One Kiss: A Descendants AU Tale

1. Return to the Isle

Usually I save author notes for the end of the chapter but since this is a fanfic, I wanted to clear up some things.
First of all, while I am starting in the beginning of the second movie right after Mal leaves, this will not be an exact copy of the movie. I'm keeping to the sequence of events... for now. I have added dialogue and interactions that will help shape the future plot twist. I have also written around musical numbers, taking lyrics and fitting it into dialogue so the story will move uninterrupted. Then I will be experimenting with implementing songs.
If there is a scene I don't do... then it does not differ from the movie and does not have direct impact on the changes in the story.
Second, if you are a MalxBen fan, this isn't the story for you. If you are a super Evie fan, this is a story for you.

Please let me know what you think.

Evie waited patiently to be let into the king's study. The steward left her standing there awaiting permission to enter for quite some time. Surely it wouldn't take this long to notify Ben of her arrival and the urgency of her visit. And Ben wouldn't keep her waiting like this... at least she didn't think he would. She had to resist the urge to bite her nails under the doorman's stare.

What are you, a filthy animal? Princesses do not bite their nails!

Her mother's shrill voice came to mind as it does when one of her beauty lessons forced its way through her subconscious accompanied by a ghostly sting on her fingers from the switch. The punishment was never  sharp enough to leave marks. No, her skin would never be marred as that would be detrimental to her alluring beauty her mother so "generously bestowed upon her". Any blows were quick and considered because beauty should always be considered. The scars, therefore, were always invisible upon Evie's soul.

She drew in a sharp breath and shut her eyes, not too tight to cause wrinkles, of course. Come on, she scolded herself. Right now, she had more pressing issues to stress about than all of her mother's failed expectations of her. Mal was gone. What did that mean for all of them?

Banish these thoughts from which they came
Forbid their darkness to shroud this day.

She repeated the incantation for positive thinking in her head, her plump lips moving with the words. The evil queen's daughter liked to believe it worked, but she wasn't sure. It wasn't an official spell, just something she made up for peace of mind. She didn't have her best friends's affinity for magic. All her magic had to be learned, and she never had a mentor or lessons for any serious undertaking. All her successful spells were small and accidental, and rare.

A rattling metallic clang disrupted her thoughts. The doorman scrambled to pick up his halberd, his eyes never leaving her. He must've thought the red and blue clad teen was trying to spell him, not knowing how inexperienced the young witch really was. She almost smirked, almost. But it wasn't that old sense of triumph of someone actually being intimidated by her, it was a sadness sending crashing waves over her heart. She would always be a Villian Kid no matter how many royals and nobles filled her coffers and demanded her fashion designs.

She flipped her midnight blue hair back and offered a sincere smile. Her usual husky voice went up an octave as it does when she wanted to appear sweet and princess-like, and most of all, nonthreatening. "Will it take much longer? As I told the steward, this matter is of utmost importance. I need to see Ben--um, I mean, His Majesty, right away."

She realized in that moment that she never had the benefit of a close acquaintance with the High King to address him so familiar despite the formal crown prince being her best friend's boyfriend. She only addressed him as Ben instead of his proper title because that was how Mal referred to him during their own private chats.