Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Everything went downhill after Queen Leah exclaimed, “What? You! How are you here? And how have you stayed so young?”

Ben intervened, “Queen Leah, it’s okay. Maleficent is still on the island. This is her daughter, Mal. Don’t you remember my proclamation to give the new generation a chance?”

Queen Leah flippantly asked, “A chance to what, Ben? Destroy us? Come on. You remember, don’t you? The poison apples. And the spells. Spells. My daughter was raised by fairies because of your mother’s curse. So her first words, her first steps, I missed it all! You mustn’t trust her.”

Mal agreed, “You mustn’t trust my mother, true.”

Chad cut in, “Like you’re any different than your parents?”

Mal asked, “How do you suppose villains treat their kids? Has anyone thought about that? If you had, I’m sure you wouldn’t act like we are them.”

Audrey asked, “What are you on about?”

“My friends and I only live because our parents can’t be bothered to kill us.”

Chad gave her a disbelieving look. “Sure.”

Jay announced to the gawking crowd, “Mal was a twin.”

That threw Chad for a loop. “What? You have a twin?”

“Had,” Mal corrected. “Malice has been dead for most of my life, my mother killed him. If you don’t believe me, check your records. We weren’t even eight when he died. I really hope you keep count of the people you keep prisoner on the Isle of the Lost.”

Ben approached her. “Mal, you had a brother?”

“Yes, Ben.” Mal cried into his shoulder.

Taking off his jacket to give to Mal, Jay jumped in, “Jafar would lock me out at night if I didn’t steal anything good enough and it rains a lot on the Isle so I’m lucky that didn’t kill me.” They could see where the word worthless was tattooed on his neck.

Carlos wanted to add his own experiences, to show support for his friends but the words wouldn’t come out so instead he took off his jacket. “This is what happened when I didn’t do everything on my list of chores.” They saw scars running up his arms. There’s more but that should prove my point.

Chad decided to pick on the last of the pack. “And what about you, little miss gold digger?”

Jay put himself between Chad and Evie as Carlos answered, “I believe you call it anorexia. Evie might not have visible scars like the rest of us but that’s because Evil Queen’s abuse was emotional. Every kid on the Isle is abused in at least one way by their parents. Maleficent, the Mistress of All Evil, abused Mal in every way possible. She was constantly reminded that she got to live while her brother died, that she had the honor of carrying on her mother’s legacy, that she was the chosen one. Mal is our leader because she’s suffered the most. Even when she was starved, beaten and berated for every single act of kindness, she still suffered through it to save us from our own abusers. So back off and consider this, how do you expect the heartless to love? Let’s go guys.” Jay covered their escape as Evie and Carlos flanked Mal with Ben joining them so he could keep holding his girlfriend.

Doug ran up to Jay, figuring that bypassing him is a bad idea. “I’m coming with you, if you’ll let me.”

Evie told her protector, “Let him, Jay.” Once they cleared the party, they all turned and ran for their dorm with Doug pushing himself to keep up. In the boys’ dorm, Evie asked, “Did we really just tell all of Auradon our deepest darkest secrets?”

Carlos said, “Sorry guys, I got carried away.”

Mal said, “No, this is good. I saw them, they’re actually thinking about what we said. You did good, pup.”

Ben said, “I hate to ask but your brother,”

“I don’t know, we were very young but I get flashes of memories. I see a boy with green hair instead of purple and he’s smiling, which I know our mother hates.”

“I, uh, guess I should’ve done some research on you guys before I brought you here.”

“You should’ve done a few things before we got here. The chemistry teacher didn’t even ask Chad Charming how he knew Evie was cheating, if he did then he’d know Chad was cheating too.”

The room fell into a silence that was eventually broken by Carlos. “Now you know what life was like for us, it’s only fair we hear about your childhoods.”

Jay added, “And not the cliche, it was nothing like the Isle. We know that. We want to hear stories about what you did, we know it was nothing like what we did. What was it like?”

Doug and Ben killed some time telling stories before a knock at the door put everyone on edge again. Jay went to the door, opened it just enough to see who was on the other side before letting Ben’s parents in. Pointing to his dad, Jay asked, “What’s your name again? I’m guessing it’s not Beast.”

“It’s Adam.”

The Fairy Godmother followed the king in. When the king and queen walked in, Doug moved to sit with Ben and Carlos on one bed. Jay joined the girls at the small table, leaving one bed for the adults to sit on. Belle asked, “Was it true?”

Before she could specify, Jay interrupted to answer, “We didn’t lie. All of it was true and we even gave you proof for most of it.” When they looked at him, they saw a defiant look on his face.

Doug asked, “Shouldn’t they have undergone physicals when they got here? How are Jay and Carlos on the Tourney team without physicals on file?”

Evie said, “Mal cast a spell on us to cover the scars as soon as we passed through the barrier. A doctor wouldn’t have been able to see them during a physical exam. She dropped the glamor spell when people kept pressing her about Malice.”

Doug said, “Chad had Evie cheat for him on his homework then reported her for cheating to Mr. Darson who took her magic mirror. She didn’t even know he’d taken it until he announced to the class he was going to recommend she be expelled. He didn’t bother trying to find out how Chad knew, he just took the opportunity to try to get rid of her.”

The Fairy Godmother said, “That’s a very serious accusation.”

Mal said, “That right there is why we have to handle things ourselves, you’re writing us off and it’s not even one of us reporting it. Do you honestly expect any teacher to take our concerns seriously? I was just yelled at for something my mother did and Queen Leah was getting support from the crowd.”

Evie said, “After I passed the test Mr. Darson took my mirror before, I just give it to the teachers before class now.”

Doug said, “That’s not the point. Chad was using you to cheat and the teacher didn’t care.”

Jay said, “Doug, calm down. You’re almost yelling.”

Carlos added, “Don’t yell.” His voice took on a tone he hadn’t intended.

Adam said, “Ben, you know I wasn’t supportive of your proclamation before but what just happened proved you were right. We just want to hear what exactly happened, we want testimonies so we have a basis to take the initiative further.”

Belle said, “We know we’re asking a lot.”

Making a split second decision with a dog in his lap, Carlos blurted out, “Maleficent sent us to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand to take down the barrier so villains can invade Auradon, that’s why our parents let us come here.”

“Dude!”

“I don’t want to go back, I can’t go back.”

“And you won’t,” assured Adam as Ben asked, “That’s why you came to Auradon?”

Evie responded, “You’re really surprised villains had an ulterior motive to sending their kids to the land of heroes?”

Mal’s eyes widened. “Carlos.” She was between him and the king in a second with Jay on the other side of the bed. “Back up, don’t reach for him. Everyone, get behind Evie.” As soon as Doug stood, Mal took his place.

The two boys led the adults away as Evie put the pieces together. “He ruined our parents’ plan, of course that’d set him off.”

Before she could join her friends, Ben asked, “What’s happening?”

Evie answered promptly, “Carlos is having a panic attack. Keep your voices normal, if you lower your voice too much he’ll worry and if you raise your voice at all you’ll scare him. Ideally I’d ask you to just not talk until we’re done but nothing about this is ideal, the fact you’re seeing this is proof of that. Excuse me.”

With Evie and Mal beside him and Jay behind him, they calmed Carlos down. “I’m sorry.”

Evie said, “Don’t be. I think we’re all ready to be done with our parents. Right, guys?”

Jay said, “It’ll never be enough. I’m done trying to give my father enough.”

Mal agreed, “And I’m done trying to live up to impossible standards.”

Carlos sat up, from his ball on the bed, to see the concerned looks. Ben asked, “Are you alright?” Carlos nodded mutely.

Evie told their concerned guests, “He’ll be fine. Actually why don’t we start giving testimony? Since we’re all together and we’re all thinking about the Isle, I think it’s best we do it now.”

Doug said, “I’m just going to leave.” Ben followed him out. Mal debated stopping them before deciding she and her friends didn’t want to be seen as more broken than their previous outbursts made them.

“I’ll go first,” Evie volunteered, then recounted the order in which she learned to primp, telling how her mother taught her each skill and how she reinforced the lesson.

Jay went next. “I pretty much told everyone my story. It started when I was about 6, my father sent me out to steal for his store and when I couldn’t get anything, he-” Jay struggled. “I don’t remember what exactly happened, I just remember a lot of pain and then waking up locked in a closet. He left me trapped there for days and when he let me out, I knew I had to do better than nothing. He used a combination of beating and locking me out of the building or in the closet.” Seeing Ben looking at his tattoo, Jay put a hand on his neck. “This happened when he got drunk one night.”

Mal told Carlos’ story and how it tied in with hers. “Cruella gave Carlos impossibly long chore lists. I helped him finish them even though I knew my mother would punish me for it. Come to think of it, there wasn’t much my mother wouldn’t punish me for.” She recounted her life story, all the things she was punished for and how she was punished, noting the mental abuse as afterthoughts.

By the end of their testimonies, Adam was holding Belle and Fairy Godmother was losing the fight to keep her tears in, she knew that they’d been raised to view emotions as weakness before the day had begun. Adam nodded stoically, barely holding his emotions in check. “I’ll be sure to get other children off the Isle.”

Carlos told them, “Feel free to use anything we told you to help.”

Looking out the window, Mal added, “If there are royals waiting for you to return, you can detour to our room to collect yourselves just send Doug and Ben back in, they were telling us about life in Auradon and I think those stories could help right about now.”

Adam nodded and let Belle lean on him as they left, telling the two boys waiting outside, “They could use some cheering up.” The Fairy Godmother led the king and queen to the girls' dorms.

Li Lonnie and Jane followed the boys into the dorm where the four VKs were camped out. About ten minutes into a story by Doug about how he and his cousins evaded capture by all seven dwarves, all the tension in the room was gone.

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Uma, daughter of Ursula, was distressed by the sight of Auradonian guards storming the Isle. She'd been summoned as soon as the siege started. Children were being taken left and right, mostly villains' kids but some sidekicks and henchmen's too. Hiding her emotions as usual, Uma calmly observed the storm, watching adults be shoved off and kids snatched by good guys.

A pair of guards came into the shop, Gil and Harry ran behind the counter. Auradon was, after all, ruled by the family of the man Gil's father tried to kill. Gaston's son had been the one to report the goings on of the invaders to the chip shop. The rest of the patrons, who were mostly Uma's crew, formed a wall between their Captain and First Mate as Gil reported the intrusion to Ursula, who screeched "What am I supposed to do about it? Go wash the dishes!"

The two guards scanned the crowd with what looked sort of like a scroll, stopping by the door. "Uma, daughter of Ursula; Harry Hook, son of Captain Hook; Gil LeGume, son of Gaston." They listed every present descendants' name, "By order of the King, you are hereby invited to Auradon on the condition you attend school. From this day on, only high treason and associated crimes shall be punishable by exile on the Isle of the Lost."

Harry asked "What about piracy?"

Uma smacked him upside the head before calling through the door "Gil, get out here. They know who's here." To her crew, she said "If your name was called sit, otherwise scram." Everyone hurried to obey and she pointed from the guards to the two barstools in front of her "You two sit here." As they sat, Uma leaned on the counter with Gil and Harry flanking her "You're going about this all wrong. Villains will gives you their kids to get a foothold in Auradon. You're clearly reading from a list so hand it over and I'll send my guys to pick up the others."

After a moment's thought, the guard who spoke handed over the list. Uma barked out orders, names of people to pick up and who should pick 'em up. Gil asked "Why are we helping them?"

"Stay here," snapped Uma at the guard before pulling Harry and Gil outside. "We're not helping them, we're helping ourselves, getting off this trash heap with an advantage. Gaston will never get to go to Auradon, trying to kill the king counts as treason and since they're only taking kids, neither will Captain Hook. We help them out, we'll be gold in Auradon."

When they joined the rest of the Isle kids at the broken bridge, Harry and Gil rallied everyone's attention so Uma could make an announcement. "We're all going to Auradon and the only way we'll get sent back is if we commit High Treason. Now I don't know about you but I, for one, am done being a slave to my mother. I am never coming back here. Now who's with me?!" There were cheers all around. "Good. Now, let's show those prissy pink princesses and pompous princes what it means to rule!" As the others celebrated their impending freedom, she sauntered up to the Captain of the Guard, "You shouldn't have any more trouble."

Surprising the people of Auradon, the new VKs settled in quickly and even dared to mingle. Stopping in various kingdoms, the convoy from the Isle dropped off various kids at schools with the capacity to host them as per royal decree. Uma went so far as to seek out Arabella to apologize for her mother's actions against the mermaid's family. Many villain kids followed her lead. Sweet, not so bright Gil confused himself and had to try a few times before he managed to say it right to Ben.

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After apologizing, Uma told Arabella "I've never gone to school before and because of my age, they threw me in the deep end. Would you mind tutoring me? I mean, I'd ask someone else but I'm already having enough trouble keeping Gil afloat, as always."

"I wouldn't mind. If your friend needs extra help, Doug and Evie have started a tutoring service for transfer students."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to get Gil in for tutoring. He," she let out a breath "He might just not be ready for high school."

Arabella took her hand, "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"I caught him trying to drink dishwater," deadpanned Uma.

"Okay, that stuff's toxic." Arabella tugged her hand, leading her to Fairy Godmother "Tell her what you told me about Gil."

Uma took a deep breath "I don't think Gil's ready for high school. He still tries to drink dishwater."

"Oh, that's not good."

"Harry stops him everytime but he might need some special help to catch up on school so he doesn't flunk out." She insisted "We've kept him alive this long, we're not giving up now."

Uma knew that sounded somewhat heroic and figured she'd won some more points when Fairy Godmother agreed with keeping her mates as roommates "We'll hold a seminar on dos and don'ts, the obvious stuff like don't drink soapy water and the less obvious like," she hummed trying to find a less obvious rule.

"Like don't curse people out," suggested Uma. Before chuckling "Harry would call cursing the best part of being a sailor."

"Yeah, like don't curse. We'll just call it a handbook assembly. Thank you, Uma."

"Just an idea but maybe Isle kids should take an entrance exam so you know how much tutoring we need and the smart ones aren't stuck in basic classes."

"That's a wonderful idea."

"It'd also prevent the problem Gil and I are having. I missed more classes than I made because my mother made me work doubles and Gaston wouldn't pay for Gil's tuition."

Fairy Godmother seemed to have an idea "Perhaps you and Evie could work together to make a list of things we should do to ease the transition."

Uma nodded, "That sounds good. Y'know Evie is a nickname, right?" When the headmistress pursed her lips in confusion, Uma explained "Names have power, a lot of people on the Isle use aliases. Angelique Mors goes by Cruella de Vil, Carlos is her son's real name to the best of my knowledge but we were all taught that giving your name to certain types of magic users is akin to signing your life away."

"Ah," Fairy Godmother said "That is quite true."

As they walked away, Arabella asked "What does Uma stand for?"

"Y'know my mother was a siren, like how yours is a mermaid, right?" Arabella nodded and Uma pulled her pendant out from under her shirt "She gave me this in case I ever got off the island, she used it against your aunt. It's magic so I don't have to worry about my name being used against me, this protects me. Only blood relatives can use it."

"You're not supposed to have that."

"This pendant is the only reason I have legs here in Auradon."

"Oh," Arabella said "I'm sorry I didn't know."

"Fairy Godmother did, she would've confiscated it if she didn't."