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21 year old Anthony Francis Tremaine stood at the school gates of Auradon Prep on the first day of school, glaring at every teenager and parent that passed him.
Beside him stood his 11 year old cousin, Drizella "Dizzy" Sophia Tremaine, who was clinging to him and staring up at her new school with a mix of shock, fear, and wonder, very hesitant to move any further.
She knew that Anthony wouldn't be going with her, since he had already graduated last year and had to get to work, and while the idea of going alone hadn't bothered her before, it did now that she realized just how big and scary the idea was.
Her little mind and heart just couldn't handle the idea—especially since her mind wouldn't stop running through everything that could go wrong at school or at Anthony's work.
She had five minutes to get to class now.
People were staring at them on their way in and out of the building. Some were whispering.
That only made her more nervous.
Anthony sighed, knowing that she wouldn't move on her own if he didn't intervene now.
"Dizzy" The redhead said, taking her hands in his own as he kneeled down in front of her "Look at me."
She did, although reluctantly.
Anthony saw Bronze and Junior dropping Gil, Claire, and La Foux Doux off at the gate over Dizzy's shoulder—they both looked very amused— and gave them a warning look that clearly said 'not a fucking word' before turning his attention back to an oblivious Dizzy.
"I know this is scary and new, but you have to go okay? This isn't like the Isle. People care if you don't go and we'll both get in trouble if you don't. I know that sucks and you don't want to go, but let me let you in on a secret."
That got Dizzy's attention, as he knew it would. That kid loved hearing secrets and didn't get told them often since there weren't many secrets between them.
"What?" She asked wide eyed and curious.
Anthony glanced at his watch; four minutes to go.
Might as well get this over with it.
"I don't want you to go either and I'm just as scared as you are."
The smaller redhead gasped in shock, looking at him in disbelief. "You're scared? But you're so big and strong and brave all the time!"
Anthony hid a snort.
If only she knew just how untrue that statement was'.
He quickly shook that thought off and smiled at her. "Well of course I'm scared, Diz. I don't know the schedule here and I can't just waltz into the school whenever I damn well please anymore. That's pretty scary for me, but I'm gonna let you go anyway, you know why?"
Dizzy shook her head, tilting it to the side. A quirk that she had picked up from her mother as a baby.
Anthony's heart ached for a second before he continued, squeezing her hands a little tighter. "Because I know that I can pick you up at 3:50 and that Celia, Fox, Hadie, and the twins will keep you safe until I get here. So we both have nothing to be afraid of."
Dizzy stared blankly at him for a few minutes, making him fear for a moment that his approach hadn't worked. But then she smiled and she did that little jig of hers that never failed to make him smile, and he knew that they were gonna be fine.
"You're right " Dizzy hugged him, before running off "bye Anty! See you after school! Have a good day!"
He winced slightly when she tripped on the stairs, thankful that Celia and Fox (La Foux Doux) were there to catch her.
He didn't turn to leave until he saw for himself that the trio had made it into the school.
The LeGume twins didn't either.
"Going Soft, Tremaine?" One of the twins asked; He was too tired to even bother trying to tell them apart at the moment.
He flipped them off as he passed them."Shut up, Gaston, or I'll bribe Harriet into giving you both bathroom and kitchen duty for a month."
Dizzy sunk down in her chair in her homeroom, feeling her friends' sympathetic eyes on her.
Miraculously, she and her friends had all managed to get homeroom together and had all piled up at a table together in the back of the classroom to avoid getting stuck sitting with kids they wouldn't like in the future.
Their homeroom teacher, Mr Fitzherbert, had said that they were gonna take it easy today so that they could all get to know one another.
Dizzy had been excited by the idea at first, until he decided to use family as an icebreaker. And now every kid was talking about their family, one by one, table by table, and she was getting sadder by the moment .
She knew that it would be her turn soon and decided to be as vague as possible to avoid any awkwardness when it was.
But until then, she would just stare at her hands and pretend that she was back home, at Tremaine Manor with her family.
She could hear Fox talking about his dads and mom, and his cousins—the LeGumes.
She shrunk in on herself further, ignoring Celia's concerned whispers.
Dizzy was different from the other kids of the Isle in a lot of different ways but the most noticeable one (besides her kindness) was the fact that she had two parents who were completely loyal to one another and married. And that one of them actually cared about her!
The one who actually cared about her was her dad, Prince Hans, which most people found surprising.
He and her mom had been arranged to marry by her grandmother, Lady Tremaine, and while neither were practically pleased by the marriage, they made it work and ended up having 7 children.
Dizzy was the youngest and the most like her dad, which made her his favorite, though he didn't really treat her differently from her siblings like the other parents on the Isle did with their kids.
Dizzy remembered asking why that was once, when she was really little. She still remembers the sad look he got in his eye when she asked that question and his response.
"Because I never want any of you to feel the pain I felt due to my family's favoritism and neglect. I don't want any of you to become me."
The implications of that statement still haunted her to this day. The fact that her uncles, the Stabbington brothers, got quiet with guilty expressions on their faces when the question was asked and answered only made the memory all the more haunting.
Even if she was too young to understand what it all meant at the time.
"—And I have a sister. Her name is Freddie. She goes here." Celia's turn had come while she was zoned out and now it was hers.
Dizzy could feel everyone's eyes on her and Celia squeezing her hand in an attempt to give her comfort.
It didn't work.
"How about you, Ms Tremaine. Tell us about your family." Mr Fitzherbert coaxed encouragingly, smiling at her. Dizzy fidgeted nervously, trying very hard not to avoid his eyes, knowing it would cause trouble.
"Oh, well, uh.. I live with my cousin Anthony and his girlfriend, Harriet Hook. We run our grandmother's salon on the Isle and I had six sisters and 8 other cousins." Dizzy realized her mistake far too late as the room went dead silent.
Had.
Everyone knew what that meant.
"Dizzy—" Mr Fitzherbert started, only to get cut off by the girl in question, who stood up.
"Can I go to the bathroom, please?" She fled before the man could answer.
She didn't leave the bathroom until the bell rang for 2nd block.
Later that night in the captain's quarters of the Queen's fury, Harriet plopped down beside Anthony on their bed.
He was in one of his moods again, laying on his side— back to her—staring at the picture in his hand.
It was a picture of him and the rest of his family—minus his dad who he was trying to track down—back on the Isle taken when they were about 10.
They were standing in front of Curl up & dye and Drizella was visibly pregnant with Dizzy in it. Everyone—Even Lady Tremaine, Hans, Lady Caine, Madam Medusa, the Stabbington brothers, and Drizella—were smiling widely at the camera, as if they were a normal family who got happy often.
Harriet didn't have to turn him around to know that there were tears in his eyes. "Do you wanna talk about it, luv?"
Anthony shook his head, not having the energy or desire to speak.
Harriet left it at that, knowing better than to push him and sighed "I'll be up on deck if you need me".
He didn't bother to glance back at her as her footsteps trailed away from him. He knew she'd still be there in the morning, she always was.
All he did was stare at the only picture he had to remember his family by.
It was way outdated but he still remembered the day it was taken.
"Knock it off!" Anthony growled, trying to get his jacket back from Dizzy's two cousins, Iggy and Cormac, who were tossing it to one another over his head.
His mom was too busy trying to round up all the other kids and adults to notice what was going on—let alone to put a stop to it.
They were both a year older than him, which was enough to annoy him considering that he was the oldest living grandchild of the Tremaines and used to being the boss, even though he had grown up with them.
"Nah, I don't think we will," Cormac mused, grinning at his equally amused cousin and his cousins' very annoyed cousins.
"Yeah, it's too fun to stop!" Anthony growled with frustration and tackled him.
Iggy joined in.
3 hours later, after all of the family members and pets were gathered up, and after their fight had been broken up, they were all lined up in front of the camera.
Anthony was smiling at the camera purely for his mother's sake.
"It's for the baby, Anthony. Won't you please smile for me and your baby cousin so they know how loved they are?"
How was he supposed to deny her that request? Especially when everyone was smiling and happy for once? His brother and mother were on one side and his sisters on the other, reminding him painfully of the fact that their father was not there with them and that the heroes of Auradon had sent them there and didn't even try to get them back.
Only their dad and Aunt Cindy had.
They weren't supposed to be there—none of them were, but Beast had sent their mother there and didn't even think to make sure the spell that sent all the villains to the Isle didn't take their children too.
Anthony remembered hating him for it.
He still did.
Even if you couldn't tell by the way he was smiling in the picture.
Word had spread around the school about what had happened on Dizzy's first day at school by Wednesday of that week.
It had even made its way up to the highschoolers and teachers somehow.
It made it a lot harder for Dizzy to ignore and forget the absence of her family, and for her to adjust to this new foreign world. Especially since Fairy Godmother kept trying to get a hold of her for a talk between classes, which Dizzy really didn't want to attend.
It really shouldn't have been so hard to avoid the busy woman but she seemed to be everywhere and it was driving her crazy while simultaneously making her anxious as she was struck by memories of two other women who had seemed to be everywhere .
Her mother was screaming and chucking beer bottles at her because she had caught her— her most hated and youngest (3 year old) daughter playing instead of working.
Her father was out helping his brothers (along with her aunts, cousins, and older sisters) look for her 4 year old cousin, Tega, who had been gone for hours.
There was no one to protect her from her mother's wrath—glass hit her ankles and it hurt, so she fell to the ground and cried.
Her mother just walked off, unsympathetic to her plight.
Her father cleaned her wounds when he got home and avoided leaving her alone with Drizella after that when he could.
Dizzy (now 5) hadn't finished cleaning the shop by the time her grandmother got home and the matriarch of the Tremaine family was angry.
She grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up stairs to the antic ,and tossed her end just like she did Cinderella— before locking her in.
Dizzy was stuck in the bug infested, damp, cold, moldy, dark attic until her father came to pick her up that night at 9.
Dizzy remembers him yelling and swearing at her grandmother from outside the door, and glass breaking but not much other than that.
She wasn't allowed to be alone with her grandmother either after that.
Dizzy was stopped in the hall by Fairy Godmother's daughter, Jane, once.
Dizzy almost screamed in frustration when it happened, only reframing from doing so because she was Evie's friend.
" So.. about family day—" Jane started hesitantly, only to stop herself.
She clearly wanted to ask about her family but didn't know how; Dizzy quickly answered her not-quite-question before she could figure it out.
"My cousin and his girlfriend are coming. Ask Evie, she'll gladly tell you all about it." she said, faking her usual cheerfulness as she skipped away.
Jane didn't seem to notice and didn't try to follow her " oh.. okay"
A week before family day, Dizzy was pulled into the nurse's office and asked to fill out everything she could about her medical history including relatives, her birthday, and past injuries.
After she filled it out and went back to class, the school nurse noticed the name she had filled out and called FG over to show it to her. Both were shocked to see Dizzy's full name and title that gave away more than they were ever prepared for;
'Princess Drizella Sophia Tremaine-Westergaard of the southern Isles'
"I can't believe we're princesses!" Dizzy squealed to her sisters one night when she was 3 while they were all getting ready for Bed.
Anthony was working that night at Curl up & dye, so all of them were getting to sleep in their room together for once.
Which meant that Dizzy was getting to see them all do their nightly rituals all at once for the very first time and boy, were they interesting to her.
Dotty was putting the few toys she had (that Han had given her) to bed, humming and rocking them each as she did so. Which Dizzy had already done to her own toys.
The twins (Dixie and Delanie) were in expired face masks and braiding one another's hair on their bunk bed, talking about how gross boys were.
Dorothy and Daphne were fighting over the bathroom—hair pulling and all—and Debbie was brushing her teeth, and spitting out the window to avoid that drama.
All of them stopped what they were doing as soon as the words left Dizzy's mouth. It was silent for a few minutes before they all rolled their eyes in sync and began talking all at once—
"Oh no, she's gonna turn into another Anthony —"
"Don't you dare go around demanding people call you Lady Tremaine or Lady Westergaard or Princess whatever —"
"Who cares if we're princesses? None of us will ever get a chance to even look at a throne, let alone sit on one— "
"Oh god, that was embarrassing enough with one relative— "
"Tell me about it! My friends never let me live down that Anthony did that—"
"Don't let daddy hear you say that. He doesn't like being reminded about–"
Family day was fast approaching and Anthony was slowly becoming more and more rattled about it.
Harriet noticed.
His boss noticed.
His friends noticed.
All of them did.
So they all decided to manipulate a situation where the 21 year old could spend some alone time with his younger cousin without school, work, or them interrupting it.
Their plan wasn't very complicated— it was actually very simple.
All they had to do was leave the ship, call in sick for Anthony and Dizzy, write a note explaining everything, and not wake either of them up in the process, and somehow, it went off without a hitch.
Which led straight into the current situation that Anthony was in.
He and Dizzy were sitting in the living room of the Queen's Fury, watching a movie, when the 8 year old suddenly turned to him, looking serious.
"Anthony? Can I ask you something?"
"You just did but carry on." the red head quipped without a second thought, earning him an unamused look from Dizzy.
She wanted to ask him something important— something about their family. He never really talked about their family to anyone, not even her, unless it was about his mother or if he was trying to find his father. And she needed him to take it seriously.
"Okay okay, fine. You can ask me something, just stop giving me the evil eye. It's creepy." Anthony joked warily, sitting up all the way as he turned to look at her.
His stomach sank at how serious and determined she looked —it reminded him of her father and it looked so wrong on her.
He hated seeing that look on her face—he was the older one, he was supposed to be serious and determined, not her.
She was just a kid.
He was the adult.
God that felt so weird to say, even though he had been thinking it since—Anthony stopped himself.
Now was not the time to be thinking about that— there was never a time to think about that.
Dizzy interrupted his thoughts with a shocking inquiry.
"Do you ever miss them? Your siblings and mine?"
Anthony's thoughts immediately came screeching to a halt as the whole world seemed to freeze.
He had not been expecting that —he and Dizzy had never talked about their family before.
They had never spoken about how they felt about their family before either, which made him thoroughly unprepared for this question and the barrage of emotions and memories that suddenly assaulted him for the first time in a year.
"Not. A. Word. Brat" Anthony said, seething slightly as he stared his 18 year old brother down from where he sat on the ground.
Even with the faint light coming in from the window in their bedroom, Anthony could see Aaron shaking with silent laughter.
It wasn't his fault that Lucifer decided to bring his girl home so she could have kittens in his bed while he slept. Or that he was a heavy sleeper. Or that the kittens didn't seem to want to leave his side.
Aaron cracked and fell over laughing, causing a loud thud to ring out through the house.
Anthony's stare turned into a full on glare, which wasn't as intimidating as it usually was because he was practically as red as his hair now.
He sunk lower into his bed as he heard the thump. Thump. Thump. of approaching footsteps, knowing that this was about to turn a lot more embarrassing for him.
"What's going on, what was that sound—" 15 year old Amara's words died on the tip of her tongue as she stared at the scene in front of her.
It was silent for a moment as Amara and Anthony stared at one another—well, mostly silent; Aaron was still dying of laughter on the floor, after all. Still reveling in his older brother's misery; Anthony was gonna kill him.
He saw the corners of her lip twitch.
"No" the red headed boy started, "Amara, don't you dare—" his younger sister gave him a wide grin, which revealed her silver teeth.
"I'm not kidding, pirate. This is NOT funny!"
Aaron laughed harder, gasping for breath as their sister finally broke—hugging her stomach and pointing at the oldest Tremaine as she laughed. Her brown eyes sparkled with unapologetic glee, causing Anthony to groan.
Anthony briefly wondered why he missed their siblings that had passed away when siblings acted like this. He immediately felt guilty for it.
"Stupid, stinking pirates. Making me feel things."
"Dude, we're all pirates here. You can't use it as an insult" Aaron reminded, still amused.
Amara decided to add in her own two cents. "Especially since you can't grow facial hair, unlike Aaron."
Anthony flipped her off without thinking and snarled "Oh fuck you."
A gasp rang out from behind Amara, causing her to spin around—revealing their 11 year old sister, Anya, who's green eyes were wide with shock and horror.
The little blonde looked absolutely scandalized and none of them doubted that she had just witnessed what Anthony had said and done.
All 3 of them went pale, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
"Anya, no wait—" the oldest Tremaine sibling began, jumping out of bed— ignoring the hissing and mews from the displeased kittens— but it was too late.
Anya took off down the hall, yelling "MOM, ANTHONY SAID THE FUCK WORD AND GAVR AMARA THE FINGER!"
"NO, I DIDN'T! SHE'S LYING!" Anthony yelped, frantically chasing after his youngest sibling in an attempt to save his own skin.
It did not work.
Anthony swallowed heavily, wrapping his arm around Dizzy and pulling her close.
He wasn't one for hugs but he decided that this was kind of a hug moment and figured that he could swallow his own pride just this once .
Just to give the little girl comfort.
Yeah, that was the reason. Not because he needed comfort too.
"Yeah. I do. "
Memories of Lady Caine, The 3 Westergaard brothers, the Stabbington cousins, Madame Medusa, and his cousins (along with the pets from each family) flooded his mind, causing his eyes to water for the first time in forever.
"Every day. I never stopped missing them, not even for a second. I doubt I'll ever get over it, to be honest but who cares if I don't?"
It would be the first time that he ever admitted to it and if anyone dared to ask, he'd deny it ever happened. But it was just what he and Dizzy needed at the moment, even if neither would admit it.
Dizzy threw herself into doing hair and nails as Family Day kept approaching, trying to desperately forget about the dreaded event.
She hadn't asked Anthony to come yet and he didn't ask if she wanted him to go. They both know that neither wanted to attend but that they'd go anyway because they probably didn't have a choice in the matter.
Most of the kids in school— regardless of gender and age—went to her to get them done because she was just that good.
When she was asked how she got so good at doing hair and nails at her age, she'd always just give the asker a sad smile—eyes looking haunted—and say the exact same thing.
"My cousin, Amara, taught me how to when I was younger."
If someone asked for her cousin's contact information after that, she'd ignore them until they went away.
Eventually, people got the hint and stopped asking, even if they didn't know why she refused to acknowledge their questions.
Dizzy sat frozen at her desk in the science room as her teacher handed out the matches they would be using in their most recent experiment.
She could hear Squeaky and Squirmy whispering to her, desperately trying to get her attention but she didn't react.
She couldn't.
She couldn't even breathe or think properly, nevermind try and form a coherent response to her two very worried friends.
They had to light the matches in order to do the experiment.
They had to light them.
She couldn't breathe.
Where was that screaming coming from?
And why could she smell smoke?
They hadn't even started yet…
There was so much smoke and she couldn't breath, even with the damp cloth over her mouth.
Even though she was crawling on the floor.
She could hear the fire sizzling and the panicked cries of the horses, and the screeching of the cats.
But that wasn't all she could hear.
She could hear the cracking and screeching of wood as the house became more and more unstable.
She could hear agonized crying and screaming and hyperventilating, and she could smell burnt flesh.
She saw 2 lone kittens ahead of her near the door and moved forward, saving the only two lives she could before bolting from the house.
Her father ran past her on her way out, shoving her towards a screaming Anthony who was being held back by Rick Ratcliffe, Sammy Smee, and Clay Clayton.
She also saw two of her family's panicked foals neighing and trying to run from or into the blaze, only to be held back by more of Harriet's crew who were trying to stop the poor creatures from endangering themselves and others.
A crack louder than the other ones rang out and for once, the Isle was silent.
Someone was shaking her.
Dizzy blinked.
Her world was muffled and her lungs burned for a few more seconds—until suddenly she could breathe again.
Her vision cleared and she saw a worried looking Squeaky infront of her— all eyes were on her.
"Dizzy, it's okay. See? We lit it for you, it's okay. Nothing's gonna happen again."
Squirmy was on the other side of the table, holding the match far away from her.
He looked just as uncomfortable as she felt.
Dizzy took a shaky breath and nodded mutely, refusing to look at anyone.
When the teacher asked if everything was alright, Dizzy just flatly told her "I'm fine". The tone and look in her eye made her seem much older, and it didn't fit her at all; The teacher reluctantly continued on with her lesson, and strangely enough, the class was silent for the remainder of it.
Too quiet.
It was family day and Anthony was running late but Dizzy wasn't too bothered; he had called ahead to let her know he was, after all.
So she wasn't too bothered.
At least, that's what she would claim if anyone asked her. What she claimed when Evie asked if she was sure she didn't want her to wait with her.
Dizzy had simply waved her away, giving her a small bit of harmless sass as she usually did; she knew that Evie was itching to finally meet Doug's family and didn't want to hold her up. So she told Evie that she was a big girl and could handle sitting alone for a few minutes so that she would leave, silently forcing herself to grin and bear it.
She didn't want to be at this event and she especially didn't want to be at it alone, but she had no choice until Anthony got here.
He was the only family she had from the Isle and the only one in Auradon who even knew she existed other than Chad, who was still very awkward around her but was trying. Only he wasn't here today because he was sick and that meant that his parents and sister—who she had yet to meet—hadn't come either because they were taking care of him.
Was it petty to be jealous of a sick person?
Before Dizzy could even begin to contemplate the answer, someone sat down beside her, which startled her.
She was sitting by the pond and hadn't expected for anyone to even notice her, let alone join her.
She turned to look at the person and froze, recognizing him immediately; it was her uncle Lars, who she had only seen in photos that had long since been destroyed in the fire.
He didn't look much different from what she remembered; he had black hair, and the signature nose and cheekbones as well as her dark brown eyes that were hidden behind similar glasses to hers. He was tall and awkward looking, but very handsome and pristine nonetheless—especially with the royal get up he was wearing. Her heart panged as she registered just how much he looked and dressed like her dad—and as she remembered something her father had told her once, when she had seen him on tv.
"That's your uncle Lars, he's the 3rd oldest and was the kindest to me. You're a lot like him. I bet he'd like you."
Dizzy nearly snorted at the idea; He hadn't been kind enough to save her father—or her siblings and her for that matter—from the Isle.
"What do you want?"
Usually she wouldn't be so rude but right now, she didn't care about manners or appearances.
Not when she was sitting beside one of the men responsible for her father's spiral into villainy.
One of the men who had allowed him to be abused and belittled and ignored for years on end.
He may have been the only one to respond or even read her father and uncles' letters, but that didn't give him an automatic pass on his compliance in her father's abuse. If he wanted her to like him, he'd have to earn it— just like Chad was earning it.
Cinderella had at least tried to save her aunt and even her mother, after all.
Lars hadn't.
Dizzy wasn't about to let that go so easily— even if her father had.
He hadn't deserved what they had done to him—to be labeled the villain without anyone even thinking to hear his side of the story or check him for curses.
If they had bothered, they would have found the curse the Trolls placed on him.
They could have spoken up for her father, saying that he had never done something like this before.
They could have had a doctor look at him.
They could have saved him from the Isle and the fire long before it was created.
They could have feared him from the curse before the barrier did; if only they had bothered.
But no one had because no one had cared.
And Dizzy hated each and every one of them for that—they should have known something was wrong.
But they didn't because they didn't know their own baby brother at all.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
Dizzy was a bit taken aback by that. No one had apologized to her in Auradon before.
"For what?" Her response was cold and automatic, like it was with Chad at first.
Lars didn't even flinch, though his eyes did give away the pain he felt at how she was responding to him.
'Good' she thought a tad bitterly, 'he deserves that for his ignorance and compliance. He should have stopped his brothers from hurting Hans but he didn't and he should have known her father wouldn't have hurt someone of his own accord out of the blue like that, but he didn't. He deserves to feel all the pain her family felt because of him and his brothers and father.'
Lars just gave her another sad look.
"For not knowing you existed. For not helping to get you off the Isle and for how I let my brothers treat your dad growing up. None of that is fair and I should.. I should have done something, and I'm sorry that I didn't but I want to get to know you. I want a chance to make things right.”
Dizzy gave him a semi-unimpressed look, crossing her arms "you know a sorry won't fix everything right?"
She had no idea just how much she looked like her father in that moment.
Her uncle looked even more pained as he continued on softly "I know. I just want a chance to make things right and give you the life you deserve, if you'll let me that is."
Dizzy wanted to say no.
She really did.
She wanted to be petty and rude and stomp on his heart and dreams like her mother would have.
To scream that she'd never forgive him and that he and his whole family should burn like her father did for what they did to him.
But she didn't.
Instead, she did what her father would have wanted her to do.
"Fine. I'll give you the chance, but don't expect me to start calling you uncle or anything." That earned her a smile from him, even as she rolled her eyes, stood up, and brushed the dirt off her skirt.
Auradon adults were weird .
Dizzy had been talking to her other uncles and their families— not entirely willingly —when she heard a familiar growl.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
All heads turned towards the sound and Dizzy felt her heart stop as she spotted who the noise had come from—Anthony. The sinking feeling in her stomach didn't get any better when she saw what— who — had caused his outburst.
It was Shan Shirong (Shiro)— the disgraced former carpertener of Harriet Hook's crew.
The disgraced and banished son of Shan Yu and the one responsible for all —most— of her suffering.
He and Anthony used to be friends, but after what happened all those years ago... No one talked to Shiro anymore.
"Anthony, please, I'm sorry— " the disgraced warrior didn't even get to finish his sentence before Anthony was flying across the table at him.
"GET OUT GET OUT! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HERE! "
Dizzy winced and made a move to move forward, only to be halted by her uncle Caleb.
God, she hated Caleb.
From where she was standing, she could see everything.
Every punch Anthony threw.
The fire in his eyes.
The pure hate and murderous rage that was written across his face.
The small blood splatters that came after each punch.
She could see it all and it engraved itself in her memory.
She'd never forget that moment—one of the few moments she had ever seen her cousin lose his cool—or how fearful his friends looked as they tried to pull Anthony away from Shiro as he screamed "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! SORRY DOESN'T ERASE WHAT YOU DID, YOU MURDERER! I HATE YOU!"
Rumors flew after that day.
After all, it wasn't every day you saw an 21 year old punch out a 17 year old so brutally with no explanation. Some rumors were a bit too close to the truth for her liking but kids don't care— school is kind to no one.
Even little girls who did nothing wrong and young men who lost nearly everything they had.
It felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders and it was crushing her.
So, it was really no wonder why she had said yes to Chad's invite to stay at his castle for the spring holidays so she could meet his parents. Especially since Anthony said he was gonna drive up in a couple of days to meet him after he arranged some things back 'home' —meaning work and school.
Dizzy knew she wouldn't be seeing him for awhile as he did damage control; his boss had been at family day and wanted an explanation and Anthony didn't want her anywhere near ‘home’ when he gave it.
She only hoped it would go well..
Dizzy tensed slightly when Cinderella hugged her when she stepped into the castle, but eventually relaxed into her warm embrace.
Chad mouthed 'good luck, don't panic' as he exited the room with his dad and sister behind him to give them some privacy. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.
Cinderella, funnily enough, didn't seem to notice any of this.
"Dizzy, I am so so sorry that you had to grow up on that horrible island and that I wasn't there for you. We fought for you and your mother and aunt and your cousin the best we could but Beast was just so stubborn and wouldn't listen—and I'm so sorry. "
Dizzy awkwardly patted her aunt's back, trying to offer her some form of comfort. She hoped she wouldn't start crying—Dizzy wasn't sure she'd be able to stop herself from joining in.
"It's okay."
It wasn't.
She was only saying that it was because she didn't want her to feel bad when she had actually tried to help her. But her aunt didn't need to know that—but she already did, judging by the way she was looking at her.
"No, it isn't but enough about that. How are you? How has your life been so far?"
Surprisingly, Dizzy didn't shut down like she usually would have when she asked this question.
Maybe it was because she was tired of pretending like she was okay or because of what happened at family day or maybe it was just because she couldn't stand to lie to her kind hearted aunt and give her false hope.
"Honestly, it wasn't the best but it wasn't all bad. I didn't have to be around the evil grandmother or my bitter mom all that much. I spent most of my time with Auntie Anastasia, which was nice even if she was sad most of the time and my dad and uncles were pretty great by Isle standards. Even my other aunt was cool, even though I wasn't her blood. And I had a lot of fun with my cousins and sisters and the pets—"
Dizzy knew she was rambling and tearing up but didn't know how to stop.
It was like a dam had burst, releasing a flood of pent up emotions from within her.
She only stopped when Cinderella interrupted her "You have cousins other than Anthony? You have sisters?"
The hair stylist flinched and corrected her automatically.
"Had.”
The room got so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
Which was weird considering that they were the only ones in the room, but Dizzy didn't have time to question it as understanding dawned on Cinderella's face.
Her face softened and her eyes watered as she finally worked up the courage to ask what happened.
"The isle isn't really good with medical stuff so about 4 of Auntie Anastasia's kids died as I was growing up. I can't really tell you much about them since I was too little to remember them so you'd have to ask Anthony if you're curious. As for the rest, well.. A fire at Tremaine manor killed them all about a year ago.."
Dizzy took a deep breath, continuing.
"It was Auntie Anastasia's birthday and the one day a year where we all gathered at Tremaine manor where we lived to celebrate it. After the party winded down and we all went to bed, Shan Shiro accidentally set our house on fire while playing with matches and, well, only a couple of us made it out. My dad carried Anthony out right as I got outside and when he was going back in, the house collapsed. We aren't sure what killed them first. The smoke, the fire, or the house collapsing."
Dizzy's eyes watered and Cinderella hugged her once more—only a little tighter this time.
"I'm so sorry" her voice was quiet, but it wasn't pitying; it was sympathetic.
Dizzy could tell that she was feeling almost the same amount of pain she was in.
"It's okay" she replied just as quietly and half truthfully "my cousins and sisters were all happy with their lives at the time. The twins—Dixie and Delanie— loved running the salon and did it most out of all of us. They were happy. Dotty got to go out with the toys she loved so much and no one got to take them from her. Debbie went out with a full belly for once and in her own bed like sleeping beauty as she would say. Daphne went out with her headphones in, listening to her favorite music and probably didn't even notice the fire and Dorothy went out laughing with Cormac and Iggy."
Dizzy buried her face in Cinderella's shoulder, urging herself to continue before she lost her nerve.
"And Anya and Rex and Tega all went out together like they always were, so they probably weren't too scared so no harm no foul. And-and Darlina went out while surrounded by the animals she loved so much, and Aaron went out drunk and singing. So, it wasn't all bad. They didn't suffer that much in their final moments"
Cinderella didn't call her out on the fact she was lying, something Dizzy was grateful for.
She really didn't want to be the one to have to go explain in elaborate detail what had happened to her family.
How they might have actually suffered more than she or Anthony were willing to admit.
She didn't want to and no one was gonna make her.
She could tell that by how Cinderella didn't get angry with her for lying and how she just hugged her tight like her Aunt Anastasia would have done. And in that moment, Dizzy finally felt like things might turn out all right. Even if she and Anthony were still a l ittle unsteady.