Once We are Descendants

Chapter 85: Dragon Ladies

Mal woke up the next morning in an especially good mood. There was a sense of excitement in the air, and it was so strong that not even Lily's glares could get this VK down as the teen came down to breakfast. The mistress of all evil was cooking eggs on the stove, while her eldest daughter drank coffee and lazily scrolled through her phone and tried to ignore the unwanted house guest.

"Good morning Mal," Maleficent says.

"Good morning,"

"How would you like your eggs?"

"Fried please," Mal says politely.

"Excellent! It must be a family trait as Lilith and I also enjoy them that way too. There's juice in the fridge for you."

"Thank you," the young girl says, pouring herself some apple juice before sitting down at the kitchen table across from Lily.

Lily looks up at who she's been calling in her head, "the child" and her eyes flash gold for a moment, before going back to her phone.

The VK does her best to ignore the hostility from the person who is supposed to be her sister, but it still made her nervous. She could kind of understand why Lily would be annoyed; here Mal is, a complete stranger from another realm who invades her home and privacy and the two have to treat each other like sisters. It's not like Mal asked for this and she's been more than courteous house guest, plus she and her friends would not be here for that long. It just felt like there was seething anger masked by silence and sarcasm.

The girl from Auradon turns her attention to her "alternate" mother at the stove. It was strange to see any version of her mother doing any kind of domestic duties. Back on the Isle, since Maleficent ruled the place, she had human and goblin servants do everything for her and her daughter. The wicked fairy never had to lift a finger to do anything, but this version is cooking contently for her children. She seemed to enjoy being a "normal" mother.

Once the eggs are finished, the woman serves both her daughters before sitting down to enjoy the meal.

The three of them sit in silence for a few minutes, before the eldest of the women speaks.

"So, Mallary tell me about this Auradon."

"Not much to tell really," the purple-haired teen says. "It's a typical kingdom with kings, queens, princesses, knights and other stuff. I go to school there and everyone's pretty happy. It's not really that interesting."

"Oh, I highly doubt that. I am rather curious about this world as it was completely unknown to any of us here in Storybrooke until you kids appeared,"

"Should we give them a medal then?" Lily mutters, picking at her food.

Maleficent frowns and then turns back to Mal. "But I do hear that you are in love with the King of said kingdom."

Mal blushes slightly and takes a sip of juice to delay the inevitable, but before she can answer, Lily butts in again.

"And your true love's kiss was the cause of all this new magic huh?" she asks. There was a hint of sarcasm there, but not as much. It was as if the oldest of the daughters was genuinely curious about this. It wasn't like Lily had been able to have any kind of stable relationship and the two had not been able to locate her father yet. "You and all your weirdo friends."

And it was back.

"That's what Rumpelstiltskin said," Mal says. "But even now, I'm not so sure that's what happened,"

"Why is that?" her alternate mother asks.

Mal swallows and hesitates. She's not sure whether she should even be talking about this with people who were essentially strangers, but maybe they had some helpful advice she could use. "Because... Ben and I, we hit a rough spot before we came here and...I wasn't sure if I wanted to be with him anymore."