“What in the world are you guys doing here?” Mal growled, standing on her front stoop with her arms crossed over her chest, her door closed against prying ears.
“We-we,” Celia swallowed hard, finding her nerve first, “Well, you see–”
“Somebody spit it out!”
“Relax, Mal.” Claudine put her hands firmly on the youngster’s shoulders, “Yen Sid sent us.”
“Why…?”
“Well, gee,” Frollo’s daughter tossed her head back, shaking her long thick hair out of her stain ratty cloak and folding her arms over her chest, “maybe it’s because you told him how you were trying to make nice with Uma and he wanted to see how it was going because, you know, Ben—”
“Shut up!” Mal hissed, clamping a hand over the girl’s mouth; green flames blazing up in her eyes, “We’re on the street, Claud!” She glared at the group, “Nobody, and I mean nobody, mentions his name out here. Got that?”
“Yes, ma’am!” the Badum cousins quickly chimed in.
“So…” Yzla stepped up beside Claudine, “How are things going in there…?”
The purple-clad girl pressed her lips together, annoyed about the interruption, “Well, we haven’t been back very long. E just told about her experiences in Auradon.” She shook her head, “Don’t ask. Jay and Carlos started it. They were trying to keep ‘em out of Curella’s closet.”
“That’s cool!” Big Murph nodded his approval.
“Hey, guys!” Carlos’ head popped out the door, “What’s up?”
“Carlos!” Diego and the Badums rushed to mob him.
“Thanks, man!” Jace and Harry slapped hi-fives, “We heard you did wash day for us! Thank you so much! Your mom is a—”
“Yeah, well,” Carlos shrugged, “Moms…you know how it goes…” He grinned again, waving them forward, “Come on in!”
The antiheroes obeyed with glowing faces, ignoring Mal’s slack jawed look.
“Hey Carlos,” she hissed, as she passed through the doorway, “whose house is this, anyways?”
“Oh! Uh, sorry, Mal.” he grinned, pecking her cheek, “I should have asked, shouldn’t I?”
“Well, yeah!” she shoved him forward, “Go on, you dork.”
The appearance of the antiheroes brought the pirates to their feet; they looked like lightning struck, “What are you doing here?” Harry Hook snapped.
“Relax, Hook.” Harry Badum scowled, feeling confident with Mal at his back.
“Chill, Harry,” Uma agreed wearily, “This is Mal’s place. She can invite whoever she wants.”
“Try not to take offence.” Claudine added, giving the savvy young pirate a contemptuous glare. It unwittingly reminded everyone that she’d once caught him cheating on her with Ginny Gothel.
“Okay, guys,” the blue-clad girl quickly separated them, “We’re not gonna allow a fight in here.”
“Harry…” Uma joined the blue-clad princess, “Stand down.”
For a second, the tension in the room seemed to spike then the brown-clad boy bounced to his feet.
“Aww, come on, guys!” he cried out with blissful ignorance, “We’ve been having so much fun today. Don’t ruin it now!”
“Of course, you had fun.” Hook glared at him, “You got to hang out with Evie all day and she kissed you in front of your brothers.”
“You’re not jealous, are you, Hook?” Claudine folded her arms over her chest, “What, Evie never kissed you?”
“Claudine…” Evie shook her head, “Stop.”
Frollo’s daughter spun to face her, heat rising in her face, “He—”
“I think we’ve all been double-crossed by Harry,” Mal stepped in, “Even me.” She smiled slightly, “Look, Claudine, I get it, but we’re trying not doing that anymore.” She clasped the girl’s shoulder, “You’re an antihero now.”
Jay found his voice, “I know it’s tough. Heck, you know it’s tough.”
“We’re right here with you though.” Carlos added.
“Uma gave us Pleasure Island,” Harry fell back on the old line, “Why do you want to force Auradon on us?”
“You guys didn’t even go until we invited you.” Jay pointed out, “And how much fun is it gonna be in a couple weeks, after you’ve broken everything?”
“Uma’s magic will fix it each night.”
“Ooo, sound fun…” Carlos replied, “Breaking the same things over and over, playing the same old games, riding the same old rides.”
“I give ‘em about a week.” Mal added, arms folded across her chest.
“Guys, I don’t think this is helping…” Evie pleaded, “Come on, let’s just…do something together…please!”
“How about more Hangman?” Gil suggested.
*o*o*0*o*o*
Impatient as he was to hear from the antiheroes, Yen Sid was delighted when Ben called so the council could be filled in.
“Your majesties,” he bowed reverently, “Fairy Godmother. It’s good to see you. I’m sorry—”
“No need to go into all that,” the headmistress quickly interrupted, “All is forgiven. We just want to know what you two have been cooking up.”
“Ah, well, in that case,” the Sorcerer chuckled, “I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.”
“Our main concern, as you might imagine,” Beast got right to the point, “is security. He told us what happened last night.”
“He also told us about Mal hosting a slumber party with Uma and their friends right now to-to discuss their differences.” Fairy Godmother looked anxious, “H-how is that going?”
“Actually,” Yen Sid blushed slightly under his beard, “I sent the antiheroes to look into it.” He gave Ben a lopsided smile, “The king was keen that I not look like a spy.”
“C-can we talk to them?” Beast asked.
“They haven’t returned, your majesty,” the Sorcerer was matter-of-fact, “I-I do consider it to be a good sign though. They’re teenagers, after all. I’m sure Evie would never hear of them stopping by without the royal treatment.”
“Of course…” Fairy Godmother nervously clasped her hands.
“I’ll call you the moment they return.” he continued, “I’m sure you’ll find them delightful, if just a bit rough around the edges. ” He cleared his throat, “In the meantime, why don’t I go over the plan as Ben and I have discussed?”
“Is that safe?” Belle looked concerned, “I-I mean, are you in a secure location?”
“My door is locked, your majesty.” he answered, “Locked with magic too, given the nature of everything that’s gone on. I wasn’t going to take chances with their report.”
“And what did your students say about your use of magic?” Beast joked.
“We all thought it was for the best” Yen Sid’s mouth tweaked upward.
“We thought Yen Sid could drive over for the weekend,” Ben changed the subject, not wanting to get sidetracked, “under the pretext of—”
“I will create my own pretext.” the Sorcerer interrupted, shrugging, “The villains won’t care either way.”
“Then I’ll go back with him,” Ben continued, “attend the Antiheroes Meeting, and be gone before anyone can blink twice.”
“This is,” Yen Sid added, hastily, “is contingent on what we hear from the antiheroes tonight and, of course, I’ll keep Mal and others informed.” He cleared his throat, “I know they will all work hard to make this as safe as possible, your majesties.”
“How long do you think he would be over there?” Belle asked.
“The meetings are generally no more than an hour.” he replied, “and we would be meeting here too, for an extra layer of security, so he won’t need to travel to the far side of the Isle.”
“Oh…don’t you usually meet in your classroom?” Fairy Godmother was startled.
“Ah, no,” he shook his head, “We usually meet in Evil Queen’s basement.”
Ben’s heart dropped; did he really have to tell them all that?
“She lets you meet there?” Beast snapped.
“Well, no…” Yen Sid smiled slightly, “but she keeps a very regular schedule. Everyone knows when she goes out and when she is home. It’s a simple thing to slide in and out of her basement without detection and her home is on the far side of the Isle so the children aren’t so harassed for being there.”
He smiled encouragingly, “But, as I said, we would meet at Dragon Hall while Ben was with us and no one will blink twice about me going back and forth to Auradon a couple times.”
“I will have the antiheroes running block for us.” he continued, “They’ll think it’s great fun to mob the limo when we come and go and my classroom is near the back entrance so I’m confident that no one will see anything.”
“What will you do with the limo during the meeting?” Beast asked, “and the driver?”
“Oh, we’ll have to hide the limo.” the Sorcerer answered quickly, “and the driver will stay inside on guard for departure as soon as the meeting ends.”
“I think it’s intriguing.” Belle admitted, glancing at her husband and Fairy Godmother, understanding that they all came at it from a different perspective.
Belle had sacrificed the life she’d known to save her father from imprisonment, run away in despair, then returned, and dared to see her captor as a gentle giant. As a result, she’d found her husband under all that fur and it was now easier for her to see this plan through optimistic eyes.
Beast remembered the night a beautiful enchantress changed him into a monster and his staff into household objects. The shame of his behavior never quite went away and he considered it a miracle that Belle had fallen in love with him. Therefore, he was more inclined to think that they’d need another miracle to pull off his son’s plan and wasn’t quite sure he wanted to leave Auradon’s fate in the hands of chance.
Fairy Godmother too thought that a miracle would be needed to pull this off and, like with Cinderella before, she figured that she should play that role…she just wondered how she’d keep a low profile while she worked her magic.