𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤. . .THE TINKERS

"And so?" Pandora asked after Vasco gave a very long and intricate list of ingredients that the vibrant colored liquid in the bottles contained.

"It turns people into..." he paused, swishing the liquid around, his eyes sparkled with thrill, "rodents!" he said with excitement in his voice.

Pandora smiled, "hmm, fantastic" he looked around the tinker's workspace in Vasco's house, Lorelai was sitting on a stool, she looked bored while fidgeting with a lighter. Cameron was nowhere in sight.

"And what have you done, Lorelai?" He looked at her.

"Hmm, nothing," she said, igniting the lighter, "I don't how to do this shit, I told you"

"But-"

"Just because my insane mom knows how to and spends all her spare time, which is all the time, tinkering with shit, doesn't mean I do," she said, igniting the lighter once more getting up, heading towards the door to exit.

"Lory you gotta do something to help out" Pandora pleaded.

Lorelai stopped in her tracks and didn't even bother turning to face him, "I don't have to do anything for you" then left the house.

Pandora groaned out loud in frustration, he's been too busy for the past week to keep Lorerai in check, not that she did anyway, but he just kinda missed spending time with her.

"And then there were two of them," Vasco commented as he messed around with a screw and a device in his hand.

"And where's Cameron?" Pandora asked.

Vasco's shrugged, "I don't know," he said looking down at the gadget and messing some more with the screw, "probably with the costume makers or something"

"And how many of these vials do you have so far?" Pandora asked looking at the things that were scattered around the table.

"Hmm, like ten of them or something" Vasco looked around counting as he pointed out the little containers.

"Good, now get Cam over here and triple it," He said, heading for the door.

"But she doesn't really--okay sure," he said as Pandora left.

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤. . .THE RIOT

"Oh, you guys actually made some progress," Pandora said as he saw the multiple members of the riot group throwing garbage into the mountain of trash leaning against the wall.

"Well, yeah what did you think we were going to do, just sit on our ass and do nothing all day?" Odele asked, throwing an old chair into the pile, she wiped her hands and headed towards Pandora, "well, some of us did, anyway-" she rolled her eyes.

"Keep the good work up," he handed her a pile of parchment papers, "make sure to mark the route and give it back so we can discuss and be all on the same page, you know what to do"

"You got it, boss!" She took the items and gave a half-smile.

Pandora waited, as it seemed like she still had something else to say, "well? Spit it out"

"It's my cousin," she said rubbing her arm, "he's a good addition to the riot, Pandora, I swear to you on my mother's left tentacle--"

"Okay, Odele he can be in the riot, just-- if he messed something up it'll go on your record"

"We won't let you down, Pan!" she said running off.

Odele was a good leader, and so she went to gather the rest to make a plan for their night of mischief.

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤. . .THE BEAUTIES

Pandora opened the door to his home to be met with a wave of a different mixture of scents. His house didn't normally smell like this, but the girls of the Beauties wanted to meet at his house, and he couldn't say no.

"How's everything going?" he asked them, they all hung around the main area of his house, their gossip was stopped as soon as he entered the house, "you all look lovely"

"Aw, tell us something we don't know" Jane smiled sweetly at him.

He looked at Gloria, who just shrugged, and continued to brush her hair.

"So Pandora," Leigh-Anne spoke up.

"This better not be some petty comment about the house," he said irritated.

"No, it's not," Leigh-Anne said, "It's about your girlfriend" she snapped her hand mirror harshly, "she's supposed to be part of this group too, so where is she," she said sourly.

"She will be a part of this group on the night of okay? And not only her, but the rest of the people in the group, so I hope you have all gotten together to discuss your looks" he said, heading away from the group of girls and heading to his own room.

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙬𝙤. . .THE COSTUME MAKERS

He knocked on his bedroom door and opened it to see Gabe sewing with Sarah. Their conversation ended as soon as the door opened.

"How's everything coming along, Gabe," he asked, then raised his voice slightly at the girls in the common room, "girl's may I remind you that most of you are part of making our outfits as well?"

They started to clean up their supplies and Pandora went up to Gabe, "how's the progress?"

"Good," he said, "I mean, we're almost done, we just n-need..." he paused, "a couple--more like half of the dresses?" he winced looking down at the floor.

"Hmm, girls," he said standing outside the doorway, "you are the only group that has fallen behind, you need to catch up. We're going into action in four days"

The Faery's door opened and in came the Prince of Hearts, what he was not expecting was for Pandora to be there so soon.

"What are you doing here?" Pandora asked him, "you aren't part of the costume makers"

"But I can be quite dandy with a needle and thread, not to mention fashion" he smiled and struck a pose.

Pandora wasn't amused.

Archros looked past Pandora, "Ugh, fine, I'm here for the beauties meeting," he said, "oh, but would you look at that, I must have missed it" he took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and said, "would you look at the time, I must get going--"

"Please, stay, I'm having the inner circle meet for dinner tonight," Pandora said standing in front of the door and leaning forward on his staff. 

b̶e̶h̶i̶n̶d̶ t̶h̶e̶ s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶s̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶-̶-̶

oh, you didn't think that was the end, did you?

Sunday, 31 of October

An excited buzz was shared from each royal, as soon as the first light of day brightened the sky. This holiday became a big deal over the years, everyone celebrated over the top and this year was no different.

But for Hassan Ababwa it was very different. This year was the year his mother made him actually go to the famous Halloween Ball.

Eleanor Charming woke up to a pounding headache on her king-sized soft mattress from last night's 'pre-halloween ball' party that she hosted. But after a refreshing shower, she felt ready to move on with her day. She was beyond excited to attend an actually planned party that didn't have to be cleaned up before midnight.

She spent the rest of the day getting ready for the Halloween Ball.

"Rosabel said she was going as Maleficent," said Luca to his son as he still hasn't decided what he wanted to show up to the Halloween Ball.

"Well..." It came out between a whine and a frustrated groan, "what about..." he had Hades in mind ever since their invitation arrived, but he didn't know what his parents would say about the choice, "um..."

'Ursula, say Ursula'

"H-hades?" is what came out of his mouth instead.

"Ok sure, we can make something for that guy" Luca smiled, "go get your dad so we can make it together"

Arwen let out a shaky breath he didn't know he was holding in, then smiled relieved that his choice was accepted by his father, "ok"

"C'mon sister! Get your crocodile costume on! You can't be fashionably late wearing that!" Valen laughed.

Nyssa sprinkled a pinch of pixie dust onto their cat," Valen I've got plenty of time before the Ball!"

"Althaia, you're going to be late! That's enough practice for today" Meg told her daughter, bringing in her costume into their home gym.

"Mom, I still have-- half an hour!" Althaia shrugged, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"ALTHAIA! You are not going to this party covered in sweat and with a costume half on," Meg said, "now hop in that shower, or else we're going to be late"

Althaia rolled her eyes and dropped the weights, "fine"

"Johnny you look so handsome!" his mother said cupping his face in her hands.

"Thanks, mom, but I don't know how to feel about the red shirt," he said looking at himself in the mirror.

"Mom, I don't know if I want to go to the ball this year," Nix frowned, looking at herself dressed as the Evil Queen in the mirror.

"Snowbug, just stick to your script, you know it'll only be a short appearance you'll have to make" her mom placed the Evil Queen replica crown on her white hair. 

An excited buzz was shared from each villain kid, as soon as the last few rays of daylight sunk back down with the sun. There was chaos already brewing as they ran around, finishing their last-minute looks.

The Faery's house was just as packed as the first meeting weeks back. Powder dusted the air, chatter rung, mascara was applied and lipstick was being shared as they rushed to get ready before the sunset. Gabriel rushed around with a thread and needle, with Vasco handed everyone a small pouch containing his special rodent cocktails, and there were a few chatters bragging about how fabulous they looked.

The gowns some wore were as beautiful as they could have been, no one would assume they were made of scraps. And the suits others wore were well fitted, that's all they needed to get in.

Jane applied some diamond-colored highlighter to Pandora's cheekbones, then she signaled for him to close his eyes and she smudged some on his eyelids. When he opened his eyes, she was opening a half-empty tube of red liquid lipstick. She applied just a bit on the inside of his bottom lip.

"All done," she said.

He looked at his reflection on a piece of broken mirror, then smiled at Jane.

"I knew you'd love it," she said, getting up and leaving to mingle in the crowded house.

Pandora grabbed the mask Gabe had made for him, it was made out of black lace, and got his staff as well, and walked through the crowd to his front door, "blackhearts." he had come up with the term just the day before, he had wanted one, and this one fits them all perfectly.

"Everyone!" he raised his voice, and paused seeing as they all stopped their activities and looked at him, "it's dark outside, everyone should be ready." he looked around, they all looked great for this event, "now let's go crash a party"

The sun was quickly setting, taking the last few rays of lights with it. The royals all stepped out of their homes and entered their carriages. They all dressed in their finest clothes to make their costumes. Glittery and shimmer jewels and shoes and heavy showered in the most exquisite perfume scents.

As the sunset the Blackhearts all filed out of Maleficent's home, dressed in their rags made to look like astonishing gowns and formal wear. They walked through their homeland, trying to be as stealthy as possible, but for some, that was just not going to happen. The ruffling of clothes, giggling, whispering, and tripping were not as quiet as Pandora would have wanted them to be, but it would have had to do.

Finally, they reached the doorstep of Beauty Manor, were at the entrance the security, all suited in masquerade masks, checked each guest for the invitation and other safety measures.

And so finally they reached the high mountain of trash they had created to get over the barrier. All the recently named Blackhearts turned to look at Pandora. This was it, they were getting out of the wasteland, for real life.

Pandora stepped forward and started to climb the tall pile of garbage, it wasn't too difficult, although a thing or two would come tumbling down every so mis-step or so. Shortly after he started the rest followed. And together, they climbed up, leaving behind their grey lives, going after new ones.

Pandora held onto his staff as he needed the top, it was getting harder with the incline but he was eager to see the other side. He was closer now, being able to see the top of the barrier, he quickly pulled himself over and braced himself to come up with a quick plan to not get caught by the guards, but--

--there was nothing.

There was no one.

It was dark and empty.

Pandora felt like he just got shot in the heart. But at the same time, his anger bubbled through him.

Have the royals completely forgotten them on the other side? Did they think of them as extinct creatures? Were they just a myth? A legend to them? What is wrong with them, they just think they drowned in the garages they dump every week and died off? This was absurd, this proved that they were the true villains.

Pandora felt a tight knot in his throat and his eyes welled up with tears. He pinched the bridge of his nose and discreetly wiped the tears away.

He took a deep breath before calling out to the others, "well, it looks like they made it even easier for us. Hurry up, there's no one out here"

"No one? Really?" Uri said, pulling himself up and looking across the dark land, he had a defeated look on his face.

"Wow," Diablos whispered in disbelief.

They all felt the same as soon as they saw the darkness with their own eyes. But, that sadness was quickly washed over with anger.

"Odele, your map" Pandora instructed, she walked to his side taking out the map, "we take this route together all through this path, then we split here, and that's when our whole plan starts to take action" he made sure to be clear to everyone, "alrighty then, shall we continue?"

𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐢-
sorry this took two weeks, i actually wanted to write more for this chapter but like i already made y'all wait one week, ANYWAY--

I really wanted to get a chapter out on Halloween but blah whatever-- ANYWAY

i also wanted to have the party crashing scene in this chapter but i ran out of time to write cause yeah-- the wait time-- anyway, i guess it'll have to wait cause i don't want to half ass it lol

EXPECT AN UPDATE NEXT SUNDAY :)

Lol i hit the 20 image limit :'(
That's why it's a bit wonky towards the end😂💀