Chapter Text
Audrey never really minded the cold. She was born and raised in her mother's kingdom of Auroria, and while they certainly didn't get as cold as Arendelle, it still got pretty frosty during the winter. That and being perpetually chilly basically comes with the territory of being a royal. Castles tended to run on the unnecessarily cold side, so she'd quickly become accustomed to the feeling of goosebumps dotting her perfect amber skin.
Similarly she was also used to feeling uncomfortable - another caveat of being a royal. Being the perfect princess meant making some personal sacrifices, and she'd been told as much from the very moment she could walk. Her cutest pair of heels pinched her feet so badly she had blisters after. Her workout routine was vigorous and miserable, to keep her figure slim and toned, and so she could flee if she ever had to. She'd been sworn to Ben since she was born, and told again and again that the future king of Auradon deserved a pure and untouched wife. So she was trained, and she was poised. She was perfect. She'd endured enough winding, tedious and downright disrespectful conversations with a polite smile to last several lifetimes.
Being a princess could be hellish sometimes, and growing up with the pressure of someday becoming queen of an entire nation had prepared Audrey for almost anything.
Nothing could have prepared her to spend her last days in a dungeon.
It had been a random Wednesday afternoon when her entire world ended. She had been napping - something a princess wasn't supposed to do for fear of crumpling her carefully arranged appearance for the rest of the day - when the school had been swarmed with Isle denizens. All of the Auradon born kids had been seized and locked in classrooms while they awaited judgment, with some of the stronger villain kids standing guard outside the doors.
The process of their trials was a lengthy one. Some cases were all day affairs, and some were over in a matter of seconds, as soon as a scorned villain kid had a particularly cruel urge and vengeful heart. By the time she'd been brought before their rowdy kangaroo court, she'd made peace with the fact that she wouldn't see freedom again.
It really sucked being right all the time.
That was six and a half months ago.
Or at least she was pretty sure it was six and a half months. It got hard to count after a while.
Some small, fucked up part of her still thought of it all as some elaborate divine punishment for taking that un-ladylike nap. Light knows she wasn't getting much sleep nowadays.
The Auradon citizens deemed traitors and prisoners of the new world order - the ones who were lucky enough to not be executed on the spot - were split up and housed among the few castles with dungeons still in Auradon. It wasn't very many, maybe just under a third of them. After the Isle was created, there wasn't really a point in building them.
High priority prisoners - like her- were kept in Central Auradon in Beast Castle, now renamed Palace of the Striking Dragon. Some former monarchs were kept locked up in the dungeons of their own castles. She knew for a fact that her mother and father were being kept under twin sleeping curses in the cellar of Rose Manor. She'd been informed many different times. Mal had a sick sense of humor.
Her own cell was cramped and frigid. Constructed mostly of stone, except for the wooden door, with a modest pile of straw in one corner and a toilet in the other. Audrey didn't think it had been updated at all since King Adam had thrown Queen Belle inside of it all those years ago when they first met.
The villain kids had made a few adjustments after their hostile takeover though.
The temperature in the dungeon was artificial, meant to mimic the freezing Isle winters according to a smug and scowling Carlos DeVil. It wasn't just her cell that got the cold treatment, the entire lower level had been enchanted to stay at this temperature until it was once again altered manually. The first week Audrey wasn't given a blanket, left to huddle in the straw and wonder if they'd really let her freeze to death. On the seventh day, when she couldn't feel the tips of her fingers and her mind had started to cloud over, she woke up to a neatly folded cotton blanket and a small vial full of sickly yellow sludge. She later found out the sludge prevented her from dying of hypothermia, acting as sort of a magical equilibrium enforcement.
For the first month she didn't have a bed. The meager pile of straw was the closest thing she had, and it was beyond uncomfortable. She was mostly covered up, but the silk pajamas she'd been snatched in weren't exactly the most protective material, and she spent many nights tossing and turning while the straw poked at her once blemish free skin, and she tried to ignore the cold. Somewhere around the thirty day mark, Jay had appeared in her doorway in the dead of night, carrying a modest military cot. He'd thrown it at her feet, sending her scrambling away in her half asleep state.
"For good behavior." He winked.
He wouldn't leave until she thanked him. The memory of watching those playful mocha eyes light up with something sharp and clever still sent shivers down her spine.
She was fed sporadically, a standard meal that usually consisted of water, oats and eggs, sometimes with milk or a bit of cheese. She wasn't ever given utensils. Really fucking sick sense of humor
It was a miserable time. The days bled together. Her body was constantly aching and bruised from her meager rations and thin cot. She'd lost weight, robbed of her hard earned petite model frame and left with something sickly and frail. She was always shivering, this was the type of cold she could never get used to despite knowing logically that the temperature never changed. She had to spend a good portion of her day pacing to keep her body and mind functioning at all.
Her spirit had broken a long time ago. She spent more nights crying than she did sleeping, her withering limbs shaking as her body racked with sobs. It was overwhelming, the knowledge that after everything she'd been through, she was going to fucking die here. All by herself. She was so helpless to it all that she felt like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.
Mal and her harem from hell visited her often. Jay with his mocking eyes and calm voice, all muscle and sleek leather, leaning against her door frame and chatting about the "kingdom gossip", while all she could do was sit on her hard little cot and listen to him speak about the havoc they were enforcing like it was the daily scoop. He was always so nonchalant about it, wearing that same easygoing smile that made all her friends swoon while he talked about how the capital of her kingdom was currently being burned to the ground.
Evie and her perfect smile - a smile Audrey could replicate once, the smile of a natural born queen. Her visits were unsettling in the way in which she carried herself. Like Audrey was a wayward student she'd been tasked with correcting. She was perfectly pleasant in that cold, political way Audrey was all too familiar with. Sometimes she'd come in with a tea set and two chairs and they'd go through the motions of a tea party. Everytime Audrey had the guts to question why they were even bothering with this whole charade - Audrey never even got real tea, just hot water - Evie's smile would turn sharp at the edges.
"Just seeing if you can still mind your manners."
Eventually Audrey stopped asking.
Carlos' visits were few and far between and Audrey thanked every deity there ever was for that small mercy. His gaze was piercing, his words even sharper, all lean muscle and cruel intensity. He scared her the most. Carlos was every bit the brute she'd assumed Jay would be, but with a silver tongue and cunning mind. He liked to sit in front of her on the floor when he spoke to her, set stubbornly at eye level.
"I'm used to crouching in the filth, Audrey. I'm just thrilled to see you accustomed as well." In that flat, droning tone he took up with her, eyes boring into her.
His stories were more gruesome than Jay's, he liked to haunt her with tales from the Isle that made her stomach churn and her skin crawl. The cannibals and the brothels and the murderers and rapists. Every hellish thing he had to live through that she'd never even had to read about in Auradon. He showed off his scars once. But sometimes his stories were more personal. Cities he'd burned, businesses he'd closed, people that she used to know that he'd dragged to the center of town and beaten. Laws he'd drafted, the systems they'd tear apart and what that meant for her future.
"I come down here so you're never allowed to delude yourself. This is it for you. You're going to rot alone in this cell with no one left to miss you." She really hated his smile. Dry and humorless, and yet filled with unsettling mirth. "No one will notice when you die. No one but me. And it will fill me with so much satisfaction because you'll take your final breath knowing that we won."
He often left her in tears. She suspects that's the only reason he ever visits her at all.
Mal had been her original adversary, the one all her warning bells had sounded off against the moment she set foot on the grounds of Auradon Prep. Despite this, she'd only come once or twice during Audrey's imprisonment to visit her.
It was further proof, Audrey thought bitterly, that I never really stood a chance and she always knew it. I was never important in her eyes. I'm just an obstacle she has permanently squared away.
She hated when Mal came the most. The constant reminder felt like acid crawling up her throat. She didn't want to face the woman who had bested her. Who had taken everything.
She was already wide awake when High Queen Maleficent of the Moors came to stand in her doorway, looking every single bit the Queen she now was. Audrey immediately cast her eyes to the ground.
"Audria Rose."
"Your Highness." Once upon a time, Audrey would have never addressed a villain with even half of that much respect. She had a million catty little nicknames she could supply for the purple haired fae - and demigod apparently - each more cutting than the last. The Audrey who'd do that had died a while ago. Any ounce of rebellion she may have held inside her heart, any iota of self respect had been ripped away from her, and replaced with self preservation the day she made the mistake of calling Mal by her given name instead of her royal address in front of one Carlos DeVil. He'd been wearing a ring with the new Auradon sigil. Every so often she would raise her fingers to trace the scar on her cheek.
"Funny, it wasn't 'Your Highness' last time I visited you." Her eyes flickered to her cheek and back, offering a sharp smile. "Isn't that interesting. You want to live, don't you Audrey?"
"Yes." She whispered, eyes still studying the ground. Fae always had such captivating eyes. Her mother used to tell her it was because they saw the world differently than mortals - with more complexity than they could ever manage. Whatever it was, it was alluring and entirely distracting. She used to stare at Mal in the hallways just as much as Ben did. It always drove her crazy. She couldn't handle that right now. "I do."
"That's what I thought. Beg me for it."
"What?" Audrey asked, mouth going dry.
"Beg me for your life if you want to keep it." Mal said, voice sure and smug. Audrey's hands were shaking. "You want to keep it, don't you?"
"Please - I can't. Please don't make me. I'm begging you not to make me plead for something you've already decided." She hated crying. She'd been told all her life that it just wasn't something a princess should do. It was nearly impossible to look pretty doing it, it was childish and unflattering and pointless and it's all she can manage to do these days. The tears come before she can stop them, running in streaks through the grime on her face.
Wasn't it enough for her to die? Wasn't it enough that they won? Why did she have to suffer like this before? Why couldn't they just end it already?
She could feel Mal watching her, and that only makes her want to cry harder. She could only imagine the look on her face. The joy that would reside there. The way her stupidly attractive sharp features would glow with magic and mirth.
"You're a clever girl Audrey." She said after a minute, sounding contemplative. "And a lucky one. There's been an ongoing campaign for your freedom and safe return to society, and after all this time it's finally been approved."
Her heart damn near stopped.
"I- what? Who-"
"Ben." She cuts in. Audrey's breath hitches at the sound of his name. "Of course. Always so soft hearted."
Audrey finally looked up to meet Mal's eyes. They're dancing with amusement. "I don't understand. Am I being sent home?"
"Eventually, yes." Mal says, leaning against the doorframe in a perfect mirror of her agrabian lover. "Not in the way you hoped, I'm sure, but you will be making a stop there. Your freedom is… let's call it conditional."
"Does conditional mean temporary?"
"Conditional means conditional." The fae said firmly, looking her over. "You look like shit."
Audrey laughed, an incredulous, shocked thing that more resembled a bark than anything else. I'm losing my fucking mind. "So I've been told." She searched Mal's face - her stupid beautiful face - for any hint of mocking. An inkling that this was all some cruel joke. "What's the catch?"
"Always the little diplomat. The Auradon natives are getting a little…bold." Mal rolled her eyes. "There's whispers of a rebellion forming - a proper one, not that pitchfork and torch bullshit that a couple cities have tried. According to my sources, a group of rebels are gathering in Charmaine to organize a large-scale attack. Of course we're going to have to squash that before it starts, I already have a few men on the inside. It won't take more than a few days to dismantle. You hero types aren't very battle smart. But when all is said and done - and their little rebellion is scorched and scattered - the root of the problem will still be there. You people never want to give up. The majority of Auradonians, even with Queen Elsa and Queen Rapunzel giving us public support, want to see us topple and fall back into the filth they tried to banish us to. I suppose it makes sense. What with them being two of the most capable royals, and basically the only ones with active and useful magic that they refuse to just repress for the sake of others. People have always looked down on them. Always seen as the 'outcast' royals for shallow shit like who they married and how they ran their kingdoms."
Audrey was nodding along. She remembered defending Queen Rapunzel on numerous occasions to other royals for using her magic hair - which was just so stupid. It wasn't like she could turn it off. And if she had never used it, her kingdom would still be in shambles. The arguments against Queen Elsa were even more mind numbing.
"What these fucking sheeple need is someone whose opinion they already hold in high regard. Someone who they're used to listening to and following blindly, someone with a squeaky clean reputation and a marketable face, who will tell them in the good old fashioned Auradon way that they're better off giving up while they're still alive to do it."
"Me." Audrey concluded.
"You and Chadwick Charming." She nodded. "The request for his freedom and subsequent rehabilitation has also been approved today."
Audrey paused, fighting back another wave of tears. Her stomach dropped. "Chad is alive?"
"Carlos is a bold faced liar." Mal winked, chuckling to herself.
"He-" Audrey held her tongue, but it was taking everything in her. Fucking light. She cried for days when Carlos told her Chad had died. He recounted his death in excruciating detail, down to what he was wearing and the gut punch of a detail that his last words had been wasted crying out her name. The vivid imagery had haunted her dreams for weeks now. She'd wake up hyperventilating, slick with sweat and unable to drift off again as she sobbed herself hoarse. To hear that Chad was alive, that she'd grieved for the boy she grew to love when he was more than likely only two or three cells down, it filled her with rage. For the first time in a long while, white hot anger sat in a pit at the bottom of her stomach, seeping into her blood.
"He's a bastard isn't he?" Mal said, a sort of understanding in her voice. "It's okay. You can agree, I'm well aware who I married. He's a little shit."
"He's a monster." She spat, voice shaking and choked with unshed tears.
Princesses do not cry.
You're not a princess anymore.
"Don't let him hear you say that. He doesn't need the ego boost." There was a sickening fondness there. She offered a smile with too many teeth. They were sharp. That was new.
Mal noticed her staring. "Natural side effect of the fae blood. Do you like them? I guarantee Fairy Godmother had them too. She probably had work done. That or she keeps a glamor up like I used to. Fucking hypocritical old bat."
"So you hid them? I guess they weren't the most digestible feature in the world." Audrey said with no real heat.
"Ben likes them."
Audrey's stomach did a flip. Gross.
"You said Chad was a part of this?" She prodded, desperate to change the subject.
"You and Chad will be marketed together." Mal gave her the small mercy of moving on. "Pretty much how you and Ben used to be a package deal. Consider yourselves the new power couple. You two will be given a small group of guards to escort you from city to city where you'll make speeches, kiss babies, smile for cameras, do meet and greets. Typical shit. It's mind numbingly tacky but it's the only thing you fucking light oriented pricks seem to understand. You're just doing what you used to do before. Congratulations Audrey, you're getting your celebrity status back."
"I'll be a puppet." Audrey said, flexing and unflexing her hands. Weighing her options. Pretending she had them.
"A puppet who doesn't live in a cell." Mal said, finally pushing off the wall. "A puppet who will have a four poster bed again, with running hot water, a full wardrobe, and three meals a day. You'll have a VK assigned to you at all times, and a curfew, but you'll be free in the ways that matter. As free as you're gonna get."
"As free as you deserve" was left unsaid. Mal's dimly glowing eyes said it all.
"Damn." Audrey chuckled humorlessly. "Ben must've fought pretty hard. That's more than I thought we'd get."
"That makes two of us." Mal said dryly. She strolled forward, closing the distance between the two of them and crouching down in front of Audrey, meeting her eyes almost challengingly. Audrey suppressed a shiver. Now she was the spitting image of her more violent lover. Just as hauntingly beautiful too. "Listen Audrey, I'm not stupid and neither are you. This is a gamble for both of us, albeit not nearly as much of a gamble for me as it is for you. I'm sure you've had plenty of time to grow bitter and resentful down here. I'm sure you've killed me ten different ways in your mind, and mutilated me twice as much, and I'm sure those thoughts scare you just as much as the thought of dying down here alone does. There's not a doubt in my mind that you'll start to wonder if that pain and resentment is strong enough to make a difference. You'll start talking to some common schmuck whose heart is as bitter and bruised as yours is and you'll start to think that maybe you have a chance at overthrowing me and getting your old life back. I will tell you right now Audrey, that you don't."
"When those thoughts start to come about, and I know they will Audrey because you're a strong bitch and that's just how we work. When they come, I want you to remember that acting on them - that even entertaining them - is suicide. That you will end up crushed beneath my boot just like every other strong bitch and bitter heart that thought their pain and determination could outweigh mine. Before you decide to slip into a rebel meeting or turn your head when you notice weapons going missing. Before you try to betray me, I want you to know you will get nothing from it but your name run into the dirt and your head on a platter."
"If I hear even a whisper about you betraying me, if you give me any reason to suspect you of treason, I will kill you. It will be public, it will be bloody and it will be painful. Do you understand me?" Her eyes were glowing brightly now, the same emerald green she donned to defeat her mother all those years ago. Audrey could understand now, why her intense stare could bring a dragon to its knees. It made Audrey want to shrink away.
"I-" She wrung her hands together, struggling to maintain eye contact. Her mind was racing with all the brutal ways she could die. "I understand, Your Highness. I do."
"Good girl." Mal stood to her full height, not bothering to wipe off the filth that had accumulated on her dress. Her eyes dimmed once again, giving way to another sharp toothed smile. "Before you and Chad leave Central Auradon you'll be making several TV appearances over the course of the next few weeks. Speeches, interviews, the whole shebang. Think of it as a trail run of sorts. You'll get your sea legs, decide what new persona and angle you want to market to the masses. When you have that all figured out, you'll leave on tour, starting with the cities in Central Auradon and working outward. Occasionally either I or one of the other three will meet you at your location and check up on you. These checks will be at random, so be sure to behave yourself and you'll be just fine. All speeches must be written ahead of time and run through one of us, so try and stay on top of your shit so I don't have to bust your balls."
"Understood." The diplomat in her was already starting to awaken. Selling the values of Isle society in Auradon wouldn't be an easy task, but it was possible. Unfortunately Mal was correct - Auradon was full of sheeple. "May I please request a debriefing on the current social hierarchy and expectations?"
"Look at you." Mal cooed, something akin to pride coloring her tone. "Already asking the important questions."
"I need to know what I'm selling to sell it." She said, wiping her sweaty palms on her disheveled pajama pants. Occasionally she'd been given an alternative outfit while someone, usually Evie, washed this one. It was always returned to her within a day. She'd assumed keeping her in the outfit she was taken in was a tactic to break her spirits. It worked. "I know it's heavily influenced by Isle culture, but I only really know the brutal parts of that from…Lord DeVil." Mal snickered, and Audrey pushed passed it, deciding it was best to ignore the laughter ringing in her ears. "Even then I assume at least a couple things have changed since Isle natives have the social standing, magic and resources they were previously denied. And what exactly is expected of me? I assume I'm going to be under your thumb for the entirety of my freedom, but how strict are my expectations? Do I have a dress code? A set of rules? It's-"
"Slow down princess, don't get your panties in a twist just yet." Mal cut in, raising a hand. Her nails were sharp too, painted a glossy jet black. "We need to clean you up and get you sworn in before anything else."
"Sworn in?" Audrey asked, already starting the mental process of preparing herself to stand. It was getting harder and harder these days. "Like an initiation? I swear my loyalty to you and the throne. Did you want me to kneel in front of a crowd or something?"
"Or something." She laughed, offering a hand that Audrey was hesitant to take. She took it anyway. Mal hoisted her up, bringing her other hand in to grab Audrey by the forearm and stabilize her while she wobbled like a newborn deer taking its first steps. Even when Audrey found her footing, Mal didn't let go. If anything her grip got tighter. She leaned in so close that her breath tickled Audrey's neck as she whispered into her ear. "You're about to get your first taste of Isle culture."
—----
Audrey wasn't allowed to see Chad until later that night, instead the first activity she did after six months in a cell was sit still for an hour and some change while Mal tattooed a dragon onto her shoulder. Jay was there through the whole affair, admiring Mal's work almost lovingly and flirting with both of them. His comments towards her had a mocking edge that they just never had towards Mal, and Audrey wished she could say she was disgusted by the blatant showboating. As it was she was left stubbornly ignoring the blush that came to her cheeks. It wasn't fair that the people who ruined her life were also perfect tens. Apparently it was tradition for Jay to be there for her initiation, being Mal's second in command, which he told her with more than a little pride in his voice.
After the curling dragon on her shoulder was wrapped and finished, Evie came by to escort her to be cleaned up and given a change of clothes. She was all pleasant smiles and false niceties as always, but instead of condescendingly coaching her on the etiquette she'd known since birth, the sapphire haired witch was enlightening her on the social graces of Isle culture.
"You're lucky," She hummed, pushing a razor, toothbrush and towel into Audrey's hands. "That you're being officially claimed by Mal. That makes you functionally untouchable to any other VK that may have had free reign to hurt you otherwise. And believe me, there were plenty. Now you're really only subject to the higher ranked members of her crew."
"Which would be?" Audrey accepted the items gratefully. She knew that shaving wasn't necessary in the current society - Isle beauty wasn't exactly measured by smooth supple skin - but it would damn sure make her feel better after all this time. She wanted to be as smooth as a baby.
"Mal, the boys - including Ben but I doubt that will ever have to apply - myself, Jane, Doug, Lonnie and technically Harry Hook, Gil and Uma. They're not necessarily a part of Mal's gang, which is why the rest of the wharf rats can't touch you, but they are our allies now that we've finally squashed our Isle beef. Mal might get pissed if they do anything makeup can't cover up, and Gil isn't really particularly violent or vengeful, but I'd stay away from Harry as a rule of thumb."
With that cryptic note she was shooed off into one of Beast Castle's notoriously huge bathrooms and told to clean up.
"I'll inspect your person for anything before you get dressed again, but I'll have a new outfit ready for you and it'll just be me." Audrey couldn't hide her skeptical glance. "Witches honor." She winked, and her tinkling giggle told Audrey that whatever that was definitely was not a real thing, but she didn't really have any room to argue
"I appreciate it, Your Highness." She said, falling back onto her PR training. It never hurt to add a thank you.
"I just love hearing that from you." Evie smiled. She really was beautiful. Pretty almond eyes shining with intelligence, rosy cheeks, a dazzling smile. Audrey looked away, cursing her stupid brain. Dammit. No fucking wonder Ben fell for them.
Audrey couldn't be happier to close the bathroom door behind her. She didn't try to lock it. She already knew it was a fruitless endeavor. She turned the water up as hot as it would go before stepping in. She was sure she'd stepped into heaven. The occasional bucket and sponge that was pushed into her cell could never compare to the sensation of having a hot shower after 6 months. She nearly cried tears of joy.
There was soap set out for her to use, along with shaving cream, shampoo and conditioner, all cherry scented. She paused, running her fingers over the bottles with a quizzical look. It was her signature scent- once upon a time. Bold and bright yet feminine and elegant. Something memorable yet timeless. Evie made a comment about it once or twice before this all started, when their rivalry was still tight smiles and whispered insults. Right now Audrey wanted to kiss the ground she walked on.
She scrubbed every inch of her body -taking care to mind the fresh tattoo - until her skin felt raw and warm to the touch, and then once more just for good measure. She shaved her legs, arms and privates, glad to be smooth and clean once again. She must have washed her hair four times.
When she finally left the shower she sighed, wrapping the towel she was given around her body and distantly wondering what the point was since she would have to drop it again soon anyway.
As promised, Evie was waiting on the other side of the door for her - thankfully alone and sitting on the bed holding a neat little bundle of clothes in her hands. "C'mon don't be shy." She said with a cheeky smile, amusement swimming in her eyes. "We're both ladies, it's nothing I haven't seen before."
Audrey wanted to scoff at that. Instead she closed the bathroom door, hurriedly crossing the room to stand in front of Evie. Before she could do any more thinly veiled flirting - and really what is it about Isle kids and their obsession with flirting as a form of taunting - Audrey pulled her hand away from her towel, letting it drop and spreading her arms open. She felt completely and utterly on display. She was trying really hard to ward off her blush.
"You know, I think I'm going to enjoy watching you gain your figure back just as much as I enjoyed watching you lose it." Evie hummed. Audrey flushed crimson. Light's sake, she was worse than Jay. Evie lifted one of her perfect soft hands to tap lightly on the skin right above Audrey's knee, signaling her to spread her legs, and she had to remember how to breathe for a second. "I quite frankly don't think you have the guts to harbor anything Isle style, but I wouldn't want either of us to get hurt over me underestimating you."
Evie didn't take advantage of the fact that she had to look between Audrey's legs, the gratuitous smile she wore dropping in favor of a more clinical straight line as she pursed her pouty lips together. "I'm not seeing anything. Turn around really quickly, I promise not to touch."
She complied, and for a terrible, horrible second she thought Evie would instruct her to bend over. The command never came though, simply a hum of approval.
"You can turn back around. You would be standing differently if you had anything up there." Audrey's blush darkened at the thought of putting anything at all up there. Anal penetration was not something a princess enjoyed or allowed. It was a whore's preference.
She turned to face Evie again, but the lighter woman's gaze was on the curling dragon newly adorning her shoulder. She reached out a hand to gently trace the lines her lover had made just hours earlier, appreciation shining in her eyes. "It looks beautiful on you."
Audrey wasn't sure if Evie was complimenting her or Mal. "Where's yours?" She asked, then hurried to add. "If you don't mind me asking."
"It's on my upper back." Evie tugged down the sleeve on her left arm and turned slightly to show her. "Right on my left shoulder blade. My body was important to me on the Isle, and so were the Auradonian beauty standards I'd been taught by my mother. I begged Mal to let me place it somewhere less immediately visible so I wouldn't 'deplete my worth'. Eventually she agreed to the new placement when I made it clear I was willing to bare the skin when she asked me to."
"Isn't that-"
"Controlling?" Evie supplied, fixing her sleeve, and giving her a knowing look. "Yes. But it was also a claim of ownership. Protection. A lot of people wanted to get their hands on me just for being my mother's daughter. I'm sure you can relate. Men would see the mark of the dragon on me and fuck off. She did it because she loved me."
Audrey stewed on that while she got dressed, something that Evie watched her do as well. She insisted it was mandatory.
"Someone else would have to do it if not me. Otherwise we'd just be making the bold assumption that you're trustworthy, we can't have you smuggling anything." She'd explained calmly. "I promise you'd rather have me than any of the others."
"With all due respect Your Highness, there's nothing to smuggle." Audrey huffed, hurriedly pulling her shorts up her legs. "And even if there was, I have no pockets to stick anything in and no undergarments either for that matter."
"Liabilities." Evie shrugged.
More like perverted villain kids. "Right." She said, pulling the shirt over her head. It was simple cotton, too big and a little worn. The shorts were a bit too big as well, made of sweatpant material. She didn't ask where they came from.
"It's nice to smell cherries on you again, Audrey." Evie said, studying her one last time before standing and smoothing out her dress. She walked towards the door, Audrey trailing after her. "C'mon, let's get you something to eat before it's time for you to head in."
Audrey was really fucking confused. The way the Isle kids treated her, it wasn't like any other rivalry she had before. Besides the obviously much higher stakes, something else was…off. It was something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was the way Evie purposefully gave her toiletries in her signature scent. The way that Jay would look at her, not like the predator she'd assumed he would be, but like he was waiting for something. He had long since proven more observant than she gave him credit for. It was the way Mal's eyes would shine, or her voice would betray something other than the snarky indifference and cold cruelty it usually carried. It was the way she was still alive after all this time.
"You're fond of me aren't you?" Audrey muttered, only half sure of herself. "At least a little."
"You'd still be in a cell if we weren't." Evie answered simply. "Locked up or dead."
She had always wondered why Carlos never just beat her head in if he hated her so much. "Isle culture is strange."
Evie chuckled. "Yes it is."
Dinner was a modest spread in one of the smaller dining rooms with Evie and Mal. As she ate, she wondered why Jane and Lonnie weren't there to share the meal. She didn't have to wonder for long.
"We didn't want any of the Auradon kids seeing you on your first night out." Mal said, tearing into tender peasant with her bare hands. "Too much hugging and crying and shit. Only Ben knows, and even he's not allowed to see you both until tomorrow."
"Don't worry, he certainly did want to." Evie giggled. "He whined for ages."
"That's also why Chad isn't here. He's having dinner with the boys." She shuddered to think of sharing a dinner table with Carlos DeVil, who now unsettled her even more with this recent development.
The spread was modest, some Isle thing about not preparing more food than they needed. Still Audrey was beyond grateful for food that wasn't bland or stale, gulping down soup by the mouthful and tearing into her meat in a way that would make her mother clutch her pearls. She couldn't find it in herself to be ashamed, not when the two women who she shared the table with ate with just about as much tact as she did. She appreciated the villainous lack of table manners.
Mal and Evie went over more Isle rules and customs while she ate, and she listened as intently as she could. Honestly the rules were about as winding and complex as Auradon high society, just with a lot more sex and violence. Audrey really hoped Chad was getting a similar talk and had been smart enough to ask for a pen and pad before they started speaking.
Chad who was alive.
"May I please see Chad? Before he goes to his room? We don't have to talk I understand, I just thought I had lost him for so long-"
Evie rolled her eyes. "Yes Carlos told me about that. He laughed about it for hours."
"Your room is his room." Mal said, dropping the peasant bone, now picked dry. "You're sharing one. You're a couple. One of the perks of Isle culture, none of that purity bullshit. It would look suspicious if you weren't rooming together actually. You always stay close to your crew."
"Oh." She muttered quietly, shoving fresh, warm bread in her mouth.
She was finally led to said room after dinner, and when they arrived at the door, Jay and Carlos were already lounging outside in the hallway. Jay's eyes lit up upon seeing them, taking Evie and Mal's hands and kissing each of their knuckles.
"Your lover boy's already inside for the night." He said, righting himself and nodding at the door behind him. "We didn't want a tearful reunion outside in the hall this late at night. That much vulnerability is just screaming attack me."
"Speaking of, I'll stay here and keep watch." Carlos said. He was already sitting on the ground right beside the door. He gave Audrey a once over. She avoided his gaze.
"Why?" She couldn't help but ask. It wasn't like her and Chad had anywhere to go if they snuck out. They had no allies, no home, no money and no way to function in the current society. And even if they did, she certainly didn't have the energy for an escape attempt anytime soon.
"Because you have too many people who want you dead currently living in this castle." He said flatly. "We can't trust anyone else to stand watch for y'all until Gil gets here in the morning, so we're gonna rotate between the four of us. Can't have our dogs put down before they even step in the ring, can we?"
Jay laughed, and Mal snorted so it must've been a joke. Audrey didn't think it was very funny. "Thank you. Goodnight." She said instead of addressing it.
"Wake up time is 7 am sharp." Mal nodded, a clear dismissal.
Chad was waiting for her on the other side of the door, which she barely even had time to close before a blur of blue and blond was hitting her like a very welcome ton of bricks.
"Audrey! Oh fuck, thank fucking Light, Audrey. Audrey, shit come 'ere." His arms were wrapped around her, fingers tracing her skin, looking for bruises that he would definitely find.
She laughed, harsh and un-ladylike and unsteady, laced with all the tears she'd held back since she left her cell - she left her cell - holding onto him like he was her lifeline. "I can't get any closer, you dumb blond." But they both tried, fingers and hands and limbs pulling each other closer closer closer until the pressure hurt and it was the most welcome sensation in the world. "Fuck, I thought I lost you."
"I told them to fucking kill me." Chad whispered into her hair. His hands were shaking where they rested on the small of her back. "When Carlos came to my cell and told me I'd been given a plea deal I told him I'd rather be dead then campaign without you as my partner. And then he told me you were alive - called me dramatic - the fucking-"
"I know." She rushed breathlessly, tears running freely down her face. "They have sick sick senses of humor - they all do - but you're alive."
"You're alive." He parrots, running gentle fingers through her freshly washed hair. "Your hair isn't brushed."
"Wasn't given a brush." She laughed again. It was so nice having something to laugh at. "Didn't wanna push my luck and ask."
"Jay gave me one. Said I looked like utter shit and I needed it. Here, sit down lemme brush your hair." He let go only enough to guide her to the bed, gently urging her to sit on the edge. He kissed her hand before he let it go, crossing to the dresser to pick up a familiar blue and gold brush.
That brush was his.
Before all this had happened. Just how long had they known they were going to free us eventually? Something unsettling and heavy was starting to stir in her stomach, but she tried to banish the thoughts. Knowing the answer wouldn't do her much good.
"Listen, I know we fought a lot, before Auradon was…well." Chad said, clambering on the bed behind her.
"Chad please that doesn't-"
"No, I know we argued and we didn't see eye to eye all the time. I know I was your rebound for Ben and you were still taking it hard." He collected her hair behind her so it all cascaded down her back, adjusting so he could rest his legs on either side of her torso.
"Please-"
"I just want you to know I forgive you. And I never want to fight with you again." Chad pushed on, voice heavy with emotion. "I never want to- I can't live without you Audrey. Not back in Auradon and definitely not in whatever the hell this is. I don't care how many tattoos I have to get, or murders I have to endorse or lies I have to tell. I'm not losing you again. I love you. You don't have to love me back, but I love you."
"I've always loved you, Chad you big idiot." Audrey wiped away the tears as they came. Chad's body was so close to hers, neither of them had full length pants, and the skin to skin contact from his legs around her waist was reason enough to cry a river. He was the only home she had left. Her skin was practically burning where he touched. "I was mourning the loss of my future, not just the loss of Ben. Don't get me wrong, I loved him. You loved him too when we were younger."
"I-"
"Light, Chad the world is ending, no one cares that you're bisexual." She waved, and the sound of his surprised laughter was music to her ears. "Maybe in another world it could have been the three of us. But I do love you Chad. I did back then, I did when I dated you, and I do now. I deeply apologize if I ever made you feel differently."
"It's the trauma." He said, only half joking. "Don't worry about it."
He brushed her hair carefully and methodically, splitting it into parts and brushing through until it wouldn't snag anymore. It was quiet, soft and intimate and it made Audrey painfully aware that her and Chad were about to share a bed. They were going to sleep together. After all these months of sleeping by herself huddled in the dark on a little cot, she was going to sleep on a real mattress, next to a man. She could practically hear her grandmother nagging her.
"Your hair smells like cherries." He noted softly, taken aback. "I thought it was nostalgia fucking with my mind but-"
"Queen Evelyn." She supplied. "You really should get used to using their titles."
"Trust me, I have enough bruises from Lord DeVil, to know that much." He said, and she could practically hear him roll his eyes. She could relate to the sentiment. "I had a slip of the tongue earlier. I was taken with my emotions."
"I know." She said softly. "Still."
"She gave you cherry scented soap?" His hands returned to their gentle task, brushing out her knots in long, sure strokes and following the brush with a quick comb of his fingers. His nails on her scalp were better than the fresh bread.
"Cherry everything. Except like perfume and scrubs and shit. I only got the basics obviously, but it was all cherry scented." She closed her eyes, fighting the urge to lean into him.
"Huh." He muttered, slightly unnerved.
"Yeah. Makes you wonder how far ahead they planned for this. I mean the brush-"
"Please." The brushing stopped again. "Not tonight Audrey please, my brain can't take it."
"No you're right, I'm sorry." She said quickly, placing a hand on each of his thighs where they wrapped around her. This was her first time touching the bare skin above his knees.
So not the time.
"It's okay." He sounded a little guilty. "I didn't mean to freak out. It just creeps me out. They creep me out. How they're just normal people but…not."
"They are." She mused quietly, as he moved on to brushing the final section of her hair.
"I mean, Lord Jay would come by my cell all the time and just - talk. And yeah he was talking about all this heinous shit but he was also just fucking talking. He was just so casual and easygoing and for like a second I could close my eyes and it was just Jay, my slightly douchey teammate talking to me after a Tourney game, y'know? I mean he wasn't my best friend or anything but I liked him. He was cool." His speech was getting erratic, but his hands were still steady and careful. Chad got like this sometimes. Ranting on and on, word vomiting while she listened. She never really minded.
"He brought me extra water once. He was going on and on about his usual sick shit, and he did that thing he does - he was like 'but how are you, Chad?' And he had woken me up for this, and I was crying all day because I thought you were gone. So I said 'thirsty, Your Highness' because I was and I didn't feel like talking in circles. And he's like 'be right back' and he just leaves. Before I could fall back asleep he was back with this big ass cup of water. And I thanked him and he nodded. None of the usual smug bullshit, he just nodded and went right on talking like he'd never left. Do you know how weird it is that they have any empathy left for us? Do you want me to braid it down?"
"Huh? Oh. Yes, please." Chad made a noise of acknowledgement, parting her hair again, this time down the middle. She understood what he was rambling about all too well. Sometimes when Evie spoke to her, she could easily imagine the girl as a good friend of hers to gossip and shop with.
"And have you seen the way they look at each other?" Chad rambled on, ignorant to her stewing. "I mean Car- Lord DeVil - is the scariest mother fucker I know, but when he looks at Queen Evelyn his whole face just…resets. He smiles - like a person not some sort of demon who's hell bent on making me as miserable as possible. They're so in love with each other - all of them so enamored with each other - it's so human. There's a version of reality out there where they were never villains at all. Where they were just four people who loved each other more than life itself."
"Where we didn't put them on the Isle." Audrey whispered. A finished braid fell gently back in place over one of her shoulders. Chad started on the other.
"We didn't put them there." Chad retorted, but it was weak. He knew just as much as she did. They would have kept them there if it were up to them. They may have even -in another world - voted to put them on the Isle in the first place. And they didn't deserve that.
"We were cowards." She said bitterly.
"Yeah. We were." Chad said, resignation coloring his words. The second braid fell over her shoulder, mirroring the first. They sat in silence. "May I hold you?"
She didn't say anything. Couldn't. Instead she turned so she could face him, clambering into his lap and straddling him. Their bare thighs were touching. All her blood was rushing to her ears. His arms wrapped around her. She touched their foreheads together.
They breathed.
And for a moment in time that was enough. Being in the arms of the boy she loved, holding him close. Breathing in his scent and feeling him breathe in hers after she spent weeks thinking he'd never breathe again. Nothing in this new world would ever feel as right and good and light as this. Evil could have everything else. She would let it, she'd play her role in helping. She could live with that as long as she would never lose this.
The instinct grabbed hold of her like the need to breathe. In an instant she was breaking contact for only the short amount of time it took to lean down and kiss him sweetly. It was more than she'd ever thought she'd experience again. Kissing Chad was life, it was living instead of simply surviving. It was warm bread after so many months of crusts and crumbs.
He returned the kiss eagerly, his arms tightening around her as if he was afraid she'd fall between his fingers if he didn't grip hard enough. She had a fistful of his hair for the very same reason. Such a kiss could only remain innocent for so long, and the sweet reunion soon became something more desperate and intense. French kissing was as far as she'd allowed Ben to get, and even that was a violation of everything she'd been taught. She'd never gotten this far with Chad, who was always understanding and undisturbed with her need to take things at a snail's pace, but here she was in his lap with her tongue in his mouth. And fuck Auradon etiquette for making her think this was bad, it was fucking amazing. Every softly grazing hand that left fire in its wake, every embarrassing little noise she made. This was heaven on earth and every single old dignitary who would call her promiscuous for feeling this way could kiss her ass.
It was Chad who came up for air, breaking the kiss and panting. "This is indecent."
She laughed, toeing the line of deranged. "I don't think that matters much anymore."
"This- this with you - isn't something I'm willing to give to them unless I have to." He said, eyes lidded but voice firm. "If it still matters to you, it still matters to me. Don't feel pressured by anything or anyone Audrey. I only want what you want."
"Chad," She breathed, heart beating out of her chest. Her entire upper body felt flushed and hot to the touch. "Thank you. Please kiss me."
He never did like denying her things.
Eventually the hurried frenzy of sensations and limbs became too much for her, and they slotted in next to each other, as close as their bodies would allow.
"Thank you for sharing that with me." She said into his chest, curling up a little closer still. A part of her feared this was all a vivid dream or cruel trick, and that she'd wake up huddled in the cold again, all alone. "I know we didn't go all the way-"
"We didn't need to." He hummed, kissing the top of her head where he'd parted her hair. "We don't ever have to. All I could possibly give a shit about is whether or not you stay alive and by my side. That will always be enough."
"You're a sap." She laughed quietly, a smile tugging at her lips.
"Some things never change."
She slept peacefully for the first time in months.
—------
Audrey awoke with bleary eyes, sleep-addled mind still trying to find her bearings. When she realized said bearings included no warm body behind her, she bolted upright, fear igniting in her chest like a roaring flame.
Fuck. No no no no, I can't lose him again, he can't be gone again-
"Audrey!" Chad rushed over, throwing a bundle of clothes onto the bed and grabbing her hands. "Audrey, hey hey hey. Hey it's okay, gorgeous. It's alright I'm right here. High Queen came by with a change of clothes for our interview today, I left to answer the door. I didn't want to wake you. I'm sorry, c'mon breathe with me. Let's breathe."
He took an exaggerated breath, and waited for her to copy him, which she eventually managed with a tremoring inhale. "Good job, pretty girl now let's exhale." He let out his breath and she mirrored him. "Again, c'mon."
It took a minute for her to calm herself and convince her heart to stop beating like a jackhammer. Chad was patient through it all, a pinched smile on his face.
"I didn't mean to frighten you."
"It's okay." She insisted. "Just wake me up next time. I'd rather know where you are."
"I'm sorry." He said again. He nodded at the clothes that he'd unceremoniously thrown onto the bed. "High Queen Mal said we'd get to pick our outfits for all further public appearances unless specified otherwise, but that Queen Evelyn specifically wanted a hand in the first time. "
"That sounds like her." She said, examining the clothing. There was a lot of leather and studs, but her outfit still had no shortage of pink and Chad's vest was the very same baby blue as his kingdom's signature shade.
"They're actually not bad." Chad was holding his own outfit, admiring the detailing on each item. She was one of the only people who knew he could sew. "She always was really good at making clothes. I kinda want to ask her why she chose these specific items. It all seems so purposeful." He looked up at her again. "We can take turns changing if you're not comfortable with-"
"No worries, I don't mind." She cut in. She honestly couldn't quite tell why she didn't care, but she didn't. There wasn't much more dignity she could lose and Chad was safe to her.
"Alright." He smiled softly, then cleared his throat. "She's uh, waiting outside the door. She told me to come get her when you were up so she could…watch us change."
Audrey rolled her eyes. Of course she did. She nodded at the door, and Chad took the permission for what it was, knocking on it once before he cracked it open. "We're ready for you."
It didn't get any less awkward having someone watch her change in cold clinical focus, but Audrey did her best to ignore it and focus on getting dressed as quickly as possible. Thankfully today's ensemble had undergarments and pockets, the latter of which Mal spelled closed immediately after they were done changing.
"I don't want you tempted to do dumb shit on your first day." She said. "You're appearing on TV today to soft launch your new image. Don't get too nervous, no fidgeting or glancing off. Stay sure, confident and firm and you'll be fine. Your vanity's been stocked with makeup for the both of you, so I'll leave you here to make yourselves camera ready. Meet me downstairs in an hour, we have a small breakfast spread and Evie can brief you some more."
Mal left just as soon as she'd arrived, leaving her and Chad alone and faced with a vanity full of makeup. "Well," Audrey said dryly. "Looks like you'll get to ask her yourself."
"You can have the chair." Chad nodded at the little bench seated in front of the vanity. "I know how you get with makeup and I only really need concealer, blush and some eyeliner. I wonder if…" He opened one of the drawers to the vanity, before immediately closing it. He tried the one underneath it, this time apparently finding what he needed. He rummaged around for a second before producing a small tube of concealer. He turned to face her again, holding the tube up to the skin on his cheek. It was a perfect match. "That's not creepy."
He rolled his eyes, taking a makeup brush with him and disappearing into the bathroom.
Audrey sighed, approaching the vanity and opening the first drawer. It was filled with concealer and foundation that matched her skin tone. It was even the same brands she used to favor. Literally what the fuck. "Not creepy at all." She muttered, grabbing a tube of primer and getting to work. She only had an hour after all.
It was surreal to be in front of a mirror doing makeup once again after the world as she knew it had fallen apart. She worked quickly, with sure hands and even strokes. Even amidst all the pain and starvation, this still felt like muscle memory to her. It wasn't long until all signs of captivity were wiped blank from her face and neck. Chad came back every so often, to grab blush and a different brush, or eyeliner, and in a spur of the moment decision, eye shadow.
"Since we're on a roll with scandalizing our old PR teams." He joked, waving the cool toned palette around.
In no time she'd applied a sharp cateye and a pink smokey eye to match her new attire, finishing the look with a slightly darker lip than she was used to and a self satisfied smile. It was nice to look good again.
"You're beautiful." Chad said after she'd sprayed her face with setting spray, kissing her on the forehead.
"I could say the same for you." She hummed appreciatively, taking in his new look. "Whoever told you that you weren't allowed to wear bold makeup needs jail time." He had a dark circle of eyeliner lining his lid and lower waterline, with bold smudging strokes of blue eyeshadow framing his green eyes, making them pop. The concealer had done away with some of the gauntness in his cheeks, leaving his cheekbones looking sharp and defined. "Light, you're gorgeous. You just need mascara, c'mere."
"Yes ma'am." He sat still for her without a fuss, and the mascara was just what he needed for that pretty boy edge most Isle men seemed to harbor.
"Damn." He said, admiring the finished product in the mirror. "I'm hot."
"You are." She nodded in approval. She wanted to kiss him again. "Now c'mon. I don't want to find out what happens if we're late."
He winced at the idea, standing and sliding on the vest he'd been given. "Right. Let's go spread some propaganda.
Breakfast was another modest, but filling and delicious spread. Thick slabs of bacon, fresh hot bread with butter and jam, hunks of cheese and plenty of fresh strawberries and grapes. Eggs were noticeably absent. Good. Audrey had eaten enough eggs to last her a lifetime. Chad also ate with the reckless abandon of someone who'd been deprived for months, which eliminated the small bit of insecurity Audrey harbored about eating like a slob.
"I'll keep this brief." Evie said, tearing a piece of bread off and pushing it into her mouth. They had the honor of dining with all four of the Auradon rulers this morning. "Remember who your audience is, you don't have to convince the Isle kids that you're like them -that would take a lot more time, effort and training - you have to convince the Auradonians, which is much easier. Subtlety is your friend today, people don't want to be beaten over the head with change. Remember the aspects of your original image that was so appealing, and play off of that. A complete rebrand can be arranged eventually if that's what you desire, but for now we're betting off of nostalgia and familiarity."
"You're both going to be asked about your tattoos." Carlos said evenly. "Start thinking about what you'll say so you're not floundering around."
"We'll unwrap them right before you go on the air, and then rewrap them afterwards." Mal said. "Any VK worth their weight in salt will know that those tats are fresh, but most Auradonians shouldn't be able to tell the difference. It would probably be best to say you got them a while ago."
"Just don't go out there trying to act like VK lite and you should be fine." Jay waved a hand, mouth full of food. "Don't think too hard, you know how to speak to a camera. You'll get in front of all those lights and it'll kick in like second nature. Just chill."
She met Chad's eyes across the table. Just chill. For Light's sake.
—-------
"The sun's up and so are we. I'm Ginny Gothel, here with the latest Auradon news, and today we have some very special guests. Let's give a warm Isle welcome to the former princess bubblegum guts and her loyal lavender lapdog." Ginny had a voice like honey but a smile like thorns. Audrey liked her immediately.
"I prefer a powder blue." Chad said dryly into the microphone. If he was at all bothered by the petty jabs, he didn't show it, his mouth pressed into a straight line, eyes confident and sure.
Audrey smiled at the camera. Jay was right, as soon as they got on set, she and Chad had fallen into their old routine of being the perfect PR wet dream. Their audience had just shifted is all.
"It's interesting you'd bring up lapdogs when Anthony Tremaine has been sniffing around your skirt so much lately. Tell me, does he bite?" Actually listening to Jay's incessant gossip was finally going to pay off. She'd always been known for her cool head and unbreakable confidence, now she just had to add in the edge that she'd had to hide away all this time.
"No," Ginny said tightly. "But I've been known to bite from time to time."
"You'll have to let me know if it falls through with Tremaine then." Chad winked, lips quirked up into a smug smile. Charm was literally in his name, his team loved to work the playboy angle. It was always toned down to fit the old Auradonian values of modesty, but Chad always had been a flirt.
"Careful now." Gothel's daughter crooned, mirroring her mother. "You might make the pink panther jealous."
"Oh you don't have to worry about that." Audrey laughed, holding their intertwined hands up for the camera. "I can't really see you being competition. Besides I don't care who Chad flirts with, he's not proposing or anything."
Ginny clenched her jaw and Audrey beamed, letting Chad rest an arm across her shoulder. "I've heard whispers that the good girl's gone bad." Ginny pushed on, expression souring. "So tell me Audrey, just how bad are you?"
Audrey rolled her eyes. "Let's be honest, good and bad are pretty subjective concepts, right? I mean, the recent shift in power is a pretty extreme example, but it's true. High Queen Maleficent has put several new laws and policies in place, and Auradon natives are so quick to call them all bad just because they came from her. If anyone actually bothered to read the legislation they were protesting, they'd know she's actually implementing a lot of protective clauses to keep kids and unprotected individuals safe from harm. The old administration was quick to push false individualism, leaving the ones who couldn't keep up to flounder around in the dust. The rise in 'gangs' is really just a rise in community values, the likes of which I've never seen before. They promote looking after your own, treating your loved ones like family. Not to mention magic wielders and non-human species haven't been this protected and liberated in years. Isn't that good?"
"Oh don't get me started on the magic thing." Chad said, waving his free hand. "There's so much hypocrisy out right now about the ethics of magic, and all of it is drivel. I mean we used to have magical creatures repressing their biological responses just for the comfort of a few squeamish royals. Jane had surgery done to flatten her teeth at 7 years old. We're talking about putting little girls and boys on pills to suppress magical hormones. We weren't even letting these people go through puberty correctly. And the only reason people don't think it's bad is because we haven't been taught that it is."
"We're much more into deciding what good and bad means to us." Audrey shrugged. "Isn't that what the High Queen preaches? Free thinking?"
"I see you're quite the fan of High Queen Maleficent all of a sudden." Ginny said, looking them over skeptically. "Why the change of heart?"
"Once I stopped seeing Her Highness as my competition, my life got a lot better." Audrey said simply. "She has a vision for a brighter future. I'd be a fool to let petty high school drama stop me from realizing that."
"It seems she's a big inspiration for you. I see you've both adopted the mark of the dragon." Ginny sneered, eyeing their fresh tattoos.
"High Queen Maleficent took us in." Chad said. "It's the least we can do to show her a little loyalty. And personally I'm glad tattoos are getting destigmatized, they're cool as hell. Who wouldn't want a sick dragon tat?"
"My loyalty lies with the crown." Audrey said, ignoring Ginny to smile directly at the camera. "High Queen Mal and her court have given me a place to belong and the room to grow under these trying circumstances. Major changes in government are always going to be hard, but they're necessary here. We're moving towards a more inclusive Auradon. This court has given me any and everything I needed. A tattoo is nothing in comparison to that."
—------
"Community values?" Mal smirked, leaning back in her chair as she watched the broadcast. "Damn, she's good."
"They both are." Evie hummed, touching up her mascara in a small hand mirror. "Chad's nonchalance is setting up the foundation for a bad boy with a soft side angle. And he's doing away with that dumb golden retriever act for more of a reserved intelligence."
"Thank Evil." Jay said. "It's great to hear him using multi-syllable words for once. I'm honestly impressed they managed this just from some petty gossip and a few info dumps."
"We chose them for a reason." Carlos stared intently at the screen. "Things are falling into place."
They all looked up at the sound of the doorknob turning, a sheepish Ben poking his head in, hair still a disheveled bed-headed mess. "Did I miss it?"
Mal shook her head. "They're still going."
"Good morning, darling." Evie smiled, patting the space beside her. "Come have a seat. We're going to pick them up after the interview."
"So they're doing good?" Ben urged, fidgeting with his rings. He was nervous, anxious to see his idea come to fruition.
"They're in their element." Jay said, grabbing Ben's hand and pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles. A light blush rose on his cheeks, and Jay used his momentary ease to urge the man in Evie's direction. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about them."
"You were right," Carlos said, shooting him a small smile. "They were just the thing we needed to calm the riots. Good eye, Ben. We probably wouldn't have considered it without you."
Ben beamed, proud of himself. He slid in next to Evie, resting his head on her shoulder while she scratched gently at his scalp, his eyes glued to the screen. He didn't notice when Carlos threw a smug look to Mal, who flashed a sharp grin in return. Jay smiled, kicking his feet up, and suppressing the urge to laugh. Evie covered her proud giggle by pressing a kiss into the top of Ben's head, who was oblivious to it all.
One didn't take over an entire nation without thinking ahead.