The new alliance with Briar Rose takes far longer than either Queen expected, however everything goes smoothly. Victoria and Audrey have tea a couple of times during the drafting of the official alliance and they make small talk. Victoria offers some advice after Audrey is brave and smart enough to ask for them. She and Daniel walk around the gardens and venture quickly into town once.
At last the alliance is approved by all, signed by both Queen's and Daniel who is the only consort present. After the signing Audrey goes home and Victoria works on a new mirror for the edge of Briar Rose's territory.
"Is there anything else Dolly?" Victoria asks as she's finished putting the last sigil on the glass. She heals her bloody finger as Dolly looks through her folder
"No my Queen" Dolly smiles "you may leave for Auradon at any moment" Victoria nods and send a text to Uma asking where they are
"So?" Daniel asks holding their bags once more "can we go?"
"Dolly gave us the green light" Victoria smiles and reads Uma's text before putting her phone away. Daniel and her walk into the Auradon mirror and appear on the docks right beside the Holy Trinity
"So where are they?" Ben asks as they get in the car Ben left for them, the keys under the visor as always
"They're heading for dinner, a small restaurant called 'La Ratatouille' it's supposed to be very good" Victoria says "only the VK's are allowed though is that okay? I feel we haven't seen much of each other these days" Daniel nods, reaches over for her hand and brings it to his lips for a kiss
"It'll give me time to talk to Ben" Daniel sighs, dreading the conversation, knowing Ben it could all go smoothly or they might end up finishing the fight they'd had on Siracusa which seems a life time ago.
"Good luck" Victoria laughs and Daniel rolls his eyes a smile on his lips. He pulls up to the restaurant and Victoria leans over to give him a kiss
"Don't fight" she says "but if you do you better win" Daniel laughs and kisses her once more before she gets out and he leaves for the castle.
"Good evening do you have a reservation?" The hostess asks Victoria as she walks in
"Tori!" Carlos yells from one of the tables in the back, the woman smiles
"Right this way" she says and leads her to the table and hands her a menu
"Carlos how are you?" Victoria asks gripping his outset he'd hand and smiling at him, she has to reach over Evie to hold him
"I'm doing good Tori I don't feel bad or anything" he smiles and takes a sip of wine "honest"
"That's good" she smiles, relieved he's not in pain
"What about us?" Jay asks "you act as if we're strangers, don't we get a hello?" Victoria rolls her eyes and says hi to everyone individually just to make a point
"Thank you" Jay says making them laugh
"Alright so fill me in, what's happened since I left?" Victoria asks Evie and Uma who shake their heads and take a sip of their drinks.
"Oh no you are not getting out of sharing the gossip between you and Briar Rose" Evie says excitedly slapping her arm "you have to tell us everything that happened. Who killed the king? What was the queen wearing, do you know anything about Audrey?"
"Where my sword?" Uma chimes in adding to the questions
"Where's my crown?" Gil adds jokingly Harry chuckles and gives him a fist bump
"Yeah and where's my homework from two years ago I've really got to turn it in" Carlos adds cracking up as he says it
"Okay fine" Victoria holds up her hands in defeat "here's what happened it's really bloody and filled with lots of drama" they all ohh and watch with rapt attention as Victoria leads them through the entire battle sometimes using her magic to recreate events at a small scale on the table. They only pause when the waiter comes over to take their orders, he's wearing skates which does not go with the restaurants aesthetic but is very useful for fast deliveries.
After they order Victoria finishes the story of the battle and begins the encounter with Audrey. That takes longer because they keep interrupting her with questions. But she somehow manages to finish the story between mouthfuls so it doesn't get cold. It's surprisingly good.
"So my sword is?" Uma asks keeping her priorities straight, the waiter takes the empty plates and brings some more bread to the table, Gill and Jay fight over the same breadstick until Harry snatches it from both of them and stuffs it into his mouth. The two guys glare at him and get their own pieces.
"The sword is in your quarters on the Holy Trinity, I put it there before I came but I can summon it if you want" Victoria says rolling her eyes
"Yes please" Uma bats her eyes at her and does a small puppy dog face
"You are insufferable I can demote you, you know" Victoria shakes her head but she's joking. She materializes the sword into her hands, her eyes flashing yellow for a second. She hands the sword to Uma who takes it out and starts to examine it with Gil, Harry smiles at them as they become lost in the sword and ignore everyone else.
"So did Audrey break ties with Auradon?" Mal asks "are we even allied to Vernelle, officially?"
"Not officially but we have an agreement the one we made after you became Queen" Victoria explains "and no Audrey is still very much in league with Auradon"
"I remember that agreement" Mal nods "It's basically an alliance" Victoria laughs and agrees with her
"Yeah just a few technicalities shy of an alliance so Auradon doesn't lose the big kingdoms" Evie points out and Mal frowns at her "what? It was on your desk what was I supposed to do, not read it?" Mal chuckles
"So yeah that's basically it now it's your turn what have you all been doing?" Victoria asks leaning on her elbows waiting for their stories
"Well the day we got home we had a slumber party" Evie says happily "Uma even did a face mask with us"
"Uma, you did?!" Victoria asks surprised at her
"The salty wind from sailing the sea is going to make me wrinkle before my time" Uma justifies her eyes still glued on her sword
"We cut Harry's hair" Gil smiles and Harry groans
"No, you butchered my hair" he sneers "then I had to go and fix it and look how short it is" he runs a hand through his short hair and frowns at the lack of length. Jay chuckles and Harry shoots him a dirty look
"It doesn't look bad" Victoria tells him and he smiles at her but throws a piece of bread at Jays face as he mocks her
"I went to see my mom" Carlos says and Jay shudders, Victoria doesn't know why but Cruella always made Jay very jumpy
"How did that go?" Victoria asks. The waiter brings their desserts and Victoria takes a bite out of her apple crumble with vainilla ice cream, it melts in her mouth. She wonders who the chef is so she can tell Tiana. Carlos eats a bit of his own dessert first before answering.
"As well as could be expected" he sighs, Victoria waits for the rest of the details and he bites the inside of his cheek before continuing "she was very calm, she gave me tea and we talked a bit about the things I've done since I left the Isle. She told me how things were on the Isle as well, says they've improved much but she misses the company of the others. She says Jafar is getting on her nerves but when hasn't he?" He chuckles at that and eats more of his dessert
"Then I told her about the illness and she was really quiet for a long time" Carlos looks straight at the dessert remembering that day "she let me finish the entire story of our quest and the cure and how it didn't work. She didn't say anything after that, all she did was get up and heat some more water"
Carlos is quiet for a while and everyone else knows what happened but they wait for him to either say it or give them permission to finish the story. Victoria stares at them all hoping someone speaks
"What happened then?" Victoria asks softly and he snorts
"Cruella did what she does best" Carlos bites his lip "the tea kettle missed me by a few inches but the hot water didn't. Then she started screaming, it was all so incoherent, but she kept saying it was my fault for having left her. She screamed so loud that I could barely understand her. My ears rang for hours afterwards. Cruella screamed until her voice was gone, sometimes she yelled that it was her fault and then would break down into tears and cradle me asking any powerful being to heal me, then she'd get angry again and push me away saying I deserved it for being such an ungrateful child"
Victoria is speechless and so is everyone else. Hearing the story again doesn't make it any easier for them. Gil is crying softly and so is Mal. Uma looks like she has a plan for her sword and Evie just looks grim. She knows how hard it is to hear your mother tell you that the bad uncontrollable things in your life are your fault, she's heard it all her life.
"I finally got tired of listening to her so I left" Carlos continues, a big piece of brownie in his mouth but he doesn't care "I opened the door told her to take care of herself and left. I heard something shatter as the door clicked shut and I walked out of that house and didn't look back. Despite how things went down every step I took all the way to the border, over the bridge and up the steps to my house, all I felt was a huge weight being lifted from my shoulders"
"I was exhausted when I got home but Jane was there waiting for me with some hot chocolate and those little pretzels I like and it hit me. How lucky I am to have gotten out of the Isle, away from my mother. It made me so happy I cried" Carlos chuckles "I cried until I passed out from sheer exhaustion. The next morning I woke up feeling completely different. I don't remember ever feeling so light. Then I hung out with these idiots and went shopping with Uma and Evie and played some games with Mal and Harry"
"Yeah well let's see who takes you out for ice cream next time cause it's not gonna be this idiot" Jay says with a smug grin then the words register in his head and he frowns "no wait I'm not an idiot that's not what I meant I... ugh forget it"
The sillines of it all makes them all burst out laughing and break the heavy silence that had started to weigh on all of them. They laugh until they cry and then they keep crying letting out feeling they didn't know they were holding or even realized they had. The waiter brings them tissues, he's a bit testy eyed himself. They thank him and wipe away their tears. They look at each other and giggle at the whole thing. They take deep breaths and finish their desserts or what's left of them anyway since most have melted.
"Okay change of subject goes Ben?" Victoria asks Mal who rolls her eyes
"He's fine" she smiles "we talked we laughed we cried. Everything's fine we're making changes but everything's okay"
"I'm glad" Victoria says and she means it, she likes Ben and Mal is family so she's glad they're working things out, hell it's not like she and Daniel just got on perfectly fine after they got together or always see eye to eye. Sometimes Victoria shocks Daniel at the lengths she's willing to go and Daniel surprised her as well whenever they're defending Vernelle.
"What about Lonnie and Doug?" Victoria asks not wanting to be rude to the others and only ask about Ben who in her defense is more important given he's the king and her ally, still courtesy.
"Lonnie is super busy" Jay says "since Jane has been so focused on Carlos she's been handling the orphanage and all the other help centers she and Jane created. Aside from that she still has to run her dojo but we do see each other for at least one meal"
"That's cute" Evie smiles "that's what Doug and I do since I'm at work all day, we make time for lunch though"
"I'm glad" Victoria says "what about you Gil find any pretty Auradon girls around?" Gil blushes and everyone else turns their eyes to him, staring him down for information.
"No" he says still blushing
"You sure?" Uma pokes at him raising her eyebrow Gil rolls his eyes still blushing but shakes his head, Uma sighs "fine okay, what about you Harry?"
"Ohhh yeah Harry what about you?" Evie seconds
"Please as if I'd ever fall for one of these snotty Auradon girls" Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes
"No one said it had to be a girl" Carlos points out and Harry blushes
"So there is someone!" Evie screams and practically throws herself across the table to stare him down
"No there's not" Harry says super serious but with a tentative smile tugging on his lips
"What's his name?" Jay asks poking his forehead
"Stop it" Harry growls and bats his arm away as he tries again
"Aw come on Harry please?" Carlos says putting in his best puppy dog eyes "for me?"
"You're all insufferable" Harry says and pinches the nose of his nose "their name is Lea"
The entire table goes wild with further questions and excitement. Harry doesn't answer any of them but they still trip over each other to ask.
"Can we meet them?" Gil asks and Harry shoots him a death stare which makes everyone back off.
"You can meet them if they say it's okay" Harry says through gritted teeth
"So you'll ask?" Evie says hopeful
"I'll ask" Harry agrees against his better judgement. She claps her hands in excitement and they make small talk before asking for the check and making another slumber party now that Victoria is there.
This time it's at Evie's places so everything they use is super top notch technology and the latest treatment, Lonnie and Jane are already there and help set up everything for the spa treatment. Ben and Daniel arrive just in time for face masks and while Ben plays hard to get Daniel has to fight with Jay over who gets the avocado one.