"Mal, are you coming or not?" Evie asks from in front of her vanity mirror, which was illuminated by bright lightbulbs.
"I think I'll pass tonight thanks," the daughter of Maleficent says, laying on her bed, with her purple hair spread out on her pillow like a fan.
"Come on, Moonlight Madness is supposed to be the most romantic dance of the whole semester," the daughter of the Evil Queen, says, putting the final touches on her makeup. "Besides, it's Dizzy's first real dance since coming to Auradon."
"I know, she's only told me like a thousand times. I sit next to her in Chemistry remember?"
"Oh, that's right, sorry, but seriously how can kissing under the moonlight not be romantic for you and Ben...? Wait, did Ben cancel again tonight?"
"Yeah, more royal paperwork," Mal sighs.
"When was the last time you guys actually had a real date?"
"When was the Royal Cotillion?"
Evie shoots her bestie a look.
"Fine, two weeks ago, but it wasn't even a real date, we just ate lunch together in his office. We didn't really get to see each other over the summer anyway." This was true as while Mal stayed on campus the whole time, Ben had to go touring through the different kingdoms to recruit more students for Auradon Prep.
Evie sits on the edge of her friend's bed. "That's something..."
Mal just rolls away from her friend. Even though she and Ben were true love, it did not mean life was going to be happy and cheery, the happily ever after type... Ben had his responsibilities as the King and Mal to her school work and lady of the court... it was hard to manage their lives and find time for each other.
There's an eager knocking at the door. Evie opens it to see an excited Dizzy, all dressed up in a rainbow skirt, a fancy top, and the nicest pair of glasses she can find. Her hair is in her favourite pigtail style and she has her headphones around her neck.
"Evie, you look so pretty," the youngest of the VK group squeals.
"You look so awesome too Diz,"
"Do I look okay? Did I try to pick the best of my glasses? Should I have gone with pigtails or maybe braids? What about an orange skirt instead of rainbow. What about purple shoes, do they match..."
"Dizzy," Evie says, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Take a breath, you look fine, just maybe lose the headphones, you want to be able to hear when boys give you compliments," She takes them off and unintentionally tosses them onto Mal's bed.
"There, now you look like you're ready for a party,"
"Do you really think I'll meet my prince charming tonight?"
"Who knows, anything is possible, but slow down Dizzy this is only your first dance, there will be tonnes more. Tonight should just be all about having fun," Evie says confidently.
"Is Mal coming?"
"Not tonight," is the answer from her bed.
Dizzy pokes her head in to see her other friend. "How come, isn't Ben coming?"
"Not tonight, he's busy again, besides, I don't want cameras in my face the whole night anyways."
"You know Ben fixed that right?" Evie says. "Only for important royal events, now."
"I just don't feel like going anywhere that's all," Mal says. "But have fun at your first dance Dizzy."
"Thanks, Mal, I'll see you on Monday for chemistry."
"Right,"
"Well let's go Diz, I promised Doug that I would meet him at 8 down by the fountain."
"But it's 8:20,"
"I know, but a lady is always fashionably late for her date," the blue-haired princess smirks. She grabs her heart-shaped purse. "Night Mal,"
"Night."
Once alone, Mal looks over at her clock, deep in thought. She wishes time would go faster. She brings out her phone and begins scrolling through until she gets to Ben's number. She knew he'd be in his royal office doing important things, but just to hear his voice may improve her mood a lot more. She presses the call button and waits as it rings.
It rings and rings and rings and then:
"Hey this is Ben, sorry I can't take your call right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
Once it beeps, Mal sighs.
"Hey, it's just me, wanting to talk to you, hear your voice and stuff. I just wanted to let you know that I might go for a walk by the lake tonight if you want to join me, but I know that's probably not going to happen so... Anyways call me back if you can. Bye"
Tossing her phone onto her nightstand, she turns the TV on... but there's nothing interesting to watch except the movies that starred their parents and their mortal enemies and the local gossip news. Getting bored really quickly, she turns off the tube, gets up, grabs her leather coat, and goes for a walk along the campus. She passes several of the new kids who had come to campus in the new semester:
Paige and Patrick, twins of Peter Pan, Tia, daughter of Tiana, Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine, along with Whitney and Simon, daughter, and son of Snow White and Prince Charming, plus Dizzy, Ally, the daughter of Alice and Tallia, daughter of Tinkerbelle. Every year it seemed that more kids of every fairy tale wanted to come to Auradon Preparatory School, whether to escape their parents' kingdoms or find their own adventures. The problem was, there were still very few VKs and the "rotten" troop still stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd of princes, princesses, sidekicks, and fairies. Dizzy was an obvious choice to bring from the Isle, but it was hard to welcome new students to campus, especially ones that didn't try to kidnap Ben or steal Fairy Godmother's wand. Uma was still at large, but she'd probably found some rock to live under for all Mal cared. As long as she kept her tentacles off Ben...
Several of the new kids eyed her carefully as she walks past the fountain, going in the opposite direction of the Moonlight Madness dance.
"Is that Mal? King Ben's true love?" she heard someone ask their friends.
"Yeah, you'd think she'd be going to the dance with him."
"Maybe they're too busy tonight."
"She's too cool for dances like this. Didn't you hear she saved Auradon and the Royal Cotillion?"
The daughter of Maleficent ignores the whispers and rumours going around and proceeds down towards past the lake towards the ocean. She's avoiding her and Ben's Special Spot where they fell in love and the gazebo where they had their big fight before she left for the Isle again. Instead, she walks all the way down towards where there is a rocky beach. Across the ocean, she could barely make out the shape of the Isle. She knows she's pushing the boundaries of campus, knowing students were not allowed to leave with permission from Fairy Godmother or their parents. While the Isle confined her for much of her early life, Auradon felt the same to some degree for her current life. While she was much happier here than back where all the villains roamed, she still wants more.
As she continues staring at the ground, she doesn't notice when someone bumps into her, causing that person to drop their towel and other belongings.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," the girl says.
Mal looks up to see a blue-eyed and raven-haired girl. She almost forgot about Melody, daughter of Ariel and Prince Eric. Melody had recently become the new captain of the Auradon swim team and she was always pushing for new members, which was something Mal tried to avoid, considering the fact that the VK still couldn't swim.
"It's cool," Mal shrugs, helping the AK pick up her stuff.
"Hey, you're Mal right, King Ben's girlfriend?"
"That's me,"
"Aren't you going to the Moonlight Madness dance?"
"I didn't feel up to it tonight. What have you been doing?"
"Taking a late-night swim, keeping the strokes strong. You know we could really use a few VKs on our swim team, you interested?"
"Thanks, but no thanks; try Dizzy, daughter of Drizella, she might be interested."
"You mean the petite girl with the pigtails and glasses and amazing fashion sense?" Dizzy had joined Evie in her fashion industry was becoming another well-known designer on campus.
"Yeah, she wants to sign up for everything,"
"Well, I'll keep that in mind, anyways got a run, nice talking to you Mal,"
"Same here Melody."
Once she's alone again, Mal begins the trek towards the water's edge along the rocky beach. Eventually, she comes upon some very large rocks and climbs on top of one of them, making it her perch for the time being. She gazes out at the moonlit ocean. It glows silver and the white orb ripples with the waves of the tide, like a balloon floating through the dark night air. There's nothing but the sounds of water lapping the rocky surface and the occasional seagull cawing.
Mal looks out at the horizon, wondering what was beyond Auradon and the Isle even. Were there other worlds that they hadn't explored yet? Maybe a land that had yet to experience humankind... A place with magic, not unlike her own. She can feel her powers warming up slightly, but she suppresses the feeling again. Then she proceeds to toss rocks into the water. Part of her makes a wish every time she sees a ripple on the surface.
Suddenly, something shiny catches her eye, she hops down from the rocks and to take a closer look. She realizes that it's just a fork, that probably washed ashore from the Royal Cotillion or some other seaside picnic. She examines it for a few moments until she hears bubbling in the water and unfamiliar splashing.
Mal looks around her magic activating in case of trouble. She looks out into the water and not too far away, the surface is bubbling frantically as if something is coming up from the depths of the ocean. It couldn't be Melody, she just left. Another swim team member? Uma?
A human head pops out of the water, causing Mal to jump back in surprise. The human head continues to bob along the surface, it's hard to see in the darkness who it was, but the person did have very long hair that shone in the moonlight.
"Excuse me," the head says, a voice Mal did not recognize. It wasn't a teenager, it was an adult.
Mal takes a step away, unsure of what to think of this stranger.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I was wondering if I could have that mini trident."
"The what?" Mal asks.
"The trident in your hands."
"You mean the fork?"
"Yes, sorry, I'm not used to the human lingo."
The woman gets closer to the shore and Mal could see why she was in the water. The bottom half of her body was a tail. She was a mermaid!
Mermaids were hardly ever seen, especially around Auradon, even Melody, whose mother is a mermaid, didn't talk about it that much. This is a real shock for Mal, but also exciting. She nervously steps forward, careful not to get her boots wet, she comes to the edge.
"Y-You're a mermaid?!" Mal asks.
"Last time I checked," she chuckles. She flips her tail upwards to show the curious teenager. Her scales sparkled in the moonlight, appearing to be a turquoise or green colouring as she flipped it around to show the purple-haired teen.
"Do you mind handing me the fork?"
"Uh sure..."
"Could you come a bit closer, it's too shallow for me to come up any further."
Reluctantly, Mal kicks off her boots and puts her bare feet in the cold lake water. She walks a few steps, nearly slipping on the rocky bottom until she's close enough to hand the fork to the mermaid.
"Thanks, this is a real find. One of the best," the mermaid says, smiling. Mal could see a faint reddish tint of the mermaid's hair in the moonlight too.
Her mind is trying to connect the dots... forks, mermaids, red hair, collecting random things, could this be Ariel? Is that why Melody comes out to the ocean, so she can see her mom?
"Do you mind telling me where I am exactly? Sometimes I get so caught up in travelling that I forget where I am."
"Uh, you're in Auradon."
"What is that?" the mermaid, possibly Ariel asks, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"You mean you've never heard of Auradon before?"
"Not in this realm at least,"
"R-Realm?"
"Oh, I must've gone too far back at that kelp clump. I forgot about the time differences too. I hope Eric won't be too mad at me. Anyways, thanks for your help... uh..."
"Mal, my name is Mal,"
"Mal, that's an interesting name. Mal of Auradon. I'll have to come back and talk to you some more, but I have to go now, thanks a lot, Mal."
Before the VK can even utter one simple question, the mermaid, who just confirmed to the teen that she's Ariel takes a deep dive, flicking her tail once. Mal watches where the mermaid disappears when suddenly, there's a flickering of soft yellow lights that appear under the water. Confused, but curious, she wants to get closer. Is this magic? Do mermaids even have magic? How could she be allowed to use it? She rushes forward as the lights flicker under the surface for a brief few minutes. Mal's heart is pounding as she almost reaches them, when her foot slips, realizing too late that it was the end of a coastal shelf and into deeper water and she goes under the cold liquid. Pushing herself back up onto the shallow area and trying not to panic, Mal breaks the surface. She searches for the magic, but the lights are gone and so is Ariel. She sloshes back to the shore, now cold and wet, she keeps looking back to where the lights had appeared. Her curiosity had seriously peeked and she wants to know more about Ariel and this magic that she possessed.