Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
The old house was disgusting. Cruella De Vil walked in slowly, carefully, stepping over a pile of of rotten food. She couldn’t trip now, she was carrying precious cargo. Not precious because she cared about it, of course. Precious because she knew she could trade it for something huge. She cleared her throat. “RUMPELSTILTSKIN!” Her demanding shriek rang out through the dilapidated shack. Cruella heard a noise from one of the other rooms, someone groaning as they were woken up after a long night of drinking. A small, wiry man walked into the room where she waited.
He looked at her with brassy eyes. “You called? His voice was smooth and inquiring. Cruella could tell he was turning up the charm. She was sick of charm, look where charm got her. Then again, charm got her valuable, tradeable goods. Maleficent would be proud, proud of her cruelty, her lack of care, and happy that there wouldn’t be another brat crawling around. Not to mention ecstatic to have another chance at revenge.
“Yes, I did. I want a deal.” A smirk from Rumpelstiltskin. “What do you want?” She knew what she wanted. She wanted it with everything she had, desperate for those stupid dogs. For that stupid coat. It consumed her. “I want a chance off of this godforsaken island, a chance for revenge. For me and my three…” Not friends, never friends, “associates.” “I can do that. Maybe. Either way, you know what it costs.” He glanced at her stomach with a smirk. “Seems like you have what I want, of course.” Cruella nodded. “The moment it’s born, it’s yours.” The trickster smiled. “Excellent.”
Cruella De Vil walked out of Rumpelstiltskin’s house that day with thousands of plots running through her head. Of course, none would work, not until fourteen years later when her associates’ children would be driven off the Isle of the Lost in a shiny black limousine by invitation of the soon-to-be king. Of course, that wasn’t really going to work out for her either. But she wasn’t thinking about that, nor did she spare a single thought in the years to come about the child she would soon be giving away to a madman.
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19 YEARS LATER
“Mal.” Mal blinked slowly, sitting up in her warm bed. “Good morning.” Mal was startled for a moment, glancing over to her side. She relaxed when she saw her friend and royal advisor sitting up next to her, smiling serenely. “Good morning,” responded Mal. “You okay?” Evie nodded, pushing her navy hair out of her face. “Yeah. Are you feeling better?” Mal nodded back. Yesterday had been the first anniversary of Ben’s disappearance. Hope had been given up months ago, but Mal still cried as she had many times before, and Evie comforted her as best she could, gently rubbing her back and playing with her hair and softly singing her to sleep. Mal still wasn’t used to a lack of warmth next to her, so Evie stayed the night.
“Ready to do your queenly duties?” Evie asked, looking Mal over one more time to make sure she really was ok. “Yeah, let’s get to it. What’s on the agenda today?” Mal smiled and it was barely forced. “First off, we have breakfast with Jay, as usual,” said Evie. Mal nodded. Good. Jay could always lift her mood. “Then we have to talk to Lonnie about the banquet next month, and Jane about getting bird feed for the aviary, and afterwards you’ll have the rest of the day free!” Evie finished, grinning. “I’m thinking a little croquet, maybe some movies?” Mal grinned back, pushing the negative thoughts away and feeling positive about the upcoming day. “Sounds perfect.” Of course, before breakfast, Evie insisted on doing Mal’s makeup. Mal humored her.
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Jay was, as usual, not very quick getting up. He sat in his bed for a while, wrapped in yellow silk sheets and a blue comforter even though it was warm out. He had had evening watch the night before, and had only slept a few hours. He didn’t mind. If watch hadn’t exhausted him he might not have slept at all, not yesterday.
He didn’t try to think about it. He missed Ben, a lot, and he would forever probably, but he had Mal and he had Evie and he still had his old coach if he needed to talk to someone with life experience, and he was feeling okay, if a little tired and a little more lonely than usual. Whatever, he thought. Stay positive, stay positive, stay positive. Today might be a great day. Maybe something good would happen.
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Fucking finally. After days upon nights of walking, after sleeping in trees and stealing scraps from strangers, he had arrived. Carlos looked up at the tremendous gate apprehensively. He knew the Queen lived in a castle, because, duh, queens tend to do so, but he’d never really seen a castle like the one before him. It was more like a small city, with too many towers and windows to count. He’d have to go in, though. It was his only hope, plus maybe a chance at a life that would be a lot less shitty. Smile, smile, can’t let them know you’re a scared little kid who hasn’t slept in two days, he told himself nervously. So he put on a confident face and a mischievous swagger before walking through the gateway, going up to the nearest guard, and saying (very confidently, he thought), “The King is alive, and I know where he is.”
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Mal wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with more false hope, not after she had already given up. She sat in Ben’s throne, Evie taking Mal’s usual seat. Mal scowled at the boy in front of her. It wasn’t exactly that she expected him to lie. Since coming the Auradon, she had learned that it was safe to trust people as a first instinct, but on the Isle of the Lost everyone lied and with his dirty leather jacket and trickster’s eyes this boy looked like an Islander. Not to mention he’d interrupted breakfast with Evie and Jay, which had been making her feel much better than she had yesterday.
“So. What do you know?” She asked in a cool voice. “I know that the king is alive, and where he is, and the best part is I’ll tell you where for a small fee!” Well, he sure was cocky. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” The boy held out his hand, offering up a small gold cufflink. “This is his, right?” Mal’s eyes widened, and she heard Evie gasp. The item was more than familiar, but could it really be his? Jay stepped forward to collect it, his face unreadable.
Carlos gulped as the (very) tall and (very) muscular young man walked up to him, taking the cufflink from his palm. He locked eyes with Carlos for a moment. Carlos couldn’t read his eyes, but he could feel distrust emanating from him (just saying, you don’t grow up a deal maker’s son without developing a strong intuition among other things). Carlos saw shock flash in his eyes as he recognised the small beast with a crown engraved on the trinket. The distrust changed to hope, and as he glanced up at Carlos again there was a tinge of curiosity. Carlos smiled charmingly at him. This was good. The young man brought the ring back up to the Queen and the lady next to her. They both recognised the cufflink’s engraving as well.
“How do we know you can be trusted? You are a trickster after all, right?” “Something like that.” Carlos grinned. “And, well, you don’t have a choice, do you? If you want him to live, I mean.” He hated to manipulate like that, to be like his dad, but he was desperate. If he didn’t get what he wanted he’d have to go back, and again, he thought, he really didn’t feel like dying. And it was true, after all. The king wasn’t being kept in the best conditions.
The Queen’s expression revealed a decision being made. She looked at him. “What do you want in exchange for your information?” Okay, good. Deal time. Carlos thought for a moment. He knew he needed a safe place to stay, but what if his dad still came looking for him? He needed protection. Sorry, man, Carlos silently apologized to the young man standing next to the queen.
“Weeeeelll,” he said, taking his time to seem like he had all the time in the world as well as the upper hand instead of being the powerless runaway he was, “I moved out of my place recently. Ogres make pretty shitty landlords, ya feel?” He laughed like he was being hilarious. They didn’t laugh, so he continued. “So I’d like a room here, because may I say, this place is lovely.” He smiled at the Queen. “Aaaand since I’ve been really rather lonely lately and wouldn’t mind a servant to keep me company, I’d also like…-” He pretended to look around the room- “Him.” He pointed to the young man.
“No!” The Queen shook her head angrily. “I can’t just give you a human being like an object in return for this. There must be something else you want, a sum of money or-” “Wait.” The young man spoke for the first time. “Jay-” The Queen interjected. “Mal, please. Ben was- he was my friend. We all cared about him, and if it hadn’t been for him we’d still be on the Isle. Evie would still be desperate to find a prince, and you’d still be trying to be good enough for your mom, and I’d still be stealing- and that is not how I want to live, ever again. If Ben’s out there, and this is what it takes to save him, doing chores for some random kid-” he looked at Carlos (who was not a kid, but in fact nineteen, so there)- “No offense, is a price I’m willing to pay. We owe- I owe Ben that much.” The young man looked at her patiently.
Mal didn’t know how to respond. “Are you- are you sure?” Evie asked. Jay nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine. I mean, you’re not gonna try to kill me or anything, are you?” He looked at the trickster boy, who shrugged. “Um, I wasn’t planning on it?” “Then it’s fine,” Jay said, looking at Mal. “Right?” She looked back at him. “Fine.” Then she looked at the boy. “But if he gets hurt because of you, I don’t care about any deal. I will kill you myself.” She put extra power into her eyes, making them glow green. “Okay?” The trickster’s eyes widened. “O-okay. Ma’am.” Mal took all the power out of her eyes, smiling sweetly. “Oh, by the way, what should we call you?”
Carlos stared at the Queen, filled with both new respect and new fear. “Um- the trickster is fine, m-ma’am.” She smiled even sweeter, honey-sweet like a flytrap. “Excellent.” Why hadn’t Carlos realised? These were the Villain kids that his father had made such a big deal about when Carlos was fourteen. The Queen was Maleficent’s daughter, the lady next to her was the daughter of the Evil Queen. And Carlos had just made the son of Jafar his personal servant and bodyguard. He looked over at- what was his name- at Jay. Well, he had said before that he’d changed. Maybe this would be even better, maybe if they found out they’d understand that he needed a new life, that he needed redemption. Or maybe they would kill him on the spot. Yeah, Carlos was probably screwed.