ᴛʜᴜʀsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 12ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ᴏsɪʀᴀɴ 1219ᴀᴄ
4ᴘᴍ

MAL WANTED TO BURN IT ALL DOWN.

That wasn't hyperbolic, she both had the means, the motivation, and the absolute fury to do so.

Things were changing far too fast for her liking. Mal has never considered herself as someone who cared about what she looked like. On the Isle, her leather jacket was a stolen item from years ago and twice her size, she ended up cutting the bottom half and dyed it multiple shades. The majority of her pants and jeans were ripped and stained, and she'd cut her hair only when it became a hassle to take care of. But now, staring in front of the mirror was someone she did not recognize. The bleached platinum hair was almost glowing in the worst way, like a big sign that said: "Hey! Look at me! I gave in so fast!" Her own reflection was mocking her. All she could focus on was the itch that the bleach left in her cranium.

Her hair had already grown from her jaw to the top of her shoulders. And now that she had people to take care of it, what would be the point in cutting it off? The longer she looked, the longer she could feel her very soul being squeezed of what remained. Wow, that was bleak, she'd been spending too much time with Jay.

Audrey did her best not to laugh when she first saw Mal. She did not last long. "I'll let you have that one. If you laugh again you won't have any hair yourself."

"Wow," she said, "There's blond and then there's that."

"Trust me, I can feel just how stupid I look." She opened the door wider to let the princess into the dorm. This was one of the few times they could have some privacy, Evie was gone for the day. "Still could've been worse, one wanted me to go ginger because it 'grabs more attention'."

"Was it Gabrielle, Suzanne, or Jeanne-Marie?"

Mal halted in her step and turned to face her, "Jeanne-Marie."

The princess nodded as she crossed the room to sit on the ripped couch (blame Carlos), "Ivory Tower's most impressive modiste, visagiste, and coiffeur trio," she said in perfect French which caused Mal's eyebrows to raise in surprise, "They oversee the royal families' entire image, making sure they and any surrounding company they keep is society-presentable."

Mal, only knowing French and Latin for her spells had no idea of the titles she used, "I'm sorry but what the hell is a visa-what and a coi-the-fur?"

"It's a beautician and a hairdresser." She answered, "They came here with the Beaumonts all the way from Villeneuve and refused to abandon their fancy little French ways or titles." Letting out a sigh, she said, "I always hated Jeanne-Marie the most. Total control freak."

"You want to talk control freak? We need to handle the Fairy Godmother."

The Godmother was no longer her usual friendly, caring, and motherly self. Ever since the events of Ben's coronation in which Mal snapped the fey's wand and let it dissipate into specks of dust, the Godmother had been in a bad mood. She doesn't blame her, even if the wand was powerless it was still an important relic (though a powerless one) that she had used for hundreds of years. And Mal snapped it in half. She would've preferred ripping off one of the Godmother's wings, but she didn't have any.

The past few days she's been more watchful over the Rotten, especially Mal. Mal didn't have any hobbies or people in Auradon. Not like the others. Evie occupied herself with her new classes: botany, advanced chemistry, and human biology. When she's not doing that, she has her fun with Ora. Jay had his fun letting out steam on the tourney field (and then in the showers with a certain blonde), he's even brought out his blacksmith tools recently so he's been acclimating. Even Carlos was distracting himself with his new sugar obsession.

Mal did not do her best to acclimate to the university institute. She could have attended artist gatherings or helped paint a mural for the younger kid's school building in the neighboring city. But she disliked gatherings that weren't necessary and refused to do anything altruistic for this leech of a kingdom. The other half of her time was spent on Ben, although thankfully he had become so busy with his monarch duties that he seldom had time for her. Thank the universe for a crown. Unfortunately, that left the Godmother to set her sights on Mal. She constantly followed her in public or stayed in for some false private tutoring excuse.

You need to give her something, tell her you're sorry," Audrey said, getting up and observing the room more openly whilst she poked at things on Evie's desk.

"What?"

"Sorry," she emphasized like it were a foreign word, "it's a word to convey an apology and your sympathies."

"I know what it means, princess," She said, watching as the princess flipped through Evie's notes and other things. "And I'm not apologizing to that sell-out of a fairy."

Audrey didn't lift her head to ask, "Even if it'll make your stay here easier?"

She took a few seconds before saying, "I'll consider it."

"You do that," she finally broke away from her snooping to look at her, "In the meantime, you also need to get into Ben's private study."

At that Mal perked up, "Oh? Are we breaking or stealing? Oh! Burning?"

If Audrey was surprised at Mal's eagerness to commit breaking and entering against the current monarch of the kingdom, she certainly hid it well. "None of the above, while I was going through your spellbook I noticed a few that would come in handy in times like these." She walked back to Mal's bed and grabbed the leather book.

Mal decided not to add in that her 'going through her spellbook' only happened because she stole it. She narrowed her eyes as she asked, "What spell?" She made a mental note that eventually she'd have to get back at the princess for her theft. Just because they were on the same side did not mean Mal —or any other Rotten for that matter— forgave easily.

"Pluma espia," Audrey answered, flipping through the pages of the book before finding the correct one and showing it to her.

The fairy in the room raised an eyebrow in confusion before recognizing the spell and taking the book. She momentarily fought the growing smirk on her lips, "You want to spy on what he writes?"

"What he writes, to who, where, when, all of it. We learn who his allies are, who his enemies are, who's angry with him, who's angry with his father, all of it. And most importantly, what's on his mind."

Mal no longer fought the grin, "I like it," She nodded. "The hard part of course isn't spelling the pen or spelling a notebook to keep track of the writing. It's the linking spell between them, burning the correct runes into both."

"How much time would you need?"

"Considering I've never done it before? Half an hour at most. I also need time to gather the materials."

Audrey started nodding and pacing as she often did when forming plans, "Ben will most likely copy his father in any bureaucratic instances of being king. That means he takes Mondays and Fridays to focus all his energy in his study."

"You're right, he always says he's busy those days."

"The rest of the days he'll devote to running the kingdom and finishing whatever classes he signed up for to appease his mother." Mal raised her eyebrows at that, Audrey explained easily, "His mother insisted that he get a full education before he became king. The Old King fought about it, insisting that since he never got a proper education neither should his son. The whole kingdom was buzzing about their fight for a fortnight. Finally, they conceded, and Ben wished to appease his mother, he'd complete his learning before he ascended. A symbolic gesture to show that no monarch is above higher learning. I'd be more impressed if he had actually finished before he was crowned." She said gracefully, "In which case it means that he'll leave the weekend for time with family and you."

"No, Sunday's won't work either." Mal told her, explaining to the confused princess, "Part of his father abdicating and Ben ascending the crown: once a week, he'll sit down for a council between his parents and himself to discuss the kingdom."

Audrey scoffed a laugh, "Sounds like Beast," she muttered before saying clearer, "That leaves Saturday."

"Right, except that those days, family castle dinners tend to be you know, in their castle."

"No one's allowed in after sunset," Audrey seemed to be doing invisible steps in her head, Mal wondered if she should just shut up and let the princess work it all out. Is this how the rest of the Rotten felt seeing Mal work out plans? No wonder they let her do all the work. "Only those personally invited by the king may pass, you're the only one that can get in. You're the only one who can do the spell but you also can't just go missing for more than half an hour."

"What if I stayed over? Say I had a stomachache after dinner, almost faint a little, Ben will insist I stay the night. Then once everyone's asleep, I sneak you in."

At that, Audrey halted in her step to look at Mal in shock, "Sneak me in? You're the one casting the spell, what can I do?"

"I don't know the castle layout, you do. Besides, for a spell like this, I need to be fully concentrated. I won't notice things around me, people patrolling the hall, or even a lantern turning on." She said it obviously, "I need a lookout."

Audrey weighed the pros and cons silently before agreeing, "Fine. But if I get caught—"

"I go down with you, I know, princess." She mocked playfully.

"Very well, what materials do we need?"

Mal quickly went over the small amount of things she'd require. Easy enough to ask Evie for and the rest she could steal easily. They were now going over the exact time and place Audrey should sneak into the castle. The princess made a quick, yet impressive, sketch of the castle grounds and where the points of access were.

"Don't you live in the castle?" She asked her. For most of her life, Audrey had been engaged to Ben, if she were living in Ivory Towers it only made sense she'd be in Ivory Castle.

"I live as a guest on the estate, in a small manor." Audrey pointed to the corner at the small building on the left.

"But this manor is near the castle?"

"Just a few feet away." She confirmed.

"And you have been inside the castle before, plenty of times for dinners or meetings?"

"Dinners yes, meetings? If you count the impending nuptials that were recently called off, sure, meetings."

"Sorry about that."

"No, you're not."

Mal only smiled and she caught the princess fighting off a grin before it shifted back into a frown.

"There's a guard shift at midnight," Audrey pointed at the second connecting bridge between one of the points, "It should be a four-minute window, maybe less for me to get to the entrance, run to the side door windows, and step inside without causing any alarms to go off."

They finished with discussing any possible hiccups or contenders that could happen to screw up the plan, and then finally called it a night and waited for the weekend to come.

☠︎            ☠︎            ☠︎            ☠︎

sᴀᴛᴜʀᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 14ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ᴏsɪʀᴀɴ 1219ᴀᴄ
8ᴘᴍ

It was easy to score an invitation to one of Ben's family dinners, he was always so willing to include her in anything he did. His parents were nicer than last time. Belle complimented her new hair color, his father didn't say anything but he approved more than he did of her natural violet locks. Their words made her want to spit up everything in her stomach. She could almost picture her mother; cursing them, burning them, biting their heads off for trying to take away one of the few things that told the world her daughter was fey. So, yes, it was very easy to fake a stomachache. She clutched her middle, groaned a few times, said she was fine, and once the time came to stand up and adjourn to the drawing room, she stumbled. Everyone saw as she clutched the side of the chair and gripped her stomach even tighter.

Ben was by her side in a second, she purposefully leaned against him as he checked her out. Seeing there was nothing visually wrong but she was still in pain, he called for the castle physician.

"It's just my stomach, I think I ate too much, or something's just not agreeing with me." Which was definitely a lie, they served fish, Mal's favorite. She may have hated swimming and feeling water gather around her, but fish were always easy to catch on the Isle. Anyone who had the means could do it, and she got good at it from an early age, which meant that she ate fresh cooked fish often. That was better than the days-old vegetables and turned meats the markets provided. She developed a taste for it rather easily, cooking it until it was black and crispy. A taste she eerily shared with her late mother.

"I just need to walk it off," she mumbled and purposefully sent a subtle wave of heat through and out her skin. The dragonfire felt nice to unleash, even if just a little, and with some direction she managed to center it to her face.

People didn't know that she naturally ran hotter than others. "Oh, you're burning up, you need to lie down." He moved her to one of the full-body seats in the drawing room.

The Old Queen fussed over her as well, waving a fan directly at her and cooing small comforts. "Oh dear, oh it'll be all right."

It was even easy to have them all collectively agree that she should not be walking anywhere in her condition, especially when it began to rain outside. Ben quickly called to one of the servants and instructed them to prepare a chamber for his guest. Mal made sure to tell him that she'd be fine, but Ben still remained steadfast in wanting to take care of her. His own undoing really. The more time she spent with Ben the more he reminded her of her last girlfriend. Uma was always trying to fix things. If it wasn't making every single person on the Isle into her personal charity project, it was Mal herself. Nothing was ever good enough for her, she was convinced that all Mal needed was a guiding hand and how she could use her status to better their island. Mal never quite understood what she meant, their island was fine. Sure, they could use better food and less idiots, but it was perfect in her eyes. Uma never took off her righteous-colored glasses and it ended up blinding her so badly that she ended up in an ongoing war with the Rotten.

She knew she shouldn't, but now all she could think about was what was happening back home now that the Rotten were gone. Had Uma expanded her borders? Had her little band of Renegades decide upon it fast or did they take their sweet time like they always did? Did the Raptors become her new enemies? Did Uma do the impossible and merge both groups? She knew eventually that she would go back and remind them all who they bowed to. She would take all their leader's heads and those loyal to them, though she might give Uma a second chance to pick the winning side.

What Mal did not find easy about that night was the waiting. Waiting for Ben and the physician to leave her alone in her chambers. Waiting and hearing to make sure everyone had gone to bed and the lanterns were put out. Waiting for the clock to strike two minutes before midnight so she could sneak downstairs to the main drawing room and let her in through the bow windows. Her mind stayed on the sound of pouring rain from outside and the slight thundering song that came every ten minutes.

☠︎            ☠︎            ☠︎            ☠︎

sᴀᴛᴜʀᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 14ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ᴏsɪʀᴀɴ 1219ᴀᴄ
11:58ᴘᴍ

Mal checked the time yet again, finally, it was time to go. She enjoyed Auradon at night, it reminded her of simpler times. The amount of time the castle was left unguarded during the guard shift was stupid, it let people like her get away with all sorts of things. What she couldn't believe was how little guards there had been in the first place. The privileges of a peaceful kingdom didn't have to equate to those of an arrogant sovereign.

Returning to the main drawing room was easy enough. Once she arrived, the grandfather clock in the drawing room abruptly went off at the same time, delivering a pleasant chime that she found entirely unpleasant. The song made her nervous, she was sure someone would wake up to the noise or at least have a harder time going back to sleep because of it. The only good thing that came of it was knowing it was finally midnight, the guards would switch now and she made her way to the bow window. The clock chiming paired with the small storm above them made the castle more ominous than she had expected. It was creepy. Finally, something she could like about this place. Then, she got worried, during weather this bad she didn't know if Audrey backed out of their plan or if something had happened to her because of the weather.

It took two minutes and her pulse thundering alongside the weather for Audrey to slowly reveal herself in the rain outside the window. Of course, as if some thunder and rain would ever discourage Audrey Rose from her plans. She clicked and pushed the window open for the princess to enter and quickly shut it again.

"You took your sweet time." She whispered.

Audrey, in no mood for jokes, responded in hushed whispers as well. She pulled her hood back and shook off the excess rainwater. "Next time you can be the one to risk your neck trying to enter through the only bridge connected to this godforsaken castle surrounded by a moat."

Mal couldn't respond to that, she knew from arriving at the property that it was difficult to get in. She had to admit, the princess had guts. "Come on, we're wasting moonlight."

"And how are you going to walk in that monstrosity?"

Mal halted in her step before looking down at her outfit. A painful sigh came out of her mouth. She was used to walking barefoot at times, but she detested the nightgown the Old Queen had gifted her. A low-shaded pink that was a size too big on the small girl, she had to roll up the sleeves to be able to actually see her hands again. Unfortunately, she also had to keep a handful bunched up in her fist if she didn't want to trip over the long gown with every step she took.

"I'll be fine," She told her, "Come on, his study was in the tower right?"

She nodded, "Past the East Wing, we have to be careful that's where all the royal family's chambers are."

Audrey led the way since she knew the castle better but it was Mal that had her halt or freeze in place whenever she caught a light from outside the round windows or saw something that Audrey couldn't in the dark. This led to eventually holding the princess's hand and squeezing whenever they had to stop.

This time they had to lean their backs against the wall and slide to the cold cobblestone floor as guardslight shone right and left, repeating itself multiple times. "Holding a girl's hand in the dark, what would Grammy say?" She whispered in her ear. Mal was bored and feeling reckless, and she was next to a pretty girl under the cover of darkness that only made them huddle up closer. Sue her.

"Quiet," she ignored her of course, but it only made Mal grin in mischief.

"I bet we aren't the only girls in the kingdom holding hands in the dark, you know." She still made sure to speak lowly, they were in a very dangerous position of course. Which only made Mal even more reckless.

"I said be quiet."

"We may not even be the first girls to hold hands at night in this castle."

Audrey finally responded by squeezing her hand as tight as she could, nails biting into her skin as she hissed at her as quietly as she could. She was going to say something, Mal knew she was going to say something but then all of a sudden she stopped. Maybe it was the silent laugh on Mal's face, Audrey was quick to figure out that the fairy was just pushing her, edging her to react and she liked it when she got a reaction. So the princess relaxed her grip, their hands still together, and she stood once the light passed, not saying another word as she dragged Mal to the study.

She hated that the princess figured out her game easily. She also kind of liked it.

Though she had never been in Ben's study before, it was exactly as she expected it to be. Grand, adorned in regal wear with the pride of House Beaumont's colors: royal blue and gold covering every section of the room. The furniture must have been cured mahogany, it was gorgeous she had to admit. Behind the desk were giant French door windows that led to a balcony, probably overlooking the castle courtyard. The rain pattered against the glass windows leaving behind droplets that looked like sad tears. The desk looked simpler than the rest of the room, however, the most normal part of it actually. Papers were neatly in a pile, folders on another side, and a stack of unopened letters on the other. In the front was the ornate pen that the king used to write and sign everything with.

"Score," Mal took the silver and gold pen in hand. "Always sticking to tradition, don't you, Benny-boo?" She muttered staring at the pen. It must have been a gift, his initials were intricately carved on the side and shimmered in the light. "Okay, we have the pen, give me the notebook and the knife."

Audrey reached into her side bag, having been carrying the materials Mal told her she would need. But the first thing she handed over wasn't the notebook or a knife, it was something much stranger than that. It was a ribbon. A long light pink ribbon, probably four or five feet long.

"What's this for?" She questioned.

"So that when we leave you won't trip over yourself every third step, tie it around your waist." Audrey passed it to her.

Mal looked at it for a moment, before shrugging and gathering the sides of the gown, folding them, and looping the long ribbon around her waist and haphazardly tying it into a flimsy knot. Once she was done, Audrey finally handed her the notebook and pocket knife.

She had already carved the spell runes on the leather notebook, now all she needed was to carve the same ones on the pen. She hated this part, having to get every little detail right.

"Tell me about the kingdoms. I wanna know what we'll be up against and Ben doesn't exactly have a clear picture of that."

Audrey paused twice before saying, "You're in the middle of the spell."

"No, I'm in the middle of carving a series of runes on a pen. Talk to me, it'll help put the edge off."

She scoffed but must have relented, "Ben not having a clear picture is the understatement of the year," Mal paused her carving when she saw the princess walk toward a large mural map of not just the Twelve Kingdoms, but all continents and the Seven Seas. The princess turned back to the fairy, "What do you want to know?"

Mal nodded to the Borderlands, "I met Laenor Mathan of New Scots and I know he's here to try and get legitimized, so that's one kingdom the Beaumont's pissed off, what about the others?" She went back to dragging the knife against the pen.

Audrey clicked her tongue, "Well, my neighbor kingdom, the Summerlands, may be potential allies. They owe a lot of the Rose family and there's a rumor that a high-up ruler had someone kill Robin Hood's ten-year-old son, his firstborn. A lot of people seem to think it was Beast, something about Robin Hood defying him or whatever but a body was never found and Robin never made any accusations. He and his wife later adopted the kid's best friend, some orphan as a way to heal. It's always been off to me."

"Would Beast really kill a ten-year-old over an act of defiance? It sounds more like my people's territory."

"Exactly, he probably would've just threatened the kid instead. Killing him could have evoked a potential civil war among the kingdoms." Audrey said, her voice still hushed, "But he's not against killing adults," Mal looked as she pointed toward the patch of white and blue on the map, the kingdom of Arendelle. "Queen Elsa did abdicate her throne of Arendelle to her sister long before the War, but it was after the Isle was created that Beast started calling for all villains and criminals to be imprisoned there. While Anna held no ill will toward her sister, Beast saw her as someone who had caused chaos and harm to her people due to her power. He said she should be taken in, Anna refused, and Elsa disappeared a few days later. She's not on the Isle, she's not in Arendelle, no one knows where she went or even if she's still alive."

"Is that why Princess Anna refuses to step foot in Ivory Towers?"

She couldn't see her but she assumed the princess was nodding, "She's been self-isolated ever since her sister's disappearance. She doesn't trust anyone outside of her family, the reports say she's sickly but everyone knows those are just excuses."

"Charmante D'or?"

"The Charmantes, Chad's family, very rich, very old, very loyal to Beast."

"Well, give my guy enough time, Chad will have his loyalties disputed in the long run. If that doesn't work take the father hostage, threaten the mother, make sure Chad chooses the right side if he wants his parents to survive."

"Sounds like you've done this before." Audrey didn't sound scared however, she sounded intrigued.

Mal blew the excessive dust that had formed on the pen, running a finger over her finished work. "You could say I've been at it for a while." She showed off her work, "First parts done, hand me the sandalwood and the henbane leaves?"

Audrey searched her bag and turned over the glass bottles. "Just out of curiosity, what did your friends say when you told them about me?"

Mal dipped the pen in the sandalwood and sprinkled bits of it over the open notebook. Then took a henbane leaf to place on top of the pen and repeating it with the notebook. "Nothing, I haven't told them." She crossed the room to get to the hearth and took a small handful of the ashen coals until her fingers were covered and released them. She didn't bother having Audrey bring any, she knew there'd be a fireplace in here, there always was in places like these.

"You're not telling them?" Audrey asked, seeming more confused than displeased.

"Not yet," she shook her head as she drew the next pair of runes on her palms in ash, "They don't respond well to outsiders. We don't exactly bring people in, at least not for long." Mal can still remember all the screaming and the smell of burning acid from Maddy when Evie told her she could never be part of the Rotten. They didn't call her Mad Maddy Mim for nothing.

"Then tell them to relax, this is all just temporary, and then we can go our separate ways. They just need to have patience."

Mal scoffed a rather loud and obnoxious laugh that Audrey tried to shush just as quick, "Patience? Them? Maybe Jay, maybe. But the other two aren't really known for their patience."

Audrey still tried to shush her. They had been talking lowly and in hushed voices but the thought of asking her friends to have patience absolutely made her cackle. Still, she gained control quickly enough.

"Okay, here comes the hard part: linking them. This time I can't have any distractions, keep a look out and an ear out for anything." Audrey only nodded and watched as Mal started the spell.

It was fun using magic again that wasn't always fire-related. Still, seeing the runes burn away through the leaves was exciting. Her palms hovered over both objects and began to glow a low green hue. The pen and paper echoed the colors soon after as she muttered the words that would fuse them together. She repeated the words over and over again as the rain poured outside, she could feel herself match its rhythm unconsciously. She felt in sync with the storm raging outside, muttering the words again and again until the henbane leaves eventually melted into the pen and notebook, disappearing completely and signifying the spell was completed.

She didn't know how long she'd been at it with the spell, her legs felt stiff and atrophied. When she took a step she wobbled and had to grab the desk to steady herself. A sudden irony of her earlier false stomachache came to mind that made her sigh.

The sigh was what brought Audrey back to her, seeing she had stopped. "Is it done?" She gazed at the items, seemingly trying to see something she couldn't.

"It's done." Mal nodded, taking the pen and putting it back where it was before. All the sandalwood had burnt into the pen, leaving not a speck behind. The notebook was more of a mess, but that was expected. Audrey gathered the materials to put them away while she dusted the ash off her hands, dirtying the ugly nightgown. The ribbon held up nicely so far, the fabric no longer gathered at her feet in bunches.

Then, almost frighteningly close, a loud crack of thunder sounded in the clouds, loud enough to make them both jump. Mal felt herself calming, knowing it was just a jump scare until she heard voices.

Audrey's eyes widened with hers in unison as they looked back to the study's entrance. The voices got closer and closer. Mal didn't waste another second, shoving the rest of the bits of sandalwood in Audrey's pack, taking the girl's hand, and opening the balcony doors. The rain poured even heavier when they were outside, she closed the door behind her and pushed Audrey and herself to the corner left side as she watched from the window. In a minute the door did open, a lamp-oil being carried by a servant as Ben entered the room.

"—warm milk does wonders to ease the old mind and head off to sleep, my king."

"Thank you, Cogsworth, But I don't think I'll get much rest tonight." Both of them began turning on the lanterns in the room, bringing it to light and having her shirk away even more from the window. "I think I'll get started on the unopened letters until sleep finds me."

She saw the short man bow, "Some tea then, Your Majesty?"

Ben looked like he was pondering it for a moment before agreeing and the short man bowed once more before he left.

Mal felt herself give a small sigh. She turned around to face the rest of the large balcony and gave a defeated look to Audrey. She leaned against the wall of their small hiding spot and slid onto the rough ground, not caring that she sat on a small, disgusting puddle. The princess took a minute to glance around their surroundings, through the door windows, and back again at the start before sliding down to meet Mal. They were stuck. And they would remain stuck for a while.

She didn't know how long they had been there. Minutes felt like hours and the rain kept going, hitting them over and over again. All she could do was close her eyes and let it the water drip over her. The balcony had an awning but it was closed and they both knew it'd be impossible to open it without Ben noticing. In better news, the girls had gotten better at communicating through signs and stares and eventually, the rain began to part. Still not done, but the worst was through now. Finally, maybe Ben would take it as a message and go to bed already.

Mal suddenly felt Audrey moving, she glanced down and saw the girl rubbing her hands together and leaving them on her neck. She hadn't noticed how she started to shiver. It must have been freezing out here, she realized. Mal had never truly experienced the cold for its harshness, it was always a pleasant coolness for her. She had been born with fire in her lungs, it never left her, not even on the Isle. It was always there, keeping her warm, protecting her from outside flames, reminding her of what she was. And on a night like this, it was no different, it kept her warm during the freezing season and the rain that added to it. But Audrey was human, and that combination could be deadly for any human no matter how wealthy or noble.

Mal didn't have to think about taking her hands in hers, she just did. She saw the shocked look on Audrey's face but ignored it, focusing on her own hands and willing the fire inside her to emerge. She could feel the rain on her face and hair begin to evaporate, and from her fingers to her shoulders, her entire body produced enough heat to keep both of them safe in the cold weather. Audrey figured it out quickly, her arms tightening around Mal's and instinctively shoveling closer to her, Mal's right arm moving over to wrap them closer together. Audrey's head found her warm neck and open collar that Mal didn't bother to close. Mal knew she should've fought her next instinct, it would just bring her trouble. But for the life of her, she couldn't help it. Her right hand was on top of Audrey's head as the princess breathed disheveledly into Mal's neck, still fighting off the cold. Mal's hand began to soothe her, stroking her hair and whispering comforting shh's.

She had been planning some stupid revenge prank like how Evie did to her. Something dumb that would even the tally between them, a way to get back at her for stealing her spellbook. It was what the Rotten always did, with big grievances and with small insults. But tonight she saw the princess sneak into a guarded castle, under heavy thunder and rain, stay calm, composed, and silently endure the freezing rain outside the study of the boy who stole her crown. Mal didn't know how the girl had enough self-control to not burst into that study, stab him with his letter opener, and drag him out the balcony to push him over and let him fall. She knew Audrey was determined, but this was something else, she had been playing the long game for a while now and she knew how to play it well. The problem with the long game is that it's long. It could take years, it's about patience and waiting, planting seeds and seeing how they flowered. While Mal knew how to play the long game— she would much rather play with fire. And Audrey would need fire if she was going to win.

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Hi folks! Yes it has been over a year since I've updated but during that time I also finished my practice, graduated university and am starting my first teaching job tomorrow.

anyway, this is just my way of getting back on the horse hopefully but rest assure I have been world building during this time and creating characters and dynamics, setting up plots and making sure everything all fits together. guys, i made maps, i made family crests, this story will be finished.

also please accept this model of mal and evie's dorm room as well as some trivia about it:

also, this is Ivory Castle, with the little manor on the left being Audrey's residence, based on the real life castle in the Netherlands, Castle De Haar:

So I really wanted to show Mal and Audrey's little team-up, how they work, and how they're both surprised how well they work together.

I was having a hard time with this because we're officially off the Descedants script until we get to D2 and I really wanna build what happens in these six months between D1 and D2 in this respective story. So, I kept jumping between storylines of different characters in one chapter before realizing it's much easier to just focus on one or a pair and then scratch them off the list. Naturally, I started with these two because y'know❤️🧡🤍🩷❤️

Mal mentions stuff!
- Uma
- Mad Maddy Mim (granddaughter of Mad Madam Mim from the Sword in the Stone and yes, Maddy's from the books)
- The Raptors

We ALSO got to get some info about the beef going on in the kingdoms.
- Robin Hood stuff
- Anna and Elsa stuff (no, she is not dead, so where is she?)

remember that this story also plays on perspectives, Audrey is telling Mal what information she's gathered or heard, it might be right, it might be wrong, might be an educated guess but really we won't know until D3.

for example, when Mal mentions Uma and how she always wanted to fix Mal. this may be how Mal remembers Uma but it may not be how Uma or other people remember it, it's a biased opinion.

oh, you wanna ask me questions and get to know the characters or just discus dynamics? maybe some sneak peaks or wanna find out what's everyones beef with beast? you're in luck! i made a tumblr for this very reason

https://www.tumblr.com/valkerinyes

no mundanes allowed
- polaroized