ғʀɪᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 8ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ʙᴀsᴛᴇᴛ 1219ᴀᴄ
9 ᴘᴍ

MAL WAS GOING TO BE SICK. She had to make a love potion to get Ben on her side so she could attend his coronation, and there she could finally get her hands on the wand. The love potion didn't matter, it was the fact that she knew she would have to be the one to date him. A kingdom like this wasn't exactly progressive in certain ways, so Jay was out of the running. Carlos doesn't even date. And as for Evie, if she were with him not only would she be distracted half the time, but she would do heinous acts to anyone that she deemed as threatening to her relationship. Did she care if it was a fake relationship? No. Did she care that the love potion would make him completely incapable of even attempting to cheat on her? Also no.

The thing about love potions is that they don't actually work the way people expect. Love potions can't create love out of nowhere for another person, it's impossible. There has to be something there already that the potion will amplify and strengthen. Otherwise, the potion used on people without pre-existing emotions won't exactly fall in love, instead, it becomes twisted. The person forms a strong desire that becomes obsessive over time, and it never ends well. Lucky for them, it was obvious that Ben was smitten with Mal.

And thus, Mal was the last one standing.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear, and none of us ever cry." Mal said as she mixed the herbs into some cookie dough mix they found in the kitchen. Evie told them it would be easier going down a willing subject and getting the soon-to-be king to eat a cookie was easier than having him drink a strange-looking potion. After all, she was the expert and it was her potion.

"Let's just chop up some onions," Jay said.

"No." She shook her head, "It says that we need one tear of human sadness." Mal said, reading out of Evie's notes. "And altering evening the smallest portion of a spell like this could screw it all up."

"He shrugged, "A tear's a tear."

"That's not true, Jay. They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."

"Let's listen to the mad chemist in the group, yeah?"

"So we need a tear of sadness," Carlos said, "Put me in a room with anyone in the building and let's get started."

"We are not risking our position just so you can get your kicks from torturing someone for a tear." Mal scolded.

"Besides, that would be a tear of pain." Evie pointed out before scooping up another spoonful of crushed lilac.

"Yeah, I knew that." The devil boy shrugged, a bit disgruntled with yet another rejection.

"Did not." Jay mocked him.

"Yeah, I did," Carlos said, pushing his shoulder.

Before anyone could speak another word, Lonnie came bursting through the kitchen door. Mal had met her after Ben came by. Mulan's daughter was just the recent in Mal's efforts to gain some admiration and lower down the people's guards. Thought she had to admit, there was something fun about her, she was more loose than the rest of these preppy rich kids. "There you are, Mal! I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" She said smiling as she looked down at their small kitchen mess. "Midnight snack, huh? What're you guys making?"

Mal shrugged, "Nothing special. Just cookies." As she said it, Lonnie had already looked to the cookie mix and without warning scooped up a bit and popped it in her mouth, "Wait, no, no!"

Evie and Jay yelled out too, "Wait, don't!" Before anyone could stop her, Lonnie had already eaten it and they were left staring at her like they were waiting for her to implode. Even Carlos leaned in to see what would happen.

"What? I'm not gonna double dip." She shook her head.

"Feel anything?" Evie asked her.

"Yeah, like maybe it might be missing something?" Mal motioned to the cookie mix, still keeping her eyes trained on the Chinese girl.

Evie walked up the corner and fluttered her eyes, "Hi." She grinned at her.

Lonnie only smiled politely at her as she answered Mal's question, "It could use some chips."

"Chips?" Evie repeated.

Mal let out a small breath of relief, she was not in the mood to make a counter-spell and was thankful the girl was fine. "And those are?"

Lonnie had went to the fridge and came back with a clear glass bowl filled with some of those brown sugary treats that Carlos had been stuffing his face with since they arrived in the kingdom. "Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group." She told them and noticed how their faces just morphed with confusion.

"We don't really have sugar on the Isle," Mal explained, "The closest sweet thing we have is fruit and nuts."

"Not even like packets for your coffee?"

At that statement, Carlos wedged himself in the conversation, "You can put sugar in coffee?" He asked like it was a big secret. Mal won't lie, the funniest thing she's seen in her entire life is witnessing the devil boy becoming a sweet tooth.

Lonnie only nodded at his question as she took a handful of chips and spread them in the cookie mix, "Wait, so, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies?" She asked and was met with confused looks before emphasizing, "Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and—" she paused when she saw them staring at her, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" If you asked Lonnie, she'd say that their faces were more curious than sad. Unfortunately, the minute they started talking, she believed every word and her own sadness blinded her to the lack of theirs.

"It's just different where we're from," Mal said like it was nothing. Truth be told, their parents were never as close as this girl was to hers. The only one to really dote on their son was Cruella as far as Mal could tell. And even then, the woman's love grew to fear until eventually, she couldn't separate the two.

"On the Isle, if you cared about something, you were vulnerable. And that's the last thing you want to be on that island." Carlos said, surprising them. But even then, when his words sounded sad, his delivery was filled with caution. And he wasn't just slyly warning her off, he was teasing the rest of them. Because at one point or another, they cared about something, even if it was small or selfish, they cared. And he often liked to remind them of how painful it can be if they lost it, at least to the ones that still had it.

"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought—" she paused, taking in a deep breath, "Even villains love their kids." she shrugged like it wasn't awkward but it was, and it was breaking her heart.

"Some do," Evie nodded. "There were plenty of parents and families that tried to keep it together. But eventually being so powerless caught up to them. Dozens of orphans and mayhem filled the streets. There are more graves than people on that island." She solemnly declared.

"Oh... How awful." The daughter of Mulan took a moment, she breathed in and gripped Mal's hand tightly as she shed a silent tear.

A tear that Mal saw and didn't waste time in immediately snatching up and adding to the mix. "Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven," The fairy girl said quickly and everyone started moving around so fast that Lonnie barely even noticed when she was being pushed out the kitchen doors. "So thank you so much for coming by. Really, have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams." She wished her in a joking tone.

"Good night," Lonnie said as she left.

"See you tomorrow." She stared at the hallway until she knew the group was alone and switched to her people, "Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven."

"Yes, ma'am."

It didn't take long for them to have everything spread out and baking. Mal was sitting on one of the tables, Jay leaned against the opposite one, and Evie and Carlos were sitting on the floor close to the oven.

"Am I the only one thinking we could have avoided this whole thing if we could just use Evie's Poppy Moon venom and hypnotize the bastard?" Carlos muttered loudly, already bored. He was closest to the heat and every now and then tried to get his hand closer before he couldn't withstand it. It was a fun game, but getting boring too.

Evie huffed at that suggestion, "That venom is for an emergency, it only lasts long enough to hypnotize one person into doing or believing something without question. No way are we wasting it on some prince that already has a thing for Mal. These cookies will do a great job to speed up his feelings to actually express them." She states firmly.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm tempted to just sic Carlos on him," Mal said, with Carlos brightening up at the information.

"Oh, chin up, you won't have to sleep with him," Evie assures, "You might have to kiss him, who knows, honestly?" Mal shoved her as Evie and Jay started laughing.

"I can't believe mothers actually go through the trouble of making these just to console crying children," Carlos commented as he watched the heat sizzle the baked goods.

"My mom never gave me cookies, more like life advice," Evie said, as she tilted her head and her eyes squinting as she did her best to remember her childhood. "She tried teaching me everything she could but in reality, she just held me back. I remember this one time when I was a kid, I had this fantastic idea for a potion and wrote it in the family grimoire but then she caught me and yelled." They noticed how quiet and emotionless Evie got whenever she talked about her mom. "She said it was a priceless spellbook that's been in the family for generations and that we mustn't change a word. But I wasn't changing anything, I was adding to it." She emphasized it like it was obvious. Like her mother was crazy to not see how right Evie had been. That Evie knew more than she gave her credit for and it drove Evie insane. "I told her that if you kept using the same spells and the same potions over and over again, then where will that get you? Mom said I didn't understand her. Something about how creating spells takes craft and practice and you need to be experienced to control the excess." She mocked in a different tone before adding, "All I know is when she told me I didn't understand, I didn't like it. So I pushed her off the ledge of our castle and she broke her leg." She said like it was the most innocent thing in the world.

Mal frowned at the idea of even taking advice from her mom, "Well I tried avoiding whatever mine told me to do. She wasn't exactly mentor material, always raving about revenge was boring. I'd just start walking away until I couldn't hear her anymore. What could she do? Spell me to stay? Punish me for disrespect?" She snorted as she finished. "With no magic, she believed her power was gone. And the moment she believed that then it truly was." Her story was short, she didn't give that much importance to a person she refused to acknowledge. While Evie took a much more intense route at distancing herself from her mother, Mal was didn't really see an issue about her. Evie was a tad impulsive, when someone insulted or disrespected her in any way she showed them no mercy, and that included her mother. Mal, however, was better at letting things go. It just didn't matter to her, she always had bigger things on her mind.

"I don't even have a mom," Jay shrugged nonchalantly, "Dad wanted a kid, someone to one day take back our kingdom. And whoever was my mom didn't want to be a mom, so she left me with him. Good riddance, he taught me about our culture, our history, what was stolen from us. He wasn't the best father, but he knew what was important. And he made sure that I knew it too." But even as he said it, they all knew it still affected him. Not a lot, but more than he cared to admit.

Carlos took that moment to turn his head and look at his friends with a raised eyebrow, "Well, mine loves me." He gave a great big smile.

The rest chose not to respond to that.

☠︎              ☠︎             ☠︎               ☠︎

sᴀᴛᴜʀᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 9ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ʙᴀsᴛᴇᴛ 1219ᴀᴄ
12 ᴘᴍ

Evie enjoyed certain things about Auradon. She liked the sunlight, it was good for her skin. She especially liked the fresh food. But what she was starting to love about the place was a very nice-looking boy. Auradon wasn't exactly a pillar of coolness, most of the people were dripping in pastel and "Good day, how do you sir?" and "Oh, pardon me!"'s and they were absolutely mind-numbing. But Ora was different. It was like he was living in a different world, the way he spoke, the way he dressed, how he acted. It was something new.

"Hey, Evie, come sit!" Ora spotted her on the other side of the courtyard. He was already surrounded by plenty of friends but Evie didn't let that stop her.

"Ora, hi," She said, grinning widely once again.

Ora stood up to stand next to her as he introduced her, "Everyone, this is Evie, you might remember she's here from the Isle." As he told his friends, he noticed how dishearted they all got but he went on anyway, "Evie, this is Pin, Chad, Gordon, and Rudy."

She recognized Chad from chemistry lab (though she couldn't imagine while he'd willingly sign up for it in the first place) and she'd seen the other boys around campus. Rudy had the same spikey black and red hair his father had when he was young, along with plenty of feather charms and leather clothing. If she didn't know any better she'd say he was from the Isle, but she supposed most Neverland kids looked like that. Gordon was short with a big nose and a permanent scowl on his face. And Pin was just weird.

Still, she waved politely and repeated her earlier greeting, "Hi," she gave a toothy smile.

The boys weren't as polite as she was and even tried to avoid eye contact. Though Pin did wave back awkwardly.

"Come on, sit down," Ora pulled her along to share his seat. "So, tell me how's your impression of Auradon coming along? What's your favorite part so far?" One thing that Evie loved about him already was how his eyes shined with intrigue. She could tell just how genuine he really was.

"The food," she answered right away.

Ora laughed delightfully, "Yeah? What do you like best?"

"Let me guess, apples?" Gordon said passive-aggressively as he threw a green one at Chad who in return scoffed condescendingly as he took a bite out of it.

Evie's entire demeanor went cold as she twisted around to look at him, "Not really," she shrugged like it was an actual question, "Apples can be so predictable. Besides, I'm not the one eating them." She glanced at Chad to give him an evil knowing stare down. And then she enjoyed how his face lost all color as he started spitting out the fruit onto the grass.

She laughed at the action, and Ora joined in lightheartedly, "Dude, seriously? Can we please try to act more evolved?"

"You're not the one whose dad and uncles had to face off against her mother." Gordon shot back.

Ora gave an annoyed sigh, "Well, your cousin seems to keep a more open mind,"

Rudy scoffed and replied even though Ora meant that for Gordon, "You really think Doug thinks with his mind when she's around?" He leaned to his left to not-so-discretely whisper to Chad, "He stares at her like a piece of meat."

Evie had never missed the Isle more at that moment. On the Isle she'd get away with so much in minutes, she could have her way instantly. But instead, she was in Auradon, and if she blew their entire operation then it would all be for not. She had to keep the goal in mind because she's realized something in her time on the mainland. Even if her friends and she were to decimate Uma's Corner and her little renegade party, that would be it. They would have conquered the entire Isle of the Lost. But there was nowhere to go from there, no more challenges or rebellions to demolish. In Auradon however, there was more. More food, more kingdoms, more people to break.

So, despite all of her instincts telling her to carve his eyes out with the metal spoon six inches from her hand, she simply let out a controlled sigh. "I'm a princess raised on the Isle and even I have better manners than that." She muttered intentionally loudly.

"Yeah, well except you're not actually a princess," Gordon said

Chad chimed in, "The Evil Queen doesn't have royal status around here and neither do you."

Evie smiled once again, her head doing that circling thing it did when she got agitated until she couldn't take it anymore as she slammed her hands against the table, standing up just as fast, "My mother might've been little Snow's stepmom, but everyone seems to forget that she was born royal before she married some stupid king. A king she didn't even want to marry and didn't even want to marry her. Her actions can't erase her blood, so yes, she was a queen and I am a princess. Call her evil or not, it doesn't matter." She said, exasperated and yelling. "You know what else doesn't seem to matter? The fact that despite all you've heard you turned into carbon copies of your parents. Do you even have a single idea of your own or are you just repeating what mommy and daddy taught you?" Evie's voice was still raised and still loud as ever until it quieted down as she leaned in. "And I'll have you know, the last person to compare me to something you eat was left hanging in the middle of town with meat hooks impaling his arms and thighs so he'd know exactly how it felt like be a piece of meat for the world to see. The fun part was my good friend Carlos helped me with it, he knew exactly where to rip into him so he'd stay alive for as long as possible. Afterward, we lit a great big fire to roast his body and fed the remains to the sharks surrounding the island. He literally became a piece of meat to be consumed and forgotten. It doesn't matter if you don't take any treats I give you, I'm not about tricking people like dear old mom. If I wanted you out of the way, I'd take a much more direct approach," she whispered menacingly, "I'd watch you burn."

Evie desperately wanted to say all of that, but she didn't. Instead, she took a deep breath and let it out whilst clearing her throat. She made sure that all those thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind until she needed to use them. Besides, they weren't worth her threats. Yet.

☠︎              ☠︎              ☠︎             ☠︎

sᴀᴛᴜʀᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 9ᴛʜ
ᴏғ ʙᴀsᴛᴇᴛ 1219ᴀᴄ
1 ᴘᴍ

Audrey was having a rather nice lunch date in the courtyard with the future king, Ben. At least it was nice until she heard of mix of praises coming from the nearby picnic tables.

"Look, It's Mal!"

"Hi, Mal! Love my hair, Mal!"

She watched a group of girls with elegant, beautiful, long, and full hair compliment and praise the new girl. So, she could do magic? What of it? Her three fairy godmothers could too, Jordan could grant wishes, she wasn't this pestered.

"Do you think they actually paid for those?" Audrey asked aloud, her voice low. "She did it to Jane's hair, too, and Fairy Godmother's not happy about it."

Ben lifted his head from his book, "What's the harm?" he shrugged.

Audrey wished she had a better reason and a better response than, "It's gateway magic!" but it was the first thing that came to her head. "Sure, it starts with the hair. Next thing you know she's using it to rebuild a carriage for her own personal use or to finish her assignments. Who knows? We don't. Because we don't know what she's actually doing with her magic."

"Listen, Audrey—" She cut him off before he could get a word out. She hated how his tone of voice would get like he was calming her down. She didn't need to calm down, she was fine.

"I will see you at the after-party for the game once I'm done with my dress-fitting for the coronation, okay?" She had stood up already and taken her things, not sparing him another glance before leaving.

"Okay," he nodded even when she was far away, "Bye!" he shouted at her back before slumping his arm down. She was mad at him for something, again, if only he could figure it out.

Mal finally saw her opening once Audrey finally left the prince alone near the picnic tables. And it looked like he was leaving too as he stood from his seat. So Mal quickly ran up behind him and slammed her hand on the wooden surface. "Hey, Bennyboo!" She mockingly used Audrey's nickname for him.

Ben turned at the loud slam and politely smiled at her, he eased himself, "Hey."

Mal smiled and motioned to the plastic bag filled with a few cookies, "I just made a batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip, do you want one?"

"Oh, I, uh, I've got a big game. I don't eat before a big game." His face dropped, "But thank you so, so much. Thank you. Next time. Next time." He said, promising before attempting to walk away.

"No, yeah. I completely understand." She feigned a saddened look that made him pause, "Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains." She shrugged and sighed. "I get it."

"No, no, no." He shook his head just as predicted. Mal knew that Ben had way too much trust and hope in his little experiment and he'd be willing to prove it too.

"No, it's okay, I tried offering some to people in my class and anyone in the halls but they either avoided me or straight up said no. I thought maybe helping some of the girls with their hair could I don't know," she mumbled, "Make me a few friends here but they didn't really stick around after. But it's fine." Mal had made Evie cut a few onions in front of her before this so she'd have that perfect red-nose-tears-pushed-back look and it was definitely working on the prince.

"No, that's not it." He said shaking his head, "No, no, no, I- I really do–"

"No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart." She gave him a sad smile before going to take the cookie for herself, "Oh, well, more for me, I guess." But before it could even reach her lips, Ben grabbed it and took a bite.

"No, no. Hey, see that?" He chewed it, "Totally trust you. Totally." Yes, he certainly did. Mal wouldn't lie, this just got too easy.

"How are they?" She asked.

"They're good." He replied, "They're great! They're amazing! They're, uh-I mean, they're chewy and, and you know, they— is that walnuts?" He asked and she gave a quick nod, "I love walnuts. I mean, uh, you know, the-the chocolate," he paused, losing his train of thought as he kept staring at Mal, "The- the chocolate, the chocolate chips are— I'm sorry. Um, uh, they're-they're warm and soft." His voice got soft too, barely a whisper. "And they're sweet. Mal, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?" He went to eat more of it before she took it back. One bite was enough, if he took more the spell would be doubled and that wasn't good for anyone.

As she repackaged the sweet, the rest of her group emerged not far from them. Evie came from the same direction as her as the boys came out from behind the large tree that provided them some shade.

"How are you feeling?" Evie whispered.

"I feel... I feel..." he took a moment to finally get his words in order, "I feel like... like shouting your name from the rooftops and declaring my love to the entire kingdom." he got out in one second as he opened his mouth to yell, "I'm in love! I'm in—" Mal quickly covered his mouth with her hand as he kept shouting her name and other words.

Carlos crossed his arms at the sight, "All right, so now we got one lovestruck prince, what's next?"

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have an Evie moodboard:

gordon is the son of grumpy, he's from the books

pin is the son of pinnochio, also from the books

and Rudy is the son of Rufio, who's from the movie Hook staring Robin Williams, he played the lost boy left in charge when Peter Pan left Neverland and thought it'd be fun to bring in another dude-bro friend for Ora

what did you think of this chapter?

anything interest you or stuck out to you?

favorite part?

anything you wanna see next time?

oh! and if you haven't checked it out yet, please go and watch the tribute/trailer for this story, the link is in my profile at the bottom

no mundanes allowed