Chapter Text
Though she had been stuck under the Isle of the Lost’s magic barrier for the first twenty years of her life, she found no reason to be tempted to leave the only home she’d ever known for very long.
At least, that’s what she told anyone that asked her why she still lived on the Isle even though the new queen and king broke down the barrier and solidified the bridge between the Isle of the Lost to the rest of the kingdom of Auradon eight years ago.
It’s not like the rest of the world was any more trustworthy than the villainous citizens on the isle. She was better off staying where she was at. Dropping her red leather jacket on an old couch, she was tempted to crash herself. Work had made hers a busy day, but since it was finally midnight, she dragged herself to the fridge to treat herself. After lighting the candle, only one thought filled her mind, just one single wish.
She blew out the tiny flame of the cupcake, then jumped at the sound of the knocking at her door and cautiously strode to it. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Besides, why would anyone on the Isle of the Lost follow courtesies rather than pick the lock?
Rather than a desperate thief like she thought it would be, it was a boy standing at her door. “Um…” she started, wondering if he was lost. Just from his composure, she could tell he was definitely too nice for this island. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Emma Swan?”
Confusion filled her at his question. “Yeah, who are you?”
“My name’s Henry.” His grin nearly lit up the night. “I’m your son.”
***
Earlier that day…
The 24 year old daughter of Maleficent still made time for her friends, even if she was queen of Auradon. That’s why Mal had rounded up her husband King Ben with the son of Cinderella – Chad – and her fairy guardian’s daughter – Jane – to give them a ride. They were known for having the best transportation in the kingdom after all.
This time though, Mal and her friends Evie daughter of the evil queen, Carlos De Vil and Jafar’s son Jay weren’t just going for a joy ride. The Core Four were on a little mission to take Evie to Snow White’s palace. If Evie was going to finally face the stepsister that her evil mother once poisoned, she would need all the support she could have.
“How is it that you’ve managed to avoid your stepsister for this long anyways?” Mal asked the blue princess. “She is a queen after all, and we’ve been to plenty of royal meetings. You must’ve seen her at some point.”
“I have,” Evie admitted. “But I suppose I kind of avoided her every time I almost got near her. I’m hoping that with you guys, I won’t chicken out again.”
“Don’t worry,” Ben assured from the front of the limo. “She’s a truly kind person.”
Evie laughed awkwardly. “Yes I’ve heard. I’m just not sure how Snow White will react to seeing me. I’m not just her stepsister. I’m the daughter of her nemesis.”
“Did you forget you’re engaged to the son of one of her dwarf friends?” Jay asked. “You’re no stranger to your mom’s enemies. You’ll be fine.”
From the front came a cry as Chad stopped the limo to a jolt. Jane instructed him to maneuver around the tree he nearly bumped into. With her hand to her pounding chest, Mal said, “Remind me again why Chad’s driving today?”
Carlos smiled. “It’s part of his process of learning how not to be a royal pain. Jane’s helping him with the responsibility part of improvement by teaching him to drive. She’s been way better at teaching than me even though I could drive long before her.”
“Is that pride I hear in your voice?” Jay teased.
“Why shouldn’t there be?” Carlos said. “She’s doing great.”
“You seem a bit distracted,” Evie told Mal. “Is something going on?”
“Hmm? Oh.” Mal glanced at the window between them and the limo’s front seats.
Catching on, Jay grinned at Jane and Ben, Chad too busy facing the road. “The four of us’re gunna have a core talk. Bye!” He shut the window, separating the villain kids from the Auradon born three in the front.
Mal smirked. She and Jay used to steal together as kids on the Isle of the Lost. Apparently, he could still read her like a book. “Thanks Jay.” She thought back to the latest royal act she had done with Ben and huffed. “There’s… actually been a really weird thing that happened lately.”
“More than the rest of the weird things that’ve been happening the last few years?” Evie asked warily.
Mal paused. Evie was right. The most unexplainable things have been going on. Contagious dementia and mass loss of identity were just among a few of the strangest things to have happened during her reign as queen. Not to mention the kidnappings. She looked at Carlos, grateful they found him. There were still so many missing. She rubbed her head. “Probably on par to the rest. You guys remember Pinocchio’s son Pin?”
“That small kid who always worried he failed his tests?” Jay asked.
“The very one. Ben and I found him in a prison cell… for stealing an old history book.”
“Why on earth would he do that? Stealing hasn’t been in style since we brought down the Isle of the Lost’s magic barrier, and history books are for school. Did anyone even pay attention to that class?”
“It has more to offer than you give it credit for Jay,” Evie scolded lightly. “But why is Pinocchio’s son going through old books? Is there something he’s looking for?”
“From what he told me,” Mal said, “yeah. He thinks Pinocchio spent some time on the Isle of the Lost.”
“What?” Jay exclaimed. Covering up a cough, he continued, “he wasn’t there. The Isle was made as a prison for the worst of villains, dead and alive. Pinocchio may have lied for a part of his life, but that didn’t make him a villain. We would’ve seen him there if he was.”
“Would we have? The Isle isn’t big, but it did hold a lot of secrets.”
“Sounds like it still does.”
The crunching of gravel under the limo’s wheels was the only sound for minutes before Evie broke the silence. “Are you planning on asking King Adam and Queen Belle about this?”
“I suppose it would make sense for me to ask my parent in laws,” Mal said. “They were the ones who proclaimed the Isle of the Lost to be made as a prison in the first place.”
“Don’t forget to bring Principal Goodfairy into that meeting,” said Carlos. “Jane said her mom did most of the magic involved to bring back all the dead villains to life and round up the live ones into the Isle’s magic barrier.”
“Yeah inviting Cinderella’s fairy mother’ll be useful, thanks,” Mal said distractedly. Thinking about the origins of the Isle made her shiver. “Is that why you wanted to go today?” she asked Evie. “Because today’s the day they did it?”
Immediately, her friends tensed. It wasn’t something they talked about all the time, but it was hard to forget the exact day the Isle of the Lost became a prison for the villains, for their parents. If the Isle of the Lost never became a prison for the villains, Mal and her friends never would’ve even been born. Perspective made the Core Four involuntarily shudder.
“Maybe it did get me started,” Evie said quietly. “If we’re going to exist, we might as well live right. That means facing all that have been wronged, and making people’s lives better.”
“True that.” Jay squeezed Mal’s shoulder comfortingly.
Smiling gratefully, she reminded herself that it’d also been 7 years since she, Ben, Evie, Carlos, and Jay stood together to bring down the magic barrier around the Isle of the Lost forever.
Her smile fell as heavy thudding came from the limo’s roof. She was quick to groan. “Don’t tell me that’s what I think it is!” They were driving with a newbie driver and this happened now?
“Yep,” Jay said, glancing at the once crystal clear windows. “Da’s rain.”
Carlos frowned worriedly at the driver’s seat. “We better find a place to shelter soon. I’m not sure how long Jane’ll be able to direct Chad in rain like this.”
“Can’t you just take the wheel? You’re pretty good at driving through storms.”
“It’s alright,” said Evie. “We don’t need to rush, and it’s better to be safe. Those clouds don’t look like they’ll be leaving in a hurry.”
“We better tell them that. Jane can get quite worried when she thinks I won’t get what I want immediately.” Mal slid the window open to inform Ben of the change in place. “Sorry E, looks like your visit’s going to take a little longer to happen than expected.”
***
Her father had nothing against mirrors, but every time Raven Queen's dad caught the eye of one mirror in particular, he began to talk quite insistently to it. He wasn’t crazy, Raven's mother the evil queen was simply imprisoned in that magic mirror.
Raven's heartbeat rose as her mother's voice grew particularly sharp. She slipped out the door carefully and shut out the sounds of argument before she could let the words in. Paying attention to what they were fussing about this time would only hurt. And besides, it was never anything serious. They only ever talked about trivial things that seemed to make her mom get quite heated.
Raven had watched her parents argue her entire life. Why? Because her mother was bent on making everyone's lives miserable and her father was not. It's because of his goodness that led her mother to the point where she couldn't stand her own husband. He could’ve just left her alone. Raven’s mother had been dead before being brought back to life 28 years ago with a bunch of other villains. But her father was too good a man to abandon the woman he had married.
Raven wanted to be just like him, honorable and chivalrous. She really hoped his genes were stronger than the evil queen’s, because Raven didn’t want to become like her mother and spend her life ruining her own prince's life. Dexter wouldn't deserve that, he was as good as princes could get. Maybe if she had a permanent good example in her life to show her how a non-evil girl acted in a relationship, she'd know how to behave completely.
The guards announced a visitor. Since everyone else seemed busy, Raven went out to greet their guest. Once she reached the main hall, her worries drifted away like clouds on a breezy day. “Hey Dexter! Ready for the party already?”
Dexter looked dashing in a blue suit that matched his eyes exactly. “Yeah, I thought I’d come over early since you’d probably need some time getting ready.”
“How dare you,” Raven teased. “For your information, I am almost done. I was just grabbing a pair of silver earrings from my mom’s room.”
“How are they?” he asked softly.
For a time she had tried to hide the problems of her parents from Dexter, but he seemed to find out eventually anyways. She was so afraid he’d judge her for having parents that don’t get along when his own were a pair that worked perfectly together. “The same as they always are,” she finally answered.
He loosely covered her tense shoulders. “From the way you talk about them, it sounds like your mom is only pretending to hate your dad. She seems almost half hearted when she argues with him.”
Hope and doubt clashed in her heart. “You think so?”
“I do.” He helped clip her earrings in. “Come on, the road is still long to the high school. We might as well go now.”
Thanks to Ashlynn Ella’s transportation contacts, a pumpkin-shaped chariot made by the Goodfairys waited for them outside with surprising promptness. It reminded Raven of another fairy with more shock powers in her system than others.
“Faybelle got invited, right? We don’t need a sleeping curse at another party due to some slip up.”
“Yeah I think she got it,” Dexter said. “The dark fairy would’ve been proud. Her daughter’s invited to the biggest party since graduation.”
“And the next biggest just happens to be that graduating class’s reunion party. Do you ever find it weird that amazing things happen only when we all get together?”
He smiled at her. “I actually think that makes perfect sense.”
Laughing softly, Raven turned away in hope that he wouldn't see her turning red.
After a couple hours, they reached their old school and ducked into the door. A flash of rain had taken along the road and was pattering on the great castle of a high school’s roof. Raven felt warmly safe in its familiar walls.
“It was nice of the headmaster to have our party at the high school,” Dexter said.
“Yep,” Raven said. “At least we all know the destination and don’t have any problems of getting lost.”
As they entered the ballroom, she heard, “Raven, how are you?”
She didn’t even need to look to recognize the voice of Apple White. Exchanging glances of amused exasperation, Dexter left Raven with the blond princess in a dress as red as her name by excusing himself to greet his brother Daring, who was promptly joined by his other prince buddies and the Hood-Wolf sisters.
“I am great,” Raven said, watching the Charming brothers meeting up with their old friends. “Dexter on the other hand seems on the edge of teen related trouble.”
Apple laughed at the group of them. “Sometimes it feels like they never grew up. Look, they’re about to go for water dunking already. I’d say someone’s going to be sopping wet before the night’s out.”
Raven smirked. “You’re one to talk. Don’t you still go bungee jumping with Briar?”
“Hey, if she’s going to put herself in mortal danger, someone needs to make sure she’s safe.”
“Right. I’m guessing half the games here are planned by her?”
Apple picked at a colorful cookie. “And I’m guessing Maddie picked the snacks?”
Raven’s smile grew. “We know each other’s best friends so well.”
The party only got louder as time passed. Raven and Apple were catching up with Briar, Maddie, and Ashlynn when lightning flashed and the door slammed open.
The lot of them screamed like banshees until they realized that it was just more people. But the party crashers didn’t seem like just any ordinary people.
“Hi!” said the woman at their lead, her green eyes wide in panic, her purple locks wet against her cheeks, which were pink from running. “We’re sorry for barging in, but we were on our way to Snow White’s castle when we found ourselves out in the pouring rain. Do you mind if we stay here until it stops?”
An odd sort of electricity seemed to run through Raven as she looked at the young woman in blue next to the lead party crasher. The woman caught her gaze and Raven gasped at her familiar brown eyes.
The party crashers were admitted in with slow confusion. Wet and shivering to the core, Raven could say with complete certainty that she had never met any of them. But as the party went on, they mingled with each other with a familiarity that seemed far too reciprocated for them to be strangers, and soon she realized why.
As the lead party crasher Mal met Faybelle Thorn daughter of the dark fairy Maleficent, fairy mother’s daughter Jane found Farrah Goodfairy, Chad Charming saw Ashlynn, King Ben met Rosabella Beauty in a familiar yellow rose dress, and Raven met the brown-eyed Evie, the same question seemed to be echoing in the air, “How do we have the same parents but hold no memories of each other?”
***
Mal stirred her coffee. It had been a weird night and the morning wasn't any different. And it wasn't just because they had all been woken up at the party from Audrey bursting in to find her twin sister Briar Beauty. Despite the reunion being an unexpected alarm clock, Mal couldn't blame her.
One sister was a surprise. One sister was a lot. She hadn't expected it. But two. Two?
Yes they were there. Right there across from her at their booth in Granny's Diner, the diner Evie's sister Raven had suggested for breakfast.
From the moment they met the previous night, Faybelle Thorn had been a sassy fairy who seemed to be the first to invite herself to anything remotely interesting, a trait Mal found extra but rather understanding.
That morning Apple White had come along with Raven, and they met Apple's older sister Emma Swan. Mal recognized her as a pirate who used to steal with Captain Hook during their time on the Isle of the Lost. She didn't know that Emma had a son though. Henry Mills was a little boy in a scarf who hugged a book that seemed way too large for him.
Emma was also in the diner with Lily Page... Mal’s eldest sister. She met her there that morning. She was distant. Quiet. Even more than Emma seemed with her vibrant sister Apple. Lily reminded Mal of how she used to be before she went to Auradon – shifty and untrusting.
All around them, families were talking and... not really getting to know each other, because they already seemed to know each other. Sort of.
Strangest of all wasn't even these families. It wasn't even that none of it seemed to make any sense.
Mal took out the folded regal note in her pocket. Too perfect to be from a random civilian, too threatening to be from well-meaning royalty. On the note was a single line, but it was enough to convey its message.
Cease this mass reunion of families
-M
***
Raven pointed at Evie Grimhilde, at her older sister. “So you grew up in the Isle of the Lost… and I grew up in a town outside of it. How exactly did that happen? We’re barely a year apart.”
Evie lifted her fingerless-gloved hands helplessly. “I’m as lost as you are. You’re sure that you and Mal’s… sisters were never on the Isle? Even though both our mothers were villains that used to be trapped on it when you were born?”
“I’m sure,” said Raven. “I know where I grew up.”
Though the morning was far too early, Raven was only growing more awake with each passing minute. It wasn’t hard to tell why; the new family members in the diner were easy distractions to them all. Rosabella and King Ben were reading together, Farrah and Jane were talking about the smooth transportation vehicles their mother has helped build, Ashlynn was obsessing over Chad’s shoes, Cerise was making a ruckus with her many siblings, and Raven's best friend Maddie Hatter was sharing tea with Maddox, Allie and Alister.
They had only met a night ago and yet, they were all behaving with each other as naturally as if they were talking to other parts of themselves. Of course, that didn’t seem to take the awkwardness out of their situation. Raven was twisting her dress in her fists without even realizing it. “I’m betting to guess the perfectly innocent Queen Snow White has something to do with all this. She usually does.”
Without looking, she was able to tell immediately that Evie had jerked her head towards Raven in surprise. “Are you not fond of Snow White?”
“Why am I expected to be nice to her? It’s not like she ever did anything for me.”
“She’s our stepsister,” said Evie. “We’re supposed to be kind to our family.”
“She raised her daughter to be a perfect little angel that I was told to poison. How is that kind?” Raven said.
Rather than answering, Evie asked the last question Raven had hoped to hear. “Who did you grow up with?”
Raven gulped. Her sister’s familiar brown eyes seemed to feel sharper than ever. “Um, with father. He’s… kinder than the evil queen.”
Evie let out a breathy laugh of surprise. “Who isn’t?”
After a period of thinking in silence, Raven said, “The dark fairy?”
Evie bit her lip. “If it’s bothering you so much, let’s go ask the queen why she raised her daughter the way she did.”
This caught her off guard. “What?”
“It’s because I asked Mal, Carlos and Jay to come with me to visit Snow White for myself when we bumped into you guys. Since plans changed–” She glanced to where Queen Mal and her sister Faybelle Thorn were laughing. “–We can see our family and sort things out for ourselves.”
Raven was breathing heavily. “She’ll hate me.”
“You can’t be sure of that. We know we’re not like Drusilla and Anastasia,” Evie said lightly, but it was clear that she was also nervous. “Once she meets us, she will too.”
“If we’re gunna do it…” She hugged her arm. “Don’t leave my side.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
***
Emma couldn't believe it. Royalty? After a lifetime trapped on the Isle meant for villains and their children, she was supposed to believe that she's a princess?
But here was her sister Apple, the smaller princess version of her with the same taste for red clothing and cinnamon in her hot coco. Henry liked it too. All three of them had ordered identical mugs of chocolate without even consulting each other. It must've been a coincidence. That was the only logical explanation.
Apple had hurried her along past tables to introduce Emma to her BFFEAs. "This is Ashlynn, she has the absolutely best shoe shop in town, and here," she said, finally stopping at a table with sleeping twins in rosy pink dresses and sunglasses over their eyes like sleeping masks. "Is Briar Beauty."
"Which one?" Emma asked. The two girls looked the same, down to their mocha skin and pink streaked brown curls.
Apple poked one's shoulder until the twin got up, lifted her glasses. "She Iikes to wear black accents." Apple said.
Briar nodded as if this were the most normal thing to notice ever. While waking her twin, she said, "Audrey prefers to style with hints of blue."
"Can you believe the audacity? My sister, living a life without me!" Audrey apparently was very dramatic.
Apple crooned about how she understood her predicament. She seemed to fit the royal role perfectly. Emma couldn't have found the situation more impossible.
Soon everyone drifted out except for Emma, Apple, Henry, Mal, and her sisters. Despite Emma's wariness of the others, they were drawn to each other.
"So that just happened," said Faybelle, her wings buzzing constantly.
No one was sure what else to say.
"It's definitely a lot," Apple said, her curly blond hair poofed out from all the movement she had made among the people. Still she looked perfect, as if she had meant to make her hair look that big.
"I'm not sure I believe most of it," Emma said. Her arms were folded.
The others seemed to stop at this.
"What would you say all this is, a big prank?" Mal asked.
"I wouldn't keep it past you."
"A lot of parents are going to get questions that I'm guessing they won't have the answers to," Apple fretted.
"All that confusion is going to cause a whole lot of chaos," Lily muttered.
"It can't be that bad," Henry said in worry.
"Believe me, it can."
"What else can we do?" Mal asked.
"What else is there to do?" Mal turned to Faybelle. "You're the queen,” the fairy said. “Go mediate everyone and see how they're doing."
"I'm sure there are other royal duties she needs to attend besides family squabbles that may or may not happen," Emma said.
"You should go with her," Henry said.
"What?" It was the last thing Emma had expected. Then again, she hadn't expected so many things that had happened recently, she was losing count of them all.
"You're the savior. It's your destiny to stop all this."
"Stop what? Kids from hating parents?"
"Are you saying you hate yours?" Faybelle asked.
"I can’t exactly make judgment on people I never knew."
"Alright," Mal said. "We'll take turns."
"Take turns with what?" Lily asked warily.
"Mediating the kingdoms. This isn't just families that have been brought back together, it's entire nations. If something goes wrong, everything might go wrong."
"Don't you think you're being a little melodramatic?"
"She's right," Apple said. "A village is just a cluster of families living together. Villages are in kingdoms. The decisions of kingdoms can change the world. And the fact that there can be so many internal imbalances in the very heart of every kingdom is extremely concerning. We need to make sure this goes right."
"We can't just poke our noses in everyone's business."
"Actually I can," said Mal. "As queen of Auradon, I am in charge of every kingdom around us."
"Only some," Emma reminded. "We won't get very far before the Dynasty intervenes."
Henry looked up between the two as Mal looked away.
"We'll worry about it later."
"What are you planning on worrying about right now?"
Mal’s green eyes were set with decision. “I need to go see an ex puppet about his son.”
“Seriously?”
“Trust me, it’s important."
"And you expect us all to go to this?"
"No." She rested her chin on a curled finger pensively. "I need someone to look into this place."
"Storybrooke?"
"It's clearly a place filled with magic, so much that it’s overwhelming, and the Isle of the Lost was stripped of it. That just seems a little strange."
"I'll need to check with the mayor," Lily said.
"I'll go with you." Lily looked at Faybelle skeptically. "Well we gotta have our first sister retreat sometime." The fairy sisters left, leaving Emma with her sister and son, and no apparent plan assigned to them. Yet the two of them beamed at her optimistically. After a lifetime of solitude, this did not seem normal.