A Descendants Fanfic written by Walutahanga, in which a encounter on the day before the Coronation sends the story down a different path to canon.
It can be found here
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Some adults in Auradon are realizing the Core Four and other Villains have suffered this their entire lives.
- Adults Are Useless: It's not hard to figure out the VKs are abuse victims. But somehow the adults either don't notice or don't act on the warning. Averted with Coach and Fairy Godmother - they may not have acted on it but it turns out there were factors that needed to be dealt with for the kids' sake.
- Berserk Button: Do not mess with a Djinn child. Just ask the last guy to try and kidnap one...
- Coach makes it clears he loathes the mukhtar race completely. With good reason given his backstory and their history.
- Blaming the Victim: Evie revealed to Chad what her mother would do her. This is why he exposed her as a cheat - it disturbed him and he wanted her gone.Phoebus: And instead of reporting this to the school or the police, you deliberately arranged for her to be returned to the same situation where it occurred?
- Evil Matriarch: The Evil Queen. Carlos and Jay view it better if Carlos is the one at risk going back to the isle over Evie because EQ crosses a line that other villains don't.
- Fantastic Racism: One of the Crown Agents isn't at all subtle about this.
- Freudian Excuse: The VKs have a hard time trusting people. First because of their upbringing and then because of the treatment they received in Auradon. Of course, a lot of people in Auradon seem to feel that simply being born meant they deserved it.
- It's All My Fault: Snow blames herself when she finds out what Evie went through.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Adam can be seen as this.
- A much better example of this is Razoul, in Agrabah. While he's just as prickly and bad-tempered as always, he's absolutely furious at how the people in Auradon handled the magical heratige of The Core Four (outright calling it incompetence).
- Heritage Disconnect: Jay in Agrabah. He can speak the language but has an accent and it bothers him a little when it's pointed out by a bystander.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The Core Four are this. While get a bit more information later, they are still in the dark about a lot.
- Malfunction Malady: When the Core Four are assaulted, Mal uses a spell her mother told her about. It works but the consequences hits her hard.
- My Greatest Failure: Lonnie regrets not defending the VKs on Family Day, causing her to be The Atoner.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Phoebus notes that Coach loosing control even a small amount to be terrifying. He also finds the idea the slip was intentional more so.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Referred to by Cruella when Phoebus is questioning her about the Core Four's disappearance and she brings up the possibility of escaped villains going after them for this reason.
- Skewed Priorities: Averted. It shows that the Fairy Godmother had a good reason to focus on getting the VKs to pass Remedial Goodness class over acting on the signs of abuse they were showing - Because once they had, she could teach them to not kill themselves using magic, especially Jay and Mal due to their heritage.
- Superhuman Trafficking: Apparently Auradon is the only place with a free Djinn population. Outside of Auradon magical beings are at risk of being abducted and sold. And even in Auradon there are those who try to take a victim to sell across the border.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Phoebus slaps Chad with this at the end of his interview.
- Willfully Weak: The Djinn community as a whole. When they tell the Agrabah police Force to stay out of something, the Police Force listens. With good reason.Razoul: The djinn play nice, for the most part. They keep to the speed limit, pay their taxes… But they have their triggers.
- You Do NOT Want To Know: Phoebus gives Beast King the medical records from the Isle. Adam is intelligent enough to realize he probably doesn't want to know what they will reveal.
