#im serious about reblogging if u enjoy it btw

[thishazeleyeddemon]

even villains love their kids; a Descendants fanfic

Y’all I really love Celia...and I was like hey, what if one of the VKs WASN’T a child of abuse?

(not that Facilier is really a...GOOD parent.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472725 <--Read on Ao3! Please reblog if you like it :)

Facilier didn’t need to monitor the arcade directly, most of the time.

He did, of course, since Islanders were a sneaky, treacherous lot (this was thought without rancor or judgement; they all knew who they were and had been on the Isle), but actually walking the floor hadn’t been necessary for a while. He could just watch, instead; watch from his balcony the swarm and swirl of filthy, exhausted people surrounded by the glittering lights of his machines like a twisted parody of an Auradonian ball.

Oh, look. CJ Hook was trying to pry the back of one of the machines open. For parts, or for money, perhaps? Not that any of his machines had anything that had much use outside of being part of arcade machines.

He contemplated for a moment jumping down to tell her to go fuck off back to her dad or he’d go throw her in the sea, when he saw a small figure moving through the crowds towards her. It had a diminutive size but was making good progress, through judicial application of small, sharp elbows. Despite himself, he grinned, leaning against the rail of the balcony.

CJ, focused on her attempted theft, had not raised her head to notice the figure. It was likely she wouldn’t have noticed the figure even if she had, Facilier considered. He’d taught Celia better than that.

Celia, a good foot added to her height from her tattered old hat, stepped out of the crowd and clapped CJ on the shoulder. Facilier was up too high to hear what she said, but he saw CJ turn and snarl at her like a wildcat. Facilier curled his lip back. Some people did not know how to raise their children.

From what he could see of Celia’s face, she looked equally unimpressed. She folded her arms and said something to CJ that made the already-white girl pale even further. Still snarling something, but with the wind visibly taken out of her sails, she shoved her tools in the pockets of her red overcoat and stalked off. All the Hooks walked like that, he thought idly. Like a little kitten pretending to stalk like a tiger.

Celia brushed her dress off and gave the back of the machine a swift kick, knocking the back panel back into place.

The balcony was fine but this was getting dull. Time to go check on Celia.

Dr. Facilier closed the door to the balcony behind him and strode towards the stairs. They kept their house dark and warm like a cave, and the soft wood (not too soft, he wouldn’t have to replace it for a while yet) muffled his footsteps.

Here’s an important note about Dr. Facilier: he’d gotten dragged to Hell.

Several of the others had died, but they all reported not remembering what had happened to them. Facilier...well, he wasn’t sure if he’d died. Under the Friends’ care, however, there had certainly been a few times when he’d wished...

It gave him a different sort of perspective, on the Isle. Even without his Shadow, his constant companion that meant there was never a day he was alone in truth, even poor and magic-less, he was alive, and could breathe the free air under the sun – even if it was warped and faded from the Barrier. He could almost thank Tiana for it – if it was this or the Friends, he’d take this any day, any hour, any minute.

Here’s another note: he’d been poor his life. All these grand kings and queens didn’t know how to fend for themselves, how to make the best out of a poor situation. That was why Grimhilde was going mad in her tower and Cruella had stayed in her house ever since she’d tried to take a knife to one of Hades’ hounds and he’d...disapproved. They were falling apart, scrambling for power wherever they could find it. Pathetic, really.

He reached the staircase and, on the grounds that no one was watching, slid down on the banister. Braking with his cane, he stopped neatly before he reached the end and hopped off. Still got it. He strode off towards the door to the arcade floor.

Here’s one more note: Facilier was smart. One of his allies had gotten knifed by her daughter last week. They didn’t exactly do murder investigations on the Isle, but when he’d gone to see what was up the kid had explained to him at length how her mother had deserved it, had beaten her until she’d bled and how she couldn’t take it anymore. There was one obvious way, he felt, to avoid such situations.

He opened the door, and the blast of light and sound from the arcade was like a slap to the mouth. As always, something in him recoiled slightly; he didn’t have nightmares, at least not most nights, but too much light and open spaces still made his wrists and mouth itch. At least it wasn’t green.

A glance up told him the sun had started to set. Good. He was getting tired of this lot anyway.

A few wacks against the Wheel of Fortune got everyone’s attention. Those who hadn’t noticed got smacked by those who had, and in thirty seconds he had the eyes of every one of his patrons on him.

Back in New Orleans he would have come up with a spiel, but the Isle didn’t stand on ceremony. At least not in the arcade, everyone knew why they came here.

“Alright, show’s over, go home,” he called. At the various protests he received at this he scowled. He had a good scowl. He was gratified to see a couple of people flinch at it. “Machines’ll shut off with the sun anyway. Get out or I’ll make you.” He’d had to a few times; he hadn’t killed anyone (don’t want to waste a potential customer) but the miscreants still had the scars.

Shortly afterwards, the remaining customers were filing out. The crowd thinned as the sun’s light faded, the last man stepping out just as the sun dipped below the horizon and the mechanical hum dimmed and died. Magi-tech, they’d found, generally worked even under the Barrier – the problem was they couldn’t acquire any.

Celia was sitting on one of the pinball machines. He gave her a look and she hopped off.

“So, Cels?” he asked, switching to French – he could swear his thoughts were clearer in his mother-tongue. “What’d we get today?”

“Not much more than usual,” Celia said, walking over to his side. Celia’s French was worse than his was, but then it hadn’t been her birth tongue. “We made almost...four hundred and sev-”

Facilier smacked her on the shoulder, just enough to barely sting. “ No English at home, Cels, you know this.”

She sighed but switched back to French. “ I still don’t know why.”

“Because it’s one of the things Auradon would take from you, Cels,” he reminded her. He walked off towards the door back into their apartment, Celia following behind without question. She was no wilting lily to do everything he told her, she was whip-crack smart, but if she thought he had good ideas, she’d happily do what he wanted. Despite himself, it made his chest warm – any idiot could throw their weight around and get what they wanted by force or intimidation. It took intelligence and work to be able to get someone to do what you wanted all on their own and it didn’t come with any risk of betrayal.

“ Auradon would love you to be alone in the world, with no connection to anything outside the Isle,” he told her, opening the door for her (something he’d had to explain to her was only acceptable at home; he wouldn’t have her viewed as soft by this gang of malcontents and murderers). “ You’re going to know your history and people.”

She nodded, moving past him through the darkened doorway. He smiled at her back almost unconsciously.

They only kept a few candles in their house. It had never troubled either of them; they still had a few gifts from Facilier’s days as a bokor. Plus, the Friends, despite being creatures of night, had an abode with no shadows anywhere. Anywhere that didn’t look like... there was good in Facilier’s book. Also the candlelight made it look like his Shadow was still with him. Having an emotional attachment to your own shadow might be kind of strange, but hey. He was a villain (thanks Tiana.) It was allowed, he thought, and brushed his fingers along the wall.

The arcade brought a better income and protection for them than most people got. He closed his eyes, letting his consciousness spread out until he felt the gentle hum of the wards. They were still strong, untouched.

Auradon thought a mere Barrier could take all magic. Stupid.

Cels had flopped down at their kitchen table, tossing her hat down next to her and resting her head on her arms. He gave Cels a look. “ Hell’s wrong with you?”

Celia shrugged without raising her head. “ I’m just tired. Did you see that VK Day is in a few weeks?”

VK Day.

The shadows flickered with Facilier’s sudden rage.

“ No,” he drawled, “ somehow I missed it with all the propaganda posters up around the entire Isle.”

Celia snorted. His lips twitched.

“ I got one of their applications yesterday,” Celia told him. She raised her head, looking him dead in the eyes. “ I think I’ll fill it out.”

He stared at her. Separate from their lit candles, the shadows roiled. “ What -”

Celia raised her hands before he could finish. “ No, Daddy, I have a plan.”

“That involves going along with their -” Facilier didn’t quite have words for exactly how he felt about the VKs. He just felt, somewhere down in what had probably once been his soul, that it was alright for him to be...well, a villain, because he didn’t try to seem like anything but what he was. Anyone who thought he was trustworthy or safe was an idiot or desperate or both ( or Celia ), but leaving people on the Isle to fight and suffer while pretending to be grand heroes, smiling on TV and dressed in fancy clothes, looking every inch like the protagonists, was...a different kind of villain. One he’d hoped to leave in New Orleans.

Celia nodded. “ Just for a little while.” She rested her chin on her arms again, fixing him with one of her piercing gazes. “ I’ve been doing some groundwork with Mal, positive predictions, that sort of thing. I think she’ll pick me to go to Auradon Prep.”

“And then?”

“What do you think?” Celia fixed him with one of her wide, bright smiles, filled with life and mischief. “ I rob them blind, obviously!”

Facilier, unusually, found that for a moment, he had no words. Celia’s smile seemed closer to slipping with every second he was silent, but she held her ground.

Finally he spoke. “ What about the Wand?”

“I don’t think that’ll work now,” Celia told him. “Uma and Mal both tried for it and lost, it’ll be heavily guarded and they’ll be expecting us to go for it. There’s other magic in the world, though, stronger than faery magic. And Auradon is rich as anything – if I get money from them, I can buy all the spells in the world.” She rose from the table, stepping around to take Facilier’s hand. The cool leather of her gloves was offset by the warmth of her hands in his. She was so small.

“ I’ll free you too, Daddy,” she said, eyes shining. “ If I don’t go for the Wand and pretend to be scared, they won’t expect it. And then you can take me to New Orleans – teach me voodoo and hoodoo – maybe we could go to Tiana’s restaurant and steal some cake and stuff -” Celia smiled again, hope rising in her face. “ I can bring down the Barrier and free us, Daddy. I just have to get Mal to take me to Auradon first.”

Facilier was smart. He knew that while force and intimidation had its place, you could get much further on manipulation and knowing when to strike and that if you were careful, that didn’t even come with a risk of betrayal. He knew that the practical thing to do was to play to people’s sensibilities, make them like you, and then they’d do anything for you.

It was the furthest thing from his mind as he yanked his daughter into a very unvillainous hug. She froze for just half a second before throwing her arms around him as well. She smelled like they all did on the Isle, of dirt and malnutrition and exhaustion – he saw behind his eyes the two of them in New Orleans, no, in Auradon, where the people didn’t know their names, safe and healthy and back in power.

There would be no mucking around with talismans this time. This time they would do it correctly.

“ You know Cels,” he said quietly into her hair, “ That makes dollars and sense.”

Her laughter was more beautiful than he thought he could ever find such a thing.

Fine, Tiana, you win. I see what you meant now, that last night.

“If you got pride, wave your Vs up high!”

Mal’s voice rang out over the crowd, accompanied by cheers and hands shooting towards the sky. Below the VK podium, hidden in the shadows, Facilier observed the carrying-on.

Celia was in the crowd, waving her application in the sky like the rest of them. None of their conversation weeks before showed on her face. Was that his imagination, or did he see Mal cast her a few approving glances?

“You can take the VK out of the Isle, but you can’t take the Isle out of the VK!” Jay shouted. Facilier smiled, despite himself. Son, you have no idea.

Who else was here to dupe the VKs? Those two from Uma’s crew definitely were – Uma had a magnetic personality and a zero-tolerance for disloyalty - but who else? Not Dizzy, she thought Evie was her mother practically (as he’d heard her say – even VKs just hung out with their friends sometime, and Celia despite herself liked Dizzy), but perhaps that one of Gaston’s spawn?

“We used to steal stacks, now we give ‘em back!”

Celia cheered with the rest of them, looking just like another worshipping hopeful. Facilier grinned.

Maybe you do, VKs, but us? Auradon owes us a cut of those stacks.

He saw Mal’s gaze turn towards Celia. The older girl gave her a bright smile, beginning to beckon her forward.

And my Celia isn’t giving a single damned thing back.

Closing his eyes, he did something he hadn’t in decades. If anything’s listening, give my child some luck. More than I had.

There was nothing else to be done. With that, Dr. Facilier turned and walked away.

Maybe they would steal some cake.

Fin.

[cinnaminsvga]

Hey, Zee! I miss u and ur writing, I haven't visited your blog as much as I used to (my own fault, I'm busy with school and life is interesting 🥴). I just reread TLHC for the first time in two years and I just remember being in high school, my senior year, looking forward to your updates. I remember sitting on the floor in my band room during the spring and reading THLC everyday that it updated and feeling all these emotions that you portray through this beautifully written fic. (1/2)

[cont.] (2/2) I just love reading your works, you have such a way of wording things beautifully in the serious parts (simultaneously hitting me in the feels🤧) and then making me laugh with the crackheadedness of the characters. It's a great balance and I really love it. I reread it because I got a notif that you reblogged it for its two year anniversary??!! Wow, it's crazy how much things have changed since that time. I hope you are doing well, Zee! Ly! Such a talented queen! 💜👑😄

ahh hello!! it’s been a while since ive seen you in my notifications!! i hope you’ve been doing well!! no worries about visiting btw, i totally get it lmao im currently drowning in work and school and i wish i could go back in time when i was still able to,, idk,, enjoy life?? HSAJDHJASD

thank you for rereading tlhc!! isnt it weird that tlhc was so long ago, and that there are just these... memories that we have attached to it?? i still remember waking up every day at like 9am, answering asks about tlhc and talking to a lot of people who were just so excited to read the next instalment, and its... so surreal to think that its been 2 years since then. a lot of people, including you, were still in high school!! the passage of time really does slip by without us noticing, huh?

and thank you for complimenting me so kindly like that,,, its still so hard for me to accept compliments like that (and you’d think i’d get better at it after all these years... not happening any time soon i guess lol) but i’ll never stop being thankful regardless. my greatest goal in life is to make people laugh, and if i made any one of you chuckle even once, then i’ll consider it a success. here’s to many more years of laughter to come!!