Chapter 2
the four of them were still sitting on the sofa, processing everything their parents had explained, Dorcas had yelled about the stupidity of the idea and Pandora had started to ask about each step of the plan
Regulus and Sirius however were both silent, taking the whole information they had just received, regulus knew it was worse for Sirius but he did not know what to say to make him feel better, he wanted, he really did, but he did not know how
I'm sorry Mom thinks you don’t deserve to be called her son out there you would always be my brother though
yeah, that did not sound quite right
he got out of his thoughts when he heard Cruella yell, more like a shriek making everyone stop god did she always have to be so bloody annoying?
“Okay, it's enough” she said, back to her smiling being “It's time for the gifts” she said clapping and Pandora looked at her weirdly
“Mom, please I don’t want another costume” she said annoyed and Cruella scoffed, but before she could say something the evil queen intervened
“she means the gifts we are giving you to help you work the plan” she explained and that brought everyone's attention “Each one of you would have an item that would help you find and steal the wand, you have to use them wisely though” she pointed, it was at that point were regulus notices something in Jafar's hands
“Turn your eyes here and behold” he showed them “the remains of my powerful snake staff”
“a necklace” Sirius said unimpressive “That’s one of the magical items we have to use carefully? A necklace?” he asked mockingly, and Regulus saw the moment when Jafar was about to throw the jewelry to his head but lucky Dorcas intervened
“What does the necklace do father?” she asked quickly “Is it really magical?” she prompted actually looking at the piece in her father's hands
“it is” he nodded “My staff used to work beautifully to hypnotize people of weak minds and even some of the strongest and though this might not be as powerful as the old thing it would still hold some of its power” he started explaining and give the jewelry to Dorcas, how looked at it mesmerized, she had always admired magic even though none of them had ever seen it, so having an amulet that contained magic was certainly her dream comes true “this would help you manipulate and hypnotize some of those pretentious princes and princess, just be careful with it would you yeah?” he ordered, Dorcas nodded before putting the necklace on, from an outsider it seemed like a very normal one, the only remarkable thing was the ruby pendant in the middle
“Okay my turn” They all turned to look at Cruella when she talked, she was looking for something in her handbag and Regulus saw Pandora frown at her
“do you have a magic item?” she asked incredulously “You have never mentioned” she said and Cruella scoffed annoyed
“Well, I don’t” she emphasized after some seconds when she found the item she was looking for “but I do have a gift that I know would help you” She then showed them some earrings “I programmed them myself, they are microphones” she explained putting them in pandoras ear herself “science is a magic on his own and though sadly I can't do much of that here this would certainly help you to found important information out there” she added clicking at something in the earrings and making them actually play the record of the words she had just said “the best thing is that you can just pretend you forgot one in quite important parts and no one would suspect a thing” she ended with, clearly proud of herself
“wow” was the only thing Pandora said but it was enough to let everyone know she was amazed, it wasn’t normal for her to be out of words, before Cruella could add something else though, or anyone else could he hear his mother talked
“very cute” she said voice cold “Let's continue since I don’t want to extend this charade any longer” she ordered “regulus you are getting my spell book, use it wisely, damage it, and ill damage you” she handled it to him without even looking at him “evil queen, please ended this nonsense now” she said to the black haired woman who just sighed in annoyance but take something in her hand and give it to Sirius
“This is a magical mirror” she explained “You can ask it anything and it will give you the answer within its capacities, I expected you to use it properly Sirius” she emphasised taking Sirius's hand in hers and squeezing it pretty hard for seconds before letting him go “that would be all, go pack your stuff and be ready, you leave in two days” she ended with, this time talking with all of than before turning around and leaving
Regulus just sat there in shock, yelling and fighting did not make any sense, he was aware but he still wanted to, two days? Their life would change and the weight of a plan that hasn’t been thought through would fall on their shoulders, on his shoulders mostly
The look that his mother gave him was clear proof. everyone else could fail, but not him. He had to complete the plan or he would suffer the consequences
The silence lasted a couple more seconds before Pandora sighed out loud
“so they couldn’t figure out a way to save us all and now we 4 had to do the dirty job” she summarized the whole situation
“and to compensate the fact that they are letting all this in our hands they gave us allegedly magical items to help us” Dorcas added looking at the necklace
“you forgot the fact that I was disowned and given into adoption” Sirius said cheerfully but the smile did not reach his eyes
“right” Pandora nodded “This is fantastic really” she said hiding her face in her hands and groaning
“We need to go pack our things” Regulus interrupted their conversation, finally speaking and standing on his feet “We don’t need to add more shit to our situation” he said before turning around and walking out of the room, it wasn’t long before he felt Sirius arms being thrown over his shoulders
“so baby brother” he started with “what does it feel like to be an only child?” he asked and Regulus stopped dead in his track
“Sirius I- “ he tried his voice dying in his throat, he did not know how to show his brother that he was sorry, it wasn’t his fault but he was still sorry. he did not find the words of course. he was a black at the end of the day, his mother was maleficient, he lived in the isle of Lost. He did not know how to apologize, and he wasn’t going to learn soon “I need to go pack” he ended up saying after clearing his throat, his brother chuckled, not laugh in his eyes but he still let him go
“of course” he said “god forbid you disobeyed dear mother” he mocked him before storming out of the hallway, god knew where. Regulus took a deep breath before continuing his path, the knot in his stomach tightening and the feeling of uselessness extending through his veins. There was nothing he could do anyway, at least he convinced himself of that.
He was already packing his stuff when he remembered neither barty nor evan knew about this. He hadn’t even thought about them since his mother told them all the news.
They were his friends and he hadn’t even thought of them
So he was a shitty brother and a shitty friend
Fantastic
He thought for a couple of minutes about what to do and how to do it, at the end he chose the safest option, escape around midnight and go visit Ursula's restaurant, he also thought about just leaving a letter behind explaining everything but evan might hunt him down if he left without actually talking to them first, so that was definitely not safe
While he waited for midnight to arrive he finished packing, he did not have many things and his mother had not mentioned how big their baggage was going to be so he chose only the necessary, and the stuff he did not want his mother to destroy if one day she felt liked it
At the end, he just packed the most comfortable and least dirty clothes, 3 of his books and a couple of sentimental stuff like the little crown Sirius had done for him with metal and the necklace Pandora had given him on his last birthday
When he thought it safe after midnight had arrived he left through the window and made his way to the restaurant, the place was full as always since it was the only respectable place on the whole island and it wasn’t hard for him to find evan and barty considering he was attack by them in as soon as he entered the restaurant
“damn you are alive and unharmed” Evan said after jumping at his back “I'm guessing Malifecient is getting soft” he joked and before he could answer Barty joined him
“When Evan told me she appeared out of nowhere and take you with her I thought for sure you were dead” he said in a happy tone “I was like damn, we are not setting Gaston house in fire after all”
“haha” he told him pushing Evan away “You both are hilarious” he scoffed before looking around and noticing the eyes on them “Can we go somewhere to talk alone? I need to tell you something important” he emphasized and though Barty seemed like he wanted to make another joke evan shut him with one look
“let's talk in the ship” he said and the other two started following him as he made his way to the old Garfio ship that was useless right now.
As soon as they were there and they were looking at Regulus expectantly he just exploded, and start rambling about everything that had happened, piece by piece, word by word everything. When he finished he dared to look at them but they were just looking at him in shock
“This is the point where you guys say something” he prompted already annoyed with the silence
“fuck” was the word that came out of Evan mouth
“yeah, that’s not very helpful” he mumbled and that was when Barty decided to speak
“you gotta succeed” he said and Regulus frowned, ready to point the obvious when he continued “Your mom is going to kill you if you don’t, no joke” he specified and Regulus stood in silence for some minutes, Barty was not wrong his mother could kill him if he failed, he wanted to think she wouldn’t, but he was not sure of that fact
“he could always escape and stay there forever” evan added nonchalantly but Regulus scoffed at that
“I have no intention of staying to live with pretentious princes and princesses” he said disgusted by the mere thought
“Nothing can be worse than here reg” Evan said and he couldn’t really denied that fact
“he cannot leave us” party was the one who interrupted the silence that had formed “I will hunt you if you leave and let us here to root” he threatened but Regulus just rolled his eyes, it wasn’t that he did not believe the threat, he knew barty and he knew he will accomplish it, but still, the sole mention of this whole idea was ridiculous, also, Barty could never win against him
“as if you could represent a threat to me” he teased but before barty could bite and start a very boring argument he continued “Besides, I have no intention of staying there or not succeeding” he stated “If'm going out, we all are” he ended with, and he meant it, nothing could change his plans, nothing could make him want to fail
“you better” Barty mumbled and just when everything seemed calm down between them they heard Ursula yelling for Barty to work faster, so they knew the conversation needed to end there, bary gave him a no so soft hit on the shoulder while standing up on his feet “see you soon then, and try not to get killed by your pretty princes and princess” he said before leaving the place and going back to the restaurant, Evan and him watched him go and the silence came back to them, regulus was about the said his own goodbyes when Evan spoke
“I won't blame you” he said, barely more than a whisper “If you choose to escape” he explained when Regulus just looked at him confused “This is a shithole” he chuckled “You have the chance to escape, a chance we all would want” he kept talking looking at the sky “so yeah, if something goes wrong or if you simply choose to leave, I won't blame you” he finished with, still not looking at regulus and after a couple of seconds he stood and start walking away
Regulus didn’t even say anything as he did, he wanted to say that he was being ridiculous, that he would never do something like it. But something was holding his tongue tight, at the end, he was left by himself in the old ship. After some minutes he moved his gaze to the sky, and looking at the stars, the few ones the barrier allowed them to see, and repeating Evans words in his head he made a promise to himself
The barrier was going down, whatever it takes