Walking down the streets of Auradon Central, Quinn asked Mark, "Alright, seriously, where are we going?"

"Just a little place where you can get the stuff you need over there," said Mark.

"Right."

"So, how were you planning on getting there?"

"Uh..." Quinn had not yet thought about that. The only way to get onto the Isle was a bridge that was only accessible through a Crown-sanctioned vehicle. They were well-guarded and hardly ever went to the Isle. There was no other way to get to the Isle, except for. "By boat," she said, suddenly. "Shipments go to the Isle periodically, with food and other supplies. I'll stow away on one of them."

They turned into an alleyway that was so small that it was easily overlooked. It was much different than the street they had just been on; it was dark and quite dirty, a severe contrast to the clean, white cobblestones they had just been walking on.

It seemed to end at a dead end, but Mark pushed on the back wall, which turned out to be a door. Behind this door, there was a dark staircase followed by a passageway and Mark took out his phone to light the way. The temperature plummeted as soon as he closed the door. As hey walked, their footsteps echoing ahead of them, Quinn could hear scurrying and dripping sounds.

"Mark," she whispered, staying close to him. "Where are we going?"

The part of his face that she could see in the dim light of his phone light was cautious. "You'll see."

Soon they reached the end of the tunnel and went up another flight of steps. Mark pushed on a battered wooden door and it opened onto an alleyway that looked a lot like the one they had come from. As Mark closed the door behind them, Quinn walked ahead to where the alley met the main street.

Quinn looked around in wonder. Auradon had always been colourful, but now she saw how limited its palette was. Instead of only the brightest or most pastel colours, the buildings and clothing here used deeper shades in addition to those of the rest of Auradon. There were much more uses of black, as well as the purples and greens most associated with villains. Some of the people walking past had grey armbands.

"What do those bands mean?" Quinn asked quietly as they walked down the cobbled street.

"Those are members of the Underground Council," Mark said, and Quinn looked over to see him putting one around his arm. She looked at him in surprise.

"What?" he asked with a grin. "You didn't think you were the only rebellious one, did you?"

Quinn tried not to stare at the outfits of those they passed. Some of the women wore pants here, and some of the men wore dresses and skirts. There were fabrics no other hero would wear: leather and denim, which was sometimes ripped and frayed. Some had colourfully dyed hair, or multiple piercings or tattoos.

Quinn could almost hear what Fairy Godmother, or her other teachers, might say, but she pushed them aside, instead finding the beauty in everything she saw. There was so much more variety here!

"Here we are," Mark said stopping in front of a shop called The Princess' Wardrobe.

Quinn raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"The name is tongue-in-cheek," he said with a smile. "I promise."

They stepped inside, the bell over the door tinkling as they did so. As Quinn looked around, she knew that Mark was right. This was definitely not your typical Auradonian clothing store. There were combat boots and ripped denim and studs and leather, so much leather. She smiled widely; from what she had seen of news broadcasts about the Isle, this would be the perfect place to find something to wear to fit in.

"Mark!" exclaimed the woman behind the counter. She was wearing a black dress with ripped tights and combat boots. Her hair was short and a shocking shade of neon green. If the Fairy Godmother saw her, Quinn was pretty sure she would faint.

"Hey, Chloe!" said Mark, kissing her lightly on each cheek before turning to Quinn. "This is Quinn." He turned back to her with a slight grin on his face. "And she's hoping for a change in style."

The corner of her deep plum lips pulled up in a grin. "That is one of my favourite things to hear. What kind of change?" Her eyes sparkled in interest.

"I was hoping for a kind of Isle-lite?" Quinn said cautiously. "Like not fully leather, but like..."

"Denim?" Chloe supplied.

"Yeah."

"Well, let's see what we can do, shall we?"

Mark gave Quinn a knowing smile as Chloe began to hunt around the racks of clothing. For the next half hour, Quinn tried on outfits -- all of which seemed fine to her but did not quite satisfy Chloe. She was like a barely contained ball of chaos, flitting around the store. Mark watched it all with an amused look on his face, having seen Chloe work her magic many times before.

Finally, when Quinn exited the change room, Chloe stood back, standing still for the first time. She smiled. "Perfect. It's confident, a little delinquent, but in a ‘steal from the rich, give to the poor' kinda way." She winked. "Cute, but a little dangerous, and practical for movement."

Quinn could not help but smile at the description, because it was exactly what she had been hoping for. Black skinny jeans, forest green tank top under a fishnet top and dark denim jacket, paired with black leather boots and green leather fingerless gloves. She liked how the green still nodded to Sherwood; Chloe knew what she was doing.

"And if you wanna make it a little sexy," Chloe said. "You wear the fishnet top over a bra." She lowered her voice with a grin. "but make sure Mark's not around because he'll go all older-brother on you."

Quinn laughed, especially when she saw the look of disapproval that came over Mark's features. When she looked in the mirror, she could see herself belonging on the Isle. She raised her chin and clenched her fists at her sides, and the glint that came into her eyes made her shiver a little. She would fit in just fine.

∴∴∴

"So, what exactly is this place?" Quinn and Mark were sitting in café, looking out at the people passing by.

"You mean, why is it a thing?" Mark asked.

Quinn nodded. "I mean, I love it, but how did it start?"

"I'm not exactly sure how, but it came to be because there are actually a lot of people who don't agree with how Auradon is run and all the performative goodness that goes on."

"Like all the stuff we Sherwood kids would talk about at school," Quinn said with a slightly wistful smile.

"Yeah, there are actually a lot of Sherwood kids that either live here or are involved here. The Underground Council, or UC, will run campaigns sometimes. Remember when the sidekicks got a council in government a couple of years back?"

Quinn nodded.

"The UC helped with the campaign that made that happen."

"I'm assuming they're also not huge fans of King Beast."

"No," Mark said with a laugh. "I doubt you'll find a single pro-King Beast person here."

"Well, then I guess I fit right in," Quinn looked out past the buildings to the mountains on the horizon. "And we're not really underground either, where is this?"

"It's right on the outskirts of Auradon City but surrounded by mountains and thick forest. There are very few ways to get in."

"How have I never heard of it?"

"Well, a lot of people know we exist -- maybe not where exactly -- because of the campaigns and whatnot, but they tend to pretend we don't. We stay out of sight and they don't mind us."

"But why stay out of sight?"

"In the beginning, it was more like a haven for likeminded people, where they could speak their minds. For now, we can make the most change this way, but there is hope that we can slowly open up and maybe change people's minds with our integration."

The clothes still felt weird, a little bit more snug than Quinn was used to. But she loved the confidence they gave her.

She and Mark sat on their horses in the patch of trees at the edge of the shipyard. In the patches of light that the floodlights cast on the dark area, they could see workers loading crates onto the ship. They were silent for a bit.

"You know that once you're on the ship, I won't be able to contact you," said Mark finally.

"I know," Quinn said, still watching the loading of the ship.

"And you know that coming back will be a lot harder, if not impossible."

"I know." She knew he was looking at her. She could tell he didn't want her to go. After all his helping and planning, he didn't want to let her. Maybe he never thought she would go through with it. Maybe he thought meeting the Undergrounders would satisfy her need to belong.

But Quinn knew she had to go. She would regret it if she didn't. She would always wonder what her life would have been like over there.

Taking a deep breath, Quinn slipped off of Onyx's back. Mark followed suit as Quinn slung her backpack over her shoulder. They crept towards the ship, staying out of the light and out of the sight of the workers. While learning how to move stealthily through the forest had been one of the things both their fathers had taught them, this was a bit different. There was no moss or sticks or animals, just concrete and piles of crates and bags.

Eventually, they made it near the ship and, hiding behind a pile of crates marked BREAD, Quinn turned to Mark. "I've got it from here," she whispered.

He looked over at her, concern in his eyes and opened his mouth to say something.

Quinn held up a hand to stop him. "I'm not backing out now, so don't try to convince me."

A small grin spread across his face as he shook his head. "I just wanted to wish you good luck." He straightened her backpack strap. "Be careful and don't let them know where you're from."

She smiled. "I promise."

"Good." He gave her a big hug and then quickly slipped away into the darkness.

While the shipments to the Isle were not exactly secret, there was not a lot of public information. The main shipment was food since the Isle was one big city with no farmland. From a vantage point down the shoreline, they had mapped out the schedule. However, the actual boarding of the ship would have to be improvised because they couldn't risk going to the shipping yard twice.

Fortunately, there was basically no security on this side. After all, who would want to leave Auradon?

Quinn watched from the shadows as the workers grabbed sacks and crates and walked up the various gangplanks. Fortunately, she had had the foresight to pull a pair of wide pants and a formless shirt over her outfit, to better match the dock workers. From her pocket, she grabbed a rather large cap that would hopefully obscure her face enough to not arouse suspicion.

After trying to tuck as much of her hair into it as she could manage, Quinn scurried over to a pile of smaller sacks. She quickly shouldered one and followed the line of men tramping up the nearest gangplank. She kept her head down as she walked. The sack was fairly heavy but those around her didn't seem to be having any trouble, so she pretended she was fine as well.

They tramped down to the hold and Quinn saw the men ahead of her deposit their loads in a pile near stacks of crates. After tossing her sack onto the pile as well, Quinn pretended to stumble and -- as she did so -- tossed a pencil towards a pile of crates across the hold.

Sighing, she scampered after it. Once she was out of sight of the other men, she scooped up the pencil and slipped between some crates. Certain that no one could see her, she carefully sat down and leaned against the crate behind her.

Quinn listened to the scuffling in the hold for about half an hour. When the hold became quiet, she heard the hum of machinery grow louder. She felt a tug in her stomach as they began to move and her heart began to race.

A smile spread across her face as she slipped out of her hiding place. The hold was pitch-black and Quinn -- stumbling with the rolls of the waves -- felt her way to the stairs. She tiptoed up the steps to the main deck, holding tight to the railing.

It was a perfect night, near a new moon, so the only natural light on deck came from the stars. Some yellow light spilled out of the bridge at the back of the ship, but for the rest, it was quite dark. From what Mark and Quinn could tell, very few Auradonian workers stayed on the ship for the journey, if any.

Trying to keep out of sight of the bridge, Quinn made her way to the front of the ship. The wind was strong and blew her hair and made her clothing flap around her body.

She had always loved wind -- it fascinated her. She loved how it would howl around the school during heavy storms. Sometimes, on windy days back in Sherwood, she would stick her head above the trees and let it blow through her hair.

But this was so much different. This cold wind was combined with the faint spray of water and the salty smell in the air. While the smell of the forest was safe, this smell held danger and adventure. It was intoxicating.

Was this what had drawn her father to seafaring? Did he love the wind out at sea as well? Perhaps on the Isle, she could learn more about who he was.

In the distance, Quinn could see the island. There were far fewer lights than in Auradon. There was an odd trick of the light too, making it look like there was a giant bubble around the island.

That must be the magical barrier, she thought.

As they approached the barrier, it shuddered and an opening just large enough for the ship to pass through appeared. Quinn held her breath as they slid through. She was now on the side of the villains. Her heart began to race with excitement.

The docks weren't too far ahead and Quinn knew she had to think of a plan before she was seen. She had noticed ladder rungs along the side of the ship and -- taking a breath -- clambered over the side and down almost to the water. Even though the ship was slowing down, waves still crashed against the hull and soon she was soaking wet.

Quinn could now make out the docks. They were old-fashioned looking, worn rough wood on supporting stilts above the rocky shoreline. Figures stood on it with what looked like kerosene lamps.

When the ship was almost stopped at the docks, she slipped into the water, quickly paddling her way under the rough slats of wood. She had never been the best swimmer but managed to get to one of the support posts and hold onto it for a moment of rest.

Quinn heard boots stamping overhead as the ship was unloaded. She decided to get away from the docks during the commotion as there would be less likelihood of being seen.

Bracing herself, she let go of the post and began paddling towards the shore. Her arms and legs were beginning to feel heavy, but she kept going. She was so close.

Finally, panting and shivering, she crawled up the jagged rocks of the shore, avoiding the particularly sharp ones. It was dark underneath the dock with only some light filtering through from above.

She heard the shifting of stones ahead of her and realized that she might not be the only one down here. She reached for her belt and unsheathed her dagger as a precaution. Walking as quietly as she could, Quinn moved down the shoreline, nearing the end of the docks.

Suddenly, there was a burst of light as the ship turned on its lights, preparing to leave. It flooded the space with light and she saw two figures ahead of her. Tensing, Quinn held her dagger ahead of her as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

Two terrified pairs of eyes stared at her. They were just little kids, two boys in ragged denim. They held up their hands, showing that they were no threat. The bigger boy stood slightly ahead of the other. "We've got nothing for you," he said, voice shaking a little.

He was afraid of her. Both of them were.

"I don't need anything from you, I'm just passing by, alright?" she said.

They both nodded and as the ship began to move away, she carefully stepped around them. Once past them, Quinn strode quickly out from under the docks.

Suddenly, something grabbed at the back of her shirt and Quinn was lifted into the air and deposited ungracefully onto the wooden planks of the dock.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, picking herself up quickly. Her next complaint died in her throat as she saw the person who had grabbed her. She stared up at the ugliest face she had ever seen. Mottled grey-green skin and filthy teeth leering at her, grinning.

It wasn't until he began speaking in a language that she vaguely recognized from history lessons that she realized: he was a goblin.

Seeing that she had no clue what he was saying, he switched to English. "Tryin' to escape on the ship, eh?"

Quinn shook her head, quickly trying to regain confidence. "Of course not."

He guffawed and slung her over his shoulder, striding down the dock towards the city. Quinn struggled, but there was no point. He stopped where the city began and tossed her unceremoniously into an alleyway. "Don't let me catch you around here again," he warned, walking away.

Groaning, Quinn looked out to sea, just in time to see the ship -- her last connection to Auradon -- slip through the barrier.

∴∴∴

The city was full of -- almost seemed to be built with -- shadows, in various shades of darkness. Quinn had taken off her outer clothes to fit in better, but the damp denim still restricted her movements a little.

There were a lot of people out and about for the time of night. They huddled in groups outside shops and ran down alleyways. Quinn tried to keep her head down even though she wanted to stare and take everything in. Even though most Auradonians would classify her surroundings as grungy and gross, she found them oddly fascinating. Flickering neon signs advertised for "Tremaine's Curl up and Dye" and "Gaston's Gentleman's Pub." Particularly loud guffaws came from the latter and she crossed on the other side of the street. She knew Gaston's reputation.

As she was looking back at the pub, something tripped her up and she fell to the ground. Quinn heard snorts and laughter from behind her and quickly got to her feet.

"You'd better watch where you're going," said a girl with short, spiky red hair in studded black and pink leather. Her voice was exaggeratedly sweet and she smirked at the younger girl beside her. This girl also wore black and pink leather and had the same colour hair, which was worn in cornrows into a ponytail.

Getting back on her feet, Quinn tried to look confident. "Me look out? You were the one who was in the way."

She tilted her head to the side and her smirk turned into the most terrifying grin Quinn had ever seen. The other girl -- probably her sister -- smiled in anticipation, stepping back a little.

"Well," said the older girl. "Aren't we feeling cocky tonight." She stepped towards Quinn. "Do you know who I am, lowlife?"

She sounded so much like the girls in Auradon that Quinn felt her blood boil. Except they would always reference their parents' reputations, not their own. "No, I don't," she said, standing her ground. "And I don't really care about knowing the identities of lowlifes, as you say."

The girl drew her tongue over her lips and took off her jacket, handing it to her sister. Drawing an elegant rapier from her belt, she took a defensive stance. "Well, let's see who the lowlife is, then."

Quinn drew her dagger quickly, earning her another smirk from the terrifying redhead. "Our weapons aren't exactly equal," she said.

"You should've thought of that earlier," she said, attacking immediately.

By sheer luck, Quinn managed the block the stroke with her dagger. The girl pushed the blade nearer to her, but Quinn shoved it aside.

Quinn watched her blade for the next attack, but as she seemed to attack her right side, she slipped around Quinn's left and kicked at the back of her knees. Quinn fell to the ground, turning towards the girl as quickly as she could, rolling out of the way of her rapier. Her eyes glinted in the faint light from the streetlights. She loved to fight.

Scrambling to her feet, Quinn held her dagger out in front of her. If only girls had learned more combat in Auradon. Unfortunately, even in Sherwood, the line was drawn at archery and quarterstaffs.

The girl looked over at her sister, rolling her eyes.

Overconfident.

Quinn ran at her, taking the girl's move and pretending to go for her stomach and, as she blocked Quinn's blade with hers, Quinn tried to punch her in the face. She managed to block this as well, but looked -- at least, Quinn thought -- impressed. Then she tossed Quinn to the ground.

Before Quinn could get up, the girl was on top of her, Quinn's own dagger to her throat. "If we were more evenly matched, I probably would kill you," she said. "But you're boring me, so I'll just leave you with a reminder." She quickly sliced a cut on Quinn's cheek, almost from her ear to her mouth. It was not deep, but it hurt. "Learn to fight before you pick one."

She got up, still holding Quinn's dagger, and began to walk away. Then she turned back and threw it towards Quinn's face. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact, but it embedded itself in the dirt beside her head. "And I'm Skyla," she said.

Her sister pulled Quinn to her feet by her collar. "I'm Scarlett," she said with a smile that quickly disappeared, "and I would've been less lenient," she sneered, punching her square in the nose.

Quinn stumbled against the wall as she heard their retreating footsteps. Hand over her nose, which was pouring blood, she quickly grabbed her dagger and hurried farther down the alleyway to be alone.

Trying not to cry, she sat against a brick wall in the darkness. The cut of her cheek stung and her nose throbbed and her entire body was sore from all of today's events. Quinn dug the cap from her backpack and used it to wipe the blood from her hands and face before holding it to her nose.

It was starting to dawn on her that perhaps she was not cut out to live here. Even what she had learned in Sherwood seemed cushy compared to here. She may look the part, but she most certainly did not have the required skills.

Eventually, her nose stopped bleeding and the cut began to scab over. Quinn wiped away the few tears that had escaped against her will and shoved the bloody hat into her bag. She was here now and so she had to learn to survive here. And clearly, that meant avoiding conflict until she was able to handle it.

But first, she needed some rest. Nobody seemed to be coming down this alleyway, so Quinn curled up in the corner behind some foul-smelling trash cans, using her backpack as a pillow. It was much less comfortable than her bed at Auradon Prep, but she was exhausted, so she fell asleep quickly.

♥ epicalliope ♥