Chapter Text
Lonnie frowned at her hand and flexed her grip on her sword. There were still scales where she expected skin. Beside her, as he was the only thing holding her up, Jay swore softly and began moving faster helping Lonnie shuffle to where their friends were resting, and hopefully being healed
“I’m human,” Lonnie says almost absentmindedly and she tightened and loosened her grip on the handle. “This shouldn’t be happening.” The scales were rather pretty, Lonnie thought but the claws looked rather dangerous.
“Yeah, well that doesn’t look so human to me,” Jay said softly. Sometimes, you couldn’t tell who was human and who wasn’t, Jay thought to himself. “So maybe don’t wave it around until we can talk to someone about it.”
“Right,” Lonnie said as firmly as she could. She dropped her hand and did her best to hide it behind her and still keep her grip on her sword. When Jay and Lonnie made it back to where Aziz was resting against a pillar with Carlos and Raina looking over him.
“Lonnie!” Raina shouted when she saw the other girl. Lonnie managed a tired grin at her best friend and gratefully took the extra help hobbling over to sit next to Aziz.
“No sign of the parents?” Lonnie asked offhandedly. She was honestly surprised that her mother hadn't magically appeared and hugged her to death. She was equally surprised that Aziz’s parents had shown up yet. They had to have seen the fight as well as Shang and Mulan did.
“Evie said she would grab them when she was looking for a doctor,” Carlos said but his voice was distracted. Lonnie noticed the boy with the two-toned hair was pressing some sort of cloth to the back of Aziz’s head. He had really hit hard when Maleficent sent him flying. “How’s Mal?”
Jay and Raina eased Lonnie down carefully and Jay flopped to the floor. “She’s in the best condition out of all of us,” Jay told his friend wincing as his muscles twinged painfully. “Except she’s exhausted, I saw that much. Ben’s got her, though.”
“And we trust Ben after all this?” Carlos asked seriously. Raina, Lonnie, and Aziz kept quiet, this wasn’t their conversation.
Lonnie saw Jay give her and Aziz a considering look and then nodded. “Yeah, I think we might be able to trust some of these Auradon guys,” Jay said softly.
--
Mulan jumped into action the moment the spell was released. “Shang!” She shouted getting her husband’s attention. He was already at her side before she finished his name and they ran. Somewhere along the way, the Chinese couple was joined by the Sultana and her Sultan but they didn’t stop to talk.
Mulan had never been more frightened in her life than when she felt, rather than saw, Lonnie take her sword. Later, much, much later when she was thanking the ancestors for her daughter’s safety would she pause and apologize to her later father for putting him through the same thing. Now, at this moment, Mulan ran down the stairs, pushing past the crowds of royals screaming and trying to get down to gawk at the imprisoned Maleficent and the child who stopped her.
“Lonnie!” Mulan screamed. Where was her daughter? “Lanying! Where are you?”
“Aziz!” Mulan heard Aladdin shout. The kids weren’t immediately visible and Mulan was starting to worry. “Where is my son?”
“Excuse me!” A familiar voice called.
Mulan turned and found herself face to face with Evie, the girl who made clothing. “Sirs, Madams, they are over there!” Evie said, always the polite one, even after such a terrifying event. “Aziz is okay, his head is bleeding but he’s awake and Jay went to get Lonnie. They are over there.” She pointed to a place just beyond the throng of people crowding King Ben and Mal. “I’m getting a doctor now.”
Mulan left Shang and the Agrabahian Royalty and ran to where Evie had pointed. Mulan felt her breath leave her body when she saw Lonnie sitting next to Aziz. Alive. “Lonnie!” Mulan shouted. She ran to her child and dropped to her knees and gathered her into her arms. “Lonnie!”
“Mom, mom, I’m okay,” Lonnie said crushed to her mother’s chest. “I’m okay.”
Mulan felt her shoulders shake and tears run down her face. “My daughter, my child,” Mulan whispered into Lonnie’s hair in their native language. “I thought I lost you.”
“Never,” Lonnie replied in the same language. “I was taught by my mother.”
Mulan gave a watery laugh and pulled back she gently brushed across a bruise on Lonnie’s face and smiled in apology when the girl winced. “Your father is going to have a heart attack,” Mulan said cheerfully. “Between the two of us, and your brother always getting into trouble.”
Lonnie grinned. “You should have raised worse kids,” she said playfully.
“I guess I should have,” Mulan agreed and turned to Jay who sitting next to her daughter. Shang, Aladdin, and Jasmine had arrived. Mulan could feel Shang press behind her to pull Lonnie into a hug. Their older son stood back, watching his sister.
“How are you doing Jay?” Mulan asked looking the boy over. “I saw you drop when Maleficent did something. Are you alright?”
Jay flushed, beside her Mulan could hear her friend the Sultana checking on Carlos and Raina while Aladdin checked Aziz over. These kids probably never had someone check on them, Mulan thought to herself. She slowly reached out and dabbed her sleeve gently at the boy’s split eyebrow. “That has to hurt,” Mulan said doing her best to keep the blood out of his eyes.
“It’s fine,” Jay mumbled but didn’t pull away or push her back. “You should take care of Lonnie.”
“I will,” Mulan promised firmly. “But I’m also going to take care of you. The Royal family will take care of Mal and Aladdin, Jasmine and I will look after you, Evie, and Carlos.”
“Speaking of Evie,” Shang said looking around. “Where is she?”
“Probably trying to pry a healer away from King Beast and Queen Belle,” Raina spat bitterly. The copper-haired girl had a bow on her back that Mulan didn’t recognize. She wasn’t sure where the girl had gotten it but she wasn’t about to ask. “Aziz was the only prince involved so they aren’t going to be sending a rescue party.”
The group fell into an awkward silence before Lonnie cleared her throat. “That may be a good thing,” Lonnie said getting her parents’ attention. “Mom, dad. Something happened during the fight with Maleficent.”
Mulan watched as Jay’s eyes widened and he reached out to Lonnie. He seemed to ask her something without speaking. Mulan watched as her daughter tried to reassure him and continued.
“Mom, is there something you haven't told me?” Lonnie asked quietly. Mulan jerked in surprise, she wasn't sure why Lonnie would ask that and gasped when Lonnie lifted her hand, and she saw scales and claws.
Shang reacted before she did and gently pushed her hand down and looked over his shoulder to see if anyone other than their group had seen. “Mulan, get the kids out of here, take them back to our rooms,” Shang said. Mulan rarely heard Shang speak like that and she too felt frightened and concerned.
“Find Evie,” Shang told his son who nodded and took off.
“Aladdin, Jasmine,” Shang started turning to their friends. This couldn’t get out, no one in the United States of Auradon thought kindly of magic, let alone dragons. “Please.”
Jasmine placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder and nodded. “We won’t say a word. Take Aziz with you, we’ll arrange a healer that can be trusted and handle King Adam,” the Sultana said seriously. Mulan gave her friend a smile and felt a knot that had been building in her chest loosen slightly.
“Yeah, Adam and I have a lot to talk about,” Aladdin practically growled the normally cheerful Sultan was obviously upset that getting a healer for his son taking so long. Mulan knew that if one of the European princes had been injured a healer would have been dispatched right away. However, because Aziz was the only royalty involved Adam probably wouldn’t even notice, King Beast had always shown a preference for royalty who looked more like him. Never mind that Lonnie and Raina weren’t technically royalty at all.
Mulan looked at her daughter and her friends. Most of the kids were beaten and bruised, they all looked exhausted. She wished she could tell them that it was over, they had won, but the soldier knew better than that. It was just beginning.
--
“Ben, I need to find the others,” Mal said pressing close to the young King. Since the spell had been released swarms of guards and royals descended upon them. Ben had reached Mal first after Lonnie had forced the guards to back up. Mal hadn’t seen the other girl since Jay helped her stand, but she had looked like she was in rough shape. Mal shuddered as she remembered seeing Lonnie covered in flames. She had really thought the other girl was dead. Mal had never seen anyone die before. With death not possible on the Isle, the idea of one of her friends, because what else could Lonnie be at this point, being dead, forever, was too much.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Ben whispered into her hair. The boy king had wrapped his arms around Mal had hadn’t let go since. “I was so scared.”
“Me too,” Mal whispered back. “Please Ben, I need to know if they are okay.”
Ben nodded and turned to his father. The former High King was making arrangement for Maleficent to be dealt with. The last spell Mal had used had left the evil fairy alive but unconscious. Fairy Godmother wasn’t sure, when or if she would ever wake. The spell was remarkably similar to Maleficent’s own sleeping curse, Mal had heard them say.
“Prepare her for transportation back to the Isle,” King Adam said with a growl. Mal flinched back at his tone, he seemed particularly beastly after the mess that the coronation turned into. “Fairy Godmother, is the barrier back in place?”
“Oh yes,” Fairy Godmother said waving her wand over the evil fairy. Mal guessed she was making sure Maleficent wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon “The barrier was created to self-heal, the hole likely wasn’t there long before it fixed itself.”
“Good,” the former High King said. “I want that thing out of the kingdom as quickly as possible.”
Mal flinched back again when the former beast turned to her. His eyes were still hard, the former High Queen had put a calming hand on King Adam’s shoulder but wasn’t doing much else. Mal was surprised by how much at that moment King Adam resembled the villains he so hated.
“It appears, we all owe you our thanks,” King Adam said looking Mal over. His voice was calm again, it was strong and heroic, almost, like it was each time he spoke to her The purple haired half-fairy noticed the King’s gaze stop at her hair for a long moment before moving on. He offered her a smile that showed more teeth than necessary. “It seems Ben’s faith in you wasn’t misplaced.”
“I had help,” Mal said quickly, Ben had shot his father a confused look. Something about the King’s tone had put his son on edge, Mal had felt it too. What did he see when he looked at her? Did he see a thing when he looked at her like he did with her mother? “Lonnie, Jay, and the others. They saved me.”
Kind Adam nodded almost absentmindedly and a voice cut off any reply the former High King would have made.
“King Adam, King Ben,” a man called out.
Mal turned her head and saw the Sultan marching toward them. Aziz’s father, her brain reminded her. The Sultana was not far behind her husband and she winked at Mal when they met eyes.
“Sultan Aladdin,” Kind Adam greeted. His voice was back to what Mal guessed was normal for the man. “How is your son?” The last part almost seemed like an afterthought, Mal noticed.
“Aziz is going to be alright,” Aladdin admitted and Mal felt something inside of her loosen. Aziz was one of the ones she was worried about he had been hit hard. “He’s in need of a healer but I’ve asked Genie to take care of it.”
King Adam managed to keep a straight face but Mal noticed a very quick look of distaste on his face when the Sultan mentioned the Genie. Right, the Genie was an ultimate magical being it would make sense King Adam wouldn’t like him.
“Generals Li and Fa have taken the other kids that were involved back to their rooms, it’s been a trying day,” Aladdin said stiffly, there was definitely something between the two of them, Mal thought to herself, and it wasn’t good. Aladdin leaned in close to Adam and spoke so softly that Mal couldn’t hear when he whispered something that made the King frown. Beside her, Ben stiffened and shook his head when Mal gave him a questioning look.
Mal had long since noticed that Ben had better hearing than most people. In fact, Ben had quite a few non-human features that seemed to be holdovers from Adam’s time as a beast. The roaring was just one of them.
“Ben,” King Adam said summoning his son to his side. Ben gave Mal a kiss on the side of her head and a whispered “sorry” and moved to join his father. Mal wrapped her arms around herself and watched her boyfriend go off to do “King Things” with his dad and the Sultan.
She needed to find her friends but Mal was so tired. Magic took a lot out of a person, especially if they weren’t used to using it. Even her eyes hurt.
“Mal,” a soft melodious voice said from beside her. The purple haired girl turned and saw Sultana Jasmine smiling at her. When had the Sultana come up to her? “I’m Jasmine, I don’t think we were ever properly introduced.”
“Uh, hi,” Mal said fumbling. They had never been formally introduced, she remembered seeing the woman at family day but that was about it. “I saw you at family day.”
Jasmine smiled comfortingly. “Yes, that was a busy day,” she said as if Mal hadn't caused Queen Leah to freak out and as if everyone hadn't started yelling at them. “I wanted to ask, are you okay, sweetie?”
Mal blinked no one had asked if she was okay. They had seen her standing and Maleficent prone and just assumed. Mal shook her head unable to voice her thoughts, and Jasmine gave her a sad smile. “Need a hug?” She asked softly.
“I dunno,” Mal whispered. She had never hugged an adult before. Ben had hugged her and sometimes Evie would when she got really excited but that was all of Mal’s limited experience with hugs.
“Do you want to try?” Jasmine asked. The woman held her arms out for Mal to step in if she wanted. Mal shuffled forward and stiffly let the woman wrap her arms around her. It was warm and nothing like she had ever felt before. Ben had hugged her but it didn’t feel anything like this. Jasmine was firm but Mal didn’t feel crushed or trapped. “Okay?” Jasmine questioned wondering if she should pull back, Mal didn’t want it to be over and fisted her hands in the Sultana’s top. “It’s okay, there is no rush,” Jasmine said soothingly.
Mal closed her eyes and leaned her head against Jasmine’s shoulder. Is this what a mother was like, Mal wondered.
--
“I can’t move,” Lonnie whined. The girl shifted and tugged at her bandages. The Sultan and Sultana had sent their most trusted ally, the Genie. The blue man had appeared in the room like he had always been there and immediately began tending to the injured kids. With a snap of his fingers, Aziz’s head was wrapped in bandages, with another snap Lonnie found herself completely covered as well.
“That would be the point,” Genie teased. “The bandages keep your insides from falling out.”
Lonnie groaned and flopped dramatically onto the bed. Beside her, Aziz and Jay were in much of the same position. Raina, Carlos, and Evie had escaped the Genie’s clutches with maybe a band-aid or two but nothing more substantial.
“You’re nothing but trouble, just like your momma.”
Lonnie groaned and purposefully ignored the small red dragon bending her fingers and poking at her scales. “Mushu,” Lonnie whined. Aziz and Jay both laughed at her plight and the Chinese girl shot them sleepy glares. “Do you know what’s wrong with me or not?”
The small dragon huffed and scaled her shoulder. “Listen here you, I am an almighty Guardian of the Fa Family and you will treat me with the respect I deserve!” Mushu said poking Lonnie on the nose.
“Kind of small for a guardian,” Jay muttered giving the dragon the side eye. Aziz laughed into his hands. He had grown up with Mushu as a babysitter the same as Lonnie and the little red dragon wasn’t going to take that lying down.
“Small? Small?” Mushu shouted pulling himself to his full height. “Kid, I’ll show you small!” Lonnie plucked the dragon from her shoulder and cupped her hands around him.
“Hey,” Lonnie said firmly. “Stop fighting with my friends and help me. What’s wrong with my hands?”
The dragon pushed her hands away and seemed to frown up at the girl. “I might have an idea,” Mushu admitted, almost reluctantly. “We need to wait for your mom to get back, though. I need to ask her some things.”
“So Aziz,” Genie said changing the conversation. “Jordan is going to be upset with you.” The blue being’s voice was playful but Aziz groaned and closed his eyes as if he were still in pain.
“Who’s Jordan?” Carlos asked clutching Dude to him. The little dog had found his way back to the boy just as they arrived at Shang and Mulan’s rooms.
“Jordan is Genie’s daughter,” Lonnie explained with a laugh. Jordan was short for her age. She had bright blue skin like her dad and pitch black hair. “She’s nine and declared herself Aziz’s best friend and protector. She won’t be happy that Aziz went and got himself hurt.”
“Aww that’s sweet,” Evie said softly. Evie looked as tired as the rest of them and was curled up in a conjured chair that Genie had provided. Lonnie’s parents had ducked out to grab food for the kids leaving them in the Genie’s capable hands.
“Hey, where did my brother go?” Lonnie asked the room. Zhou, the oldest son of, Mulan and Shang named after his late grandfather, had disappeared shortly after Mulan and Shang had left. The older boy was rather quiet and introspective and had a deep love for music. He had graduated from Auradon prep one year ago but stuck around as an assistant coach for the Tourney and Sword-and-Shield teams.
“He went to get your dad’s sword,” Aziz said sheepishly. “I, uh, dropped it during the fight and I didn’t want to tell your dad.”
Lonnie snorted. Aziz had always been a little intimidated by Li Shang. “Hey!” Aziz said reaching over Jay to swap at Lonnie playfully. Jay grumbled good-naturedly and let the other boy lean over him. “Your dad is scary, okay? I’m not telling him I lost his sword.”
“Just because you’re afraid-”
“Mal!”
--
Mal pushed open the door and nearly dropped from relief. Everyone was okay. Jay, Aziz, and Lonnie were bandaged up and Carlos and Evie looked exhausted but no one was dead. “You’re all okay,” Mal said stumbling into the room. Genie moved to help the purple haired girl find a seat next to Evie and snapped his fingers. Something cold appeared on the back of Mal’s neck and after the initial flinch as the sensation, she groaned happily. “Thank you,” she said closing her eyes. The cold felt amazing and helped the pounding headache that had continued to build since the battle.
“What happened, Mal?” Carlos asked from behind Dude. The smaller boy had the dog in his lap with his arms around him clutching his furry friend to him tightly. “Are you okay?”
“Maleficent is being sent back to the Isle,” Mal said, not using her mother’s familiar title. “She’s, asleep, Fairy Godmother said the spell I used was like Maleficent’s sleeping curse, like the one she put on Aurora.”
Everyone fell silent for a moment, no one appeared to know how to react.
“Is that a dragon?” Mal asked looking intently at Lonnie’s hands.
“Oh,” Lonnie said blinking at the dragon in her hands. “Yeah, this is Mushu. He’s my mom’s family guardian.”
“And that’s Genie,” Aziz piped up. “He’s my dad’s friend.”
The little dragon greeted her happily and the Genie waved so hard she felt a breeze in the still room. “Oh,” Mal said lamely. “Nice to meet you?”
“Oh there is something else you should know,” Lonnie said. “We have a lot to tell you.”
--
Mulan rolled her eyes and snatched the bag of chips from Shang’s overburdened hands and added them to her collection of food. Mulan and Shang had volunteered to get the kids something to eat while Genie fixed them up. Mulan had made the executive decision to step outside and give the kids a moment to decompress without a bunch of adults standing around hovering.
Genie had happily agreed to pop off and grab Mushu, the only person who Mulan thought could help with Lonnie’s strange problem and then they stepped outside. The moment they closed the door Mulan had stepped into her husband’s arms and shook.
Shang wrapped his arms around her tightly and whispered that Lonnie was okay, over and over. She knew this but all Mulan could see was her daughter fighting a dragon. “She could have died,” Mulan said softly.
“But she didn’t,” Shang said. “She’s okay. Tired, a little banged up, but she’s okay.”
“She’s turning into a dragon,” Mulan rebutted. This had to be her fault somehow. Mushu was Mulan’s guardian. Before that, the Great Stone Dragon had served her family and acted as their guardian. There had to be a connection.
“We don’t know that,” Shang pointed out. “Mushu is checking it out and Genie might know something.”
“What are we going to do?” Mulan asked Shang. “This isn’t something we can fight.”
Shang pulled away and put his hands on Mulan’s shoulders. “We’re going to get food for the kids, and then we are going to sit down and figure out what is going on, then we handle it, as a family,” Shang said. Mulan wondered if he was really as sure as he sounded. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”
Mulan smiled at the thought. Her husband was right. They would handle it, whatever it meant. “Do you think we have enough food?” Mulan asked looking at the various snacks in their arms.
“Probably no,” Shang said dryly. “But Genie can just zap something up if need be.”
“That’s true,” Mulan agreed. “I’ll get the door.”
Mulan pulled the door open and stopped short. “Shhhh,” she whispered to Shang who moved to ask why she had stopped.
Shang peered over Mulan’s shoulder and smiled. Genie and Mushu were in the middle of the room whispering softly because all the kids had gone to sleep. Jay, Lonnie, and Aziz had cuddled together on the large bed that Genie had zapped up because it wasn’t there before.
Across the room, Carlos had curled up with Dude laying on his chest and a small fox in his arms that Mulan could only guess was Raina. She had never seen the girl’s fox form, as far as she knew Lonnie hadn’t either, but something had obviously changed to make her use it openly. And in a large squishy chair, Mal and Evie were curled together.
Mulan and Shang quietly dumped the food onto a nearby table and moved to stand with Genie and Mushu. “How long have they been out,” Mulan asked softly.
“About fifteen minutes,” Genie said looking at the kids fondly. “They’re all exhausted.”
“Me too,” Shang admitted. “And I didn’t even do anything.”
“Lonnie’s arm went back to normal,” Mushu said climbing Mulan’s hand when the woman offered it to him. “She didn’t notice because she was almost out when it happened, but the scales are gone.”
“What does it mean Mushu?” Mulan asked her guardian. “What’s happening to my daughter?”
The dragon sighed and carefully rubbed his muzzle. “Mal said when Lonnie broke Maleficent’s staff she saw a dragon form over Lonnie,” Mushu said not yet answering Mulan’s question. Mulan shook her head, she hadn’t seen it, and beside her, Shang did the same.
“When she described it,” the dragon said. “She described him perfectly.”
“Who?” Mulan asked but somehow she already knew.
“The Great Stone Dragon.”