Chapter Text
“If someone hands you a crying baby, do you, A, curse it? B, lock it in a tower? C, give it a bottle? Or D, carve out its heart? Evie.”
She smiles, lowering her hand. “What was the second one?” The headmistress blinks. “Okay… Anyone else? Carlos?”
“Is it our baby?”
“Well, it can be any baby.”
Carlos grimaces, “It matters, does it not?” Jay nods, looking at the board with an arm wrapped around Zara. The girl holds a blunt pencil up, waving it around and smacking her other hand onto the desk as she babbles random sounds.
“The answer does not change whether or not the baby is yours.” The headmistress says, frowning at him. Mal rolls her eyes and leans her head on her palm, sketching in her book. She isn’t sure how anyone here is alive, the fact that you would save anyone randomly is insane. Zara starts making lines on the paper in front of her.
“Yeah, it does.” She answers. The headmistress opens her mouth to reply but Mal cuts her off. “Give it a bottle?”
“Correct! Again.”
Carlos looks at her from the other table. “Damn M!”
Mal huffs, looking over at the white-black hair boy with a frown. “Just pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun.”
The three oh softly and Evie laughs, “That makes so much sense.”
A soft click alerts them and they all turn to look behind. A girl with short black hair, a pink bow and blue dress stands there, tensing when they notice her. The headmistress gasps, placing her useless pointer down. “Hello, dear one.” The frightened thing's eyes widen, squealing under her breath as she tries to speed walk past them. Jay laughs at the sight, looking over at Evie with a shake of his head.
“Hi- You need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation.” She whispers, giving a stack to the headmistress and turning so her back isn’t facing them. Mal tilts her head when she hears the word.
“Everyone here remembers my daughter, Jane?” She states, turning her daughter around. Evie glances at Mal, humming at the information. Not sure when the fairy godmother introduced her daughter but they could use it later, especially with how scared she seems. She glances at Jay and finds he’s already looking at her.
The girl splutters, looking at her with fear. “Mom, no!” She turns to face her mom but quickly decides against it and faces them again. Fairy Godmother pats her shoulder, looking over at them and chuckling.
“It's okay. Jane, this is everyone.” The introduction sounds useless and Mal laughs, going back to shading. The interaction between mother and daughter odd.
“Hi. That's okay, don't mind me.” She squeaks, looking at each of them. “As you were.” She attempts a smile, grabbing the papers and walking past them hurriedly, glancing at Zara. Jay looks down at Zara, pulling the pencil away from her mouth as Evie tuts from across the walkway, nudging Jay to hand Zara over which he decides against.
“Ahem. Let's continue” She taps the board once again. “You find a vial of poison! Do you, A, put it in the king's wine? B, paint it on an apple? Or C, turn it over to the proper authorities?”
Jay nearly shoves Carlos off the chair as they fight over who has their hand up, still holding onto Zara as she shakes with her baba, the pencil rolling on the floor. “Please be careful, dear, the baby!” The woman calls out. Zara laughs at the tossing and turning, dropping the pencil to clap her hands. He takes that as a sign she chose him.
“C! You turn it over to the proper authorities.” Carlos smacks his head, shoving him almost off the seat. “I was going to say that!” Jay smiles, moving her to sit on his other thigh. “I was first so-”
“Excuse me!” Since you boys are so energetic, I am gonna encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field.” She points randomly out the window. Carlos frowns, stroking Zara’s arm.
“Oh.. no. That's okay. Whatever that is, We'll.... We'll pass. Actually, we were thinking of heading to the museum.”
“The Museum! My, The Museum of Cultural History? I wasn’t expecting that-” “Why not? Cause we’re the children of villains?” Mal cuts in, leaning back in her seat. “Don’t expect us to care about history?”
Evie pats her thigh and she responds with a nudge of her own. The headmistress pauses, clasping her hands together with a lick of her lips. “No dear, It was something I didn’t know you guys knew about. I was simply surprised.” She says, in that nice tone of hers that grates at Mal’s ears. It was too soft, too kind. She was trying too hard to make them trust her, it was annoying. Especially for someone her age, it seemed extremely disturbing.
Evie pipes in, taking Mal’s silence as it is and asking if she could tell them where it is, so they could have a little trip together. She adds that they wanted to show the baby new things and it would be a good experience.
“That is very nice. Then, let’s end this class here.” Looking at her watch,“ However, we will need to do something first. Please follow me.” The headmistress says, walking past them and standing where her daughter once did, raising an eyebrow when they don’t move.
The four get up slowly, looking at each other with shrugs. Jay continues to carry Zara, pretending to bite Evie’s hand when she tries to reach out for her.
“Will it take long?” Carlos questions, standing at the back along with Jay. Mal and Evie are behind her, shoes making loud clicking on the clean smooth floors, something they never did on the mud.
The headmistress points to a door, the words “nurses office” on the front.
“I already said she’s healthy.” Mal scowls, stepping back to stand in front of Jay. “What's the point of all that?” The Fairy Godmother has a smile on her face that boils her blood, looking at her gang like they’re a bunch of sick animals.
She has pity written all over it and Mal hates it. If anything, she hates that most of the students here look at them with more pity than fear. “I am afraid we will need to check on her to make sure she is healthy, it's a quick one, in and out in 5 minutes.” She comforts, knocking on the door. “We'll allow one of you to be in the room while the baby gets checked, just to make sure she’s reaching all of her milestones.”
Jay shifts beside her. “One? All of us.”
The door opens behind her and a lady dressed in a white coat smiles at them, Mal gives her a glare. She doesn’t look bothered. The headmistress looks conflicted at the request.
“There’s so much space in there, Can’t fit two more?” Jay comments sarcastically. The room truly did seem to be able to fit all of them and the doctor. The headmistress looks confused. She glances back behind the lady, shaking her head. “I'm afraid not dear, The best I can do is two guardians.”
“Whatever, Evie goes with Jay.” Mal says, moving to sit on the chair outside the door, tapping Carlos as she does. The headmistress gives her a smile and turns to talk to the lady. Carlos moves to sit next to her when she realises that Evie and Jay haven't moved in yet.
The doctor has a hand stretched out into the room, a soft smile on her face. Jay looks at the headmistress and back at Mal, only moving when Mal nods.
The door closes with a click and Mal inhales. She’s tempted to reach for Carlos’ hand when the headmistress pulls another chair from across the hallway, and Mal exhales deeply. Didn’t know hoping she would leave would be too big of a wish. Carlos crosses his leg over the other, heel brushing Mal’s knee, narrowing his gaze at the older woman.
“Dears, I am afraid I would need to know who the mother of the child is… Who I have yet to know the name of. Would you tell me that first?”
Mal doesn’t want them to know Zara’s name and the others have caught on with it, faithfully keeping up with appearances. It has only been Z, Flower, Pretty and Baby. There’s not much reason, something about the enemy knowing her name that makes her uncomfortable.
“She’s baby. I don’t know why it's so hard for you to understand that.” Mal says, staring at her.
The lady doesn’t seem too amused.
“Well, okay. Baby it is, for now.” She tries to reach for her hand, mouth ajar about to say something. Mal lifts her hand away, crossing her arms against her chest. Fairy Godmother pulls back, cringing under her breath as she folds her hands in her lap. Carlos shifts in his seat and the tip of his boot taps her knee, sitting straighter.
The headmistress blinks, looking over the two of them before she clears her throat. “And the other question?”
There's silence.
The lady has her hands in front of her, a pile of paper under them. Her face has wrinkles, crow feet in the corners of her eyes, smile lines, the whole shebang. Mal wonders why someone supposedly with so much power would not keep herself looking young forever. She swallows under Mal’s eye, silent as both of them stare without saying anything. The one who looks away first loses and it seems like she knows that too. Carlos drops his leg, changing the one folded and shifting in his seat. “When are they done.” More statement than question.
“Well,” The Fairy Godmother starts, looking down at her watch. Mal looks up at the clock on the wall. “Maybe five more minutes?”
“You shouldn’t promise and not deliver-”
The door swings open, smacking the wall behind it. “Or now! How about that!” Jay looks over the both of them, now having Zara wrapped against his chest. The lady in the white coat walks out behind them with a stack of papers, looking over all of them in this overly lit waiting room.
“I heard that baby here has four guardians. I assume you are the other two?” She starts. Mal gets up, knees brushing with the headmistresses with how close she's scooted. “It’s not very typically for four people to be considered guardians so we have to crea-”
“Tell me how healthy she is.” The lady blinks at being cut off, looking down at the papers.
“Okay. She’s slightly underfed. More Protein, more Vitamin C. As for all of her milestones, she’s reaching them well. Read more to her, have her mimic your words. You will need to come back in a week or two for us to retake her weight.”
Turning around, Mal smiles at the Godmother. “See, healthy.” and she does not look impressed.
“Hey, talking about reading to her, how about that Museum trip?” Jay adds, looking at Mal.
“Oh yes! I will be able to take you there myself,” Fairy godmother smiles, looking down at her watch. Mal groans inwardly, looking over at Evie. “My schedule is clear after your remedial goodness anyway.”
“Oh no,I am sure you are tired from being such an important person in the school headmistress! So it would be lovely for you to help us but you should get some rest.” The princess starts, walking closer to her and lightly placing her hand on her shoulder. “We can handle ourselves.”
Jay nods in agreement, bouncing Zara up higher on his hip. “Yeah, we just want to immerse ourselves in the cultural differences.” He adds, looking at Carlos proudly. The boy blinks at him in confusion.
“Oh, no I can’t just leave you to search for the place, at least allow me to bring you there.” She tries again and Mal has a feeling.
“Oh, I get it.”
The headmistress looks over at her, confused.
“I know, children of villains. yeah, sorry, Don’t trust the children of villains to be by themselves.” She continues, shaking her head and looking down. “You probably teach all the children here not to trust us too, which is understandable.”
The three nod immediately, helping to shift the energy of the room.
“Oh, yeah..” Carlos says, looking off to the side embarrassed.
“That… wasn’t what I was implying, How about I give you the school map and you guys head there yourselves then?” She changes, looking over the four of them. She looks like fish out of water, which is odd assuming she probably entertains people like this all the time.
“That would be lovely, headmistress.” Evie smiles, taking the map from her as she pulls it out of her files and passing it over to Carlos.
“I apologize if I have been acting a certain way. That was not professional of me”. Map already open, Carlos hums, scanning it.
“okay. Let’s go,” Mal brushes past the lady quickly. She stutters and turns, though she never moved from that spot and simply waved, reminding them of curfew.
They walk out of the doors, already surrounded by green trees and rocky pathways. Mal turns, smiling at the three. “And that's- called manipulation.” She smiles, pointing at Zara, who is now in Evie’s grip.
“Make them feel bad. I don’t typically use it since making those rats feel fear was better, but it seems like pity and sorrow works better here.”
“She always looks like she's thinking, like a thousand things at once.” Carlos scoffs, folding the map up and tucking it into his pocket. “Sure she thinks I'm all nervous and shit. Here”. They turn, stepping over some stones and walking on grass.. He had already searched the location earlier in the day but wanted to make it seem like it was a decision they made a few minutes ago.
“This place is so much brighter than the isle.” Jay notes, turning in circles and looking up. “The trees aren’t just sticks, with more sticks and more sticks.”
“Yeah and they took that from us.” Mal reminds, “fucking assholes. They had a whole ass brighter sky and couldn’t even share that.” small gravel crackles under her boots. “At least this area seems less like Auradon. The place is giving me a headache.”
“I can’t believe they live like this. With nicer food and pretty teeth...” Jay adds, eyes darting around the treeline. It was a funny thing to think about but that was true, everyone here had shiny, white straight teeth. It was so odd.
“It’s almost like everything my mother mentioned, about princes and castles and what power and riches can get you. Sparkly jewels and gems. I guess nice teeth too.” Evie hums, looking down at Zara. They’ve decided to ditch the wrap since she seemed more bothered by it now.
“Zara pretty, can’t wait for you to see the wonders of being evil.” She whispers, sighing loudly as she looks around. “We will finally get what we deserve.” She boops her nose, smiling.
Mal looks around, nudging Carlos and asking if he knows where they are. He hums, looking around and squinting. Mal sighs,”Nevermind, Come on Evie, Check your mirror.”
Carlos grabs Zara as she frowns, pulling out her mirror, “Is my mascara smudged?”
“What? No, it's great. Just the wand.”
“Oh, oh. Yes, this way.”
They spot the beautiful white building, stepping up the stairs when Mal pulls everyone to the side. “Pause. I want to try something.” She pulls the spellbook out, flipping into the middle.
“Spells? The doors aren’t even locked.” Jay whispers, glancing back at the security guard, the big “open” sign on the glass. “We could just act like curious students, which we are.”
“Yeah, but as you can see from their amazingly visible set up, there are cameras all over the fucking place. But not outside the doors.” Mal explains, pointing up at the roof they were under.
“And if we are going to steal something like the wand, we need to at least make sure the cameras are ‘faulty’ when it happens.”
“We have yet to figure out what this corerehnation thing is. Didn’t Jane say something about it earlier?” Carlos reminds. “Yeah, we’ll get to that.” Mal spits, already annoyed by the constant whispering.
“Well, what's the amazing plan then? The guard is right there. ”
“Yeah, my mothers spinning wheel is too.” She hisses, gesturing at it with a nudge of her head. Carlos dares a peek.
“So?”
Groaning, the Fae flips the spellbook to a random page. Deciding to let the spell do the talking. “Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep.”
A green sparkle shoots through the glass, circling around the spinning wheel and settling on the tip. “Nothing is happening.” Jay whispers, peeking over Evie’s shoulder. Just then, the man swivels around, staring right at them.
“fuCK-” Carlos cuts himself off, throwing himself back against the wall with a strong grip on Zara. The small girl gasps at the impact but is quick to quieten down when Mal shoots a glare at her.
All of them shuffle over to bend the corner, Mal’s heart beats against her chest and she’s quick to pull the spellbook out again. There’s no waiting for the doors to open and she whispers, “Five shall vanish, clear as day, hidden from sight, we slip away.”
There’s a tiny sputter from her fingertips, though the power looks less green and more yellow? Mal swallows a confused sound, watching It shoot out after a moment, circling the five of them. A blurry film starts to drip from the sparkle, covering the five of them, only clearing up when the film reaches the floor.
“What was that.” Evie whispers, back pressed against the wall.
“erm.” Mal starts, blinking and looking over all of them. “I can still see you guys.”
“Yeah? Also, I don’t even think the guard came out.” Jay announces and everyone shifts, realising they never heard the doors open nor has anyone come out to chase them away. Jay’s the first to move, sliding and shifting towards the bend and daring to peek.
“The door isn’t open.”
Huh. The four move slowly, keeping the bottom of their boots light. They dare to pop their head over the door frame and there the guard is, on the floor.
“What!?” Carlos whisper-yells, looking back at Mal. He turns and looks over the scene. “Hah! He didn’t even see us! He was staring at the needle.” he points, noting how if the guard was looking at it, it could seem like he spotted them. Jay smiles, laughing before he gasps.
“What Jay what?” Evie urges, looking over the whole room and towards the walkway behind them.
“Look.” He whispers, pointing at the screens. They all notice it at the same time, the spot where the five of them are pressed against the glass in the screen, shows up as blank. Mal looks back at them then back at the screen.
The spell made them invisible.