I Waited For You, Evie Grimhilde²

Chapter 1: Ursula's

Word count: 1286

"Mal! Mal! Over here, Mal!" Bright flashes and microphones are shoved in Mal's face, she blinks away at the brightness, nervously looking off to the side. "Only three days to the Royal Cotillion. Ever think a girl like you would be Lady of the Court?" She backs away from the reporter. Another journalist steps closer to her, "How does it feel to be the most envied girl in Auradon?" He asks her. The others pile in, trying to get their questions answered, Mal unable to respond to all of them.

King Ben bursts through the crowd, shoving reporters out of the way. "Okay, all right. Excuse me!" A rock is thrown straight at his face, shattering the screen it was projected on. The crowd groans and looks for the culprit. Scarlet clenches her fists at the sight of her old friend, disgusted at who she'd become. Her once vibrant purple hair has been washed out into a blonde with light purple tips and her clothes, instead of being made up of leather and denim, are baby pink and blue, topped off with frills. The others complain about the tall girl breaking the TV but don't dare approach her, in fear of her wrath. She storms away angrily, shoving past the others in her way.

She heads back in the direction of her home, glaring at those who whisper behind her. Since her exile and failure to get the Fairy Godmother's wand, the Isle had been in two minds of how they viewed her: some uphold her for her loyalty to her people and her adamancy to not changing sides like the other four, while others laugh at her for failing to take down some goody two-shoes Auradonians. "I could've done a better job, mother, I'd have made you proud!" Her brother, Nuka, had told their mother incessantly, much to her annoyance. Their mother, Zira, had little time for her children, barely looking their way, she only began paying attention to Scarlet when she proved herself to be more useful than her brother. Slamming the door shut, she storms up the stairs and walks into her bedroom, ignoring her brother yelling at her to keep it down. She flops on her bed and screams into her pillow.

She'd had this routine since she'd been kicked back on this miserable island: wake up at 5 p.m, go out to gather food, bring it back home for her family, return to the town at night to slunk around and listen out for any news. There's never news. A knock on her door catches her attention, her father stands in the doorway with his arms crossed. She shoots up from the mattress and stands in front of him. "Did you bring anything back?" He raises a brow. Reaching into her pockets, she receives the slab of meat she'd snatched from a run-down sandwich shop. She had no idea what type of meat it was but on the Isle, you don't get picky. He looks happily surprised by her score, taking the produce in his hands and weighing it, "This'll do us for a couple days, we can have it with the loaf Nuka retrieved. Well done." He turns around and leaves the room. Letting her shoulders relax, she flops back on the bed, sighing at her ceiling.

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Dizzy Tremaine hums to herself as she sweeps the floor, nodding her head to the music from her headphones. She twirls and begins brushing the little hairs in the direction of the front door. Upon looking up, she gasps, jumping back. Scarlet takes up the doorway, staring down at the young girl imposingly. "S-Scarlet!" She yelps. "Hey, Dizzy," The teen mockingly replies. She walks into the hair salon, walking past the terrified girl, and starts shuffling through the stuff on the counter. "So-" she takes one of the boiled hard candies from the bowl on the desk and plops it in her mouth. "How's your sister?" Dizzy nods, "Yeah, she's okay. She says, she'll get your money by the end of the week." She poorly attempts to hide herself behind her sweeping brush. Hannah Westerguaard has owed Scarlet a hefty sum since last month, she'd challenged her to a duel in Gaston's Duels without Rules and lost epically, the sword flung from her hand in mere moments. Of course, her father, Hans, had taught her how to swordfight from a very young age and she proved to be very skilled at it, but she often gets cocky and misjudges her opponents, as she did with Scarlet. She's quite an over confident girl, believing that because she comes from royalty she's automatically owed respect. "Right." Scarlet sucks on the sweet, getting closer to the younger girl. "Well, next time you see her tell her I'm waiting." Dizzy nods and watches as the raven-haired girl slinks out of the salon and back out onto the street.

Turning towards Jafar's Junk Shop, Scarlet can feel her stomach grumble. She hasn't eaten since the night previous and it's already starting to get dark out, well, darker than it already was. 'He can wait until tomorrow' she decides, diverting off to the direction of the restaurants. She didn't exactly want to see the older man anyway, if it wasn't for her father insisting they keep strong ties with the more powerful villains on the Isle, she wouldn't be around him at all. After Jay had betrayed them, Jafar had filled his role with Scarlet pretty easily, sending her off to retrieve stolen items for him. He gives her a rusty coin or two occasionally, which is more than any of the other villains have, which she supposes she should be grateful for. There are a few places she could go; Shan Yu's Dim Sums (but she hardly thinks he'd want her near his establishment after the last time), Frollo's Creperie (but he always gives her the creeps), and Ursula's Fish and Chips. She defaults for the last option, wandering down to the ocean front where the sea witch's restaurant lives. She's aware of the rivalry between Ursula's daughter, Uma, and Mal, having been there for a lot of their fights but now that Mal has turned her back on them, Scarlet guesses Uma won't hold a grudge against her.

Opening the saloon type doors, she moves past the fighting pirates and finds an empty table. She leans back waiting to be served, ignoring the glances she gets. A pair of clicking heels approach, "What do you wan-" The infamous pirate captain herself stares down at Scarlet, her little notepad clenched in her fist. "Oh, it's you." She puts her hand on her hip and uses her other to lean on the back of Scarlet's chair, her long blue braids swaying down to her waist. "Yes," The raven-haired girl responds. "I'm hungry, this is a restaurant." Uma huffs and brings her pen to the paper, "Waddya want?"
"Just a crab slab." Scarlet responds. "It'll cost ya, crab is getting harder to come by these days."
"I have money."
"I could give you a discount." Scarlet's interest perks, she looks back up from the table. "Oh, yeah? And what do you expect in return?" Uma looks around to see if anyone's listening before leaning over slightly. "You, helping me." Scarlet scoffs, "With what?"
"Let's just say, we have a similar interest. In your little friends in Auradon." Scarlet's face turns stoney and she glares at Uma as if to say 'You better not be joking'. The blue-haired girl slowly walks away, motioning Scarlet to follow. Looking around, Scarlet pushes herself up and trails behind the pirate, eager to here her proposition.