Gallery Of Villains

Their parents were a joke.

The Isle had seen to that, that their parents lost everything that they had once valued. The Evil Queen had lost her waistline, her looks, had had to settle for her daughter. Cruella had been cut off from the dogs she obsessed over, had lost her mind and taken to talking to a stuffed one on her shoulder to make up for it. Jafar had been reduced to petty thievery just as he had once ridiculed Aladdin for and lost all his powerful genie magic. And Maleficent had lost her dragon self, her magic, as well, despite the fact she practically ruled the Isle. The barrier had made them all but powerless, magically speaking, had made them shadows of their former selves.

20 years on the Isle had been enough to drive them to mere caricatures of their former selves, laughing stocks if the people of Auradon could see them now.

And those were the people the four children of the Isle had grown up with.

Oh yes, they were terrified of their parents, they had witnessed their cruelty and evilness first hand as they grew up, they knew how dangerous their parents were. But they also knew there was something missing about them, the truly deadly part about them that made them the worst villains of the lands.

They had never, ever seen their parents at their prime, not at the height of their evilness.

Till now.

Standing there in the shadows of the Gallery of Villains in the museum, looking at the wax statues of their parents at their absolute worst (best). It was a truly shocking and startling and nightmarish sight. The Evil Queen was at her mirror, crowned, holding her poisonous apple, a deadly smirk on her face. Jafar was in a striking position, his cobra staff in hand, a sinister glare on his face. Cruella's hands were arched in claws as she sneered at the puppies she was chasing, her fur coat made of their hides billowing around her. And Maleficent, with her truly evil, dark look grinning out at them in victory with her staff held high, dressed all in black instead of purple, her horns just like the devil's.

They had never seen their parents like that, not ever, not looking so powerful and collected and pristine, so threatening. Oh they were threatening, deadly, villainous on the Isle, very much so. But not like this, not so...frightening, so much so that they almost didn't even see their parents in the figures but the truly terrible villains that everyone spoke of in hushed and fearful whispers.

It hit them just then, what it would be like if they failed.

They didn't doubt that they'd be sent back to the Isle at some point. School didn't last all year, there was nowhere else for them to go when the year was over BUT back to the Isle. And if they failed to free their parents, THIS was what they'd be faced with when they returned home, when they returned back to their parents' prison. For their parents to come so close to freedom and have their children fail? They wouldn't be faced with the caricatures they'd known their entire lives, no, they'd be faced with the darkest fury, they'd be faced with the four statues before them, at the absolute worst they could be without magic. They'd be faced with the four darkest villains who had done unspeakably cruel deeds to others, to kids younger than them and their ages.

They couldn't just stand there anymore, they couldn't bear to look at their parents like that, not now that they were acutely aware of exactly what would be waiting for them when they returned to the Isle if they wasted more time, tried their patience. They had to go, they needed to find that wand and do it NOW!

If they failed, they were dead.

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Author's Note-It made me wonder why the kids would actually go through with the plan to free their parents if they were finally free of them and somewhere that they couldn't be reached or punished for failing, UNLESS they thought they WOULD be going back to the Isle at the end of all this. If they truly thought that they were there as a test, or that, at the end of the school year, they'd go back to the Isle, THEN it made sense that they'd go through with the plan, because they knew they'd be facing their parents again and HAD to succeed.

Face them after failing, punishment. Face them after succeeding, safe.

If they were off the Isle, somewhere their parents couldn't hurt them for failing (or choosing not to break the barrier) then why bother even trying to? Their parents couldn't hurt them if they were staying in Auradon, which made me feel like they all genuinely believed they were going back to the Isle at some point.

I feel like it wasn't till Ben reassured Carlos that their parents couldn't get to them there that they actually realized they were NOT going back to the Isle ever again (or that Ben realized he could NOT send them back now that he knew the plan and what they'd face if they went back) and really were safe. I mean it could genuinely be that they thought they'd get their parents out and all be evil together and have their parents proud of them, but this moment, seeing their reactions, it made me feel like it might be more fear of what they'd do to their kids if they failed (which was later repeated by other characters too) than wanting pride from their parents.

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UnwiseOne-I'm glad you liked it!

Katie Emm-I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, sadly. I read a summary of it somewhere, but not a very detailed one so I know the gist of what happens in it but I really need to find time to go to the book store lol. I'm glad you liked the chapter!

DauntessFangirl-I'm happy you're enjoying the story! I've got chapters planned for both those so we'll see them very soon.

Penny of Sinnoh-I'm glad you like it! And thank you for the alert/favorite! I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters to come!