I own nothing… actually, I own many things such as a car, a house, a phone, a crochet hook, a stash of toilet paper, et al. However, none of the things I own include Disney or their franchise. I just play with their characters before putting them back in the box.

Building Trust

Jay's Point of View

TOURNEY IS AWESOME! This statement was the only thing that was floating through my head since I made the team. I was part of a crew with a mission, could use my athleticism in a positive way without hiding my motives, and I was having fun doing it! On the Isle, I always used my athletic skills in thievery to provide for the kids we protected, but no one knew the positive goals of my actions. I was usually written off as a hoodlum working for Mal. While this was half true, I did cause a lot of trouble, I had a noble goal in mind and I was not subservient to Mal. She may lead the crew due to her planning skills and general charisma, but we always had the option of saying no to a plan. The fact that Mal's plans almost always rocked, made following her easy.

But here I could run, jump, attack and protect without any ulterior motive. I stood on my own two feet and was recognized as an equal contributor. Everyone around me knew my goal and supported my journey to winning a game. I love Mal and providing for the kids on the Isle, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to be publicly recognized for something positive for a change.

I had just gotten my food when I saw Ben, Mal, Evie, Carlos and Doug sitting together. I swaggered over and dropped my tray between Mal and Carlos. I reached over Mal's head and gave Ben a fist bump before sitting down. "Hello everyone," I said, "and how are you this fine day."

"You're in a good mood," Evie said. "Did you have a good practice?"

Carlos laughed as he said, "when does he ever have a bad practice? I sometimes think he enjoys Tourney more than running the rooftops on the Isle."

I replied, "well it's a toss-up between the two, but on the Tourney field there are people who can actually keep up with me without falling on their butts." Mal almost squirted juice out her nose when I said that. Almost? Shoot, I'll have to try harder next time.

Carlos pouted. "ONE TIME," he said, "you fall one time and no one ever lets you forget it. It's been three years, and you had us jumping two stories into an awning. I can't help it if you bounced down on your feet but I landed on my butt."

"In a pile of trash," I threw in. My grin was a mile wide as Carlos threw up his hands and returned to his lunch.

Ben cut in, "now that sounds like a good story."

I immediately put myself in story teller mode, a skill I learned from my mom, and began to regale my audience with the tale. "It was a sunny afternoon, for once, and two brave warriors were combing the rooftops to find a booth selling edible vegetables. The strong one spotted an opportunity and silently signaled to his slighter partner that their quarry had been found. The strong one dropped silently down into the alleyway to sneak up on the beauty manning the booth. He signaled for the slight boy to back him up, when the boy managed to lose his footing and land butt first in the nearby trash heap. Unfortunately, this caught the eye of the vegetable seller and she looked at the boy in disgust. She gathered up her wares and sauntered down the street, her desire to avoid the trash smell overwhelming her desire to know the handsome stranger who landed on his feet."

My story had Ben and Doug hanging on every word while Carlos tried to disappear under the table, until Mal started cracking up. "While Carlos may have fallen on his butt, Drusilla's eldest daughter was more interested in avoiding the guy who just broke up with her cousin the week before than she was in avoiding the trash smell. You drove more girls away with your serial relationships than Carlos ever did due to clumsiness with heights."

"Wow," said Doug, "you sure know how to tell a story!"

Mal smiled fondly as she said, "it's a skill that he learned from our mom. She could always take a few facts and spin them into a story that would keep you on the edge of your seat."

"But I thought that Maleficent was your mom," said Doug. He looked confused and I froze. I didn't know if Mal wanted to tell anyone about our sibling like relationship, so I headed things off at the pass. "My mom was Scheherazade, and she came to the Isle because she loved my dad. She didn't commit any crimes, but conspicuously lifted the wallet from a guard who was arresting my dad, so she could follow her husband to the Isle. She was never really good at being bad, she just loved a man who was."

Ben asked in surprise, "is she still on the Isle? How many other people are on the Isle who don't deserve to be there? Do we need to reevaluate each case?"

Mal's face turned stony as I answered Ben. "She died when I was eleven. Most people on the Isle are there because they served a villain who was caught and an investigation showed that they agreed with the actions that were taken. There are a few who went along with evil plans because they didn't have a choice, but it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff."

Carlos continued, "there are also villains like Lady Tremaine, who treated her step daughter horribly but didn't actually abuse her or break any other laws. Her daughters Anastasia and Drusilla are also on the Isle, although all they ever did was follow their mother's example and insult Cinderella. There are a lot of second-rate villains who didn't do anything too horribly bad, but they're lumped in with the likes of Maleficent, Jafar, Hades, Cruella and their ilk."

"I understand that," Doug repeated, "but what does your mom have to do with Mal? Are you really siblings? Do you have the same dad, because we know who Mal's mom is?"

I could tell that Doug's questions could go on for some time before he stopped to take a breath, so I wasn't surprised when Mal interrupted him. "Jay and I don't have the same parents, but his mom took care of me when my own mother didn't. I called her the mother of my heart, and Jay is by brother in all but blood. People would often ask if we were dating because we were so close, but shared trauma will do that to a person."

"What trauma," Ben asked in confusion? I could see Mal flounder at this, and I longed to chase the guilt from her eyes.

"We saw her die together." I said flatly as I put my arm around Mal. I didn't provide any more details, but leaned my mouth towards her ear and whispered, "it's not your fault, it was never your fault."

Carlos and Evie quickly tried to change the subject. They were used to Mal going quiet when mom's death was mentioned, but we never told them how it happened and they never asked. Some things, you just didn't talk about on the Isle.

Evie gushed, "Scheherazade's stories were legendary on the Isle, and Jay used to repeat them to the kids all the time. A good story can help chase away the cold and distract you from your hunger. The kids loved him."

"Kids?" Ben asked, "what kids?"

Mal and I exchanged a visual conversation. We had long ago learned how to communicate with only our faces. We knew each other so well, that we often didn't need words. I knew that this frustrated Evie and Carlos sometimes, but it worked for us. Mal indicated that she would take over and tell Ben a bit about what we did on the Isle. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. She must really be starting to trust him if she was willing to reveal our secret society of Isle kids. The vulnerability I saw in her eyes also concerned me. If Ben didn't react with support for our actions, then I knew that it would crush Mal. She was clearly becoming closer to Ben than I thought, and it seemed to be romantic in nature. All I could do was sit back and see how she spun our tale.

"Ben," she began, "you have to understand that not all of the villains on the Isle care about their kids. Some of them do cherish the opportunity to change their ways and care for a child, but many simply view them as results of a raucous night out and could care less about their wellbeing. If those children live to grow up, then they often end up living on the streets. They can't find enough to eat and are often caught in the Isle's frequent storms, causing many to die of illness. Several years ago, we started organizing a support for those kids."

Mal took a deep breath before continuing, "it started when we met Carlos, and he introduced us to several of his cohorts who lived on the street. We realized that too many kids were dying due to the lack of food and shelter, so we took action. We located safe areas and set up bolt holes, places for groups of kids to gather together in a sheltered place to protect them from the storms. We supplied food, clothing, bedding, and even hygiene items when we could find them. We made sure each bolt hole was stocked with first aid supplies to treat any injuries from abuse as well."

Ben's eyes started to show his awe as Mal continued. "We set up multiple bolt holes, keeping them small so they were harder to find. We set up a house mother or father at each location, which was an older child who handled the supplies and looked out for the kids assigned to their bolt holes. By keeping them small and portable, any raiding gangs couldn't break down the network. If a bolt hole was discovered, then the kids would scatter and find their way to a new bolt hole. When our population started to get old enough to care for younger kids, then we started taking in babies and small children who were abandoned by their parents as well. We were up to twelve bolt holes when we left the Isle, and four of those were set up within the last six months."

Ben had changed from awe to outright worship by this time, as he listened to Mal describe our mission. Well, maybe worship was going a bit too far, but his respect was unmistakable. "You organized all of this right under the noses of the adults?"

Mal suddenly became self-conscious as she said, "we did work together. Evie focused on clothing while Carlos and Jay handled the food and other supplies. I organized the bolt holes and set up contingency plans in case they were discovered. I also vetted new kids for the organization. You only came under the protection of the Core Four if you were in need and were brought in by an existing member. The kids were good at identifying the difference between a kid in true need and a kid trying to find a handout because they were too lazy to take care of themselves. We also needed to make sure that they weren't spies for a rival gang whose goal was to raid our supplies. We did a good job of keeping things a secret though, so spies weren't usually a problem because most people didn't know that there was anything to spy on."

Evie cut in at this point. "We couldn't have done anything without Mal. She truly led the crusade and I couldn't be prouder of being part of the Core Four."

Doug asked, "what are the Core Four?"

Mal looked a bit sheepish. "It's what we were called on the Isle. The adults thought that we were rotten to the core, and there were four of us. The kids in the organization knew that the four of us were their suppliers and that caring for them was at the core of all that we did. The name just kind of happened. They also started calling themselves 'Core Kids'. We didn't try to transfer the title to Auradon because naming your own group in a new setting is just tacky."

"Well I think that is an awesome name," Ben said. "The four of you form the core of a benevolent organization and should be recognized as such."

Carlos panicked briefly. "Don't tell anyone on the Isle about the core kids. We can't risk exposing the kids to looting. The hardest thing about leaving the Isle was trusting someone else with our kids. If we put them at risk, we would never forgive ourselves."

"Your kids?" Doug asked in confusion. "You're too young to be parents."

"Not on the Isle we're not," Evie said. Doug looked startled at her matter of fact statement before she continued. "But Carlos is referring to the core kids. We consider them ours to protect and provide for, so we often call them our kids. Some of the house mothers/fathers are older than us, but we look after everyone regardless of age. Mal is so good with the babies, and Jay keeps the younger kids enraptured with his stories. Carlos is a great mentor to the school aged kids, and I love teaching some of the older ones how to sew and cook with what little food we can find."

"Mal's good with babies?" Doug seemed a bit confused. "I would think that you would be the one who preferred babies, no offense Mal."

"None taken," Mal answered. "Evie isn't too fond of spit up and diapers, but she loves cuddling kids of all ages and usually has a child in her lap at all times when we visit a bolt hole. Jay says that I like the babies because they can't talk back," she said jokingly, before turning serious. "Abuse and neglect hurts the babies the most. If they don't receive affection without strings attached, then they grow up jaded and are at risk of turning into villains themselves. Villains are made, not born, and our mission is to give kids a place where they can grow into heroes instead of following in their parents' footsteps."

Ben spoke with a thoughtful look on his face. "How can I funnel some of the emergency shipments straight to the kids in your organization?" My dad and I set up the emergency shipment schedule after our first lunch last week, and are arranging for a census so that the regular shipment can be adjusted."

"All you have to do is get the supplies to the Isle," Mal said. "The kids and their substitute suppliers know how to get what they need."

I was so proud of Mal. She finally trusted Ben enough to tell him what we do on the Isle. Now if she could only ask him to get the kids off of the Isle completely, then our problems would be solved. Getting the next ruler of Auradon to help with an existing organization is very different from flooding Auradon's borders with an army of kids. We'll just have to wait for Ben to gather enough political support to propose that solution. All we can do now, is be charming and show people that the children of villains don't automatically follow in their parents' footsteps. We need to fit in to their society and keep from losing our tempers. Unfortunately, with Mal and I, that is easier said than done.