#meanwhile mal is “i would do anything and everything this man asks me to do. please ask me to kill for you i would do it without hesitation

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

@intertexts okay before i answer the second trigger question i NEED to talk about the trickster/clarence/mal backstory. fuck . okay. you know the drill. nhw essay under the cut:

ok first off this is the required listening for reading this post bc ive imagined all of this in the form of an animatic (trickster pov). there was like a 4-hour span of time at work one day last week where i just had this song on repeat and zoned out thinking abt this while i did absent cleaning tasks. so thats how u KNOW im insane

ok so i still havent thought of a name for the city. but ive been thinking about this city as a parallel equivalent to the spirit world. ironically, its a city that doesnt have a huge parahuman population, so its relatively quiet. the cape presence is pretty small. the lead hero in the city is Whisperer (aka clarence albert), a striker/mover/stranger. he can fly, turn invisible (NOT intangible!!!!!!!!), and if he can get a hand on someone he can calm their emotions just by touching them. it's effectively like a tranquilizer, except theyre not asleep theyre just not feeling whatever strong emotions led them to causing trouble in the first place. (thinking abt this like a touch-based version of the calm emotions spell in dnd, its concentration so the effect is limited to when hes actually touching someone. when he lets go, theres a small window of time before they reorient themselves and are back to whatever they were feeling before) (this is to parallel the idea that the whisperer can pull chaos spirits out of possessed people like william did to atlas).

anyway. distracted. Whisperer's partner was originally a rogue named Ghoul, a huge hulking Brute cape who didnt really cause many serious problems but was a huge disturbance to the local people just beacuse of his monstrous appearance. Clarence confronted him and Ghoul dropped his changer form to reveal mallard conway, a man who had only recently triggered and was essentially.. lost. directionless. he didnt know what to do with his powers, since they were so... different. hes a master/changer/brute, with the ability to create strong illusions and influence people in his regular form, but can change forms to be a hulking monster with brute strength. essentially both brains and brawn in one guy. clarence asks him something along the lines of "well if you have nowhere else to go, why not come wiht me?" and basically. takes him under his wing? i guess? its not like he trains him, but just by being around clarence, mal learns what its like to be.. good. not selfish and heartless. clarence isnt much involved with capes from other cities since their own is pretty quiet, so his main focus is to just kind of keep the peace. keep the balance.

this goes on for... a long time. clarence and mal (whisperer and purgatory << mal's new hero name) are basically inseparable. call it love, call it brotherhood, call it a one-sided hero worship crush on mal's end. who knows. theyre secretive, not in the public eye much unless they need to be. UNTIL. some new villain triggers and is an IMMEDIATE s-class. now i have a couple different ideas for how and why exactly the trickster triggers and where he comes from but honestly im okay with leaving it a mystery for now. one day he shows up like a natural disaster. it becomes a situation VERY similar to nilbog- the prt forces get called in, they try to take him down with non-capes first since hes a high leveled master and they dont want him to immediately gain super powerful puppets to control. this,, does not work and basically just feeds him fodder to make his numbers grow VERY quickly. Whisperer and Purgatory (mostly whisperer) can't sit back and watch this Trickster guy just keep absorbing innocents into his masses and use them to do his dirty work anymore, so Whisperer wants to confront him. I think Purgatory tries to hold him back at first (mainly due to the fear of losing him, but he words it as "we're not supposed to, if either of us get caught it would be so much worse for everyone involved"). Whisperer does not listen to him and goes anyway; hes convinced that with his power, all he needs to do is touch Trickster and everything will be so much easier to handle once hes out of commission. the fight DOES NOT GO THIS WAY. clar and mal actually are able to fight their way up to the trickster, clarence gets a hand on him.. but his power doesnt work. theres this moment where the trickster freezes like maybe something did happen, but then clarence realizes like... he cant feel anything. i think usually he can tell what sort of emotion he's repressing when he uses his power; sort of innately understands what sort of effect hes having on a person, but with the trickster it jsut feels like. nothing. theres nothing there. and then he starts laughing and breaks the silence and turns around to grab clarence and hurt him in some way. mal is preoccupied; hes fighting off puppets as theyre sort of swarming the area, allowing clarence a moment to use his power... and then he sees whats happening.

i dont think trickster is particularly strong on his own. but. i mean. his name is trickster. i think he probably keeps some sort of secret weapon on him. knives in his coat to make the "ive got a trick up my sleeve" joke. he slashes clarences throat, doesnt even bother trying to control him. what would he want with a power like that anyway? clarence is basically his antithesis- calming instead of chaos. that sort of power is almost like an insult to him. so he kills him. clarence is laying there bleeding out, trickster is laughing over him, mal drops everything and runs over to clarences side, trying desperately to talk to him or stop the bleeding or ANYTHING. he dies in mals arms. mal fucking. fully snaps. instant brute form, he wants to tear the trickster limb from limb, kill anything that moves around him etc etc etc. in his rage, hes not really fighting very well, hes leaving himself vulnerable, theres a lot of openings etc etc. trickster fucks up his face pretty bad (this is how he gets those big scars like he has in canon).

however, MALS powers are more fun so he doesnt outright kill him. its harder to take control of him both because of his current rage state and also the fact that hes also a master and part of mals power kind of cancels out some of the tricksters control. so instead of puppeteering him right away, trickster forces him out of the city. he of course tries to keep going back in, but at that point the PRT has made the decision to put the city under quarantine and just let him take it. they keep mal from going back in. (clarence's body is still in there. he doesnt even get a burial.) . you know how mannequins main thing is that he was originally a hero that was driven crazy by the simurgh attack that killed his wife and daughter? yeah thats what happened to mal. he was just totally unreachable after this. clarence basically saved his life, was his best and only friend, was his mentor, was the person who taught him how to be good... and now hes gone. what else does mal have left. he goes back to being called Ghoul. he joins the s9. his rage and grief eventually settle into a manipulative calm, and he starts using his master powers more than his brute powers, to get what he wants from people.

aaaand then . years later. he sees the new wards team on tv, and theres a hero with a cape that looks achingly familiar. surely it cant be him, clarence is dead, has been dead for years... but there he is. theres his costume. this new hero is even ghost-themed. as smart and manipulative and greasy as mal is i think theres a fundamental piece of him thats just. really irreparably unhinged. seeing something that reminds him of clarence again drives all common sense out of his mind and he defaults to "thats him" even though he would logically know that its not. and thats why hes so obsessed with wibby. he knows this new cape calls himself Wraith, but like. capes change their names all the time! mal even did it himself once! maybe if he calls him Whisperer enough times, he'll remember who he is.

theres some more to this plotwise that mostly just deals with. the plot. but i feel like this is a good setup for mals whole thing :]

[madeyoumyvillain]

☕ maylen slander 🤭

Thanks for the ask bb @darklingswhxore ☀️🖤🌘💛

*me to myself, slowly,but with a lot of feelings* oh my fucking god my time to shine has come

This is gonna be long, apologies🌻

Where do i even start with blade boy?

to me,he didn't matter ONE BIT in the first two books, because my innocent self thought "hey,this is an ETL story,Darklina endgame no matter what and Malyen will just,,,go away" but,alas,I was fooled and baited by Leigh Bardugo. But that rant is for another day. My problem with Malyen isn't just that he's boring and basic and has the personality of a broken pencil. It's deeper than that. But he's someone so irrelevant to me,that I don't like chanelling my energy towards him. But let's go.

My problem with Malyen is,he seems very real. The way he treats Alina,the way he's filled to the brim with victim complex,the way everything he says to her is something I've heard myself,the way he thinks that he should be rewarded for being there for his best friend. Basically,he's the embodiment of what a real toxic man is like. Notice how I emphasized on real? Because men like him exist. And we deal with them everyday. They belittle you. They gaslight you. They slutshame you. They mock you for being happy and independent. They say they're scared of you,even when you don't mean any harm,when you're the more powerful one for once. They scream at you for flinching. They keep on reminding you of the things they did for you,even if you didn't ask them to in the first place. They think tht can talk on your behalf. They. Are. Real. Alot of people argue that Malyen was just 17 and dealing with alot so we can't hate him,they also say he's the less toxic choice for Alina. But this isn't a competition of more toxic and less toxic,it shouldn't be. You're either toxic,or you're not.

I know and I understand that Aleksander was toxic too. But Aleksander is a centuries old shadow summoning grisha. Aleksander is a fairytale villain meanwhile men like Malyen are very real. And as someone who has been in an extremely emotionally abusive relationship,the way Malyen went ahead and kissed Zoya rather than talking and understanding Alina's situation and why she flinched,it reminded of the times I was misunderstood,of the times when I flinched and was punished with a cold shoulder and ill treatment. I choose to ignore Malyen and the shitty endgame in the books,but how am I supposed to ignore it when it happens in my reality too? Bardugo very recently mentioned how she was in an abusive relationship herself when she was writing SnB,so after that info,I'm supposed to hate Aleksander, right? Because according to her he is the embodiment of her abusive ex,but what she seems to forget is,the main relationship in the books isn't Darklina,it's Malina. And Malina on its own is still a very,very toxic and weak ship. Alina mutilated herself just because she didn't want to leave Mal when the Grishas were testing her. In the beginning of SnS,Mal for once does not care that Alina is getting sick and frail because she's not using her powers. More than once he mentions how he's scared of her and how he wants the old Alina back. The same Alina who you ignored the whole time,Malyen? The same powerless and dependent Alina?

I'll be very honest,I started to love him in RnR. Yes,love him. His and Alina's platonic dynamic makes me SO happy. They'd be perfect as friends. But by the time the book ended and Alina lost her powers and even after being offered by Nikolai to rule Grishas and Ravka,she said no,how much should I bet that if Malyen stayed dead,she would've said yes? Malyen got EXACTLY all that he wanted,Alina legit got nothing. But how can I blame either when both of them are equally selfish? Yes,Alina is selfish,that's something I'll rant about some other day.

Thoughts about show! Malyen? He's not even the same person he is in the books and I'm so sorry to say that Malyen on his own is great but the 8 hrs of Malina? Not something I'd like to go through again. Show! Malyen is funny and is there for his friends and has his own struggles but if you have to completely drastically do a 180° on a character,it proves the point that he wasn't nice in the first place. If he was already the amazing character we were told he was,why would they not follow anything he did or said in the books? Why did they choose to make Zoya a racist on top of the meangirl bully plotline which already made her unlikeable yet make show! Malyen this embodiment of Mr. Perfect that he isn't? Isn't it fucking hilarious how people sympathized for him for losing Mikhael and Dubrov yet shit on Aleksander for being so vengeful after seeing centuries of his people, Grisha and Ravkan alike,dying,burned on stakes, experimented on while he could do nothing to stop it? Hypocrisy,hm? The only thing in commow show! Malyen and book! Malyen have are their names and being a tracker because the rest is just different, drastically different. And if they're gonna stick to the Malina propaganda in S2 too,then can someone make a compilation of all Darkling/Darklina/Crows scenes and send it to me? Because I won't be watching it.

These are my opinions and my opinions only,I respect anyone who does or doesn't agree. Do tell me what parts you agree with. Thank you <3

[long-after-love]

It wasn’t Paul’s job to dictate Mal’s actions with his family. Mal leaving his family says nothing about Paul, but Mal himself. Mal wasn’t a good husband, his wife had said so. And it’s reported Mal made girl fans sleep with him first, so they could get to the Beatles. Meanwhile, John left his NEWBORN & wife to vacation with Brian. That’s one of the reasons John/Brian’s story and affair is a bigger deal. “Brother Malcolm” was a filler lyric, like so other starter lyrics, like “father McCartney”

Hello Anon, and thank you for sharing your thoughts. Only now could I manage to answer.

Please keep in mind this: This is my answer and my opinion only, which you may or may not agree. I welcome any kind of disagreement and I’d love to see people’s feedback. I don’t hope for a wholesome or safe space community when everyone has to agree with each other – I don’t need that kind of echo chamber. Sometimes a bit of fighting would be constructive even, if people remember to be respectful rather than calling each other names (which I experienced when I dared to criticize Yoko – someone called me racist and sexist, mind you, I’m an Asian woman who certainly has been through some hardship as well).

I do understand what you meant by “It wasn’t Paul’s job to dictate Mal’s actions with his family. Mal leaving his family says nothing about Paul, but Mal himself.”

Yes, I also think it’s right that you pointed out some sneaky things Mal did to take advantage of his closeness to the Beatles. However, I am not interested in discussing Mal’s personal shortcomings. I don’t think it has anything remotely to do with Mal and Paul’s relationship. Mal could be a horrible husband and lousy dad, a man who slept with as many girls as he could, but that was something he did on the side. It doesn’t explain, or negate his relationship with Paul. To Mal, The Beatles and Paul were always more important – in this case, Mal was ready to shove everything aside for Paul.

In John’s case, he was either bored or wanted to try some adventure. And people had talked quite a bit too much of it, even though it happened once, and he already confessed to Pete Shotton, then confirmed about it later on. It fizzled out quickly, yet people are so obsessed about it.

Thanks to @georgemccharmly I have some more insights about Paul’s trip to Paris and how he met Mal there. Please check her post here. I’d only quote these lines from her so that you know what I am talking about:

Paul went on holiday by himself to France

and then asked Mal to meet him at exactly 1 o’clock on the corner of cours Victor Hugo and rue St. James, at the Grosso Horloge Churche, Bordeaux

That rendezvous sounds oddly romantic to me – maybe it wasn’t Paul’s intention to be romantic – he only thought of Mal as an employee – someone who could drive him around or record him on films and take his photos, but in my opinion, it definitely meant something far more profound to Mal. Mal followed Paul around and filmed Paul frolicking through the streets of France and Spain.

Paul couldn’t dictate what Mal did – but I think Paul certainly knew Mal had a new born baby at the time, because as far as I can tell, Mal were already closer to Paul than the other three in 64 - Yet Paul still summoned Mal – was this an act of pure negligence, or did Paul intentionally do it just to test Mal’s devotion? Somehow I think both was true. Paul possibly knew when he saw Mal there, that Mal could not say no.

About the Brother Malcom Lyrics: No, I don’t think it was a filler lyrics.

Paul has been peddling that story of him dreaming about Mary for ages, and I believed him. Until Mal told that story of Paul telling him that he dreamt of Mal, and wanted to change the lyrics to avoid the situation that, someone might get the wrong idea. See this link here (of course that’s amoralto!)

You know what I think? I think Paul probably wanted to treat it as a secret between him and Mal. We all swallowed that story of Paul dreaming of Mary, which was, beautiful itself, but if it was Mary he dreamed about all along, why the Brother Malcolm lyrics? And then he was afraid that something so innocuous like “Brother Malcolm” may make people have the wrong idea? I believe Mal held that song dear more than anything, because to him, it was actually about him. It’s not like Paul was singing randomly to fit the tune he had on his mind at all. Either Paul was lying about his dream about his mother, or he was lying to Mal about his dream about Mal.

Now I know that what I’m going to say will make some people unhappy, but Paul was manipulative, and to me, he was deliberately taking advantage of Mal. It’s not that I want to attack Paul for being so – Paul had always been the one who preferred to quietly pull the strings like how people would perceive John as the leader, while Paul was the one who lead John. It’s the same for Mal’s situation here – he could have stayed with his wife and kids, but he didn’t because of Paul, or the effect of Paul on him.

The other day I watched the Shea Stadium concert and saw something revealing – at least to me. John and George left their instrument on stage, but Paul handed his Hofner to a smiling (and possibly smitten) Mal, who was there, and Paul didn’t even looked at Mal. I made a horrible gif of it, but you get the idea, I suppose…

[saiilorstars]

The Girl in the Forest

Chapter 20: Behind the Barriers

// Story Masterlist // 

Fandom: The Originals

Pairings: Klaus Mikaelson x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Ma-leh-nee

Requested tag: @queenmj10​

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Finn makes his play against his siblings and leaves the ultimate punishment for Maleny: her biggest fear.

"It has been said that all love begins and ends with she who gave us life. A thousand years ago, my mother turned us into monsters, yet still she claimed to love her children, even as she vowed to destroy us. The noble Elijah, tormented by long-buried, shameful secrets. Kol, the wiley troublemaker, out for no one but himself. Finn, the devoted acolyte, his love all too easily walked by our mother's sick hate. Fierce Rebekah, willing to risk everything on the chance that she may one day find happiness. And me, the bastard child. My mother's greatest shame. Now, finally, we have defeated her, giving her the choice she never thought to give us, to live on as one of the monsters she created or suffer the slow, agonizing death she so deserves."

All in the meanwhile Klaus had been talking to Maleny, the blonde had been pouring some drinks into glasses, leaving him to give his common heartfelt speeches. She remembered it was one of his favorite things to do in the past, whether he wanted to admit it or not. After a win (although bittersweet) Maleny figured he deserved that much.

She turned around with a smirk, "You know, any other person would tell you you're an awful person for what you did to Esther…" she started walking back to him, the man leaning against the back of a couch, "...but she had it well deserved. So congrats," she held him his glass.

"That's all I get?" Klaus took his glass and gave her a sharp look, "Congrats?"

Maleny tilted her head, her smirk fading only slightly, "Oh? Like what? And I'd watch your answer because this," she pointed between them, "has only had 3 days so anything beyond a kiss is unlikely to happen."

"I was merely going to ask for a kiss but you apparently think so little of me," Klaus leaned off the couch and started for the threshold of the living room, when Maleny grabbed his arm, of course guilty now she'd judged him.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologetically smiled as he turned back to her, "I didn't mean to come off like that. Understand me a little, please. I'm not sure how to...deal with this thing for us - I don't want it to be different but of course it's going to be different and…" she was cut off by Klaus' sudden kiss.

"Do you know I'd actually forgotten how fun it was to watch you freak out?" Klaus asked afterwards, with his smirk letting Maleny see how he'd basically played her.

"You jerk," she hit his arm, and while he laughed she drank from her glass.

He snatched her by the waist, "Only the worst," he complemented himself, "But you already knew that..."

"Of course I do," Maleny feigned a sigh as she looked to the side, "I knew since we were kids you were a little mischievous devil. Buuuut..." she swayed her head until her eyes landed on his, "...I guess you were always my mischievous devil."

"Hey," Hayley cut into their moment with her call. They both turned to see the brunette hybrid coming into the living room, "So, has there been a plan devised?"

Confused, Maleny came forwards, "Hold on, I thought you were supposed to stay back with Elijah at the safe house…"

Hayley gave a wide grin and took Maleny's glass, "I did something better," she said and drank down the remainder of the bourbon.

"Hayley, this is no time for games," Klaus frowned and walked over to the woman as well.

"Calm down, it was nothing bad," Hayley dismissed his irritation, "So then, plan?"

"There isn't one yet," Maleny finally said, choosing to trust Hayley's decisions, "And the only one we did have Amarrah doesn't want to follow," she added with a huff. They'd tried to make Amarrah leave the Quarter for a while until things died down with Finn but the witch outright refused. She claimed there was no way she was going to let Finn Mikaelson get away with almost murder. She wanted payback, and payback she would get - she promised.

~ 0 ~

In the Lycee, Finn used a hammer to break a skull into pieces. Behind him was his father, Mikael, watching him create a spell.

"She tried to show them mercy," Finn was angrily saying in regards to his missing mother, "If they've harmed her…"

Mikael scoffed and interrupted him, "Esther's mistake was believing there was anything left in your siblings to save," he moved up to Finn, "Together, my son, we can finally destroy them."

Finn was no fool to believe Mikael was suddenly so willingly on their side, but he played along as if he did believe, " Yeah. I'm happy to hear you say this, Father. Such a powerful man. I could use your strength."

There was a clearing of throat by the entrance of the Lycee, and both men turned to see a young woman fidgeting on the spot, "The wolves...they're um, they're gathered at the cemetery," she jerked a thumb behind her shoulder, "At the gravestone you asked for..."

Finn's anger died down slightly at the news, "Excellent, tell them to dig it up. Now."

The woman was visibly confused and made the mistake of asking, "Why?"

"You don't ask 'why' to my orders, you follow them," Finn snapped, angering the woman but this time she kept her mouth shut, "Don't make me repeat myself, Yamilet, dig it up."

The woman, Yamilet, nodded, "And then what?" she preferred not to ask anymore questions but she didn't want to have to talk to him again later on.

"Take the body deep into the bayou," Finn instructed with a deep, annoyed sigh. This is what happened when Aiden resigned his leadership for the wolves of the witches. Finn had to go and name another leader instead and unfortunately that one seemed like an even bigger idiot. "The others know what to do, then," he motioned for Yamilet to leave and with a nod she turned away.

Finn then turned back to his ongoing spell and continued working on it, feeling far more confident in his future plans. Revenge would never taste so sweet.

~ o ~

Cami drove up to the Mikaelsons' safe house and looked around the solitary house (or so she thought). She checked the directions Hayley had given her earlier just to see if she'd made a mistake somewhere along the way. Why would Hayley send her to an abandoned house? Or worse, a stranger's house. She stepped out of the car and looked around, focusing in noises and scents she could get a read on.

Eventually, she got a read on two very familiar people and hurried for the front door. She would've came right in but she figured that would only cause tension. Instead, she opted for the polite knock.

A couple minutes passed and no one opened up. With a sigh, Cami turned away from the door and looked about, "I'm gonna kill Hayley for this," she muttered under her breath and made way for the car again. She was only a couple feet away from the car when she heard her name being called.

"Cami, what are you doing here?" Elijah had appeared at the doorway holding a sleepy Hope in arms.

Cami turned around and saw him, momentarily fazed by the baby she hadn't seen in quite a while. She shook her head and took a couple steps towards them, "Honestly, I have no idea," she sighed and let her arms fall to her sides, "Hayley came back to the compound early in the morning and said Klaus wanted me here for something. I just didn't know that 'something' was 'someone'. But don't worry, I'm on my way back right now," she turned for the car actually meaning her words when Elijah gave an unexpected call for her.

"You should come in," he said, surprising her momentarily, "I frankly have no idea what I'm doing…" he nodded to Hope who was slowly falling asleep on his shoulder.

Cami gave a half-smile, "Well, I'm no mother, but...I did learn a couple things from Rebekah. Are you sure you want me to stay? Because I know what you requested days ago - you didn't want me here. And know that I wouldn't have come if I knew this was the place Hayley was sending me to."

Elijah knew she was right and still felt guilty for what he'd done. However, he wasn't very repentent of it as he believed it would've been the right thing to do, "I could really use your help," he insisted again.

Cami gave in with a nod, "First thing's first, we have to put that baby to sleep…" and with that she returned to the house taking on the role of lead babysitter.

~ 0 ~

Maleny strode into Hayley's room where the hybrid and Jackson had been discussing their future mystical wedding. She had finished a rather interesting phone call with Cami and had to come and see Hayley to pay her remarks.

"You sent Cami to the safe house?" Maleny demanded with crossed arms and a tapping foot, "You savage!"

Hayley smirked and glanced at the blonde, "I told you it was good."

Maleny sighed, "She's gonna kill you for this, I hope you know," her eyes flickered over to Jackson and immediately composed herself, "So you're going to marry my friend here? I have to warn you, her moodswings are horrible. I mean, I thought they were just because she was pregnant but it turns out Hayley's just naturally moody."

"Uh…" Jackson nervously looked at Hayley.

"Hey!" Hayley hissed and made Maleny laugh, "They're not," she assured Jackson, "I don't even have mood swings."

"Liiiiies," Maleny sing-songed from her place, "But listen, while I did come in for Cami's sake, I'm the messenger of the people downstairs."

"People downstairs?" Jackson repeated and once again looked at Hayley.

"I may have done a thing," Hayley raised a finger and stood up from her chair.

"She does a lot of things, fair warning," Maleny said to Jackson as Hayley walked past her.

"Mal, shut up," Hayley called from outside, "And go get Klaus."

"The messenger job continues," Maleny swayed her head in annoyance and turned to leave. She rushed over to go find the other hybrid, eventually after coming short in two rooms finding him with Kol - who was now staying with them apparently.

"Of course you two are drinking," Maleny rolled her eyes at the two brothers happily drinking some sort of wine, "Kol, are you even old enough now?"

Kol rolled his eyes while Klaus snickered, "Gee, Mal, like I haven't heard that one before."

"Give me time, I can come up with something better, I promise," Maleny came futher into the room and looked at Klaus, "You should go downstairs - Hayley's brought in vampires and the wolves and I fear for war, honestly."

"What's she done that for?" Klaus frowned at the news. There were so many things to begin doing and Hayley was wasting time with community meetings?

"I don't know but even Marcel's downstairs," Maleny pointed back, "I think it's something big."

The bottle Kol held in his hand suddenly shattered and spilled the wine all over the floor. Everyone looked around for the source of the shatterer to see Finn at the doorway.

"Where is she?" the man demanded, getting straight to the point.

"Well that's a way to greet someone," Maleny made a face and moved back to the other siblings.

"My, my, you look peaky," smirked Klaus who then looked at his younger brother, "Doesn't he look peaky?"

Kol agreed with a sarcastic smile, "He does look peaky."

Maleny rolled her eyes and whacked each brother on the arms, "Enough of the sarcasm," she scolded only to receive scoffs from both of them, "Did I say something funny?" she glared at each of them.

Finn was in no mood to withstand such a spectacle, "Don't make me ask again," he warned, "Where is she?"

"Well, I assume you're referring to our mother. Fear not, she's tucked away somewhere perfectly safe," Klaus promised with a wide grin, "You'll never find her."

"You think you've won," Finn shook his head and opened his arms, "Let's see how long that arrogance lasts, brothers. You'll both fall," he promised and backtracked but not before adding, "And you," he looked to Maleny, "I have something good planned for you."

Maleny swallowed down a lump in her throat and tried to remain at ease of the threat. Finn looked so sure of his threat Maleny could almost believe in it. As Finn got to leaving, Klaus slid an arm around Maleny, resting his hand on her back, knowing she'd been left shaken. It had been his concern that Finn would take leverage against him or anyone else by using the weakest - Maleny.

~ 0 ~

Down in the courtyard, Hayley was still trying to find a common ground between her wolves and the vampires, "You wolves are here because you want freedom. And, I promise you, if you stay, you will be free. But…" she glanced over to Marcel and his vampires, "We need as much help as we can get."

"My vamps and I are willing to stand with you against the witches," Marcel assured, "In return, all I want is a promise that there will be peace between our sides after the wedding."

One of the wolves, Jared, spoke up in outrage, "You're the one who spent the last one hundred years killing and cursing us!"

"Which means you might wanna listen to what I have to say," Marcel snapped.

Finn was coming down the stairs around that time and of course had to interrupt, "I see you're brokering a truce between mongrels and parasites! And just how long do you think that's really going to last? A month? A week? A day?" he laughed, "What you don't yet seem to understand is that the only thing that can exist between your two degenerate species is hatred, war, and death," he backed away towards the exit.

He stopped just outside the border of the compound before rubbing his fingers together and cast a spell. As soon as he put his hand against the doorway of the entrance. When the building stopped shaking, Gia was the first to try to get him only to come crashing into an invisible barrier that started to burn her hands as if she wore no daylight ring.

Finn now wore a clean smirk across his lips, "But, I imagine, given a little time confined together, you'll come to see things the way I do," he gave a wicked wave before leaving the place.

~ 0 ~

Upstairs, Klaus tried to see if the barrier was active as well. He tried getting out through the balcony of his bedroom but felt his hand begin to burn much like Gia's had done earlier.

Kol came into the room full blown panicked, "Did he really just trap us all in here?"

"He certainly did," Klaus turned around, "Which means we have a witch problem. You're a witch. Fix it."

"I'm already calling in Amarrah," Maleny rushed into the room holding a phone in hand, just as panicked - if not more than Kol.

"And what the bloody hell are we supposed to do about this?" Kol turned to her.

Maleny lowered her phone and stalked up to him, "You don't get it, do you? If this barrier stays up for long you and I," she tapped him on the chest, "become a three course meal to those vampires downstairs," Kol's eyes widened in realization, and horror, "Get the picture now?"

"Okay, we're gonna need a lot of help," Kol glanced back to Klaus who was smiling in amusement at the teen's horror. Kol hurried out to give a call out to Davina.

"That was a bit harsh," Klaus walked up to Maleny afterwards.

"And yet, it's the truth," Maleny wasn't too happy herself about the situation, "I meant what I said. If we're stuck in here a long time you are going to be fine but I am going to become dinner for the others."

"Not on my watch, love."

"Let's remember you called me lunch and dinner during the first days we met here," Maleny pointed at him, "Don't think I'm forgetting that anytime soon."

"I meant that playfully," Klaus tried clear his throat and tried putting away his smirk.

He had not meant that playfully...and Maleny knew it.

~ 0 ~

Elijah was leaving what he believed to be the tenth voicemail to Rebekah, now Angela Baker of course, to no avail. It'd been three days since she'd been switched bodies but hadn't made any contact with anyone since. Frankly, he was getting worried and being practically imprisoned in the safe house was driving him mad.

He returned inside the house and followed noise into the kitchen where Cami was bringing down a bottle of bourbon from a shelf, "Yahtzee!" she exclaimed and glanced back with a smile, "Ah-ha-ha! If there's one thing I've learned about you people, it's that there's always a bottle of booze around. Don't worry, though, Hope is down for her nap. You want one?" she gestured as she brought down a glass for herself.

"Sounds delightful," Elijah couldn't help respond with a hint of restraint.

Cami sighed and place down her glass on the counter, "I know you're only tolerating me for Hope's sake but really if I'm bothering you that much I could always just go and compel someone to help you."

"I'm sorry," Elijah looked to the side, cursing himself for doing exactly what he'd wanted to avoid in the first place.

Cami turned around to face him completely, "Did I do something that bothered you?" she asked in plain confusion. She really did not understand why Elijah hadn't wanted her to come along with the others. She tried looking for anything she could've done to offend him or anyone else he cared for but found nothing.

"This is about me, Cami. I assure you, you haven't done anything," Elijah promised her but it wasn't enough for Cami.

"Then why do I feel like I have done something?" Cami crossed her arms, "Is this something of Esther's? What, she told you having vampire friends is also a bad thing?"

"You're not a friend," Elijah sharply corrected her, leaving her startled and frankly insulted for a minute before he continued, "You're family. I'm sorry if I've made you feel anything less."

"I don't want your apologies, I want an explanation," Cami quietly said to him and picked up her bourbon bottle and glass, "And until you can give me one, I'll be in the living room having myself a nice drink - alone."

"Cami," Elijah wearily sighed as the blonde woman hurried past him. He was seriously hating Hayley for ever thinking of doing this foul trick of hers.

~ 0 ~

Amarrah and Davina arrived to the compound at the same time after being called upon by their friends. They stopped just outside of the courtyard where they knew the barrier was active.

"Thank God you're here," Maleny hurried up to the barrier with Kol coming in seconds later.

Amarrah could see the heavy group of people inside the compound and made a face, "Yikes, would definitely not like to be in your shoes," she remarked and earned equal irritated looks from both Maleny and Kol.

"Which is why we'd like to hurry up and get out of here," Kol replied and looked to Davina, "You ready?"

Davina nodded with a smile and looked to Amarrah, "We're ready."

"Please get it right," Maleny stepped back only to be yanked forwards by Kol, "Hey!"

"No, no, love, we're gonna need all the witches on this one," he smirked at her.

Maleny looked at Amarrah who was agreeing with a nod of her head, "He's right. The more power we have the better chances we can get the barrier down."

With a sigh, Maleny stood straight and beside Kol, awaiting to start the spell with everyone else. They chanted together the spell they'd agreed on before coming together and while it seemed not to be failing, it eventually rebounded everyone away from the barrier.

"What just happened?" Maleny fearfully looked around as everyone slowly gathered back together.

Klaus and Marcel went over to check on the progress, "Are we free to go?" Klaus asked urgently.

"No," Kol shook his head, looking at his hands in confusion, "the spell's locking us out."

"Vincent must be channeling something," Amarrah reasoned with her experience, "A dark object, maybe."

Of course neither of them could ever think Finn's source of channeling was coming from his neutralized father somewhere in a crypt.

~ 0 ~

Elijah once more left a voicemail for Rebekah, deciding if after the next time he tried there was still no answer he would be calling Klaus to discuss the matters. When done he entered the living room where, as promised, Cami was having herself a nice drink while scrolling through her phone.

"Do you know you have awful WiFi connection here?" she sarcastically asked without looking up from the screen.

"Yes, which is why I thought you would prefer this?" Elijah waved a Trivial Pursuit box in hand.

Cami raised an eyebrow, "Your solution to this problem - that's your fault by the way - is for us to play...trivial games?"

"It's either that or suffer the WiFi connection," Elijah plopped down on the couch chair beside her and set the game on the coffee table, "Take your pick."

"What I'd pick is for you to come clean," Cami put her glass down on the table as well, "Is that not one of the options here?"

"I ask for time, Cami, please?" Elijah sighed, "I would hate to be stuck inside this house with no one to talk to. Please?"

Cami stared at him a good while trying to put her best angry face on. But as the seconds ticked by and he upheld her look with his soft, brown eyes, she gave in with a small sigh.

"Fine," she raised a hand, and looked away, "but you're no where near off the hook," she reached for the box and began opening it up, "So you should probably let me win," she added with a mumble, making Elijah smile of amusement.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, so maybe we can...put a stronger spell over the one already here?" Maleny was in the middle of saying to Amarrah, Davina and Kol as they all thought of ways to break down the barrier.

"That doesn't make any sense," Kol shot her down with a look of irritation.

"You know what, this isn't what I do anymore, okay?" Maleny snapped at him, used to the more calm reactions of the others in regards to low abilities in magic.

"Maybe she's not far off," Amarrah got to thinking while she paced back and forth, "We just need to come up with something more coherent."

"Great, while you do that, Mal and I will do our best not to get devoured over here," Kol huffed.

"There's still time before any of that happens," Davina tried to calm them down with logical views.

"Maybe there's something in my mother's spellbook," Maleny gasped with the idea, feeling stupid she hadn't thought of it before. She motioned she'd be back and hurried back into the courtyard, bumping into Josh who'd rather clumsily came down the stairs, "Sorry, Josh, I…"

Josh was doubled over in pain but at the fresh scent of blood he raised his head, revealing an almost vamped-out face.

"Josh…?" Maleny, though concerned, stepped back.

"All I can think about is blood!" the young vampire said in what really sounded like agonizing pain.

Maleny looked around for some help and caught a glimpse of Marcel and Gia in the dining room, "Josh, wait here," she said but the vampire was in too much pain to hear. She made way for the dining room and became alert on the fact Josh wasn't the only one who seemed to be in pain. As she walked by, she could feel the vampires' eyes setting on her as...lunch.

"Okay, we have a problem!" she burst into the dining room and slid shut the doors in terrible fear.

"What?" Marcel barely had time to turn to the blonde when Gia fell under the same situation.

"Oh!" she doubled over.

"Gia!" Marcel went over to his friend, missing the wide eyes of Maleny behind them. Soon enough, Marcel doubled over as well and felt the tremendous hunger growing within.

Slowly, Maleny leaned off the doors, her breath hitching, "I think…" of course Finn had something to do with this sudden hunger they were feeling. She quickly opened the doors of the room, "Klaus!" she called frantically.

She hadn't needed to call so loud as he was already making way for the dining room, already seeing the problem at hand, "What the hell is going on?" he demanded as he reached the dining room, "Your vampires seem to think it's lunch-time!" he accused Marcel.

"It'a Finn, it's got to be," Maleny turned him to the courtyard where they saw all the other vampires feeling the same hunger while the wolves were in complete peace, "Do you realize the massive buffet they have…" she slowly hugged herself, "...including me...and Kol."

Klaus wasted no time in getting her away from the courtyard and into his bedroom where he shut the doors, "You're no longer allowed out of this room, love."

"For once I've got nothing against that," Maleny mumbled as he went for his phone sitting on his nightstand, "What are you doing?" she inquired when he began making a call.

"Getting us out of here," he pointed at her for a silent period before speaking into the phone - to Finn.

"Klaus! Willing to concede so soon?" Finn's sarcastic tone exclaimed through the other line.

Klaus rolled his eyes, "I merely seek to negotiate. You want our mother, I want out of this bloody compound. The economics of what comes next should be easy to grasp, even for you."

"You can't give him Esther," Maleny hissed, moving to take his phone away but of course was easily handled with one arm grabbing down her two hands.

"What I want, brother, is to exterminate the plague that is your kind," Finn was busy saying over the line, "What I want is to watch the flames flicker over your smoldering corpse-"

Klaus rolled his eyes at the tedious speech he was being forced to listen to. Even Maleny had stayed put when she caught some of the words being said.

"-What I want is to hear the silence once you finally stop screaming."

In the end, his impatience won the better of himself. Klaus made a static-y noise with his mouth, "I'm sorry, we must have a bad connection. Could you repeat everything you said after "What I want?"

"Oh, I'm so happy to hear that hunger hasn't yet sapped your humor," Finn had a good laugh, 'But, I should warn you, brother, if those vampires even attempt to feed, they'll find themselves ravenous. Unable to stop. So, every moment that you waste with me will only lead you to the inevitable carnage."

"Don't you dare do it," Maleny whispered to Klaus, while locked with his arm still more than ready to put up a fight, "Don't give him E-"

"Esther for our freedom. Do we have a deal?"

"Well, I think I know better than to trust your honesty. But, yes, if I find our mother unharmed, then I might consider granting your reprieve," was Finn's response.

"Saint Roc Number 1. The Delphine tomb," Klaus finally said and promptly hung up, also releasing Maleny from his grip.

"Are you kidding me!?" she erupted into angry shouts, "After everything we went to to put that demon woman down you'll just hand her over!? What in the hell are you thinking!?"

"Your safety if you haven't noticed," Klaus was genuinely surprised he'd managed not to shout back at her, "I'd like to prevent your demise and if that's the way to do it then so be it. Besides, when Finn sees what Esther probably chose she's not going to be escaping any time soon."

Maleny calmed down slightly but still had pursed lips and crossed arms, "I still think this could've been handled differently," she murmured and headed out for the doors when Klaus yanked her back.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I needed to get my mother's spell book for the others to see if there's anything that can help. C'mon, even you know that's a good idea."

"Doesn't mean I like it," Klaus muttered but in the end opened the doors himself, "Let's go - but you're staying upstairs afterwards."

"If nothing works, believe me, I'll be up here out of my own accord," Maleny promised him with a nervous smile.

~ 0 ~

Cami was quite ready to throw the board game out the window with each loss she endured. She read off one card to Elijah, "What three European countries begin with the letter "A?""

"Albania, Austria, Andorra," Elijah replied almost instantly.

Frustrated, she flung the card over her shoulder and read off the next one, "Agh! Okay, hey! Who was the only U.S. president to earn a Ph.D?"

Once again, Elijah answered within seconds, "The rather tedious Woodrow Wilson."

"Oh, c'mon!" Cami went for the next card, "Who rode secretariat to the triple crown in 1973?"

"Ron Turket."

Cami let the rest of the cards fall from her hands as she glared at the man, "No! I refuse to believe that you just happened to know that! You were supposed to let me win because I'm mad at you!" with her pointing she accidentally spilled Elijah's drink on the table and partly on his sleeve, "I'm sorry!" she panicked and handed him a towel to get himself cleaned up while she took care of the table, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm just kind of competitive sometimes and you just know literally everything there is to know which is kind of annoying and…" she trailed off when she noticed Elijah's furious scrubbing over his sleeve, "Elijah? Are you okay? Hey, Elijah," she reached out for his hand but instead was harshly grabbed her wrist. Momentarily alarmed, she remained still.

"I'm not as fragile as the others have said," Elijah quietly said and let go of Cami's wrist.

"I...I didn't think that," she nervously said, slowly taking her seat again. Feeling awkward, she coughed and tried going through more of the cards that hadn't been ruined with her accident. Thankfully, Elijah's phone went off to interrupt them.

"Rebekah," he barely got to say when the woman on the other line began to speak. Cami could hear everything perfectly and so when Elijah hung up, apologizing to Angelica Barker, the Angelica, she was just as distressed as Elijah.

"We need to call Klaus," she announced seconds later, "Because if Angelica is still herself Rebekah is...who knows where…"

Agreeing with her, Elijah began dialing again, this time for Klaus.

~ 0 ~

The vampires were getting restless in the courtyard, having to resist the urge to drink blood from the wolves.

"Things are getting testy out there. Come on, we better move this along," Marcel told Kol and Maleny inside the dining room. Maleny had brought down her mother's spell book for Kol to analyze.

"Okay, so Finn's boundary is too strong. But, we can cast a destruction spell," Kol pointed to an excerpt in the book, "It would temporarily neutralize all magical objects in the compound, including the compound itself. If it works, well, then it will give us sixty seconds to escape whilst the boundary is shut down."

"Alright, alright, that sounds good to me," Marcel nodded and urged them to get started fast.

"Um, there is just one little flaw," Maleny regretted to inform, "If the spell works, it will suppress all magical objects in the vicinity. That means your rings."

Marcel groaned as he realized what it meant, "And if we go outside in the sun without our rings, we're dead."

"Unless you wait for nightfall," Klaus offered but it did not do much.

"Agh," Marcel looked back into the courtyard where the vampires were, "They're also new. They're not going to be able to fight the hunger. We can't wait until nightfall. We're going to have a bloodbath on our hands before we even get close."

"Then we're going to have to start now," Maleny looked at Kol, "Can we do it?"

"Yes, but we'll need some things from the Lycee. I figured since Finn is out looking for Esther Davina and Amarrah shouldn't have a problem retrieving them."

"Good, so go tell them," Maleny nodded for him to go outside.

"What?" Kol frowned at the idea. He was barely calm with Marcel in the same room and she wanted him to cross a courtyard full of hungry wolves?

"I'm not going out there alone," Maleny crossed her arms, "You go. And hurry up," grumbling, Kol took the spell book and went out, making a dash across the courtyard to tell the other witches what the plan was.

~ 0 ~

After putting away the Trivial Pursuit game, Cami found Elijah once again staring blankly out the window in the living room. Though still crossed with him, she didn't stop worrying over his mental health. Esther had really done a number with him after all. If only she knew what he was seeing within his mind.

"Elijah?" she called quietly and walked him, "Elijah, are you okay?" she only heard the sharp intake of breath as a response, "Hey, I know you're worried about Rebekah…" she reached to touch his shoulder but he whirled and swatted her hand away. Cami gasped as his faced vamped-out against her as if she were the enemy, "Elijah…?" her tremulous voice called to him but he started going for her, " Elijah? Elijah, please. Calm down," but her calls did nothing as he backed her up against a wall. She shut her eyes in terror, "Elijah, please calm down!" she knew she could put up some kind of fight but the man was an Original in the end and far more skilled to fight. Perhaps one attempt of hers for a kick and he pulled her heart out as an instinct.

After a couple seconds of nothing happening, she opened one eye and saw Elijah was no where to be seen. She released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and relaxed. She didn't know what to do next but in the end, Hope's cries upstairs called her attention. And needing it herself, Cami rushed to go attend to the infant instead.

~ 0 ~

The witches had gathered up their ingredients to begin the spell that would temporarily bring down the barrier for the wolves to escape from the compound. Behind them things were no better between vampires and werewolves. Fights were ensuing and blood was looming to be shed.

"We need to hurry," Maleny mumbled as she caught sight of even Cami's friend, Gia, getting into the fight. And though she was stopping a friend, she was looking more and more weary of the wolves.

"Okay, we're set," Amarrah announced and rose to her feet with Davina.

All four raised their hands in parallel to the others across the barrier. They began with the spell and seconds later a gust of wind came through and blew out candles they'd prepared. Kol was the first to try out the barrier, and upon seeing it was no more he called to the others, "It's time to go!"

Hayley had her wolves set for the escape and began urging them out, "Let's go! Now!"

Meanwhile, the vampires were glued to the dark corners of the compound, hiding out from the sunlight which would then burn them up.

"Remember, sixty seconds!" Maleny called for any last wolves still in the vicinity before she herself fleet to the other side.

Just as Kol was going to do the same, Klaus yanked him back to the courtyard. On falling down, Kol hit his head and earned a cut of blood.

"Slight change of plans, brother. I no longer have to treat you as anything but the treacherous liar that you truly are," Klaus blocked all ways for Kol to leave the compound.

"What are you doing?" Maleny frowned at this new brotherly antic she thought had just been formed.

"Rebekah is not in Angelica Barker's body because Kol didn't put her there," Klaus angrily explained while glaring at Kol, "Where is she?"

"Please! They'll kill him!" Davina pleaded, the sixty seconds almost up.

"Well, he should have thought about that before he betrayed our sister! Rebekah never made it to her new body, did she? And, seeing as you cast the spell and, well, you're you, I'd hardly call it an uncrackable case!"

"Are you kidding me?" Amarrah believed she would never understand what ran through the Mikaelsons' heads in regards to their siblings.

"Rebekah's fine, Nik!" Kol tried to assure, but his frustration and fear were getting the best of him, "It was a prank, nothing more than anything you lot have done to me, but I bet it's different when it's one of y... aah!" upon trying to cross the barrier he found it was back on.

"Oooh. Barrier's back up," Klaus smirked as the vampires started coming out of their dark corners, "And those vampires look oh-so hungry. Now, I was willing to welcome you back in my home! But you had to return to your petty, selfish jealousies! Well, let's see how well they help you survive when you're stuck in there!" he stormed off ready to go find Finn or Rebekah or whoever came first.

Davina was terrified as she saw the vampires getting closer to Kol, all overly hungry. Amarrah nudged Maleny from behind and whispered, "We can't really leave him there, he'll get killed."

Maleny deeply sighed, "Yeah, I know. C'mon, we need to go find Rebekah or another spell to get Kol out. Either way it's the only way to save his life."

~ 0 ~

Cami had set a restless Hope down in her playpen after a near hour of useless napping attempts. She'd placed a couple of her toys down for Hope as well then walked over to the empty crib to fix it up for when she hoped Hope would soon fall asleep later on. She was rather restless herself. Elijah was no where to be seen, Rebekah was apparently lost somewhere in a new body, Marcel and his vampires were still stuck at the compound going crazy with hunger and she was...babysitting. As much as she loved Hope she wished she could be actively helping in the Quarter.

Hope gurgled from her playpen and made Cami turn around, "Well…" the blonde considered out loud, "Stuck in a house with your innocent self isn't that bad either," she returned to the playpen and tickled Hope on the stomach, causing the baby to giggle, "Definitely not as bad," a couple more minutes passed by before she felt the presence of someone else in the house.

"I thought you left," Cami looked up from the playpen to see Elijah by the entrance.

"I owe you an apology," Elijah came forwards.

Cami shook her head, "I told you I don't need one-"

"Yes, you do," Elijah cut her off sharply, "My sister's missing, my family's in jeopardy, I am... uh, utterly powerless to help them. This is not a state of affairs I'm accustomed to."

"I can tell," Cami crossed her arms, "But, that's not what I needed and you know it."

"Yes, you'd like to know the reason of my sudden request," Elijah came up to the playpen, momentarily looking down to Hope who was more than interested in a teddy bear.

"I would," agreed Cami, "but I don't see it happening any moment. I get it. You're troubled and believe me I don't like seeing you like this."

"And I don't like seeing you scared of me," Elijah said back, leaving her startled.

"I...I w-wasn't-"

"Yes you were, and that is exactly the reason I didn't want you here."

It took a minute for Cami to understand everything but even then she wasn't very clear, "You're ridiculous, do you know that?"

"Am I?" Elijah did his best not to raise his voice for his niece, "It's no use to lie, Camille. I saw your face - you were terrified. And justly so. I didn't want you here because I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to see me like this. I am not the noble man you think I am - not the one anyone thinks I am."

Cami smiled a little, slowly understanding his reasons. She moved over to him and put her hands on his face, with thinking about it actually, "Hey, I like you because you're you. I'm not here for the noble stag title, I'm here because you're my friend and I want you to get better. I'm pretty sure everyone else thinks the same. And I get it, I get that you're dealing with things I have no idea about. But if you ever want to talk about it... It's kind of what I do, It can even be over a game of chess if you'd like. But fair warning, you will have to let me win that game or else…"

Elijah chuckled at her, taking her hands from his face and keeping them in his own, "I believe that sounds fair enough," Cami responded with her own laugh, hoping her blush wasn't too visible.

~ 0 ~

Amarrah and Davina were setting up runes of salt on St. Ann's church floor, right in front of the sacristy. The spell was meant to find the location of Finn for Klaus to finally get to.

"Do you guys get the feeling we're being watched?" Maleny came down the aisle from the entrance. She'd been looking out into the newest of festivals the Quarter was celebrating when she felt like there was someone watching her and preferred to go inside where it was a little more safe.

"I doubt it, Finn's too preoccupied blocking our spell," Amarrah huffed in annoyance as once again the spell failed.

"I must say, for a witch of your caliber, your spells are not particularly efficient," Klaus remarked to the French woman.

"Hey, I'm not used to going up against centuries old witches," Amarrah snapped, "We're doing our best."

"But it would help a lot if you would stop standing over us like a stalker," Davina added with a frown.

Maleny sighed and cut into the conversation, "Can we not do the fighting thing? It's a waste of time when we're all reaching for the same goal."

"Really?" Davina scoffed, "Because my goal is to get Kol out of the compound alive. Which seems to be about number ten on his list," she threw a glare towards Klaus who took it in with amusement.

"Number nine, at least!"

Maleny elbowed him for his childish remark, "Be quiet. She's not wrong - what you did with Kol was out of the question. But what he did to Rebekah was also out of the question. So, in other words, both of you," she pointed between the teen and the hybrid, "be quiet and get to work."

"Agreed," Amarrah held a hand for Davina, "Let's start."

Begrudgingly, Davina took the woman's hand and began chanting a spell together. As they chanted however, they began seeing visions of Finn doing his own spell.

"We saw glimpses of him," Amarrah gasped and looked at the others, "He's combining sacred objects. Totems. Representational magic."

"Where?" Klaus asked urgently.

The two witches returned to their spell in hopes of seeing more visions. Davina came to first and replied, "Lafayette No. 1. The Lyonne tomb."

"What exactly is he using for this spell?" Maleny dreaded to ask.

"He's channeling your parents!" Amarrah gasped in horror, "You people are sick."

Klaus hadn't taken it that way with his wide smile, "And here I thought I was the poster-child for least grateful offspring!"

"No time to be cocky," Maleny pointed at him, "With that kind of power under Finn's arm we're going to have some problems - bigger ones than the ones we already have."

"Then we need to get going," Klaus turned back for the entrance doors, but after taking a couple steps he abruptly froze.

"What is it now?" Davina rolled her eyes, unable to see his expressions from behind.

"Klaus…?" Maleny slowly said and turned to him just as he dropped to the floor, unconscious, "Oh my God! Davina!"

"Hey!" the teen scowled at the insinuation, "It wasn't me!"

Maleny frantically got to her knees and tried waking him up herself, "C'mon, wake up! Wake up, dammit!"

"This wasn't his choice, Mal," Amarrah forced the blonde to her feet.

"What are you talking about about?" Maleny shook her off.

"This has to be what Finn was doing with his spell, remember?"

Maleny blinked as it dawned her it was true. Just then her cellphone buzzed in her pocket and upon pulling it out she saw it was Cami, "Cami, I love you, but I don't have time-"

"Elijah collapsed and he's not waking up!" Cami exclaimed abruptly, "One moment we were talking and the next - bam! What do I do?"

"Elijah too? It's one of Finn's tricks, I'm afraid," Maleny ran a hand through her hair, "Listen, just...don't leave the house," and with that she hung up.

"So you have a plan?" Davina asked in high hopes. She realized if this was the case with all the brothers then Kol was left in the compound on his own with a bunch of hungry vampires.

"Hm?" Maleny blinked, "Oh I don't have a plan. I was kinda hoping the Harvest girl and the powerful French witch would have one," the three women looked at each other, completely lose on their next move.

~ 0 ~

Finn had built an elaborate form of prison for his brothers through the mind and was taking full advantage of it to get the information he needed. He did, however, release Kol simply to allow him to tell Marcel and his vampires what would happen at sundown - the barrier would come down and with the ravenous vampires being released into the festival blood would ensue.

"So," he proudly sat on a chair across Klaus and Elijah, "what shall we talk about while we wait for nightfall? Oh! I know! Let's talk about our parents."

Klaus rolled his eyes, "You know, I figured you wouldn't be kind to Mother, but imagine my surprise to learn that Mikael met the same fate! Bravo, brother."

"You see, the parent I was interested in talking about was your father. Your real one? I mean, you longed to know him your whole life, yet at the first opportunity, you murdered him! Why, I wonder?"

"Possibly the same reason you took out Esther. Severing parental ties has a way of freeing one up to recognize one's true potential."

"Quite," Finn agreed, "But, Esther was no fool. She pinpointed your wants, and knowing your true father was at the top of the list! No, something else occupies the top of your list of affections. And it's not your favorite city because I'm about to take that from you, using your own vampires, and I barely get a rise out of you! I thought maybe it was Rebekah, but you remain calm, even when the one who knows her fate probably just met his.

Elijah was making a round in the cabin pretending to be more interested in the decorations, "I am fighting the monumental urge to mount your severed head upon one of these walls…

Finn promptly ignored him and continued on, "I then thought it was your favorite brother, but Mother broke him into a thousand pieces, and rather than fix him, you left him to fend for himself God knows where. And Kol...well, he's not much of your devotion right now, right?" Finn shook his head but momentarily paused, smirking in that devious way the two brothers knew he had something else up his sleeve, "That really only leaves Kol and...Maleny?"

Klaus stalked over to the man on the chair, "She has nothing to do with this! Leave her alone!"

Finn sucked air between his teeth, "It's a bit late for that. See, my wolves are already acting on it."

"LEAVE HER!" Klaus momentarily forgot he couldn't even touch Finn and tried to grasp him from the neck.

Finn produced an aneurysm that forced Klaus to his knees, "I said she'd pay for this as well. That's the thing about her, she's almost a Mikaelson and with all the pain that comes with it. It's only a matter of time."

~ 0 ~

"Wake up!" it was now Davina who was trying to wake Klaus up...only her attempts consisted of hard slaps across the face, "C'mon! Wake up!"

Over at the altar sat Amarrah and Maleny on the small steps, both staring at the teen in resignation. There was nothing to do but wait for Finn to bring down the spell. However, as time ticked by and Kol's body remained at the compound - as the teen hadn't known that Kol had been returned - she grew more and more frustrated.

"Wake up!"

"Aren't you going to stop her?" Amarrah took her gaze off Davina to look at Maleny beside her.

Maleny had her chin resting on her palm and looked far too calm for someone whose practically boyfriend was being slapped by a teenage witch. The blonde hummed, "I figure this is a way for her to release anger. This way she wins, I don't lose either of them, and Klaus won't ever know about it."

Suddenly, the doors of the church opened with a blast and in came a swarm of Finn's wolves. Davina jumped to her feet at the same time Maleny and Amarrah got up.

"Maleny Rowan, we came to collect you," a middle aged woman, unlike the others a witch, stepped forwards.

"Good, no thank you," Maleny shook her head, "You can go now."

The woman rolled her eyes and glanced back to the wolves, "Well, you know what to do."

"Stay back!" Davina had pulled aneurysms on the looming wolves. Amarrah tried flinging others back but there was simply too many. Maleny quickly saw it would be tough to escape.

"Ah!" Amarrah gasped as she was yanked by one of the wolves.

"Amarrah!" Maleny tried going for her but then she heard Davina's gasp as well and turned to see the teen being held by another wolf.

The middle-aged witch stepped forwards once more, this time wearing a smirk as she probably knew what would happen, "Let's try this again, shall we? Maleny Rowan, we came to collect you. Will you go easily or will we have to tear the hearts out from your two lovely friends?"

"Don't go with them, Mal," Davina struggled to get free from her captive.

Maleny ran her hands through her hair as she questioned her best option. It was quite obvious and even she knew what she would have to decide for. With a shaky breath she stepped forwards, motioning she was coming in peace, "I go and you leave them alone?"

The witch gave a nod, "Of course. We've no interest in silly witches and certainly in an unconscious hybrid."

"Maleny, what are you doing!?" Amarrah angrily stopped fighting to glare at her friend.

"It's okay," Maleny assured, "When Klaus wakes up you'll tell him...and he'll know what to do," she lowered her hands and walked towards the group, "I'll go willingly."

The witch looked at the two wolves holding Amarrah and Davina captive, "Hold them until we're out of the building," she instructed and grabbed Maleny by the arm, "And know if you try anything we'll kill your friends on the spot."

"I won't," Maleny gritted her teeth and was pushed out for the doors.

Behind them Davina and Amarrah could only watch as Maleny willingly walked out with the wolves. They all correctly assumed she would come to rue the moment she walked out of the church.

~ 0 ~

"You should realize the trouble you're getting yourself into by doing this," Maleny warned in vain as she was pushed towards a car, now bound by the wrists.

The witch that had taken her, now identified as Ela, snapped her fingers for one of the wolves. She was handed some gray duct tape.

Maleny frowned at what was coming, "Seriously?" she momentarily stopped walking to turn to her but was pushed into a walk by a wolf behind, "You already have my voluntary kidnapping."

"Precautions," Ela plainly said and stopped by the car, opening up the door to the backseat. She pulled on the tape and cut it with her teeth, "Wouldn't want you shouting out to people you're kidnapped. Especially when there's a silly festival going on."

"You get that thing away from me," Maleny backtracked and hit a wolf behind, "No!"

Ela stepped forwards as the wolf behind Maleny grabbed her arms and kept her locked for Ela to place the tape over Maleny's mouth. Maleny now openly struggled against the two and went as far as putting her feet up on the side of the car so as to not be forced inside. In the end however, the wolves overpowered her easily and stuffed her inside. Ela rolled her eyes at the fiasco and got in after the blonde.

"Hurry up," she told the driver, another of the wolves, "Yamilet holds the corpse deep in the bayou."

"Yes," the driver nodded and started the car.

"And I wouldn't think about plotting an escape from the bayou," Ela warned Maleny with a smirk, "Finn has made sure it's very deep. It'll take you at least two days to get to the roadside," Maleny visibly swallowed hard and of course remained still. Content, Ela looked ahead as the car was finally driving off.

Maleny thought about the chances of her making an escape on her own. But there were wolves involved with their supernatural strength and she didn't feel like being mauled to the point of losing a limb. With no options, she had to sit there and let time pass as they headed to God knows where. The moon was up high and bright when the car finally came to a stop, and Maleny felt even more nervous when she realized they were actually very deep in the bayou - as Ela promised.

"Where the hell are we?" she whispered her demand as soon as Ela yanked the tape off her.

Ela got out the car and Maleny was escorted out on her side. The two wolves held her tightly around the arms and faced her in the direction of a cabin.

There was a young man standing by the threshold of the cabin, apparently waiting for them. Ela walked up to him, her eyes making a clear observation of the quietness in the area.

"Is it done?" she asked.

"Yes, just like Vincent, ordered," a young man replied. "She's down."

Ela looked back as Maleny was brought forwards. The blonde was nervously looking around, "What are we doing here? I don't get it..."

The smirk that broke across Ela's lips made Maleny fear there was a horrible punishment on the other side of the cabin door. With a motion of her fingers, the wolves half-dragged Maleny towards the cabin.

"We should get started, then," Ela declared as she entered first.

As soon as Maleny was brought in - and forced to her feet - she could see on a metal table her previous corpse, in perfect condition. Immediately she started shaking her head and trying to back away in horror as she assumed what was going to happen. She whimpered and threw her feet up in attempts to make it harder for the wolves to drag her closer.

"NO! NO! Please don't! Anything but this! PLEASE!"

Ela was clearly satisfied by the reaction and gave a small chuckle, "This is exactly what Finn said he hoped to hear from you."

"Please! Don't make go back to that!" Maleny was near to tears as the wolves forced her onto the table beside the one with her corpse, "I'm begging you! Not the curse! Not the curse!"

"Benson," Ela called and the young man that received them walked over, "Bring her in," she ordered.

With a nod of his head, Benson went into another room of the cabin. In the meantime, Ela walked up to the table Maleny was on and smirked.

"Are you ready little witch?"

Maleny was busy screaming her head off and budging against the ropes binding her to the table, "NO! NO! STOP! NOT THIS! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK!" The tears fell like rain pouring from the sky. Maleny knew that this time Klaus would not be coming to save her - no one was.

Finn would have his way; he would make her pay in the worst way possible.

[hecohansen31]

The Tomboy & The Model:

 Model! Michael Langdon+Tomboyish! Reader

(A/N): Hello lovelies!

I am back with a new Michael’s idea I hope you’ll like! 

I honestly firstly discussed this idea with @sojournmichael so big shoutout to her, and to my group of friends her for making me actually publish and write this fic, since I ended up having a bit or... PROBLEMS with it...

I am actually very out of the fashion industry so, exactly as with the cam-world, if you see some things which aren’t quite right, please let me know and I’ll do my best to actually correct them.

Also I tried to keep the reader being a tomboy a bit behind, so that anybody can try to see themselves in her, without having to stop anybody from feeling a bit like the Reader, so I hope you won’t hate me too much for that-

With this being said... I really hope you’ll like it, and please if you do end up enjoying, leave an heart, reblog he fic (if possible writing something... I am always the most anxious about hearing what you thought of my writing) or shot me an ask or a DM.

If you didn’t like it, please let me know, kindly, what didn’t work so that I could make it work better in the future!

Much love!

Hope you’ll enjoy this!

SUMMARY: You and shy model Michael could be the most different people in the world, but somehow you end up working quite well together.

WORDS: 9 K

WARNINGS: Sub! Michael, Dom! Reader (also brief mention of Dom! Michael and Sub! Reader), Spanking, Oral Sex (Male and Female Receiving), Orgasm Denial, A Bit Of Dirty Talk, Use of the F-word, and Drunken Assault.

She had been always the type to prefer more masculine things: it wasn’t anything strange for her to run with the boys and play with them and slowly she had started taking over some of their mannerism.

It had been always her true nature to be much more masculine “than women were supposed to be”, according to her mother.

Her mother had been extremely disappointed by the fact that she hadn’t wanted to own a more feminine body and although she had made some concessions towards her style, she mostly went by her own way, which meant jeans, mostly large and graphic shirts for the summer and sweaters for the winter.

She enjoyed the gym and wasn’t afraid to assume a more manly role, such as paying for the bill or being the one who did the first move, which got her in so much trouble and rejections that she sometimes thought about giving up that nature just to get a bit of affection.

It hurt her to think about a future alone, although she had friends who loved and a family who supported her, but when everybody was so crazy about love, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed by her lack of.

She was a big romantic, underneath the harsh armor she wore.

And she was also a complainer, according to her roommate Mallory, who had set her up with a boy that Wednesday, insisting it would have been a fun idea.

“You basically set me up with a stranger” she had mumbled, meanwhile her roommate, a professional make-up artist, put eyeshadow on her lids after she had squeezed her in a nice outfit, still jeans but it was paired with a silky black blouse, giving her a vampire aesthetic she dug, enhanced by Mallory expert work with brushes and beauty blenders “I have watched too many “Law and Order SVU” episodes to believe that this will end well”.

“Shut up, and pucker up your lips” had replied Mallory, pushing out a shiny lip-gloss, getting an eyes roll from her, a clear way of asking her if it was truly necessary “… Michael is a nice guy, I wouldn’t set you up with psycho”.

She only had one clue, since according to Mallory “spoiling the identity of his date would ruin the magic of it”, alongside mumbling something about her being a bit too much of a cyber-stalker…

And that clue was that her date’s name was Michael, biblical and decidedly normal, too little for her to check him out on Instagram (although she had tried).

Mallory had gently rolled the lipstick onto her lips, till she was satisfied.

She already had felt uncomfortable due to the sticky sensation between her lips, deciding to clean it as soon as she was alone in the little diner they were supposed to meet for an appetizer.

Mallory had then pushed a mirror in her face, revealing a flushed face, and although the entire ensemble hadn’t made her feel like a clown, it was a bit too much for her.

Still it had looked definitely badass, enough that she knew why her roommate was so requested: she was lovely, without losing anything of herself.

“… also you look amazing” had mumbled shyly Mal, meanwhile she adjusted her hair, gently pushing out of her face “… he will have a dumbstruck expression when he’ll see you”.

She had doubted it, but she had felt confident and definitely not in need of the validation of a man.

And she definitely hadn’t needed her date being late, already annoyed by the entire ordeal, with a perfect plan to occupy better that night: “B99”, the last piece of cheesecake in the fridge and best of all… her bed, warm and comfortable.

She had been thinking this when suddenly she had felt a deep breath in front of her and she had raised her eyes as soon as the spot in front of her had been shadowed and there, in front of her, was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

An elegant dust of red had been smeared on his lids, meanwhile kohl lined his eyes matching the outfit he had worn an elegant leather jacket on a red graphic shirt with “Gucci” written all over it, tucked in a pair of skinny ripped jeans, giving him a grunge look she fell in love with, meanwhile his face had an angelic trait, a clear contrast with his devilish outfit.

He had been blushing, clearly out of breath, his cheeks blossoming of a pink shade, meanwhile his eyes had tried to meet hers, looking at her as if she was searching something, which had gotten her to assume a confident stance or at least try to.

She had reasoned he couldn’t be a waiter, so he must have just come in, another client like her.

-I am Michael- he had blurted out and it had taken her a few minutes to link it with her date, meanwhile the boy had looked at her expectantly, without knowing what to do and asking for instructions -… Mallory’s friend-.

-Oh…- he was her date.

Her date was very beautiful: an androgynous god, with curly hair she wanted to caress.

-May… I … sit? – he had asked, shyly, ducking his head, meanwhile she had simply nodded trying to square up in her seat, and form a coherent dialogue.

-Of course- what a brilliant answer -… I am (Y/N), Mallory’s other friend- she had mumbled, cursing at the absurdity of her words, since he probably already knew, and she was being a fool, because his beauty had taken away any ability of hers to talk.

-I figured out- his laugh had been nice and warm, and he had offered her an hand after he had settled down; she was honestly grateful he hadn’t tried to come closer and kiss her, even just on the cheek, she was grateful he had half a knowledge of personal space -… I am also sorry for being late, I swear I don’t do it often… I had a photoshoot which took much more than I thought…-.

A photoshoot?

Was he a model?

He certainly had the look for it, being an ethereal creature with a big range, being able to assume a such a strong range, ruling both genders and all the ones between those.

-… you are a model? – she hadn’t meant to sound skeptical or anything, but she also hadn’t wanted to assume and just sound dumb…

-Yeah- his cheeks had become again flushed and she couldn’t help but want to pinch them gently but she had tightened the grip of her hands on her knees -… I know it’s strange, I still can’t believe it happened… one day you are in your grandma’s house and the following… you are shooting a photoshoot for Gucci-.

Hadn’t she been attracted before, she was now.

He clearly had seemed taken by the entire argument and she couldn’t help but love the shining passion in his eyes, his interest peaking when he mentioned the “Gucci” house, before hiding his face.

-… I am sorry I swear I am not trying to seem arrogant…- he had bitten his bottom lip, ashamed.

-Oh, don’t worry! – she had reached out her hand, pushing it over his shoulder, more to comfort him than actually to try anything, which had gotten her a grateful smile from him -…I actually know nothing about this world, but I also am very curious, so please talk all you want-.

He had become so red that she was sure he would have probably busted a coronary or something, but after a deep breath he had simply smiled and went back to talking about his life as a model and he also explained how he had met Mallory, working on a set for one of his photoshoot, since it wasn’t unusual for him to wear make-up (she had complimented the red eyelids, immediately getting a gentle smile).

“She is one of the best I have ever had: we need more sunshine-made people, on set!” he had giggled, meanwhile she had agreed that Mallory was everything good made as a person “… she said that she had a very cute roommate, meanwhile we were talking and she … said… “.

“I am sad that you in the end got a very annoying roommate” she had replied, meanwhile giggling a bit, just to be greeted with a slow gulp from the other boy who had then mumbled:

“I think that I actually got very lucky, instead, you are lovely” this had made her blush and the sudden silence had been interrupted by the waiter who asked their orders, letting them discuss on what they had chosen, Michael complimenting her drink choice, meanwhile she asked him if what had ordered wouldn’t make him gain weight, getting a wicked smile from Michael, who after a few minutes had started getting more at ease, even asking question on his own.

In the end, the night was nice and she actually had felt very enchanted by the shy model, who had suggested on her not getting an uber but getting a lift from him, so that he could apologize for his lateness; he had also tried to pay for the entire appetizer, getting instead a strict refusal.

“If you want a second date, you better understand that I am a pretty independent lady”.

She might have been wrong, but his eyes had shone interested at her own feistiness.

She had been bewildered at the elegant and sleek sportive car, immediately looking at it for a few good minutes, meanwhile Michael had explained he had paid it with the first money he had had, wanting something that could make him run away from everywhere.

“.. it’s presumptuous”.

“I think she is the prettiest” she  had giggled, entering it with extreme attention, not wanting to damage the pretty thing in the slightest “… you know the night is definitely going amazingly”.

“I thought that when I saw you in the table” again a simple mumble getting her to smile and her cheeks were rushed with blood “… I mean… I was honestly expecting some creepy girl”.

“… same” she had replied, meanwhile she had laughed shyly, the car revving itself up underneath her and she almost had had to restrain a scream of excitement meanwhile they rushed to her home, a soft choice of classical music, mixed with jazz coming from the radio.

“You can change it” Michael had mumbled, eyes on the road, but she could sense the self-conscious note in his voice “… all my friends say that I have the musical tastes of an old man”.

“I don’t mind it” she had sung along, humming softly at the tone, soon Michael was with her and when a few more popular songs came on the radio they belted out, the complicity that had started that night clearly shining and although it was just an appetizer, she was extremely taken by Michael.

She just hoped he felt the same, although they had joked, Michael’s shyness made it difficult for her to understand him and although she had wanted to try to be more proposing, she also hadn’t wanted to disturb the quiet of the poor boy, whereas he had confessed how awful some people made him feel.

“It is all so crazy: people somtimes say that they admire me, and then get into fights “for me”, they insult others because of that... and I mean... it is stupid and terrible to have this kind of power”

So, she had opted for a more posed approach, waiting for him to act, but they had arrived all too soon in front of her house, and she had to invent something to conclude the night happily.

-I had fun, tonight- he had mumbled, looking in front of him, his tell-tale blush reappearing -… I mean… I usually do not got out to these kind of things… it’s been so so long since I have had a date, so… I can understand if this sucked-.

She had been honestly surprised for his love failures: such a pretty face with that enchanting manners shouldn’t be left all alone.

-… it didn’t suck- she had leaned in, again caressing softly his shoulder, again to comfort him and suddenly he came extremely closer to her, enough for a kiss.

But she, instead, had panicked: it was the first time it happened with a boy, she usually was so confident and…

… and she had grabbed his cheeks, indeed the softest she had ever felt.

But she was also extremely aware of how silly the entire thing must have seemed.

Perfect.

She had met a nice guy… and she blew her chances.

Michael just looked at her in the face, definitely confused but then a shy smile had taken over and he had mumbled something about having had indeed fun and then had gone to open the door, as a gentleman, wishing her goodnight.

“Goodnight” she had mumbled back, fidgeting with the cars, then adding “… it was a very nice night”.

“Definitely funny” he had smirked, and waited for her to be inside of her house (she knew he had, because when she had turned around she had found him propped onto the side of the car, waiting for her, clearly wanting to seem disinterested, but he was blushing, a lot…) before running away with his sportive car.

She had been sure it was the last time she would have ever seen him.

He hadn’t tried anything and certainly he hadn’t kissed “goodnight”, which wasn’t a bad thing.

She didn’t mind boys who took their time and didn’t shove their tongues down her throat, but she had halfway hoped that with a cutie like Michael, the spark would fly and although she had known that his shyness would be a bit in the way…

… still she had no sign of his interest, except the “I had fun, tonight”.

Had he “had fun” with her just as a friend? Or as a date?

Both?

Neither?

That’s what she had asked herself the entire day: she had never been this level of head over heels for anyone, but shy, model Michael who was way out of her league…

She thought that fashion was a beautiful industry but not hers: fashionable dresses looked good, on everyone except her.

And the bad thoughts keep on annoying her, mostly because usually she handled well rejection: she moved on quickly, thinking that it was simply not the guy for her.

But this time, it made her feel bad, about herself and her feelings.

Mallory had noticed her struggle that night, when she had come back and immediately had asked info on her date, just to receive her extremely gloomy roommate, who thought that Michael had disliked her in everything:

“We had a nice night… I mean… I did, but I am not sure about Michael… he was…- “she had bitten her tongue, meanwhile she had thrown her head back “… he seemed a bit off… and definitely not interes…”.

But before she could have finished her thought, Mallory had sent her a look which said “please don’t speak bullshit with me”.

-… I literally had Michael fanboying all over me, about how wonderful it was to have a date with you- she had mumbled, and (Y/N) couldn’t help but feel her heart burst of pure satisfaction.

-Tell me more- she had mumbled, even adding the entire sing-song voice as if she was in “Grease” and Mallory had looked conflicted.

-… I am not sure I am allowed to say more… Michael is my friend…- she had mumbled, just to get (Y/N)’ puppy eyes and after an exasperated sigh -… he says that you were very nice to talk to, he is an introvert so he needs people who don’t feel life-sucking and he said that you were also very respectful, and that he tried to lean in for a kiss but you went to pitch his cheeks, so… he was sure you were the one who didn’t like him…-.

Oh shit…

Shitshitshitshit…

That poor self-conscious boy.

She must have scared him.

Mallory had been a step from spilling more tea, when her phone had buzzled and she had gone to retrieve it from its charging point just to realize it was an unknown number and she was halfway from not answering, sure that it was a call center, but then Mallory had just shouted quickly:

“Answer it! It might be Michael! I gave him your number” which had made her be extremely nervous, sending her an incredulous look: Mallory had taken this matchmaker role too far.

-Hello? – her voice wavering, not giving out too much, since she had been honestly scared of what might happen next… and worst of all that it might have indeed up to be a call-center.

-(Y/N)? – Michael’s voice was low and sweet, clearly shyness again shining in it, but she had known it all too well, although it was a bit distorted -… I am very sorry to bother you-.

-Oh, don’t worry, Michael… you are not disturbing me, in the slightest- she had adopted the immediate charm of her best flirting -… I am actually glad that you called me-.

-… oh…- she had then known that Michael was straight up blushing behind the phone -… well, I am glad that you answered me, and I hope you won’t think this is creepy, I asked your number to Mal-.

The entire phrase had been a continued babble, too fast that she had found it a bit difficult to follow him but it was extremely endearing.

-I don’t mind it, in the slightest- she had smiled, confidently -… I am actually happy she did, so that we can talk a bit more, I enjoyed our conversation, yesterday-

Michael had choked on the other line and after a few minutes of silence, she had felt him try to breath out a deep breath, before blurting out:

-…what about talking more, on a second date? -.

The second date had been lovely and they had been able to know each other in a more intimate way: she had talked about her body-issues, and how she had slowly moved upon the more tomboyish side, baring a part of her soul she hadn’t expected him to get and to even compliment.

“I am an androgynous model” he had mumbled, meanwhile they discussed over it at dinner, this time in an elegant restaurant he had suggested “… so I know that the entire thing about gender roles is stupid”.

He had also told her about his life, before modelling, stretching out on how comfortable he felt with her…

“… these are extremely delicate things…” he had mumbled, as a way of requiring her discretion “… my parents had trouble because of me, I was a very unwanted pregnancy and they both… died, when I was a child, so I was passed onto my grandmother: she wasn’t an amazing person, but it was due to her that I first got into modelling”.

She had shot the photo, which had made him famous, more out of pride, a prize to show to her friends, the one she met at the hair-dresser and the one with whom he she played bridge: she had posted it even on Facebook, with Michael’s help and the following day… a model agency was at his door.

“It was all too sudden” he had commented, meanwhile he had munched onto their appetizer, clearly not as refined in his aspect as with his manners “… but it was worth it; I am away from that horrible place and I have a bright future, for me”.

“That seems honestly lovely, I am glad that you had this all” and she still hadn’t understood why he would even think about going out with her, whereas everything around him was so bright, so charming and fascinating.

And she was just a simple piece.

Not the best one, not the worst one.

He had then proceeded with modelling funny stories, meanwhile she narrated her own ones, laughter  had been leaving her mouth constantly the same from his, although blush never left his cheek, but his confidence had been slowly appearing and this time when he had leant in, after he had accompanied her back, she had kissed him.

Softly and shyly, clearly not wanting to hurt him or scare him away, but he had surprised her being bold enough to ask for a second kiss, and a third one and then she had felt his phone vibrating in his jacket (they had been so close during the kiss) and he had ignored it, a first time, just to lean in for his fourth kiss, his nose bruising against hers.

But at the second vibration, he had had to answer, with a grimace and she hid a little silly smile.

“Give me just a few minutes, please” he had asked, pleading with puppy eyes, and she let him, moving towards her house, blowing him a silly kiss.

They hadn’t met for another two weeks, since Michael’s phone call had been from his agent, John Henry Moore, an ex-model, who had programmed for him a little trip in Asia for a special photoshoot, and then, a little  stay there for a modelling workshop with models from all over the world.

“You literally have no idea how boring it is in there” he always told her, when she was allowed to call her, time-zones always coming in the way “They are all so self-absorbed”.

It was a big joke, because he then told her all about how he had managed to make friends with each of the other models, although some were indeed presumptuous, “something was definitely stuck up there” he laughed, meanwhile she told him, about her “non-model routine”.

“I woke up, went to my job, passed a bit at the gym, did a bit of grocery shopping…” and he listened to her as if she was narrating him some epic adventure, whereas her life was completely the most annoying  “… you seriously never get annoyed by my silly stories?”.

“Maybe I like the sound of your voice, a bit too much” he joked, and it was in that time that his voice and words made her center turn into molten liquid.

But Michael was not only shy, but sexual suggestions or innuendos were ineffective on him.

She could have probably laid naked in front of him and he would have been like “how was your day, lovely? Have you forgotten your clothes?”.

And part of her liked him all the same, and another part… wanted to push him down her bed, half of the time they spent together, because of that innocence.

A month had been enough to declare them “boyfriend and girlfriend”, which had gotten a delighted squeal from Mallory, one of the few who knew about their relationship, since they preferred keeping it private for another bit of time.

And for her it was enough: her sweet and handsome boyfriend who had a real talent for seeing beauty in each thing, even a tomboy like her.

A week, after two months together, he had suggested she joined him as his plus one at a party for the release of a collection of one of his stylist friends:

“I thought it would have been a fun idea for a different night out” he had mumbled, meanwhile he had blushed, probably because she had sat down on his lap, meanwhile they were in his luxurious loft, which he shared with other models, but they went out for the night so it was just the two of them “…if you don’t feel comfortable or anything…”.

“I think that I would enjoy it very much, Michael” she had giggled, staring to lay joking kisses all over his face “… I am just a bit confused on what to wear, I don’t know if I have anything proper for it”.

“What about the pantsuit you wore, when we went out, the last time” she couldn’t help but remember Michael’s face at the elegant pantsuit she had worn at their date in an expensive restaurant, an impulse buy, which had proven worth of its price (which was a lot) after she had seen Michael’s surprised face.

Her shy boyfriend had looked at her as if she was a freaking night goddess.

“I don’t think that it would follow the theme of the night” she had reminded him, hugging him closer, and leaving a few kisses in his exposed collarbone, meanwhile her nose followed the scent of the cologne he used, something which drove her crazy “Isn’t it “rock and fashion” themed?”.

“I am pretty sure that nobody would mind, after they see you in that outfit” he had blushed, hiding softly his face in her hair, meanwhile she had giggled at his silliness, diving in for a kiss on the crown of his hair.

“You are too cute, Michael” she had complimented him, meanwhile he had taken a step back to look at her in the eyes.

“… and you are a goddess, (Y/N)”.

This time it was her who had hidden in his neck, meanwhile he had smirked happily, as if his goal in life was to breakdown her tough exterior.

In the end she had managed to find something which was “fashionably rock and roll”, putting herself in a tight mini-skirt of jeans with fishnets and a leather jacket, which basically showed the least effort into it, not that she actually cared of matching the theme or seeming like the queen of the night, but she didn’t want to shame Michael, who clearly belonged into the world.

She had also allowed Mallory to paint her face, choosing a tough smokey eye with a crazy eyeliner and a dark lipstick, and she thanked God that it was matte, because she didn’t know how to applique it again without making a mess.

It was a bit excessive and Mallory had smudged it to match the grunge aesthetic of her outfit.

She had sent Michael a picture, after the make-up was realized getting back a ton of emojis (mostly fire and hearts), since when words fail, emojis worked perfectly for the model, so she felt a bit confident of her ensemble, although she felt like she was going to a masquerade party instead of a stylist lavish party.

And she couldn’t help but feel even worse, when she saw Michael’s full outfit: he had worn a pant version of what she had, with ripped jeans, showing fishnets under it, a strange cut shit, clearly made so it would seem ripped, but what was even more attractive was the corset over the shirt, which was extremely revolutionary but also it low key gave her a shit ton of ideas…

His make-up was spectacular, red highlighted the tiny speckles of green in his azure eyes, meanwhile the expert contouring highlighted the strong bone structure of his face, his cheekbones basically standing out on their own, with an elegant trace of blush, mixed with expert contouring.

Dark lips were smeared like hers and she low key sent her thanks to God, knowing that if they did make-out they wouldn’t have ruined the effect of the lipstick.

It was definitely the work of an expert, but she guessed that he had done it himself, since he had admitted, expecting her to hate him, that he liked the creative expression of make-up, the way it could change a face and highlight gracefully or destroy flaws, empowering a human.

“It’s a body-art, I honestly love it with all my heart, although it isn’t masculine or…”.

“If you think that I care about anything like that, you probably got me wrong” she had replied, caressing his curly hair “… you could dress up as a clown, and I would still want to kiss you”.

But that time, Michael had honestly outdone himself and she couldn’t help but admire him, beneath the lights of the entrance of the rented place they had chosen for the party.

“Do I have something on my face” he had mumbled, meanwhile she just awed at his face and as he had gone to grab her hand.

“Yeah… it’s a thing called beauty” she had replied, getting a quick laugh from the boy, who had just smirked, leaning in for a kiss.

“I really dig this Billy Hargroove’s girlfriend dress, babe” he had complimented her, with the sarcastic side she had discovered he did own  “… but seriously, I think that I will have to keep you by my side for the entire event, or some model or stylist might steal you away from me”.

She had just blushed, mumbling about being only his, before they had strutted in, her less confidently of Michael, who, if he was even slightly nervous didn’t show it, at ease amongst elegant people in the chicest clothes she had ever seen, the kind you saved on your Pinterest boards.

She had met a lot of people, quickly forgetting a ton of names, but everyone seemed nice enough and they had kept offering her champagne, complimenting her for landing a beauty such as Michael, although she honestly felt like it wasn’t beauty the only thing that brought Michael out and made him special, but she had tried not to fight with Michael’s “friends”.

The stylist Ryan had been actually very nice, and she had been thankful for Michael’s fashion history lessons, so that she could navigate comfortably the conversation, but also Ryan, unlike the others, was actually also interested in her and asked a bit about her.

At a certain time, Michael had left her to give a cheer, something for which he had needed a few kisses of reassurance for, but he had done just fine as she had observed him raising her glass with complicity in her eyes, when he had finished his discourse.

And apparently her smile had done something for him.

He immediately had cornered her in a shadowy place, the boldest move she had firstly seen him do, not that the others had bothered, since they had been all busy taking in the next talker on the stage.

“We should get out, now that I have done my thing” he had suggested, clearly he had also reached its maximum of social energy.

“… what do you suggest, my knight in a shining armor?” she had asked, her hand in his, meanwhile they had moved out of the elegant house, inventing excuses as they met the people that they had talked with at the start of the night.

“There is a little diner not too away from here, it’s cute and it has a wonderful 50s aesthetic that I know you would dig” he had said, and you couldn’t help but feel moved by his sudden confidence: was it the confident outfit or the expressive make-up who brought this side of him out?

She hadn’t been complaining and she had let herself be led, in the diner, which was supposed to be only a few block away, so they hadn’t taken Michael’s car, and this had given them a good excuse to make out clumsily, dizzy on the champagne in the first alley they fhad ound, feeling like horny teenagers, but she hadn’t minded it so much when Michael had kissed her neck like rose petals, his curly hair tickling her face, meanwhile she giggled a bit too loudly.

Right when hands had slipped under the clothes, she had heard coughs and two guys, a bit drunk by the way they held onto each other, and she immediately straightened up, exactly like Michael, who blushed lightly.

She and Michael had moved to get away from the embarrassing situation but the two drunkards had started laughing and used the q-world.

Michael had seemed greatly unaffected, but he had just tried to pass of, but she couldn’t ignore it and had shot those two an hateful glare, but this was ineffective, since the two men just whistled at her but worst of all they said:

“What is a pretty girl like you doing with such a faggot?”.

But it didn’t stop there.

“Maybe she is the one with the dick, you know there are these disgusting people…”.

Michael couldn’t stop her, although he had tried to grab her arm, to stop her and get her to run away as fast as possible from those two, he had deemed dangerous.

“You just insulted my boyfriend, pricks” she had never been one to speak up about anything, but she had always had her own strong opinion, and this constant feeling of having to defend those she loved, like Michael “… I suggest you to say sorry”.

She had tried to keep her tone calm, but it didn’t work so well, since her fists had been shaking on her side, and Michael had tried to call her, saying it was no big deal.

But she had known it was a big deal: it was why Michael cowered in fear when he had to admit his passion for make-up, the fact that he was a model and he struggled to see that she loved him for who he was.

“What if we don’t want to, little freak?”.

Well, she had always known one way to make men listen.

And she had kneeled the nearest bastard straight in the groin, and as one went out, the other went down with him.

“Leave us alone, assholes” and she had turned around, cleaning her hand over her fishnets, meanwhile Michael had had this heated glance on his face, as if she had just stripped naked in front of him.

“I think that the diner might not be the best place after this” his pupils had been full-blown, he clearly had seen something he liked and she had dared just a light glance to his skin-tight jeans, just to discover, there was indeed a bulge in them.

“Mallory is over at her girlfriend’s house” she had suggested and soon they were again in Michael’s car, his hand gently skimming over her thighs.

Sexuality was something that she hadn’t very much explored with Michael, both due to his shyness and both to the fact that they were both taking it slow, but to say she wasn’t suddenly aroused was a lie.

She felt powerful for the effect she had had on Michael when she had fought those two pricks.

The rush onto the stairs almost made her trip onto herself and Michael, a few good laughs coming from their mouths, quickly shushed by their kisses and as soon as they were behind closed doors…

… she finally got her hands on the corset which had been teasing her all night, the idea of it staying during sex made her smirk, meanwhile Michael helped her out of the loose blouse she wore, immediately eyeing her simple bralette: she hadn’t meant to dress sexy, although it was almost part of the aesthetic so…but at least her panties and bra matched.

Michael looked at her, reverently and shyly, as if he was waiting for her to decide what to do, next… as if he was completely in her hands, a sensation which got to her head and to her thighs.

“That corset…” she mumbled, through kisses, Michael did know what he was doing, “… it made me feel things for the entire night”.

“… and that stunt, with those guys…” his eyes were honestly so dark that she almost thought he had contacts on, and he was so hard against her thigh “… I honestly was so scared, but you were so brave, you always are”.

She blushed, the mood dissipating a bit of sexiness in exchange for a softness, shining in her eyes as she guided him gently towards their sofa, straddling his lap.

“I am not, I was scared shitless, and it was definitely the champagne…” she joked, caressing gently his hair, pulling them back, away from his sweaty forehead, before laying a soft kiss on it “… you are the cool one, looking fearless on the catwalk, I would just fall on my face and make fun of myself”.

“You wouldn’t” he still laughed at the image “… but even if you did, you would just get up, as fierce as when you kicked that man in the crotch. Also remind me never to make you angry”.

“Right now I am awfully horny so…” she mumbled, meanwhile grinding against his thigh particularly roughly “… you better do something about it”.

“Not on the couch” he giggled, gently raising her “Mallory wouldn’t be happy”.

She continued with the kissing, the mood settling on a more romantic night, with him releasing her on the bed softly, not missing her little smiles.

And that was when the entire mood of the night shifted.

“You looked like a goddess, with those two assholes” Michael’s voice was breathy and before she knew it he was rutting into her, the hotness of the entire situation letting a silken breath be let out from her lips “… you were definitely the hottest woman I have ever seen”.

She didn’t know where it came from, but she couldn’t help but love that submissive tone in Michael’s hazy eyes, pleading her to do something, anything, and she did it, reversing their position and throwing herself on top of him, clearly in power right now.

This was power: the reverent look in Michael’s eyes, as if she was just sitting on his hipbone as if she was on a throne, her throne.

She tentatively grinded against him, slowly almost a caress against his clothed cock, meanwhile his face scrunched, eyes rolling back and she lowered herself to lick his neck, from his collarbones to the soft skin under his ear.

Moans erupted from Michael’s mouth and she giggled, at the tone, immediately going back to her previous position, smiling wickedly at the effect she had on him, before leaning down to kiss his lips, and whisper:

“Is this ok?” for her to take control on him for that night, drunk on the sheer power of relented dominance, but before she did more she wanted to check with him.

Sex and sexual preferences hadn’t been that discussed between them, so she wasn’t sure if this was something that Michael might even slightly be into, and she didn’t want him to regret this or to be even slightly uncomfortable with her.

“I thought that what I had between my legs was enough to say that I am enjoying this” giggled Michael, with more words she had heard him utter since the two drunkards had interrupted their make-up session “… but yeah it is ok… I actually prefer being… submissive in bed”.

She knew she wasn’t his first partner, Michael had had a previous relationship with a fellow male model (he had told her this when things had started being actually getting deeper between them, mostly because he was scared that she might be “prejudiced” towards him… strangely she wasn’t in the slightest) but she wouldn’t have guessed that he preferred the submissive role.

He was pretty shy, but Michael knew what he was doing constantly, unlike the constant chaos she was.

“Oh” she simply mumbled, before gently grabbing his hand from his side, pushing them up, over his head “… then… I think it’s my time to do something about it…”.

And she reached behind his legs, touching him over the clothes, meanwhile his hips keep rutting in the heel of her hand, meanwhile she giggled with mischief in her smile.

“… if you feel uncomfortable in the slightest, say “Gucci”…”.

She had never been the “dominant” of her relationships she hadn’t also very much thought about it, since sex was always some kind of childish thing with her previous partners: it was as if it had its passages and then… it was done… finished, whether you came or not.

Things had never been discussed and, although she tried to be vocal on her likes and her dislikes, most of the time “the man knew better” and she was always halfway through kicking them in the groin the following morning when they offered a second round.

That’s why she wanted Michael to be comfortable.

And also… not to lose that gaze full of admiration for her, although she felt like she might not deserve it.

“Did you…?” Michael laughed straight up in her face, and before she knew it her hand had quit the movement on his clothes and delivered a sound slap to his thigh, getting a pained moan “… that hurt”.

“You disrespected me, baby boy” she didn’t know how she had managed to speak like that, mostly due to her hate for pet-name, but Michael (literally) stood at attention  “… it doesn’t work like that, you do it one more time, and you will not come for the entire night”.

Michael gulped down a big load of saliva and she took a moment to wait for his answer, taking in the beauty of the model: some of the red eyeshadows had been roughly smushed around the lid, and she saw the lipstick mark of the color she had worn that night on his neck.

He still looked like a beauty and she was curious about how beautiful he could get if ruined.

“Yes, mistress” he replied, searching her approval, since her gaze had wandered off him, but he didn’t dare touch her “I will be more respectful”.

She gently caressed his face, collecting a bit of sweat, before she leaned down on a kiss-mark to bite on it gently and leaving a hickey on it.

And meanwhile this happened, she delivered another slap to Michael’s hip, hearing him let out a pained moan which she quieted with a kiss, cooing him in his mouth, meanwhile she gently guided to turn him around.

“Good boy” she started peppering kisses on his shoulder-blades, Michael relaxing again under her touch and didn’t see the sound slap she gave him on his plump ass, which got an howl from the poor boy “… this is for speaking up, in matters you don’t have a say into”.

She then delivered another.

“This is for not being quick in answering me, I expect the best from my boy”.

Another.

“This is for not counting… and believe me you will get one till we reach ten” she waited for Michael frail “three”, checking any discomfort in his voice, but although Michael’s held a painful sting to it, it was hazed and rough due to the excitement he was in “… and then if you are a good boy… I might think about letting things go further…”.

And this got Michael to count, whining for each slap, till ten, meanwhile she adjusted him onto her laps (she couldn’t help but laugh at the size difference, but only inside, outside she needed to try to be stern).

When Michael breathed out the “ten”, she gently helped him to get in a more comfortable position, meanwhile he kind of limped due to the redness and stinginess on his ass, which she caressed in an attempt to comfort him, as she gently cooed him and complimented him on how well he had taken his punishment.

“My beautiful good boy…” she cooed on his lips, gently kissing him with peppering kisses, in an attempt to get his hazy eyes to focus on her, which happened and immediately Michael was on her lap, trying not to crush her, giggling gently.

“Wasn’t I good, mistress?” mischief shined in his eyes, which clearly told her that he knew the answer “… don’t I deserve a reward?”.

She knew that she was being a bit too easy to satisfy him, that she should have made him beg more…

… but he was the cutest with his pouty lips.

And she lowered onto him, her nose skimming his stomach, laying wet kisses on it with carefulness to his gasps and his moans, mapping his skin, from the most sensitive to the least, passing again on the formers in order to blow air on them and leave hickeys on them.

She then reached his pants and brought them down, alongside the fishnets, his bulge appearing from his designer boxers, the length clearly bigger than the ones she was “accustomed” to, and her mouth watered, opening slightly and mouthing over the “Versace” boxers.

Michael shifted and she just needed a glare to make the flinching stop, a nervous glance shone again in Michael’s face, as if he was scared, but that fear brought him even closer to ecstasy she knew it, but the way its body trembled under her fingers, meanwhile she traced patterns on his stomach.

“Don’t ruin your reward, sweetie, wouldn’t want to hold you over the edge, right when you are falling from it”.

And then her mouth engulfed him again, taking more than before, still over the fabric but he lost himself, still he kept himself stiller than before, for which he was rewarded with a tiny peck on the tip of his cock, meanwhile an hand went to fondle him inside the boxers, finally pushing them down.

Her eyes shone at the leaking pre-cum on the tip, at the redness and silky feeling of the entire length which was confirmed by a quick touch, getting a shy moan from Michael: he sounded almost pathetic, but there was some melody in that ruin.

She lowered her mouth on him, meanwhile her eyes met him and soon their gazes were enthralled and linked, and she was unable to watch away as much as him…

… and when her mouth wrapped on him, he closed his eyes, just to be slightly reprimanded with a slap on his thigh, and a silly pinch.

She started with the tip, kitten lick and engulfing it in the warmth of her mouth, and the moved further, trying to take as much as she could and fit the rest in her hands, meanwhile teeth were sheltered under her lips, and hair fell down deliberately around her.

She must have been a truly masterpiece.

But Michael kept on looking at her, as if she was indeed some goddess and she only felt spurred by this to continue her ministration, till she felt him twitch and she backed off from him, a devilish smile on her face.

“… beg me, my sweet boy”.

Michael was clearly taken by surprise and she couldn’t help but lean down to kiss his lips, letting him taste pre-cum on them, but retreating to quickly, another way to tease him, as the hands that wasn’t working on him, caressed distractedly his nipples.

“I am not hearing anything, Michael” she taunted him, lightly.

“Please…” it was soft, and low, and she pretended not to hear it “… please, mistress, I need to come…”.

“That was quite cute, but you didn’t seem so desperate…” she considered, even holding an hand under her chin, as if she was thinking about it as the other speed up the rhythm on his cock “… and don’t forget… you have to wait for my permission to cum”.

Michael sniffled, slightly, showing teary eyes and she broke off character thinking that maybe she had gone too far.

“… did I go too far?” any teasing or annoying tone was brought away, and just worry filled her eyes.

Michael also broke away from his role, although tears shone in his eyes, he smiled, shyly.

“I haven’t said Gucci, have I?” he asked, sassily and the ruling part of her wanted to gently slap him across the face, for such disrespect, but then his voice broke off, excitement and haziness showing in her “… I am fine”.

“I was just scared I got a bit taken by this…” she tried, meanwhile he gently “… but now that we both know it’s fine, I suggest you to beg, because if you are not that desperate we can go on, for a little bit… longer”.

Michael’s teary eyes this time didn’t stop her and she just waited, till Michael obnoxiously mumbled a “please” after another, and another and she knew that he was basically on the brink of an orgasm, and although it would have been truly cruel to let him like this, she gave him the nod, which led to the permission…

…which lead him to come roughly and thick creamy cum was soon coating her hand.

He almost passed out, since not only he was breathing heavy enough for her to be sure that even the neighbors heard him, and worst of all his eyes rolled back and for a few moments she was sure that he was out for the tonight.

But then his hand reached out for her, as if he was asking for something to anchor him back after a mind-blowing orgasm, which got her to cradle him closer, his hand on her thighs, gently caressing his hair, meanwhile she waited for him to come back.

And when he did, he smiled softly and shyly, and she did her best to reassure him with gentleness and softness trying her best to make the atmosphere feel comfortable with him.

“I have to admit that I have never… you know… that hard”.

It was almost cute to see Michael like that after he had just acted that loosely with her, but she tried not to bring it up, the poor boy was already burning from embarrassment, she just shushed him,,kissing his forehead.

“Well… it was also my first time, in that kind of dynamic, I hope I wasn’t too rough” she asked, meanwhile she kept on taking slow care of him.

She thought about seriously giving him a bath, mostly because they were both a sticky mess, and the eyeshadows she had loved was smeared also on his nose, which she flickered gently to get his attention.

“… you were amazing” he replied, softly, his tone rough “… I think that nobody did make me feel like this, I honestly felt so secure with you, you always make me feel, like that”.

“Of course, sweetie” she kissed his nose, this time; the compliment went straight up to her mind, she couldn’t help but feel amazed that he felt like that about her, it was an honor, truly “… I love you, and this means that I want every inch of you”.

“People have always made me feel stupid for what I was…I was always too pretty, too stupid, too feminine and nobody ever wanted me for me” he gently reached for one of her hands, to kiss it gently “… not you, you are infinitely patient with me, and don’t mind each of my ‘flaws’…”.

“They are not flaws, Michael” she replied, meanwhile he looked at her up, surprised “… they are what make you, you, and I wouldn’t change anything in the slightest, so don’t even think about a moment that they ‘flaws’ “.

“You make me beyond happy, (Y/N)” he mumbled shyly, kissing again her hand, and laid a soft kiss onto her thighs, and she couldn’t help the shiver that left her body at the sheer contact.

For the entire time she had been focused only on Michael’s pleasure, but she couldn’t hide for much more hers, copious and heavy between her thighs, wetting the inside of them and she was sure that had Michael kissed a bit higher, he would have met her wetness.

She was still wearing her fishnets and panties under them, but her excitement was evident, and Michael couldn’t help but take in, a guilty look on his face.

“I wasn’t a true gentleman… I didn’t let you finish first” he mumbled, shyly and he quickly moved to make himself place between her legs, his intention clear.

“… oh you don’t have to” she giggled, trying to dissipate her embarrassment, closing her legs to stop him “… it was fine, I actually”.

“Oh no you don’t get it” he rapidly broke her fishnets and she couldn’t help but wonder where her gentle boy had gone, mostly when he looked at her like that, with a devilish glint in his eyes “… I want my revenge for before, so sit back, little princess and let me handle it”.

And soon his tongue was between her legs and she couldn’t think about anything more, except begging for more.

… oh, how the table have turned.

Mallory was drinking her coffee, when they finally decided to exit the bed, Michael had insisted for a morning round, just to be remembered halfway through it that he had a meeting in thirty minutes, and she had had to take the reins in her hands.

Well, now they were both satisfied and in need of breakfast, just to be welcomed by Mallory’s knowing glance, and she discovered even more because of the evident hickeys on both of them, and the little bruises she had left on Michael’s hips with the pinching and the slapping.

(Michael still hissed when he sat down on the table, for the spanking of the previous night).

“Shouldn’t you be at Coco’s?” she asked to dissipate the embarrassment.

“I have a meeting in twenty minutes” and then she looked at Michael, after she had taken a sip from her coffee mug “So does Michael”.

The boy, smiled shyly, almost hiding behind her and she wondered where had gone the boy who had eaten her out till tears, last night, rutting his hips in the mattress…

… probably the same place where Mallory’s interest for her own matters went.

“I can give you a lift, if you get me a mug of coffee” suggested Michael and Mallory just smirked, going to the kitchen, leaving them alone, meanwhile Michael gently leaned down for a “goodmorning kiss”.

“… see you tonight, lovely” he giggled, before kissing again his forehead.

“So we are that couple?” she replied, sarcasm coming from each poor of her.

“Sweetie you kicked somebody in the groin for me, of course we are that couple” he exclaimed, kissing her forehead quickly “… love you”.

“Love you, too”.

---

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[hetalialoverwrites]

Ways to be Wicked

Part 7

First  -  Previous  -  Next

        Back in Auradon once again, Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos were dressed for the Isle of the Lost and running downstairs to get to the limo waiting for them. "Jay!" Ben called, making said boy turn to him. "Keys, remote." Ben tossed the items to him swiftly and Jay went towards the driver's door as he caught them. "Wait!" Evie called out, making the three boys stop and look to her on the last set of stairs. "Something's wrong." She said seriously before fixing Ben's beanie. "Oh, um." Ben sighed at her, slightly realized that it was nothing important. "There," Evie said, satisfied. "SHOTGUN!" Dude yelled out and making everyone look at him with obvious shock. "No dude! Stay! The Isle is way too dangerous." Carlos commanded. Dude trotted in place and groaned frustrated as Evie gasped. "Did he just-" Carlos cut Jay off, "Talk? Yeah. I'll explain later." He sighed before they all piled into the limo. "Okay, once we cross the bridge, park under the pier in the old garage, okay?" Evie asked Jay. "You got it." He nodded before starting the limo and driving. Jay drove quickly to the broken bridge and then pressed the button, not waiting a moment for the magic bridge to start forming in front of him.

        Once through the barrier of the Isle, Jay parked the limo, and everyone got out. "Ben! Help me with the tarp!" Carlos called, running over to the tarp he was talking about. The four of them used it to cover the limo so no villain could steal it, notice it, strip it for parts, or leave the Isle with it. "It's really weird being back here," Evie told Jay, a little uncomfortable. Jay glanced around before looking at Evie, "We'll get in and get out." He reassured her. As the VKs finished covering the limo, Ben walked over to a giant pipe, peering inside, "What's through here?" Ben asked curiously. Evie's heart nearly stopped when she was him before dragging him away, "You don't want to know." "Hey, guys. Keep it chill, alright?" Carlos asked everyone, trying to keep the small group calm. "The last thing we need is people figuring out we're here." At a few nods, they made their way through the alleyways where Evie got robbed by two kids. "Hey! Hey!" Evie called, snatching them by their wrists. They stared at her wide-eyed for a moment, holding her wallet before Evie's eyes softened, "Go... You can take it." She let go and watched sadly as the kids ran off. When she turned around and saw only Jay and Carlos standing there waiting for her, she sighed deeply, "Ugh, Ben." She stalked off with the boys hot on her heels to find the naive king. 

        Ben walked around, a pleasantly wonderstruck look on his face as he looked about the Isle. It was so different than Auradon... Ulstead was also pretty different, but this... Seeing a man leaning against some posts, Ben wandered over to him with a grin. He held his hand out to the man to shake, "Hey-" The man growled and lunged at him threateningly, making Ben back up before the VKs caught up to him. Evie grabbed ben immediately and pulled him further away from the man while Carlos immediately went chest to chest up to the man and intimidated him back. The man grew wary and stepped back a bit as Jay arrived and replaced Carlos, and making the man run away. "Ben stop," Evie commanded sternly, giving Ben a firm look. "Why?" Ben asked, slightly miffed with the overprotective behavior. "This isn't a parade, it’s the Isle." She scolded him before letting him go. "keep your hands in your pockets unless you're stealing." Jay told Ben seriously. "You either slouch or strut," Carlos informed. "And never ever smile." Evie sighed. "Okay, than-" Ben was cut off by Evie, "No 'thank you's and drop the 'please'. Just... Chill." Evie advised before resting her elbow on his shoulder and slipping into a song. 

        Ben bumped into a guy stealing some eggs from a woman's stand and stumbled slightly. The sight of the boy caused jay, Evie, and Carlos to tense and rush to Ben's side. "Hey man! Hey!" Gil grinned broadly at Ben before looking at the VKs. "Uh, no. I don't know you either, man." Ben tried to play it off. "Uhm, yeah you do. Come on man, really?" Gil looked a little disheartened before brightening once again. "Dude, I'll give you a hint. My dad is quick, slick, and his neck..." Gil pointed to his neck with a childlike glee, "Is incredibly thick." Ben looked to Evie for help when Gil caught sight of a royal poster that was put up. "........OH!! You're King Ben!" Gil gasped. "Oh, no no no, I don't think so." Ben stuttered out, being pulled by Jay and Evie away from Gil nervously. "Yeah! And you're J-Jay, Carlos, Evie...! Hey guys!" Gil greeted them even though they had already disappeared around a corner. "OOOOOOHHHH!! Uma's gonna love this!!" Gil giggled, jumping up and down in excitement before running off to tell his captain what he saw. Meanwhile, the three VKs brought Ben to the base where they were sure Mal and (Y/n) would be. Picking up a rock, Carlos threw it at the warning sign and a gate opened to a stairwell. "Just in there. They should be all the way up." Evie said, pointing to the stairs. Ben nodded and walked over to it before turning back, "Wish me luck." And then he ascended the stairs. 

        You were sitting in your nest, waiting for Mal to come back with food. You had insisted ongoing but were convinced to just take a few minutes to relax and rest. So here you were, laying in your nest and thinking about earlier when Harry had consoled you. After your run-in at Dizzy's shop, you three had gone back to the hideout and hung out for a while. You and Harry caught up for the most part with Mal tagging in to tease you about something or add something that you had left out. It was really nice to have your best friend back... You heard the sound of footsteps on metal, but with no following sound of something dragging behind them, you had assumed Harry had come back. Sitting up and rising from your nest to greet your friend again, you were stunned when you saw Ben standing in the doorway. You felt uneasy under his gaze and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." You paused. That didn't come from you. You looked to Ben again to see a remorseful expression as he walked closer. "I'm so sorry (Y/n)... I blew up at you when you were under so much pressure, so much stress. You were only trying to make things easier on yourself and do your best and I didn't appreciate that. I didn't even say anything or ask you how you felt when you started to hide your wings and horns!" Ben now stood right in front of you, looking every bit as apologetic as he sounded.

        "It's okay Ben... I know I probably looked more appealing when I looked human..." You frowned and looked away. "No!" Ben grabbed your arms and looked at you earnestly, "I think you look nice when you look human, but you look radiant when you're in your true form. I really, really, really missed seeing you like this." He admitted, his cheeks flushing a bit as his eyes scanned over you. "I'm so sorry I didn't say so sooner." He apologized, rating his forehead against yours. "I'm sorry too, Ben... I should have been honest with you about my feelings and about everything that was going on. It was just... I didn't want to seem like I wasn't trying when you were doing all you could to learn how to be king." You apologized as well. "I should have asked you how you felt about all of this and told you how I feel about magic. It's a part of me I can't ever get rid of... I should have told you that from the beginning." You felt his thumb brush against your cheek, and you realized you were crying. "(Y/n)... Please come home." Ben asked quietly. You felt a pang in your chest, and you pulled away, "I... I don't know Ben..." You hesitated. Ben noticed how your wings tensed when he asked but continued trying to convince you. "Please come back with me. I'll do better. I'll be a better boyfriend. I'll spend more time with you, talk to the kingdom about the situation, just... Just please come home." Ben begged, getting on his knees and holding your hands tightly in his.

        "Ben!" You gasped in surprise at his display, "I-I... No, Ben, you've been a wonderful partner! We've just been having some... Communication issues, that's all." You knelt down to be on the same level as him. "But I don't know if I can go back just yet..." "Please..." Ben begged in a soft whisper. It had only been a day, but he had already missed you so much and the thought of you never coming back to him had scared the life out of him. You noticed his feelings too. So, with a small sigh, you made a compromise, "I will stay on the Isle for a little while longer, but I will be back for Cotillion tomorrow night. And then we can work on fixing all of this. Okay?" You asked, hoping he would agree. Ben seemed to brighten, and you smiled, leaning forward and kissing him softly, "Then we're agreed." You whispered after pulling away. Ben looked a bit dazed by your kiss before taking your face in his hand and kissing you once again. You wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed back happily before the two of you had to pull away. You leaned into his touch and smiled, taking one of his hands in yours and giving it a light squeeze. "I'll see you at Cotillion, okay?" You asked quietly. "Okay," Ben replied softly, kissing your knuckles and helping you up. With a final goodbye, Ben went downstairs only to be met with the sight of an irritated Mal holding a bag of food. As if sensing his presence, she spun around to face him and became infuriated, "YOU!" She hissed before marching up to face him. "How dare you upset my sister so much!" She snarled, "(Y/n) was a wreck when I found her after your fight! She was killing the forest and he didn't even know it! You promised my mother that you wouldn't hurt her as a condition of your relationship!" Mal growled, her wings fluffing up and spreading menacingly. "I know, I'm sorry." Ben apologized before he was cut off by Jay, Carlos, and Evie jumping in to calm Mal down. In the mild chaos of the situation, Ben was kidnapped. 

[edda-blattfe]

Emotionally sadistic short stories... idk what exactly that is but I am. Intrigued👀

~Ooh! I’ve been waiting for someone to ask about that. Thank you for doing the honors, darlin’!~

A demonstration is in order! Hold on just a tick...

————————————————————————————————————————

Moonlit snow crackled underfoot, as the raven haired child trudged aimlessly on through the stagnant night. Trees, dark and lifeless as the charred bones of a beast lost to the flame, towered above, casting grim shadows across the horizon; their empty branches reached towards the heavens, begging the full moon for salvation from this harsh winter. The moon, that eye of a cruel god, could answer no such prayer, as it hung in the velvety black sky.

None of this meant anything to boy. No. His empty eyes could only mutely gaze at the frozen earth before him. Sight was the only sense he could trust now. Other than the child’s labored breath and footsteps, nothing else dared to break the hold silence had over the land. The singed woolly blanket, thin night clothes, and hide boots did little to ward off the cold; his flesh tingled, feet numb from the copious amounts of snow fasted to his ankles. For sanity’s sake, all scent had to be shunned; taste along with it. Yes, sight was his only ally.

The world was empty. He was empty.

He moved on.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

His feet were growing heavier.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

‘Keep moving,’ he urged them.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The empty trail behind grew longer.

Crunch. Cru-

‘Stuck. Great.’

Chapped lips pursed, baby cheeks puffed in frustration, the ravenete tugged at his leg. It didn’t move.

Fear quickened his heartbeat.

Another try. Nothing.

‘“Never stand still too long in the cold, my love,’” his mother’s words echoed painfully, ‘“ lest it take you from me.”’

One more time. He heaved, mustering all the streangth possible in his small body.

The snow gave away. He was free. Then lost his balance, falling face first into the snow.

A frustrated groan escaped the ravenette. Arms extended, he pushed himself up. Snow clung to his face. His knees and palms ached painfully. He almost wished they grow as numb as his stumpish feet. He held himself there, crouched in the snow.

‘Would it be so terrible to stay here.’

There it was. Numbness, creeping it’s way through his extremities.

‘There’s no one left....nothing left, for me.’ He eased himself back down. ‘I can fall asleep here, and not worry about tomorrow.’

His eyes, heavy, cold, fluttered closed. ‘I can rest...’

“Why, there you are!”

The boy snapped back to reality. He thought- no, he knew there was no one else in the woods.

“I have been searching every where for you,” the child hurriedly lifted himself up onto his knees, facing the stranger, “My little prince.”

Perhaps it was the particular lilt in the creature’s voice, or the devilish grin, whatever the cause, the boy felt as though he were face to face with a vicious predator. A frighteningly beautiful predator. It looked no older than an adolescent human, but it was certainly anything but that. Its ears were pointed, and the boy could clearly see fangs glinting from behind those thin lips. It stood atop the snow without any sign of breaking the surface, pale flesh glowing, just like the frozen substance, beneath the cold light of the full moon. Choppy black and magenta hair framed the thing’s youthful face.

But the feature that truly struck fear into the boy, was the creature’s eyes. Those deep rose red eyes. The color of blood. The color that spilled from his mother’s head as the home they shared burned around them.

He couldn’t ignore the overpowering scent of smoke that clung to him and the blanket. Memories flashed before him; blinding, terrifying fiery beings swallowing up everything flammable within the small cabin; the heavy blanket being thrown over him as he was pushed towards the door; the beam knocking his mother to the floor, her body lax, eyes empty...

The child’s face scrunched up, hands balled up and shaking. He choked back a sob. His breath hitched. No, he couldn’t break now...no matter how much he wanted to.

Meanwhile the creature merely watched from his place upon the snow, with no sign of pity, like the moon above.

“You have truly been through quite the ordeal tonight,” it sauntered towards the boy. “A terrible thing, really.” It halted in front of the child, and knelt before him. “But now is not the time for...well, this,” it waved a hand, not that anyone else could see it. It waited there, expecting the child to have the decency to look up. He didn’t, and the creature was not known for patience. It gave a huff. Then, in one swift motion, the creature scooped the child up from the snow and into its arms. Leaving the blanket.

The boy started at the abrupt contact. Feebly attempting to push himself away from the thing.

“Now, now, there is no need to struggle...oh for the love of..!” The creature held the child away from itself, holding him like one would a puppy or a doll, face morphed into an unamused expression. “If you will hold still for one moment, I promise not to eat you!”

The child did stop, looking at the creature with a face of utter confusion.

“Knew that would work. For future reference, I do not eat children...if I did, you certainly would not be my first choice.”

“F-future, reference?”

“By Elfame, the lad can speak! Yes. You will be living with me from now on.”

“What?!”

“You heard me.”

The child shook his head, “But, I don’t know you-.”

“You do not have to know me. I am an old friend of your father’s.”

“I don’t have one.”

The creature scoffed, rolling its bloody eyes, “Yes, you do. And a very..hm, unique one. Yes, that’s a good way to describe him...You know, you do bear some resemblance to the old man...What was your name? I swear someone mentioned it, but can not for the life of me recall-.”

“Maleus.” The boy spat. There didn’t seem to be any point in lying. He was becoming aware of how strong this thing’s scrawny arms must be to support him like this for so long.

“Ahh, that is right. Maleus,” It spoke the name slowly, as if it were savoring the flavor of each syllable, “Maleus Draconia.”

“Wait. That’s no-.”

“~Ooh, but it is!~” It finally drew Maleus back to its chest, offering some warmth to the freezing boy. “Draconia was the surname of your father, as it was his father’s, and so on into antiquity. Thus, it is yours!..Whether you like it or not.” It growled the last sentenced, glaring at the child as if expecting some sort of defiance.

Mal merely lowered his head in acceptance.

“Good!” It chirped, bouncing the child onto a hip and walking off to the right of the child’s previous path. “There is much for you to learn. The sooner you you do, the easier all of this will be for the both of us!”

Maleus studied the creature for a moment. “What are you?”

The creature cast a glance at him from the corner of his eye, “Well, that is rather rude. Don’t you think? Asking your guardian what they are before finding out who they are first?”

The boy only glared expectantly at the creature.

It sighed. “Hello Mal,” the creature began, voice monotone, “My name is Lilia, your fairy godfather.”

“My what?”

“Well, not the sort of fairy godparent you have heard of in those foolish tales humans tell. I was given the ‘honor’ of being your godfather, in the familial sense, since before you were even concie-.”

“You’re a boy?”

The fae paused. “That is your take away? You did hear the ‘fairy’ part, right?”

“The weird ears make that easy to believe.”

Lilia held a hand to his chest in feigned offens, “My ears are just as they should be, thank you very much. Just wait until yours grow in!”

“Mine aren’t like that.”

“Not yet. Here, let’s see,” the fairy brushed a few of the youth’s inky strands back. “There! The tips of your ears are pointed. Normally, they don’t fully grow in until puberty... how old are you?”

“Seven.”

“Yes, you have quite some time then. Now if you’re anything like dear old dad you should also have...Ahah!” His hand wandered from the child’s ears to a place just a few inches shy of his temple. “There’s one. Feels like it is almost ready to break through.”

“What is?”

“Your horns. -Do not say ‘what’ again. It is exactly as it sounds.”

Mal promptly shut his mouth.

The pair remained in silence for a time. Above, the moon had drifted into another part of the sky, and the child could almost smell the coming dawn. It was even more quite now than when he was all alone, since Lilia barely put a dent in the snow nor appeared to have any trouble with carrying his charge. Behind them, the indents from the boy’s trek grew further and further away, until they were completely swallowed up by the horizon, along with the woolen blanket.

“My mother...” Maleus whispered in his soft voice.

“She’s gone, little prince.”

The child somberly nodded. “I know.” He sniffled, wanting to hold back the waves of pent up emotion until later. “You-..you said I look like my father?”

“Yes....you have his eyes. That stunning green, with the tell tale fae pupil.” He mused, recalling a face lost long ago. “The shape is different, though. His were a tad round. The hair must be your mother’s. Thank Elfame for that, prince. His was this grayish purple, ugly as sin in my opinion, but he refused to put a glamour spell on it no matter what I did to him!” He laughed- well, it was more of a cackle, really. There was something eerie in it’s tone, and became far clearer as the it echoed throughout the frost laden wood. Mal was certain that if there were any other living beings around, they surely would have run off in fear.

“Why do you keep calling me a “prince”? Was my father a king?”

“No...not in a literal sense, at least.”

“Then why?”

“Curiouser and curiouser, you are!...Think of it this way; a king is a sort of leader, yes? Your father was, in a way, my leader. You will, one day, be a leader yourself. What do you call a boy who is to be king?”

“A prince...but wha-.”

“That is enough questions, for now. Once we arrive home and settle you in, then, and only then, will you be permitted to ask anything else. Do you understand?”

“Fine.” Curt, but it was a reply, nonetheless.

Onward they went, across the snow covered expanse, beneath the eye of the full moon.

—————————————————————————————————————————

Ok, perhaps I may have strayed a bit away from the “emotionally sadistic” vibe...but this was fun to write! Hope y’all enjoyed!

[hannahmcne]

Can You Hear Me?

Ben is only seven when he is diagnosed with meningitis. He wakes up one morning with a high fever and a headache and can’t keep anything down the entire day. The servants and his parents in Beast’s Castle assume it’s flu until his mom comes in the following morning and discovers that Ben won’t wake up. A doctor is called in, and they get him on a small weekly prescription to see if things will get better by week out. On a Saturday, two months before he turns eight, Ben is rushed to Auradon Central Medicare and formally diagnosed with meningitis.

At the time of his admission, the two outside layers of the meninges that protect his brain have swelled up and fluid is gathering inside his skull, leading to him not being able to stand light and having trouble keeping conscious. The nurses and doctors arrange a set of IV’s that send a steady range of antibiotics straight into his veins, an oxygen mask to regulate his breathing throughout the night, several dozen steroid and anti-inflammation medications he has to take by mouth during the day when the oxygen mask is off, and many other things. Meningitis isn’t a surgery-fixable case, so Ben is left to fight it off by himself.

Looking back, Ben can’t remember the exact specifics, but he does remember waking up one morning, squinting around the room as nurses rushed in with water, food, and medications, and thinking that things sounded rather fuzzy, as if he was underwater or had earplugs in. Then, suddenly, if his mom says something to him, he can only hear half of it. Doctors quickly catch on to the problem and bring in Ben’s first audiologist, who tests his ears and declares that Ben is almost 100% deaf in his left ear and steadily increasing towards deafness in his right. By the time he’s eight, his ears are no longer working.

Ben slowly recovers, but his hearing doesn’t. Those first few nights back home are horrible. People forget, try calling to him, get angry when he doesn’t answer, and then are embarrassed when they remember. His parents get someone to come and teach him sign language, but for the first weeks, he struggles to write what he wants to say to his parents as they wait, fidgeting, for him to express his thoughts. Many times, Ben finds himself sitting in the quiet of his room, tapping silently on the windowsills and walls, hoping by some miracle he’ll hear more than just the memories of what the sound was.

The years pass. He learns to read lips. Exhausting? Yes. Necessary? Equal yes. He slowly starts to make friends again. At first, people are nice to talk slowly while he tries to associate movements to meanings, but soon they start talking just as fast as ever, and Ben’s head spins, trying to make sense of everything everyone is saying. He learns to follow conversations by following people’s eyes when they turn to listen to someone else speak and practices daily in front of a mirror with a transcribing device, making sure he can still be understood even though he can’t hear anymore.

People say he’s a great speaker.

His friends describe him as a great listener.

He guesses he’ll never really know for sure.

He’s Auradon’s future leader, born to listen to the kingdom and fix their problems, and he can’t even hear anything. He wonders if his future wife will have a problem with the idea he’ll never once hear her muttering to herself or singing to anything. He wonders if his future kids will make jokes to their friends about how their dad never listens to them or something.

At the age of sixteen, Ben makes the decision to bring over villain kids from the Isle of the Lost in order to start a re-integration process that will start to heal things between the Isle and Auradon. And yeah, there is lots of fear in doing something like that. What if he picks wrong? What if they start to destroy Auradon? What if they just plain don’t like him? He picks four to start with, figuring it’ll be easier to connect with a smaller group first, and sets about work. Soon enough, the first four names are down. Mal, daughter of Maleficent, Evie, Daughter of the Evil Queen, Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil, and Jay, son of Jafar.

Arrangements are made, parents are notified, and the new students are set to arrive on a Tuesday to the Auradon Prep front circle. Fairy Godmother invites the band(Which is a division Ben appreciates a lot more than the other students, given he can’t hear the horrible beginning practices) down to welcome the new students and Audrey gets herself excused from her class to come down and be with him as he welcomes the new kids.

On the day of, Ben can feel cold sweat dripping down his back as he stands, baking in the mid-afternoon light, waiting for the limo to appear down the road. Audrey’s arm is looped through his, his suit is sticking to his arms, and his hands are shaking. She leans her head on his shoulder serenely and then he sees her start moving her lips out of the corner of his eye. He whips his head around to follow her words as best he can.

“…be nervous,” She is saying. “They’ll love you. Everyone does.”

“I didn’t catch that first part,” He tells her with a sigh. He hates how she likes to talk with her head on his arm. It’s hard to see her. She can’t expect him to know a word she said if he can’t see her, right?

Fairy Godmother puts a hand on his other arm gently and points down the driveway. Ben sees a glimpse of a black hood and his breath catches. He pulls his arm out of Audrey’s and takes a deep breath, rubbing his hands on his suit.

The limo comes to a stop; the door opens. There’s a minor scuffle, but then all four stand in front of him, and then Ben is relaxing because he can see teamwork here. He can see curiosity and wonder and chocolate smeared on Carlos’s cheek. There’s definitely hope. He picked right.

“It’s so, so good to finally meet you all,” He declares, stepping forward with a smile. “I’m Ben.”

All of the VK’s eyes rest on him, and he can see their expressions softening just slightly before their eyes jump to the person next to him and he can see walls going back up again. He turns to see what’s wrong and watches Audrey’s lips form the words: “soon-to-be-king!”

He lets out a nervous laugh, mentally kicking himself in her behalf, and adds: “This is Audrey!”, which is another mistake as Audrey stops the conversation to declare that she’s a princess.

Evie steps forward, and she’s mumbling. He has no idea what she’s saying. She’s barely moving her lips as she speaks, and he’s at a loss. He turns to Audrey, hoping she’ll have caught on(Fat chance, because out of all his friends, Audrey is the one who ignores the fact he can’t hear the most) to the fact he is clueless, and he watches her mouth curl into a sneer as she replies: “The Evil Queen has no royal status here, and neither do you.”

Oh. Oh. Why, dear lord, would she say that?

“Audrey,” He grits out, turning to the side. “Can you just… chill?”

Audrey blinks in surprise. “I am chill,” She protests, wrinkling her brow up.

“No, you’re not,” He shakes his head. “So just stop.” He turns back to the villain kids and moves forward, out holding a hand. “I’m Ben, I’m going to show you around and I’m going to be here to answer any questions you have. You can come to me for anything – anything at all.” He shakes the hand of the first villain kid, who he suspects is Jay from the insignia on his jacket, and then the next in line, who stands slightly forward as if she’s the leader. The wing applique attached to her shoulders make him suspect this is Mal, daughter of Maleficent. Evie is obvious. She has apple jewelry and recently declared herself a princess if he suspects correctly. And that means the last boy is Carlos de Vil.

There’s a short introduction of the area by Fairy Godmother, and the band heads out. Ben turns to Audrey. “I think I’ve got it from here,” He tells her as clearly as he can. “I’ll come to find you later.”

Probably to break up with her. He’s sick of her attitude.

As he leads the Villain Kids into the front of the building, he keeps turned around so he can keep track of any conversations they’re having. They don’t say much, which is good, and the first time Carlos moves to ask something, he raises a hand that immediately draws Ben’s attention and has him mentally sighing in relief.

As they pause in front of the Beast’s statue and the four watch him turn it from a man into Beast, Mal turns with a little smirk pulling at her mouth and asks: “Does he shed much?” And even though he can’t hear her voice, he can tell it’s filled with sarcasm and humor. His response pleases himself too.

“Yeah, Mom won’t let him on the couch,” He replies. And Mal’s expression catches because she clearly didn’t expect an Auradon boy to get her Isle sarcasm. All of the Isle kids exchange little looks as he smiles, and he can already tell that this is the start of something great.

The boys immediately get in with tourney, which is great, because it’s something he gets into as well. His teammates have to tap him on the shoulder and relay any direct instructions that are for him, but overall it doesn’t require lots of communication and is fun for him. Lack of communication is another reason he enjoys swimming. Meanwhile, Evie debuts a few Isle designs, slowly starts letting people buy things off of her, and then suddenly she’s the number one fashionista in the school and people are commissioning her for outfits and accessories. Mal draws a lot, he notices immediately, except she doesn’t sign up for art class until he convinces her to do it with him. Then, eventually, she becomes top of the entire program and the teacher sends one of her Isle-inspired pieces to a country gala where Ben’s parents actually text him a photo of it to get his opinion. Ben, meanwhile, learns how to use a dot to make a 2D picture.

And so he and the VK’s are friends. When they come up to talk to him, they clap him on the shoulder so he knows they’re there and he tells Evie to speak up so he can always understand her, and things are good. Really good.

Until suddenly they’re not.

________________________________________________________________

“Ben!” Mal raises her voice and her hand to wave across the room as the young King enters the lunchroom(He’s the king now, and neither Mal nor her friends really felt like ruining his big day to steal the wand, so now their plans have become a ‘Distant Maybe’ (Aka, probably not)). She keeps her hand raised for a few seconds and then brings it back down when Ben doesn’t reply. She stares at her fingertips numbly as Evie, Jay, and Carlos duck their heads a little in confusion.

“That’s not the first time he’s done that,” Evie mumbles, pushing her plate away and setting her mirror down on the table.

“Maybe he’s getting annoyed with us?” Carlos suggests in a hollow tone, setting his elbows on the table and his chin on his elbows.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Mal murmurs as she watches Audrey raise an

arm from a different table and call for Ben. He sees her arm out of the corner of his eye and turns to smile and wave before he goes to sit down beside Chad Charming, who Mal doesn’t like, Lonnie, who Mal only likes a little, and Audrey, who Mal could watch burn alive and not care. Audrey looks over at Mal with a little smirk as Ben starts to talk with them, and Mal averts her gaze, acting as if she doesn’t care that he’s not sitting with them again. Acting as if it doesn’t hurt that he’s ignoring them.

Jay pushes his plate back too and stares at the table for a few seconds. They all completely miss Ben turning to search around the room from his table and trying to wave when he sees them.

________________________________________________________________

Mal is standing at her locker when she hears footsteps approaching from the other side, which the door is blocking. She closes her eyes. The footsteps are light, so she knows they are not Ben’s, but it is the fact that someone is trying to impersonate Ben that has her heart aching. Nothing good can come out of this.

She shuts her locker door and meets the eyes of Princess Audrey, the King’s girlfriend. And then she leans against the lockers and keeps her face blank as she waits for the girl to state her case or scoff and leave, as she usually does.

“Aren’t you going to say good morning?” Audrey demands after a while.

Mal raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?” She asks.

Audrey scoffs. “It’s never a good morning when you’re around. Ben really is just too trusting.”

Mal slumps internally. She really doesn’t want to hear this right now, but she can’t turn and walk off without showing Audrey she’s getting to her, so she stands there without a single flinch.

“I mean, sure, his mom fell in love with the big nasty beast who turned out to be a prince, but with my mom, the evil fairy was just the evil fairy. Your mother, remember?” Audrey sneers. “Doesn’t look like there’s been much change between generations.”

An arm appears out of nowhere, separating Mal and Audrey, and Mal looks up to see the very cross face of the king himself as he pushes Audrey away from Mal. Audrey’s face falls away into shock. “Ben,” She squawks. “How much did you-”

“I saw it all,” Ben snaps, dropping his backpack on the ground and taking his girlfriend by the shoulders. “And that’s it. I’m sick of your attitude towards me, towards everyone else, towards the people I like… everyone. We’re not your doormats, and I hate how you think you’re entitled to brathood because you’re my girlfriend. This is it. We’re done, Audrey. I’m breaking up with you.”

Audrey crumples, tries to grab at his sleeves, but he’s turning away, already gone. He turns back to Mal with a concerned expression, reaching to put an arm around her shoulders, and Mal can’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

“Are you okay?” He whispers, tugging her chin up a little so he can see her face. “Listen… it’s not true what Audrey said.”

Mal pushes him away. Something about this isn’t correct. He can’t ignore them and then swing around full circle to try and fool them that he cares about him. “Just go back to ignoring us,” She snaps. “We already deal with everyone else hating us – we can deal with you too.”

Though it’s disappointing… he seemed so genuine and funny.

Ben’s arm drops from around her and he repeats: “Ignoring you,’ as if it’s astounding to him. Mal rolls her eyes. She doesn’t understand why he’s pretending now, of all times. She turns her back to him and strides off with her shoulders back and her chin held aloft. She can hear Audrey starting to cry behind her and thinks, at the very least, Audrey is finally getting what’s coming to her.

________________________________________________________________

There’s a light knock at the door that evening. Carlos has mastered his game and is searching on the internet for a new one to begin while Jay cleans his tourney stuff off in a corner and Evie sketches her heart out in a design book, trying to find her next big creation. Mal is reminiscing Ben’s arm around her shoulders and squeezing her eyes shut as she recalls what it was like to hear Ben break up with his girlfriend. And since she’s the relatively least busy, she’s the one who gets up to answer the door when the second knock comes, more persistent and meaning it’s not Ben behind the door.

She slides the lock and uses her toes to swing the door open. Over the threshold is Doug, who is probably going to end up being Evie’s boyfriend, she thinks. Evie stands up with a smile when she sees him and waves. "Doug!” She greets. “I didn’t know you were coming over today.”

“Hi, Evie,” Doug smiles and waves a little. “I, erm, am actually here on Ben’s behalf and – wait! No, don’t close the door!” He jams his foot into the frame as Mal moves to swing the door closed at the mention of the King’s name. Evie sits down with a scowl as Doug opens the door with a sigh, steps in, and closes it. Mal goes to sit back in her place on Jay’s bed without a word or a flicker of emotion. Everyone else looks away with similar expressions of disdain as Doug takes a deep breath against the door.

“Ben said that the four of you think he’s ignoring you. I’ve, ah, come to clear things up with you in case you don’t feel like talking to him.” He swallows, and then Jay speaks up from across the room.

“Man, we get it, he doesn’t like hanging around the villain kids. We get it.” He sighs, sounding dejected. “It’s just a little disappointing because he’s the one who brought us over.”

“Ben is deaf,” Doug corrects with a shake of the head. “He hasn’t been able to hear anything since he was eight years old. So, if you’re trying to get his attention from across a room or walking by him in the hallways, you need to make sure he’s able to see you so that he can read your lips.”

The room is silent. Then, slowly, Jay straightens up, looking mystified. Carlos looks like the heavens have reopened. A revelatory light comes into Evie’s eyes, and Mal gets up and turns to stare at Doug. “He… can’t hear us?” She repeats.

“100% deaf,” Doug confirms. “That’s why he has to have people speak slower or ask them to repeat things. He doesn’t even know what he sounds like. He practices speaking with a transcriber in the morning so he can make sure people can understand them. So, he hasn’t been ignoring you, he just had no clue you were trying to talk to him.”

“But he went to Audrey’s table when she called him,” Mal frowns, recalling Audrey’s smirk as the king joined them. “And he didn’t look at us at all.”

“Were you sitting somewhere he could see you?” Doug asks. The four VK’s fall silent again. Mal leans back into the wall. Ben is deaf. He can’t hear. That makes so much more sense.

“Why didn’t anyone tell us?” Carlos asks, running his hands through Dude’s fur at his side.

Doug shrugs. “I don’t know. We all thought you knew. I was actually pretty surprised when Ben asked if I could come to explain things on his behalf. I didn’t know that you didn’t know.”

The silence stretches out with each of them taking in the revelation. Then Jay, across the room, heaves a sigh and goes: “Oh,” and the other three chuckle in relieving humor.

________________________________________________________________

Mal makes the first attempt at conversation with Ben the next day, as she spots him down the hall, walking with Chad. She pauses at her locker, screws up her courage, and then sticks out a hand and waves it. Ben doesn’t notice for a second, so she keeps her hand out, and then suddenly his head snaps in her direction. He blinks for a second, taking in the fact she’s trying to get his attention, and then his entire face brightens. He claps Chad on the shoulder, bids him goodbye, and hurries over to her with his entire face beaming, completely happy that she’s speaking to him again.

“Hi!” He greets her.

“Hi!” She smiles a little in spite of herself. He goes to open up his arms for a hug before he appears to remember that the VK’s aren’t as open to affection as the Auradonians. But Mal accidentally opens her hands up and so they stand there awkwardly before he puts a hand around her and gives her a hug from the side. She kind of… lets her arms fall into place around him and he laughs, a bubbling sound that she feels rise up in his chest and it makes her feel a lot happier than she’s been lately.

“I saw you trying to get my attention,” Ben smiles. “Do you need anything? I’ve missed talking to you.”

“I’ve missed talking to you,” Mal smiles, shutting her locker even though she still needs to grab her textbook and head to class. He keeps an arm around her, which makes it hard to draw away the arm she has around his back, but she does let her left arm drop. In her hand is her sketchpad with her pencil stuck into the spiral ring. They start wandering down the hall aimlessly together. “Doug explained… things to us. We’re sorry that we thought you were ignoring us.”

Ben ducks down a little to continue watching her mouth as she looks to the ground, and the thought occurs to her: if Ben is to read lips, he has to see said lips move. She brings her head back up, allowing Ben to straighten his neck as well. “Sorry,” she apologizes.

“No, I’m sorry,” Ben shakes his head. “I honestly thought you guys knew. I was a little concerned when you all stopped coming around to hang out and Carlos and Jay would break off during tourney practices, but I just kind of hoped you were starting to feel a little more at home here and were trying to branch out.”

Mal shakes her head. “We had no idea,” She sighs. “I do think, in hindsight, that Audrey realized we didn’t know. There were times we’d try and get your attention and you wouldn’t notice, and she’d try right after us and look over to make sure we got the memo.”

Ben frowned. “I’m sorry about Audrey,” He shook his head. “She got bad leading up to coronation, but after it was over, she was just insufferable. I’ve been meaning to break up with her for a while. When I came up to talk to you and saw her saying that stuff… it really was just the last straw.”

Mal hums and suddenly, she’s not sure how, they’re out on the grounds and their arms are still around each other’s backs, and they’re just chatting like two old friends. He gestures down at her sketchbook. “Have you done anything new recently?” He asks.

“Loads,” Mal affirms, holding it up. “I’m almost out of room. Having you gone gave me lots of angst time.”

“Oh, we can’t have that,” Ben laughs, rolling his eyes. He holds his hand out for the book. “May I?” He asks.

She hands it to him and then watches his face grow brighter as he opens it and starts flipping through from where he last saw her working. He stops to flip back at some of his old favorites – a rose is, notably, one he is always enchanted by – and she can see in his eyes how impressed he is with her recent work.

“You really like art a lot, huh?” She asks. He doesn’t answer, and Mal mentally kicks herself before she waves a little hand in his face, waits for him to rip his eyes away, and then repeats the question.

“I do,” Ben affirms, glancing back at the picture as he speaks. This one is of Jay on the tourney field, diving into a catch in what feels like slow motion. “Art needs no words.” He glances back at Mal to make sure she isn’t saying anything else before they stop beside a tree and take a seat at the base of the trunk. She wraps her arms around her legs and watches him flip through.

No words, meaning he doesn’t have to follow the conversation. Mal watches him continue looking through her work. A little bell goes off in the back of her mind. You have class, something reminds her. Your textbook is in your locker.

She can be late – it won’t be anything anyone wouldn’t expect from a villain kids, after all.

Ben puts his finger down on a self-portrait she’s been working on, with different parts of her personality and the Isle itself detailed into her outfit and features. In her eyes is a curling dragon, under her arm is a spellbook, her friends have images on her arms, and the Isle skyline is worked into the base of her jacket and into the hemline of her jeans. “This is amazing,” He breathes. “You are so incredibly talented.” Ben looks up to see if she’ll respond, but she doesn’t, she only shrugs, and he goes back to admiring the portrait.

“I want to commission you to do anything we ever need ever in the palace,” Ben breathes, leaning back into the tree. Mal laughs a little and then waves her hand a little. His gaze snaps back to her as she starts to speak.

“Is it okay for me to ask what being deaf is like?” She asks. “I mean, you seem to fit in really well – we seriously had no idea you were deaf – but what do you think about it?”

Ben frowns. She can see a little hurt in his eyes, but something tells her that it is not her fault. He folds the pages of her sketchbook back over the binder, leaving her portrait visible so he can keep stealing glances at it, and takes a deep breath. “It’s hard,” He admits. “By this point though, I’ve been without my hearing for half of my life, so I’m used to it.”

“What don’t you like about it?” She asks.

“Trying to listen to other people is hard,” Ben confesses. “Especially when there’s more than one. I get massive headaches trying to figure out what everyone is saying and jumping from person to person. And then there’s the fact I can’t be called. My parents and I use sign language at home, but almost none of my friends know any, so I can’t use it here.”

“Is sign language easier?” Mal asks.

Ben nods. “Yeah. Reading lips can get exhausting. Especially when you have people who have their faces hidden or when they mumble or even if they have lots of, like, braces stuff in their mouth. It’s hard. I couldn’t understand what Evie was saying the first few times she talked because she was trying to do that thing where you talk without moving your face.”

Mal bursts into laughter. That annoys her when Evie does it – she can’t imagine how Ben refrained himself from slapping her. Ben smiles and leans back into the tree. “There are also the things I miss that make me sad, you know? Like, I haven’t heard the national anthem in years, and whenever it’s played, I just have to stand there awkwardly, waiting for everyone else to indicate it’s done. I can’t hear waterfalls or birdsong or everyone screaming at the end of a tourney match. When I grow up, I’m never going to hear my wife sing or my kids cry or anything.”

Mal’s smile fades and she touches her ears lightly as if to make sure they still work. “That’s awful,” She mumbles, trying to imagine a world of complete silence.

Ben leans forward, looking confused. “Did you say something? I couldn’t catch that.” He squints at her mouth.

“Oh, sorry,” Mal takes her hand away. “I said 'that’s awful’. I wish there was something I could try. A spell or something…” She trails off, thinking of her mother’s spellbook in her locker. The chances of her mom having something in there seem minuscule, but she can always check.

“I’ve learned to live with it,” Ben shrugged. “Is there anything else you wanted to ask me, or can I finish looking at your drawings now?”

Mal gestures for him to go on, and he looks down and continues examining her portrait, completely blown away by the small details she’s included into herself. Mal smirks a little as she watches him trace the pencil markings with his eyes, and then slowly reaches over the uses her nail to flip a few pages forward. She pulls the pages up and Ben gasps when he sees the picture that she’s shown him. It’s of himself, though it doesn’t have much detail, yet. She’s doing one for all her friends. This one has Auradon Castle running along the bottom of the page as Ben stands in a tan shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, looking over his shoulder a little. One eye if shaded and detailed with a little library swirling around his pupil, but the other is just circular markings that will determine the placement of his other features.

“Woah, I look good!” He exclaims, tracing a finger down his sleeves. “You make me look really good!”

Another laugh spills out of her throat. She can’t help it. He just makes her laugh. All the time, whenever she’s with him, she’s laughing.

Ben puts his arm around her and she leans into his side as he flips back and forth between her portrait and his, occasionally glancing through the other three. “When these are done, I want them,” He declares, and doesn’t look down to see if she’ll protest.

Evie finally messages her a 'where are you?’ and Mal knows the gig is up. Ben begrudgingly hands her back her book. “I’m going to have to get you a new one,” He declares, leading her back to her locker for her book.

“I’ll just get one from the school,” Mal shakes her head. “You don’t have to do that.”

“No, I’m going to get you a really good one with lots of high-quality paper,” Ben decides, moving his hands to accentuate his words. “And then we’ll have to get you a lock so no one comes to steal your artwork.”

She’s laughing, again, as she opens her locker and takes out her textbook and spellbook and a couple of other books. Then she shuts it again and they stand there in the sunlight for a little while. Ben’s eyes flicker from her face, checking to make sure she’s not talking, down to the sketchbook, and she knows he’s thinking about those drawings.

“I better get to class,” She finally says, heart falling a little. “I’m already late.”

“Are you free on Friday night?” Ben asks, eyes drifting up to meet hers.

Mal tilts her head to the side. “I think so,” She affirms. “Are you hoping to come around and see everyone?”

“Do you want to go on a date?” Ben asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the lockers.

Mal’s mouth goes a little dry before her smile grows even wider. “Yeah,” She agrees, nodding her head in case her words somehow don’t travel over to him. It’s entirely possible, as her face feels a little numb. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“I’ll make some plans and come talk to you about them later,” Ben decides. He puts an arm around her one more time, and then they bid each other goodbye, and he goes one way, and she goes the other.

________________________________________________________________

Mal, Jay, and Carlos slam a torrent of books down in front of Evie and Doug as they sit in a hidden corner of the library with completed Chemistry Homework and advanced theory books open in front of them. Evie looks over, startled, as the table rattles a little and a passing librarian pops her head out to frown at them. “What are you doing?” She demands in a whisper.

“Look,” Mal gasps, holding up the thinnest manual of all the various books they’ve dropped onto Evie and Doug’s workspace. It’s a manual depicting how to perform basic conversations in sign language. “Ben knows sign language, and he said almost none of his friends know it. If we learn it, then not only will it be easier for us to talk to him, but also no one will know what we’re saying. It’ll be like Isle code, but with Ben.”

“Oh!” Evie’s eyes light up and she begins to skim the stack of various sign language dictionaries. “That’s completely brilliant! So, is it a surprise?”

“Yes,” Carlos nods, picking up one about various foods in sign language and opening it to a random page. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t botch it first.”

“Guys,” Doug tries to break in carefully, but Jay cuts in.

“This stuff is like, super easy, too. To say 'hi’ you just wave. Simple!” He exclaims, searching through the manuals for one he likes.

“Guys!” Doug calls for their attention. They turn to look at him and then watch as he rattles off a complicated pattern with his hands. Mal’s mouth drops open. “I’m Ben’s only other friend who knows sign language. My dad taught me it. And, by the way, you aren’t going to be able to remember everything in all of those manuals just by reading through them and practicing once or twice. What if you start with conversations, and we can all practice together, and then generally add in things like sports and families and food?”

He has a point, Mal concedes. Jay and Carlos and Evie are all nodding along to his words, so Mal sighs and picks out one large dictionary and the one manual about basic conversation. “So, start here?” She asks.

Doug puts his hands in the air, palms facing outwards, and shakes them back and forth. “Start here,” He instructs. “This is the sign you use to get someone’s attention.”

Helpful, Mal immediately pegs it. This is very, very helpful. They all look a little strange, shaking their hands at each other in a corner of the library, but she feels a little accomplished already because this is something she can use besides holding her hand out forever and hoping he’ll notice her from a distance.

The journey has begun.

________________________________________________________________

Evie walks into the girl’s room a week later to find Carlos sitting on her bed with Dude and Mal finishing her homework on hers. She shuts the door behind her and flips the light on and off twice to get their attention before holding her hands up, fingers splayed and facing the ground, and flipping them upwards. 'What’s up?’

Carlos stretches his shoulders a little before he responds by flexing his index finger as if he’s trying to grab something in front of him, rubbing his knuckles together like there’s something in between them, and then touching his middle finger and thumb together before snapping. 'I need to wash the dog’.

Mal flexes her fingers on her left hand before tapping her wrist against the back of her right hand. 'Homework’. She says. Then, shaking her finger in the air and pointing at Evie, 'Where were you?“

Evie spells out Doug’s name and holds up a new manual out of her bag. Mal smiles proudly. That qualifies as a conversation. They’ve just completed a basic conversation. She balls her fists up and gives them a little shake of triumph before turning her eyes back to her homework. She feels so, so close.

________________________________________________________________

Eventually, it gets to the point that they’re all in remedial goodness together, and they’re signing across the desks instead of talking verbally when the Fairy Godmother gives them a 'discuss this’ assignment. The headmistress watches from the front of the room as Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos all move their hands and faces with dramatic, yet silent expressions. Mal recently learned the signs for 'be quiet’ (Crossing one’s hands a little underneath their chin and then moving them apart) and she’s overusing it a little bit as Carlos insists that the answer is 'C’, not 'A’.

"Did you guys know that Ben also knows sign language?” The Fairy Godmother asks when they all settle down. Carlos is fuming in his seat.

“We know,” Mal nods, looking down at the portrait she’s almost finished of him. Hers is done, so is Jay’s, Carlos’s she has to fix Dude, and then Evie’s is falling behind just a little as she works on putting Ben’s parents into his sleeve and them – his friends – onto the other.

“He’s kind of the reason we’re all picking it up,” Jay explains, kicking his feet up on the table. “Now we can talk to him without his other friends being annoying.”

“Oh,” Fairy Godmother blinks in surprise. “I don’t think anyone’s ever learned for him besides his parents. That’s very kind of you.”

She turns back to the blackboard and Mal feels another surge of pride. She can’t wait to see the look on Audrey’s face when the Core Four get to talk to Ben without her knowing a word.

________________________________________________________________

One would assume that Family Day would be an extremely unpopular event for a bunch of teenagers, but everyone seems to get pretty down on the idea that their parents are allowed to visit. Ben tries not to talk about it very much at first because he’s afraid that they’re upset their parents won’t be there, but to be honest the four have kind of given up on their lives back on the Isle and are liking their Auradon lives much, much better.

Ben’s parents, the former King and Queen of Auradon, arrive in a polished carriage that Mal could spot from a mile away. Ben meets them at the gates and she watches as they greet each other with shaking hands and 'how are you’s that she can understand. After exchanging pleasantries with his parents, Ben turns and gestures her forward. She steps up, and Ben introduces her as his girlfriend (Bringing a thumb down from beside his cheek and then linking his index fingers together twice with either palm facing down.)

Belle and Adam’s eyes widen with shock and a little worry. After all, girlfriends either turn into exes or wives and having the daughter of Maleficent as either could get a little messy. But Ben is confident, explaining briefly about her, and she smiles as she pretends she can’t understand 70% of what he is signing.

Finally, Ben turns back to her with his bright smile and re-translates the entire conversation for her. She shakes hands with his parents and then his dad points Ben’s attention to where the Fairy Godmother is calling for him behind his back, trying to get someone to tap on his shoulder. Ben leaves, walking for the Fairy Godmother, and Mal makes eye contact with the royals before she lets loose a few signs of her own.

She touches her fingertips to her brow in a light sort of salute, holds a fist up with her thumb on the outside, then crosses her thumb over her first two fingers, and finally makes an 'L’ shape with her hand. 'I know Auradon Sign Language.’ Then, crossing her arms across her belly, making a motion as if she were flipping a word out to someone from her chin, and turning to point at Ben’s retreating back a little. 'Don’t tell Ben.’

Belle’s mouth drops open a little bit more and Adam straightens up in curiosity. “It’s a secret,” She whispers, leaning forward a little. “My friends and I are all learning to surprise him.” She points back to her boyfriend with a meaningful eyebrow quirk, crosses her arms again, and then touches the top of her head in that same salute. 'He doesn’t know.’

Queen Belle’s eyes fill with tears as Adam nods in the heaviest sort of approval he can muster. Belle gestures to them both and makes the motion to seal her lips closed. 'We won’t tell.’

________________________________________________________________

Mal can’t deny that she is very nervous as she, Jay, Carlos and Evie all sit at their lunch table together, but Doug has pronounced them mostly fluent and they haven’t spoken in each other’s company in a week straight now, so she figures it’s time to put their skills to use. She points to each of the four of them with a questioning look on her face. 'Who will start?“

Jay, Evie, and Carlos all point at her before Carlos signs, pointing towards her and then closing a hand by his forehead before linking his index fingers together in the same way you do for 'girlfriend’ and 'friend’. 'He’s your boyfriend.’

Mal acknowledges this with a deep breath and a nod and then looks up to see the person in question enter the room. She watches as he’s caught up in a group of other friends – Chad Charming, Lonnie, Jane, Doug, and even Audrey. She watches him get caught up in the conversation, looking a little dizzy as he follows everyone’s eyes to figure out who is speaking. Her hands are shaking a little, and that’s not even a sign.

"Go on,” Jay whispers. It’s actually a little weird to hear his voice after just listening to him sign the last few weeks.

Mal hesitates a second longer, and then puts her hands into the air and shakes them a little. Jay, Evie, and Carlos all turn and mimic her motion, and immediately, Ben’s eyes have left his friends’ and he is staring across the room at the table trying to get his attention. After all, that is the sign for getting someone’s attention, and he is the only deaf person in the area.

Evie beckons him forward with a hand. 'Come here.’

Jay gestures to the group, makes claws with his hands and brings them closer to his chest, taps his fingers on his lips, and then points to Ben. 'We want to talk to you.’

Carlos takes up the 'Come here’ sign as Mal puts the tips of her fingers together and curls them outwards at her sternum, a little like she’s presenting a gift, and points at her boyfriend. 'How are you?’ She asks.

Ben stares at them like he doesn’t understand what he’s seeing for several seconds. Chad starts trying to talk to him, but of course Ben isn’t looking; he’s staring at their group and slowly bringing his hands up to cover his mouth as they all repeat their signs, trying to urge him to come over so they can really try out their skills. His eyes fill with tears and he stumbles a little. The rest of the group finally follows his gaze over to the VK’s, who start asking if he’s okay by flicking their index fingers out in concern. Mal gets a great sense of pride when Audrey’s eyes bug out and her entire left side of her face twitches. She’s probably seen Ben’s parents using sign language and knows exactly what she’s seeing, even if she doesn’t know what any of the hand symbols mean.

Ben brings his hands down and then starts his own signs. He points at them, brings a hand up to his face and spreads his palm out like something that blew up in front of him, and then repeats the signs for ASL. 'You learned sign language?’ He asks.

The group all signs 'yes’ as one and it’s at that moment when Ben absolutely breaks down. He has to sit down on the steps of the lunchroom as tears fill his eyes and fall down his face. People go absolutely silent around him as they watch the King of all Auradon wiping his eyes and trying not to make any sound as he cries because he has no idea what he sounds like when he’s sobbing this hard. Mal’s hands feel cold, and she’s not sure what to do, but Doug gestures them all forward and they slowly leave their seats to go crowd around him.

“Are we going to get in trouble for this?” Carlos hisses under his breath as they approach the area where Doug is awkwardly patting Ben’s back as the rest of his friends stare, dumbfounded, at what they just witnessed.

“I think he’s just blown away that we did it,” Mal whispers back. She sits down on the ground beside Ben, chewing on her lip a little, and makes the sign for 'okay?’. Ben watches her through his fingers and then sniffles and takes his hands away from his face to make an arc from his mouth outwards with one hand. 'Thank you’.

He repeats that sign with all of them, several times, and the lunchroom just kind of stays quiet despite the fact most of them have no idea what’s going on. He signs it until Mal finally puts her hand on his. Jay shakes his hands from side to side on her behalf. 'It’s nothing.’

“Did you all… learn sign language?” Audrey asks, dumfounded above them. “You know he can just read lips, right?”

Mal rolls her eyes at an angle so that she knows Audrey can see. Because it’s ridiculous that Audrey is the one pointing this out after she took advantage of Ben’s hearing to tease and mock the villain kids. She presents her palms, face-up, points to Ben, then pretends she’s tapping a flat surface with both hands, taps her fingers against her mouth, gestures to each of her friends, and finally holds one hand steady as she brushes the other past it in a small circle several times. 'Now you can talk to us easier.’

Ben watches her hands move and then buries his face in his knees, giving up on holding his sobs in and breaking down on the pavement.

None of them are quite sure what to do. Audrey looks absolutely offended that this is having such a big impact on Ben while Lonnie, Jane, and Chad look enchanted and a little impressed. Doug looks on proudly as the four villain kids exchange glances, trying to figure out how to comfort Ben. Gradually, Evie pulls some makeup wipes out of her purse for him to wipe his eyes and blow his nose with, Jay awkwardly claps Ben’s shoulder while Carlos continues signing for 'Okay?’. Mal wraps a single arm around her boyfriend’s back and pats his side carefully until he starts to calm down.

Ben tries not to shower them in affection because he knows they’re not used to that kind of stuff but he’s such an affectionate guy that it’s hard. He presses a couple of kisses onto Mal’s hairline and gives Evie, Jay, and Carlos more hugs than they’ve ever had before in their lives as students gradually rip their eyes away and go back to their lunch.

'You’. He points at each of them. 'Didn’t’. He brings a fist down from under his chin with a thumb up. 'Need’. He flexes his finger like he’s trying to scoot something in front of him forward a little. 'To learn’. He repeats the motion of something blowing up in his face with his palm.

Mal reaches into her pocket and unfolds the portrait of him, looking over his shoulder with Auradon around him and tourney bats sticking out of his chest pocket and she and her friends opposite from his parents, and this she presents to him by popping her hands out from her eyes into 'L’ shapes. 'Surprise!“

Ben uses the wipes Evie offered him to wipe the last of the tears away and then turns to Jay, on his far right. He points to himself, makes a heart shape over his heart, and then points to the star tourney player. Jay’s face falls away to amazement as Ben turns to Evie, who is next to Jay. He points to himself, makes the heart, and points to Evie, who sits down with a tiny thud and looks like she might tear up herself. Then to Carlos, whose hands start shaking at the motion. It’s something they’ve never been told before, really, all their lives.

Mal is last. She keeps a little sweet smile on her face as Ben repeats the motion one last time. She kind of wondered when would be the first time they would use this phrase for each other, and she thinks she likes this scenario much better than any of the cheesy things she’s been passing back and forth in her head. It’s a little inefficient to sign out the whole phrase – there’s an easier hand motion for this one – but she repeats it back to him with a smile. Pointing to herself, making a heart over her heart, and then pressing the tip of her finger into his chest, right over where he’s been making all his own hearts.

I love you.

(Bonus Scene)

She flips the light on and off three times when she walks into the study area to get his attention, and also because it makes everyone else jump and complain when their concentration is broken. She ignores the complaining as she walks across the room to him and puts her spellbook down on the table and signs 'How are you?’

As she finishes bringing her hand back down, he brings a flat hand down from his mouth at an outward angle. 'Good.’

She gestures to herself, presses her thumb and pointer finger together in a circle and flicks it upwards, points at Ben, then shakes a pointed finger beside her head, towards the ceiling. 'I found you something.’

Ben spreads his palms, face-up, and brings them towards and away from himself with a confused look on his face. 'What?’

Mal sits down in the chair beside him and begins flipping through her spellbook. It’s a little easier than signing because she’s not as fast as Ben and her hands aren’t quite as attuned to making the symbols yet (Also, she doesn’t know the word for 'spell’ yet). She quickly finds the page she thumbed down about twenty minutes ago and plants her index nail into the page before she scoots the book over across the table to show Ben. He wrinkles his nose in distaste, and yeah, she understands why. But then she points to the side note, which reads ’*Temporary for five minutes*’ and watches him relax a little. He clearly doesn’t get what she’s thinking at this moment, but his expression does lose the concerned edge.

She makes grabbing motions towards her chest, then uses two fists facing foward with the thumbs out to make a motion of knocking against something, and then gestures to the spell. 'Want to try it?’

He shrugs, clearly not sure what to think about it, and so she holds her right hand up. He takes it in a firm clasp like they’re about to have an arm-wrestling match, and then Mal guides him through the series of claps and snaps that completes the second part of the spell. "Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi.” She declares, and then there’s a dizzy rush where all the lights in the room seem really intense and she loses the feeling in her fingertips, but then all is normal and she’s still blinking over at Ben, not daring to hold her breath as he leans forward.

Ben’s brain is busy. She stays silent as she listens to him examine himself, make sure nothing bad happened to either of them, and glances suspiciously over at her to see if it worked. She can hear his thoughts just like if he was speaking, but his mouth isn’t moving at all. 'Did it work?“ He thinks, furrowing his brow.

'I don’t know,” She replies, making sure she’s not moving her lips along to the thought so there’s no mistaking it. “Did it?”

Ben’s. Brain. Shuts. Off.

She gets it, on some level. This is the first time he’s 'heard’ anything outside of his own thoughts, and it’s a very, very real and intense moment for him(for both of them, really). But it’s still odd to watch everything behind his eyes die and his mouth fall open as he stares at her, wondering if he really heard anything after all.

'You’re cute,“ She tells him, trying to prod some feeling back into his numb existence. 'I like it the most when you smile. When you smile and you’re in the sunlight, it’s like you’re the literal embodiment of sunshine. I don’t know why you’re going for someone like me, who likes shadows and hiding away from people, but I’m always going to be grateful for you.’

Ben takes his hand away from hers carefully and feels his ears, making sure they’re still off and useless and deaf. Mal decides to try something else. She tries to remember what his parents, Belle and Adam sound like, and as she replays little snippets of things they’ve said in their tones and voices to Ben, she watches his eyes fill with, again, more tears.

She doesn’t have many good things that Audrey has said, so she carefully skirts around Ben’s old girlfriend while replaying Chad talking to Lonnie about a school project, Doug whistling 'Heigh-Ho’, Carlos shouting in joy as he completes a level, the rush of the crowd after Jay won the last tourney match, Evie singing in the shower, and she even takes care to replay several things that he’s said to her so that now he knows what he sounds like. He doesn’t think a single thing to her as he sits back, taking it all in and trying to memorize everything she presents as she does.

She tries extra hard to remember what the national anthem sounded like when it was played at the tourney game last week but can only remember a few bars since she’d been busy talking to Evie and Jane. Next time, she promises herself, she’ll pay extra close attention so she can share it with him.

The five minutes ends. Mal knows when it does. She can see Ben listening harder and harder as he gradually goes deaf again and is left to his own thoughts. She lets her own mind go slack and stops trying to feed him sounds and voices and then they both sit in silence while he processes everything, wiping his eyes occasionally to keep tears from falling. It’s just a really long, comfortable silence where neither of them moves and he’s just kind of staring off into the distance

Finally, his hand twitches on the table. Mal reaches over and puts her hand on top of his. He swallows, and it’s like the spell of silence is broken. She brings her other hand down from her mouth, and then popped her hands out from her eyes into "L” shapes. 'Good surprise?“

He gestured to himself and then, pressing his index and middle fingers together, rolled his wrist up by his forehead. 'I can think-hear you.’

She struggles with all of the signs for her next sentence; not all of the words she knows the signs for, and so she ends up mouthing a little as she moves her hands. She tips her hands up and down like scales, points to her spellbook, shakes a pointed finger beside her head, slams a fist into a palm facing up, and then taps the side of her ear. 'Maybe there’s something to help – like a hearing aid.’

Ben takes her hands to keep her from signing anything else and leans forward to kiss her cheek. "This is already fantastic,” he whispers slowly, focusing on the feel of the words in his mouth now that he knows how he sounds saying them. “Thank you for showing me.”

Mal smiles a little and then makes a bold motion, acting like she’s grabbing something from her chest and presenting it to him. He laughs, and she relaxes into this perfect portion of her life.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Resurgence

A Jacksepticeye Fanfiction

Part Fifteen: Ignorance Is Bliss

First Part | Previous | Next

Summary: The boys are scrambling to figure out how to reach Jackie. Meanwhile, those two detectives are starting to realize things in the world aren’t what they thought.

(Sorry it’s been a while updating this, I had other things I wanted to write. But I hope this part will be worth it)

“Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up,” Lydia whispered, listening to the phone ring on the other side. She’d already tried calling Malcolm’s cell three times, and nobody answered. Now she was resorting to calling his roommate.

After some time, the line picked up. “Hello?”

Lydia let out a deep breath of relief. “Hi, Benji. Is Malcolm home? I’ve been trying to call him for an hour now and he hasn’t picked up.”

“Oh yes, he’s been home for a while. Shut up in his room, though. Do you want me to go get him?”

“Yes, thank you.” Lydia waited in silence, tapping her fingers nervously on the arm of her couch she was sitting on. It was quiet in her apartment, with Rachel having already gone to bed. Over the line she heard footsteps and then a knock on the door, followed by quiet conversation.

“Hey, Lyd, what’s up?” Malcolm’s voice had a shaky note to it. “It’s pretty late, what’re you calling for?”

“Just making sure you got home alright after the late shift,” Lydia said slowly. “Y’know, with how far away you live from the station.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I took a shortcut. Is that everything?”

Lydia bit her lip. “Why weren’t you picking up, then? I called your cell three times before I decided to call Benji.”

“My phone...broke,” Malcolm said slowly. 

“Broke?!”

“Broke. While I was on the way home.” A pause. “Anything else?”

“What’s wrong, Malcolm?” Lydia asked.

“Noth-nothing’s wrong!”

“I know you well enough to tell when something’s up,” Lydia said in a low voice. “And I can tell that you’re kinda freaked out right now. So what’s wrong?”

For a moment, there was nothing but interference on the phone line. And then: “Do you...want to meet up tomorrow? I know we have the day off, and maybe...we could meet at the park? Around one or one-thirty? And I can tell you what happened then.”

“You can just...tell me over the phone—”

“No!” Lydia had to lean back from the phone after that word was screamed in her ear. “I—I mean, no, that’d probably be a bad idea. Actually, when we meet up, can you leave your phone at home?”

“Why on Earth—”

“Lydia. Trust me on this.”

Malcolm’s tone silenced her. “Alright, then. I’ll see you tomorrow, one o’clock?”

“Yeah. Bye, Lyd. See ya tomorrow.”

Since they weren’t working that day, Lydia didn’t wear the pantsuit she wore for work. But, she noted, her button-down shirt was still more professional than the purple hoodie Malcolm wore every chance he got. He was currently hiding in the hood, avoiding looking at her while the two of them sat on one of the benches next to a path. “So...?” Lydia prompted.

Malcolm sighed. “I...fuck, I don’t know where to start.”

“Well, it can’t be that hard.” When Malcolm didn’t answer, Lydia sighed and continued. “Look, you weren’t this on edge when you left the station last night. So something must’ve happened between you leaving there and getting home. Your phone...broke, or whatever, so does that have anything to do with this? I bet if you just share what’s on your mind, you’ll feel better. Or if you don’t, I can help you out with whatever it was.”

“I saw a demon,” Malcolm blurted out.

Lydia blinked. “Uh, that was a serious offering, Mal.”

“No no no, really,” Malcolm hurried to say. “So, I took a shortcut through the north part of town—”

“Are you insane?! Do you even know how many dispatches are sent there every week?!”

“Yeah, yeah, but nothing’s ever happened to me there. I know the spaces to avoid. But, uh, I ended up seeing that vigilante in red. He seemed to be in a hurry, and I just...followed him. And, well...”

Lydia listened in silence as Malcolm spilled out everything that happened the previous night. From the vigilante meeting with that magician, the suspect in the Brody case, to the vigilante turning out to be Jackie Parker, another part of the case, to the most insane details: the magician destroying Malcolm’s phone with what was apparently real magic, to him running home, and seeing something out of the corner of his eye...

“It was a demon, I know it was,” Malcolm finished, eyes wide. “It—it disappeared, but I could hear it, like—like static. And I think it was smiling at me.”

Lydia leaned back, staring at her partner. “Mal, are you off your meds?”

 “No, no, I am not!” Malcolm slapped his leg with the flat palm of his hand. “This is a different issue! I’ve just had all of my life and beliefs thrown out of balance, because fucking demons don’t exist, except they do! Fuck!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, dude,” Lydia patted his back in a soothing manner. She didn’t quite understand what was happening. The two of them were skeptics, they’d always been, but now Malcolm was shaking like a leaf and claiming he’d seen magic.

“You don’t believe me,” Malcolm said, narrowing his eyes.

“Well...no,” Lydia admitted. “Honestly, I would be calling Benji and asking him if you’d really been taking your medication, if you hadn’t insisted I leave my phone at home.”

“I think it can use phones to watch people,” Malcolm said, folding his arms and shrinking a bit. “And I know that sounds like a paranoid delusion, but it’s the only conclusion I’ve drawn for everything that happened.”

Lydia sighed deeply. “Look, if you’re sure about this, then I’m not gonna talk you out of it. But I’m gonna ask you to double-check with Benji about the meds.”

“Alright, alright,” Malcolm relented. “But I’m pretty sure I’ve been taking them like I’m supposed to.” He stood up. “And now I’m gonna...I’m gonna go home, if that’s alright with you. I don’t...really feel like being out and about.”

Lydia nodded. “Fair enough. Get some rest, dude. I’ll see you later.” After Malcolm had walked out of sight, she too stood up, and started in the opposite direction. She really didn’t believe his story about magic and demons. But she did believe that he saw the vigilante meet with that magician. And that he figured out who the vigilante actually was beneath that costume. Technically, she wasn’t on duty today. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t, say, go visit a certain Mr. Parker in a certain apartment. 

She didn’t want to arrest the vigilante like some of the more extreme members of the department did. She just wanted him to stop, and leave the crime-fighting to the ones whose job it was. This wasn’t a comic book; running around in a mask and hooded jumpsuit just made you look like an idiot, even if you’d managed to actually catch a fair number of criminals. It didn’t matter what the end result was, just what you did to get there. And vigilantism put yourself and others in danger.

Not to mention, if she went to talk to him...he could tell her what really happened last night with Malcolm. He could tell her that her best friend wasn’t losing it. Or maybe he could tell her he was, but support her in the efforts to help him.

But first, she needed to stop by her apartment. She’d need backup for this.

“So, let me get this straight,” Rachel said, not taking the eyes off the road while she drove. “Malcolm follows this vigilante last night. Finds out who he is, and that he’s meeting with someone wanted by the police. Then he gets caught eavesdropping, the guy steals his phone, blasts it with bloody green lightning, am I getting that right?”

“Yep,” Lydia nodded. “We’re getting close to the apartment complex, by the way.”

“I see. And, after he sees this happen, he seeing a...floating eyeball?”

“That’s what he said.”

“And gets threatened by the wanted man, runs, and sees a demon that can apparently use phones as its own personal spy cameras.”

“Yep.”

Rachel whistled. “And now you’re planning on confronting this vigilante man in the hopes that he can corroborate Malcolm’s story?”

“No, I’m confronting the vigilante man in the hopes that he can explain what happened, and I can talk him out of crime-fighting.”

“And you need me for this?”

“Figured I might,” Lydia shrugged. “You have your whole lawyer-talk thing going on. You can be pretty persuasive.”

“Aw, thank you, love. Is this the building?”

“Yeah, just pull up in that lot over there, we can walk.”

A few minutes later, the two of them were outside Jackie Parker’s apartment door, knocking. Or, more accurately, Lydia was banging on the door while Rachel was standing off to the side, watching with a resigned look. “Mr. Parker, I know you’re in there!” Lydia was shouting. “I really need to talk to you! Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble or anything.”

“I think that would make him think he was, wouldn’t it?” Rachel pointed out.

Lydia made a shush sound. After a few silent seconds, she continued banging, even harder this time. “Parker, open up! This is really important! So I’m demanding at this point that you open this door!”

The door swung open. Not all the way open, but enough for a person to stick their head out of the apartment inside “Will you ever learn how to manners, detective?!”

Lydia blinked in surprise. “You’re not Parker. You’re that doctor fellow. What are you doing here?”

He scowled, folding his arms. It was indeed the same doctor from last week, just wearing a turtleneck sweater instead of a hoodie, with the addition of a pair of glasses. “Well, I live here,” he said sharply.

“You do not. You have an apartment on Greenway.” Lydia narrowed her eyes. “Though I suppose it’s possible that a mysterious disappearance for nine entire months with no explanation whatsoever could lead to them selling it.”

“Precisely.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. “Now, what is so important that the police have come to break down my friend’s door?”

Rachel poked her head in between the two, making Lydia realize that she’d been subconsciously leaning closer to the doctor, edging in. “Well, it’s not the police actually. Hi, my name is Rachel Kikelomo, are you that doctor with the strange last name that Lydia won’t shut up about for the past week?”

The doctor took a step back. “If she has been complaining about a Dr. Schneeplestein, then yes, I think I am. And...you are not a member of the police, are you?”

“Well, technically I’m a member of the judicial system, being a lawyer and all,” Rachel said coolly. “But I’m not here in that capacity. And Lydia is not here as a detective, since today she is off-duty.”

Lydia coughed awkwardly. “Rachel is my...partner. She drove me here and is...support.”

“Ah! I see!” The doctor raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Well, in that case, this is slightly better. We have had enough of police running around. But you are looking for Jackie, are you not?”

Lydia nodded.

“I—I’m afraid he’s not here.”

“Not here?!” Lydia repeated incredulously. “Where else could he be?”

“Well, he has a job, you understand.”

There was something more to it. Lydia noticed the way the doctor’s shoulders had tensed, the way he was very deliberately blocking her view of the rest of the apartment, the way his voice had cracked. “Well, can I have his cell number to call him then?” she said calmly.

“I do not think—I do not think he would appreciate me giving that out to you.” The doctor shifted on his feet.

“Well, I guess that’s understandable.” Lydia leaned forward. “But what isn’t, is the fact that you seem to be hiding something.”

The doctor bristled. “I do not appreciate such accusations.”

“It’s not an accusation if it’s the truth.”

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, then decided against it. She took a step back. She’d been with Lydia long enough to know when she was getting ready to do something rash.

“Even if it was, which it isn’t,” the doctor continued, “since you are not on duty, and would not have a warrant anyway, you must leave when I ask you to, and cannot come inside.”

“Oh, really?” Lydia backed up a few steps, looking for all the world like she was retreating. And then she rushed forward and threw her weight against the door. It flew open, and she landed flat on her face inside the apartment. She groaned. Honestly, she’d been expecting more resistance, apparently the doctor wasn’t as strong as she’d thought, which still wasn’t that strong.

She climbed to her feet and looked around the apartment living area. This was the second time she’d been in here, and it looked basically exactly the same. Not only because the furniture and everything was the same, but also because the same collection of people were inside. Brody was curled up asleep on the beanbag, arms wrapped around his head like he was protecting himself from something. Sitting on the couch was a man who she couldn’t quite remember the name of, but who was dressed in a fancy vest and bow tie. His hands were frozen in midair, apparently having been interrupted in the middle of making a gesture of some sort. Next to him was—it was that crazy magician fellow. He was holding a black wand with white tips in his right hand, and had a strange book open, propped against his left hand. Both of them were staring at her like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“I’m really terribly sorry about all this,” Rachel sighed, entering the apartment. “Are you alright doctor? She pushed you right over.”

“Yes, I am—I am fine,” the doctor said, sitting up from where Lydia had knocked him down in her rush to get into the apartment. He accepted Rachel’s offered hand and let her pull him to his feet.

The magician snapped his book shut. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he growled.

“Well, certainly not looking for you,” Lydia growled right back. “I just wanted to find Mr. Parker. Though, you know, now that I’m thinking about it, you could probably tell me the same things.”

“Nope, not doing this, goodbye.” The magician stood up, but was interrupted from leaving when the other man—Lydia was pretty sure his name started with a J—grabbed his arm. The magician looked down and watched as the man made some gestures, too quick for Lydia to catch but apparently he understood perfectly. “Fine. Fine, one chance.” He plopped back onto the couch and glared at Lydia.

She sighed deeply. “Look, Mr. Moore, if I’d seen you even just yesterday, I one hundred percent would be calling the police right now. But apparently Malcolm heard you talking with the vigilante last night—who turned out to be Mr. Parker—about finding the Brody kids and getting them back, so now I’m in doubts that your confession was actually real.”

“Well, I really confessed, didn’t I? It’s not like one of my friends was about to get detained and most likely ultimately arrested, probably eventually giving in to his clinical depression again, and thus probably giving the real culprit what he wanted, which pressured me into saying whatever I had to in order to make sure that didn’t happen.”

 Lydia truly, honestly didn’t know how to respond to that dump of information and sarcasm. Luckily, Rachel jumped in. “So it sounds to me as if you were just protecting your friend there,” she said. “Possibly not only from the police, but from whoever really took the Brody children?”

The magician stared at her. “I didn’t say I knew who took the kids.”

Rachel chuckled. “I never said you were implying you did. But the fact that you assumed that says a lot.”

“Well...fuck.” He slumped a bit deeper into the couch cushions. The other man next to him was smiling. “Don’t give me that look, JJ. That’s called a ‘shit-eating grin’ and it’s not something you give to your friends.” The man—JJ, apparently—gestured more. “Oh, shut up.”

“You know who took the kids?!” Lydia gaped. “Well, why didn’t you tell us?! We could’ve used that lead, and avoided almost arresting him.” She pointed at where Brody was sleeping. “He must look a lot like you guys, if we believe the security footage. Is that why you didn’t say anything? Because you thought ‘there are already five of us, they won’t believe one more exists’?”  

The doctor coughed. “It is bit more...complicated than that, I’m afraid.”

“What? Are you all quintuplets or something?” Lydia threw her hands up in the air. “Can’t get any more absurd than this!”

“Ah, love,” Rachel piped up. “Do you still want to see the vigilante man? I thought you intended to confront him at some point.”

Lydia had almost forgotten about the fact that she now knew who the vigilante in red was. “Yes, yes I do,” she said. “Is he really at work? Or are you all just hiding here like—like cowards?”

Silence. The three awake men exchanged sad looks. “He’s...not at work,” the magician admitted. “But he’s...not...here, either.”

Lydia took in the sad glances, the awkward explanation. “...something happened, didn’t it?” she asked softly. “Something happened to him.”

“The less you know, the safer you are,” the magician said, tapping the wand against his leg. “But...yeah. We’re...working on fixing that. Have been since last night, actually. Chase gave in and crashed, as you see. But the rest of us...”

“I’m...sorry,” Lydia whispered. She’d just barged right in here, in the middle of their crisis situation, and unknowingly made everything worse. You’d think that she’d learn how to think things through in her years as a detective, but nope. She’d always trusted the thinking to Malcolm.

The silent man, JJ, made a few small gestures. “He wants to let you know it’s okay, you didn’t know,” the magician said. “It’s, uh, sign language.”

“I see,” Lydia said. She wanted to ask more, to know more, but she couldn’t tread on their hearts anymore. But... “Just...one more thing. Last night, Malcolm said he ran into Parker and you, and he...saw some strange things.”

The magician raised an eyebrow. “You mean, like this?” He snapped his fingers, and a small burst of green sparks and fire flew out from the site of impact.

“Holy shit!” Lydia gasped, stumbling back a few steps.

“Hmm, wha...?” There was a sudden surge of movement as Brody opened his eyes and stretched. “Wha’s happ’ning?”

“Good morning, Chase!” The doctor waved from his spot by the door. “Or should I say good afternoon, because you fell asleep earlier this morning. Sorry about the commotion, I think the detective was just leaving?”

“Detective?” Brody blinked the tired out of his eyes and stared at Lydia with no recognition whatsoever.

“Yes, the detective lady,” the doctor continued. “From the case about the kids. She wanted to talk to Jackie, though I’m still not sure why.”

“Th’ kids?” Brody looked confused for a moment more before suddenly bolting straight into a sitting position. “Fuck, right, the kids! Oh my god, I’m so—god, I must really be tired, damn, I can’t believe I forgot they—fuck, I’m horrible.”

“You are not horrible, you have a lot on your mind, and just woke up.” The doctor walked over and sat on the beanbag next to Chase. “Is fine.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Brody rubbed his eyes, then looked over at Lydia. “Did you...want to talk about something?”

“It wasn’t about the case,” Lydia hurried to say. “It’s just—my partner, last night he saw your friends talk, and then some...unusual stuff happened, and I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t...imagining things.” She glanced over at the magician. “But apparently, he was right. Magic is real, I...fuck.” She looked at Rachel. “Tell me I didn’t hallucinate that.”

“The sparks?” Rachel looked a bit pale. “You did not. That is...some new things to take into account...”

“Yeah, no shit.” Lydia was starting to feel a bit dizzy, which was to be expected when one’s world got totally turned upside-down. Magic was real...she looked at the magician. “If...you really can do that, then...Malcolm, my partner, he saw some more things. A floating eyeball—”

“Sam,” Brody said. “They...were with Jackie. We need to find them too.”

Ah. It had a name. And existed. Fantastic. Lydia could feel a stress headache blossoming. “He also thought he saw...he said it was a demon, following him?”

The atmosphere in the room immediately changed, becoming sharper, more tense. All of the men exchanged glances. JJ signed something. “He said don’t think about it,” the magician translated. “Or, well, it sounded a bit more polite the way he spelled it out. But that’s the gist.”

Lydia stared. “Are you telling me...that demons exist?”

JJ signed something else, very rapidly. “They do, but this isn’t...that,” the magician translated once more. “It’s very complicated.”

“I beg your pardon, but why can’t we learn more?” Rachel asked. “Wouldn’t that be better to prepare ourselves?”

“Not when knowing this thing can draw his attention to you,” the doctor said in a hushed voice. “Not when he gets stronger the more people know. And quite a few know already.”

“Ignorance is bliss,” Brody said. “Really. Just forget about it, and you’ll be fine. Tell your partner to forget too.”

“I...don’t quite get it, but I’ll believe you, I guess,” Lydia said slowly. Maybe she should just forget this whole thing ever happened. Go about her business like nothing had changed. It would probably be better for her mental health that way. “Rachel, I’m ready to go now. You?”

“Yes, yes, we should,” Rachel backed out the door, and Lydia followed her. “Thank you for accommodating us.”

“It was no trouble,” the doctor muttered, clearly implying it was.

“Alright, well,” Lydia said awkwardly. “Guess I might be seeing you?”

“Hope you don’t!” The magician called, earning himself a smack on the ear from JJ.

“Yeah, well, same, honestly. Bye.” Lydia shut the door.

The boys listened to her and Rachel’s footsteps recede down the hall. When they could no longer be heard, Marvin opened up the book again. “Okay, let’s give it a couple more go’s,” he said.

Are you quite sure about that? JJ asked. You’re starting to develop those black bags under your eyes. Practicing all night without sleep can’t be good for your soul and body.

“I’ll be fine,” Marvin shrugged. “I think learning how to open dimensional portals is a bit more important than sleep.”

“Jamie is right,” Schneep said. “If you do not sleep, you are no good to anyone.”

“Says the guy who runs on coffee like a car runs on oil.” Chase rolled his eyes. “Hypocrite.”

“Cars don’t run on oil,” Marvin pointed out.

“Oh, shut your face, I’m tired.” Chase yawned, as if to accentuate this. “I was having a good time, and then that detective lady and that other one woke me up. Who was that, again? Did she ever introduce herself?”

“That lady was a lawyer, and she was the detective’s girlfriend,” Schneep explained. “At least, I assume so. She was introduced as a partner, in that sort of awkward way you do when you are not sure where the other party stands.”

“I see,” Marvin hummed. He gripped his wand tightly and swirled it in a circle. Green whisps appeared and whirled about for a few seconds before dissipating. Marvin frowned. “That was a fluke, it didn’t even get close but I can do it better next time.”

I don’t believe you can, JJ signed with a sigh. I think you’re severely draining your energy, and you should really sleep in order to recover it.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, which could be soon if I don’t figure out how the fuck to get Jackie back and stick it in that—that glitch bitch’s face.”

Chase wheezed, and then leaned over as he devolved into laughter. “Okay, okay, I love it,” he said after a while. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard in ten months.”

“He would not like that.” Schneep sounded vaguely amused by the idea.

JJ shook his head. Clearly, you are all loopy from lack of sleep. We all need to go to bed, NOW. He emphasized the “now” part by making the sign a bit sharper than it normally would be.

“Okay, fine, maybe you’re right,” Chase relented. “Marv, bedtime.”

“Don’t try to dad me, it’s not gonna work,” Marvin grumbled, rereading the instructions for the spell.

“Do not make me count to five,” Schneep added with a smile.

“Two dads! Ay!” Chase made finger guns. “Now you have to listen.”

Marvin closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Alright, fine.” He closed the book. “But once I wake up, I’m going straight back to working on this. We’re gonna have to double up if we want to use the beds here. Dibs on the one in Jackie’s room.”

Yet, he still couldn’t sleep, even an hour after everyone else had crashed. It wasn’t for lack of trying, or for lack of exhaustion. But he couldn’t stop thinking. His thoughts kept whirling through his mind in a cyclone, unable to halt for one minute. It seemed like everyone had been pretty safe during the week he was away. Nothing had happened until he ran into Jackie and Sam, and now look at where Jackie was.

Maybe...maybe there was a reason for that. He was the only one of the group with power. And he was the only one who...maybe stood a chance against him. Maybe that was enough to earn his attention.

He slipped out of the bed. He grabbed a pen and piece of paper from on top of one of Jackie’s dressers, scribbling a note to the others before creeping out into the main living area of the apartment. He put the note on the coffee table, then opened the window to the fire escape and climbed through.

He’d find a solution on his own. And if he drew Anti’s attention to him in the process, what of it? At least then it would be away from the others. At least this way, they’d be a little bit safer. They wouldn’t know anything about where he was or what he was doing, and it would be fine that way. After all, not knowing was a blanket of protection.

In another world entirely, someone was watching him leave through a broken computer screen, the only one that was lit up on top of a pile of more shattered screens. Its plug was dangling limply, but the picture was crystal clear. He was screaming at Marvin, telling him to turn around, to go back so he could protect them, to remember that there was safety in numbers. When Marvin didn’t listen, he banged his fist against the screen in a fit of frustration, making the image cut off entirely. Tears were threatening the corners of his eyes.

The pile shifted beneath his feet. When he tried to stand up, cords wrapped around his wrists. When he tried to kick his feet free, wires wrapped around his ankles. There was laughter, more laughter, seemingly as ever-present as the red glow all around. The cables dragged him down and he disappeared.

[izzyisamachine]

A Scathing Review of Descendants 2

Confession: It’s not like I hated this movie, I was just kinda frustrated and had to rant about it? No hate if you really loved this movie. Also this review has Swears™ and is completely 100% Unedited™. Sorry. Also, spoilers are here so that’s fun.

To preface this review, I don’t think I’m this film’s target audience. That is to say, I’m old enough to be embarrassed by current affairs and the state of my bank account. But I’ve always been into that good good fairy tale shit, so when I heard Disney was making a kids movie about some of their most popular (and profitable) characters, I went, “seems legit,” ignored the similarities to Mattel’s “Ever After High” franchise (I’m a sucker for fairy tale shit okay and this stuff’s free on Youtube) and hunkered down to watch. Descendants The First was… not what I’d call good per se, but it was good enough. It was a little dull, the costumes oozed kitsch that made my eyes really want to cry, and every supposedly “well known” character from Disney’s pantheon seemed a little “off” (which wasn’t really anyone’s fault, since I was expecting everyone to look like a cartoon), but ultimately it was competent. There was a plot, the pacing was decent, and there were a couple bops thrown in, since the director of Descendants also did High School Musical. This is an assessment of the first Descendants movie that I think is valid, mainly because I’ve watched a couple of reviews on film theory on Youtube, meaning that I’m a fucking expert now I guess.

But we ain’t here to talk about Descendants the first. We’re here to talk about it’s sequel, Descendants 2. Oh ho ho. Descendants 2.

Lemme start with some good stuff: the outfits definitely got a lot better, the new characters introduced are pretty cool (Uma, daughter of Ursula, and Harry Hook, self explanatory. I don't really fuck with Gil though? He’s okay I just don’t really care about him), and there are still some mf’ing bops (mainly, Uma’s intro number “What’s My Name”, and that other one where the kids try to teach Ben how to stop being so fucking white I forgot what it’s called but whatever). I understand also why a lot of people are saying this movie is the better of the two Descendants films. It’s got some good character development, and, according to some review I saw online, it’s “darker” than the first film. I don’t really remember the first film all that well so I guess I have to go along with that. But I still have major beef with the second film so here we fucking go:

DESCENDANTS 2 MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE.

Not as a standalone movie, not in the context of the movie’s universe, not in like, any scenario ever.

So like first of all: the whole point of the first movie was that Prince Ben, aka generic blonde love interest (GBLI), decides that the villain kids, or VKs, as they call themselves (I know, cringe barf), deserve a chance. So, despite the advice of like, everyone, he invites the kids of Maleficent, Jafar, the Evil Queen, and Cruella de Vil (??? Why the fuck is she here she doesn’t even have any magical powers that need to be contained??? They could have let her kid get adopted by someone instead of leaving him to rot on Evil McEvil Islandsville???) to come to his high school (another thing: is he the prince of the school, or the prince of the whole country?? Because we literally never see anything not within walking distance of this fucking prep school. Is there an Auradon public school where the kids of like… side characters go?) to go hang at his school. And surprisingly (to no one in the audience), they turn out to be Productive Members of Society™ who were just Misunderstood™ (after an adjustment period where they fuck everything up for a while). At the beginning of the movie, Prince GBLI turns into King GBLI. Why? I don’t fucking know. His parents are still alive AND his dad is only like… 50? At most? Why the fuck is he retiring so early??? In this economy? My dad’s like pushing 60 and still working??? What kinda bourgeoisie fuckery is this?

So. Anyway.

What is King GBLI doing with his time?

Is he improving infrastructure? Attending to foreign affairs? Or maybe, I dunno, extending his villain kid outreach program past 4 fucking people?

No. This bitch plans a party. Specifically, he plans fairy tale character prom, or “Cotillion.” Whatever.

So of course, some villain kids are (understandably) pissed about being forgotten. Specifically, one kid named Uma, played by China Anne McClain. Uma is a fucking queen. She’s cool. I like her and her pal Harry. Not Gil though. He’s the son of Gaston and I don’t really get why he’s there. But he’s okay I guess. But anyway, like a muthafucking communist boss, she’s like “Imma overthrow the bourgeoisie!” So she plans to get the fairy godmother’s magic McGuffin wand so she can reverse the social hierarchy and bring justice to the oppressed. I fuck with that. It’s understandable. Basically, King GBLI decided to pick a bunch of random villains to bring to the prep school that he's somehow king of, and forgot about literally everyone else. What a dick.

But meanwhile, King GBLI’s girlfriend Mal, the “hero” of our story (jk, it’s Uma. I love Uma) decides that she’s had ENOUGH of playing perfect girlfriend and wants to go back to being villainous Maleficent’s daughter again. So she packs up her shit, including her own personal McGuffin, her magic spell book that she somehow can’t perform magic without (did she not think to memorize the spells she uses really often or is that book the source of all her power? Whatever, the movie never fucking explains this so I won’t even try), and fucks on off to Evil McEvilsville (or the “Isle of the Lost”. Whatever.) Here, she gets a dramatic dye job and basically does whatever the fuck she wants while her friends worry about her.

Her friends find out she’s missing and follow her to the isle, taking the most inconspicuous vehicle they can find: a magic barrier breaking limousine. Sorry, did I say most inconspicuous? I meant least inconspicuous. Then, Uma kidnaps GBLI and is like, “hey. You forgot about us and thats not cool.” To which he’s like, “well I remember you now so that’s like, totally enough to make you good now, right?” To which she, understandably, is like, Bitch No. SO THEN, she tell Mal that if she ever wants to see GBLI again, she has to bring her fairy godmother’s Magic McGuffin™. The Gang™ tricks her with a 3D printed wand (what fucking century does this movie take place in I’m confused), and fucks off back to their super cool party. BUT WAIT! MAL HAS LEFT HER MCGUFFIN SPELL BOOK ON THE ISLAND! WHAT HAPPENS NOOOOOOWWW????

This is where the movie really starts to piss me the fuck off. You see, in film theory, there’s a little thing called “planting and payoff.” Basically, when the camera focusses on a specific object in detail, you expect to see that shit pop up later on. Example: if you see some guy holding a suitcase and then the camera pans to the suitcase, you expect it to be germane to the plot later on. So the assumption with Descendants 2 is: Uma finds Mal’s spell book and confronts her at the party thing. She then uses Mal’s only source of power against her. Since Mal has never been seen doing any magic without her spell book, she would now be powerless and have to find a way to do magic without it through an 11th hour power up or else use her wits and the help of her friends to retrieve her spell book and save the day. Instead, Uma seduces (I know it’s a kid’s movie so there’s no actual seducing but I dunno what else to call it) GBLI through a spell that she did NOT get from the spell book. Which Mal breaks easily with true love’s kiss, because this is a fairy tale movie. Then, Uma kinda uses her magic necklace (that’s here now) to grow huge and splash the prom boat. Lame. My prom was also on a boat. Double lame. And everyone on the boat acts super scared because now there’s water in it!… but no like holes, so the deck’s just a little wet and maybe the boat tilts a little. Everyone just kinda stands on the deck instead of getting below deck like a group of normal people and acts surprised that it’s tilting back and forth. No shit buddy! There’s a giant tentacle lady who’s angry at you in the water! What did you think was going to happen? Then Mal fucking TURNS INTO A DRAGON for some reason. And she fights Uma by blowing fire at her. In the middle of the ocean. Which has like, no effect because Mal just really really likes aiming like, three feet in front of Uma into the water. And water kinda does this thing where it puts out fire? I dunno maybe she should work on aiming better or something or find something more useful to transform into. Anyway, GBLI jumps into the water like an IDIOT and is like “Why can’t we be friends?” To which Uma is like, “what the fuck man.” Understandable. But then she just, like

GOES AWAY?

My girl just decides to fucking leave for some reason what the fuck she could have easily won whatever the fuck that battle was and 5 minutes in she just WALKS AWAY??? This whole battle scene just savors of anti-climax. Kinda like a faked orgasm. And then they FIND MAL’S SPELL BOOK BELOW THE DECK??? AFTER EVERYTHING IS OVER??? WHAT THE FUCK??? Y’all lead me to believe it’s a salient plot point and now this shit? And then Mal decides to give her book to a museum because it’s “too dangerous.” What the fuck? No one in this movie did anything remotely dangerous with that fucking book? And then GBLI has obviously learned his lesson. Because he decides to admit one (1, uno, yi, une) more villain kid to the prep school. Because one of the other villain kids, Evie (who I kinda overlook in this review even though I kinda like her), literally asks him point blank. And then everyone dances in the rain like they haven’t learned an important lesson about social class and what the lack of opportunities to underprivileged youths can mean for society.

Fuck.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

I VERY MUCH ENJOYED YOUR JAY/MAL BIT AND WOULD LOVE TO KNOW MORE! Things like Ben thinking maybe he and Mal weren't an Ever After and how the Jay/Mal relationship develops (for some reason the Natalia Kills line comes to mind: who needs true love, as long as you love me truly. I don't know why.) But yes, more please if you are willing to share!

All of these asks all neatly tie in to more of the events of whatis quickly becoming ahalf-headcanon/half-full-blown-fanfic-in-bit-and-pieces, actually!

As a refresher: Mal and Ben are still officially together, Mal gotwasted at a Big Party with intentionally capitalized letters, Jay tried to do Drunk Patrol, and it ended upwith it looking like they were totally about to get it on in adressing room even though Jay was being a gentleman and refusing totake advantage of Mal, but Mal was emboldened with the strength andcunning of a horny octopus.

(I’m sorry, I’m really proud of that metaphor.)

Auradon blows up in scandal, simultaneously decrying the perceivedinfidelity, lack of morals, and tested loyalties with Mal, Ben, andJay, and tuning in on all the celebrity rags to see all the latestjuicy details, insider stories, and speculation about it. While thethree of them got the situation cleared up, and are cool with eachother because they’re all mature adults like that, the fact remainsthat most of Auradon is convinced that Mal is cheating on Ben withJay, Ben is either tragically oblivious or slowly plotting how toframe Jay in an elaborate revenge ploy, or the three of them arehaving a totally consensual, loving, healthy (but still taboo)polyamorous relationship among other salacious accusations.

(And a large, sudden influx in “real person fanfiction” butthat’s a different topic altogether.)

Neither of them are psychiatrists however, so they deal with itthe only way they know how:

Raising hell and causing mischief.

The two of them rent a car so they won’t get ID’d straight away, buy several boxes of spraypaint, andgo all about the seedier side of Auradon City, the hostess/hostclubs, the authentically shitty dive bars, the districts that thelocal government and their residents mutually agree they shouldforget about trying to renovate and “clean up” every time theannual budget rolls around.

They tag walls and show the new generation of punks (”AVK’sgot nothing on us originals” Mal says as she paints over some OFFENSIVELY mild and not at all rebellious graffiti), they get drunk, they get into places they’renot supposed to just because they can, and they have a blast.

Mal slurs and giggles as she’s walking down a sidewalk with Jay, a LOT drunker than she thought she would be--and a lot deeper inthe crook of his arm than she strictly needs to be to stay upright. “Shit, Jay: I AM SOFUCKING WASTED! Do you know the last time I got THIS messed up?”

“Little less than a week ago, when you were at that... what wasit again?”

Mal scowls. “I dunno. I don’t fucking know what that party wascalled, who we were throwing it for, and why the fuck I decided I’d helphost it--all I care is that I am drunk, I am happy, and I think I amkinda high from all those paint fumes...”

Mal staggers to the side and awkwardly stretches herself out, as if letting aninvisible fae about waist high walk past them without slowing down.Jay keeps her from overbalancing.

“And you know what the best part of this night is?” shecontinues as she returns to their old configuration.

“What?”

“NOBODY FUCKING CARES! I’m drunk, I’m high, and I’m stillterrified of whatever the fuck that thing is that’s beenstaring at us since Merrygold Street, but you know what?” she flipsthe bird at a seemingly random direction. “It doesn’t matter!Because it’s just me and one of my best friends, ever, and there’s no media orwitnesses to see just how much of a hot mess I am right now...”

“And here you were having second thoughts...” Jay chuckles.“Good thing I was there to save you from another boring night!”

“Hell yeah!” Mal says, throwing the Maleficent. (The Horns, to us.)

She slows down, and Jay keeps going for a while until he starts tofeel Mal pulling him back. “Something up, M?” he asks.

“Thanks, Jay,” Mal mutters. “I mean it: thank you. Becauseof you, I’m free. I mean, it’s just for tonight, andtomorrow’s going to fucking suck, there’s no two shitsabout that, but...”

She trails off, and smiles at Jay.And even if she’s got greenpaint all over one side of her face when she got reacquainted withthe right side of the nozzle, her breath reeks like cheap jelloand even cheaper vodka, and her hair’s all frazzled and everywhere,he wants nothing more than to kiss her.

He lets the thought pass, however. Because he knows he reallyshouldn’t, and that for all that’s happened tonight, she’sstill Ben’s.

“Disgusting,” they hear from the side.

The two of them turn their heads and see a little old lady--thekind that refuses to move from her old apartment building that’s asancient as she is, complete with the pillbox hat--looking at themwith a glare that would have been terrifying under very differentcircumstances, but is just funny to them now.

Jay smiles. “Lady, we’re just two friends out having fun,”he says.

“Don’t you lie to me, boy!” the old lady cries, wagging afinger at them. “I can see right through you two--you don’tthink someone like me keeps up with the news? Why, I watch thosefancy ‘live feeds’ like a hawk, I tell you,A HAWK!

“And you! Maleficent Bertha Jr., you should be ashamed ofyourself! Is that any way for a future Queen to act, cavorting abouttown, getting drunk in the arm of a man who isn’t your husband,where anyone can see you?”

Jay rolls his eyes. “Geeze, lady--”

Mal puts a finger to his lips. The two look each other in theeyes, and hatch a plan in an instant.

“Oh no!” Mal says in her most overdramatic voice possible. “Mypristine reputation! My dignity! My pride as a woman, sullied by anight of temptation, vice, and sin!”

“And by the hands of such a handsome, devilish rogue of questionable moralitysuch as myself!” Jay says smugly, twirling an invisible mustache.

What follows next is about the most overblown, melodramatic,clearly faking it unless you’re really, really, really densescene of them making up the most ridiculous, salacious, scandalousimplications they can think of, going through the whole range ofsecret Evil parties in basements, cavorting about with Dionysus’Maenads, both actual fae and the alternative lifestyle community, vague references to body parts and acts with them, allwhile emphasizing the worst, most awful thing about everythingthey’ve “done”:

Jay and Mal aren’t married, and neither is she to Ben!

This poor old woman is just getting redder and redder and frothingat the mouth, waggling her ancient bony finger at them, and Jay andMal are just dying from laughter, they aren’t even trying tohold it back anymore.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit...” Jay is whispering inbetween the actual tears of delight streaming down his face. “Weshould stop--like seriously stop, I think she’s having a heartattack.”

“Gee, ya think?” Mal titters back. “Okay, okay, we really should, but afterone last thing--big finale.”

“Lay it on me.”

“I’m going to kiss you,” Mal says calmly. “But like, just a fake,stage kiss.”

Jay’s laughter stops in an instant.

Mal misinterprets it as his giving her the go ahead.

She kisses him. And through the haze of alcohol, paint fumes, anduncontrollable laughter, she realizes that she’s totally kissinghim in a way that can be interpreted as anything BUT “a fake, stagekiss.”

The old lady sputters angrily, frothing at the mouth, before shesuddenly just keels over. Jay drops Mal in shock, she doesn’t evenfeel her head hitting the sidewalk.

Mostly because she’s too busy processing the fact that A:

They might have actually killed an innocent if severelystuck-up old lady.

And B:

There is totally a crowd that wasn’t there before that’svideotaping the whole thing from every angleon their phones.

Meanwhile, as this is happening...

Ben sighs happily as he settles down into his private study, stilldressed in formal kingly attire from the waist up, and just hisinfamous crown boxers from the waist down. He never really got theappeal of his father going around with no pants if he could help it,until now, when he, too, was king.

He’s about to take the first book from the perennial stack of“To Be Read” books on his desk, when there’s a knocking on thedoor. “Come in!” he calls out.

The door opens, and in walks Lumiere with tray, on it a piping hot potof tea and a freshly poured cup. “Good evening, Master!Compliments of Mrs. Potts,” he says as he walks in and begins toserve it, “a most salacious and frankly ridiculous rumourjust popped up in the internet, and she wished to channel her outrageinto something productive.”

Ben graciously takes the cup into his hands. “Tell her I saidthank you, and please, Lumiere: just call me Ben,” he saysas he takes a sip.

He smiles; he can taste the heat of Mrs. Potts rage, butthe tea leaves make it a soothing sort of warmth that spreads fromhis stomach to the rest of his body.

Lumiere smiles apologetically. “Forgive me, Ben, but won’t youplease let this old servant perform his old tricks? Life is notquite the same, ever since your father and mother permanently movedout.” He pauses. “Especially when you perform much of yourfather’s old habits, this… how do the Americans say it? ‘GoingCommando’?”

Ben chuckles. “That’s going around fully clothed sansunderwear, Lumiere. This is just ‘No Pants Time.’”

“Bah!” Lumiere shakes his head. “I’m getting so old,”he mutters playfully.

“Not that old!” Ben counters.

Lumiere beams, up until he notices the title of book on top of thepile:

“Till It’s Gone: Recognizing the Value Of Your RelationshipsBefore It’s Too Late”

“That is… a rather ominous choice for bedtime reading, Master.”

Ben shrugs. “Never hurts to face the uglier sides of life sometimes,right?”

Lumiere frowns. “Is this about that deluge of scandalous anduntrue accusations that have befallen you, Mademoiselle Mal, andMonsieur Jay?”

Ben nods. “It’s just… I thought I left all of that behind inAuradon Prep, you know? And just... for all of it to come back, along with all of these people talking about when we’re getting married, it’s just...”

Lumiere puts his hand on his shoulder and gives him a loving,paternal squeeze. “Just do what I did, Master: grin, speak with them politely, and waitfor them to get bored and move onto someone else and make ridiculousrumours about them.

“And I should know: I was often an eye witness, ifnot one of the main parties involved!”

Ben laughs. “Dad always did say you had a very… colourfulpast, before you came to work for him.”

Lumiere smirks. “That’s certainly one way to put it. Mypoint still stands, Master: this is all just a natural, inevitablepratfall of being among the aristocracy. Soon enough, this will allblow over, you and Mademoiselle Mal will be back to your normal,loving selves, and all of you—Monsieur Jay included—will belooking back on this incident and laugh.

“Once this media circus packs up for the road, perhaps a vacation to Neverland is in order, with plans of adifferent sort along with it...?” he waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Ben looks at Lumiere, then back to his stack of books. He smiles,takes “Till It’s Gone,” and places it to the side, cover down.The new top book on the stack:

“How Do You Put A Ring On It?: The Commitment-phobe’sGuide To Going Steady, Proposing, and Staying Happily Married ForeverAfter”

“Thanks, Lumiere,” Ben says. “Could you get Cogsworth onthat?”

Lumiere allows himself a moment on unprofessional behaviour andpumps his fist in the air. “At once, Ben. Shall I also call yourmother and tell her it’s finally time?”

Ben nods, looking at the photo he has on his desk of just him andBelle, recently taken on her birthday earlier that year. “No timelike the present,” he says.

Lumiere pats him on the shoulder once more. “Her ring is goingto look so beautiful on Mal’s hand, Master.”

He lives to regret those words, but to be fair, though, therereally was no way he could have known.

[saiilorstars]

The Girl in the Forest

Chapter 17: All I Want To Do

// Story Masterlist //

Fandom: The Originals

Pairings: Klaus Mikaelson x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Ma-leh-nee

Requested tag: @queenmj10​

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Maleny makes a visit to Esther and discovers who exactly owns her corpse. In return, Esther makes Maleny a tempting offer...

Cami was returning to Elijah's room when she found Klaus inside, apparently making Elijah worsen by the spasm state was under. She'd taken care of him for one entire day while the Original was outcold from Esther's spells. She really hoped he would wake up on his own but seeing as it was morning, she doubted it would be happening.

"What are you doing!?" she angrily rushed up to Klaus, pulling him away.

Klaus was irritated his plan hadn't worked and that Cami interrupted him, "I was trying to enter Elijah's thoughts to wake him," he wiped the blood oozing from his nose due to the attempt with a sigh, "Esther's locked me out."

"What is this exactly?" Cami moved past him for Elijah, seeing a flower petal-shaped wound on his neck, "I've been meaning to ask but seeing as you and Mal were busy yesterday...is it like some side effect from what Esther did to him?"

Hearing that, Klaus frowned and went to have a look for himself, "I haven't seen this since I was a child. Mikael would return home from battle more blindly temperamental than usual, and our mother would use the petals of a rare merlock orchid to put him to sleep. She would mend his mind with a spell, and then wake him with the roots of the same plant."

That sparked hope in both vampires.

"So if she used these flowers or things, it means it has to grow in Bayou," Cami quickly said, "Which means we have to go get them!"

"I will do it," Klaus stopped her before she took a step forwards, "You need to stay here and look after him, got it?" Cami nodded and so he headed out of the room.

Maleny was just coming in when she saw him leaving, "Klaus, hold on," she called and hurried after him.

"What is it, Mal?" he turned to face her, trying his best not so sound as impatient as he was, "I have some collecting to do."

"Collecting?" Maleny made a face, "Like what?"

"Orchids, they're for Elijah so you can see my urgency."

"Yeah, yeah," Maleny said, sounding disappointed enough for him to notice.

"What is it?" he asked again, softer now.

Immediately Maleny knew this was not the time to tell him the important thing she'd been trying to for some time now. She went with the plausible excuse she came up with just before coming to find him, "Never mind, I wanted to say thanks for my new jacket. I didn't see when you bought it, though..."

"You're welcome," Klaus smiled, at least something (or more specifically someone) was good in the terrible moments they were so commonly in.

"And listen, um...when we help Elijah...um...I would really like it if we got a chance to talk," Maleny fiddled with her fingers, "I mean, if you have time, you know..."

Klaus smiled at her so clear nervousness. He wondered what that was about but he remembered he was in a hurry to leave, "After I get back and Elijah gets the orchids, I promise you I'm all yours," and this time Klaus really couldn't hold back one of his smirks from his choice of words.

Maleny blushed and looked to the side, "Stop it," she mumbled her scold, "And just go!" she shooed him off before he said something else.

As Klaus went down the staircase Maleny went to the banister to see him go. He turned to look up at her with a mock-warning face, "And you best stay in here, Mal."

Maleny rested her arms over the banister and slyly smiled at him, "I think we both know that's never gonna happen."

"One day it's going to work!"

"But not today," Maleny then motioned for him to get going, biting back a laugh as he rolled his eyes and went on his way. Once he was gone, her smile vanished and whirled around, heading straight for Elijah's room where Cami was still tending after him, "Alright, so, if anyone asks I've been in here all day...with you."

Cami confusedly glanced at the blonde witch, "I'm sorry? What?"

Maleny sighed, knowing Cami wasn't quite there with everything that was going on and so explained slower, "I have to go see Esther today and I doubt Klaus is going to be happy about that if he hears of it. Leaving it out for Hayley and Elijah is visibly included, you know."

"Mal, are you crazy?" Cami completely faced Maleny, her face scrunched up in confusion, "Why would you literally got into the wolf's cave after what she did to her own son?" she gestured to Elijah.

"She didn't kill him," Maleny pointed out with no sarcasm intended, "she only subdued him. Look, Esther doesn't want to kill us - she wants to 'save' us in her own delusional mind. That's my advantage. I just want to talk to her."

"What about?" Cami still couldn't finish understanding on what grounds did Maleny think it was a good idea to go see the crazy ole witch.

"I want my corpse back," Maleny announced firmly, "and she has it."

"You're not 100% sure!"

"99.9% might as well be," Maleny started backtracking towards the door, "Soo...if Hayley comes around, you tell her I'm...with Amarrah or something. Can I count on you?"

Cami sighed, "Yeah, whatever. But please try to be careful."

"I will be, and take good care of my big brother, okay?" Maleny glanced at Elijah, "Though I think he has the world's best little nurse looking after him," she smirked and Cami blushed.

"Mal!"

"Bye!" Maleny waved and hurried off, laughing to herself.

~ 0 ~

To say Amarrah was surprised to have Hayley and Aiden standing at her door would be an understatement. But even then her manners didn't fail her and she allowed the two wolves in, "What can I do for you?" she closed the door after them, "It's Hayley, right?" she pointed at the brunette woman.

"Yeah," Hayley bit her lower lip, sensing the woman's confusion, "I know it's weird I'm here, but we kind of need your help."

"Again? What's it this time?"

"Remember Finn?"

"Oh," Amarrah chuckled, "do I? What do I have to do this time?"

"We want to take him down," Aiden announced, momentarily surprising Amarrah. The dark-haired woman crossed her arms, waiting for more details on the plan.

"We're gonna get more people in this but we really need your help," Hayley said, "I know you barely know me but-"

"You're part of Mal's family so I'll definitely help if I can," Amarrah smiled.

"Thanks," Hayley honestly said, smiling back, "But one more thing, can you not tell Maleny of this? If she gets into this and Klaus finds out, he may just kill me."

Amarrah chuckled and agreed, "My lips are sealed. I don't think she should be included in this anyways."

"Thank you," Hayley looked at Aiden, agreeing it was time to go see Marcel, "So you want to come with us?" she then asked Amarrah, "We're seeing the last missing piece of our plan."

"Definitely, I'll go give Finn a call and see if he wants to go have some 'dinner' with me," Amarrah nodded and went to gather her things meanwhile Hayley and Aiden waited.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Aiden asked Hayley quietly after the witch had left the room.

"Absolutely," Hayley crossed her arms, a deep frown forming across her lips. Esther had been responsible for Ollie's death and she was intending on using all her strategies to bring her down - she was going to take everything Esther held so dear.

~ 0 ~

"Knock, knock," Gia feigned a knock on Elijah's bedroom door and smiled at Cami, holding out two blood bags in her hands. Cami looked over and smiled, "I thought you could use a friend?"

"I could, I really could," Cami sighed as Gia walked over and hugged her.

"So," Gia pulled away and looked at Elijah, making a face at the state the man was in, "how's he doing?"

"Not good," Cami shook her head, "We need some orchids to break the dream-state Esther induced but Klaus went to go look for them."

"And your cousin?" Gia looked around, "I didn't see nor sense her when I came in."

"She's, um...off doing her own thing," Cami said for a lack of a better word, "But you? What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, I thought you could use a friend," Gia gave a shrug and half of a smirk, "while you wait for your boyfriend to wake up."

"Can we not, please?" Cami nearly begged for the topic to be erased from all memory, "I just want him to wake up. I'm not wishing for anything the others aren't."

All Gia did was give another smirk look as she went around the room, "Nice place, you thinking of moving in?" she then corrected herself, "I meant back in the building," she motioned with a finger, "Not...not in here, but...if you wanted to do that too-"

"Gia!" Cami, exasperated, turned away to put the blood bag down on the night stand, figuring Elijah would need it more than she would when he woke up.

Gia laughed, "Alright, I'm done for now. But seriously, are you going to move back in here?"

"I...don't know," Cami admitted as she turned back to her friend, "I haven't really thought about it - hadn't had time, actually. I talked with Hayley and she made me see things I hadn't before."

"So that's a 'yes'...?"

"I don't know," Cami reiterated, her eyes drifting to Elijah, "Right now, I just want him to wake up. I'll figure it out later."

She felt guilty she hadn't even spoken to Maleny on the subject, she hadn't even mentioned anything of going back to school! There was plenty Maleny had missed and while Gia was a fantastic friend, Cami yearned to speak to her cousin like old times. Perhaps after this they would finally get the time.

~ 0 ~

Finn walked into the greenhouse where his mother had just finished a rather harsh spell to get Kol to return to the Quarter, The boy had been MIA for some time now.

"Amarrah has called me in," Finn said in confusion, "I didn't think she'd take a liking to me so early."

"Nonetheless, the witch has perfect timing," Esther put down some utensils and picked up herbs instead, "It's ideal. Everything is finally falling into place so it's time to bring her in," she handed him the bundle of herbs, "Here. I've spelled this to subdue her without causing bodily harm."

Finn felt uncomfortable with the idea, thinking Amarrah really wouldn't need it, "I thought we had more time..." he mumbled.

"We don't," Esther sharply looked at him, "Once Klaus has been duly influenced by his father, we will need to act quickly."

"No, there's no need for this," Finn pushed the herbs from him, earning a look from his mother.

"Do not forget the witch knows Maleny and at any time she can discover your real identity."

"I know, but...I don't think she knows yet," Finn assured, "I can bring her in without her even realizing it."

"I trust you know what you're doing, Finn," warned Esther, not about to let him muck up the plan.

"I do, mother," Finn raised his hands as he backtracked out of the room, nearly bumping into Maleny on his way out.

"Watch where you're going," the blonde snapped as she entered the room, immediately earning a stunned look from Esther, "Surprised to see me?"

"A pleasant surprise," Esther started smiling, "Come in, Maleny," she motioned, "I trust you have thought about the offer?"

"Yeah, and I speak on behalf of myself, Cami and Hayley: no," Maleny walked further into the room, ignoring the frown on Esther's face, "I'm here for something different."

"Like what?"

"We can start with the fact you have my previous corpse and I'd like it back," Maleny put on a wide grin for the woman, "Like now."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Esther went around her table, her hands picking up different herbs and utensils.

"Seriously?" Maleny stared at her wearily, "We're gonna do the whole thing where you pretend you don't know what I'm talking about until I finally hammer you down? I'm mortal, my breath is precious so please don't waste it."

Esther deeply sighed and turned to face the blonde, "I do have it and no you can't take it."

"It's mine, Esther. Give it back so I can finally end my curse."

"You won't be able to do it on your own, child," Esther nearly scoffed at the idea, "You need an immense source of power to end the curse. You would need a witch as powerful as me."

"Which I can get on my own," Maleny gritted her teeth, "Not from you. Don't you get it, Esther? I hate you. I despise you. If I could, I'd push you down a cliff," she made a pushing gesture for show.

"Your sarcasm has never amused me more," Esther gave a smile, "but you will reconsider my offer after Klaus is influenced by his father."

Maleny blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Oh, has he not mentioned it to you?" Esther raised an eyebrow, "I brought Klaus' biological father back from the dead. In fact, I believe right now he's having a word with Klaus somewhere in the bayou."

"If he does anything to hurt him-"

"Oh please," Esther rolled her eyes, "Out of anyone I think the least one concerned with harming Klaus is his father. I brought him back so that Klaus has an actual chance of having a real father at his side."

Maleny stared at Esther until her mind frazzled, "What's wrong with you? I don't...I don't understand anything," she shook her head, "Why - why would you bring him back? What is the point here?"

"Maleny, just like I can help you stay in this body forever," Esther pointed at the blonde, "I can place Niklaus into a werewolf's body so that he can live out as what he truly is."

"Right," Maleny nodded, "at which point I assume Klaus laughed in your face after hearing this. I know he wouldn't accept."

"You would reject him?" Esther challenged, taking Maleny by surprise.

"Are you insane? Oh wait you are," Maleny shook her head, "Let me remind you that when I fell in love with your son he was human, a werewolf-in-waiting. I don't care what he chooses to be. I just happen to know he wouldn't choose this - especially coming from your hands."

"But what if he did?" Esther pressed, genuinely curious of the girl's response.

"If he did, I wouldn't agree with it," Maleny shrugged, "But I wouldn't reject him for it," she leaned forwards on the table, "I'm not Mikael."

"Maleny, you're making a mistake, let me help you with this curse," Esther went for the blonde around the table.

"I don't want your help, I want you to give me my corpse back!" Maleny rose her volume, her anger only just able to simmer down, "What part of that isn't getting through your thick head?"

Esther straightened up, clearly angry by the rejection, "You will come begging me to help you-"

"I really doubt that," the blonde raised a hand to stop Esther from continuing, "Why would I want your help when you subdued your own son to some nightmare state?"

"I did that so Elijah could see he needed to be saved," Esther snapped, not about to have her questioning her mothering skills.

"So he's killed people, but let's all remember who tried killing their own kids," Maleny gestured to Esther, "I tell you, you and Mikael definitely win parents of the year. I mean, to want to kill your own granddaughter? That's a new one."

"I had no choice," Esther defensively said, "If I didn't there would be great consequences."

"Like what? Ooh, a little girl gets to live," Maleny sarcastically shook her hands, "Scary."

"Maleny, there are things you don't understand, things that none of you understand. Do not forget I lost my own child as well."

"Freya, yeah, Mikael spoke about her right before he wanted to kill me," Maleny rolled her eyes, "I tell you, she's better off dead than being here in this messed up family."

"Be quiet!" Esther snapped and slapped Maleny across the face, leaving both equally stunned.

"Did you just…?" Maleny put a hand over her cheek, her mouth half-open in shock, "Did you just hit me?"

Esther, though clearly regretting it, did not back down, "Yes, because you don't know what happened, alright? You will never understand what I had to do because you are not a mother."

"Thank God or not they'd be hunted down by their deranged grandmother," Maleny then blinked as she realized what her statement implied, "Don't even say anything."

Esther still smirked at the blonde and returned to the table, "It's clear your affections for my son have not lessened. Don't you see, Maleny, I only want to reunite this family and therefore allowing you and Klaus to live a life with children of your own."

"It's too late for that," Maleny declared grimly, lowering her hand from her face, "There was a time where that could've happened, but you ruined it."

"You and I did, let's not forget," Esther snapped.

"Under lies," Maleny immediately reminded the woman, "You tricked me. You took my powers and you used it to hurt your own children. Had my mother been alive, I'm sure she would've killed you for what you did to me."

"I am truly sorry for what happened with your powers," Esther sighed, looking more or less honest, "I didn't know to what degree the spell would affect either of us. Your power was young and raw - it didn't stand a chance to be quite honest."

"And even after then, you refused to turn me," Maleny spat, "You had condemned me to love someone that would eventually outlive me and bury me. That was cruel - even by your standards."

"I couldn't turn you Maleny," Esther shook her head, "Niklaus had very mixed emotions about that and I...I figured I had done enough."

"And look where that got us, huh? You and I, standing here," Maleny shook her head, "I think the only thing I would identify with you is how crazy our lives are. Other than that, you and I are nothing alike despite being witches of the same village."

"Then accept my offer as my apology," Esther motioned as if it were a simple deed, "I am trying to even out the horrible differences between you and my son. Together, as mortals, how does that sound?"

Before Maleny could answer, a frustrated Kol entered the room, "Remind me to teach you how to send a text message!" he told Esther before seeing Maleny, "Mal! Hey-" Maleny was in no mood for the young Mikaelson and with a balled fist caused a small infliction of pain in the head, "So," Kol rubbed his head after the pain faded, "Not happy to see me, then?"

"Well, seeing as you didn't care your deranged father kidnapped me I don't see why I should be happy you're back," Maleny crossed her arms.

"Right, about that, I'm sorry," Kol raised his hands to show he came in peace, "But I had bigger things than-"

"My life?" Maleny raised an eyebrow, "Right, gotcha. I'll be sure to remember that when you're being killed by either your mother, father or siblings."

"Mal, you know I love you, but...if I don't do what mother dearest," Kol nodded over to Esther, "I get killed too."

Maleny shook her head, unable to take more of them, "Forget this, I'm leaving. Oh, and Esther?" she stopped by the threshold to look back, "I will get my corpse one way or another. I make that a solemn swear."

~ 0 ~

In Marcel's loft, Hayley, Aiden, Josh, Marcel himself, and Amarrah were all gathered up outlining their plan to capture Finn. There was a map of the Quarter placed on a table between them as they discussed the details.

"So, Finn said he wanted to meet at Preservation Hall," Amarrah reviewed the setting, "But, I doubt he'll be unprotected."

Aiden agreed and pointed out several different areas on the map, "There will be wolves positioned here and here."

Marcel pointed to one spot that hadn't been touched, "Can we keep this alley open?"

"Alright, I'll wait there and rip Vincent's head off," Hayley announced cheerfully, but the darkness lacing her words made the others exchange looks.

"No, he'll only body-jump and it'll become much harder to get him," Amarrah pointed out, making the brunette roll her eyes, "Surprise is kind of all we have here. We don't want to waste it."

"Then what do we do with him?" Josh inquired curiously, "Big bad warlock like that isn't gonna stay put."

Hayley considered the problem before coming up with an idea, thanking Maleny silently in her head, "I know something we can use. We'll just have to ask Cami or Mal first."

"Weren't you the one that said not to include Maleny in this," Amarrah crossed her arms, "I haven't met Klaus but I do like having my heart here," she patted a hand over her chest.

"As do I," Hayley agreed, "But Cami's taking care of Elijah and I doubt she'll want to leave him."

"What exactly are we going to risk her life for?" Aiden asked.

"Maleny and Cami happen to own a couple of, um...shackles, that can be used against witches. It stops them from doing magic."

"That sounds like it could be a lot of help," Marcel looked at Hayley, making it all rely on her, "But it's your call."

Hayley sighed deeply, "And I'm gonna hate hearing Klaus' scolds but this has to be done."

~ 0 ~

Later that night, Finn and Amarrah got together at the Preservation Hall that was under the loud influence of a jazz band. Finn returned to Amarrah at their table holding two beers for themselves.

"Thanks," Amarrah took the beer and looked around, "This is amazing!" she truthfully remarked at the big crowd that surrounded them. It was something she'd never seen before living her family's ranch.

"I developed an appreciation for the music after I moved here. I never had a taste for it before," Finn looked at the dancing crowd across them, more or less interested.

Amarrah watched him take a drink of beer and made a face, making her laugh, "Hm, I see you're still developing your taste for beer. My mother used to scold me all the time because it was unlady-like so I snuck it in with my cousins. What about you, though? Snobby mom? Distant dad? Spill!"

"Well," Finn straightened up, "my mother and I are quite close. She made so many sacrifices for us. Now, anything she asks seems negligible in comparison."

Amarrah nearly scoffed after learning everything about Esther. The man really was blind to the monster his mother had become. Thankfully, her cellphone went off and so she didn't have to fake an answer, "I'm so sorry," she put her beer on the table and got up, "It's my mom wanting to see how I'm doing. I haven't called her since I got here, sorry. I'll be right back," she promised and hurried off to go 'answer'.

Finn watched her go to the end of the room, near the entrance as she answered the phone. Suddenly, a man blocked the view of the woman and when he left Finn saw Amarrah was gone! Slightly worried, Finn stood up and went outside to look for her. As soon as he walked out, he heard screams that belonged to Amarrah. He ran down into an alley and found her on the ground, being attacked by someone wearing a hoodie. Sensing him, the attacker turned and displayed bright, golden eyes from under their hood. The attacker leaped onto the roof of the next building and disappeared.

Finn hurried towards Amarrah and helped her up. At the sound of a whistler, he turned again and saw the attacker staring him down. After he/she disappeared, Finn returned their attention on Amarrah...but she was gone.

~ 0 ~

Hayley and Amarrah were sat at the sacristy of St. Ann's, awaiting to see if their plan against Finn had been successful. Amarrah was putting away her cellphone when Hayley handed her a cusp full of her blood.

"It's Maleny," Amarrah chuckled at the antics of her good friend, taking the cusp from Hayley.

"Checking up on you?" assumed Hayley.

"Asking a dozen questions to see how it all turned out," Amarrah nodded, "She's pissed we didn't let her help."

It was Hayley's turn to chuckle, "Just give her a quick summary - I don't need her showing up and getting hurt."

Amarrah drank from the cusp when Aiden came over with Josh, "Well, Finn bought it. His locator spell will bring him here without the bodyguards."

"Well, it's time to put one hell of a show," Amarrah rose to her feet and handed the cusp back to Hayley, "Seriously never thought I'd get into this type of problem."

"Welcome to the Quarter," Hayley patted Amarrah's back and the two shared another laugh before getting back to work.

An hour later, Finn showed up at the alley near the church where Aiden awaited him, "I staked it out. It looks like a couple of Oliver's friends wanting to avenge his death," Aiden explained the 'situation'.

"Where's Amarrah?" Finn demanded.

"She's, uh, she's tied up near the altar. Hey, you bee-line for her, I'll handle the rest of them, alright?"

But before Aiden could turn to go, Finn stopped him, "Aiden? Your brother was among the recruits that Oliver rescued, was he not?" Aiden immediately knew the plan had been thwarted and next thing he knew was thrown the doors of the church.

Aiden ended up thrown across the aisle, knocked out from such a blow. Josh, intending on helping, sped for Aiden but was stopped by Finn who violently lighted all the candles in the church and snapped Josh's neck.

"Amarrah?" Finn called for the woman as he continued down the aisle, "AMARRAH!"

Hayley sped up behind him and tackled him to the floor, "First, I'm going to kick your ass. Then, I'm going to take my pack back," Hayley explained while struggling to keep Finn still.

"Your pack?" Finn had a good laugh, "Last I checked, your pack was blindly following me."

Hayley raised an eyebrow, "You wanna talk about following? How do your mother's boots taste?" she then kicked the man in the face, busting his lip, but not even that broke his spirit.

"What have you done with Amarrah?"

It was Hayley's turn to laugh. For such a smart, powerful warlock he didn't seem to catch on very quick.

Finn telekinetically threw her away and quickly got up, "Hybrids die by losing their head or their heart. And, given the choice, I'm going to take the organ that got you into this mess in the first place," with a spell, he started working at Hayley's hand, "Le specto tre colo ves bestia! Le specto tre colo ves bestia!"

Hayley started spitting blood as she felt a terrible pain in her chest. Her blouse became stained with blood as the heart itself was being pulled out. Suddenly, Jackson appeared at the second floor, holding a bow and arrow which he used on Finn. The man fell back with a bow lodged on him and before he could do anything else, Amarrah showed up and slammed the shackles onto his wrists.

At the stunned face, Amarrah remarked, "Did you really think I'm that naive not to know who you were?"

Finn tried using a spell but realized the shackles were canceling out his magic. Behind them, Jackson rushed to Hayley and helped her up, "Are you okay?"

"Your timing was pretty awesome, actually," Hayley chuckled, relieved she was still with life.

"I know this is totally inappropriate," Amarrah interrupted and turned to them, eyeing the unconscious Aiden and Josh on the side, "but that was a lot of fun."

"Around here, it's just daily life," Hayley gave a shrug then glared at Finn, "I think it's time for a family reunion."

Finn rolled his eyes, he would've warned them it wasn't the last fight they would fight but he figured they would learn it soon. Esther would realize his capture and would retaliate in a harsher way.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, what are you doing?" Cami stepped into Maleny's room to find the blonde standing over a small trash bin that was burning something - papers. Maleny was changed into sleeping clothes, wearing a loose pink robe over and slippers.

Maleny turned to the vampire with a wicked smile as she waved her old journal, "I'm burning a book, duh. I can't stand seeing this journal with my memories that I may or may not end up forgetting again."

"So your decision was to burn it? Why didn't you just throw it away?"

"Because I want to see them burn," Maleny threw the cover and back of the journal into the bin, letting the flames consume it along with the other pages, "More effective."

Cami eyebrows raised in surprise, "For a minute there, you sounded like Klaus."

Maleny laughed and glanced at the fire. She began putting it out once she papers had turned into ash, "Centuries, Cami, remember? Things rub off."

Cami leaned back into the hallway to see if Klaus was coming but she saw Elijah's door stilled closed. She then walked inside and closed the door, "Mal, how'd things go with Esther?"

"Em, I hate her. She's still offering me to help with the body - which she admitted to having."

"So you were right," Cami's eyes widened, "What are you going to do, then?"

"I have to tell Klaus, first of all, and then we have to get Esther to hand it over," Maleny sighed, still wondering just how that would happen.

"That's not gonna be easy, especially considering what you just helped Hayley do with Finn."

"Finn had it coming for trying to use Amarrah like that," Maleny waved the topic off, more irritated than angry with that fact. Did they really think they could use Amarrah for God knows what when Amarrah was her friend?

"Still, it's just gonna make things more difficult," Cami sighed and turned to leave when Maleny called for her.

"Cami, now that we know Elijah's going to be good again...are you going to leave again?" it appeared Maleny had become nervous when asking but it was really worrying that Cami would get up and leave once more. That wasn't what Maleny pictured when she'd returned to New Orleans.

"Mal, I didn't mean to leave like I did the first time. I was just going through some stuff and I thought things that weren't true."

"Like what?" Maleny frowned.

"Well, I thought that there was no place here for me," Cami hugged herself, feeling awkward.

"Why would you think that?" Maleny stepped forwards, "You're my cousin, you're-"

"Not actually related to you," Cami pointed out, "Our memories are false, they never existed. C'mon, Mal, you know sooner or later it's going to be you and Klaus. Hayley will always be part of this family because of Hope. But me?"

"What about Elijah?" Maleny raised an eyebrow, "Because I know he's taken a liking to you."

"We have fun together, we play chess and we talk, but…"

"Camille O'Connell, I never want to hear that you are not part of this family," Maleny announced and walked over to the blonde vampire, hugging her tight, "We all love you here so please tell me you're moving back in because I'll lose it if you don't - I promise."

Cami pulled away and chuckled, "Okay, but only because you'd lose it."

"Yeah, okay," Maleny playfully rolled her eyes and stepped back, "And you're going to tell me all about going back to school too," she warned, "because I know you're back and you're going to graduate by the end of the year. Gia told me that before leaving."

"If I stay on track which to be honest I'm not doing very well," Cami admitted to Maleny afterwards she hadn't attended classes in the days Elijah had been gone, which only added more coursework to the previous ones she still hadn't finished.

"We'll make you a study time," Maleny declared, "Yeah, I can do that for you."

There was a knock on the door that ended the conversation. Cami wasted no time in rushing for it and was a little disappointed to see only Klaus on the other side.

"How is he?" she asked quietly.

"Awake, and getting better," Klaus answered, slightly amused, "You might want to give him a chance to be 'presentable'," he rolled his eyes at the very first request Elijah had made after waking.

"Yeah, okay, fine," and Cami pushed past him, not about to waste any minutes standing there.

Maleny chuckled at her cousin and clapped her hands, "So I'm definitely going to start teasing about that in a couple of days," she awaited for some type of remark from Klaus but the hybrid remained at her doorway, looking grim, "This is sort of the part where you defend your brother from me…" she said slowly but only received a look.

"Mal, I know I promised you we would get to talk earlier but do you mind if I tell you something first?"

Maleny nodded, seeing the graveness in his face was more than usual, "What's going on?"

"I...saw my father today, my biological father," Klaus looked to the side, unable to face her just yet. By doing so, he missed the unsurprised look on Maleny's face, "Esther brought him back from the dead, believing he could convince me to renounce vampirism. The thought of what I could be, had I been raised by him...had I been nurtured...it's a difficult thing to, um..."

"I think you would have been filled with far more love," Maleny quietly remarked, "Not to say that you aren't now-" but Klaus scoffed, making it known he clearly disagreed.

He closed the door and walked further into her room, "Come now, Maleny, you and I both know this would have changed me completely," he turned to face in her direction, the blonde still by the door and watching in silence, "Perhaps even our dynamic would've been different."

"How so?" Maleny crossed her arms, confused for a minute, "Back then, we didn't really have problems beside me asking you to turn me. We were completely fine, Klaus - as an 'us'. The one that suffered was you."

"Which I sometimes took out on you," Klaus pointed out what he believed Maleny was keen on forgetting.

Maleny's eyes lowered, "You just shouted, but you always came back to me and we were better. I appreciate your concern but the reality here is you're only trying to push away the real changes your father could've enacted if you were with him."

Klaus pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, glancing to the trash bin whose flames was slowly dying down. Maleny hurried over to kill the fire, giving Klaus a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I was doing a thing…"

Klaus handed her his father's notebook, for once Maleny's antics not enough to make him feel better, "This was his."

Maleny slowly took the notebook from him and opened it opened it up to skin its pages, "Now we know where your artistic skills come from," she remarked upon finding a sketch of Klaus as a child.

"He knew about Hope," Klaus said quietly and earned wide eyes from Maleny, "I wanted to trust him more than anything in the world. I- I wanted to, but…"

Maleny closed the notebook as Klaus trailed off, sensing something horrible was coming.

"I couldn't be sure. And, I would never forgive myself if something happened to her because of my selfish desire for a father. So, I killed him. Without hesitation. I killed him."

Maleny's eyes widened once more, "Oh Klaus…" there were truly no words she could say to make him feel better, nor to make anything better, "You killed him for Hope?" she gave him back the notebook before hugging him.

Klaus hugged her back, reveling in moments like those where it felt as if time hadn't passed between them and it was just them, in their forest, together. He pulled away from her minutes later, managing to keep tears in and only display glossy eyes, "Wasn't there something you wanted to talk about earlier?"

Maleny studied him for a minute and placed her hands on either side of his face, "It's not important right now," she whispered.

"Are you sure?"

"Another time," Maleny smiled for him and took his hand. For a split moment she wondered if it was best to just get the bad news of Esther possessing her corpse out of the way. But the more she took in his practically heartbroken expression, the idea was thrown out the window, "Maybe you should rest," she suggested instead, "I doubt that going on a rescue mission for me and your brother hasn't allowed you much rest. That's probably even bound to make you more cranky. And for you, that's saying something."

That one made Klaus smile a little, "Mal, do you ever stop being so sarcastic and-"

"I wasn't being sarcastic - that was a true statement!" she laughed and pulled him into the hallway, "But no matter, I tend to always make you feel better."

"That you did," Klaus agreed and let her lead them up to his bedroom, "...always..."

"Just relax already, Klaus," Maleny repeated herself for the millionth time - or so she counted silently. She was focused on her nearly finished flower crown but occasionally she would glance over to Klaus to see how he was doing.

They were in a secluded area of their beloved forest - one that Klaus had found long ago just for them. Maleny sat over a cushiony flower bed with Klaus laying beside her. His eyes were closed but Maleny could see the stress still etched over his features.

"I thought it would be a good idea to come here, but I suppose I was wrong," Maleny feigned a sigh, watching from the corner of her eye Klaus open his eyes.

"Maleny, it's not your fault," Klaus sat upright, "I always have problems with my father..."

"And I should be able to help you," Maleny became serious again, "But I cannot do so if you do not allow me to..."

"It's not exactly easy..." Klaus trailed off when Maleny put her finished flower crown on top of his head.

Maleny laughed and reached to fix it, "There, see? You're not bad looking if you just fix yourself up a little."

"Oh?" Klaus pretended to be offended by the statement, "Is that the case? But I thought you were madly in love with me?"

"I am," Maleny grinned at him, "but you do have some flaws...like your temper. Oh, and then your over-protectiveness. Oh! Let's not forget your jealousy scenes..."

"Mal," Klaus gave her a look.

"But the one I actually dislike..." Maleny leaned forwards, her voice lowering to a whisper, "...is when you don't give me one of your smiles," she reached to touch his face, "or your smirks - I love them," she gave him a soft kiss.

After that, the smirk that broke across Klaus' lips were inevitable, "Please, do go on..."

Maleny chuckled, sporting a bright blush on her cheeks, "Of course. Would that make you feel better?"

"It already is," Klaus wrapped an arm around her, "Keep going," he urged her and began kissing her all over her face while she went on with his request.

In that moment, Klaus had wished he could grab Maleny and do the same thing they had done back in their secluded area. His arms worked before his mind could process. He snatched Maleny by the waist and walked her up against the wall, just beside his bedroom.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Maleny nervously inquired, her eyes wide with surprise.

Klaus didn't answer right away. One hand traveled up to her face, tracing her cheek. He was actually very surprised of himself that he was able to restrain himself from kissing her there and then. Her rapid heartbeats alerted him he'd overstepped completely - her almost scared expression enough to remind himself that she was still not prepared.

That's what he believed anyways.

Maleny bit her lip as he stepped away from her, feeling just a little (or maybe not so little) disappointed that nothing had happened. She didn't want to push either, for he was still overly impacted by the appearance of his true father. Maybe it was best if nothing happened tonight.

"I, um, I should go..." she cleared her throat and meant to scurry away but Klaus called her back.

"Do you think I could ask of you a favor?"

"U-um..." Maleny awkwardly rubbed her neck, "...what...did you need?"

"Something simple," Klaus promised her but that didn't make her any less nervous when he held a hand for her.

~ 0 ~

Cami awkwardly knocked on Elijah's bedroom door, even though the door was already opened, "May I?" she called to the Original who stood in front of a mirror, fixing his new, clean jacket.

"Camille," Elijah turned around, a smile working its way across his lips.

Cami smiled back and hurried into his room, "Thank God you're back!" she greeted him with a tight hug, "You would not believe the trouble we went through to get you!"

"I sincerely hope it wasn't anything dangerous," Elijah pulled away and by the look Cami had he figured his hope was in vain.

"Mild," the blonde waved him off with a light chuckle, "But it's all worth it. Are you okay? What did...what did she do to you?" she asked quietly, curious yet scared for him.

Elijah slowly turned away, facing his reflection that was no longer the noble man he always made himself to be out, "If you don't mind I would prefer not to speak about it."

"No, yeah, I, um...I get it," Cami nodded, her concern not quite traceable in her tone yet. She crossed her arms and waited for him to speak again, thinking it was best to leave the topic alone until he was ready.

"Tell me," Elijah finally broke the silence that'd fallen between them, "are you going to return to the compound now?"

Cami raised her eyebrows, "Um, well...I...wasn't really sure. I talked to Mal, and she was really keen on me staying, so...if you wouldn't mind. And, if my room is still here."

Elijah turned around again, this time smiling honestly, "Your room remained just like you left it. And," he added the last word with some hesitation, "it would also do me well if you stayed here again."

"Really?" Cami blinked, unable to withhold her blush, "Wh-why?"

"Esther, she, uh...she's a very dangerous woman and I would feel far better if you were under the same roof as me where I can make sure you are safe."

Cami bit her lip and nervously smiled, "Well...I am quite capable of fighting for myself, you know."

"Yes, I know," Elijah mused, "But, for me, please?"

"It's completely settled then!" With her excitement, she embraced him in another hug.

Though while she smiled, Elijah seemed more concerned...and afraid. With the new revelation Esther had made him see - he killing Tatia, the first woman he had ever loved - he was now considering just how safe anyone was around him. Esther warned him he could end up hurting anyone - his mind settled over Camille.

He couldn't bear the idea of actually laying a finger on her. All she'd done was help him and his family, dying in the process, and she never even asked for a 'thank you' in return. He had grown so accustomed to having her around that the moment she left to create some sort of life for her own it left him a lost state.

Without realizing it, she'd become something special to him.

~ 0 ~

Cami was just walking out of Elijah's room when she caught sight of Hayley down in the courtyard, and she wasn't alone. Vincent and Kol were shackled by their wrists behind her.

"What's going on?" the blonde questioned confusedly.

"I bring a present," Hayley smirked, "Where's Elijah and Klaus?"

Before Cami replied, Elijah came out of his bedroom, "Isn't this a surprise," he remarked.

"We got them, Elijah, now what?" Hayley raised her eyebrows, intent on making the two rogue brothers pay for their actions.

"We'll have a word," Elijah motioned for Cami to join Hayley, "I'll get Niklaus, he'll definitely want a word with them as well."

"Let's go," Hayley harshly yanked on the chains around the brothers. Cami started for the stairs while Elijah headed for Klaus' bedroom.

Elijah thought it was unusually quiet upstairs and once he saw Maleny's open bedroom without the blonde witch inside, he believed something was wrong. Without knocking, he opened Klaus' door and stepped inside only to find his younger brother asleep already.

He wasn't alone, no. Maleny was right beside him, still in her clothes, but fast asleep. Klaus held her close while Maleny rested her head on his chest. Both seemed surprisingly at peace - that was a novelty in this family.

A silent smile broke across Elijah's face as he slowly backtracked out of the room. Perhaps, it would be better if Klaus learned of Fin's and Kol's arrival tomorrow morning.