Tag: evie

I always wonder what would descendants be like if Carlos was a girl and rest of the gang were guys and were like her overprotective brothers! Or Mal could accidentally turn Carlos into a girl, and suddenly the guys at Audran Prep notice he is cute!

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Hm… I’m always kind of hesitant about gender/sex bend fic. When done right they are amazing to read, but it’s pretty difficult to do right–there’s a lot of tricky parts that need to be maneuvered around with sensitivity and there are points where you have to consider how much of a personality is due to sex (in that, unfortunately in society, people of different sexes are held to different standards and so develop differently). Like, how much change is too much? At what point do the characters we know and love become unrecognizable.

In the always!female!Carlos and always!male!Mal, Evie, and Jay… hm… there would be changes in how the parents treat their children in that case. For example, Maleficent and Grimhilde treat canon Mal and Evie as extensions of themselves/their second chances–essentially, their daughters are them. Whereas with Cruella, she treats canon Carlos as a (heh) dogsbody/minion.

If all three of them were to have sex bends I think that would also change–Cruella would probably raise Carlos (Carla?) to be a leader of minions instead of to be her own minion. A lot of Grimhilde’s advice to Evie is how to get a prince to marry–but if Evie is male then that means he would be the prince so Grimhilde would raise him to be as stereotypically prince-like as possible. Basically, training him to go on quests so he can win the hand of whichever princess he rescues. Maleficent and Mal’s relationship wouldn’t be too different except for how Mal is further from the duplicate image of Maleficent, so he would be even more desperate to prove himself to his mother.

All that being said, I do think that, yes, if the gang were female!Carlos, male!Mal, Evie, and Jay then the latter three would be very protective of the former. Carlos would be Evie’s “practice princess” in a way–like how children play make believe–while her lack of magic would make Mal think she were ridiculously fragile (especially in comparison to Maleficent’s overt magical presence). With Jay, since I figure female!Carlos would be less hostile than canon Mal and less beguiling than canon Evie, Jay would be more protective of female!Carlos. I mean, Jay is already pretty protective of the others in canon so it could only increase for a female!Carlos. Female!Carlos would be more hardened and cunning than her canon male counterpart, but ultimately I don’t think she would treat the others like her minions (that’s what Horace and Jasper’s kids are for); like her protectors, maybe, but not her minions.

As for shipping… hm… well, I’ve got to be faithful to Benlos–and if anything, female!Carlos would be an irresistible blend of canon!Mal and canon!Carlos for Ben. I would be absolutely fascinated by a male!Mal x Audrey ship–I’m always a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope. I also have a soft spot for Devie (aka, DougxEvie) but I’m not entirely sure how well that would translate to male!Evie x Doug… it’d be a mix of bad-boy/jock + nerd… As for Chad, well. I hate Chad. HATE. So I am pretty sure the Lost kids would be even less tolerant of his douchebaggery if it’s Carlos he tries to exploit–and anyway, female!Carlos would be less vulnerable to a handsome prince than canon!Evie. 

As for the second part of your ask… there’s a difference between gender/sex bend fic and… well, I don’t know if there’s a better term for it… gender/sex fucks. That is, instead of always!female!Carlos, it would be a temporarily!female!Carlos. The latter can be funny and silly, but I’m concerned with the phrasing? Like, why do the guys at Auradon Prep suddenly realize he’s cute when he’s female? Why did they not realize it sooner (like Ben)? That goes into exploring the sexualities of random Auradon guys who I don’t particularly care about?

I don’t think Carlos would do anything if he were suddenly turned female–I think it would be mostly the other Lost kids doing stuff. Like Evie having another model who actually enjoys clothes, Jay glaring daggers at all the Auradon guys who keep trying to ask out Carlos just because he’s suddenly female, and Mal trying to figure out how to reverse it. 

Maaaybe the only one I’d accept Carlos actually dating when suddenly female would be Ben (because, yes, I’m a Benlos shipper, but also he’s the only Auradon guy who showed any interest in Carlos before his sudden magical sex swap), but I’m not really sure where the plot would go from there. Unless it’s a story about gender dysphoria, in which having accidentally been turned female Carlos realizes that he actually wants to be a she. Thus all of her friends (+Ben) are her support system as she transitions (mentally, since Mal’s magic already took care of the physical part).

Uh.. but yes, sorry for all that heavy text. Here are some pictures for what I think I female Carlos may look like:

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(This is Quin as photographed by James McCloud)

Can u write a scene where Mal tries a love spell for Ben, she mess up so badly that it ends up where all the students( and maybe some of the teachers) fall for Carlos

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Untitled Descendants drabble (2015-09-06)

In one universe, while the four Lost kids are working on love potion cookies, Lonnie walks in, adds chocolate chips, cries, then leaves. With a tear of human sadness and despite the addition of chocolate, the potion works as advertised, making the consumer fall in love with the first person they see. In that universe, it makes Ben fall in love with Mal.

This is not that universe.

In this universe, Lonnie does not appear. There are no chocolate chips or tears of human sadness, and so there are no enchanted cookies. They have to use a different spell. One less… controllable.

“I can barely read anything on this page,” Mal complains, spell book flipped open to a different section.

“Let me see,” Evie says, and Mal lays the book flat so all of them can look.

They stare.

“Are you sure those are words?” Jay asks incredulously, not even flinching when Mal smacks his arm, because, well. Scribbles would be a generous description.

“The pictures are pretty clear,” Carlos says optimistically. Even if magic isn’t one of his skills, he has experience with making things work with patchwork instruction manuals–surely it’s the same with spells. It really isn’t.

“I suppose… We don’t have any other options, and we’re on a deadline.” Mal says, considering, before deciding on a course of action, “We’ll do it. Evie, first things first. We need this,” she points at the largest drawing: a flat, six petaled flower with a long thin stem. The top two petals are shaded in, no doubt meant to be a color of some sort, while the bottom four petals are left unshaded.

“Mirror, mirror… full of power,” Evie begins, “Show us where to find that flower.” The swirling silver smoke parts to show a field with dark purple and white flowers peeking through the blades of grass, a small stream flowing along one side. “Not so close,” Evie sighs, and the image zooms out to show the sign of Auradon Prep.

“It’s on campus?” Mal asks, disbelieving. Why would a key ingredient for a love spell just be growing where any student could get there hands on it? That’s stupid. Well, stupid of Auradon–convenient for her, so she shouldn’t complain.

“This campus is huge, though” Jay says, “that would still take us forever–”

“No wait,” Carlos interrupts, “I think I know where that is. I wasn’t sure, since the drawing is in black and white, but I’ve seen those flowers before.”

In the woods beyond the tourney field and bleachers is a deer trail, a narrow path that leads to a tiny meadow full of purple and white flowers. Carlos and Dude have been there before, found it on their very first day together. They go back, occasionally, if Carlos isn’t too tired from tourney practice to run around with his dog.

It’s easy to find again, even in the dark of the night. The four of them spend twenty minutes picking flowers, which, when Evie says so aloud with an amused smirk, causes Mal to scowl fiercely and Jay to stop.

“It’s for a diabolical scheme, okay. I’m not turning into some kind of airhead who sings to animals.” Mal says crossly, before adding, “Keep picking, Jay.”

“How many do we even need?” He grumbles, but does as she says anyway.

“Well, seeing as how we don’t have actual instructions, we need as many as we can get.”

In the end, they clear the field, flowers gathered into Carlos’ jacket as an impromptu bag, before heading back to the boys’ dorm room. They have a love spell to figure out.

But even if the pictures are pretty clear–flower, eyes, heart–the lack of words really is a problem. Not an insurmountable problem, no, but it definitely leaves a lot to interpretation. Like, say, everything.

“Ugh,” Mal groans after attempt almost two hours of trying to decode the scribbles, “Maybe we should go back to the first spell.”

“Tear of human sadness,” Jay reminds her with a grunt, sprawled on his bed and nearly half asleep, but stubbornly blinking his eyes open.

Mal just groans again, throwing her head forward into the cradle of her curled arms on the table.

“Why don’t we just wing it?” Carlos’ voice pipes up from behind her, where he and Evie have been lounging on his bed.

“You mean like the museum heist? Winging it like that?” Mal scoffs without looking up.

“Well, not quite like that,” Evie says coyly, “We have more than enough of these flowers, we can take our time and experiment. Imagine the havoc we can wreak on the school.”

That idea does sound appealing, Mal lifts her head and even Jay sits up in interest. Then startles–“What are you wearing?” He asks.

Mal turns and frowns at what she sees.

Carlos weaving a small wreath of the flowers around Dude’s neck, and Evie straightening a larger wreath as a crown on Carlos’ head.

Mal would scold them for using up their main ingredient, but the four of them really did pick an awful lot of those flowers. They have plenty to spare. But… just so it’s not a total waste, “You’re wearing that to classes tomorrow.”

Who knows, maybe something interesting will happen.

~

A/N: Uh… so first off–thanks for the prompt anon! And… well, sorry it wasn’t exactly what you prompted and more like the prequel to your prompt, instead. Mostly that’s because as I was about halfway through, I realized that the way I set it up this would have to be a complete derailment of the movie. Aaaand I don’t really know how to mesh that plot with this. But… yeah. This was pretty fun.

The flower I have in mind is Viola tricolor, aka heartsease, aka love-in-idleness, aka the flower that Puck gets the love potion from in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It also has the nifty built-in myth of changing colors–from white to purple when doing love magic.

Basically, the idea of Carlos in a magical flower crown and the whole Puck vibe he’s rocking during Set It Off! (specifically this part ) is really good for me.

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Hope you enjoy!

edit: now on ao3 as part of Nameless, Worthy (Infamous)

Ain’t No Rest, part 3/? (2015-09-05)

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Carlos is smart.

He’s really fucking smart, okay. He is probably the only person in the entire world who can outsmart magic.

But Carlos is also scared. And it’s because he’s so smart that he’s scared.

Because ingenuity isn’t the same as prescience or telepathy or even strategic thinking. He can take down the barrier, sure, but that doesn’t mean he knows what to do afterwards. Or how to deal with the consequences.

Luckily, he’s not alone–he has his gang, his family–they’re the entire reason why he took down the barrier in the first place. Over the years, his friends’ powers have only grown stronger: Evie’s predictions becoming more accurate, more certainties that probabilities. On those occasions when she’s unsure, people’s intentions switching mid-action or just not existing, well, that’s where Jay can pick up the slack. And Mal’s tactical prowess, while not magical, has always been impressive. As they grew, so too did their abilities–magic and not.

Unfortunately, while strength has always been held in high esteem on the Isle, for four kids trying to keep a secret, it was their downfall.

No, not kids, they’ve grown up. Adults. Carlos knows that their age shouldn’t have mattered, but it’s still something that hangs over them. A heavy what if; wondering if youth would have protected them. If it would have fulfilled one of the conditions to their parents’ tenuous, contingent love.

Because instead of seeing their children, Maleficent, Grimhilde, and Jafar had only seen rivals. Worse, rivals with a secret, rivals with magic.

Which left the the gang two options: fight or run. The truth of the matter is, they probably would have won, but not without killing; and for all that their parents’ love is conditional, theirs is not.

And so Carlos took down the barrier–only for a short window of time–and they fled.

The thing about having two options is that, really, it’s three options. The third option being to do both. Yes, they flee the Isle, not wanting to kill their parents despite them having no qualms about doing the same. But that doesn’t mean they won’t go back and fight.

The just need to pick up a few things first, so it doesn’t turn into parenticide. Things in Auradon. Things held in varying levels of security in Auradon. Things like, say, a certain genie lamp, a particular glass coffin, a specific bell jar, and the only magic wand worth the term.

~

Here is something Evie does not know yet. Her gift has not shown it to her, because it is not relevant. Not yet. It will be.

When Carlos took down the barrier, it wasn’t four people who left the Isle. It was ten.

~

A/N: For cyclesofthemoon who prompted “Carlos is” Which is a bit sparser than I expected for a prompt, but no less appreciated. Also, for that anon who asked about Ain’t No Rest. (jalencolbert is that you again?)

Because I haven’t forgotten it, but I have been putting it off. Because… yeah, I kind of realized I used a lot of what I was originally planning on doing in Ain’t No Rest in A Tale of Two Kingdoms instead… and then I also lost track of the plot. Basically, I was scared–I really want this to be amazing, but I have greatly reduced my options/abilities to do so. 😦

Subconscious uses crippling self-doubt!

It’s very effective!

But, mrgh, hopefully I can kickstart my enthusiasm for this story.

edit: switched about some lines for better flow.

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Your Hands On My Heart (a Mal x Evie fanmix)

  1. Fantasy by Ms Mr
  2. Shankill Butchers / Once Upon A Dream by Mountain Strings
  3. Glory and Gore by Lorde
  4. My Best Friend Is You by Kate Nash
  5. I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Jayme Dee
  6. Heart Skips A Beat by Lenka
  7. Closer by Tegan & Sera
  8. Untouched by The Veronicas
  9. No Sleep Tonight by The Faders
  10. Animal by Ke$ha
  11. Tigerlily by La Roux
  12. Bottom of the River by Delta Rae
  13. Clarity by Regina Zaremba
  14. Cosmic Love by Florence +The Machine
  15. We Found Love by Ingrid Michaelson
  16. Indestructible by Robyn

Find it here!
(The link sends you to a mediafire folder, only the zip file is necessary for the entire mix)

~

A/N: So part of the reason why I didn’t do a post yesterday was because, while creating a fanmix for Evie, I kept stumbling on songs that better fit Evie in love–specifically, Evie in love with Mal. Hence, this Mal x Evie fanmix. What is their portmanteau, anyway? Malvie? Mevie?

If there are any issues with the download link, please let me know so I can figure out how to fix it. Again, only the zip file is necessary to download the entire mix.

Enjoy!

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

The Girl You’d Die For (an Evie fanmix)

  1. Primadonna by Marina & The Diamonds
  2. Dreamer by Elizaveta
  3. Problem Queen (ft. Norah Jones) by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
  4. Serial Killer by Lana Del Rey
  5. In For The Kill by La Roux
  6. Shake It Out by Florence + The Machine
  7. That’s Alright by Laura Mvula
  8. Wicked World by Laura Jansen
  9. Don’t You Mourn The Sun by MiMi & the MAD NOiSE FACTORY
  10. Bulletproof by La Roux
  11. Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet (Orchestral Version) by Hayden Panettiere
  12. Human by Gabrielle Aplin
  13. Black Sheep by Metric
  14. Hungry Eyes by NONONO
  15. Everything At Once by Lenka
  16. Bubblegum Bitch (Writes Sins Not Tragedies) by Marina & The Diamonds

Find it here!
(The link sends you to a mediafire folder, only the zip file is necessary for the entire mix)

~

A/N: A fanmix for Evie, because she deserves one and I’ve had a few songs stuck in my head that I personally think matches her quite well. The most difficult part of this mix was actually deciding what order to put the songs in. To be honest, I’m still not fully satisfied, but I figured I ought to cut my losses and post it as is.

If there are any issues with the download link, please let me know so I can figure out how to fix it. Again, only the zip file is necessary to download the entire mix.

Enjoy!

AVATAR MAL STUFF

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jalencolbert:

Ok I’ve been seeing this..

In the form of this…

AND I Thought I’d share my thoughts. 

SO basically I like the idea. 

HERE’S WHO I THINK PLAYS WHO.

Mal = Aang 

(They are the main charcaters of both television events and….. it’ll make sense if you keep reading ok?”

Carlos = Katara 

(Forget the Mal X Carlos relationship. Fuck heteronormativity. Anyways he’s the sweetest, probably gives the best hugs and is cute so.. yeah)

Jay = Toph

( Have you seen Toph earthbend? Have you seen Jay’s arms? Case closed.)

Ben = Zuko (Only because of that scene where you thought Katara and Zuko were getting together… and how that would make BENLOS CANNON, therfore saving my life. Plus it makes sense, they weren’t exactly on the same side in the beginning…by the end they were.. yeah? Yeah)

Evie = Suki (She probs can kill anyone, and Suki and Evie, could both rock a fan. Plus we all lowkey appreicate suki’s acrobatics and everyone loves EVIE soo its simple addition) 

Doug can be Sokka, because neither do anything important in my opinion.

 Well scratch that Doug helps Evie learn important feminism stuff…. so they are who they are also for the pairing.

Help are my thoughts, comment your opinions follow me, reblog if you will.

-Fanboy

Okay, wait, okay. I first want to clarify–did you mean matching up characters with roles or matching up characters with elements? Because those are two different things entirely and I mostly agree with you on the roles (that is, Mal as the Avatar) but not necessarily which elements they are?

I hope you don’t mind me ranting, but SORRY YOU GOT ME STARTED NOT SORRY.

So, here we go. In my opinion, in this theoretical AU, I think only the Isle kids should be benders. So instead of banning all the villains to the Isle, they banned all the villains and benders to the Isle. Or maybe (as evidenced with Jane’s lack of magic) for some reason only those born on the Isle have bending abilities anymore.

Anyway:

Mal is the Avatar, but she is primarily Fire. Since it’s Disney canon that Maleficent can do fire stuff and the whole dragon thing and all. And, gotta be honest, Mal is like the slightly better adjusted version of Azula.

Evie is a Water bender; because potions/chemistry and water being reflective like mirrors… and… blue… but also because she’s fairly adaptable, a generous person, and a good foil to Mal’s harsher tendencies.

Jay is an Earth bender… because he’s pretty much Toph except a big buff dude. (Like the Ember Island players episode).

Carlos is an Air bender, because he’s fast and willow-y and playful and pacifistic; personality wise he is the closest to Aang. But… I also want him not to realize he’s an Air bender, because maybe Fairy Godmother is also an Air bender and even before the banishment of benders to the Isle there were a startlingly low number of Air benders. (Also maybe Cruella herself wasn’t a bender, so no one expects Carlos to be a bender either). ((Also, also, this explains the strange, preferably not romantic relationship between Jane and Carlos. It’s kind of like seeing someone who you were supposed to be but aren’t? I dunno)).

Then for the non-benders–that is, Ben, Doug, Jane, Lonnie (and Chad and Audrey? Do we particularly care about them in this AU?)

Hm… well, Lonnie would be Ty Lee or, rather, have the chi-blocking abilities of Ty Lee. In part because, except for Ben, she was the least prejudiced against the Isle kids. Part of that is probably because she was the least afraid, meaning she would have some way to defend herself against benders. Ty Lee could literally shut down someone’s bending, so that would not be a problem for Lonnie at all.

I’m trying to think of all the other non-benders in the series… Sokka, Suki, Mai, Jett… ooh, Teo (son of that inventor) and June (the bounty huntress)… oh! YUE.

Okay, so Jane is probably the Air equivalent of Yue–in that, she herself isn’t a bender but she has some spiritual chi in her. Maybe there was a complication with her birth and the Fairy Godmother (as an Air bender/implied spirit bender) pulled some sort of deal so that Jane would live even without the ability to bend.

Doug is Teo–in the sense that he comes from a family without magic but who are probably more technologically advanced than the rest of the kingdom. (I figure the dwarves are kind of like genre-typical dwarves in that they are immune to magic. It’s a two sided blade because that means spells and such don’t work on them, but they have to use tech to achieve things instead of magic. Although, since the rest of the kingdom doesn’t really have magic, they’re probably further ahead. [Hm… yeah, I’m gonna keep this headcanon: Dwarves are immune to magic, therefore Doug is immune to magic.])

I figure Ben and Chad are basically just Knights. Y’know, swords and such. Specifically with fighting styles, I suppose Ben would be more like Zuko (sans Fire bending), while Chad would be like Jett (who, I will be honest, I have extremely mixed feelings about. I kind of both love and hate that guy. And hella shipped him with Mai, gonna be honest.)

Which leads me to thinking that Audrey would probably have Mai’s fighting style. In that she has a bunch of hidden knives and needles hidden around her person. It’s not as effective against benders as Lonnie’s chi-blocking, so it explains her and Chad’s continued fear+prejudice against the Isle kids.

Although, hm… maybe Belle is a bender? But only secretly, and not very strong and definitely not Air. So it kind of mimics Zuko and his mother’s story arc. Like… maybe it’s something she only told Ben, because she knows how much bending has been vilified (except for Fairy Godmother, but it’s something else entirely to have the queen be a bender than a magical advisor). And so then when her bending was discovered, she had to leave in order to protect her son. So in this AU Ben isn’t as optimistic and happy (because even from the few snippets of her in the movie, Belle was very obviously the better parent).

So the roles they play don’t quite match up, but you can adapt things pretty easily. A fusion more instead of an overwrite.

… Uh. Yeah. Thaaaat’s it. Promise.

(I’m pretty sure I’m not going to write this, but if anyone would like to and would like to have me as their beta, shoot me a message. Because this was very fun brainstorming).

[Also, I am counting this as my daily post for August 30th.]

edit: sort of writing this, check out “Outliving The Ruins”

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 11/11 (2015-08-27)

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It’s as if all the thoughts have flown out of Carlos’ head leaving only an overwhelming sense of relief, vague confusion, that mild contrariness from before. And fear. Denial. But the part of him that is the head of the jaeger program is already moving, planning, changing up orders.

“Get more pilot suits,” he says to the technician, who startles but does as told. To Dreda he says, “Tell your crew to prep the fourth jaeger,” and though she hesitates at first to look him in the eyes, she nods and leaves as well.

He doesn’t fully understand it, but it’s as if he just suddenly knows. Knows that what Auradon says it the best course of action. He doesn’t need the drift analyst to know that the four of them would be better jaeger pilots than he and Dreda.

“Queen Cobra?” He asks Evie, she tilts her head toward Mal and Auradon and smiles, small and reserved.

“And the Dragon Knight,” she says, and something in Carlos deflates, resigned.

Carlos sighs, a long quiet exhale that drains everything but the jaeger program from him. “Let’s get to work, pilots,” he says, then turns and walks away, headed towards the control room where he belongs. The docks are his domain, here he is king.

They follow.

—

Queen Cobra is the first to set out, towards the class five kaiju.

Mal knows that Evie and Jay will be fine, in part because of her own experience of them. Evie’s omniscience combined with Jay’s battle prowess could only be enhanced by the literal giant fighting machine Carlos has built. They’ll be fine, she knows, because she has faith in them; they are her friends, and she believes in them.

Those aren’t words she’s all that familiar with, but in the drift with Ben it’s easy to admit these things.

In the drift, she also tells Ben the complete truth of the kaiju. Thoughts bounce between Mal and Ben, pooling together their knowledge and building off of each other.

The kaiju are to that world what the jaeger are to theirs–tools for battle. But where the masters of that strange world use the kaiju for conquest, Carlos has built his for defense.

Carlos has built the jaegers out of scraps, not bioengineering like the masters. There are only four jaegers; four jaegers to defeat over a year’s worth of kaiju.

If the masters had gotten a hold on the mind behind the jaegers… It’s why Mal couldn’t let Carlos go.

The past several kaiju had not been designed to demolish everything in their path. All of the past kaiju had headed straight for the Isle, not the shores of Auradon. They had been designed to capture Carlos.

How dare they?

A wave of protective aggression crashes through their drift. It is the ferocity of Mal defending her gang and the devotion of Ben fighting for the boy he loves.

How dare they even try?

The Dragon Knight won’t let that happen.

—

All of the jaegers are equipped with cameras, streaming directly to the control room; all the better to keep track of the situation. The footage caught on that day tells a story. A story of survival, yes, but there’s more to it than that.

It is a story, not about heroes defeating villains, but of humanity. Of people, regardless of their past and their legacy, working together to protect each other. The Hell Jalopy and the Rebel Watcher, two jaegers built by Isle and Auradon hands, used by Isle and Auradon pilots. Both defending each other to defeat their shared enemy.

It is a story, not about villains’ kids realizing their potential for heroism, but of redemption. The Queen Cobra, Evie and Jay, defending the Isle which their parents’ greed had put at risk. Proving that magic is power, but power can be used for great acts instead of terrible.

It is a story, not about good versus evil and the unlikely places both can grow, but of sacrifice. The Dragon Knight’s camera works up until it crosses through the tear into the world of the kaiju. Maybe it was the signal, or maybe the strange star and it’s twisted light could not be recorded. The events that occurred there will forever be a secret, known only to Ben and Mal.

It is a story, not about a boy defying both nature and nurture to save the world, but of a boy just trying to do his best. A boy who built a ship for a heartbroken girl, a boy who let his friends fight despite the risk, a boy who asked for aid and was always surprised to receive it. A boy in love.

It has been said that every story is a love story.

—

The steady beeping of the heart monitor has been the soundtrack of Carlos’ life for past two weeks. It’s as easy to manage the gradual shutdown of the jaeger program from a hospital room as it is from the docks. Though he does admit, he has been delegating a lot of his duties to Harry, Jace, and Dreda.

It’s not like he’s the only visitor: Evie and Jay stop by frequently, as much to reconnect with him as it is to check on Mal–without the rush of danger, the gang can take their time. They realize that Carlos has gotten a growth spurt in the past year and is finally taller than Evie, so long as she doesn’t wear heels. He’s still no match for Jay, of course.

Chip has acted the part of a guilt ridden statue in the room everyday. When he’s not arguing on behalf of the Isle for better equipment and better supplies and a better way of life, really– “Just continuing what he would have wanted,” Chip shrugs, though with how tense he is, it’s more like a hunching of his shoulders.

But Carlos has a lot of time to himself, the metronomic beeping and his thoughts. No more kaiju, so no more jaeger program. No more head of the jaeger program, so he’s just Carlos now. Just himself–a runty, nerdy boy from the Isle.

With a prince from Auradon?

That’s ridiculous.

The steady beeping of the heart monitors suddenly… isn’t. Carlos startles out of his sulk to stare–the pulses on the monitors are getting faster. Away from comatose state into consciousness.

They’re waking up.

Carlos pushes the call button for a nurse who enters, startles at the long-awaited revival of her patients, and proceeds to summon practically an entire army of nurses and doctors. Most of them are from Auradon, and they crowd around their prince, but there are some who circle around Mal’s bed. At least until her hoarse, but still scathing voice forces them to make room for Carlos.

“Carlos,” she calls, voice rough from disuse, and she gestures weakly at him to come closer.

The first thing Mal does to him, after he’s within grabbing reach, is to take Carlos’ head in both of her hands and just…. stare. Even without knowing she now has magic, Carlos freezes in fear–Mal had always been more intimidating than Jay despite muscle mass, despite the fact that she’s been unconscious for two weeks.

“I don’t want to kiss you,” she says evenly to him. Which… okay?

“I don’t want to kiss you either?” He agrees uncertainly, this is a very strange conversation.

“But if you do not kiss that guy soon,” Mal says, physically turning Carlos’ head so he can see Auradon in the other bed, “I may just kiss you to put all three of us out of our misery.”

Carlos is fairly sure that doesn’t make any logical sense, but he’s not going to argue. So he nods, or nods as much as he can with his head in her grip.

She releases him, and though he straightens his back he stays by her bed. “Mal,” Carlos reaches for her hand, and she magnanimously lets him hold it, “You did good,” he says.

She shoots back, “We all did good,” and they both laugh at the irony–the baddest gang of the Isle, saving the world. Then she bats his hand away, and Carlos probably would feel hurt except she pointedly waves towards Auradon’s bed, significantly less crowded than before.

And Carlos’ empty chair next to it.

“Hey Carlos,” Auradon rasps, and smiles. “I’m back from my quest,” his fingers barely have to twitch before Carlos grabs for his hand.

“You brought my friends back to me,” Carlos responds, voice little more than a whisper.

“You asked for them,” Auradon says simply, easily, as if he would give Carlos anything he asked for without hesitation. Because… that is what he’s been doing, Carlos realizes. “I have been trying to court you for several months, Carlos,” he explains.

“Auradon–” Carlos starts, then stops, cheeks flushed red. Because even now, he doesn’t know Auradon’s actual name.

Fond amusement spreads across his face, stretching his grin wide, “Please, call me Ben.”

~

A/N: IT’S FINALLY DONE! WOOHOO!!!! Descendants fandom you are now also the recipient of my second ever completed multi-part story!

Just want to say thanks a lot to theotpauthor for all the encouragement during this fic! I’m so thankful to you, really, and your messages were greatly appreciated. You know how frustrated I was with this story, but you really helped me through it. So thanks again 🙂

And, yeah, it’s technically three in the morning on the 28th, buuuuuut whatever. I’m counting it as my August 27th post.

Okay, if I’m gonna be completely honest, there was more content that I was considering putting in but decided not to. Because, seriously, this was getting too long. Just little things, like–what happened to the villain parents, especially the magical ones involved with the ritual. And random stuff like–I was actually considering keeping Anthony Tremaine alive and having him be drift compatible with Doug? But then it was like… that’s totally unnecessary.

So if anyone wants to shoot me questions about various head canons I have about this story that I couldn’t include in the story itself, go for it. That sounds like fun.

Also, if anyone would be willing to beta this so I can put it up on ao3, please let me know. Because that would be really cool, and I would be extremely grateful.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 10/11 (2015-08-26)

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“Carlos!” They call out, and he’s helpless to stop the smile that spreads across his face. He waves down at them, and perhaps his good cheer is contagious, because Dreda waves as well, even if she doesn’t really know them.

For a second, he forgets. It’s as if the past fifteen months haven’t happened, no kaiju, no jaegers. For a second he’s just a kid again, the youngest member of the Isle’s baddest gang.

But only a second.

“Sir,” one of the technicians says, no doubt originally from the Wall–the primary way to tell technicians apart is by how polite they are–and Carlos looks up, looks away from his friends and Auradon. “Miss Dreda,” he adds, “It’s time to go.”

The jaeger is ready for its pilots.

A wave of numbness washes over him; in his peripheral vision he can see the way Dreda shudders one last time before gearing herself. They both step away from the railing, towards the cockpit entrance.

Dreda’s hand reaches towards him blindly and Carlos catches it in his own. They squeeze each other’s hands; they’re scared, but they’re ready.

“What should we name it?” Carlos asks her, not so much a distraction, but a focusing technique. The jaeger is a frightening future only because it’s an unknown. But they’ve both been a part of building it, and they’re going to be fighting in it. It’s theirs, it’s them, they should get to name it.

Dreda gives a shaky laugh, more exhale than sound. “My cousin Anthony used to call me something before… before.” Carlos vaguely recalls an Anthony Tremaine, a year or two older than himself. He had been… well, not kind–because kindness was not something done on the Isle–but he had been civil towards Carlos when he was just a runty science nerd. He can easily believe that Anthony would have been kind towards a runty, science nerd cousin.

Everyone has lost someone, Carlos is not unique in this. “I think you’ll like it Mr. De Vil,” Dreda says, pointedly using his last name.

“Oh, really?” Carlos asks, looking at her in curiosity.

“Mischief Demon,” she says, with a sly smile, and Carlos can’t help his own huff of amusement.

“That’s a good name.”

—

“Carlos!” They call out, and the sight of him in person instead of through a mirror, is more efficient than anything else in convincing them that they’re finally free. He smiles and waves down at them and that prompts all of them, even Mal, to smile back up at him.

Well, Ben has been smiling since first catching sight of him, so it would be more appropriate to say his smile grows even wider somehow. Until something pulls Carlos’ attention away, and Ben notices what he’s wearing.

That’s a jaeger pilot suit.

And beside Carlos is a short figure in a matching suit.

No.

Then Carlos and his partner step away from the railing, disappearing from sight.

No.

“No!” Evie shouts, echoing his thoughts, but the din of the docks or distance or whatever has taken Carlos away prevents her from being heard. “We have to get up there now!”

Jay pulls at one of the technicians, “How do we get up there?”

Maybe it’s surprise or fear, but it might be something else, because her eyes glaze over and she obediently says, “The elevator,” she waves toward the freight lift, but it’s already en route upwards and moving far too slowly for their tastes anyway.

“I’ve got this,” Mal says, and with a sharp arm gesture, she’s suddenly several feet above the ground. The technician, startled, moves away, as do others not even at all close. As does Chip.

But Evie and Jay step closer, familiar if not expectant, each with an arm raised up towards her.

As does Ben.

—

“That’s a good name,” Carlos says to Dreda, and with one last squeeze of their hands, they step towards the cockpit.

Only to be stopped by the technician, feet rooted to the walkway, unmoving; looking behind them, and turning pale.

“Almost as good as Queen Cobra,” Carlos hears from behind him, and he doesn’t know what that statement means but he knows that voice. Knows it so well, even if he hasn’t heard it in over a year.

“Evie,” he says, turning, then “Jay!” he yelps, when an arm curves around his shoulders and bodily pulls him away from the jaeger. Dreda is pulled along with him briefly, before she lets go. Smart, since Carlos is dragged into a bruising group hug. Even Mal joins in, though she extricates herself quickly enough.

She is also quick to get to the point.

“You can’t get in that,” Mal says, and no matter that Carlos had been dreading actually piloting a jaeger, no matter that she probably had a good reason and would explain, Carlos’ hackles rise.

It’s one thing to temporarily feel like that kid he once was, one thing to remember being the runt of the gang, jumping to attention whenever the others say so. But he’s not just Carlos anymore, he’s head of the jaeger program now.

“We have to,” Carlos contradicts, and steps away, towards Dreda, towards the jaeger, towards his duty. What does Mal know about the jaeger, about this new way of life on the Isle? She and Evie and Jay have been gone for over a year.

“Carlos.”

They might not have been around, they might not understand. But Auradon was, and he knows.

“Carlos,” Auradon repeats, then steps forward to stand beside Mal, “You don’t.”

—

Ben lets the friends reunite, stays back so he doesn’t intrude. He thinks it’s rather sweet, really, though he knows better than to say so. He averts his eyes, in part to give the gang some privacy, but also to look about.

The Isle is empty, the Hell Jalopy and the Rebel Watcher missing, the third jaeger prepped, Carlos and a young girl in pilot suits. He can read the signs: it’s either a triple event, or the kaiju have escalated to class fives and the first two jaegers are being overwhelmed.

The technician, who had paled so quickly upon spotting a group of flying teenagers–the image of a young Maleficent at the forefront–meets Ben’s eyes. Even if Ben weren’t the kind of person to remember people’s faces and names, it’s obvious that this technician is one of the engineers from the Wall, with the way he seems to be drawing comfort from seeing his king alive and unharmed, if a little messy from a dip in the waters around the Isle.

Ben silently and clumsily asks a question about the situation in the hand signs the jaeger program use around the docks when construction is too loud for speaking.

Two class fours, one class five.

So it’s both a triple event and a class escalation.

His attention snaps back to the gang when their conversation turns sour.

“We have to,” Carlos says, backing away and towards the jaeger. Towards danger.

Mal has told Ben what lies on the other side of the tears, the world of the kaiju and their masters. The whole point behind the kaiju. If the masters get a hold of Carlos…

“Carlos,” Ben doesn’t even want to consider that possibility. “Carlos. You don’t,” he steps forward, closer, “You don’t have to. Because we’ll go instead.”

~

A/N: Ugh, okay fine. This has to be two separate parts because I need to get out of this double POV scene thing that’s going on and also this is a decent enough length already. Hopefully I will have the actual final part up later today.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 9/11 (2015-08-24)

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There’s something almost electrifying in the air, and it has nothing to do with cauldron’s inert energy. Ben stares, letting his eyes adjust: purple-haired Mal, blue-haired Evie, and Jay whose biceps probably are the size of his head. Carlos’ friends.

None of them move, a sense of astonishment on all sides making them pause and take it in. Mal, Evie, and Jay reveling in the fact of finally being home, Ben in the success of having completed his quest.

Then Evie hisses sharply, a gloved hand rising to her temple, “Carlos,” she breathes, as if in pain. “He needs us now.”

“Time to go,” Mal says brusquely, stepping towards the shore.

Ben–unaware of what exactly is going on, but reacting to both Mal’s order and the thought of Carlos needing help–follows her, Chip trailing behind him.

“Lagan! Derelict!” Jay calls out, and the eels sway in the water almost playfully at their names, before disappearing.

They come back, moments later, with a rickety but water-worthy dinghy. The girls climb in first, Jay keeping it steady before he climbs in as well. Ben and Chip join them, though not without a mild complaint from the latter, “There was a boat this entire time?”

Some force, whether magic or eels, begins pushing the dinghy through the water, back towards the inhabited part of the Isle.

“None of us can swim,” Jay says with a casual shrug, almost challenging someone to say anything about it, before his face twists and he adds, “Well–”

“Uri could,” Evie sighs, hand still against her temple, “He was teaching Jemma before the… before.”

Before the ritual. Before the kaiju. Before his death.

“What happened?” Ben asks, before realizing how that might be misconstrued, “I mean, it’s been over a year since you disappeared. Where were you?”

The other three teenagers look at each other, a silent conversation passing between them through facial expressions alone.

Mal is the one to look him in the eye and answer.

—

The pilot suits are strangely comfortable, Carlos thinks. Not that they’re designed to be uncomfortable, just that he would have expected the weight of the armored plates and sensors to be heavier. If anything, he feels free.

There are no crossbones on his suit.

“We have a match,” the drift analyst says solemnly. But everything about this situation would instill solemnity, so Carlos doesn’t take offense.

Some of the techs, the ones not up in the control room, the ones on the ground prepping the third jaeger–Carlos’ soon to be jaeger–hiss and murmur to each other. Relieved, but uncertain.

“Who is it?” he asks, when nothing else seems to be forthcoming.

“Dreda Tremaine,” the analyst states, so carefully, so hesitantly, that Carlos knows something is up even before the other techs burst into loud denials.

“Quiet,” the head of the jaeger program demands forcefully, “Who is Dreda Tremaine?” Carlos asks, concerned.

She’s one of the ground crew, mostly works on the fourth jaeger. She’s fairly skilled with wire work and but especially talented with firmware.

She’s twelve.

“Why do we even have her scan?” Carlos asks, honestly baffled; the head of the jaeger program asks, a little irritated.

“Everyone who joins the jaeger program gets tested. We… we weren’t sure how long the kaiju would keep coming,” the analyst explains haltingly. For all they knew, the jaeger program would last years longer. They weren’t expecting someone so young to be needed so soon.

“Where is she?” he asks, resigned, both parts of himself in unison.

Around him voices speak up and protest, She’d be over by the fourth jaeger now. You can’t seriously consider it. She’s too young.

“I’m here,” a small thin voice says, and the crowd of technicians part for her. She’s a short girl, dressed in an overly large shapeless technician’s coveralls, grease on her cheeks and her upturned nose. She’s shaking, and her hands are fisted into her pockets, shoulders hunched up to her ears, but she still walks forward and says, “I’m Dreda Tremaine.”

—

The past is the past; nothing can change that. Mal talks about the ritual, about the world of the kaiju, but only in the bare minimum. The past should be remembered, yes, should be learned from, but there is a time for reminiscing and that is not now. What they need to talk about is what they’re going to do next.

They know how to stop the kaiju for good. They need the jaegers, they need Carlos.

They need to stop Carlos from getting into the jaeger.

Once back onto solid ground, it’s Ben who leads the way. The Isle has changed over year they’ve been gone and while the jaegers are easily spotted from a distance, Ben is the one who knows how best to get to where they need to go.

The streets and alleys are deserted, as if the people had simply vanished mid-activity. Or as if a warning siren had gone off, alerting people to go to the safe zones. Even as they run, Ben can see that the Hell Jalopy and the Rebel Watcher are gone, only their nameless comrades remaining.

But Ben has also been on the Isle for months now, and there’s something else he notices. He can recognize the difference between a prepped jaeger and a jaeger in sleep mode. One of the nameless jaegers have been powered up.

—

There isn’t a pilot suit Dreda’s size, but they modify the smallest they do have to fit her. She changed with no complaint, but Carlos can see they way her tied up hair is swaying, an echo of her bodies’ trembling.

She’s only twelve.

“Hey, Dreda,” Carlos says, and even though he’s not one for comforting people he tries his best, and lays a hand on her shoulder, “I’m Carlos.”

She looks at him almost incredulously, “I know who you are,” she says, and her voice is still soft and thin but at least its not panicked.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry,” because he is, he really really is, “These jaegers are supposed to protect the people of the Isle, and I’m sorry that just because we’re drift compatible you aren’t one of those people.”

It’s one thing to volunteer yourself for the jaeger, it’s another to drag someone else down with you, Carlos thinks to himself, but still there are no crossbones on his back.

“I… I’m scared,” Dreda admits, but she looks Carlos in the eye as she does so, and that gives him the courage to say back:

“I’m scared, too.” Maybe this is what makes them drift compatible, a willingness to do something terrifying because it needs to be done and they’re the only ones who can.

Their moment is cut short when shouts ring out; the ground crew heralding someone’s arrival. Carlos and Dreda look down from their spot up in the catwalks, just outside the jaeger cockpit entrance.

Five figures, not in the jaeger technicians’ jumpsuits.

Carlos recognizes the tops of those heads.

“No way,” Dreda breathes beside him, saying what he’s thinking.

It’s impossible for them to have heard her from so high up, but the group looks up, one by one. Carlos knows those faces, too.

Auradon actually did it.

—

A/N: ARGH! Okay, okay, what?! Why is this not done yet?! OMG. Okay. NEXT PART, FOR SURE.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 8/11 (2015-08-23)

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The eels lead them to a cove. It is somehow both shadowy and glowing strangely, ominously. Ben shakes himself out to dry, drops of water flying everywhere, and normally Chip would says something about that tendency but not now. Not here.

Chip waves his fingers and stomps his feet, not in an effort to get dry, but because he can feel the creeping sensation of magic. His skin feels like it’s hardening, turning back into brittle porcelain, his limbs disappearing, and soon he’ll be nothing more than a teacup again.

It’s not happening, of course, it’s not. But that’s always what evil magic feels like to him. And this place has the residual energy of something definitely bad.

The eels, being aquatic creatures, cannot follow them onto the shore, but they wait in the water. Patiently.

“Over here,” Ben calls, and he is standing disturbingly close to what appears to be a large cauldron.

Chip shudders, but joins him.

The cauldron, much like the cove, is insidiously luminous, the contents unable to be looked at directly. And yet, despite the light radiating from within it, the cauldron seems dormant somehow.

Then Ben touches it, and the light grows and spreads and becomes absolutely blinding.

—

Part of the jaeger program involves an array of sensors attached to buoys in the water, ready to alert the Isle when and where kaiju surface. It’s not a particularly precise method, implemented early on before Auradon’s contributions, but it’s good enough to tell when–

“Double event!” One of the technicians yell, and it starts and echo throughout the docks, triggering a launch sequence. The jaeger pilots are found and prepped, any repairs or modifications being done on the Hell Jalopy and the Rebel Watcher finished as efficiently as possible, and both jaegers are sent out.

“What do we have?” Carlos asks, from his place at the center of the control room. Arrayed in a circle around him are technicians, eyes glued to monitors displaying the sensor array, the readings from the jaegers, the readings from the pilots’ suits, everything.

“Two class fours, three miles west” someone calls out, already starting up the warning sirens for the Isle. Others are speaking into their headsets, talking to the other technicians on the ground, to the pilots in their cockpits already marching towards battle.

They haven’t had double class fours yet, but they’ve been expecting it. The level of the kaiju appearing have been increasing, as have the frequency. And the quantity. So it’s with dread, but not surprise, that Carlos hears,

“Triple event.”

It’s said in a low voice, but around the control room the roar of action has silenced. It’s said in disbelief, in fear.

“Triple event,” the technician repeats, “There’s a class five kaiju, two miles. Northeast.”

—

A prince touches a cauldron and sets three magicians free. Phrased like that, it really does sound like something out of a fairy tale. But this isn’t that kind of story, not truly, and there was a bit more to it than that.

The prince touches a cauldron, a small tear between worlds, one of many such tears surrounding the Isle. But this one is different; this one is the first.

In that other monster-filled world, three young magicians move quickly, silently, carefully. This is their one chance to go back home, they cannot afford to be stopped now.

With the prince acting as an anchor, a beacon, they know where the cauldron entrance is on this side. The landscape of this world is strange and twisted, the light of whatever scorching star playing tricks on their eyes so used sunlight.

But magic doesn’t need sight, or maybe it grants a different kind of sight, because suddenly Evie can see the exit. A tear too small for the kaiju and their masters to take advantage of, but just the right size for them to escape.

A prince touches a cauldron and sets three magicians free.

—

After that announcement, the control room erupts into a burst of sound, panicked, distressed. A technician pulls up the sensor array onto a larger screen so everyone can see the two symbols representing the jaegers, the two symbols for the class fours, and the symbol of the class five. In a completely different direction, closer to the Isle and incoming.

There are discussions as they weigh their options, the a dozen voices simultaneously speaking. Do they call back the jaegers to fight the class five? But they are already en route to the class fours, they might not make it in time before all three are at the Isle. But if they go after the class fours, the Isle is undefended.

Maybe only one should turn back, split the jaegers, split the defense. But neither of the jaegers can handle a dual event on their own, certainly untested against a dual event of class fours. They’ve never had a class five before, either, they don’t know if a single jaeger will be enough.

There are two more jaegers; empty, but functional. They just need to be filled.

“Have HJ and RW continue towards the class fours,” Carlos says, twice when conversations keep happening after the first time. The control room silences once more, “Prep one of the remaining jaegers, and get two pilot suits,” there is a pause, the silence continues. “Now!” Carlos shouts, no longer himself, completely the head of the jaeger program. The techs scramble into action.

One of them, trying not to undermine his authority but needing to speak out, says, “We don’t have another set of pilots. No one is drift compatible, we’ve tested everyone.”

Carlos stares–not at the technicians, still at work, but listening desperately. Not at the sensor array, symbols blinking furiously. Not at the giant figures of the remaining two jaegers, standing, waiting, empty–He stares, right at that damned painted skull and crossbones.

“Not everyone,” he says, because it’s true. “Not me.”

—

Chip pulls Ben away from the cauldron almost immediately, fearful of what the sudden surge of energy, this sudden awakening of the cauldron means. His insides feel scooped out, body too fragile to stand up against what the wave of magic means. But still he pulls Ben away from the cauldron, pulls Ben behind him, stands ready to fight.

Clambering out of the cauldron are three silhouettes, the only breaks of shadow in the odd distorted beam of light. One of them touches cauldron and suddenly it’s as if the world has gone dark, the difference too sudden and too drastic for their eyes to adjust.

“You certainly took your time,” one of them says, a girl’s voice, flat and unimpressed.

“You’re the prince Carlos sent,” a different girl’s voice says, “The one he calls Auradon,” and the statement piques Ben’s interest, causes him to circle around Chip.

He hears a shuffling sound, a footfall on sand; Ben squints to see, the tall, buff burgundy figure step protectively in front of the other two.

“Yes,” Ben says, empty hands raised as a show of good faith, “That’s me.”

“Well congratulations,” the first girl says, “you’ve found us.”

—

A/N: Ugh, I thought this would be the last part, but apparently not. Mostly because it’s already midnight and my head hurts so I ought to post what I have now.

Preeeeeetty sure next part will be the last. Pretty sure.