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The isle never had flowers.
Well,not a single living and healthy one anyway. She would sometimes see some dead ones,as those Auradonians didn’t know what to do with them. She never found the beauty in them. She had only ever heard about their beauty through Evie’s rambling.
Evie has said that she knew about them from the other villains. She described them as colorful,bright and fragrant.
Mal doesn’t find them particularly fascinating. She doesn’t like bright colors anyway,looking at Auradon practically gives her epilepsy.
But now she is standing in a field of those bright colors. Sure,it was fragrant like they said. But she’s not sure if she can stay here for much longer,all these bright red,yellow and blue hues are making her sick to the stomach.
Evie,however,looks like she’s having the time of her life.
“Mal,look! They are so pretty.. I heard they’re called ‘Tulips’ according to Ben!”
“Mhm.” Mal replies absentmindedly.
“And look at that one over there! Those must be the ‘Roses’! I didn’t know they come in colors other than red!”
She nods along. God,she needs to get out of here.
“Not having fun?” Evie asks.
Mal smiles at her,looking down at the girl who was crouching.
“No,not really. It’s so… grossly colorful here.”
“Then that’s okay! Maybe we should-”
The purple-haired girl knew what she was about to say. She stops her in her tracks.
“It’s fine. You can have a look at them for a bit longer. I’ll be… under that big tree while waiting,okay?”
“..okay! But you can leave if you really want to..”
She shakes her head.
If this was the isle,she would be gone in an instant. But something tells her to stay here,with Evie.
She watches her best friend admiring the flowers happily. Mal smiles to herself.
Why is she smiling to herself? She quickly presses her lips into a thin line.
She watches as the group’s princess excitedly picks out a few flowers. No permission was given,but she doesn’t really care. Well,not like any of them ever cared about the rules here.
Green eyes followed wherever the blue-haired girl went. Mal enjoys watching Evie skip around more than she’d ever like to admit.
“Not gonna join her?”
She jolts. Ben was right behind her.
“No thank you,these vibrant colors are making me nauseous. How do you guys even live like this?”
“Well.. it’s always good to have some color in your life,no?”
Mal disagrees. All her life she had known black and white,maybe a few more shades of gray. The only time she’s ever really seen bright colors was at the salon.
“Ah,right. I forgot,feel free to pick out any flower you’d like. Consider it another gift from me.. from us,you know?”
“Thanks,Evie would’ve picked out some without your permission anyway.”
Ben chuckles.
“Well,you guys might wanna change the habit of grabbing things without permission soon. That’s not very welcomed here.”
She internally rolls her eyes. This guy is seriously no fun!
“What are you guys talking about?” Evie asks as she runs up to them.
“Oh,and..” Evie slowly pulls her hand from behind her back. “Look,M! I got us some flowers. This one is purple,do you like it?”
Mal takes the flower from Evie’s hands rather hesitantly. They were a deep shade of magenta,not exactly purple.
“These are roses-”
“I know what they are.”
She cuts the prince off abruptly.
“Right. Uhm. Do you guys want to make.. flower crowns?” Ben asks,a smile on his face.
“Oh that sounds fun!” Evie blurts out,looking at Mal expectantly.
“..I’ll just watch.”
Evie grins,wide. She drags Mal by her hand back into the annoyingly-bright flower field.
Ben began explaining how to make a flower crown,saying Audrey had taught him when they were younger. Evie seemed to be having fun,and Mal watched the other girl silently.
“Yours is so colorful,Ben!” Evie comments. Ben smiles at her. Mal’s right eyebrow twitches a little.
“Are we done here?”
“Just one moment!”
Evie scrambles for more flowers around here,beginning to make another flower crown.
“Oh shoot— I’ll leave you guys to it. I have a meeting with the council right now,see you around!” Ben announces and dashes out of the field,leaving the two best friends by each other’s side again.
The shorter one watches Evie skillfully put the flowers together. She then lifts her gaze up to look at Evie’s face.
She was brimming with joy,a stupid smile plastered across her face. Her eyes sparkled with happiness as she put more flowers together.
Mal was lost in thoughts. The girl before her is beautiful. Did she only notice that now? Absolutely not,she knew Evie was beautiful the moment they met. Her long,blue,curly hair and brown,hazel eyes. To her red lips and white-teeth smile. Everything about her was beautiful.
She snaps back to reality when she feels something on her head. Evie had put a flower crown on her.
“It looks good on you,Mal.”
Mal can’t see what her’s looks like,but she can see Evie’s. It was bright and colorful,the two combinations she hates.
But..
The bright colors look good on Evie,it contrasts with her dark blue locks.
“Yours look good on you,too. It stand out.”
“I know right!”
She giggles,melodiously. Mal feels her heartbeat thump in her chest.
“Here!”
Evie hands her a mirror. She looks at her reflection.
The crown was beautiful,something she’d only admit to Evie.
There were many flowers,a lot of them she can’t really name. But that didn’t matter,it all looked beautiful together. Sure,they were bright and blinding.. but it didn’t look so bad. Maybe it’s because Evie was the one who made it?
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah.”
The answer came out more blunt than she would’ve liked,but it suits her character.
“Now we’re matching!”
Mal nods,distracted by how joyful the girl looks.
“Alright,let’s go. We’ve spent.. more than enough time here.” Mal says as she got up. Evie follows suit,not forgetting to pick one last rose on her way out.
“They’re even prettier up close,who would’ve thought? Maybe these would be a good pattern for my dresses… and maybe you can try drawing them,Mal!”
“That’s actually a pretty good idea. I guess I should try my hand at landscapes..”
They get back to their shared dorm,Mal flops onto the bed and pulls out her sketchbook to start sketching away.
“Seems like you enjoyed your time there.”
“Not really.”
She didn’t enjoy the bright colors that surrounded her at the time. But one thing she did really enjoy was watching her best friend skip around happily,she enjoyed watching Evie get excited over new types of flowers.
Evie giggles.
And all Mal’s current sketch page is a beautiful garden,in black and white.
And a certain girl. A certain happy girl amongst all the flowers.
Maybe,a little bit of color is good.
Maybe the isle always had a flower,one quietly blooming amongst the gloomy atmosphere.