#and let Maleficent and Hades (and possibly Morgie because he seems like a sweetheart)

[thebluestbluewords]

scheming. plotting, even.

"Maleficent. Charmed, I'm sure."

Red shakes the outstretched hand as quickly as possible. No biggie, just shaking hands with the most evil villain of all time, the person who's eventually going to be responsible for getting not just Red and her mom, but literally every interesting villain and henchman and sidekick exiled from Auradon. Forever.

"Yeah, you could say that. So, what are you doing here?"

Young Maleficent arches one perfect eyebrow up towards her horns. "Attending class. And you?" 

Right. 

"I mean, same. Obviously," Red scoffs "I'm just here, in class...attending class." 

The corner of Maleficent's mouth twitches. "On a cosmic level, I'm here because I was compelled by the stars to attend class today." 

This is getting her nowhere.

“Yeah, okay," Red agrees, even though she's pretty sure she understands even less about Maleficent's motivations since they started this conversation. "I don't really do astrology, so if you wanna tell me what that actually means..." 

"It means I'm here because the fates aligned to bring me here today. And you're here because of magic."

"No, I’m totally not.”

Shit.

They're gonna be found out for sure if Maleficent is on to them. So long, Wonderland. Bye-bye, Auradon. Red's going to a special layer of hell. the one reserved for idiots who reveal their whole plan to the biggest, baddest villains ever to walk the earth. 

Maleficent laughs, and reaches out to grab Red's hand again. "Child, I can smell it on your skin. You're here for exactly the same reason as myself and my companions." 

"I'm pretty sure I'm not..." 

"Don't play stupid. It's the time discrepancies. There's a...what do you humans call it?" 

Okay. 

So Maleficent isn't human. 

Cool. Cool cool cool. 

"Um?" Red squeaks "I don't? Know?" 

"A time distortion. A bubble." 

Oh, no. 

"Nope, I don't know anything about any time travel," Red says, quick as can be. "I'm here because my--our father, he, um, he fell on some hard times, and he-- that is, he didn't send in our transfer paperwork, so if I smell like I shouldn't be here, that's gotta be it, nothing like time travel, who said I know anything about time travel?" 

"You did. Just now." 

Haha. 

Ahahahaha. 

"I meant to say that I've never even heard of time travel," Red lies through the biggest smile she can plaster on her face and still speak through. "But if you know anything, then I want to learn it too. You can tell me." 

Maleficent's eyes narrow. "Funny. You're a funny one, Red. Ulyana doesn't like her lackeys being too smart, but funny... I can work with that." 

"What." 

"Please. Don't play the fool. We're here because of the time manipulation going on in this iteration of the Merlin Academy timeline, as are yourself and your sweet little blue companion. I don't know what you want out of the changes, but I know that you're here because of them. Hades and myself are here to... well." 

"What?" 

"I don't know if I can trust you with that information yet," Maleficent says, flickering a forked tongue out to lick her lips. "Not unless I know I can trust you." 

"I'm trustworthy." 

Maleficent grins, and Red gives herself a singular moment to wish that she hadn't looked at the pointed teeth in that awfully wet mouth. Ugh. Dragons are worse than jabberwocky when it comes to oral hygiene, apparently.  "Mm, no you’re not. At least, not yet."