The Hard Truth

Not a Villain, But a Victim

Chapter Summary: Jane's known for awhile that her soulmate was a villain kid, but because of who her mom is she never thought she'd be given the chance to meet him.

Jane woke up with a small groan to the sound of music once more beating around her, only quieted by the fact that it was coming from above deck. Blearily she blinked, as her vision began to clear she took in her unfamiliar surroundings and felt panic bubble up when she realized she didn't know where her friends were.

"Hey, hey, hey." she heard a voice call to her softly, and she sat up and whipped her head to the side so fast her vision began to swim again. Now dizzy she closed her eyes and groaned again, rubbing a hand over her eyes. "You're all right." the calming voice continued soothingly, a gentle hand on her back.

"Where am I ?" the question slipped from her lips before she could stop it, and she wondered if she was even allowed to ask.

"You're in the Captain's Quarters on the Lost Revenge." she opened her eyes to see a boy her age, sporting red and black clothing just like Evie had given her. She couldn't help but blush when she registered how cute he was. "You fainted when the crew found you guys and tried to get you to come here. I'm sorry, they didn't mean to scare you that bad." he sighed, "But Uma wanted you all to come aboard to meet you and your friends weren't listening to what they were trying to tell them. There really wasn't supposed to be a fight." she could hear the frustration lurking beneath the calmness. He ran a hand wearily across his freckled face, and she found herself reaching out, her fingers brushed against his wrist and he moved his hand away from his hand enough that she could wrap her hand around it gently.

"It's not your fault." she gave him a reassuring smile.

A thud came from above them and she jumped in surprise. "Oh pumpkins and mice, what on earth is going on out there?"

He laughed, "It's just a party." he assured, amused by what she had just said. More serious he told her, "You don't have to go out there if you don't want to, I'm not going to make you move if you're not ready or up to it."

She contemplated that for a second, this stranger cared more about her comfort level, and by extension her happiness, than her own mother did most of the time. She must have looked sad because he looked at her concerned, and reached out, gently cupping her cheek, "Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"I-" she twitched her nose, "It's nothing." she gave her head a slight shake.

"Look, I'm not going to push you or force you to talk to me, but something is clearly bothering you." she met his eyes, then something flashed across his face. "Oh, is it me? It's me isn't it?" He began to withdraw with a wince.

"No!" she exclaimed, pulling his hand a few inches back to her cheek and covering it with her own again. The boldness of that move made her blush. "No, it's not you." She tried not to squeak, and he looked relieved.

"It's not?"

"No, it's not." she smiled for a half-second. "Nothing that's your fault anyways." she amended. "It's just that," she bit her lip as her eyes began to water, "It's just that I've only known you for what, ten minutes? And you already have shown more care about my comfort than my own mother has almost my whole life." bitterly she laughed.

"You-" he looked so startled by the admission, she looked away. "You're telling me, the Fairy Godmother herself, one of the shining examples of all that is supposed to be good and perfect in Auradon and an example to magic folk for renouncing magic as that Beast King declared, doesn't even care about her own daughter?" his upset seeped into his voice as he seethed, "She doesn't deserve you as a daughter." He tilted her head back towards him, "You hear me Jane? She doesn't deserve you, doesn't deserve your love, and certainly not your tears."

"How do you know my name?" she sniffled.

"Jane, your mother is the Fairy Godmother. You're almost always behind her when she appears on the one tv channel Auradon sends here, not that many people actually watch that." He wet his lips, "I mean, they never actually said your name, but I have a very good reason for why I know." He dropped his hands to his lap before he looked up again, and she felt herself getting lost in his deep eyes. "I-ah, well, Jane Goodfairy, we're soulmates. I'm Carlos, Carlos De Vil."

She opened her mouth, trying to find something to say and she felt silly when the only thing that came out was, "Oh."

"Yeah, I know you probably didn't want a villain's kid for a soulmate." he ran a hand through his curly hair.

"Oh, no no no, it's not that." she blurted, "I've always figured you had to have been a villain kid, you know De Vil isn't exactly that common in Auradon." she swung her legs off the edge of the bed. "My mother, she happened to be there when your name appeared and didn't like that very much." she admitted quietly, "She thought it had to have been some kind of mistake, made me feel like I was some kind of mistake, that I wasn't good enough." their knees bumped as she reached forward and took his hands in hers. "She forbade me from talking about it, wouldn't let me talk to the King or Queen about searching for you here, thought it was better off with the barrier separating us. But I never thought about it that way, I read the old files and your mom wasn't bad, she was just sick. She wasn't a villain, she was a victim, she didn't deserve to be here any more than a villain kid did. Heroes don't like to broadcast their flaws, faults and mistakes. There's a lot that the general public doesn't actually know unless they dig, and I mean really dig through the archives for it. A lot of people didn't actually deserve to be put here, and if they did, they certainly didn't deserve to be fed trash."

The mood in the room was very gloomy, but there was a comfort in it knowing that they already had each other's backs. The thumping coming from above them drew Jane back out from her thoughts and she gave him a smile and nudged his knees with her own, "What do you say we go join the party and have some fun, huh? You can introduce me to your friends." He smiled back, "I'd like that." Standing up he didn't let go of her hands and helped her stand up and get her footing with the slight rock of the ship.

They left the room with twin smiles, Jane wrapped around Carlos's arm as they ascended to join the party.