▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐲 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘 there was an aura in the air that Ilaria didn't like. For once, all the attention and the disgusted looks weren't thrown her way and she would have appreciated it if she knew that it wasn't being thrown towards the Isle kids. She made her way outside with Doug, her eyes narrowing in on the scene before her. At one table the villain kids sat, all of them silent and just trying to peacefully eat their lunch. Right behind them some of the princesses and princes sat or stood talking with one another and smiling brightly, laughing melodically, but occasional looks were thrown towards the other table.

     "I hate this." Ilaria mumbled to Doug as they grew closer. "I wish I was their target instead. This is how villain's get created."

     "What do we do?" Doug asked.

     "Well, I'm still going to sit with them. People don't like me anyways and I'm sure that isn't going to change because of this." Ilaria stopped walking, turning to Doug. "But you Doug, they like you."

     "Ria. . ." Doug sighed.

     "Don't worry your pretty little head, Doug." Ilaria gave him a small smile before continuing towards the group of outcasts. "Mind if I join you?" The four turned their heads to look at her and Ilaria didn't wait for them to respond before taking the open seat beside Mal. "Welcome to my world. You get used to this treatment eventually." Ilaria took a bite of her food. "Knowing Audrey, she's bound to say something but don't let her get to you. She's all bark and no bite." She glanced up when she saw Ben making his way towards them.

     A smile was on Ben's face as he came to a stop beside Jay who was sitting on top of the table. "Hey, guys. How is everyone?" No one replied. "Yeah? Hey, listen. Forget about it, alright? It was nothing. Forget about it. Let it go." He placed his hands on Mal's shoulders. "Tomorrow, after the coronation, I promise everything will be okay." He leaned down to whisper in Mal's ear, "I have to go." He glanced at all of them again, making eye contact with Ilaria and giving her a small nod. "I'll see you guys later." Ben walked away.

     Doug attempted to approach, making a stand beside Ilaria and before he could even open his mouth Chad called out to him. "Doug!" Doug turned to look at him before looking at Ilaria.

      "It's alright." Ilaria softly whispered and nodded her head. Reluctantly Doug walked over to the other table and sat down. She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes when she saw Audrey and Jane approach. "Here she comes."

     "How long does she think that's gonna last?" Audrey asked from behind Mal. "Mal is just the bad girl infatuation."

     Jane chuckled. "Yeah. I mean he's never going to make a villain a queen." The group behind them laughed and Ilaria glanced to Mal, watching as she started to flip through her spell book. A smirk crawled to the corner of her lips. 

     "Beware, forsware, undo Jane's hair." She did her finger side to side and then up and down and behind them a scream left Jane's lips. The group of four stood up and Ilaria sat on top of the picnic table, continuing to eat her lunch. "There's a lot more where that came from."

     Audrey glared at her, placing her hand on her hip. "Excuse me, who do you think you are?"

     "Do I look like I'm kidding?" Mal asked. They all stared at her and Mal nodded to herself and began opening her spell book again. They all went running. 

     "I'm sorry about them." Ilaria spoke as Mal turned back around. "You don't deserve this, not when you were only trying to defend yourselves." Ilaria met Mal's gaze. "I know you guys are planning something for the coronation tomorrow. I know it also has to do with Fairy Godmother's wand." Mal said nothing, only exchanging a look with Evie who subtly shook her head as if to say she hadn't said anything. "Whatever it is, I don't care about all these other people, just don't hurt Ben. Or Doug. But you don't have a connection with him like I do so I guess I understand. But, I know you care about Ben. So, please, this is the only thing I'll ever ask of you, don't hurt him."

     Mal stared at her for a long moment, a somewhat of an understanding passing between them. In that moment, Mal didn't realize that Ilaria's words would echo through her brain at the coronation. With a clenched jaw, Mal nodded her head. She realized that maybe Ilaria was more like them than she seemed and if they had been treated like this in their short time of being in Auradon, she couldn't even begin to imagine what Ilaria had went through.

     Ilaria stood, grabbing her trash and turning to look at Evie. "We're still going together, aren't we?"

     Evie looked at her, surprise coating her features. "You still want to go with me? Even after. . . well, that."

     Ilaria gave her a gentle smile. "What, did you think I would be mad at you? The only person in the wrong here are the princes, princesses, and Queen Leah. Again, you were only sticking up for yourself and if that's so wrong then this world is going to shit. I'll be at your dorm tomorrow, alright?" She began to walk away. "Enjoy your planning!"

     "She's good for you." Mal suddenly said instantly grabbing Evie's attention. "If things don't go as planned, you should stick with her."

     Evie glanced towards Ilaria's retreating figure as a smile pulled to her lips. "I think I will."

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 to wear a dress, but for Ben she would do anything so with reluctance she pulled the red and black dress on her body and examined it in the mirror. She had to admit, it was cute. The dress had a heart neckline and was sleeveless, black lace covering the bodice with the bottom solely being red and reaching down past her knees. It was light and easy to move in. She paired it with black heels before curling her hair and putting on a heart necklace and matching earrings. She wasn't a fan of makeup so she applied it very lightly and when the look was complete she let out a sigh before walking out and heading to Mal and Evie's dorm. She knocked and patiently waited.

     "Coming!" Evie's soft voice was heard through the door. Ilaria listened as she shuffled around inside before quickly approaching the door and pulling it open. Her wide smile faltered as she stared at Ilaria, her mouth opening slightly. Her hearts slammed in her chest and suddenly Evie grew nervous. "You look. . ." She stuttered over her words, swallowing thickly. "You look beautiful."

     Ilaria felt heat rush to her cheeks. "Thank you. You look gorgeous yourself." She held out her hand. "Shall we do this?"

     Evie smiled and took her hand. "We shall."

They arrived at the palace and Ilaria and gave her a warning that a lot of looks and whispers were going to be thrown their way but quite frankly Evie didn't care. Two thoughts were the only thing that she was focused on. One, she was simply  glad to be here with Ilaria in this moment. Ilaria made her feel safe, and she made her feel seen, and Evie felt like her breath left her body every time she even looked at Ilaria wondering how in the world she got so lucky. Two, their plan was to be set in motion and although Ilaria knew something about the plan, it was going to absolutely shatter Evie's heart to hurt her and to betray and Evie couldn't help but think she didn't know if she would be able to go through with it because Ilaria was enough reason for her not to.

They walked inside, coming to a stand close to the front where Fairy Godmother stood. The older woman met Ilaria's eyes and then Evie's and a soft smile fell on her face. Of course, behind them Audrey let out a noise of disgust. Evie interlaced her finger with Ilaria's and Ilaria gave her hand a gentle squeeze before their attention turned towards the doors as Ben walked in. The King and Queen stood as Mal made an appearance beside Ilaria and Evie. Ilaria reached out her hand and looked to Mal. Mal stared at her for a moment before small smile pulled on her lips and she grabbed Ilaria's outstretched hand.

Everyone bowed as Ben walked by and Ilaria looked at him through her lashes, giving him a grimace and small smile of amusement pulled on his lips. Ben approached the steps and Fairy Godmother took the crown from King Adam's head and turned to Ben who kneeled on the steps. She placed the crown on his head and then grabbed her wand. As the wand came out to play Ilaria gently let go of Mal's hand. She knew she couldn't stop it. So, she wouldn't.

     "Do you solemnly swear to govern the peoples of Auradon with justice and mercy as long as you shall reign?"

     Ben gave a slight nod. "I do solemnly swear."

     "Then it is my honor and my joy to bless our new king." She tapped the wand on both of his shoulders before holding the wand up. Suddenly, the wand was snatched  from her hand and the crowd gasped. Ilaria just stood there confused, seeing as Mal and Evie were both still standing beside her. Her eyes then found Jane.

     A bright glow shot from the wand and into the sky. "Child, what are you doing?!" Fairy Godmother yelled.

     "If you won't make me beautiful, I'll do it myself!" Jane shouted, the wand thrashing violently in her hands. Ben ran forwards to protect Mal who was standing there by herself as the rest of them had all scurried backwards. "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" Instantly, Mal ran forwards, and grabbed the wand from Jane's hand, holding it up and out of her reach.

     Mal stood there holding the wand and Jane quickly got out of the way. Evie was quick to join Mal's side while Carlos and Jay ran from the top. Ben quickly stood between Mal and his parents. He held out his hand. "Mal, give me the wand."

     "Stand back," Mal warned. Just as she said that Jay and Carlos came busting through the door and ran towards the two girls.

     "It's okay."

     "Ben, I said stand back!" Mal yelled, but there was a pleading in her voice.

     Audrey pushed her way to the front of the crowd and said, "I told you so!"

     Ilaria shoved her back. "Oh, shut up!"

     Audrey stared at her for a moment before she softly said in disbelief, "You knew."

     "Let's go." Carlos said from behind Mal.

     "Revenge time," Jay mumbled.

     Ben stared at his girlfriend, refusing to look at anyone else. "You really want to do this?"

     Tears began to form in Mal's eyes. "We have no choice, Ben! Our parents. . ."

     "Your parents made their choice." Ben quickly interrupted her. "Now you make yours."

     Mal stared at him for a long moment, her eyes flitting over to Belle and Adam before her eyes fell on Ilaria. Ilaria's words from yesterday and weeks before echoed in her head and she turned her eyes back towards Ben. She was tired of having to live up to her mother's expectations. No part of her wanted to do this. She wanted to be with Ben and she couldn't have that if she let her mother win. A breath left her lips as she said, "I think I want to be good."

     "You are good." Ben assured.

     "How do you know that?"

     "Because. . . because I'm listening to my heart."

     A frown fell on Mal's face, her eyes slowly going to the floor in shame. "I want to listen to my heart to." She began to lower the wand. "And my heart is telling me that we are not out parents." She turned to look at Evie, Carlos and Jay. Evie had tears in her eyes as she looked at Ilaria and Ilaria sent her a soft smile. "I mean, stealing things doesn't make you happy." Mal looked to Jay first. "Tourney and victory pizza with the team makes you happy." She looked to Carlos. "And you, scratching Dude's belly makes you happy. Who would've thought?" She then looked at Evie, both girls held tears in their eyes as they looked at each other. "And Evie, you do not have to play dumb to get a guy or girl, you are so smart." Mal sighed and shook her head. "And I don't want to take over the world with evil. It doesn't make me happy. I want to go to school. And be with Ben." She turned to look at him, holding up her hand that had his family ring on it. "Because Ben makes me really happy." She turned back to the other three. "Us being friends makes me really happy. Not destroying things."

     Mal stared at all of them before putting her fist out. "I choose good, you guys."

     The other three stared at her for a moment and Mal glanced at them with worry. Once again, Evie's eyes flitted to Ilaria and her heart seemed to swell. Jay put his fist out first. "I choose good, too."

     Ilaria met Evie's eyes and a small smile pulled to her lips. Evie nodded and stepped forwards, putting out her fist. "I choose good."

     They all looked to Carlos. "So, just to be clear, we don't have to be worried about how really mad our parents will be?" Mal let out a laugh and Carlos couldn't help but chuckle. "Because they're going to be really, really mad."

     "Your parents can't reach you here." Ben assured.

     Carlos looked at him before nodding and putting his fist out. "Okay, then. Good." Mal looked to Ben and nodded for him to join. Ben smiled and putting his fist out with the rest of theirs and the crowd cheered.

     A loud sound of thunder shook the room and screams erupted from the crowd. A cloud of green smoke entered the room before Maleficent appeared with a wide smile. "I'm baaack!"

     Mal closed her eyes in frustration. "Go away, mother."

     Maleficent laughed. "She's funny." A snort left her lips. "Oh. I'm so. . . you're very funny here. Wand me. Chop-chop."

     "No!"

     Mal pretended to hand the wand to her mother before tossing it to Fairy Godmother who caught it. "Bibbidi-bobbidi―︎!" And then, everything froze. She was frozen in time. Ilaria couldn't move. No one could. But when she could again the scene had completely changed. She blinked in confusion, looking around. Ben let out a yell and charged forwards but Mal quickly stopped him.

     "We've kind of got this all wrapped up here." Mal said and Ben looked at her before picking her up and twirling her. Mal let out a surprised laugh.

     "What the hell just happened?" Ilaria asked, walking towards the group.

     Instantly Evie smiled and grabbed her hand. Ilaria met her eyes and Evie softly chuckled. "It's a long story." Ilaria hummed, watching as Mal walked away from Ben to talk to Jane. "So," Evie grabbed her attention, "this first date was something."

     Ilaria chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding. Good things there's always room for a second date. If you want to, of course."

     Evie gave her a blinding smile and nodded her head. "Yeah. I'd like that."

     "Hey!" Mal's voice grabbed their attention, watching as she ran over to the man that was putting a glass case around her very small lizard of a mother. "Careful! That's my mom!"

     Jay wrapped his arms around Carlos and Evie and Evie wrapped her arm around Ilaria as Ilaria wrapped hers around Ben. Mal joined on the other side of Carlos as Jay smile. "Let's get this party started!"

They went to the after party and Ilaria couldn't help but enjoy herself as she danced with Evie. For just a moment it felt like everything was right in the world. But of course, all good things must come to an end.

You didn't think this was the end of the story, did you?