Descendants: To Kill A Dragon

Chapter Two

A/N: Takes place five years later. Jay is now fifteen, Evie and Mal are twelve, and Carlos is ten. Just as a world building note: in this au, the villains weren't brought back to life just to be put on the isle. That honestly kills my suspension of disbelief more than any of the Disney bullshit.

I figure that the villains who ended up on the isle somehow magically survived to come back for revenge, as villains tend to do. Hence, there isn't any weird magic woven into the barrier that keeps people from dying (because if they could do that, couldn't they keep villains from getting pregnant?)

Chapter Contains: Implied Isle Nastiness.

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Mal liked her relationship with Evie, because it was easy to define, and simple to understand. They worked well together, tag teaming merchants and darting in to steal from the barges. She could trust Evie enough to turn her back, and sort of enjoyed her company. They were companions and allies (friends, the Auradonians might say) in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Mal's relationship with that no-good street-rat son of a whore Jay was a different story.

They were rivals from the first day the older boy snatched her dragon pendant. From that moment, it was on. She'd chased him down, despite his longer legs, and managed to stab him hard enough to get her necklace back. She lost her knife that day, but retrieved her pendant, and they had hated each other ever since. Every time she stole from a market stall, Jay was there first. She admired his skill, but at the same time hated him for it. They would be such better allies than enemies, but Mal felt like she would rather die before she let that happen.

As a result, Mal was starting to stay away from the market stalls. She was a little spitfire when she had to be, but with Evie's help, it was easier to knock off stores. The blue-haired princess would charm the cashier into showing her something on the other side of the store, while Mal darted in and made out like a bandit. This way, they could hit the same store a couple times before anyone caught on to their scam. It was a good system, and even if their mothers grounded them without meals, they'd still have food stashed away in their hideout for weeks.

Said hideout was in one of the last places anyone suspected: The graveyard where Dragon Hall was located, in an old mausoleum. Currently, it was important to lay low, to keep the door locked, to make sure they weren't followed, lest other children, or even adults find their hidden stash. One day though... Mal swore that one day, she would paint her "Long Live Evil" tag on the walls, and everyone would know it was hers, and fear it.

Even on the isle, there was an uptown and downtown. Mal and Evie lived in the relatively nicer uptown, which was only nicer because the powerful villains who made their homes in that district could afford real houses. Even the cinder-block Bargain Castle and the crumbling facade of Hell Hall were better than homes made of scraps, cobbled together with tin and driftwood, and tarps to keep out the rain. Downtown was an Evil-Forsaken pit, where the poorest lived on the scraps they fought so desperately for.

If uptown stank of magic and blood and territory, then downtown stank of poverty.

In this part of town, the streets were lined with clubs and bars, and some doors flickered with dim and broken red bulbs. On the one hand, it wasn't the kind of place for young children to be. On the other hand, Evie and Mal were experts at this by now, and when had age ever stopped them? The blue-haired princess was done up to the nines, and her mother taught her well, how to tempt desperate men like drowning sailors by the tender age of twelve. Mal was the same, but opposite. She couldn't lure men into an alley with the bat of her eyelashes... but she could use a burst of fae magic to put him to sleep, allowing Evie to drop her act, so they could rob him blind and leave him dazed in the streets.