Summary: Everything seems to be going smoothly at Auradon Prep for the VKs now that they've decided good is the way to go. Sure, they haven't dropped all their Isle habits (obviously), but overall, life is good. At least, until some of the AKs decide that they've had enough of the VKs roaming their school free-range and try to take matters into their own hands.

The minute Mal stepped into her dorm room, she knew something was off. There was a strange aura to the room she could feel even before she'd fully opened the door. Opening her door carefully, she pulled a knife from her sleeve just in case. This may be Auradon, but she wasn't one to drop old habits and she knew bad things could happen in good places. With the knife in hand, she cautiously stepped into the room, glancing over her shoulder into the empty hall before turning to face whatever was in her room. The second she looked up, she froze.

Iron. Everything was covered in iron. Her desk chair had been replaced with a rusty old iron one, iron jewellery covered her desk, and she could tell the chain metal blanketing her bed and covering her pillow was made of iron just by the strong smell of it.

She couldn't move. Glancing around the room revealed anything that had been hers was now either replaced or covered with rusty iron and she could hardly breathe. The worst part was the tiara Ben had given her on one of their dates was missing and in its place sat an old, rusted crown, hanging from the mirror that had been smashed before being placed upright again.

She went numb. Everything in her screamed for her to run, to get out of there before she accidentally touched something and burned herself, but she couldn't feel her fingers or make her legs move. With a horrible, sinking feeling in her chest, she turned to face the door and was unsurprised to see their beautiful gold door handle had been replaced with a disgusting iron one. The outside handle had remained normal, but the one inside the room had been changed over and somehow during her moment of panic, the heavy door had shut on its own.

"No," she whispered, staring down at the metal and taking a step back. "No, no, no. Let me out!" she screamed, pulling her arms across her body.

The smell of then iron was giving her a headache, burning the front of her mind as she tried not to panic and think of how to get out. She could just stay right there and not move. Someone would find her. Evie may have gone for the weekend to meet Doug's family, but the boys or Ben would notice her missing and come check on her.

Only five minutes later, she realised it was too much. She couldn't stay in the room without feeling the effects and in the few minutes she'd been there, she already had a pounding in her head and what felt like a thousand tiny needles stabbing her brain.

She could try yelling and hope someone heard her or she could try opening the door with magic. It was unlikely the door would open for her, though, as whoever had done this knew she was fae and therefore had probably accounted for magic. She would still try though as she couldn't just sit there hopelessly.

Getting to her spellbook was trickier than she had thought. She had to be careful where she stepped as old iron was scattered across the floor. It wouldn't have been a problem if she'd been wearing her high tops as usual, but today she'd had a date with Ben at lunch and knowing she wouldn't have time to change, she'd worn a dress and sandals to all her classes.

With bare toes, she had to tiptoe around the room to where she kept her spell book. When she finally did make it to the bookshelf, she wanted to cry. Her spell book wasn't there. Whoever had invaded her room had moved it and after a brief scan of the room, she realised it was on her bed under the blanket of chain mail. There was no way she could get to it without burning herself, so she carefully walked back to the door and stood in front of it.

She'd have to touch it. In order to escape this horrible room, she'd have to touch the iron handle and open the door.

Mal scrunched up her face, shaking her head and trying not to cry. Why had this happened to her? Didn't the people who did this know how much the metal hurt her? And of all the days to do it, they had to do it when Evie was gone. Clearly they knew what was going on in the VKs lives to have planned this so well, but that didn't make Mal feel any better. If they really did know the VKs that well, then clearly the person (or people) who had done this were close friends and Mal didn't want to believe any of her friends would try something like this.

"Alright," she said softly, staring at the handle and gingerly reaching out for it. "I can do this," she murmured.

She slowly reached out for the handle, closing her eyes tightly as her fingertips stretched ever closer to the door handle.

The second her fingers touched the handle, her eyes flew open and she yanked her hand back. Her entire hand felt like it was on fire and her fingertips were burned where she'd touched the handle. Mal wanted to scream. She was used to the pirates using iron swords and jewelry to keep her away, but she hadn't come in contact with the metal since she was thirteen. Even then, she didn't remember it burning quite so much.

With a surge of anger and determination to get out, Mal leaned forward and grabbed the handle. She bit back a cry as she grabbed hold of the handle and pulled.

Her hand screamed at her to let go but she refused until the door opened. She pressed the little lever, her thumb crying out in protest, and the door clicked open. With a cry of pain, Mal pulled open the door and released the handle. She scrambled through the door as quickly as she could, letting it slam shut behind her as she cradled her now-burned hand to her chest. Glancing down at her hand, she was unsurprised to see angry red skin. The pain brought tears to her eyes and the fiery feeling spread from her hand up her arm.

Her mind was empty as she ran from her dorm all the way to Jay and Carlos's. Using her uninjured hand, she threw open their door and stumbled inside, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning against it.

Jay and Carlos looked up immediately while Dude hurried over to her. No longer surrounded by the foreboding metal and far from the dangers it posed, Mal couldn't keep her composure. It was as if seeing the boys flipped the switch in her and she suddenly couldn't hold back all the panic.

"Mal, what happened?" Jay asked, leaping over the bed and rushing to her side. Carlos stumbled behind him just as quickly, nearly falling on his face as he tripped over Jay's Tourney jersey.

"Iron," she gasped out, clutching her burned hand to her chest. "Everywhere. It was all over."

"Let me see," Jay demanded, pulling her burned hand from her chest so he could look at it.

Carlos wrapped Mal in a hug as best he could while Jay inspected the burned skin. Trembling. Mal let Carlos hug her tightly as Jay gently ran his fingers over the burn on her hand. Mal bit her lip when Jay touched one of the blisters but didn't let out a sound. She'd been through worse, but iron burned like nothing else she'd ever touched.

Jay pulled Mal over to his bed where he told her to sit. She did as she was told and Carlos sat as close as he could to her. Disappearing into the bathroom, Jay went to grab the makeshift first aid kit he always had nearby. Sure, Auradon had a full infirmary and nurses on hand, but Isle habits died hard.

When he returned, Mal recognised the burn cream as one Evie had concocted the first time she'd come in contact with iron and they discovered she needed a strong burn ointment. The thought of not having Evie nearby made her want to shrivel up, but she stayed still. Evie had been a constant in her life for so long, not having her around at the moment felt wrong.

"Who did it?" Jay grumbled, kneeling in front of Mal and gently grabbing her hand.

Mal didn't answer. She had no idea, but she didn't want to think about it.

"I'm gonna kill them."

"I can't go back to my room," she whispered, watching as Jay spread the ointment around the palm of her hand. It stung, but in a cool, refreshing way. "It's everywhere and Evie's gone."

"We'll get rid of it," Carlos said, hugging Mal tightly when she flinched. Jay had rubbed over a blister a little too hard by accident and it hurt. Apologising softly, Jay quickly finished before wrapping her hand.

Once he was done, he joined Carlos and Mal on the bed, wrapping them both in a big hug. Even hidden away by both of them, Mal continues to tremble.

"Someone knows," she murmured. She wasn't sure how they'd found out she was a fae, but clearly someone had which could mean there'd be more problems for her in the future. "If they know, they could-"

"They won't," Jay promised, kissing her head. It wasn't a regular occurrence for him to be so affectionate, but he always had been very protective of them all. Auradon had just made it easier for him to show it more often. "I promise they won't."

"Okay," Mal replied softly, letting the room fall silent again.

It was barely a minute later when someone knocked on the door. All three villain kids looked up as the door opened and Ben stepped into the room. He looked excited about something but stopped short when he saw Mal huddled between the two boys. Neither Carlos nor Jay made a move to let her go as Ben shut the door and walked over to them, visibly worried.

"Mal? What happened?" he asked, kneeling in front of her.

He spotted her bandaged hand but when he reached out to gently grab it, Mal pulled back sharply. She knew the rings he wore were gold, but at the moment, she wasn't ready to risk it. What if his rings had been switched out and he didn't know? It was a stupid fear, but she wasn't about to try.

"Your rings," Jay growled, pulling Mal closer and glaring at Ben. Ben frowned down at the rings he had on as Jay said, "Take them off. And your crown."

Ben didn't question it, but he looked a little confused as he pulled off the rings and set them with his crown on the floor beside him. Jay still didn't let Mal go and Carlos was watching him closely the entire time. Even if Ben didn't know the three that well, he would have known something had happened.

"What happened?" he repeated, looking at them.

"Iron, it was everywhere," Mal said quietly, pulling away from Jay much to his disdain.

Ben frowned before the realisation hit him. He glanced back at Mal's wrapped hand and her fingers twitched towards him. He immediately laced his hand with her uninjured hand.

"Where? What happened?" Ben asked, running his free hand over her bandaged one.

Jay and Carlos let Mal go as she moved into Ben's arms. She'd stopped shaking, but Ben could tell she was still shaken from it by the way she moved away from his rings and crown.

"Her room," Carlos explained.

Jay nodded and added, "Evie's gone and can't get rid of it for her, clearly something they were expecting."

"Who else knows you're fae?" Ben asked Mal.

She shrugged. Maybe Jane had figured it out. Other than that, she'd never told anyone. She doubted Jane would do such a thing too.

"Audrey," Carlos muttered, looking at Mal then Jay. "It makes sense," he told them, "She would know Maleficent was, who's to say she didn't figure out you were too?"

"It doesn't matter right now," Ben said, recognising the murderous look in Jay's eye. "We should go clean out Mal's room. If we hunt down Audrey and demand answers, it'll cause a scene."

"I'll stay here with Mal," Carlos offered, slipping off the bed beside Mal. He let Dude crawl on his lap and Mal gave him a small smile. "You and Jay can throw it all out. Call Jane to clean the room of any lasting residue."

"Alright," Ben agreed.

He got to his feet, taking his rings and crown with him while Jay stood up and cast Mal a worried look. She gave him a nod, squeezing his hand when he reached down for it. A second later, Mal and Jay both nodded. Jay let go of her hand and waved for Ben to follow him, leaving Carlos and Dude with Mal.

"You sure you're okay?" Carlos asked softly, looking up at her as he pet Dude.

Mal smiled at him and nodded. Jay and Ben would clean out her room, she'd stay with the boys for the night anyway, and in the morning, the three of them would pretend not to notice Jay threatening Chad and Audrey as they walked to class.