Once We are Descendants

Chapter 50: A Lesson in Hope

As Regina watches as her daughter hugs her boyfriend tightly, her phone goes off in her pocket. She reaches in and goes to the corner to answer the call. A waitress brings over Dizzy's breakfast and asks for the rest of the table to order. Once all the teenagers have settled back down into their seats and ordered their food, they all take turns trying to see out the window, wondering what was happening to Harry.

"I'm surprised he isn't being beaten," Jay mutters.

"He certainly deserves it," Dizzy agrees, pouring a mountain of syrup on her pancakes.

"Whoa slow down there Diz, save some for the rest of us," Mal says, laughing a little bit. It felt nice to laugh and have a little bit of fun, despite how brief it might be.

"What?" the youngest VK shrugs. "The food here is good."

"The best," Evie smiles in agreement. She continues looking down at her newly fixed bracelet, so happy to have it back on her wrist where it belongs.

"Your alternate mom is really nice," Doug says, keeping his arm around his girlfriend's waist.

"She's obviously come a long way since the poison apple days," Carlos agrees.

"Who knew villains in other worlds could change too?" Mal says, mostly to herself.

"I did," Ben says quietly. His hazel-green eyes then gaze over at Mal. She tries to look away, staring across the table at Evie and Doug. She's still not ready to talk to him, despite how difficult and awkward it has been between them and that they always end up sitting close to one another. "It's why I invited you all to Auradon, give you that second chance. I guess there really is hope for all villains to change if they're given that chance."

"Not Uma," Mal mutters and turns to avoid Ben's eyes, scratching the back of her purple hair awkwardly.

Ben looks over at Mal. "I'm sure Uma is going to change, once she's got all her problems worked out."

"Ben, she's never going to change. She's tried to take over Auradon twice and threatened to kill you both times in the process. Some people are just not worth saving," his "ex-girlfriend" protests, now turning to face him. "We've given her a lot of second-chances and she doesn't want them. She's a lost cause, she belongs on the Isle."

Everyone's eyes go wide, even Evie is shocked by Mal's words. She, the daughter of Maleficent, of all people should understand how important getting a new start in life was. After all, she'd been one of the last of the group to truly turn her back against evil and her mother's influence. She'd even gone back to the place when she felt like she belonged, and yet she was still willing to come back and make a change for herself and for Auradon. However, looking at how things had played out in their realm, the stigma of being a villain was always going to be there and no matter how much they tried to fight for the side of good, if something bad happened, it was always the Villain Kids who are the first to be investigated. It's obvious from her statements that Mal has lost faith in the kingdom and the chance for others to change.

"That's no way to talk. Don't lose hope on her yet," Snow White says, coming over to talk with the kids. "When you lose hope, then the world is black and cold. You think we wanted to give Regina a second-chance? David was certainly against it and so was everyone else."

"It's true," the prince agrees, bringing over their son to join the conversation. "Most people wanted her to pay for what she'd done by casting the curse for 28 years. I had a particular vendetta against her for having her knights nearly killing me and her curse separating Snow and me from seeing Emma grow up."

"So, what stopped you from taking revenge?" Mal asks.

"It certainly wasn't easy to do that," Snow admits. "In fact, Doctor Whale from the hospital was the one leading the charge of an angry mob hell bent on killing Regina. We stopped them because we knew that nothing good ever comes from death or committing evil acts. But I think the true reason we didn't do anything and gave her a second chance, was Henry."