Thank you to everyone who has kept with me so far! I super appreciate all the comments and follows. I know things suck right now for a lot of people, I hope this chapter entertains and brightens your day.

That winter break, no one had a good time. Most of the students that went home or on holiday were punished by their parents because of the contraband that was found. Few were left unscathed. The students that were left behind in the dorms, the Isle Four and others who couldn't afford transportation home or had nowhere else to go, saw firsthand the new rules implemented.

Chaperones and their rounds had tripled. The internet had been harshly filtered to only allow the bare minimum of educational websites, and a notice went out about how all traffic was being closely monitored on any device using Wi-Fi.

New requirements for magic safety and the law classes were put in place if students wanted to graduate, putting more strain on seniors' already busy schedule.

Mal could feel their eyes constantly at her back. Despite Jane's confession and Ben's own proclamation that she was also a victim of the star fae's malicious intent, it didn't stop others from suspecting that she had something to do with the love potion.

Since the Four were stuck at school, they were given special permission to attend the magical safety class and take an accelerated curriculum. None of them wanted to risk not graduating on time, their admission into university depended on it.

The class was boring and most of them already knew the rules and safety well enough, most instruction was common sense. But volunteering for the class seemed to have bolstered their standing to the new Headmaster that had replaced Professor FéeMarraine. The new administrator was strict and stern, but at least he seemed to be that way with everyone and not unduly just to the Isle Four.

Mal didn't mind the new internet restrictions as she was barely on it. She still spent most of her time in the library, although she felt Queen Belle's absence. If she didn't hate Jane for trying to poison one of her friends already, she would definitely have hated the other girl for essentially driving away one of the few adults she respected and liked to talk to.

Ever since the scandal broke out and Ben was revealed to have remnants of the curse of the Beast within him, House Bourbon's grip on the throne became less assured. Belle's new Queenly duties included attending more junkets and conferences with King Adam. Whatever plans they had for Ben's winter break took a back seat to securing their reign. While Mal missed their conversations, she understood the gravity of Belle's situation. She didn't care so much about King Adam's rule, but she was concerned about Ben's. Her being in Auradon, as well as the other three and any future Isle child, rested solely with Ben and his influence over the law. If House Bourbon was ousted, she was certain she and the others would soon find themselves back with their parents and there would be no hope for anyone born of the Isle.

Mal halfheartedly read through the textbook in her usual spot in the library, it was page after page of anti-magic propaganda, and she could probably guess the answers to any test.

I just have to pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun and would screw me over the most.

If someone hands you a crying baby, do you:

A) Curse it

B) Lock it in a tower

C) Give it a bottle

D) Carve out its heart

E) Skin it for a coat

Oh gods, these can't be serious options.

Not only was the answer painfully obvious, but the wrong choices were clearly a jab at the Isle Four. But no matter how many times she blinked and wanted to compel the practice questions to not be as stupid, the ink didn't change and all she could do was roll her eyes and circle the clear choice of C.

Soon after, Mal walked back to the dorm much sooner than she normally would. The new rules had curfew two hours earlier, they had to be in their own rooms (as opposed to just inside the castle), and she had to check in and out of the dorms. She would have preferred to keep studying in the quiet of the library, but she and the others had agreed that putting up with the new rules were worth not going back to the Isle or risking any future they had in Auradon.

Each exit had new card readers, their new student IDs imbedded with microchips. After a certain time, the side doors would not open from the outside even with a valid student ID; thus forcing students to check in at the castle's entrance which was now manned by an adult 24/7. Students had to provide a reason for being out after hours, the acceptable reasons a short list. Any attempt to exit through those doors after curfew would sound an alarm and harsh punishment would be met.

All rooms were stripped of any personal refrigerators and microwaves, the administration did not want to risk students doing anything that even hinted at cooking or potion making. The kitchens were manned around the clock by guards and the fridges fitted with locks. Personal stashes of food and snacks were also forbidden, which hit the Isle Four the hardest.

While none of their food was magical in nature - even if one would mix them together in special ways - the administration looked at them oddly for having so much of it and hidden in every nook and cranny of the room. While others had forbidden items tucked away, the Four squirreled away food as if they were trying to always have their weight in snacks on hand. It was the first time any of the villain children had railed against the new rules. They could deal with being stuck in their own dorms, they could deal with an earlier bedtime. They would even deal with having to check in with an adult that seemed to be every few feet but taking their food away had made them almost feral.

To the average Auradonian, bags of crisps or dried meats were junk food that teenagers shouldn't be eating in the first place. To an Isle child, they represented sustenance that had an indefinite shelf life and vital calories that could mean the difference between making it through the winter or dying.

It was something no Auradonian would understand, and the Isle children didn't know how to put into words why they were so territorial. It took an intervention from their therapists to explain why the four teens were so up in arms. The explanation unfortunately did not sway the administration, citing health codes and the safety of the royals that lived there and the food was taken away. Although letting the food go went against every instinct that screamed in their blood, they didn't have much choice. They had to placate themselves that the mess hall would always have plenty of food, the Isle would not.

"It'll be fine," Mal tried to reassure the other three and they looked at her as if she had lost her mind, especially since she was always the one so stringent in keeping inventory of their root cellar.

"They said we can't have food in our room," they caught on to her meaning and they followed the new rules to the letter.

Years later, students would find bags of crisps and packages of biscuits tucked away in odd places all over the castle. The strangest was the beef jerky in the bronze vase in the foyer.

Mal finally trudged to her room, she had met no less than three chaperones from her journey from the castle entrance to her dorm. Although they had to be restricted to their rooms, it was still early, and Evie was wide awake. She spent the extra time sewing more garments than she could ever possibly wear. There were piles of shirts, bottoms, and miscellaneous winter items in separate piles throughout the area. Mal had to watch her step lest she mar Evie's work with her boots. The dark fae had tried to gently convince the witch that she need not sew so many clothes, but Evie had ignored her and brushed it off as merely "helping Isle children as part of the Isle-to-Auradon program." Mal figured there was nothing that could convince Evie, so she let the inconvenient piles of clothes slide.

It uncomfortably reminded her of the brothel, where Evie would spend her days laboring away at washing and mending the whores' bedding and clothes. She didn't know if the blue haired witch found comfort in sewing or did so out of compulsion, reverting to old habits because mentally the witch was still on the Isle.

The task was so rote to the other girl that she scantly needed to pay attention to the cloth, her hands did all the work while her eyes were glued to the television.

The Royal Broadcast Network used to be a favorite of Evie's, so entranced with royal fashion and their lavish lives, but lately she had been focused on the news. Three adults in suits sat at a large desk, graphics of the show's logo shown behind them. They were all in a heated discussion, the topic of the past few weeks had been Jane's attack on the Crown Prince.

I don't understand why she's not on the Isle with the other criminals, Fabienne Growly wondered in disbelief.

Because she's not a criminal, Peter Moosebridge retorted. She's just a misguided girl, dabbling in magic. It was a teenage indiscretion, there are several cases like hers every year and none of them go to jail, much less to the Isle, over it.

Except she poisoned the Crown Prince. Who are we as a society if we let off someone targeting the royal family so lightly? Our enemies as well as our allies will think us weak.

Jane didn't poison the Crown Prince, she foolishly tried to get the attention of a boy that went to her school, Ben.

They are one in the same. You can't just try to parse them out as if she only poisoned "Ben" and the Crown Prince would have been spared and fine. He is the future King of Auradon…for now.

Mal's jaw clenched the subtle threat, the whispers of the fall of House Bourbon becoming louder and louder as time went on. The looming danger to her and the others grew closer and closer, her desire to keep them safe at any cost had dark plans simmer beneath her conscience.

He is the future King, period, Peter asserted and almost dared his co-anchor to keep denying it.

And how do we know he still isn't compromised? She refused to back down. Whose word do we have that he still isn't under some spell? The star fae Nadine FéeMarraine? Who is loyal to whom? The Charmings? The family who owes everything they have to a faery and fae favor?

Most of the royalty and nobility owes what they have to the Fae, it's something most conveniently forget.

Peter made a good point, it seemed that most of Auradon liked to turn their head away when most royals and nobles enjoyed magical favor, but if a commoner wielded or took advantage of magic it was a threat to homeland security.

The only House that doesn't is House Bourbon. He went on. Never in their three-hundred-year history have they ever employed the fae or had fae favor. Even as he withered away, cursed as a Beast, King Adam never petitioned for magical help.

Whether or not he could even send out a message from his enchanted castle, or if the cursed castle help could do the same, wasn't mentioned nor did it really matter as it was clear Moosebridge was pro-unification and did not want to see House Bourbon fall. Some of the tension Mal held in her shoulders started to relax, Ben was not without his supporters.

The fact remains that the public at large does not understand magic in general. The fae assert, and have since King Adam had been cursed, that none of their own had anything to do with his curse. They continue to assert that the spell was done by an "Enchantress" and not them. King Adam has always been transparent about the magic that had touched his life, and he continues to be transparent. House Bourbon should not be condemned for their ignorance of how the curse works. The so-called Enchantress has not been seen since she issued the curse and it's not like she left a manual…

The anchors continued to bicker about the merits and it left both Isle girls uneasy. Mal knew Evie would have continued to sew well into the night if not for the strict new rules that demanded that lights be out, including television, at 9:00pm. It still took them a while to fall asleep, both not knowing what to say to each other and could only stare at the ceiling and worry about their future.

At some point Mal was finally able to doze off, but what felt like a few seconds something had jolted her awake. Dazed and confused she looked to her alarm clock and saw that it was 2am. She blearily blinked and looked around the room, wondering what had woken up her up. From her bed she saw jerky movement from Evie as she thrashed around from a nightmare.

"No, don't," she pled to the monsters in her dreams. "I don't want to become a whore…please don't…they'll hurt us…"

Tendrils of wispy blue smoke emitted from the witch, her magic activated to protect her.

Mal immediately got up and gently shook the witch, hoping that her nightmare would not let any accidental magic escape, and she didn't want her friend tortured by her fears any longer.

Evie gasped in shock at being awoken, desperately grabbing for anything she could use as a weapon as she didn't realize where she was at the moment, still caught between sleep and awake.

"Evie, it's me. It's Mal, you're safe," the fae tried to reason with her and avoided her flailing fists, and after a few moments the witch realized where she was. She had calmed a little, but she couldn't shake off the fear that haunted her.

"They don't care what happens to us…they won't care what they'll do to us if we have to go back," Evie sniffed, tears pooling in her eyes as she gave voice to the truth about Auradon.

Mal didn't need to know who "they" were. She and the other three had been living in fear about what would happen if Ben could not protect them and if they failed to escape to Camelot.

Evie becoming a whore was her best-case scenario, Mal didn't want to think about what Ravenna would do to her if she not only failed to nab a prince but had given her virginity away and could not sell it at Fleur's.

As far as Evie's mother was concerned, her daughter was only as valuable as how much someone would pay for her.

The Isle was only so big, there was nowhere they could hide for long before their parents would mete out their punishment for their failures.

The scars on Mal's back and arms started to ache, she thought about how she had gotten them when Maleficent supposedly did it for her own good as she hoped to prompt her magic. She shuddered at what Maleficent would do if she was infuriated by her failure.

She had helped bury enough bodies to know she never wanted to be on the wrong side of her mother.

"We still have the rations in the field and all of those supplies. We'll leave before it ever comes to that," Mal comforted Evie as best she could, she slid into bed with the witch who had immediately cuddled tightly to her side. The fae petted her hair and kept reminding her exactly what their thorough plans were, it seemed to comfort Evie to be reminded that they were prepared for the worst, but there were still some lingering doubts that Mal could not ease.

There was so much about Auradon they didn't know about, King Adam was powerful enough to capture the four most notorious Villains Auradon had ever seen. Could they really run and hide?

"I miss Jay," Evie cried, wishing he were there. He had never failed to make her feel safe.

Hearing how scared Evie still was, it broke Mal's heart and made her feel helpless. She knew she was not a replacement for Jay, and part of her wish he were there with them as well.

She wished they were all together, in the end the Isle Four only ever had each other.

Mal definitely hated Jane FéeMarraine.

Being back in Cinderellaburg was bittersweet for Nadine. It was the first place she had ever set foot in the human realm, unable to resist the sad call of a pure and kind soul who needed her help. With a few waves of her wand, she was able to change her charge's life for the better and it started a lifelong friendship.

Cinderellaburg had become her home since Stormhold had closed its borders after the Fae Wars. She had chosen to stay and protect her charge and the royal family, she eventually found love and started her own family to put down roots. She never thought she'd be all but banished back to the kingdom she called her home, her daughter disgraced and not allowed to step foot outside the Cinderellaburg borders without the Crown's express permission, which she did not see happening anytime soon.

The FéeMarraine family had been shunned by all but the Charming's since Jane's downfall. As much as the citizens of the kingdom loved their sovereign and had seen Nadine as a hero, it only lasted as long as they felt safe from fae magic.

But Cinderella was understanding and gracious, she did not care about the grumblings of lesser nobles; especially not the ones who had known Lady Tremaine and of her treatment and remained silent. She may not have been born a high ranking noble, but she was the daughter of a well to-do landowner and viscount. Some may scoff at those at the lower end of the nobility, but not everyone who held a high title could boast wealth. Lady Tremaine was evidence of that.

The now exiled former Lady had been a baroness to a failing estate who married Cinderella's father to save herself and her daughters from destitution. When Cinderella's father died, Lady Tremaine inherited all his wealth and holdings, banished Cinderella to the attic and forced her to wait hand and foot on her and her horrible daughters. Lady Tremaine, Druzilla, and Anastasia enjoyed a life of wealth made from the legacy of her father.

All while this happened, Lady Tremaine hosted dinners and soirees with the nobles she knew before she was the dowager baroness. No one batted an eye when the daughter of her second husband was treated lower than the scullery maid.

So no, queen Cinderella did not care what the nobles thought of her friendship with the first person to show her any kindness in over a decade and owed everything she had to the woman who gave her a beautiful gown and shoes.

She welcomed both Nadine and Jane to her castle for afternoon tea. In the past, Nadine would come over with Jane, the adults would retire to her personal parlor and Jane would go off with Chad. While the children entertained each other, Cinderella and Nadine would catch each other up on their lives, maybe do some gossiping, and would make plans for the upcoming school year.

Chad was nowhere to be found, while he didn't voice his disapproval of inviting the FéeMarraines over, he had made himself scarce when he knew they would arrive. At first, she had hoped that it was simple teenage stubbornness, that Chad simply wasn't interested in entertaining the fae girl any longer and thought himself a man grown and could do as he pleased. She had known the teens had grown apart, she mostly brushed it off as differing interests. But Ben was his best friend, and Chad was not happy that Jane had poisoned him. She tried to make him see reason, that anyone could make a mistake-especially when they were in love. But the future king of Cinderellaburg and Charmington would hear nothing of it, his loyalty to his friend too great.

Cinderella would not push the issue as she wasn't sure how she would feel if Jane had set her sights on her son, but she wasn't sure what to do when her guests arrived. They both looked emotionally haggard, especially the young girl as they were ushered in by a servant in Cinderella blue livery.

Jane had dark circles under her eyes, her skin almost sallow. Cinderella had wondered if she had even been eating or seen the sun in the last few weeks. Her hair hung limply as it framed her face. Jane didn't wear her traditional bow, in its place was a wide blue head band that covered most of her forehead. The hair piece was not enough to hide the burgeoning platinum silver of her natural hair.

It seemed the teen had completely stopped caring about her appearance.

Cinderella's heart went out to her, remembering the sweet little girl who wanted to be a cheerleader and was always impeccably polite if not shy. The queen had put on her brightest and kindest smile and hoped it would be contagious.

"Welcome you two, it's been so long," she greeted them jovially, and hugged Nadine perhaps a bit harder than necessary. Cinderella couldn't help it, she needed her oldest and dearest friend to know she was there for her.

Nadine returned a tight smile, trying to overcome the tension in the room when Jane barely acknowledged Cinderella beyond her own strained smile.

"I'm sorry that Chad couldn't make it, he and his father are out breaking in the new destriers they got for Yule, a gift from the emperor. But I'm sure we'll have a fun time, just us girls. I even had those lemon cakes you love brought up..."

Jane knew she was lying, but it wasn't like she could call the queen out on it. Chad had more or less ignored her during these visits when they entered Auradon Prep, merely entertaining her to be polite but excused himself at the first opportunity and left her to her own devices in his sitting room or out in the garden. The prince barely acknowledged her existence while in school. After the love potion disaster, he had made it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with the fae.

"That's fine," Jane tried to pretend to be upbeat, "I actually have a lot of homework to do...part of my probation and all."

Nadine tensed at her daughter's admission, but it wasn't like Cinderella didn't know. Jane had to be homeschooled, but the Crown had deemed that not only were extra classes on magical law and safety were required, Jane had to take even more courses about not abusing magic as part of her punishment.

"School is very important," she tried to gracefully cover the excuse and act as if nothing was amiss. "Well, you know where the library is, don't you? I'll have drinks and snacks brought to you."

Jane smiled tightly, did a polite curtsey and led herself to the library; she didn't even bother to look at her mother. Once her back was turned, all evidence of a smile had vanished and internally fumed at how pointless the fake politeness was. She wished she could have been left at home, instead her mother insisted that she be paraded about as if she hadn't been banished in all but name. She was tired of the stares of distrust and whispered gossip. It was bad enough they made her humiliate herself on television in front of the entire country, spouting nonsense about the dangers of magic use and how school was more important than having a boyfriend.

If I hear "real magic is in books" one more time...

If she wasn't wearing the court mandated magic dampening ankle bracelet, she was certain sparks would have flown from her fingers.

Nadine sighed as she watched her daughter walk off, she knew Jane's snub had been deliberate. Cinderella had motioned for her to sit down and she obliged. The queen poured each of them a cup of Darjeeling and waited for her friend to speak first.

All the star fae could do was sigh and mindlessly stirred in some sugar, she just didn't have the energy to keep pretending everything would be alright and that it was a normal gossip session.

"I just don't know what to do with her," Nadine admitted to her dearest friend, Cinderella listened intently knowing the fae needed to get things off her chest. "She's furious with me for taking her out of school, and I can't get through to her why I had to do it. Even if I wanted to keep her there, she had been banished from Auradon City. I know Crown Prince Ben had petitions for my resignation. I would never make him go through firing me himself. It was impossible to stay. She doesn't understand how close she was to being banished to the Isle, a few extra classes and house arrest is nothing."

The queen gasped at the revelation, she had no idea either it could have been that dire.

"They surely wouldn't have sent a young girl there, would they?"

"King Adam was furious, he had every intention of expelling Ms. Lefay and the others and sending them back to the Isle when he thought it was them. He's never been all that comfortable with my appointment as headmistress, and we all know how he feels about magic."

Cinderella nodded, the reigning King of the 18 Kingdoms was rather notorious for his anti-magic sentiment. While the Charmings were loyal to the Crown and believed in Unification, they had never enjoyed the warmest relationship with King Adam himself due to their connection to Nadine and having an official Royal Fae, rather than just keeping her simply as Chad's Faery Godmother.

"She's young, she can't stay mad forever. Eventually she'll see reason and that you did what was best," Cinderella assured her warmly, she thought Jane was just being a surly teenager and it was a phase she would get past.

Nadine wasn't so certain, but she hoped her friend was right.

"It's not just pulling her out of school, all of her prospects have gone away. No school will touch her now that she's got a record. She may have to be regulated to further education and hope in time she can transfer to get her bachelor's or do online classes. She's also heartbroken she'll never get into MiM...I didn't even know she wanted to go the MiM."

"Maybe in time..." the queen wanted to be optimistic and hopeful.

Nadine gently shook her head,

"It's impossible now. Even if MiM accepted anyone with a record of magical misuse, the Crown would never grant her a magical permit. She could learn theory, but they'd never approve her for practical use. There's no point in learning magic if she could never wield it. She also blames me for not teaching her the basics earlier...but she never showed any signs of magic when she was younger. I thought she was completely human in that regard," she tried to defend herself. "I didn't want to try to teach her something she could never do, I didn't want her to feel as though there was something wrong with her not being magical."

Nadine had wished that Jane had showed any signs of magic, she would have been more than happy to pass on the knowledge of the star fae, of how to wield power over light or whatever Jane's special talent may have been.

She had her own hopes and dreams of Jane becoming a great phosphoromancer, but when Jane appeared to be completely human she had put those dreams to bed and tried to love and encourage her daughter to be whatever made her happy. She made it a point to tell Jane that magic wasn't everything and she didn't need it to be successful.

"We were all surprised she had powers," the queen assured her, and she meant it vehemently. She was certain that if she asked a thousand people, not one of them would have thought the sweet shy girl had any magic in her at all.

"And when she did show power, no matter how little it started, she should have come straight to me. I would have started lessons that minute. Instead, she foolishly goes on the internet to learn...I don't know why she didn't come talk to me."

And that's what broke Nadine's heart, that for reasons unknown to her, her daughter had kept secrets from her. So many things could have been avoided if she had only been honest.

"They get to a certain age, and they think they don't need us anymore."

It was a heartbreak that every parent went through, it was just unfortunate that in Nadine's case it had ruined her daughter's life. The star fae nodded, she knew how teenagers could be, but couldn't shake off the instinct to lay blame elsewhere.

Nadine took a sip of her tea, she hoped it would stop the words from coming out of her mouth. She looked around and saw that they had privacy, and she trusted Cinderella with her life and knew the queen would not betray her trust.

"Jane says princess Audrey put her up to it," she eventually confessed, unable to bridle her tongue.

Cinderella blinked a few times, unsure if she had heard Nadine correctly.

Once she had spoken, the fae found she could not stop.

"During the talks with the attorney, Jane started to lay blame at the princess' feet. She said that Audrey convinced her that Mal had put some sort of spell on Ben and that's why the princess and the Crown Prince had broken up."

"That's preposterous. You would have noticed if Ben was under a spell."

"I certainly would have, just as I did at the championship. There's no mistaking the behavior of someone under a spell. Then my daughter tells me she was convinced that the best way to counteract a love spell, would be to do another one. That somehow her love spell would be stronger or better than Mal's? It's the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard...she may not have gotten proper lessons from me, but she certainly had taken basic magical safety. That should have been enough to deter her from any love spells."

Cinderella nodded her head in agreement, she had always been under the impression that Jane was a bright girl, but perhaps that was too generous if the story was true.

"Jane said that Audrey provided some of the ingredients. When the attorney went to the Dornröschen's to ask about Audrey's involvement, they lawyered up and said that Jane had stolen them. Our attorney convinced us to not pursue it any further. Even if Audrey had volunteered the items and convinced her to perform the spell, it's not illegal as Audrey never performed the magic."

"But wouldn't she at least be in trouble for solicitation? Or…or some sort of encouragement to do a crime?"

"Not as Jane described it. Audrey never told her 'if I give you these items in payment, will you do the spell for me?' Jane had already admitted that she did it as a favor and thinking she would 'help' Ben."

"Do you think Audrey was involved?"

Nadine sighed sadly and remained quiet for a bit, tapping on the rim of her porcelain cup. She could admit she wasn't sure what she thought.

"I want to believe her. I want to believe that my Jane is innocent and was led astray but..." she paused as she tried to get her thoughts together. Her throat started to choke up and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "But she should have been smart enough to say no to such an asinine plan. She should have come to me, I don't know why she didn't. If she truly thought Ben was in danger, why not come to me and I would have easily been able to test if he had a curse on him. Why did she think she could do it on her own? And resorting to a love potion? The plan itself makes no sense, and I thought I raised her better than that."

"You did, I know you did."

"I feel like I failed her. Even if Audrey didn't ask for the potion, I knew the princess had been a bad influence on her weeks."

"What do you mean?"

"In the four years Jane has been at that school, never once did I ever see Audrey exchange more than a few words with her. Suddenly, she's taking Jane out for expensive hair treatments and inviting her to shopping trips. Later when we were packing up to move, I find she has designer dresses, that cost hundreds of francs, and they're from Audrey. She's suddenly made a cheerleader after being the mascot for so long? I can't believe Audrey would also be so daft as to think a love potion was the answer to Ben's breakup, but I can't help but wonder if maybe Jane is telling the truth. Jane had never shown any romantic interest in the Crown Prince before. Maybe Audrey saw that she had magic and manipulated her into giving her a love spell in order to win Ben back. The Dornröschens have been drooling over the Queen's Crown since they've woken up. I wouldn't be surprised if queen mother Leah put it in her head to marry Ben no matter what."

Cinderella shook her head, unable to process that a princess would stoop so low but did agree that something wasn't right. While she respected the Dornröschen's, there was something insincere about the Aurorian royal family, rumors of warring factions within their House for the throne were whispered in all corners of the country. If she recalled, the cadet Dornröschens circled the royal family like a pack of wolves, eager to always point out Stefan's less than royal lineage and questioned the legitimacy of his reign.

"Even if Audrey was the cause," Nadine went on, her shoulders slumped and defeated as she had to swallow the bitter truth, "Jane still should have said no to such a stupid plan. I don't know why her senses left her and she attempted a love potion. She threw away her future for some hair extensions and pretty dresses."

Cinderella did not envy Nadine. Although some of Chad's behavior at times was ungentlemanly, the worst she had to worry about was a few bastard grandchildren. She did not know what to say to make her friend feel better, short of traveling back in time and hoping she could talk some sense into the girl. But she squeezed Nadine's hand and promised,

"Everything will be alright. You're home now, and I will do everything I can to help. Even if I have to fund a completely brand-new university and have Jane be part of the inaugural class. She'll finish up her probation, maybe take a gap year and work. This whole mess will blow over, she'll get the best education Cinderellaburg has to offer and she'll always have a place in my household...it'll be alright."

Nadine finally let the tears fall as she was overwhelmed with relief as Cinderella offered her hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. She would always be grateful to the Charmings and she knew her loyalty was not misplaced.

"Thank you," she whispered, feeling for the first that maybe not all was lost.

Cinderella returned the favor that Nadine had done to her so long ago, she gave her a sliver of hope when she was at her lowest.

Unbeknownst to either woman, prince Chad listened in just out of sight from the entryway. He had attempted to get past the parlor unseen, not wanting to be instructed to find Jane and keep her company. In his attempt at stealth, he had heard his mother's conversation with Nadine, and her suggestion that princess Audrey had something to do with Jane's uncharacteristic behavior.

He didn't know if it was true, but it somewhat made sense. He had known Jane since they could toddle and a love potion was uncharacteristically bold. Audrey did have a bigger motivation to get Ben back at any cost. He had no way to prove it either way, but it was some information that he would tuck away for a later day.

Audrey had big dreams for her senior year. It was her final year at Auradon Prep, she was supposed to rule the school with Ben by her side and look to a glorious future at University. She had even been early accepted to Auradon University, she had plans to double major in royal political science and early childhood education. While she could never actually use the latter degree for employment, she did have every intention to give her children the best start they could with their education, and she look forward to internships that worked with kindergartners or younger. She had every intension of not just being an empty headed Queen, she intended to rule by Ben's side and give him sage advice.

Every dream she had was replaced with apprehension. Instead of being excited to return from winter break, she worried about what others were saying behind her back. Normally she didn't care what the commoners gossiped about her. She knew it was from a place of jealousy and they were nothing to her so she didn't let it phase her. Sometimes, she was even flattered that she was always on their minds.

It was different, however, when Jane had snitched on her to the police about what happened with Ben and the love potion. Thankfully, her impeccable reputation and insanely expensive lawyer had her coming out of the situation unscathed. She would no sooner face consequences than if she had done the spell herself. Jane was too poor to actually fight and her credibility already in shreds for anyone to believe her, at least to those that mattered.

The daughter of Aurora would never stoop as low to use magic against another royal, not with her family's history. She had nothing to worry about with the adults, she did worry about if Jane's accusations had gone beyond the police station. Teenagers would be more apt to gossiping about her and spreading malicious lies even if she truly had nothing to do with Jane's spell. While all the adults and those who mattered believed her, students were another matter entirely. While they couldn't do anything to her, she certainly didn't want any accusation to make it to Ben's ears. If he suspected her of using magic to get him back and remembered she was there right after Jane had given him the cookie, then he would have reason to put even more distance between them. It could also affect the rest of her family, the Bourbons shunning the Dornröschens. If that happened, then people may consider Jane's accusations even closer, and if anyone thought to dig deeper then maybe some of Audrey's story may start to fall apart.

If any of the dorm chaperones were pressed, they would have to admit that they don't keep as good tabs on the royal wing. The same could be said if they questioned her bodyguards. While they were paid to be loyal and protect her, that loyalty was secondary to the safety of the Crown Prince.

While she vacationed in the Summerlands, she couldn't enjoy warm pink sand beaches or hours of retail therapy. She worried about what Jane might have let slip to other students, and if the fae ever got an audience with the Crown Prince to defend her case.

Audrey obsessively stalked the gossip channels and all platforms of social media, trying to catch wind of a salacious remarks or any accusations of magic use.

She also worried that perhaps Ben would recall that she had spoken to him just as he had taken a bite of the love cookie on his own. Jane had said it was supposed to make him fall in love with her instantly if she was the first person she saw after eating. If Ben knew that's how the spell should have worked, would he figure out her part in it? What sense did it make if Jane was the intended recipient of his love if she had immediately left?

She and her family could not afford to fall out of favor with the reigning royal family.

The first couple of days back at school were uneventful as everyone got reacquainted to the swing of things and to the new rules. Although she tried with all her might, she didn't hear any salacious rumors about herself, and Ben hadn't made any overtures about distrusting her. Still, it would be foolish to rely on only what she heard, as most did not plot another's downfall out loud.

One frigid morning, she was in a less used portion of the castle dorm, the library. Because Auradon Prep had a much larger stand-alone library, the castle had a remnant of the original one that housed only reference books and memorabilia of the history of the school. It was largely unused as most students relied on either the larger library or simply Googled anything they wanted to know.

Audrey made herself comfortable at a long mahogany table, noting she still had a few minutes before the designated meeting time. She thankfully didn't have to wait long as her expected guest arrived not a minute later.

Lonnie Li was an enigma to Audrey. The girl wasn't popular, but she wasn't unpopular either. She easily fit in with the royals and commoners alike. The Northern Wei girl held the respect of essentially every male royal from Auroria to Westerly, her prowess in sports garnering their admiration. She seemed to fit in anywhere she went, her presence never once noted as odd.

Perhaps that's why she made for the best source of news in and outside of the school. Everyone knew that if they wanted information, and were willing to pay for it, then Lonnie could find out anything they wanted. The princess had never heard of any of Lonnie's information to be incorrect.

"Well, you know my...consultation fee," Lonnie began as soon as she sat across from Audrey. "The price for any other information will depend on its value and how easy it is to obtain."

Audrey almost rolled her eyes, thinking the whole farcical situation was gauche. There was just something so sleezy about paying someone for information, information probably gathered in underhanded ways at that. But without resistance, Audrey pulled out a heavy coin purse from her designer bag and haphazardly tossed it to Lonnie. The girl was surprised by its weight when she caught it as it contained much more than just the consulting fee.

"I'm sure that will cover anything I want to know."

Lonnie wouldn't argue with that, but she kept a neutral face as to not give herself away,

"What are people saying about the love spell put on Ben?" Audrey wasted no time.

Lonnie wasn't too surprised as it was what everyone was still talking about but found it odd that Audrey wanted to know as she was certain the princess could have gotten all the gossip herself.

"Most still can't believe little mousy Jane was behind it, but it has stirred up a lot of anti-fae sentiment. Many still believe Mal had something to do with it, despite Ben's declaration and Jane's public apology."

Audrey recalled the televised apology the half star fae had to recite in front of everyone as part of her punishment. The shy girl blathered on about the dangers of doing magic while untrained and how no one should resort to magic to get a boy. Jane was awkward and stilted through the whole thing, clearly reading from a script and spouted every trite phrase the Crown wanted her to say; she was a living PSA poster that was found in every school hallway in Auradon.

The princess had almost passed out when she watched it, certain Jane would break and start throwing accusations around in order to try to exonerate herself. Thankfully, her lawyers were intimidating enough to keep Jane silent about her involvement.

She was glad, however, that people seemed to be focused on Mal. While the dark fae might not have been behind Jane's love spell, she was still certain the other girl was up to no good in some other capacity and any excuse to kick her out of Auradon and back to the Isle was warranted.

"There were a few jerks who had plans to lace doorknobs with iron dust."

Lonnie almost spit out the last part, while Mal wasn't her friend or anything she didn't think it was right that the girl was receiving the brunt of these hateful attacks when she didn't even do anything.

"Thankfully, the administration caught wind of these vicious attacks before they happened. Since iron can be deadly, they were taken seriously as assaults and the boys were even expelled."

Some may label Lonnie as a snitch at best, or an extortionist at worst but she was glad she had installed hidden cameras throughout the school to keep tabs on everyone. She was more than happy to drop an anonymous note to the new headmaster.

"Anything else?" Audrey inquired, uncaring if a few Neanderthals decided to pull a few pranks on the Mistress of Evil's daughter. She didn't even notice anyone had been expelled, so they must have been commoner nobodies that weren't worth her time.

Lonnie shrugged, it was just run of the mill gossip after a huge scandal. She didn't quite know why Audrey would be so interested. She had half expected the princess to be foaming at the mouth, enraged that someone would dare try to not only harm a royal with magic, but her ex-boyfriend.

Since when does Audrey care about gossip? Why would she pay so much for something she probably could have found out on her own from her own legion of sycophants?

These questions buzzed through Lonnie's mind, she made mental notes to pay closer attention to the princess; she took a mental inventory of every camera she had hidden that would coincide with the princess' schedule and usual route through school.

"The Isle Four are more closed off than ever," she continued, figuring Audrey had paid for every last tidbit she had to offer. "After the disaster with the Winter Recital and Jane's love potion fiasco, they aren't too keen on socializing. Carlos and Jay are part of R.O.A.R., but otherwise they don't talk to anyone. The team is pretty strong this year, but the tension between Ben and Carlos might put that in jeopardy."

"Well that mongrel did attack Bennie, so I'm not surprised."

Lonnie refrained from frowning, she did not care for the cruel term; Audrey spoke of Carlos like he was some misbehaving dog.

"Well, from what most people are saying, it's because Carlos suspects that Ben's confession of love was genuine even if he was compelled to say it because of the spell."

Lonnie couldn't help the feeling of vindictive satisfaction when Audrey visibly bristled at the thought.

"What do you mean? He was clearly under a love spell."

Lonnie tried to look as innocent as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and shrugged as if she didn't know any better, but inwardly smiled at the salt she was about to rub in the wound of Audrey's broken heart.

"Well, the forum Jane had visited to get the love spell was taken down, but nothing ever really goes away with the internet. I was able to get my hands on some screen shots. Apparently, a day or two before Jane was caught, she had posted a question about what would happen to a spell if certain substitutions to the ingredients had been made. The replies were mostly them telling her she was an idiot to not follow the recipe exactly..."

Lonnie took special note at the enraged look behind Audrey's eyes and the vein that appeared in her jaw as she clenched her teeth.

"...but eventually one responded with a helpful answer. Substituting ingredients can warp a spell. There's no way of knowing exactly how since Jane didn't specify what she swapped out and how those ingredients would react. But the original spell was supposed to make Ben fall in love with the first person he saw."

"And?"

"Mal wasn't anywhere near Ben the entire day."

"What do you mean? She came to the game."

"Right, but the team and cheerleaders took a different bus at a different time than the student buses. The regular students didn't leave until later and everyone knows Mal would rather go back to the Isle than get up earlier than she has to."

That was true enough, Audrey contemplated what Lonnie was telling her. Mal had developed a reputation of needing to be carried down to the mess hall before she had her morning coffee. The fae even had a few detentions under her belt for sleeping in too late.

"And according to all my sources, Mal hadn't even seen Carlos off or before the game started as students weren't allowed on the field. She and Evie went straight to the stands. So, there's no way Ben could have seen her in the stands from where he was. Even if he did, there had to be dozens of people he would have had seen before her. Then there's the timing, no one knows for sure but I sure don't remember Jane giving him anything on the bus, or before or during the game. So she had to have given it to him before we left. There had to be a ton of people he saw before he showed signs of being under the spell. Some of the magic historian students think the love spell became a reveal your heart spell. Supposedly the ingredients are similar and it would explain why she would be named when he never saw her for the spell to activate as it should have."

"Well those students are idiots if they think Ben would ever love someone like Mal Lefay and they don't know what they're talking about," Audrey snapped, wanting to retain some of her pride. "Clearly the spell was done by an inept faery that had no idea what she was doing, it drugged him and made him delusional. It's not like we know that faery's every movement, so he must have seen her at some point."

She certainly didn't want to believe anything he had said while under the spell.

Lonnie remained silent and shrugged; thinking she had goaded Audrey enough.

The princess knew the information would bother her all day, but at least it had nothing to do with her. From Lonnie's reports, it seemed everyone was still focused on Ben or Mal and had no reason to suspect anyone beyond Jane. As far as she could tell, she was off scot-free.

She just had to live with the idea that Ben truly loved Mal.

She didn't count on piquing the interest of a girl who had digital eyes and ears everywhere.

Carlos was just as unhappy about their current sleeping arrangements as any of them, it was made worse when he felt as if he had less to do as most of his free time was to hang out with Mal. It wasn't always sexual, but he had gotten used to it and loathed to be forced to give it up.

Jay wasn't happy either and started to work out more doing weights and various core exercises in their room to get his mind off of missing Evie.

Carlos sadly looked at Facebook as he sat at his desk, not knowing what else to do as he had already finished his homework and didn't want to join Jay's regimen. He saw the two friend invites that remained unanswered.

Ivy de Vil

Diego de Vil

Two first cousins he had recently discovered. They were clearly de Vils with their two-toned hair. Ivy had the classic presentation with black and platinum split right down the middle and both in equal measure. Diego's was more like his, where the dark and light were different places. His cousin sported a mohawk, a pitch stripe running down the middle and counterchanged with platinum as it fanned out from the top. Both Facebook accounts were mostly public, so he could see the luxurious life they both led; both looked happy, and why shouldn't they be? They belonged to one of the wealthiest families in all of Auradon. They went to the most prestigious schools in East Riding and had the latest and most fashionable of everything.

They had a family that loved them.

He may share their name and blood, but that was it. And it seemed that was all they would ever share.

Before the whole love spell attack, he had been in contact with Ben to try to set up a meeting with his blood related family from East Riding. Through the Crown Prince, Carlos had found out he had two first cousins, a grandmother, a cousin once removed, an uncle, and a plethora of extended family all across Auradon but mostly situated in East Riding, specifically the London area. His uncle Cecil was executor of Cruella's estate, and the only point of contact for the de Vil family.

But no matter how many messages he sent asking to meet the family he didn't know he had had, there were just as many that returned with apologies stating the family just wasn't ready to meet him. The letters never explicitly stated such, but he had a sneaking suspicion that none of them considered him a de Vil and were ashamed of the circumstances of his birth on top of his status as a child of a villain. The Isle didn't have inheritance laws as most that populated the island were second generation with the first mostly still living. Further, there wasn't much to inherit anyway so it was usually a non-issue. The quasi-government led by Maleficent didn't include keeping track of marriages, and most didn't see the point of marriage as well. On an Isle full of bastards, Carlos never really noticed his illegitimacy and neither had the rest of the Isle Four. He had grown up knowing Fisher wasn't his father, and Cruella and he were essentially the only married couple. He was called a de Vil and Cruella never corrected anyone or tried to deny him the name.

But in Auradon, whether one's parents were married or not actually dictated the law and if they had a right to an inheritance. The royals and nobles had specific requirements tied into their titles, land, and money involving marriage. No one could inherit unless they were born in wedlock. There was an understanding that the father ought to financially provide for any natural children, but beyond that he could give nothing else if it was related to the titled estate. For commoners, inheritance laws were a bit looser as their money was usually earned outside of any land or estate tied to a title. But if there were conflicting claims to an inheritance, then the warring claimants could be tied up in court for years, depleting any money they would have enjoyed. In turn, wealthy commoners tended to be just as careful with their heirs and legitimacy as their royal counterparts in order to protect their legacy.

Carlos sometimes wondered if he was even allowed to be called a de Vil at all. The law seemed convoluted and unclear, even Ben wasn't sure. Was Cruella even technically wealthy anymore? Ravenna and Lady Tremaine had been formally disentitled and their lands and wealth stripped from them by official royal decree. No one knew for sure what applied to Cruella as a commoner, other than Cecil being in charge of "her" money.

If she was never going to be released from the Isle, could it even be called her money anymore?

Trying to wrap his head around Auradonian inheritance statutes gave him a headache.

It's your name Carlos, I won't let them take that away from you.

He recalled Ben's promise, but he didn't know if the Crown Prince still meant to honor it.

He wasn't even sure the name was worth having, he huffed in resignation; exhausted from trying to figure it all out. Despite his attempts to reach out to them, the de Vils had denied him at every turn. Whatever money he may be entitled to, it would take years and legal fees he didn't have to litigate and there was always the chance it would turn out he had a right to nothing. de Vil was Cruella's name, he got it because there wasn't any other available; Fisher was not his father, and his biological sire remained unknown. Even if he did know who his father was, he certainly didn't want anything to do with a rapist and whatever crime he committed to get on the Isle; and he certainly would never take his name.

Maybe I should become de la Isle or Isleson and be done with it. Carlos de la Isle, that doesn't sound so bad. Wash my hands of this "family" as they clearly want nothing to do with me.

He refused to let the misty tears that threaten to pool in his eyes fall, anger and hurt were in equal measure in his heart. He didn't expect a parade or to even be welcomed with open arms, but he had hoped for something more than being completely rejected before they even met him.

While it was never discussed out loud, Carlos always envisioned that when he married Mal, he would take her name. He had every intention of tying himself to her and let it be known to all that they were a family. A real family that loved and would always be there for each other.

Carlos Oscar Lefay, that definitely has a nice ring to it.

He may or may not have a few pieces of loose-leaf paper with various iterations of Mr. and Mrs. Lefay. Carlos Lefay, CEO of Lefay Computer Securities. Carlos Lefay, husband of Mal Lefay, Esq.

The de Vils had done nothing for him, he didn't see a reason to keep their legacy going.

Carlos looked hard at the screen and decided, he canceled the friend requests and shut his laptop.

No one can say I didn't try. I will not beg to be loved.

At some point, Jay had finished working out and had showered. With a few final sweeps of the towel through his long black hair, dressed in just his boxers he tossed the cloth to the side and huffed in frustration as he jumped backwards into bed.

"This sucks," he complained, referencing how neither were in the room or with the company they wanted. "We should just get an apartment off campus. We should be able to drive soon. That'll cost just as much as boarding us, wouldn't it?"

Carlos thought about it, it wasn't a totally bad idea if it was allowed at all.

"But I'm the only one that's 18 and considered an adult in Auradon," he pointed out. "I don't know if any place would let us rent."

Jay rolled his eyes, thinking the rules in Auradon were stupid. The Isle Four were more than capable of taking care of themselves but he knew Carlos was right. They were still considered children, and by the time they were all old enough they would have graduated anyway.

"This sucks," Jay whined as he didn't know what else to do.

School was back in full swing and with it a new sport. On the Isle, they only had a makeshift school taught by exiled mad scientists. There were barely any lessons, much less extra curriculars. Carlos and Jay gave credit to those born in Auradon for all the work they did in school. Not only were there lessons, but most participated in some sort of sport or art that took up their time. Added upon that was studying for hours, taking regular standardized tests, and doing whatever they had to in order to move onto university.

On the Isle, it was rare that anyone would stay in school beyond Year 6. School in Auradon seemed to go on forever.

The Isle boys were courted to join R.O.A.R. by Coach Jenkins, Crown Prince Ben, and Lonnie. All three thought they had great potential and were told it would look good on their applications. The Isle four had already applied to some colleges, but if they were waitlisted or didn't get in, most schools had later acceptance where they could try again with the more bulked up application.

Carlos almost declined to join, he thought it would be too much commitment with an already heavy course load. With the new rules and what happened with Ben, he was even less inclined to join but Jay managed to sway him.

Lonnie worked with Jay and him closely to teach them the basics over winter break. They had spent hours learning how to hold the sword properly and the intricate foot placements. The de Vil scion's dance experience helped him gracefully dodge blows and he was nimble on his feet. Jay had pure strength, but with a fast opponent he was easily outmaneuvered by the more experienced Lonnie.

She was a hard taskmaster and never let up despite their sore wrists and exhaustion. She felt after the break that they ready to train with the others, their first tournament in a few weeks.

Ben had rarely been seen despite the fact he stayed on campus during the winter holidays. His princely duties were tenfold due to the scandal. Some had even speculated that he wouldn't be able to do R.O.A.R. that year, but he showed up dutifully for the first official day of practice. He had an easy comraderie with the other players, born from knowing them for years. Carlos didn't know if Coach or Lonnie had talked to the other team members, but most remained at least cordial and they were familiar with them as several Tourney players also participated in R.O.A.R. He feared that they would treat him as a pariah and he'd have to leave for the peace of the team, as most of the other students had been rather cold to the Four, all rallying around their Crown Prince.

Whatever their personal feelings may have been, the team stuck together, and they included Carlos and Jay.

Most of the awkward tension remained with Ben and Carlos. The two had successfully avoided each other for most of practice, but there was a rotation among the pairs to get them used to different fighting styles and gauge their strengths and weaknesses. They couldn't evade each other forever.

While most tried to joke and made small talk, Ben and Carlos didn't say anything and only acknowledged one another with a small nod. They both went into formation and soon the clinking of their swords filled the practice hall. Carlos seemed to be a natural and held his own while Ben's years of experience kept pace and neither had any intention of going easy on the other. Their teammates stood awkwardly at the side, all pausing their practice and wondered if they ought to do anything. None of them wanted things to get out of hand, and definitely no one wanted a repeat of what happened during the championship game.

Most spars lasted only a few minutes, each would take the time to give each other honest feedback on how to improve. Ben and Carlos had not stopped even after both had committed rule violations. The Crown Prince was unrelenting in his attacks and Carlos defended himself admirably. Their fight had moved to the ring of boxes, although neither Jay nor Carlos had been introduced the addition of the obstacles, Carlos had been able to use them to his advantage and ease. Running with the others through the Isle included regularly jumping and avoiding miscellaneous hinderances such as walls, stalls, beds, and even buildings.

Lonnie's heart nearly jumped out of her chest, she couldn't believe either boy would be so reckless. While Carlos may be talented, he was still new to the sport and Ben should have known better than to let the match go on.

"Coach, are you going to do something?" she hissed at Mr. Jenkins, wondering why he wouldn't put a stop to it.

"Carlos looks like he's handling himself just fine and Ben's always been pretty weak with the boxes. I want to see how this pans out," the Coach focused on the pair and took mental note of their strengths and weaknesses, he dismissed Lonnie's concern.

Lonnie let out an annoyed huff, as she thought he should have been more worried about their safety.

The clinking had stopped for a moment and she had hoped it meant they were done. But the two just circled each other like cobras waiting for the perfect chance to strike.

Ben knew he should have stopped but fighting against Carlos just brought back every memory from the championship. The feeling of jealousy and rage were mere ghosts but still strong enough that they clouded his judgment. Part of him wished that the former Headmistresses had not interfered as he knew he could have defeated the bother boy. It seemed Carlos had the same thought, he wanted to finish what they had started and prove who was the better man for Mal.

Goosebumps coiled on the team's skin when they heard the low growls reverberating through the hall. Both Carlos and Ben bore their teeth at each other, their incisors becoming razor sharp; their eyes turned scarlet and gold respectively.

Jay saw their magic start to emerge and felt it had gone on long enough. They didn't need another incident like at the Tourney game and he would be damned if he ever saw Carlos dragged away by the police again.

The temperature in the room had dropped to an unnatural chill, he could see the faint wisps of their breath. In the corner of his eye he could see the champion banners along the wall start to move from an unknown wind.

But before he could move to stop them, both lunged at each other with an inhuman snarl and swung their swords with all of their might. As soon as their blades had touched, a flash of sparks and several surprised yelps had broken them out of their heated anger. Both looked surprised at their hands and where their practice swords once where, only the hilts remained as the blades had shattered.

"Is everyone ok?"
"Is anyone hurt?"

Both Carlos and Ben asked at the same time, looking around to make sure no one suffered from their fight.

A whistle blew and finally Coach Jenkins had stepped in,

"That's all for tonight everyone. Good show, I like the enthusiasm…might have introduce you both to the rulebook," he winked cheekily at them, recalling he had said the same to Jay on his first day of Tourney practice. "Hit the showers."

Again, Lonnie found herself frustrated by the coach's cavalier attitude and acting as if what just happened was totally normal. Instead of collecting her things, she followed him to his office.

"Coach, are we just going to ignore what just happened?"

"No Miss Li, I am not ignoring what just happened," he has years of experience with dramatic teenagers who thought they were adults and in charge, and knew how to handle them.

"Then what are we going to do?" she needed to know as co-captain.

"We aren't doing anything. I'm keeping an eye on things. Look," he tried to cut her off before she went on some tirade. "What's happening is two Alpha Males are having a pissing contest over the same Alpha Female. It happens at least once every year at this school. They just have to get it out of their system. They both may be magical, but it's clear to me that they're evenly matched so any rough housing would be fair. Part of why sports are so important is for you all to get out all of your teen angst by spending your energy in productive ways. Yes, it got a little dicey in there, but both were able to reel it back in when it mattered. And it was an eye opener. Carlos is amazing at the boxes and can use them to his advantage. If I can get another championship under my belt, I may be able to convince the booster club to completely revamp the Tourney field and get upgrades to the buses."

Lonnie was not impressed with his self-satisfied grin and excitement over how much money the booster club would certainly throw his way. She sighed in defeat, however, and figured Coach was right. Ben and Carlos were being moronic, fighting over Mal was stupid as the fae was more than capable of making her own decisions. She had noticed how indifferent the girl was to Ben, so the Crown Prince ought to have taken the hint and Carlos should have more faith in his girlfriend.

Stupid boys are the bane of my existence.

She just had to have faith that they wouldn't accidently kill each other.

The showers were unusually silent after that practice, no one felt much up to locker talk or any kind of talk. Ben and Carlos were adamant about pretending nothing had happened and the rest were too nervous to approach the subject. Ben quickly got clean and changed, as he was also needed somewhere else.

Jay knew not to try to get Carlos to talk anywhere public and he didn't want anything to become the topic of salacious gossip. When they got to their rooms, neither boy reached for the remote to turn on the tv or went to their computers as they normally would have, Carlos just sat on his bed while Jay stood near him.

"You want to talk about that?" Jay broke the silence when it was clear Carlos wouldn't initiate conversation.

The two tone haired teen's jaw clenched, remnants of anger still coursing through his blood but he refused to take it out on his friend. He didn't want to keep it all in, however, and knew that he could trust Jay.

"He's in love with her," both rage and fear laced the words, he stared at the floor, unable to look at his friend.

He finally put words to what was bothering him, and Jay couldn't blame Carlos for being angry. He probably would have fought Chad, Aziz, or any other prince if they had even thought of approaching Evie with romantic intentions.

"Yeah, I've suspected for a while."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Carlos didn't know to be hurt or just confused. For the longest time he had thought he was just being paranoid, but apparently the Prince's attraction to Mal had been obvious to more than just him.

"Because it doesn't matter," Jay shrugged, although he meant it. "Mal doesn't like him back."

Carlos hated how relieved he felt to hear someone else say it, as deep down in his heart he knew that and trusted his girlfriend. But doubt and insecurity were an ugly and unstoppable voice at times.

"They take bets about when she's going to break up with me. I hear them gossiping all the time." It was a curse of his magical abilities. "They wonder why she would stay with a penniless bastard when she could have a future King. They think the whole thing is 'terribly romantic' in a star-crossed lovers sort of way."

Jay rolled his eyes, he knew the other students were stupid but they still managed to surprise him with just how idiotic they could be. He sat on the bed next to Carlos, bumping shoulders and hoped it would be a comfort to him.

"First of all, Mal hates Romero and Juliette, mainly for that very reason. Second, Mal's a bastard. We're all bastards," referring to the Isle Four, bastardy being common amongst the exiled villains. "I don't even know if the fae get married…whatever, it doesn't matter. Can you actually imagine Mal being Queen?"

Carlos looked as if he were about to answer, and Jay intervened knowing what his friend was about to say.

"I don't mean like Leader of the Isle and ruling over henchmen and villains. I mean like Queen of Auradon. RBN Queen, like Belle."

Carlos took a moment to think on Jay's distinction.

Mal was groomed to be the next Leader of the Isle by Maleficent. She knew how to lead and put fear into henchmen and the other citizens, to keep the Isle in line by her will alone. Those who thought to challenge her were soon met with a deadly end. She could make hard choices in the face of survival. Things were simple on the Isle, one either lived or they died.

In Auradon, everything was different. It was all pomp and circumstance, fancy jewels and dresses; a never-ending parade of wealth. He recalled Queen Belle always standing besides King Adam, a warm smile never leaving her face as they stood united. He didn't think he had ever seen the Queen wear the same thing twice, he couldn't imagine standing for all those fittings, it was hard enough for the few occasions he had to dress up and Evie measured him. He would have to double check with Evie, but he was certain one of the Queen's duties was to entertain foreign dignitaries when the Royal couple wasn't on progress through all the Kingdoms, which he knew would be Mal's personal hell.

What else is the Queen supposed to do?

He tried to think if Belle had any duties of state and nothing came to his mind. Everything she was associated with had to do with hospitality, parties, and charity work. The only other "duty" he could think of was to bear the heir to the Throne. He knew Mal would certainly bristle at the idea of having to have a child out of obligation and be expected to have a male child at that.

He thought of how different things where between Auradon and the Isle, and not just the abject poverty. He was basically nobody in Auradon, the same as he was on the Isle. Mal, however, had been a person of high rank, and in Auradon she was just another villain child. That didn't seem to bother her. She didn't have to worry about a henchman's loyalty or collecting tribute. When she had free time, she enjoyed reading, art, and sleeping in. All things that would be nigh impossible if she had to resume any kind of leadership.

Then there were the paparazzi and constant presence on television. Mal was notoriously introverted and would probably soon find herself back on the Isle for attacking the media if they constantly hounded and spread gossip about her.

"Mal would be miserable," he finally concluded what Jay had known all along. Carlos never really thought of the Queen's Crown as a responsibility, only as a title and status that every girl secretly coveted. He saw the gold and jewels, he didn't see how much it could weigh on someone's shoulders.

Jay was happy that his friend finally saw the truth for what it was,

"Look, I get it. It's hard being Mal's boyfriend sometimes. It's not always easy with Evie either. She has royal blood and could literally have any prince she wanted; illegitimate or not. You're not the only 'penniless bastard' with an insanely beautiful girlfriend surrounded by royals and rich assholes here."

Carlos wanted to argue that Evie would never want any of the pompous princes that littered the school, but he held his tongue as it was the exact same argument that could be said about Mal.

"But you should know that as lucky as we are to have them," Jay went on. "They're lucky to have us."

Carlos looked at him eschew, not quite believing that the girls were equally as lucky.

"No, I'm serious. We're ridiculously good looking…I mean it," Jay insisted when Carlos continued to look at him as if he were mad and playfully punched him in the arm to get his point across. "We're really good looking, we're smart, and we treat them well. You would not believe how terrible some of these Mainland guys treat their girlfriends here."

Except Carlos could believe it, just Chad Charming alone would have any girl desperate for being treated even half-way decently. There was more than one occasion when he blanched at how the Tourney team would talk about girls in the locker room.

"And we all share something that no Mainlander could hope to understand. We don't have some fleeting high school puppy love. We've all survived the Isle together."

Carlos nodded, he couldn't imagine any girl from Auradon Prep coming close to understanding what he had gone through, what the Isle Four had all gone through and continued to go through.

"And who else would understand how we all work? I mean it when I say Mal's lucky to have you, you don't get jealous or territorial about her relationship with me; Uma certainly wasn't able to understand it. It means a lot to the both of us…"

Carlos didn't think of the pirate queen often, but he could never forget who Mal's first love was.

"…and you remember how terrible that break up was? So, you know if Mal wanted to end things, she'd be hella petty and vindictive about it."

Carlos winced at remembering the notorious "shrimpy" debacle that was still talked about years after it happened.

"I can't believe she wasted food," which spoke to how badly Mal had handled the breakup. As much as he loved her, he could admit that her faults included that she lacked tact and could lash out childishly when she was upset enough. The whole situation was made even worse when the shrimp had been fished to extinction on the Isle, so she had basically wasted the last bucket of shrimp the Isle would ever see.

Not only had she wasted food, which was as close to sacrilegious as one could get on the Isle, but she alienated a capable leader with a loyal crew. Uma had taken her people and created a rival gang, the two never forgave the other and constantly fought over territory.

He slightly paled at the idea of what Mal would do if she did want to break up, he thought Ben's humiliation would be nothing in comparison. At least Ben could shield himself with the excuse of a love spell. Carlos would not be afforded such.

Once Jay was confident that Carlos had come to his senses, he put the boy into a loose headlock and started to vigorously rub his knuckles across his thick curly hair.

"Ack! Stop..." Carlos whined through his laughter.

Jay paid him no mind and continued to wrestle him to the ground, resorting to tickles and he hoped that Carlos would never forget what they talked about.

Ben knew that being the Crown Prince, and eventual King, would not always be a walk in the Enchanted Forest. Ruling came with its own set of challenges; not only from within by doubts if he was making the right choice, but also from outside; those who would challenge his choices.

It was made all the worse when it came out that he had remnants of his father's curse.

After he recovered enough to go home from the hospital, he had sat down with his mother and father and they told him the story of the Beast that didn't make it into the storybooks.

The official story was that Adam had simply been a young man who refused to let a stranger into his home, breaking the cardinal rule of xenia, the sacred rite of hospitality and guest-right. The story ignited the population's pity, thinking it wasn't right for a magical being to expect someone so young, and dealing with the death of his father, to know such archaic things.

Who didn't warn their child to never let strangers into their home, offering a gift or not?

Ben learned the real story, before Adam met Belle, he was a spoiled and selfish king, prone to fits of anger and indulging in his every hedonistic whim while his people were bled for their taxes to support his luxurious lifestyle. The Enchantress did come to his castle, but it was during a party while a storm raged on. She had come disguised as a frail old woman who simply wanted shelter from the storm. Any decent person would have said yes, especially since there was plenty of room and food to spare.

Most always assumed that the Enchantress had cursed his father into a hideous beast, a simple transformation spell. What most didn't know was that she made his outsides match his insides. If he had been kind and generous at heart, then the spell would have produced nothing. But he had a beastly nature and it finally showed for people to see. It wasn't until he met Belle that he found his humanity.

Adam and Belle had assumed, as did the rest of the country, that once the spell was broken then it meant that the Beast was gone forever. But as time went on, and when Adam lost his temper, they found out that the curse was not completely gone. They knew it would be a public relations nightmare, and their reign so new and fragile, they kept this hidden. Ben's ability to transform into the Beast was their worst fear come true.

The curse was in the bloodline and now Ben carried the burden of The Beast.

He wasn't surprised that he had Beasted out, the ugly hateful feeling of jealousy and rage took a physical form. He was certain that if everyone shifted based on how they were feeling then at least once in everyone's lifetime they would turn into a literal monster.

For years, most had commented on his even temper and jovial demeanor. They all said he'd be a good King. Now that they saw a hint of magic in him and one episode of showing actual emotion that wasn't even his fault, suddenly people questioned if he were fit for the throne at all.

For a few days he raged at his parents for keeping it from him, he should have been warned such a thing was possible.

"There were a few…instances when you were younger that made us suspect," his mother admitted to him.

He recalled not being allowed to play with other children when he was very young. He was told he simply had a temper and wasn't used to having to share as he was the heir apparent. He was assured it was simply because he was spoiled, but they had corrected it as soon as it was apparent. He thought he had been kept back from graduating kindergarten because of behavioral issues, it was why he was older than the other Seniors. It turns out his parents were trying to hide possible Beast episodes.

For the few days he wouldn't talk to his parents, he wondered what else they had lied about. He didn't have the luxury of being a surly teen, he had to help his family keep their throne.

While Ben and his father fought to regain their reputations and authority, most of his princely projects were falling by the wayside; projects such as Isle-to-Auradon.

He even saw less of his father, who was having the same issue on a bigger scale. His mother stopped visiting the school as often so the royal couple could maintain a united front. Luckily their twenty-year reign was peaceful and prosperous. It was a hard sell to ouster the monarch simply for having a little magic, magic that had been cursed onto them at that. There were more people who supported King Adam and Queen Belle than those who opposed. But still, the naysayers could not be ignored completely less they pour their poison into other ears and their numbers grow.

Ben was regulated to staying in Auradon Prep, neither parent wanted his schooling to be compromised. He played the dutiful Crown Prince who would put forth every effort to be a good King, focusing solely on his own principality and education. There were still some stubborn lords where he had to assert his authority, but he could not outright force them to vote his way less he be accused of being a tyrant.

If you're waiting for everyone to find their inner hero, you're going to be waiting forever.

Mal's words haunted his conscience as he sighed over the mountains of paperwork and reports. He had naively thought ruling would be so much easier. He didn't think doing the right thing would be so controversial. He was blinded by how well everyone got along, he thought people were naturally inclined to agree with him. He was slowly finding out that most were polite to his face, but then they worked to sabotage him behind his back when it was something they didn't agree with. There were lobby groups who had law clerks and interns scour statutes and caselaw to build opposition to Isle-to-Auradon.

He opened the drawer where he kept his official Crown Prince letterhead stationery, annoyed to find it almost empty.

I could have sworn I just ordered a ream. I need to let Cadbury know I need more.

He counted that he enough to write the letters he needed to that night and have them sent overnight priority; he went back to concentrating on getting his projects back on track.

Isle-to-Auradon was still afloat simply because there was so little precedent concerning the Isle as none of the villains had a fair or even recorded trial or any type of due process. The opposition still went strong despite that, because even though they had little to go on there was still enough bad feeling where people would keep the status quo based on anger and fear.

The briefings weren't the only items piling up. He still had reading for homework to do, he worried he may have to cut R.O.A.R. in order to keep up. The team would be in good hands if he passed on the captaincy to Lonnie. The only thing stopping him was that Carlos and Jay had also joined the team. Both Isle boys were natural athletes and had put the same ferocity into RO.A.R. as they did in Tourney.

Carlos being the more agile and quick of the two, was the rising rookie star of the team. Although part of him knew that it was petty and probably detrimental to his long-term health, Ben couldn't bring himself to quit the team lest others would see him as running away or backing down from a challenge from Carlos.

The de Vil heir already had Mal, Ben couldn't let him have R.O.A.R. too.

Although probably not the best coping mechanism, if he were too busy with school and his royal duties, then he was too busy to think of how humiliated he was that everyone knew his feelings or that Mal was clearly indifferent to him as she readily accepted that it was the spell talking and quickly forgot about it, or at least acted that way.

He honestly didn't know if he would prefer that she outright tell him she would never be interested and acknowledge his feelings, or that she kept thinking he thought of her as nothing more than a friend. At least if she told him it was impossible, he could finally move on. But he wasn't ready to give up hope that maybe one day things would change for them. So, he opted to pretend that everything was fine.

The strategy only worked up until Eros' Day. While he didn't always have a special someone during the romantic holiday, it was the first time he hated it and thought it was the worst holiday in existence.

There was a dance and other activities that Ben studiously avoided that year. He made the cursory excuse of schoolwork and royal duties, no one ever challenged him on those. It was one of the lesser dances, so no one tried to wheedle him into going. As soon as school let out for the day, he lost himself in paperwork and although he had been at it for hours, it seemed as if the pile somehow got bigger.

Just when he was about to bang his head against his desk in defeat, Chad let himself into his suite and bore a six pack of Ben's favorite IPA. The legal drinking age in Auradon was 18, and while Chad was a few months south of proper the lesser prince normally had no problem obtaining alcohol and no one would begrudge him a beer or two in their own private suites.

Ben gratefully took a bottle, popped the top, and said "cheers" as he clinked the bottle with Chad's as the other prince mimicked his movements. He took a swig and enjoyed the slightly bitter citrusy ale. Chad sat down on a comfortable leather armed chair in front of Ben's desk.

"So how was the dance?" Ben asked, unable to help himself and he wanted to kick himself as soon as the words came out of his mouth. He both wanted to know and not know if Mal and Carlos were there and what it all entailed.

It turned out he was an emotional masochist.

Chad merely shrugged and took another drink. "It was a dance. All the girls wore some awful shade of red or pink, it was small since mainly only couples went. The ballroom looked like a murder scene, there were so many red decorations. I danced with a few of the single girls that went stag, although there were a few with boyfriends that also wanted a dance."

The Cinderellaburg prince couldn't help but wickedly smile, impressed with his own prowess despite his reputation. It made Ben grin and shook his head, he knew his friend was incorrigible.

"Evie and Jay won Eros and Psyche. If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure the bluenette would have fallen dead from the daggers some of the girls shot her way," the whole thing was stupid in Chad's opinion. The crowns were fake, and the titles meant nothing, but for some students losing out on "cutest couple" really raked them. He purposefully forwent mentioning Carlos and Mal. He knew his friend's feelings and the dark fae would never be a real contender for any dance title as she was too stern and mean looking.

All they had done all night was dance with each other, both smiling and laughing to the point it made Chad want to vomit and roll his eyes.

Ben was also only half listening, trying to do work and listen to his friend. Chad looked over Ben, worried about the dark circles under his eyes and how lately he had been exhausted and overall seemed to have lost his jovial nature.

Chad was more than happy he was not the reigning King, and further that his title of prince and future title of king was more symbolic than anything. He couldn't imagine having real responsibility over a kingdom, much less two unless his Aunt Snow White miraculously bore a child after so many years of bareness. While his family's land holdings were vast and he had several estates at his disposal, that was all he needed to really worry about in the future. He didn't have to lead or worry about the people of Charmington or Cinderellaburg, they fell under the purview of King Adam, and in the future King Ben as they were the United Kingdoms. He did have to sit through some briefings about the needs of the two kingdoms and then make reports, but any final decision ultimately was out of his hands.

He believed in the Union and while he knew there were a few voices against it, he was loyal to Ben and would lend his support to keeping the UKA together. Both Cinderellaburg and Charmington were staunch allies to the Crown and would keep faith with House Bourbon.

What he had overheard during break also buzzed through his mind. He had contemplated for weeks if he should tell his friend. Part of him thought Ben had a right to know, but he held himself back since he really didn't know anything. He didn't want to add any more stress to Ben over something he had overheard and had no proof of. All he had was that he overheard was the accusations of a known lying fae. He didn't need to get on Audrey's bad side, and even if he didn't care he knew it wouldn't be prudent to make an enemy of the third most powerful royal house in Auradon.

"Ben," Chad stopped smiling and was serious, "I'm worried about you."

The Crown Prince knew Chad was sincere. While he may be a rake, he was a good and loyal friend, and more perceptive than people gave him credit for. He stopped his work and sighed, agreeing that he wasn't ok and that there was something to worry about.

"It's just a few more months. Then I'll be graduated and then..."

"You'll have the summer, but then you'll be right back in school, going to the University of Auradon and still have to be the Crown Prince," Chad finished for him. Ben's shoulders slightly slumped, realizing that his work was probably never ending. Even after schooling, royal duty only increased. He would be expected to make more decisions that his current counsel was doing on his behalf. That meant even more meetings and briefings, more travel across the kingdoms so they all got an equal voice, all the while trying to get a degree.

"What you need is a break ASAP."

"Royal work is never done, you know that. And my next progress won't be until the summer."

"I don't mean like a vacation. I mean like a mental and physical break to charge your batteries. You need to relax, even if it's just for a few hours."

"What did you have in mind?" He figured his friend meant going bowling undercover or some other teenage pastime they rarely got to indulge in.

Chad had that wide tooth smile and manic look in his eyes and Ben knew his friend had a terrible idea forming in his head.

The Charmington heir almost buzzed with excitement, he had been wanting to run his idea past Ben for ages since he found out. He scooted to the edge of the chair to get as close to Ben as he could, he looked around to make sure they were still alone in the suite and kept his voice low,

"So, my Uncle Ferdinand told me that the Isle has whores, like tons of them. Genuine brothels with nice rooms and clean beds and women who will fulfill your every sexual fantasy. Soldiers and guards go there all the time."

Ben blinked a few times, processing what Chad had just told him.

"I'm sorry, lets start at the beginning…Charmington soldiers and guards have access to the Isle?"

"Yeah, like they duped the remote Auntie Nadine created to allow special envoys and the donations people to get there," Chad took it as a good sign that Ben wasn't yelling at him or lecturing him about impropriety. He also counted on the fact that they were best friends and would never snitch on each other, he felt the secret was safe with the Crown Prince. "It's totally safe, they've been doing this since the Isle was like created.

This was complete new to Ben, he had never heard of anyone just visiting the Isle, and certainly not for whores. He knew that the documentary crew had to go through at least a year of paperwork in order to shoot their film. He was aware that the Isle had prostitution, but he had assumed they catered to other Isle prisoners, the fact that Auradonian citizens were glibly coming and going at their leisure was alarming.

"And it's not just Charmington guys, it's dudes from all over Auradon. I heard even the nobility from the Summerlands have made a few trips," Chad couldn't stop talking, eager to share his information and that Ben would go with him. "One of my personal guards told me all about it. The brothels have every type you could ever want. They have skinny, thick, extra thick, blondes, red heads...magenta..." he trailed off knowingly with a fake cough, and only half-heartedly tried to be subtle.

Most seemed to accept the excuse of the love potion, but Chad had seen through it and known Ben's true feelings.

Ben sighed and refrained from rolling his eyes. Perhaps Audrey was right, he was obvious about it and part of him wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

"I never cheated on her," he defended himself quietly but knew that Chad would never judge him even if he did.

"Come on dude, I know that. You're like the literal embodiment of how a Prince Charming ought to be and Mal would have murdered you if you tried."

Chad opted not to reveal Audrey's initial plan of having him sleep with both Isle girls in order to turn them against each other. Neither had taken his advances well, in hindsight he was glad that Mal simply gave him a death glare. He was certain the only thing that stayed her hand from outright smacking him into oblivion was the fear of being sent back to the Isle.

Ben couldn't help but smile and laugh at that, knowing indeed that the fae would not have welcomed his advances as she had principals. He knew there were several others that would have been more than happy to have some sort of clandestine affair with the Crown Prince, not caring if he (or they) were attached to someone else or not.

The qualities he admired in her was what made her out of his reach.

"As royals, we are under enormous strain. More than anyone commoner or even some nobles could ever understand. Anyone else can go onto an app, window shop, and swipe right to indulge. We don't have that luxury. We're stalked by photographers or the woman sells the story herself. An Isle whore would be the perfect solution. No one we know would be there, if anyone recognized you, they couldn't snitch because then they'd have to admit they were there in the first place. The whores wouldn't be able to snitch on you, they're stuck on the Isle. From what I hear, pretty much every powerful man and his house have gone at least once, and no one has ever gotten in trouble. Uncle Ferdinand says it's basically a right of passage. He wants to wait until I'm 18 but I don't see the need since there's no age law on the Isle."

Chad desperately wanted to see for himself how great the girls were. He was tired of pretending to care about whiney girls who only wanted him for his crown and money. At least with whores they understood exactly what he wanted and wouldn't expect anything more or try to trick him into anything. He was also eager to try out new things with no repercussions of anyone else finding out.

Ben's first gut reaction was to tell Chad in no uncertain terms would he ever debase himself by going to a whore, that it was rather despicable that so many had flaunted Royal Decrees of staying out of the Isle. He thought of every poor desperate woman who lived in poverty and resorted to selling her body in order to survive. It took everything in him to refrain of going straight to his father, telling him they were disbanding the Isle, and would need to come up with prison reform immediately.

But he paused as Mal's words echoed in his head.

If you're waiting for everyone to find their inner hero, you're going to be waiting forever.

Chad had heard about whores through gossip, as King he was certain his father had known about it as well. Ben felt foolish and angry that it was not brought to his attention as an issue to fix as soon as he became Crown Prince of Auradon City. If no one told him, that meant it was kept from him on purpose. His most trusted advisors and intelligence, all lying to him to keep a horrid secret. He didn't know if he was kept in the dark because they thought as Crown Prince it was too lurid and scandalous for his ears, or if they wanted the status quo to remain the same. He could all too well imagine that those who didn't partake, probably saw it as a necessary evil. Prostitution was strictly outlawed in Auradon, so the backdoor solution was to indulge on the Isle.

He tried not to think of why Mal or Evie hadn't brought it up.

Ben also thought back to their conversation about Auradonian schools recruiting Isle children for sports programs, it all circled back to money. Promise or threaten the money, people were brought to heel. If Chad was right and the Isle saw their fair share of powerful men that visited prostitutes, perhaps it was time for Ben to use that to his advantage.

"I could use some…relaxation. How do we get to the Isle?" Ben told Chad after a few beats, his friend too enthusiastic and eager to go to question why his friend who had always been the consummate gentleman was suddenly OK visiting whores.

"Awesome," Chad made a victory fist and his mind started to whirl with everything they would need to do. "It'll be a couple of days, I have to talk to my contacts, we have to gather some supplies. We need to make sure we have our 'discreet' guards that night who won't watch after us too hard that night…"

Chad trailed off as he put more effort into seeing whores than Ben had ever seen him put towards schoolwork.

Ben smiled and nodded, acted as if he were an enthusiastic participant,

If people can't find their inner heroes then they'll find their inner sense of self-preservation.

Perhaps there was more of the Beast in him than he realized, he couldn't bring himself to care.

He watched his friend leave his suite eagerly, mumbling off his plans and how Ben "wouldn't regret it."

What did I just get myself into?

Mal would never be called a "people person," but Auradon Prep was certainly testing her patience when it came to full out hating them and laying waste to the school. Despite Jane's confession and Ben's proclamation that Mal was a casualty of the attack, there were those who did not believe she was innocent and had something to do with Ben's poisoning.

There were rumors flying around that she had bullied the half-star fae into submission, making Ben fall in love with her was just the beginning of a grander plan of freeing her mother and taking over Auradon. The most popular rumor being that they would be invited to the front of the procession during Unification Day as Ben's girlfriend and she would steal the wand from Faery Godmother.

As if snatching one of the most powerful relics in the world from one of the most powerful beings in Auradon was that simple.

It's a stupid plan. It would be easier to simply steal the wand from the museum. It's surrounded by human technology and that's it. I'm pretty certain Carlos and I could have figured out a way around it. It's also stupid for a novice to try to wield something so powerful. I would only end up hurting myself.

Sometimes she wondered if the Auradonians that visited the Isle for whores were spreading rumors, because the plan was eerily similar to what Maleficent had in mind. She could imagine all too clearly that her mother would rage and the visitors caught wind of her plan.

She refused to think about her mother and what she could possibly be up to in her absence.

Mal could have weathered the rumors. She had been so far, but the students were no longer content with simply speculating and spreading malicious lies.

It started off slowly, almost innocently. The staff would accidently bring orange juice to their table for breakfast, most had assumed they had forgot how deadly citrus juices could be to the fae since it was such a common breakfast beverage. But then lemons started to make appearances at lunch and dinner. Lime essential oil was sprayed into the air, seemingly as an air freshener. The lemons were easily avoided, and the lime was so diluted it merely irritated Mal's throat, but the snickers and comments were enough to make her realizes that she was being targeted.

It wasn't just her, either.

A bucket of lamb's blood had been precariously placed above the homeroom door. Luckily it had fallen right before Jay had gotten there, and only a splash had made its way to his shoes. Luckier still, it had no effect on him as his djinn heritage, and possible his freed genie state, was not strong enough to make him weak against the blood. The same could not be said for Jordan who had broken into hives and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Evie and Mal one day found that their locker doors had been replaced, they later found out someone had laced the handles with iron dust.

One day between classes when the halls were filled with students all trying to get to their next lesson, an irate freshman had stepped in front of Mal and Jay and paused. Both Isle children had remained calm, but were ready for a fight. Their eyes roamed over the other student, trying to figure out if he had any sort of weapon that could actually harm them. When they saw he did not have anything on them, they figured out which bones to break first if he was stupid enough to attack.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAERIES!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

All Mal could do was frown, unsure of what that was about and when she looked over to her best friend, Jay was equally confused.

Everyone around them had frozen, some had gasped in horror that someone would say such a thing in front of Mal.

"Mickey Mouse, Braxton. What the hell is wrong with you?" Doug came from the crowd, ready to help his friends.

To Mal and Jay's further confusion, the trumpeter had started to clap in earnest and soon others had joined in. The dwarf son of Dopey's forehead had furrowed and his mouth looked grim. It took a few moments for Mal to realize what was going on.

"Doug," she went to him and stopped his clapping. "Thank you but that's unnecessary. He was surprised that she had actually touched him and smiled awkwardly in thanks.

"Oh, right," he suddenly remembered that it was only Neverland Fae that perished at the phrase, and he felt like an idiot; but he was glad that Mal seemed grateful for the help, rather than offended that he had gotten her species wrong.

The new Headmaster was strict and harsh but fair. He had found those responsible and had actually expelled them as the lamb's blood and iron could have been deadly. The ones responsible for the uptick in citrus fruit had not been found, but the school quickly banned the fruits altogether citing health concerns for some of the students in addition to anything that could harm witches or fae.

Mal wanted to rage and go after the culprits herself, but her hand was stayed when Carlos had begged her to not seek revenge.

"It's a miracle I wasn't expelled and exiled, I don't think they'd give us more chances."

He didn't want to mention that Ben had helped smooth over the incident, the wounds from the prince's declaration of love still smarted. But he could admit that the royal was merciful and fair, and that benevolence could run out if the Isle Four had pushed their luck.

"We're the ones being bullied, why are we the ones being chided for wanting justice?"

Carlos didn't have an answer for her, but he simply hugged her and begged,

"I don't want to lose what we have."

Mal wanted to cry in frustration, rage at how unfair everything was. None of them had done anything wrong, and they were being targeted. To further add insult, they could not even defend themselves.

Whether or not to confront their bullies had become a point of contention between her and her boyfriend.

"Carlos, don't you ever miss screaming at people, using brute force, and just making them run away from you?" she had snapped at him a couple days later, frustrated and wishing for once he wasn't the voice of reason and would be as mad as she was. Part of her missed the way he had bared his teeth at Ben, why wouldn't he for students who were actually trying to hurt them? But he was being infuriatingly calm when she felt she could set the school ablaze and she was tired of being alone in that feeling or that there was something wrong with her for being angry.

"You're thinking of Cruella, and I was usually on the other end of that. So, not really. No," he said without emotion and stared off to the side, not able to look at her.

She realized how careless her words were and stood for a few moments in dumb silence. Her mouth opened and closed with attempts to take it back or to make amends, but nothing would manifest. She became even more frustrated as it wasn't what she meant, and she would never want to hurt him.

But in her anger she had managed to do just that. Not being able to stand being around anyone, she had walked away to cool down and he didn't follow her. She didn't know what to do, so some unfortunate chairs in one of the dorm study halls had met her wrath and became kindling.

Eventually, wanting to stay in Auradon and graduate was more important than revenge. It took a couple therapy sessions, another fight with Carlos, and a lot of destroyed furniture to come to that conclusion but she finally did.

"I'm sorry," she finally mumbled into his chest as she hugged him, making up for the fights they had.

"I'm proud of you," he squeezed her tight and knew exactly how hard it was for her to control her temper, especially since her anger was at those who were trying to hurt them. But he had learned the hard way of what happened to magical people who let their rage get the better of them, justified or not.

So, Mal held her head up high and was vigilant about her surroundings. Most attempts at hurting any of them had been foiled by either their vigilance or the administration catching on before the tactics could come to fruition.

Despite some students already being expelled, it didn't stop others from trying to get their point across that the Isle Four and fae in general were not welcome at Auradon Prep.

"I don't know if this is a good idea, man," Troy nervously looked around the dark school hall, feeling that they'd be caught any minute. "The hall monitors..."

"Have a specific schedule which we know about, and they're mostly in the dorms anyway. They rarely do rounds in the school itself. We have plenty of time, stop worrying and help me," Bradly huffed at his friend, annoyed that he was being a wuss.

Troy still didn't look too sure, but he was there in the middle of the night, holding a school bell that weighed what felt like a ton while Bradly stood on a ladder with a screwdriver and worked on taking off the steel dome of the bell on the wall.

They exchanged parts and Bradly made quick work of replacing the bell,

"It's too heavy man, it's going to fall. And it's clearly not the same type, they're going to notice."

"When has anyone ever noticed one of the bells? This is probably your first time looking at one."

Troy couldn't deny that, the bells were annoying and they heard them every day but he couldn't ever recall ever actually noticing one over the other. Before that night, he probably couldn't even accurately describe what they looked like in any detail.

"What about the cameras? They're going to know it was us, and Headmaster Reuters isn't afraid to expel students. Even nobly born ones."

"That pix lover. He's worse than that fae bitch FéeMarraine. They shouldn't be teaching at a school much less let those Isle trash in. I have it covered, I got one of those computer nerds to create a loop, the cameras won't see anything until the morning. And I got them to make me a dupe of the chaperone's key cards, we have total reign over the school."

"How much did that run you?"

"It'll be worth it when those Isle bastards go back where they came from," he didn't answer the questions, so Troy assumed it was a lot.

Troy hoped he was right, he couldn't imagine the wrath his parents would rain down on him if he were expelled.

"All right, we're done," Bradly said proudly, looking over his work again to make sure it looked perfectly normal and not out of place. The new bell was painted to match the others, but if one would look closely, they would see the colour was a few shades darker, the bell surface slightly rougher, but he couldn't imagine anyone noticing it. Even if they did, he doubted anyone would think anything of it. Once the fae was out of the way, he was certain no one would be looking too deeply into the cause. He was confident that the only reason others had been expelled was because the Isle Four couldn't take a hint and insisted on staying, and the administration didn't want to lose face.

He didn't think his little plan would actually kill the fae, but he thought it would send enough of a message that she and the others weren't wanted there and ought to leave.

The next morning,

Mal stood in her dorm bathroom, sighing when she looked into the mirror. It was another day, and she had to mentally prepare herself to deal with people. She had been ready for the past ten minutes, but she couldn't bring herself to move just yet. She took a few deep breaths and tried to convince herself that it was worth going to class that day.

It's only a few more months. I can weather a few months. It's easier than living through an Isle winter.

Although she wasn't all that confident about that last thought. She could prepare for winter and fight for survival. She didn't know how to fight the bullies in her school. On the Isle, she could fight back and give as good as she got. But in Auradon, the consequences of fighting back were too great. But rolling over and taking the abuse was turning out to be just as hazardous, but in a different way.

Part of her didn't even understand what their problem was, it wasn't like any of them were alive during the Fae Wars. Most of them weren't even from Auroria, and their families did not have anything to do with Maleficent's rampage. And even if they were, that was her mother's doing, not hers. All she wanted was to be left alone.

"Mal? We're going to be late, are you coming?" Evie's voice rang through the door.

Mal sighed again, so tempted to say she was sick and just stay in bed for the day. Certainly one missed day wouldn't be too much? But the prideful part of her sneered at what she thought was hiding away and retreating.

I am Mal of the Isle and I run from no one.

The thought rang hallow and the desire to not deal with people still sat heavy in her heart. But she took a deep breath and soldiered on.

"I'm coming," she let her roommate know, but still took another minute to stare at the mirror, possibly hoping her reflection could somehow manifest itself and go to school in her stead.

When that didn't work, her shoulders slumped in quiet despair, her forehead leaned against the glass, and she whined petulantly,

"I don't want to…" but with a huff she straightened up and grit her teeth. "I'm going to do this," and forced herself to go to get breakfast and then go to school.

By homeroom, she figured she was at the point of no return and waited for roll call to end. She casually peaked over to the wall clock and figured the first bell would ring any second.

I'll get through homeroom, lit will be fine, calc and chem will suck, art will be good, and then lunch. I'll be halfway done my day and the rest of my classes are easy. So, I really only have to get through two sucky classes, maybe if I rush through the halls then people will leave me alone…

Brrrrriiiiiiinnnnnggggggg

An awful noise ripped through her head that felt like a thousand knives piercing her skull. Blood started to pour from ears, and she futilely tried to keep the agonizing noise out by cupping her hands over her ears. Green flames engulfed her silhouette in a divine inferno, students around her dove out of the way, hoping not to get burned.

Although the bell had only rung for a few seconds, the sound had caused Mal to stagger in pain a few feet before collapsing to the ground, the other students could only stare at her still form in horror.

Carlos sat in homeroom a few doors down, he idly wondered if he had time to get back to the dorm to get a textbook he forgot for his next class. He had supernatural speed and it technically wasn't using magic. A few seats in front of him, Jay looked just as bored and couldn't wait for the weekend. Both boys became immediately alert after they heard the bell and Mal's scream that had followed.

Carlos' acute hearing could differentiate her from anyone, and Jay had too much experience with hearing his best friend scream in pain.

Not caring about the teacher's instruction to keep calm and not move, both teens rushed out and ran to Mal's homeroom class.

Carlos' heart stopped when he saw his girlfriend's prone form on the floor, soot and scorch marks outlying where she lay; wisps of her magical green flame still danced around as it continued to burn.

He didn't hear the teacher warn him to stay away, but a low growl made her keep her distance.

"Mal," he whispered, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had never seen her so vulnerable and still. He wished everyone would leave, their fear and rabid heartbeats made it hard for him to concentrate and hear hers.

The world fell away and his own heart stilled in his chest, he didn't know what he would do if Mal was gone.

He got closer and thankfully he had heard her heart flutter, it was weak, but it still beat.

"Carlos, call 999," Jay instructed him as he knelt and checked over his best friend.

Carlos almost roared in rage as he didn't want to just call for help, but his more rational side knew that it was the best thing he could do to help. He wanted to swipe out a clawed hand and tear into everyone that just stood around them, doing nothing. He couldn't believe that no one moved to help Mal, not even the teacher. They were all content to just stand around with their jaws on the floor or too scared. He pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency number,

999 – What is your emergency?

While Carlos spoke to the operator, Jay gently examined Mal. She was unconscious, and he grew cold at the sight of the blood that dripped from her ears, deep ruby red that shimmered with the magic of the fae. It wasn't the first time he had seen Mal bleeding, but it was the first time he didn't know what to do since they were seven. He had become accustomed to helping Mal heal from the cuts inflicted by Maleficent, he had no idea what had caused Mal's injuries and just as clueless as how to help her.

The blood coming from her ears made him think she had some sort of head injury, but who could have come after her? He looked around and everyone seemed frightened and confused, no one looked as if they had attacked her.

So what happened?

He placed two fingers on her neck to feel for a pulse, his heart dropped when he barely felt anything and noticed her breathing was shallow, her colour was sapped from her, giving her a deathly pale green cast.

They had been vigilant about hiding their magic, trying to convince Auradon that they were simple teenagers that were not a magical threat. That caution was blown to the wind, he would not hesitate to try to help his best friend and he ripped off his bracelet.

He quickly looked around and was thankful that Mal's homeroom happened to have a noble from Charmington, the kingdom best known for its gem mines. He spotted the daughter of the Earl of Torrington, a dwarf family who owned Charmington's largest emerald mine and who always proudly wore her family's jewels. That day she wore a four-karat emerald in a Victorian patina setting with flower and ivy detailing. He quickly made his way to her and snatched the necklace right off her neck, the delicate chain easily snapped. The dwarf girl gasped in shock and her hand flew to where the gem used to be, but too afraid to say anything as Jay looked as if he would murder anyone who got in the way of him and his best friend.

Carlos' heart pounded in his chest, slowly realizing what Jay was attempting to do. Part of him automatically wanted to warn him from using magic, that those in power in Auradon would come down hard on them if there was irrefutable proof they knew magic. The stronger part of him didn't care, he'd willingly go back to the Isle a thousand times if it meant it would save Mal.

Jay hovered over her, only hesitating because he was still new to magic and he wasn't sure if he could even do healing magic. His father was a world-renowned desert sorcerer who specialized in lithomancy. He recalled the rubies and gold of Jafar's cobra staff that could bend the mind to his will, the diamond and sand used to find the Cave of Wonders. Abilities that had been learned and perfected over a lifetime. Mal's grimoire was helpful, but study was slow as they all were cautious and taking the time to master each spell and step before moving onto the next.

He simply knew that emeralds were used in healing, he had to hope he didn't do more harm than good, but he didn't trust that medical help would come in time. He knew no specific spell, he could only channel his magical energy and use his pure will to help Mal.

He held the large verdant gem in his hand, if it were a lesser jewel it might have been crushed but it held true. He cradled Mal's still form in his arm and with the other, held the necklace over her heart. With a few deep breaths, he focused his magic and willed for Mal to be healed. Whisps of crimson and gold ran through his form and concentrated through the emerald. The magic turned green as it filtered through the stone and Mal seemed to absorb the energy like a sponge. There was no overt sign that she was being healed, but her breathing became deeper and her colour was no longer a deathly pallor. He grew more confident when Carlos' shoulders relaxed and even started to smile although there were tears of relief that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"Her heartbeat is stronger," Carlos assured Jay, using his keen hearing to keep track of Mal's vitals.

Jay slumped, his energy completely zapped but he found himself smiling although he felt he had just run a marathon.

Their relief was short lived when paramedics had burst through the door and swarmed Mal. Jay didn't have the strength to fight them, and he had to calm Carlos down who had grown fangs and fur, growling inhumanly.

"Car, you need to let them help her," Jay softly said, hoping the other teen would not get himself in trouble again. He knew that doing magic so publicly would probably bring them enough trouble. It worked as Carlos backed off and let the medics have access to Mal.

The paramedics took assessment of the unconscious fae and placed a silver bracelet around her wrist. Neither Jay nor Carlos could make out the etchings, but they assumed they were runes to nullify magic. When Carlos was arrested after the championship, they had put a similar one on him. It was used as a precaution on all magical beings, a more powerful version of the one Mal had made for them.

Both boys had to restrain themselves from yelling at the paramedics when they refused to let them ride with them to the hospital. They just had to trust that Mal was getting the best care possible and they had at least told them what hospital they would take her to. They still didn't have their driver's licenses, but they would figure out a way to get there.

Carlos was certain Ben would provide transportation and he wasn't so prideful that he wouldn't accept it from his romantic rival.

They followed the team out to the ambulance, they would at least be with Mal for as long as they could. Jay had become so weak that Carlos had to help him stand and walk. As the doors slammed and the sirens sounded as they left the school, the boys were confronted by the new Headmaster who looked stern and they knew they were in trouble.

They locked eyes briefly and had a silent agreement to play dumb, their usual protocol when it came to dealing with teachers.

"Gentlemen," Headmaster Reuters greeted them and looked over Jay and he took a moment to decide what he wanted to do. One of his students was severely harmed and another had done magic, the day had turned into a disaster and it wasn't even first period yet. "Mr. Al-Jina, do you need medical attention?"

Jay's first instinct was to say no, but a wave of exhaustion came over him and he thought it better to have more time to try to think of a cover story and said he did.

"Alright, Mr. de Vil. Please escort him to the nurse's office. We will be having a discussion as soon as you both are done."

"Yes, sir," they both replied and headed towards the nurse's office. As they walked, both boys had ditched their bracelets in a trashcan and reminded themselves to look for them later and hope no one found them.

Later that day, Jay made his way to the dorms. It was still before curfew, so Evie was able to wait in his room. She launched herself into his arms, so relieved to see him and he took a moment to just hold her. The door was slightly ajar as the rules forbid them to fully close the door if someone of the opposite sex was there as well. The door was basically closed, but if pressed they would argue they followed the letter of the rule if not the spirit.

"What happened? How's Mal? Where's Carlos?" Evie asked, her voice trembling.

She had been in a different homeroom on a different floor. She had seen the ambulance arrive and there were so many rumors that flew around the school and she didn't know what to believe. Both Carlos and Jay had been taken in by the new Headmaster and she feared the worst when she heard that Jay had used magic. Both of them had been taken out of class the rest of the day and they didn't seem to have access to their phones. She had started to panic and wondered if she ought to prepare to run and figure out a way to get to them.

She had prepared duffle bags of clothes and food, all ready to go if she didn't hear from them by that night.

"They're still not sure what happened to Mal, they were able to stabilize her and she's resting at the hospital for observation."

"Where you able to see her in the hospital?"

"No, I'm under suspension and can't go see her. Carlos and Ben are with her now."

"So you did use magic," she had heard as much from the rumors.

He nodded his head, part of him angry at himself for being so reckless and he hoped she wouldn't be angry with him.

"Do we need to run?" her worst fears were coming true.

"No," he rushed to reassure her. "I managed to convince them that I don't know any formal spells and just tried it and hoped for the best. It wasn't that far off, and since no one saw or heard me do a spell they believed me."

Evie sighed deeply in relief, so happy that they wouldn't have to run away. That relief was short lived when anxiety started to seep into her veins.

"So they know we can do magic?"

"They've always known, or at least had the potential…they don't have proof we've been practicing. That's what matters."

She nodded and went through all the ways they had practiced their magic and the steps they took to keep it a secret. There might be a few more things they should do, or stop until they moved out.

"What happens now?"

"I'm under house arrest, no going off campus for two weeks. I have a few online magical safety classes I have to take but that's it. Something about not using magic even in emergencies."

Evie sighed in relief, glad that his punishment wasn't worse.

"What about Mal?"

"We have to wait until Carlos gets back, but you should be able to visit her tomorrow."

"Do we know who did this?"

"If they do, they didn't tell us. But I know it had to have been an attack, there's no other explanation. And very few things can hurt the fae, plus all the other attacks…"

And there was no way for them to find out unless someone told them, and Evie cursed Jane FéeMarraine. If not for the new rules, they could have easily done a scrying spell to find out who was responsible.

"When I find out, I'm going to kill them," Jay said darkly, angry tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"We'll kill them," Evie pledged, cupping his cheek with one hand and brushing her fingers through his silky black hair with the other.

Storm and fury replaced any fear of being sent back to the Isle, the attack on Mal could not be endured.

They sealed the promise with a kiss, and for the first time in weeks Evie felt safe in Jay's arms.

Believe it or not, this is actually only half of what I had originally written and wanted to post, but I wanted to get at least SOMETHING out since it's literally been more than a year since I last posted. A very crappy and heartbreaking year.

I know it's been a long time since people may have read this story, but I hope people caught the hint about Ben's missing royal stationery. If not, re-read the last chapter with P.H. and Malevola. ;-D

Next chapter we have the Sea Three!