Half and Half

Chapter Three

Boreadon was decidedly not worth it. At least, not according to Mal.

Oh sure, Lady Steph had been kind enough not to carry her through the portal—which if Mal was honest with herself, she was more than a little curious as to how it worked. It was the first bit of magic she'd come in contact with that couldn't be considered for world domination, how could she not be curious?

Somehow, Mal even managed to not fall on her face hopping through the portal. Oh sure she tried to put pressure on her ankle, to show it wasn't as bad as people thought, and then the wave of pain made her think otherwise. She thought that would be the worst of it. After all, it was Boreadon. Bunch of goodie goodies, almost as bad as the Evil Queen's daughter.

At least she was somewhat tolerable at times when Maleficent wasn't ordering Mal to be around her. Her dad was nice. He didn't like being around Maleficent, so he only came round when Evil Queen and Maleficent tried to show the other one up. Otherwise, he made himself scarce, which made him smart in Mal's books.

If everyone from Boreadon was like Daniel, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

But then came the hospital visit.

"Okay, sweetie, we're going to tilt your leg this way so the x-ray tech can get another photo," one of the doctors said and Mal bit her lip, trying not to scream in pain. They'd been doing this for what felt like an eternity, twisting her leg this way and that way.

When are they going to be done taking pictures of my leg? Mal thought. This smock thing is too heavy and all I want is for them to stop touching me! I wish they'd let me have my sword. Even though I'm...I'm not that good at sword work, I'm still probably better than these Boreadonians! But Lady Steph said I wouldn't need it in Boreadon, that I'd be safe here.

"Excuse me!"

"Lady Persephone!" The doctor exclaimed, looking over Mal's shoulder and pulling Mal out of her own thoughts as she looked as well. "I...I thought you'd be out in the hall."

"Why would I do that when the child I brought in is getting examined in here?" Persephone asked. She had told herself that she'd never be out of earshot of Mal—the last time she'd done that, Maleficent had managed to swipe her from the Underworld which had led this to happen.

So she had stayed in the room—it wasn't as if the radiation from the x-rays could harm her...at least she hoped not.

Regardless though, she could see the pain on Mal's face even if the purple haired girl wasn't saying anything. Four years of having the ways of the Isle drilled into you was probably difficult to shake.

In all honesty, Persephone was lucky Mal had allowed the doctors to touch her in order to get the exam. Persephone had to chalk it up to the fact that, while Mal had spent four years learning the ways of the Isle, she was still four.

There was still that glimmer of trust that hadn't died out—and Persephone could only hope that none of the doctors had promised that the x-ray wouldn't hurt because otherwise, they might have killed any trust Mal had for Auradon before she even spent a day here.

"What are you thinking? Twisting her leg like that when she's got a clearly injured ankle?!"

"We were just—."

"How long has this been going on?" Persephone asked. "Oh wait, I can tell you! Far too long! Why didn't you use a Baymax?"

"She didn't request it your Lady. We usually reserve the use of the Baymax for toddlers or if the child request one."

"Well then I am on her behalf," Persephone said, giving the doctor a look. "You've gotten your photos. Now let's allow this injured child a chance to have an exam without being in pain, shall we?"