One moment Evie was standing on the sidewalk outside the museum in Auradon and the next she was on the Isle’s dark broken down old dock where the goblins offloaded the leftovers.
Without allowing herself even a glance at the lights, beauty, and goodness that she’d left behind, the blue-clad princess started up the steep narrow pathway that led into town, pausing only briefly to fluff her hair, smoothed her dark Isle-dress, and checked her reflection in her mirror.
Deciding to go to Maleficent’s castle first, she marveled at the strange new construction on the edge of town as she marched through the worn-down litter-ridden streets. Ignoring the curious stares and angry glares, she stalked up to the castle’s heavy wooden door and pounded on it just as the sun was coming up.
“Mal!” she hollered, “Mal! You in there? It’s me; open up!”
A window flew open above her head and her friend’s purple head popped out, “What are you doing here?”
“Open up!” Evie shouted back, hands on her hips.
Mal instantly disappeared and Evie heard her running down the stairs. Then the door flew open and the two girls flung themselves at each other.
“Is everything alright?” Mal asked anxiously, her eyes wide with alarm as she pulled her friend inside and slammed the door, “What’s happened? Why are you here?”
“I-I came back,” Evie stammered, choking up with sudden emotion, “I couldn’t leave you here all by yourself.”
“What?” Mal gasped, pushing back, “No!”
“Come on, M!” Evie protested, hands on her hips again, “We both know what the Isle is like. Stop playing tough! Coming back here after Auradon is awful. You know it. I know it. You need a friend.” She gestured around the castle in exasperation, taking in the dirty clothes draped on the back of furniture and leftover snack plates that hadn’t been washed, “What is all this? You’ve barricaded yourself in here, haven’t you? Gosh, it looks like a pigsty. How many times have you been out? Where did you get this food? This is no way to live! You need a friend and I’m here so don’t you dare act like you have it all together because I know better!”
For a moment Mal’s eyes burned an intimidating green glow and she looked like she might toss her blue-clad friend back out onto the street, then she deflated with a sigh, “I guess I can’t argue with you. You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“I grew up here too.” Evie folded her arms over her chest and fixed her friend with her own intimidating stare.
“Well, I cowed some of mom’s old goblins into bringing me food from the barge every day so I have plenty to eat,” the purple-clad girl began her story with a thoughtful frown. She wasn’t used to pushback, even with her closest friends, but it was an unexpected relief that Evie understood.
“They have to send it by the vultures,” she continued, “because Uma is pretty well entrenched in our old territory. They have me under siege. That’s why I freaked out when I saw you. Her crew drives me back whenever I try to go out. Someone is always watching.”
“No one bothered me…” Evie mused softly, a grim frown forming on her face. She knew what it was like to have vultures as a lifeline.
“Obviously, I haven’t been back to school,” Mal continued, shrugging, “but that’s not really a loss. I mean, remember what we learned at Dragon Prep?”
“How to be villainous.” Evie chuckled as a strange sparkle lit her eyes , “Only we’re not now.”
“Nope, I guess we’re not. You never were. You shouldn’t be here.”
“You’re not getting rid of me.”
“I think some of the antiheroes tried to break the siege when I first moved back in,” Mal scowled, “but they never made it. That club made them weak.” She made a face, then shrugged again, “Not that I want to see them or Yen Sid.”
Shaking her head as the conflict between the good and evil raged inside of her, she began pacing in a circle, “I don’t think I can ever face them again. I mean, think of how much they looked up to us? To me? Only that Mal was a lie and now I’ve been exposed for what I really am. A fake.”
“You’re not a fake, Mal.”
“Well, not here. I can be me here, without ever worrying about messing up Ben’s life or Auradon—or I could if I wasn’t so weak. Auradon made me weak.” She teared up in frustration, “I can’t even break a stupid seige from Uma, of all people!”
“Well,” a crafty smile lit Evie’s face when she suddenly saw a way to instill some swagger back into her friend’s stride; she flipped her hair off her shoulder, “I think Maleficent’s daughter ought to be able to go wherever she wants on the Isle!”
“Good luck with that.” Mal snorted, but almost smiled.
“They left me alone.” Evie reminded her, “I don’t know why, but maybe if we face them together we’ll get a different result.” Her smile widened into a wicked grin, “You got an extra can of spray paint?”
“I do!” Mal suddenly caught the mood; her eyes lit up as she spun around, “Blue too.” Then she whirled back around, demanding, “Say, wait a minute, how did you get here anyways?”
“Fairy Godmother helped me,” Evie answered hoarsely, suddenly tearing up. She swallowed the lump in her throat, “I worried about you so much, Mal. Everyone noticed. I couldn’t keep it from them. I never talked about it, but they knew.”
“Carlos and Jay were great; they worked so hard to make me feel better.” she went on, laughing through her tears, “I didn’t even think about how much it was hurting them, but they always thought of me.”
“Doug figured it out too.” she continued, “I’ve been in such a funk. He talked to Fairy Godmother yesterday and she talked to me. And, well, I couldn’t lie to her.”
“You know I can handle myself here!” Mal snapped angrily, “Why were you worried?”
“She wasn’t mad,” Evie ignored the outburst, clasping her hands together as she squeezed her eyes shut in thankfulness, “She said that if I really wanted to come back, she’d send me. She didn’t even ask Ben or Beast or anyone. Can you imagine that?”
“She even said that if we ever wanted to come back, we just need to tell Yen Sid.” she continued in a disbelieving tone, “She’ll talk to him and they’ll figure out how. She didn’t ask anyone about that either!”
“Yeah, well, getting to Yen Sid is currently a problem.” the purple-clad girl reminded her, “but I’m not going back. You should, but I belong here.”
“How many times do I have to go through this?” the blue-clad girl stomped her foot and frowned, “I’m not going back without you!”
“You shouldn’t have come,” Mal folded her arms over her chest, digging in, “You’re an Auradonian, Evie! You belong in Auradon.”
“That’s not what Fairy Godmother said.” the Isle’s princess smirked knowingly, shaking her paint can and opening the door a crack, “She said that I was as Auradonian as it gets just by coming back here to be with you.”
“You sure about this?” Mal relented again, cocking an eyebrow as she followed her friend to the door.
“Absolutely!”
The purple-clad wrinkled her nose as she shook her paint can, “Don’t tell me you wore those heels again…”
“Of course, I did,” Evie frowned, “Mommy always told me that beauty is pain.”
“You’re the most beautiful person I know, E.”
*o*o*0*o*o*
For several minutes the little group that had gathered in Fairy Godmother’s office before school couldn’t say a word after she broke the news. Then Beast’s temper broke.
“You let her go back? What does this mean?” he raged, flinging the papers off her desk and upending a heavy bookcase without realizing what he was doing, “Did you even consider the implications—?”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Jay snapped; he, Carlos, Ben, and Doug came to their feet, “Evie would never bring harm to Auradon!”
“I didn’t say she would!” he fired back, “But someone else—we don’t know. And, obviously, the barrier was opened to let her pass through!.” He whirled on Fairy Godmother, “Of all the people in the kingdom, I would have never thought that you would do this!”
“Dad—” Ben broke in, “Please—”
“I never thought that you’d release me to go back to my papa either.” Belle’s quiet voice interrupted, striking Beast’s heart like an arrow and shattering his wrath. His mouth snapped shut like a blowfish and his face turned red as he watched his kind wife kneel down to begin putting the room back in order. Ben, Doug, Jay, and Carlos all instinctively pitched in to help.
“So, that’s it then?” Doug whimpered, tears cascading down his face. His glasses fogged over before he could jerk them off and he struggled to keep Fairy Godmother’s ancient manuscripts dry, “I’ll never see her again, will I?”
“I’ve failed,” Ben moaned, suddenly dropping the papers in his hands to cover his face; he felt more suited for melting into invisibility than ruling a kingdom, “I thought that they’d love it here. I thought-I thought-I thought—”
“Evie does love it here,” Carlos was firm, even as he felt agonizingly sick, “And Doug, she thinks that you’re the best thing that ever happened to her.”
“Then why’d she leave?” he snapped.
“It’s hard to explain.” Jay meekly ducked his head, his heart breaking for himself and his friends.
“Well,” Doug retorted, his face red, “I’d sure like it if someone tried!”
All eyes turned to the two VKs and there was a long pause before Carlos took a stab at explaining. Feeling like he was under interrogation, his voice was soft and hesitant, “It’s just—It’s just—different over there. I know you guys can’t understand because you’re all heroes and everyone loves you, but over there no one loves anyone.”
“Heck,” Jay added, “We didn’t even call each other friends when we lived there.”
“We were allies,” Carlos nodded earnestly in agreement, “Partners in crime, if you will. And every night we had to try and convince our parents that we weren’t really being nice to each other.”
“Dad never believed me.” Jay snorted, “Iago said I was going soft and Dad always agreed.” He shrugged, “It didn’t matter though. In the end, Dad only cared about the junk I brought in for his shop and I could always get plenty of that.”
“I’m not sure if Mom even heard what I said,” Carlos nodded sagely, “but as long as I got her coats washed—and the car—she couldn’t have cared less anyways.”
“But the love that we’ve been shown here,” Jay finished, “and were allowed to show in return, changed us. That’s why Evie has been so worried about Mal. After experiencing so much love, it’s hard to go back to nothing.”
*o*o*0*o*o*
Working together, the girls found it relatively easy to break the siege and soon they were enjoying a smelly breakfast at the mostly empty Slop Shop, talking about old times and just enjoying each other’s company.
“So, where are Jay and Carlos?” Mal finally asked, popping a piece of moldy cold pizza crust into her mouth and savoring it before glancing over her shoulder again.
“Oooo, that’s why you keep looking back!” Evie cracked up as she fastidiously cut away the really rotten pieces in her fruit bowl, “I thought you were still worried about a wharf rat or something.”
“Nope, it’s good to be back!”
“You’re welcome.” The blue-clad princess smiled demurely.
“So, where are they?”
“Back in Auradon—at least, I think. Fairy Godmother has probably told them by now so maybe—”
“You mean you didn’t tell them you were coming back?”
“I couldn’t—oh, Mal, they’ve worked so hard to cheer me up ever since you left. I just couldn’t face them!”
“Well, I guess I don’t blame you.” the purple-clad girl sighed, “I’d probably do the same thing. We’ll see them before too long, I’m sure.” She sighed again and took another bite of pizza.
“I hope they come see us.” Evie nodded, wiping fresh tears from her cheeks.
“Yeah, me too.”
“D-did you tell Doug?” Mal continued cautiously, after a few minutes to collect her nerve.
“Noooo,” Evie moaned softly, looking stricken. Her tears flowed again, “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell Ben. I couldn’t tell anyone!”
“Oh, E!” Mal’s heart went out to her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” She looked at the floor, silently berating herself. Then she reached out and gripped her friend’s arm, “It’s okay, E, it’s okay—”
But her voice suddenly died away when she caught sight of someone coming towards them, “Uh-oh, we’d better clear out. Look who’s coming…”