that started afterー.

“TAKE THAT BACK, YOU BASTARD!” Rick’s piercing voice shouted over the loud crowd.

That’s probably where Jay is. Mal thought to herself with a smirk.

Making her way through the crowd, she eventually reached the center, which was a ring around Rickーwho was tightly holding onto a pocket-knifeーon one end, Geoffーwho looked pissed off and ready to punch Rickーon the other end, and Jayーwho looked just tired and unamusedーin the center between the other two.

Jay was wearing his normal guard uniform: a bright red and yellow leather vest over a black tank-top, navy cargo pants, black boots, his distinctive maroon beanieーwhich was slightly off-kilterー, and his three pieces of jewelry that were from each of the Core Four: a bronze dragon shaped armlet with emerald eyes from Mal, a bracelet made out of various spare parts from Carlos, and a red ruby stud from Evie. His hair was completely down and somewhat matted and his eyes were tired and unamused, though they seemed to glitter with happiness and relief when he saw Mal.

“What’s going on?” Mal demanded in her best authoritative voice.

“Geoff insulted Zevon, calling him an insane freak, and Rick went ballistic and threatened him with a knife.” Jay stated with a sigh, glaring at either boy.

Of course it was over Zevon.

Everyone knew that not only did Geoff and Zevon had a rivalry, but Rickーas were Anthony and Westleyーwas dating Zevon and was fiercely devoted to his boyfriend.

Mal sighed and turned toward Geoff, who had visibly paled when she had stepped into the ring.

“Geoff, Zevon is a talented and intelligent alchemist and chemist, so unless you want my sword up your ass, cut that shit out.” Mal then turned to Rick, who looked ashamed and a tad bit sheepish, “And Rick, I know you love your boyfriend. But pulling a knife on someone isn’t the way to deal with people insulting him. If the world worked like that, Cruella would be dead by now.” Mal stated with a disappointed tone of voice.

“Sorry, General Mallory.” both Geoff and Rick apologizing, now looking very sheepish.

“Now, apologize to each other.” Jay added, glaring at both of them.

The two teen mumbled out apologies before Jay nodded, satisfied, and waved the two away. Geoff went over to Reza, who immediately smacked him over the head and started to whisper something, causing the Gaston twin to laugh sheepishly while Rick went over to Westley, who whispered something and took ahold of Rick’s hand.

As the crowd disbanded, Jay let out a drawn out and relieved sigh.

“Thanks for stepping in when you did. I feel like I would have strangled Geoff if you hadn’t stepped in.” Jay said with a crooked smile.

“No problem. Rick reminds me of when you were younger, to be honest.” Mal admitted with a cheeky grin at her boyfriend.

“Oh shoosh. I wasn’t that bad. Anyway, do you want to look for the other two members of our gay quartet?” Jay asked with a faux-offended look that melted into an amused grin.

“Of course.” Mal replied with a snicker.

The two made their way to the exit, thinking that maybe the two were waiting for them there. However, instead of seeing Carlos’s familiar black and white hair, Mal immediately spotted Diego’s black and white mohawk as he leaned against the wall, holding onto Beelzebub and petting her gently.

Mal smiled nostalgically and then made her way over to Diego, Jay close behind her. She then stopped right next to him, but wasn’t that surprised when Diego continued to pet Beelzebub, obviously trying to calm down from all of the noise and excitement of this meeting.

“What’re you doing, waiting around here?” Mal asked curiously, reaching out to pet Beelzebub.

The black and white cat mewled and purred louder, headbutting Mal’s hand and twisting her head so that she could get more petting. Diego smiled at the cat’s friendly behaviour and scratched behind Beelzebub’s ear before looking up at Mal, his heterochromic eyes tired and overwhelmed.

“I lost track of Claudine and Ginny and Pyrros is in that meeting with Connor, Coraline, and their siblings.” Diego admitted, his usually loud and upbeat voice soft and tired.

“What about Carlos?” Jay asked, his eyes scanning the crowd for the small white-and-black haired boy.

“Carlos was dragged off by Evie to go talk to Zevon.” Diego said, returning his attention back to Beelzebub when it became clear why the two were talking to him.

“Thanks, Diego. Hope you find the others soon.” Mal said with a smile.

Diego distractedly nodded as he decided to sit down carefully, obviously self-assured in the fact that his significant others would find him easily. Jay then took ahold of her hand and then the two made their way through the crowd. Mal looked around but, unfortunately, it seems like most of the shorter kids had left and all that were left were all of the taller kids. However, eventually, Jay started to make a beeline toward a certain place, making Mal think that he had spotted Zevon.

And, sure enough, in a small gap in the crowd was Zevon, Evie, and Carlos all talking about something that the three planned on all making together while Anthony just watched on in amusement at how passionate his boyfriend was.

Zevon was wearing his normal black trench coat over his blue t-shirt, ripped jeans, black sneakers, and a bullet pendant that Westley had given him as a physical oath that none of them would ever try to hurt each other. Braided into his navy blue hair, in two seperate spots, were a green ribbon and a red ribbon, showing that he was dating Anthony and Rick, respectively. His dark brown eyes flashed with electric blue as he talked excitedly about whatever project he wanted to start.

Evie was wearing a white t-shirt with blue short sleeves and the words “Fairest” on the chest in calligraphy, a layered blue skirt, black tights, ankle boots with heels, the dragon eye ring that Mal gave her, the scrap-metal necklace that Carlos made for her, and the charm bracelet that Jay stole for her. Her beautiful brown eyes glittered with amusement at her friends’ excitement but had this tint of tiredness to them.

Carlos was wearing his normal outfit of a black t-shirt, white-and-black jacket with red sleeves that were rolled up past his elbows, white capris that had various tools and small projects dangling off of the belt loops, black boots, his black choker with a dragon dangling from it, golden bands around his wrists, and apple studs. His chocolate brown eyes were sparking with hidden ideas that were running through his brilliant mind as he listened to Zevon talk, obviously thinking of how to make Zevon’s ideas a reality.

Anthony was wearing his normal maroon t-shirt, black-jean jacket, black ripped jeans, and black sneakers. Braided into his hair was a single red ribbon and, around his neck, was a necklace with a little glass bottle full of blue liquid and a bullet strung onto it. His dark brown eyes were glimmering with amusement and love as he stared at his boyfriend.

“Guess who just had to break up a fight between Geoff and Rick because Rick pulled a knife on Geoff for insulting Zevon?” Jay said with a mix of amusement and tiredness.

Although Anthony tried to look disappointed in Rick, his eyes glittered in a way that made it obvious that he was proud of his boyfriend. Zevon, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was proud, and widely grinned as he laughed.

“That’s my boy! I’m glad he had the balls to take on Geoff!” the Peruvian said with a slight snort.

“While it was amazing to talk to you about all of this, Zevon,” All attention was drawn to Evie. who was smiling a polite but somewhat forced smile, “I’m feeling rather tired and would like to go home.” she said with a slight curtsey.

While Carlos didn’t actually say anything, he did nod in agreement at the statement, looking so much older than he actually was.

“Yeah, and I would suggest you guys gather your boys and then go home, because last time I saw Westley, he looked ready to pass out.” Jay added with a small smirk.

Mal snickered as Zevon’s face went from an amused look to one that screamed “my people need me”.

“I’m going to go find those two and Yzla and Sophie. Anthony, we gotta go!” Zevon said, looking impatiently over at his boyfriend.

“Alright. We also have to locate Dizzy.” Anthony then turned his attention toward the Core Four with an amused look on his face, “It was nice to see you all again and I’ll be seeing all of you at the next meeting.” Anthony said.

Anthony slightly bow before taking his boyfriend’s hand and the two disappeared into the crowd. After a little while of watching after where the two had disappeared, Mal turned her attention back to the other three, who wall looked a mix of amused and tired.

“It took a lot longer than usual for you to find us.” Carlos commented with a slightly snarky grin.

“Well, it probably wouldn't have taken us as long if you had just stayed with Diego.” Jay said just as snarkily back.

Mal chuckled as the two began to playfully argue about the issue. However, she noticed that Evie was fiddling with the bracelet that Carlos made for her and was absently gnawing on her bottom lip. With a small smile, Mal gently pulled her into a gentle kiss, intertwining her one hand with Evie’s free hand. After they pulled away, she noticed that her girlfriend was blushing with a flustered smile on her face.

“If you have anything on your mind, you can tell me.” Mal said, pressing her forehead against Evie’s.

Evie smiled a little bigger before it faded as a worried look appeared on her face.

“It's just that...I have this horrible, lingering feeling that something bad is going to happen.” she replied, her occupied hand continuing to fiddle with the bracelet.

Mal opened her mouth to reply when suddenly they were both interrupted by a high-pitched yelp and a loud laugh. When she looked over to see what was going on, Jay was wrestling Carlos and was holding him in a tight headlock.

“Hey! Jay, cut that shit out!” Uma said loudly, kicking Jay in the ribs in a way that they actually wouldn’t get damaged but that the blow would at least get him to let go of Carlos.

As Jay apoligzed and tried to explain himself to Uma, Mal just giggled with Evie as they helped the smaller boy up.

Only when Mal was cuddling with Jay that night did she realize she never asked Evie what she meant.

Chapter Text

Evie woke up to someone knocking on the door. Yawning, Evie got out of bed, making sure not to disrupt Carlos, who had fallen asleep next to her. Stretching a bit, she went over to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway was none other than Hadie and Dizzy, matching excited grins on their faces as they looked up at her.

Hadie was dressed in his best pastel clothing: purple long-sleeved dress shirt with black cuffs, green tie, yellow suspenders, red pants with orange crosses on the knees, and purple converse sneakers. His normally blue hair was now a bright yellow and orange as it sparked and flickered excitedly and his bright pink eyes were glittering with happiness and joy.

Dizzy, on the other hand, was wearing her navy paint-splattered dress that acted as her uniform when she worked at her grandmother’s shop, white tights, and black mary janes. Her blonde hair was up in pigtails that was tied off with green ribbons and her chocolate brown eyes were amplified by her paint-speckled glasses.

“There's going to be another meeting today so wake the rest of the gang up!” Hadie said with an infectiously wide grin, his sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.

“Hadie, what time is it now?” Evie asked with a tired sigh.

Hadie dug into his pocket and pulled out a silver pocket-watch with a flower carved onto the front as well as Greek lettering underneath it. He pressed the latch and the watched popped open. He squinted at the numbers before sheepishly smiling at Evie.

“About 2:30?” Hadie said with a slight giggle.

“And what time does it start?” Mal's sleepy voice asked from behind Evie.

Evie blushed as she felt Mal’s arms wrap around her waist, pulling her a little backwards, and then placed her head in the crook of Evie’s neck.

“Coraline wants it to start at around 3:30 at the earliest!” Dizzy said cheerfully.

“Thanks for telling us, guys. Did you guys already wake up everyone else?” Mal asked with a slight hum.

“More or less. To make our jobs easier, we’ve been doing a game of telephone: waking kids who will wake up other kids. But you guys are the last kids who needed to be woken up!” Dizzy replied, her eyes sparkling with excitement and relief.

“How long have you two been awake?” Evie asked curiously, noticing the ever so slight tired atmosphere around the two.

“I never went to sleep last night!” Hadie said cheerfully as Dizzy said, “Since 5 AM!”

“Guys.” Evie said with her “disappointed older sister” tone of voice.

“I was way too excited about today’s meeting to go to sleep!” Hadie explained with an excited bounce, though Evie could have sworn that his one eye twitched.

“And Anthony woke me up so I could help Hadie act as a messenger!” Dizzy explained with a reassuring grin.

“Alright. Could you tell the Hartz twins that we’ll be there ASAP?” Mal said with a small apologetic smile.

“Sure! See you guys at the meeting!” Hadie said before running off.

“ByeEvieandMalseeyouatthemeeting! Hadie, slow down!” Dizzy said as she ran after her close friend, who was childishly cackling.

Evie chuckled and closed the door as Mal went to go wake up Carlos and Jay. She then went to her closet, grabbed her clothes and towel, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. She quickly stripped out of her clothing and started to wash herself. However, her hands lingered on her hips and ribcage, which were slowly filling out.

11 years of psychological torment and 13 years of anorexia wasn't easily fixed, even though it had been 4 years since she was freed from Grimhilde.

Shaking her head to clear it of her thoughts, she finished washing up, got out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed in her blue dress with the silver studs on them, black tights, and blue heels. As she put in the curlers in her hair, someone knocked on the door.

“Hey, Princess! Are you done yet?” Jay’s voice asked from the other side of the door.

“I’m decent!” Evie called as she put in the last curler.

The door opened and Jay, with a pouting Carlos in tow, came inside the bathroom. Evie picked up all of her dirty clothes, gave her two boyfriends a kiss on the cheek, and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She then went to her and Mal’s room and, after dropping her dirty clothing in a bin, picked up her accessories from where they were in her jewelry box, and sat down in front of the vanity.

In the reflection of the vanity, Evie could see Mal examining the scars on her chest from Maleficent’s abuse as well how her breasts were developing. Smiling, Evie put down the accesories, got up, and went over to her girlfriend and hugged her, kissing her neck lovingly.

“Are the hormones that me & Zevon made for you working?” Evie asked, nuzzling the crook of her neck.

“They're working out great, E. Then again, everything you make is wonderful.” Mal replied with a happy and content smile.

“That’s not true.” Evie said with a flustered and self-conscious giggle.

“You bet all of the jewels and castles in Auradon they are.” Mal said as she pecked her on the cheek.

Evie squeaked in embarrassment and went back to the vanity, where she could see Mal proudly smirk. Huffing a bit indignantly, Evie picked up the choker that Carlos had made for her out of spare parts on and put it on, followed by Jay’s charm bracelet, and the last thing that she put on was Mal’s dragon-eye ring, which she put on over her leather gloves.

As Evie was letting down her hair from it's curlers and Mal was putting on her accesories, Jay and Carlos came out of the shower, with Jay wearing the exact same outfit from yesterday (though Evie knew that he had washed it the night before) and Carlos wearing his “inventing” outfit, which consisted of a red turtleneck rolled up to right above his elbows, heavy-duty black gloves that perfectly covered up any skin that would have been exposed on his forearms, white leather goggles, a dark red apron, white pants, and black boots.

With a giggle at how messy her boyfriends’ hairs were, Evie got up and guided Jay to her bed and started to comb out his hair, apologizing every time she got to rather big knots. Carlos sat on the bed on the other side of Jay, whistling the “Cruella de Vil” melody as he helped Jay put on the jewelry that he was wearing yesterday. At some point, Mal came over and put in the three pairs of earrings into his earlobes一the dragon-eye ones from Mal, the lamp ones from Jay, and the apple ones from Evie一before going to go get her armor and put it on.

After Evie finished combing out Jay’s hair, Jay got up and got his beloved beanie from where it was and put it on, flashing the other three a wide smile.

“So, shall we get going to the meeting?” Jay asked with a wink.

A loud clicking sound was heard as Mall fastened the last of her armor on. A large smirk spread across her face as she clipped her sword to her belt.

“Let’s go.” Mal said, her head held high and proud.

The three of them then left Dragmire Castle, formerly known as Bargain Castle, and walked through the streets of the Isle casually. However, as they walked past various places, Evie could see the familiar glares and murmurings of their abusers:

As they passed Hell Hall, she could hear Cruella cry and scream hysterically about her “missing puppy” that had “gotten lost”.

As they passed Jafar’s Junk Shop, she could hear Jafar lamenting the loss of his one employee and swearing that “the puny brat” will pay for abandoning him.

As they walked by Lady Tremaine’s Curl Up and Dye, she could see Grimhilde glare at her with a lip pulled back into a disgusted sneer at Evie, who was becoming more and more beautiful as the days passed.

As they passed by David’s Paws and Claws, she could see Diablo from where he was perched on the sign of the animal shelter, his eyes glaring into Mal as he一and, through him, Maleficent, from her prison cell in the Fortress一judged every step that Mal made toward a new future.

Despite these glares, Evie held her head high and wrapped a comforting arm around Carlos’s waist and intertwined her fingers with Jay’s. Jay, noticing what Evie had done, linked his free arm with Mal’s, causing the purple-haired girl to look very relieved and happy.

They were all strong, independant teenagers who were going to make a future that wasn’t dictated by the harsh rules of the Isle or the unfair standards set by Auradon.

After awhile of walking, they arrived at the Castle Across the Way, or the Hartz Fortress, as many of the VKs had taken to call it after the Evil Queen was driven out of the castle.

It was actually rather fascinating; the place that had been her prison for 6 long, grueling years and had been a symbol of despair and hopelessness for her had been transformed into a sanctuary for many of the VKs and a symbol of happiness and hope for all of them.

As Mal pushed open the large oak doors, Evie briefly expected to be greeted with a cold and unwelcoming front room. Instead, the main room was warm and inviting, filled with excited chattering and playful remarks as all of the VKs waited for the announcement of what Connor and Coraline were planning on doing. As they made their way to the front of the room, many VKs waved and greeted them before returning to whatever conversation they were having.

When they did eventually made their way to the front of the room, Mal went to her normal spot next to Uma and Maddy, who had actually shown up to today’s meeting, while Jay went to go patrol through the crowd with Harry Hook and Eddie to make sure that no one caused a fight. Evie then drifted with Carlos to the corner that allowed easy viewing of the balcony and the rest of the room, where Diego, Claudine, Ginny, and Pyrros were already talking.

Claudine was wearing a long, flowing purple and black dress, white tights that were barely visible under the hem of her dress, black flats, a golden flower necklace, and blue cloud earrings. Her black hair with pink ends was all pulled over one shoulder and a pink rose was tucked in behind her ear, contrasting beautifully with her dark hair and coppery skin. Her bright blue eyes were filled with excitement and happiness, though they had a touch of anxiety and nervousness in them.

Ginny, on the other hand, was wearing a maroon flapper-esque dress that went down to the middle of her calves with sleeves that flared out over her shoulders, black heels, flame earrings, a weather themed necklace, and a skull bracelet. Ginny’s kinky hair was partially up and partially down, showing off her heart-shaped face and dark eyes, which shone with pride but had a slightly self-conscious gleam in them.

Pyrros wore the flashiest outfit out of the four of them consisting of a pastel orange crop-top with black greek writing across the chest, a black spiked collar with a cloud charm hanging off of it, a black vest with seagreen fur on the collar, a lavender skirt with upside down crosses on it, pastel blue tights with skulls on it, spiked combat boots, and a spiked flower crown made of hydrangeas. Their literally fiery blue hair flickered and sparked excitedly and their maroon eyes were wild and excited as their hand drummed against their thigh.

Contrasting Pyrros’s flashy and extra style was Diego's simple style that echoed Carlos’s which consisted of a sky blue turtleneck, gray pants, black combat boots, skull earrings, a necklace with an inverted cross on it, and a ring with a sun embossed on it. His black and white mohawk was meticulously combed and his eyes were calm and relaxed, which was very nice, as yesterday he looked like he was 0.5 seconds away from breaking down.

“Hey, Pyrros, do you know what the new plan is?” Evie asked with a curious look at the lesser god.

Ve blinked in surprise, as if ve actually didn't realize that she was talking to ver, before vis surprised look turned into a smug one as vis eyes glimmered with a type of pride that Evie couldn't describe.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” ve said snidely as ve wrapped an arm around Diego’s waist.

Much to Evie and Carlos’s amusement, Diego smacked Pyrros harshly on the shoulder, causing the lesser god to yelp in pain and glare at vis boyfriend. Diego opened his mouth to say something—undoubtedly going to lecture them for being so rude—when someone whistled loudly. Everyone soon quieted as all attention went onto Connor and Coraline.

Connor's face was practically splitting in half with a wide grin as they bounced excitedly on their heels, obviously just bursting with whatever they wanted to share with everyone. There was a rarely seen glint of optimism in their eyes as they looked at all of the VKs.

Similarly, Coraline was perfectly poised and pristineーacting like the literal princess/queen she wasーbut there was this air of excitement and happiness around her. Her eyes glittered with a special kind of happiness that was only there when she looked at her girlfriends, sibling, and father.

“As you all know, last night, me, Connor, and the Papáaïdēs siblings,” Evie noticed that Pyrros’s chest puffed up with pride at the mention of them and their siblings, “all talked about the pathway to the Underworld through their dad’s shop. According to them, Queen Persephone, and Hades, the pathway leads out into what looks like a Mausoleum in the Auradon Cemetery. Which is right between Beast Castle, where the Royal Family lives, and Auradon Cathedral, where the Coronation will be taking place.” Coraline said with a tone of voice that made Evie's skin tingle with excitement.

“So, the new plan is going to be aim for the jugular of Auradon in two invasions: a smaller one where we invade the castle and get the Royal Family to renounce their crown so we can take it; and a bigger one where we publically and officially announce that we are taking over. At this point, we aren't sure if we're going to imprison Adam and his heir like we imprisoned Maleficent when we took over or if we're just going to flat out kill them.” Pitch said, taking out his pocket knife and stabbing it into the railing with a loud thud.

“I have an idea of what we could do with Adam.” An airy voice said from within the crowd.

Evie watched as none other than Étienne came forward. Ze had long, golden hair that was pulled into a segmented high ponytail that went down to a little bit above zes hips, beautiful acid green eyes, pale skin, ruby lips, and wore a green bell-sleeved shirt with golden trim and a forest green pleated skirt.

It was no surprise to Evieーand probably all of the other kidsーthat ze would want input on Adam's fate, as their mother, Cassandra DelacroixーAKA the Enchantressー, was wrongfully imprisoned by Adam onto the Isle and then was whisked away to do something that she never returned from, forcing her to orphan Étienne and leave zem to the “mercy” of the Isle.

And people say “heroes” can't be spiteful and hold grudges.

“And what's your idea?” Coraline asked, sounding morbidly curious.

“A Promethean curse.” Étienne said with the slightest hint of a cruel smile on zes lips.

“I like the sound of that already! But do elaborate.” Pitch said with an ever so slightly maniacal cackle and a bloodthirsty grin.

“I found it while going through Mom's spellbook. What it does is that, no matter how many times or how you do it, the person cannot die.” The mage said, zes eyes sparking with a fire that Evie saw frequently in the magic kids’ eyes.

“Making Adam suffer like all of us did? Like the good parents did? We're fully on board with that. What about you, Cora?” Pitch replied, looking over at his sister.

“I agree. It's a fitting punishment. What about you three?” Coraline said with a nod, turning toward the three generals.

Pitch’s grin somehow got even wider as Uma, Maddy, and Mal all nodded. He then took out the knife from where it was stuck into the railing and then pointed it at the crowd.

“All that agree say, 'Aye’!” He yelled loudly.

“Aye!” Everyone cheered, though Uma and Harriet's crews cheered the loudest.

“Thanks for helping us decide that, Étienne. Next, we need to talk about preparations. Queen Persephone has been so kind as to allow magic users to practice and perfect their magic. She has also said that she would be willing to give supplies and general training to non-magic user. And, before anyone asks, the reason why she couldn't interfere and help us earlier because it would have been against the law to do so. But not for long.” Coraline said with a wide smile at Pyrros.

“Question!” A hesitant but loud voice asked.

Everyone turned as Hermie walked to the front of the crowd, allowing Étienne to easily slip into the crowd once more.

Hermie had flawless pale skin that was only interrupted by the jagged, pink scars caused by her father, kind brown eyes, chestnut hair that was pulled up into a ponytail by a red scrunchie, and wore a white dress shirt, red suit jacket, black top hat with a red band on it, red pleated skirt, white socks, and black scuffed Mary-Janes.

Behind her was her girlfriend, CJ. Contrasting Hermie, CJ had tan skin with a single beauty mark below her right eye, cedar brown eyes, blonde hair that was pulled up into a ponytail and braided with beads, and wore a white blouse with a matching cravat, blue jean shorts, tan leggings that had a map of Neverland on them, navy boots with golden swirls on the top cuffs of them, and her silk jacket with the loose golden buttons and studs on them.

“Yes, Hermie?” Coraline asked with a kind and gentle tone to her voice.

“What about Prince Ben? He’s kind of like us: a kid forced into a role that he might not even want to play.” Hermie asked, concern and trepidation in her voice.

All of the generals were all physically taken aback by the question and looked at each other uneasily. Even the two leaders looked a bit unsure about how to answer it.

“We’ll cross that bridge whenever we get to it, Hermie.” Rouge said with a comforting smile on her face but an uncertain waver to her voice.

“Anyway, because of how this is going to be playing out, neither me nor Connorーor any of the generals, for that matterーare expecting those who are too young or just not wanting to fight to train. But I have to warn you: you should at least learn basic things, like self defense, how to control your magic, ect. Connor and I will be taking down the names of any VKs who want to be a part of the Isle’s Army.” Coraline said, her eyes scanning the faces of the crowd.

“...Meeting dismissed.” Connor said, their tired and quiet voice echoing in the now quiet room.

Immediately, everyone started talking, with a whole bunch of kids surging forward to sign up while others just slipped away quietly. Evie turned to look at the group and looked questioningly at all of them.

“...I’ve been thinking of joining.” Claudine admitted quietly, looking at her hands contemplatively.

“What?” Diego asked, sounding confused and almost horrifiedーwhich wouldn’t be surprising, given his history of being against violence.

“It’s just...I’m tired of being the victim of the story. I’m tired of Auradon treating us like my father,” Evie flinched at the venom in Claudine’s voice at the word “father”, “treated me. I want to fight back and show that I’m not a failure or anything that my father,” There was that venom again at the word “father”, “said I was. Is...is that bad? Is that normal?”

Claudine ended her explanation with the most heartbreaking look of terror and sadness that Evie had ever seen. But before Evie could say anything, Ginny immediately went in front of her girlfriend and held her face with her hands, wiping away the tears that had formed with her thumbs.

“No, sweetie, that’s fine. While I can’t say that’s ‘normal’ーbecause, let’s be real, none of us are normalーit is what I feel whenever I think of my mom. I want to prove to herーand the rest of the Isleーthat I’m not a skank or whore or whatever they call me. I want to prove to her that having a beautiful girlfriend, a wonderful boyfriend, and an amazing partner isn’t weak or pathetic. So you wanting to join the army so that you can prove that you are more than what your sperm donor,” the group chuckled at the insult, “called you, that’s fine. I’m supportive of you all the way. What about you two?”

Ginny finished her touching speech with a look at Pyrros and Diego. Diego looked so conflicted about what he should say but he sighed and went on one side of Claudine as Pyrros went to the other side of her.

“I’m not usually one to endorse violence but, if that’s what you really want to do, I’ll support you all the way. I was just…” Diego paused, obviously not sure how to word it.

“I know, Diego. You don’t have to explain. I was just...worried that I was the only one who wanted to do it because of my own...vendetta, you know?” Claudine said, gently patting her boyfriend’s cheek.

“And I’m always up for kicking ass and taking names. You know I’ll always support you, κανακάρα μου.” Pyrros said, wrapping vis arms gently around the half-Romani girl.

Claudine stayed quiet but Evie could hear her sniffle and giggle a little.

“Thanks, mon trésors.” she said quietly.

“Hey, Pyrros!” Hector’s loud voice came out of nowhere, causing Carlos to jump a little.

Evie giggled as the second eldest of the Papáaïdes siblings walked over. Hector was surprisingly tallーwell, at least by Isle standardsーat 6’4’’ with grayish purple skin, purple flame hair, bright green eyes, and he wore a purple pastel t-shirt with a black dripping crescent moon on it, a frilly black skirt with a white skull on the hip, seafoam green boots, and black knee-high socks that had bows on the tops of them.

“Dude. I was having a cute moment with my τα χρυσά μου. What do you want?” Pyrros asked, sounding annoyed as Hades.

“Dion wants to ‘have a chat’ with you. Their words, not mine.” Hector said with an apologetic shrug.

“Well, why don’t se get ser ass over here and make me?” Pyrros asked with a challenging tone to their voice.

“Because all three of usーscratch that, even Hadie knowsーthat, when it comes to Dion, you’re full of shit when it comes to threatening them. Se scares the shit out of you and we all know it.” Hector said with a mix of an amused look and one that said “dude-don’t-pull-that-bs”.

Carlos snickered at that remark, as did the rest of the group. Ginny went back to where she was standing, as did Diego. Claudine shook her head and patted their cheek with a hand.

“You go to Dion, ma chérie. We’ll wait here or we’ll meet you back at Diego’s place.” Claudine said quietly, going on tip toes as she pressed her lips against their forehead.

Pyrros made an exaggerated sigh as ve glared at their older brother and started to argue with him in Greek as the two walked into the crowd. Evie watched them disappear before returning her attention back onto the other three kids.

“Do you think you guys have any latent magic that might be revealed by the trips into the Underworld?” Evie asked curiously, looking at them.

“Maybe, though I’m not sure, considering my father hated any and all forms of witchcraft and my mother...well, I’m not sure about my mom.” Claudine replied, her eyes curious but at the same time dreading.

“There's no doubt that I’m going to have magic. With Facilier and my mom being my parents? Either one or both of them definitely passed on magic onto me. Freddie’s ought to have magic from Facilier, though she might also have some from Ella.” Ginny commented, playing with her kinky hair.

“Dad said that there might be magic from his side as well as magic from Other Dad’s side.” Diego commented with a look at Carlos.

“And I know jackshit about my dad, too. So I might have magic that I’m not aware of too.” Carlos stated blunted as he fiddled with a gadget that he had brought along.

“And, according to my mom, my dad was an Oracle and she might also have some magic.” Evie said with a thoughtful nod.

“So, shall we go sign up?” Claudine asked sheepishly, a hopeful smile on her face.

“Pyrros is probably going to be pissed that we didn’t sign up with them but let’s do it.” Ginny said, her head tilted back confidently.

The five of them made their way to where Connor was leaning against the wall, polishing their knife, and Coraline was sitting at a table, writing down names of kids. From what Evie could see, they had already gotten 3 pages front and back, which was surprising, considering Coraline’s neat and tiny script. Coraline seemed surprised to see the five of them but smiled in a friendly manner.

“What a surprise. Are you guys all signing up or are you guys just moral support?” She asked gently, getting her pen ready.

“Diego, do you want to sign up? You don't have to if you don't want to.” Claudine asked quietly, squeezing her boyfriend’s hand.

“I...I’ll think about it.” Diego said, looking conflicted still.

“I’ll just mark you as a maybe, okay? And if you want me to change whether or not you're on the the list, just tell me.” Coraline said as she wrote down Diego's name with a small question mark next to it.’

“Thanks so much, Cora.” Diego said with one of the most thankful expressions Evie had ever seen on him before.

“And what about you four?” Connor asked, gesturing at the other four with their knife.

“I want to sign up.” Both Ginny and Claudine said at the same time, both looking very determined.

“Really? Wasn’t expecting that but I’m glad both of you want to. We need all the people we can get.” Coraline commented with a hum, putting down both of their names.

“Are...we already on the list?” Evie asked curiously, trying to peer at the list of kids.

“Mal is and Jay is but you two aren’t. After all, we did say that it was a volunteer program. You two don’t have to join if you don’t want to.” Connor replied with a shrug.

“Well, I want to sign up.” Evie said proudly.

She looked over at Carlos and saw him nod determinedly at Coraline. The Queen smiled and then noted their names down as well. Waving the twins goodbye, the four of them went to their respective homes, wanting to just lie down and prepare for the things to come.