Chapter Text
A fist pounded on Via’s door, accompanied by a voice.
“Via! Let’s go, you’re burning daylight here!”
“I’ve been up for hours, Dad!” Via called back, swirling green powder into a beaker full of water with a small glass rod. “Besides, I’m supposed to be late now, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Varian said. He swung the door open and leaned against it, smirking. “But you’re already late by half an hour. You’ll miss science class.”
“Oh, come on, Dad,” Via groaned. “Yzma’s had the whole class working with Extract of Llama for a month and a half. I’m so far above that. I haven’t shown up for science since like, school started. What are they gonna do, when I’m the one who busted ‘em out of the Isle in the first place? I can get away with murder these days.”
“You’ve tried it?”
“Dad!” Via grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. Varian dodged it, laughing, and stepped fully into the room, examining the complicated distillation setup that covered Via’s desk.
“So what’s going on here?” he said, going down on one knee to peer at the contents of a bubbling vial. “Ooh, looks like someone’s playing with my old truth serum. What could you be using that for, I wonder?”
Via shrugged. “Villainy’s back in full swing, and I’m kinda important now. Which is really weird, by the way, but cool. I figure if I don’t start evil-ing it up, nobody else will either, and then what’s the point of breaking out?”
“You got me there. So what’s your plan with this, lace the water fountain or something?”
“Maybe.” Via grinned. “I was thinking I might bake some purple cookies.”
Varian groaned theatrically. “Please don’t remind me of that. I assure you, my dearest daughter, my methods have drastically matured.”
“I don’t know, I thought that trick was pretty good. Worked like a dream.”
“Yeah.” Varian scoffed. “Helped me steal the most useless magical object in history.”
“Hey, we all start somewhere.”
“I like your start better than mine.” Varian stood up, patting Via’s shoulder. “Come on now. I’ve got places to be this morning, and I need to be sure you’re at school.”
“Oh, fine.” Via slung her backpack over her shoulder. “Where’s Mom?”
“Downstairs, yelling at some poor idiot on her old crew. Business as usual.”
“Guess we’re fending for ourselves for breakfast, then.”
“Nah, I ate already. You go on and get something. Your acidic ratio is off a bit, I’ll go ahead and adjust it while you’re eating.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Via sprinted out the door and down the stairs of the bright Auradon townhome, sliding down the gleaming white bannister.
Ah, how different this Auradon was. In the six months since Via and her father had freed the villains from the Isle of the Lost, absolutely everything had been turned upside down and inside out. Evil wasn't supposed to win, but somehow it had. And Auradon hadn't been ready for that.
No one knew exactly what was happening with the heroes and their kids. Some were still trying to fight it out with their respective nemeses, but the smart ones had abandoned Auradon and were now lying low in woods and valleys, hiding from the revenge-bent villains that swarmed over their perfect kingdom. Most of the Auradon VKs had joined them, including Mal and her bunch, but a handful had reverted back to evil.
As for the VKs who had never left the Isle at all, well, they'd never been introduced to good in the first place. Sure, there was the odd anti-hero or two, but they quickly learned to keep those opinions under wraps in Via's world.
Via's world was wicked. The once-pristine streets of Auradon were spattered with graffiti, the houses remodeled and turned into villainous lairs. Surprisingly, though, when the villains had more than the heroes' garbage to work with, things weren't quite as grimy as they'd been on the Isle. Auradon, essentially, had been turned into a giant, slightly more sanitary version of the Isle. And Via had never been happier.
The new system had quickly worked itself out. There'd been speculation that Varian, as the one responsible for the barrier's destruction, would take over.
Instead, he'd turned the reins over to the now-human Maleficent. "You're the Mistress of All Evil," he'd said. "It's your place. I've already gotten my revenge; all I want now is a real life with my family." Maleficent had certainly appreciated that. In return, she'd used that weird staff of hers to level Corona with one powerful blast. (Seeing how easily she'd done it, it was probably a good thing that Varian had deferred to her.)
She'd left Varian's old home standing, but the memories associated with it had been far too much. Their family had moved, instead, to a large, spacious townhome in central Auradon that had belonged to one of the fleeing heroes. It was only three blocks from Auradon Prep, which had been renamed "New Dragon Hall."
Via landed on her feet at the end of the bannister and walked into the kitchen. Lady Caine sat at the kitchen table, polishing a gleaming dagger and yelling into the cell phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder. "I don't want a bunch of pointless excuses, Dwayne! If Flora, Fauna and Merriweather are flying around again, we've got to find them before they un-villify something. Yes, Dwayne, I'm aware that un-villify isn't a word, you idiot!"
"Morning, Mom," Via mouthed. Caine smiled and waved at her before returning to the conversation. "So help me, I am this close to just turning a cannon or two on the whole...what? Why on earth would I...you know what, just can it, Dwayne."
Via stifled a giggle. Her mother's old pirate crew had been put in charge of the new Goodness Prevention Program, dealing with whatever heroes might choose to show their faces. While Caine was more than able to handle the task, her crew members didn't share her villainous brilliance and often tried her patience.
Via grabbed a chocolate muffin from a plate on the counter and shoved more than half of it into her mouth in one bite. Table manners were one thing that had gone missing along with the heroes. A chirp from behind her caused her to turn around.
Rudiger sat on the kitchen table with an apple core in front of him, scrubbing his face with his paws.
"Hey, buddy," Via said around her mouthful of muffin. "You coming with?"
In the first few days after the barrier had fallen, Rudiger had faced quite the crisis. The little raccoon hadn't seen Varian for a long time, and it was Via he'd bonded with on Auradon. For awhile, he hadn't been sure just which one he belonged to.
Eventually, though, he'd gotten used to having both Via and her father around. Sometimes he chose to stay with Varian in the lab, like the old days; otherwise, he went to school on Via's shoulder.
Rudiger cocked his head to one side, considering a moment, then scampered up Via's arm and pulled on the streak of blue hair hanging loose from her ponytail. Via laughed and tweaked his tail. It had almost become a joke between them now.
"I'm leaving, Dad!" she yelled up the stairs. "Rudi's with me today."
There was no answer, which meant Varian was deep in alchemy mode. By the time Via came home, the truth serum on her desk would probably have evolved into three separate experiments. Varian didn't believe in sticking to one idea at a time.
Via walked quickly down the street in the direction of Auradon Prep- whoops, New Dragon Hall.
Despite the fact that things weren't quite as sparkling clean anymore, Auradon was certainly pretty in the fall. The trees were blood red and flaming orange, and a carpet of leaves crunched under Via's shoes. A crow sat perched in one bare skeleton of a tree, cawing racously. It was the perfect villainous background noise. Via breathed in deeply and let out a long sigh, enjoying the feeling of contentment.
"Via! Hey, Via, wait up!"
Via stopped, turning around. A tall, gangly boy with a mop of black curls was running up the street towards her. She waved. "Hey, Gavin."
"I thought I'd never catch up to you!" Gavin said, reaching out to ruffle Rudiger's fur. "You were running like every princess in Auradon was after you with pink nail polish."
Via rolled her eyes, grinning in spite of herself. Like his mother, Gavin Gothel had a flair for the dramatic. He'd been one of the biggest surprises after the barrier was broken; somehow Via had never picked up on the fact that even Mother Gothel had a son. But they'd run into each other on their first day at the newly evilified Auradon Prep and immediately hit it off, each without knowing who the other was. Needless to say, when they'd finally figured it out, it had been quite the shock. They'd each told their parents, and, tentatively at first, then more and more boldly, Varian, Caine and Mother Gothel had started getting to know each other. It turned out the three Corona villains had more in common than they knew, and it helped that their respective kids had become such good friends. In no time at all, the two families had interwoven with each other, to the point where Gavin and Via spent nearly as much time at each other's houses as they did their own. It was nice, Via thought, one more way to establish the normal life they'd never had the chance to live.
"I was waiting," Gavin said. "I wanted to walk with you to school, but you took forever! You're like, really late." He shoved a stray curl out of his face. "Not that they're gonna do anything about it. It must be nice, being such a hero."
That word stopped Via in her tracks. "Huh?"
Gavin turned the same shade of dark red as the shirt he was wearing. "Oops. I didn't mean it that way. You're the one who saved everybody, ya know? Like a hero, only you're a villain. I'm not making any sense, am I?"
Via giggled. "No, I get it. Guess there's not really a word for that."
"Because you're the first one who's ever done it. It's groundbreaking."
"Oh, come on, Gavin, it's not that big a deal. And anyway, that was six months ago." Via looked up to see the familiar shape of New Dragon Hall, complete with Maleficent's statue in place of Beast's and a "Long Live Evil" flag, looming above them.
Gavin was right, Via realized. She was really, really late. The hallways were deserted, class long since started. For a moment she felt guilty for not showing up, and for making Gavin wait for her, but she quickly pushed the thought away. They were villains now; this was the way they were supposed to behave. This isn’t Auradon anymore.
But her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Gavin leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Chill out. We'll just slip in for History of Evil. Science should let out in...now."
Sure enough, the doors of one of the classrooms opened, and a flood of villain students poured out into the hall, shouting and shoving, pushing and punching and insulting and catcalling and hollering and laughing. The once prim and proper Auradon Prep had been turned into a chaotic mess. And Via loved it.
She was no longer the girl who was overlooked. Everyone recognized her now; kids whose names she didn't even know got out of her way in a hurry. Everybody knew who Via was, and they'd seen firsthand what she could do. She'd won their respect, something not even Mal had ever been able to accomplish.
Eventually, however, the teachers managed to corral everyone back into the classrooms for History of Evil. Via took the best seat in the front of the class, with Gavin right behind her. No one questioned her choice or said anything about her tardiness. As she'd told Varian that morning, she could get away with murder these days. The other students watched her enviously, no doubt longing for the invincibility that came with Via's achievements. None of them would have dared to show up so late or hoped to get away with it.
At least, that was what Via thought. So when the classroom door swung open halfway through the lecture on "The Seven Most Evil Plots In History," she immediately turned around to see who had had the guts to actually show up later than her.
Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes went wide.
Of all the things I was expecting, it was definitely not this.