royalflowers | "How can you say that? I'm just... unique!"

Okay so... Where was she now? Kairi had been spending a day on the beach with Sora and Riku... then there had been a message in a bottle, and then... Where was she?

She flexed her hand. The Keyblade appeared. Satisfied, she shook her hand out and it vanished. That... would never stop being cool. It was the reason she was able to help Riku and Sora. It was the division between her being protected, kidnapped, sent home, kept out... and her ability to stay with and help her friends. This weapon... the power of her heart to wield it.

No more was she some pawn, now she could stand with them, help them, be with them.

So... where were they?

Mal was bored. It happened sometimes, her usual boredom cures were frowned upon by Fairy Godmother, and while she was trying to be good... boredom sucked. She would have gathered some of her friends but they all had activities to keep them busy. Evie was on a date with Doug, which also meant Doug wasn't available to pester. The boys had a tourney practice, and she refused to be that girlfriend. Jane was still grounded for accidentally freeing mom. Lonnie and Audrey were shopping with their parents. Mal almost asked to go along, but Audrey's grandmother would be there and she still... had her doubts.

Old people suck.

Hmm... she's new, and she looks impossibly good, but her clothes were a bit more Isle than Auradon. Definitely something that isn't boring. Mal might not be evil, but most people don't know that yet, they just see traits of her mother and freak out. "My my, what do we have here? A lost little girl?" Mal was doing her best impression of her mother, just for fun of course.

"Something like that," Kairi said, unfazed. She pushed back some of her hair. You know, a few years ago, she might have found this girl intimidating; back when most of her time was spent with Sora and Riku and she rarely spoke to other girls. And then the thing with her memory, going to school without either of them, being kidnapped, loosing her heart then regaining it, the keyblade, finding Riku inside Ansem...

So much had happened that gave Kairi a confidence to stand her ground, to stand face to face with anyone.

"I'd ask if you knew how to get back to the island, bust somehow I think I'm a bit further afloat than that."

What would Riku do if he were here? The thought made her grin a bit. Okay, maybe not Riku. What would Sora do? Oh. Right.

She extended a hand in greeting. "I'm Kairi."

Eventually people treating Mal without fear and with common courtesy would stop being weird, today is not that day. This girl had to be either completely unaware of where she was, self-confident to a fault, or without fear. Mal wasn't sure which of those she respected most, but she was feeling this was closer to the first option.

"The only Isle is the Isle of the Lost, and you're not from there, not in that much pink." Nobody threw out pink, Mal wasn't sure why, it was awful. But princesses loved it so there was never any on the Isle. Suited her and her purple just fine. "So you must be far from home."

Mal eyed the hand, and tentatively offered a handshake. Physical contact was not her thing, "Mal, daughter of Maleficent." It came up too often that she might as well own it. She wasn't evil, and it wasn't a big deal unless someone made it a big deal.

She shook her hand, then started at the name, blinking rapidly. Okay. That... was not what she expected.

"Are you... a lot like your mom?" She asked. She was still smiling, but she was a bit more cautious now. Not afraid, not even full on wary, but cautious. Because a person was not their parents, and because she knew of Maleficent from stories from Riku and Sora, and the mix... was odd. They both agreed she had given herself over to the darkness, and that she had used Riku... but Riku didn't regret the power he gained, just the harm he had done, and the harm he had almost done. As far as Kairi was concerned, Malificent was someone to be careful around... but beyond that, she would make her own judgment call.

Mal, of course, laughed. She had to, being asked that directly was refreshing really. Ben ~~assumed~~ knew she wasn't, Audrey assumed she was. Nobody ever asked that before.

"I have her powers, her cunning, her spellbook, but no. She considers me a disappointment because I'm not evil enough. She won't even call me by my full name until I earn it by being evil like she is." Still, there was a glimmer of chaos in her eye, even without flashing them vibrantly dragon green. She was raised in the least loving environment to exist, and she took to surviving and strength well. "Now I'm just a student here, in Auradon. The place you've managed to end up."

"What island are you from? Cause you're not from the City, you're too old for Neverland, or at least too tall. And... okay, I got a C in world geography."

She laughed a bit at the last comment. At least that made things easier. "It's called Destiny's Island, but it's so small we don't have a school or anything. Most maps don't have it."

"And I don't think there is anything wrong with not being evil. You should be you. The darkness doesn't have to have a hold on you, no more than you want to let it."

Kairi offered a bright smile. "What name would you like to be called?"

"Normally you would think a place of Destiny would have a bit more importance. Then again everything outside of the City is given some sort of overblown name." The villains, in their hay day, gave things the biggest and most profound name they could manage. And as villains could get away with that because they brought terror out of those around them. Now they just call it how it is, without much inspiration for greater. Meanwhile, and in a horrible bit of irony, the only understated name she knows of in Auradon is the Summer Cottage, the 40 room castle belonging to Queen Aurora.

"Everyone just calls me Mal, except for the kids still terrified of me. They just avoid eye contact and run away." Mostly they were boys, the girls had to talk to her if they wanted their hair magic'd into something new and pretty. Although, there was something different about this one. She spoke of the darkness with a bit more awareness than most of Auradon. Like she knew it, even if she was clearly an innocent.

"What would you know of darkness?"

"Well," she said with a bit of a huff and a bit of a laugh, both at once, "It is important to us. All my best summer memories are on that Island, and most of them," she admitted ruefully, "Involved plotting ways for us to leave it and explore the wider world."

She grinned a bit at the thought, then she shrugged at the rest. "Well, I'm not terrified, and if you want to be called Mal, I'll call you Mal. If you want to be called something else, just let me know."

"As for the darkness..." She shrugged. "One of my two best friends fights it, the other embraced it, and now both have made their peace with it, cautious though it may be. They both accept that The darkness can be tempting, can offer power... but..." She considered then looked up at the sky. "Sora might disagree with me, but after seeing them... after everything that's happened.... While I still want the light to have more power, to win... I don't think we ever could fully extinguish the darkness, and I don't think we should try."

"You can't have light without the darkness. And... And the darkness isn't inherently evil, I don't think, it's just... easy to use it for that, I think."

"Where I grew up, I had a perfect view across the Sea of Serenity to the mainland. I didn't want to go there, exactly, but I wondered what it was like on the other side of the barrier." She understood wanting to go, even if you didn't want to leave. Just to see what else there was. In Mal's case, of course, there was a prison aspects to add to the desire of freedom. But she didn't hate The City.

"This is a world where Light imprisoned the Dark. I don't think anyone on the mainland would know how to handle it if the Barrier fell and the villains made their way to the mainland." The City was without light, hope, or goodness. To be loved meant to be evil, to take after your parents, who were at best collaborators and at worst... well, they were called 'Mom' to Mal. All the Auradon royals are so used to peace, Mal figures except for Prince Ben none of them would know what to do if an attack came. They were all pretty worthless, Chad doubly so, when Maleficent tried to take the Wand.

"Darkness isn't evil, its wild..." Mal added, just feeling the power that was in her own system. It didn't play by any rules, not like Light did. It cost, but it offered just one thing, personal freedom.

"The power of the light seems to be weaker, but easier to focus, to control." She considered Sora and Riku, trying to figure out how to make the comparison without seeming to insult either.

"I think... Light power is like trying to control a dolphin. Sleek, smart, useful, and if you convince it you just want to be friends and play, it will help you with anything, be with you for life. Darkness seems to be more like... trying to control a school of piranhas. Harder to convince them to work with you, because they mostly just want to devour you. But if you can control them, you can point them at other targets, other things to go after. But... if you run out of people to fight.. you eventually have to decide to let them go, or risk letting them devour you. Your attention can't waver, when it does, they get stronger."

"My friend who uses light, when he wavers, his power seems to bolster him. When my friend who wields dark wavers, he is in danger from within... I just wish I could help them both more, you know?"

Given that the nicest of the Auradon kids could probably be compared to dolphins, and the entire Isle of the Lost could easily be called a shark tank. Not a bad analogy going on there. "I didn't seek out the darkness, I've always had it. It's a part of me since I was born."

Her blood didn't stop her from using Good magic. That she could choose to use light magic, even if it was just the once. So... her blood didn't define her. In the darkness you can't see who is standing by your side, and the light lets you know you've never actually been alone. "You're also wrong, light isn't weaker. Because it isn't alone, ever."

And no matter what Mal did, her mistakes or faults, she wasn't alone. Jay, Evie, and Carlos had her back. Even Ben did, she still wasn't quite used to it, his belief in her. "But helping them is easy, just being there is more than enough. That's what Ben taught me, just being there was enough to make sure I made the right choice."

She nodded and smiled. "True. There is very much that. The three of us are stronger when we're together, when we work together. I learned that easily enough, I'm just hoping the boys can get that through their heads, because if they try to leave me behind again, I might just have to do something they'll regret!" she said with a bright smile.

"Well, boys aren't known for their wits. Usually." Carlos was something of an exception to that. There was a wicked mirth to Mal's smile, but it was overall not antagonistic. She understood that the rest of her group of friends needed to be corralled into the game at hand. "Plus, just because you're friends doesn't mean they can be exempt of your wrath when they deserve it."

She chuckled a bit. She summoned her keyblade... but just to lean on it, knowing she was probably scandalizing everyone else who ever had one.

"Okay, I made a decision," she said firmly, smiling.

"If you're okay with it, you and I are going to be friends."

"You know you're the first one to ask me. Lonnie and Ben just kinda decided on being my friend and I had to deal."

Honestly she wasn't sure which she preferred, if either of them asked, she would have said no. Because villains don't have friends, villains are rotten and only have people that are useful near them. But it was nice to get a say.

"I guess it isn't the worst thing, having more friends."

"It isn't the worst thing," she agreed with a bright smile. "It might just be one of the best things."

And now if Sora or Riku ever went after her, because of who her mother is, Kairi could stop them. "If you ever meet my friends, Sora, or Riku, you let them know you're my friend, okay?"

"How can you say that? I'm just... unique!"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject