You can't harm your soulmate.

Everyone on the Isle of the Lost has a soulmate {that's a proven fact}.

Well, technically, everyone has a soulmate, but only the kids on the Isle of the Lost knew who theirs were. The rule said that you couldn't harm your soulmate, but no kid on Auradon ever tried to harm anyone else.

Some of the heroes knew {Belle and the Beast, for one, Lee Shang and Fa Mulan for another - although he had thought his soulmate to be Ping, at first, but he hadn't really minded either way}. But their kids would live without soulmates, and they didn't mind too terribly. No one needed that negativity in their life.

By contrast, the villains used their childrens' soulmates to their advantage. Having bonded children meant an immediate alliance, and a way to control their children. In this way, Ursula, Hook and Gaston had been the most powerful alliance on the Isle for years {not the most powerful people, but they'd take what they could get}. They'd all but ruled the Isle, until Jafar's boy took a swipe at Maleficent's girl and it didn't land, and her eyes flashed in response but her magick refused to respond.

The next day, in school, the new soulmate pair tried to douse the Evil Queen's daughter in hydrochloric acid and it slid off her, leaving her as beautiful as ever. Within the hour, she'd introduced them to her soulmate, Cruella de Vil's son whose blood she'd once tried to drain for a beauty potion.

Within forty-eight hours, fate had created the most powerful alliances in history. Jafar, Maleficent, Grimhilde, Cruella. Evelynn, Jahin, Carlos, Malaia.

They lay on chaises, silk curtains fluttering around them. The sun was almost unbearably hot, beating down onto them furiously, but the breeze blowing through the gardens and the iced honey wine alleviated any discomfort that mid-Summer might bring.

Evie's hair had faded over the years, from a bright blue to a deep black. She was nearing her second century, but her hair was the only indication of her age. Her looks had held through the years, and she didn't look older than twenty. Her eyes sparkled as she bit into a blood orange, the juice covering her fingers. She brought them to her lips and licked them clean one by one.

Her husbands were similarly ageless. Jay had cut his hair short, near his hundredth birthday, but had grown a grown a thick black beard that tickled her cheeks when she kissed him and scratched her thighs when he kissed

her. Jay's powers had been unleashed on his twenty-fifth birthday, and his skin had a purple tinge to it and he had thick golden cuffs on his wrists {Evie had his lamp. He said she was she only one he trusted with it}. Carlos had aged past them, forty-eight before Evie found a way to keep him immortal, so he had a couple stands in his hair that were greying and a couple wrinkles next to his eyes. But he was as beautiful as he'd been when she'd met him, thirteen and wiry and ready to jump into action.

Mal had changed the most out of all of them, though. Her Queen, her ethereal wife, had grown her hair down to her waist and kept it back in elaborate braids woven with flowers and gemstones every morning. It had lightened with the influx of magic that came with her use of the Magic Wand, going from the plum she'd been born with to a periwinkle colour. Her eyes were always glowing, now, a venomous green. She was thin and pale, always too thin for Evie's liking, and taller than Jay where she'd previously been shorter than everyone but Carlos.

Evie's eyes followed her as she lay on her stomach, letting the thin silk dress she was wearing fall off her shoulders, exposing her upper back. Mal didn't wear bras or corsets anymore, hadn't for years. She found it too restricting.

Evie didn't mind. She quite liked it this way, when Mail's nipples pushed against her silk and lace and chiffon dresses. Carlos and Jay did too, if their lazy smiles and soft eyes following the lines of Mal's body were any indication.

Mal and Evie were lying on their own chaises, and Carlos was sitting on Jay's lap, straddling him, pushing him back as they exchanged hot and heavy kisses. The four of them were hot and tired, but the wind hit their skin excellently and the four soulmates couldn't imagine anywhere better to be.

Mal was roused from dozing by a serf, who bowed low when they came within her range.

"Your Grace."

The boy couldn't be more than fifteen, and was clearly scared out of his mind. He was new, Evie didn't recognise him, but with his dark eyes and caramel skin, he cut quite the handsome figure.

Mal sighed and rolled over onto her back, exposing one of her breasts in the process. The boy's eyes widened, and stayed that way when she didn't go to correct it. Mal at her finest.

"Your Grace, there's a petitioner in the throne room," the boy hissed, flustered, cheeks bright red and eyes determinedly pointed at Mal's face. The Queen heaved a sigh and pushed herself up, righting her gown in the meanwhile. The serving boy had a look of deep effort on his face, but didn't voice it. He was good, but boring. Evie wanted something else. Something more interesting.

Mal pushed herself up from her seat, smoothing her ivory skirt and righting the bodice of her dress. She pulled the thin silver belt that held the dress together tighter, and smiled a white smile as she stood, slipping her feet into silver sandals.

Before she left to deal with the petitioner, Mal pressed a quick kiss to Jay's and Carlos's lips, and just about slammed her lips into Evie's, plunging them into a deep kiss that Evie was loathe to pull herself from. But the people came first.

They lived on the outskirts of the Lost City. Young soulmates on the Isle of the Lost were put in assigned living as far away from their parents' influence as possible, in the hope that they be removed from their parent's evil and grow into "good people". It didn't work very well.

The house itself was pretty terrible. They had been assigned two double beds, which had been pushed together, but even fitting into those beds together was difficult. They had a microwave but no fridge, and no cupboards or shelves. The house consisted of two rooms: a kitchen/living area/bedroom, and a bathroom with rusty pipes where the water was brown more often than not.

They loved it.

Jay stayed home every day, to cook and clean, and Evie loved joking that he was her housewife. Mal left at dawn, and came home after midnight, playing at being their parents' lapdog. Evie and Carlos were the breadwinners, salvaging scrap metal from the various dumping locations across the Isle and transforming them into something useful.

Evie was staring out one of their tiny windows. Mal had been working on a mural that covered two whole walls, and it had led to the window being left in varying shades of green.

She watched her girlfriend {soulmate!} as she practised with a sword. A couple days ago, Mal had challenged Jay to a duel, and when she'd lost, she'd furiously declared that Jay would teach her how to use a physical weapon. The lessons had been going fairly well, if slower than Mal might have wanted. But such was the nature of swordfighting.

Their sanctuary was tiny, but amazing. The first place only they had access to. The first place they could escape to when their parents became too much. Their first home.

She was curled up on the sofa, a soft and lumpy piece of crap that she and Jay had carried in from Hell Hall. Cruella didn't miss it - probably didn't even know it was gone. She had Hugh Selwyn Mauberley open on her lap, but found her soulmates far more interesting to look at.

I await The Lady Valentine's commands, indeed.

It was the first day of Winter, and as such, Queen Mal was hosting a feast that put all others to shame. The dance floor was full of girls in gold and yellow lace, sprinting away from the boys clad in silver-white. They'd dance around the floor, and when a boy managed to catch up to a golden girl he'd pick her up and spin her through the air before setting her down on the outside of the floor. When the pace picked up, their roles swapped and the summer girls chased after we the winter boys. The dance was lovely, and as more and more players fell out, a clear victor emerged.

Queen Consort Evie was dressed in golden satin and organza woven from fine golden threads. She wore woven leather sandals and her hair was pulled back from her face but left down. She was a vision, running from Jay, in a thin grey top and jeans, and Carlos in a silver silk shirt and grey suit.

She shrieked with laughter when Carlos scooped her up in his arms and spun her around, and her eyes found the Queen's. Mal was smiling softly at them, pride and love shining through her

Mal didn't dance the Winter Dance. She'd designed it, a century and a half ago, but had only danced it once, the first time. She'd won easily, and then there had been no one to crown her the Queen in the Winter. After that, she sat out, smiling fondly at the dancers.

When the music came to an end, Mal stood from her seat at the high table and walked down to the dancefloor. A serving girl who'd fallen out from the dance early on came forward, a delicate crown made of diamond snowflakes resting on a velvet cushion. She presented the crown to Mal, who picked it up and placed it on Evie's head, naming her Queen in the Winter. Evie stood and removed the circlet from her head, turning to the serving girl in her faded yellow dress and crowning her instead, a joyous smile on her face.

The serving girl touched the crown reverently, and Mal took her hand and led her to the high table, seating her at the seat of honour. Happy tears glistened in her eyes as she opened the feast.

This was why Evie had suggested the Seasons Feasts in the first place. Their chance to give the people, starved of happiness by war after war on behalf of Auradon, a way to celebrate something small.

Tonight, the girl and her soulmate (if she had one) would sleep in the Queen's rooms {no one ever actually slept there. Mal lived in the King's rooms, and Evie and Carlos and Jay lived with Mal}. Tomorrow, the girl would be given food for the winter and every other luxury she could need for the winter.

Tonight, Evie would fall into bed with her soulmates, as they would every night for the rest of winter {and spring and summer and fall} keeping each other warm. Tomorrow, she would take Ayeesha around the palace and the city, distributing alms to the people and getting their Queen in the Winter everything she could ever want, even if all Evie wanted to do was lie in bed with Mal and mulled wine. The people came first.

Mal was pouring over a map that covered the entire table. Their armies were marked by black pawns and Auradon's were marked by white. The most complicated chess game ever devised. Evie was sitting in the corner of the tent, lounging on their bed.

All four of them couldn't fit on any bed that could be brought with a camp anyway, so they put down bed rolls and pillows and curled around each other.

War had been hard on them. Evie had a wound on her left side, and Jay had had to cauterize and tend to it. He screamed every night in his dreams, and when he was awake his eyes were hollow. Carlos was walking with a limp, now, but for months he'd been confined to a wheelchair. Mal had lost so much weight that Evie could count each of her ribs, and her bones shone through her skin at her wrists and ankles. Her cheeks were gaunt and there were deep purple bruises under her eyes.

At the entrance to their tent, a guard looked in, announcing Dizzy's request for their presence. Evie waved her hand to allow her in.

Dizzy had also changed. She was tall and slim and the hair that she'd once kept with so much pride had all been shorn off. A scar went through her right eye and she wore an eye patch to cover it up. She smiled at Evie, but went to Mal.

Dizzy was their general, and she was good. She fought in every battle, always at Mal's side. She was the reason Evie felt safe sending her soulmates into battle {it also helped that Dizzy had already loved and lost her soulmate, Diego de Vil - there was no chance that she'd switch sides when finding that one that she couldn't harm, like so many soldiers of both sides did}.

There was one key move left, and they'd win. They'd been fighting for nearly two decades, and they had been close to failing, to all being placed back on the Isle of the Lost with its terrible assigned living and its cloying barrier that suffocated their magic.

But this, now, was their moment. The magic wand was being moved from the palace (where it had been placed at the beginning of the war) to the fairy godmother's own hands. And this was their one moment to grab it. The wand was what had kept them from victory all this time, and now Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay had one shot to end this.

It was a long shot. They'd more likely fail than succeed, but it was their only shot. And they'd take it.

Evie stood and walked out of the tent. Below her, the sea raged, deep blue and black, crashing and breaking against the cliff side below her. Salty wind stung her eyes and storm clouds gathered above her. Her black hair whipped around her face and her skirts flapped frantically around her legs. The hair on her arms was raised from the cold and when another gust hit her she shivered, slightly.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Spring was here.

They razed Auradon to the ground. They destroyed every symbol of the oppressive regime, letting the Autumn leaves cover the ashes of the city, interspersed with the precious gems and metals that Auradonians coveted.

They built the city from scratch, from sandstone and marble. They did it with help, but it was Carlos who designed it and Evie and Mal who helped place bricks and Jay who made sure that all the people were given a place to sleep and food to eat and dealt with the new country's alliances and diplomatic relationships.

They built a city in the cool air, hair tied back and sleeves long.

They built a dynasty in quiet moments and painless punches.

They built heaven in their reign.

They fought in the Spring and lived in the Summer. They won in the Fall and reigned in the Winter.