Part I
"I'll give you a life lesson, ungrateful half breed!" Maleficent snarled at the purple-haired girl. "Knuckleheads!" The dark fairy called for her henchmen. "Do what you have to do with her." Maleficent left the room without looking back.
The purple-haired half-fairy saw with dread as her mother's minions came closer to her. The three men looked pretty much alike, like stupid triplets with scarred faces. They looked bulky, but at the same time, the malnourishment of every inhabitant of the Isle was obvious. Dressed in horrible brown jackets, worn out caps that could not contain their toffee blonde hair, and an almost crazed look in their light brown eyes. The moment she saw the look on those men, she understood this was going to be one of those days. With their filthy hands, they grasped her to carry her to the basement of the Bargain Castle.
She tried her best not to look frightened. She schooled her features so they could not know she was afraid. She was not going to give them the satisfaction to hear her shriek. She would bite her tongue if she had to, but she would not let them know how much they hurt her.
Once they got her to the foundation of the place she once called her home, that dull and soggy place she hated the most, they tied her hands to the wall. The purple-haired girl could feel the chilling coldness of the wall through her thin shirt. The towering of the henchmen was the first to come close. The other two pulled back, giving him space to begin. Before the little half-fairy could prepare herself, the man slapped her across the face and punched her right in the pit of her stomach, successfully knocking the air out of her lungs.
She kept herself under control, though. Even with the buzzing sound in her ears and the extreme need for air, she did her best to stay still. She looked him in the eye, her eyes glowing almost fluorescent green, wordlessly challenging him to do it again. He punched her again, this time hitting her cheekbone, with so much strength that she felt the blood gathering in her mouth immediately, but she did not mind. She would not beg them to stop. She stared at him again in the eye and spat her blood all over his face. The man was obviously infuriated with her action, even worst when the other two mocked him.
"Now you will know," The man snarled at her ear. "This was going to be only a beating, but it looks like you crave the other treatment."
Her breath got stuck in her chest as he ripped her pants and underwear in one sudden motion. He released her from the wall and tossed her to the ground. The purple-haired girl knew it was to no use to fight. She was so used to enduring this practice that she knew the more she struggled, the wickedest it was. Before anything else could happen, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift away to a place where no one could reach her. She flew to the only place in the entire world where she felt safe: between the arms of her blue-haired princess.
When she came back to her senses, they have finished with her. She could hear the rustling of clothes being fixed, but she did not dare to open her eyes. She was afraid if they knew she was conscious again, they would want to have a second round, and the little half-fairy certainly knew she would not be able to take anymore without completely breaking.
"This isn't pleasing anymore." One of them broke the silence. "She doesn't fight any longer. She doesn't even cry."
"Yeah, it's like fucking a corpse." Another voice replied.
"I think she likes it." The purple-haired girl acknowledged that last voice as the tallest man, who beat her up before her mind drifted away. "Have you notice how wet she gets after a while?"
Their cackles made her shiver, but she did her best to be still until she heard them leave the basement. Once she was sure she was alone, she rolled to her side and hugged her legs to her chest. She let herself be weak for a moment, and she cried while the last words echoed in her mind. She did not like it. She would never like it. How could she?
"I don't like it, I don't like it, I don't like it," Mal kept saying between sobs and shivers.
"Baby, wake up," Evie had at least five minutes trying to awake the shorter girl. She could not bear the sight of her half-fairy / semi goddess girlfriend in such distress. "Please, baby girl, wake up. I'm here with you. Please, listen to my voice."
Evie knew accurately what her girlfriend was fighting in her sleep. The blue-haired girl, herself, was no stranger to those kinds of horrors. It tore her heart to see Mal with so much dread, but she also knew she should not touch her, or she could startle the petite half-fairy even more. Mal was not a big fan of dealing with her feelings out loud, which made it even more difficult for Evie to help her. The blue-haired princess knew a little about the memories behind the nightmares but nothing else. Given everything, she was pretty sure her girlfriend was reliving the events of three weeks ago.
"Come on, baby girl. Wake up." Evie tried her best to soothe Mal's anxiety.
When Mal opened her eyes, she seemed lost. Evie's heart shattered into a thousand pieces and sank onto her stomach with all the amount of distress she found inside those green eyes she so deeply loved.
"Evie?" Mal launched herself into Evie's arms and buried her face in the crook of the tallest girl's neck.
"It's okay, my love." Evie stroked her hair, holding Mal as hard as she could. "You're safe. No one will hurt you here."
It took a while for Mal to calm down. Evie kept stroking her hair and back, giving her light kisses into her forehead until Mal's sobs finally subsided. "Are you feeling better?"
Mal wordlessly nodded, but Evie knew better than that. She knew Mal would not tell her any detail because even in her worst moments, the purple-haired girl was uber protective of Evie. Mal would never let her blue-haired girlfriend bear the burden of her suffering. The petite half-fairy would keep her deepest terrors to herself. Evie also knew it was no good to try and force her girlfriend into talking. The best thing Evie could do was hold the purple-haired girl close until she was ready to face the new day.
"You know that I don't like it, right?" The shorter girl's voice was so soft, Evie almost did not hear her. "You have to know."
The purple-haired girl's sobs returned, harder this time, and Evie was absolutely in shock. Usually, the shorter girl would remain silent until she was ready to pretend nothing happened. Evie soon recovered her balance. The blue-haired princess brought her girlfriend into her lap and held her even tighter.
"Baby," Evie stroke her girlfriend's cheek. "Please tell me what bothers you."
The half-fairy raised her head and stared at the blue-haired princess with a crushed look. "The last time," Mal hesitated.
Evie knew it is difficult to talk about certain things. Especially if her girlfriend was the one doing the talk, but she also knew that sometimes, expressing the things that hurt you the most helps to cope.
"What happened last time?"
Mal took a deep breath and buried her face in the blue-haired girl's neck. "The last time," she paused, her voice muffled against the tallest girl's skin. "One of them said that I must like it." She made another pause. "But I swear to you that I don't."
When the purple-haired girl looked at her again, Evie was able to see something between misery and hatred in the shorter girl's eyes. "I don't understand why he said I get wet after a while, but I swear to you that I don't like it!" Mal sounded worked up. "The only person I like touching me is you!"
"Oh, baby girl." Evie brought her back into her arms, placing a protective hand in the back of Mal's head. She hugged her semi goddess girlfriend as tight as she could. Evie stroke purple locks and tensed muscles while Mal's weeping increased. The blue-haired princess could not believe that even with all the pain Mal was certainly feeling, the thing that bothered her the most was worrying Evie would think Mal 'cheated' on her. "Baby, listen to me. I know your heart is mine. Just as much as mine is yours."
"But I swear, E..."
Evie shushed her. "You have nothing to explain to me. It wasn't your choice. I've never thought that you cheated on me nor something else. M, you are everything to me."
The purple-haired girl straddled her girlfriend's lap and buried herself between her arms. Both girls remain still, embracing one another. After what looked like hours, Mal was finally ready to face the day. The half-fairy retreated herself from the embrace and gifted a charming look to her princess. Just like that, Evie knew her girlfriend was over with her weakness display, and now she would pretend everything was just right.
"So, what's the plan for today?"
"I don't know." Evie opened the closet where they kept their clothes. "Wanna grab a coffee from the Slop Shop?"
By grab, she obviously meant steal.
Mal gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek while looking for her own clothes. "You know me so well."
They had this almost domestic routine -as homey as any couple could be on the Isle of the Lost. Neither of both girls was aware of when exactly that had happened, but they were no longer living at their mother's castles. Eventually, the VKs hideout stopped being just a hideout and became their home.
"I'm not feeling like going to Dragon Hall today." Mal broke the silence once she had finished changing her clothes. Evie looked at her with questioning eyes, still going through her beauty routine, and meticulously applying makeup.
"What if," Mal paused and came close to her. The purple-haired girl pulled Evie up from the make-shift vanity and hugged her by the waist as close as possible, keeping her gaze on the princess's eyes. "Once we get our coffee, we come back here and spend the day doing something more recreational."
Mal's suggestive look sent an electric shock to the blue-haired princess's core and made her shivered in anticipation, but it also made her heart ached. Once, Mal had told her that when she was tormented by some particular memories, she felt the need to erase them with Evie's touch and kisses.
"Whatever you want, my love." Evie would never deny any comfort she could offer to the purple-haired half-fairy.
Mal placed a possessive hand on the back of Evie's head and brought her in for a kiss. It started as a sweet, slow kiss, but as the minutes went on, the passion grew. Soon, the girls heard a rock hitting the danger sign that acted as the hideout's lockout mechanism. Heavy footsteps were coming up the metallic staircase.
"Hey, girls!" Jay came in as if he owned the place.
Mal gave a tired sigh and reluctantly let the other girl go of the embrace. Evie took the opportunity to return to her makeup.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
He knew he was indeed disturbing the girls. It was not because they were in the middle of some intimate moment, but because the girls lived in their own world, so it was too easy for Jay to feel like he was meddling every time he was around them. Not that he actually minded.
He liked being around the girls, and he certainly preferred to see the half-fairy happier than ever before. But sometimes he missed the times where it was only him and Mal. It had been like that for a really long time. Before Evie's banishment was lifted and the whole a-thousand-years-sleep-curse almost happened. And before somehow, every sentence began with Mal and Evie / Evie and Mal every time one wanted to talk about any of the girls.
He also kind of missed the hideout. Before Evie came crashing into the purple-haired girl's life, Jay had considered the VK-hideout as even his place. He never fooled himself, he knew it was Mal's place, but before the girls became a couple, Mal never minded him crashing on the couch or his extended visits. He even was welcome when, somehow -he actually had no idea how that happened, Evie got a room in the hideout.
The place lacked partition walls -well, it fell short a lot of everything, so in those days, Mal's room was basically at one of the corners, and he had the couch on the living area.
When Evie came, another corner soon shifted to be her room. Actually, even these days, with the blue-haired princess no longer sleeping there since she permanently moved to Mal's bed, that spot still looks like only Evie's. With all her fabrics, her sewing machine, sketches attached to the wall, royal blue all over the place, and, do not forget, the humongous picture of Evie's face spraypainted by Mal. But the fact is that even then, he was welcome to stay.
Things quickly changed when the girls started a formal relationship, and Mal could not keep her hands away from Evie's body. Before the blue-haired princess, Mal did not mind Jay staying on the couch while she enjoyed a pleasurable night with some random conquest. He either was bothered at all with that situation. But with the princess, Mal was different. Since the very beginning, the purple-haired girl was extremely protective of their relationship, so Jay was kicked out like a stray dog.
"Snap out of it!" Jay was not sure when did Mal come so close to him. "Jay!" she snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Sorry." He did not know how long he spent thinking about the past.
"I was saying," Mal took a sit on the couch in front of him. "I'm guessing you have something important to say. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come uninvited."
"Oh, yeah." Now he remembered why he came. "I just saw your mother leave Bargain Castle, and I wonder if you want to go get the last of your stuff."
The last look Mal gave to her old bedroom left her with an eerie feeling. It did not feel like her room anymore. She had not been sleeping in there for a very long time, and with the lack of all the important things to her, the place was foreign.
Evie and Jay left the room first, each with a bag hanging from their shoulder with the remains of the purple-haired girl's things, giving Mal a little time to linger there before she closed the door behind herself and followed her friends, saying goodbye forever.
"So, you're actually never coming back."
The three teens instantly froze at the voice of Maleficent. None of them expected the Mistress of Evil standing in the dark at the back of the stairs. Mal turned on the heel of her feet to face the dark fairy.
"No, Mother."
Maleficent step aside, making herself visible for the three VKs.
"I figured." Maleficent walked to the dining, clearly expecting Mal and the others to follow. The purple-haired girl reluctantly followed her mother.
"You know, kiddo," Maleficent took a seat. "If I had known, I would have done something earlier."
Mal came out from the basement when she felt strong enough to face whatever and whoever could be outside. She did her best not to limp, but the pain she was feeling was unbearable. Her whole body ached in places she could never imagine.
"I hope you learned your lesson." Maleficent's voice was like an ice bucket thrown at Mal.
The purple-haired half-fairy could feel every ounce of her blood boiling inside her veins. She had never felt more hatred toward her mother than at that exact moment.
"Yes, Mother. I learned my lesson!" For the first time in forever, the purple-haired girl felt broken, broken enough that she did not have the strength to keep her stoic face. "I finally understand how much of a disappointment I am for you. I understand you really must hate me if you can allow your own daughter to be turned into your minions' personal harlot."
"What did you just say?"
"Oh, Mother, please spare me the act." Mal felt angry tears dangerously gathering in her eyes. "As if you don't know, those three stupid assholes have been fucking me since I turned fourteen every time they pleased." The words tasted like poison in Mal's mouth.
Maleficent's eyes flashed fluorescent green, and an almost crazy look came to her gaze. The dark fairy left the room without giving any other word, banging the door behind her.
That was the last time Mal had talked to her mother in the past three weeks. A week after that short but painful conversation, the purple-haired girl learned the three henchmen had suffered some mysterious accident, and now they were nowhere to be found. She suspected her mother had something to do with that, but she certainly was not going to give it a lot of thinking.
"Yeah, well. The past is in the past." Mal said nonchalantly. Even though Evie knew everything -except for the gory details, Jay was not aware of the purple-haired girl's most dark secrets, and she intended to keep it that way.
Mal took Evie's hand in her own, intertwining their fingers, and marched to the exit of Bargain Castle with her head held high.
"This will always be your home, pumpkin." The purple-haired girl heard her mother said right before the door closed behind the three VKs.
"Are you okay?" Evie gave a squeeze to her hand once they were a few yards away from the place that was no longer Mal's home.
Mal took a little time to replay. She felt so dizzy right now, and she was pretty sure she could feel a gagging sensation. Her mother had this vast amount of power over her, and it made her sick. She could not understand why her mother always treated her like garbage, but now it looked like the dark fairy was really concerned about what had happened to Mal. Her mother utterly drove her crazy.
"No," Mal honestly said. "Please, let's go home."
********
"I seriously don't understand why you like so much that Selfishness class."
Mal took the princess's hand in hers as they walked throw the dark corridors of Dragon Hall. They were supposed to meet there with Carlos and Jay for lunchtime.
Evie laughed. "I don't know. Why do you like so much Evil Schemes and Nasty Plots?" she defended herself.
"Because that's an exceptional class! What could be better than scheming and plotting?!" The excitement in the purple-haired girl was palpable.
When they reach the cafeteria, they walked to the food counter. The purple-haired girl opted for her always reliable stale pudding and black coffee while the blue-haired princess just crunched her face and took whatever that looked less likely to be disgusting.
"I can actually think of a lot of things better than scheming." Evie teased with a very, very suggestive look.
"Ugh!" Mal shudder. "You're pure evil."
When they reach the table where the boys were already waiting for them, Evie was still laughing at her poor, aroused girlfriend.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, Carlos," the blue-haired princess tried her best to conceal her laugh. "It's just that sometimes, Mal is pretty much like a horny dude."
"Evie!" Mal got bright red and gave her a scolding look.
"Don't worry, Mal. We already knew." Jay teased.
Mal plopped herself in the chair across from Jay. Evie sat next to the purple-haired girl, and across from Carlos. As soon as the half-fairy settled, she took a big spoon of stale pudding into her mouth, hoping to avoid the irritating look of her friends and girlfriend. It was a futile effort. Her three companions kept laughing at her expenses. Soon enough, the teasing stop being relevant when the fourth bite at her pudding got her feeling queasy in her stomach. Before she could take another piece, she was running toward the nearest restroom.
The purple-haired girl barely made it to the toilet before emptying the contents of her stomach. Half throw the violent lurching of her body, the little half-fairy felt soft hands caressing her lower back while holding her hair away from the mess in front of her.
"Are you okay?" The blue-haired princess asked when she was done throwing up.
"I don't think so." Mal took a sit upon the wall, letting her head fall back against the cold tiles. The coldness helped her to settle her sick stomach.
"Come here," Evie pulled the purple-haired girl between her legs. She made a messy bun with Mal's hair on the top of her head and blew cold air against the shorter girl's sweaty neck. None of them really care about sitting on the floor of the nasty bathroom. After a few minutes, Evie felt the purple-haired girl relaxed against her, a little too relaxed.
"Are you asleep?"
"No, but I'm tired."
"Let's get you home." Evie did not leave much for an argument.
The blue-haired princess helped her girlfriend to get up. Then she snaked a protective arm around the semi goddess's waist and did her best to balance herself and the shorter girl as they walked to the exit.
When they made it to the hideout, Mal was almost passed out. As soon as Evie delivered her to their bed, the purple-haired girl was fast asleep. The blue-haired princess busied herself by taking her girlfriend's boots out of her feet, then she thought of putting her into her pajamas. That was not an easy chore. She settled with just taking away her leather pants and jacket so the purple-haired half-fairy could comfortably sleep in just her shirt and underwear.
Evie changed her own clothes and then she joined her beautiful girlfriend in bed. The princess covered them both with the blankets. Then, she spooned the half-fairy, hugging her by the waist as close to herself as possible. A few minutes later, she let herself drift away with Mal's hair's perfume flooding her lungs.
The next Evie knew she was being jostled. When she could wrap her sleepy head around the real world, she realized Mal had violently awoken to run to the bathroom. Peacefully, the blue-haired girl got up and went to her girlfriend. When she opened the door, she found Mal with her head buried in the toilet. Evie sank beside the half-fairy and hold her hair away from her face. Wordlessly she waited until the shorter girl finished with the vomiting.
"You know this isn't normal, right?"
"I don't know why I'm sick." Mal rested her head on Evie's shoulder. "I've been eating the same shit as always, I don't think after fifteen years it could make me sick."
"We both know this is not food poisoning."
"What are you talking about?" Mal pulled away with a sharp look.
"You've been woozy and queasy since last week when we saw your mom. At first, I thought you were just edgy because you can't stand your mother. But you've been picky with food and things you usually like. Now, you can barely keep yourself awake throw the day, and you've been throwing up over the last three days, this is only getting worse." Evie paused, letting her words sank into her girlfriend's brain. "I don't think you're sick, M. I think you're pregnant."