I never thought I could ever voice my thoughts. People wrote me off, I was just there in the background, never really paid attention to. That changed. When Carlos and the others came from the Isle, I heard other students voicing their opinions, saying mean things, and no one paid much attention that I was there.
When Carlos ran from me, I was confused, I wanted to play. His screams were loud, but I followed, it was odd. No one had ever ran from me like that. Ben picked me up and handed me to him, he was nervous, I could feel hm shaking as he held me. It took time, I'm not sure how long because I don't understand the concept of time, but soon he liked me. He picked me up, fed me, and let me sleep on his bed.
As time went on, he too forgot I was around at times. He'd let his guard down. Jay and him would go to practice, and then come back. Jay would show first, and then wander off somewhere, and return just before curfew. Carlos took more time in the shower. He'd come out, his skin would be red and his eyes would be red. Sometimes he'd smell like blood and looked funny.
Time moved forward and Carlos looked different. He was taller, and that really took up more space of where I could lay, but I didn't mind. In time he got me my own bed, it was comfy. Jay didn't really like me, but I didn't take it personal. If there was anyone in Auradon who could relate to how Carlos felt, it'd be cinderella. Cruella made Carlos her slave, and he cleaned until his hands bled. Cinderella cleaned as was a servant to her step mother- whom which Carlos knew on the Isle. Chad Charming knew how bad his mother's childhood was, but still choose to be mean to Carlos and the others. He picked on Carlos the most, and Carlos took the torment, as he was used to it from his mother.
Over time it wore Carlos down, but he still carried on. He worked out twice as hard as the others and gained a lot more muscle. Gone was the lanky kid he once was. But things started to change. Once, Evie commented on having to make his clothes bigger because he had grown so much, and it freaked him out. The first jacket Evie ever made him no longer fit, and he was devastated. In place of the small lanky kid he once was, was a taller more muscular young man who had the world at his feet, but didn't see his own potential.
Jay would come home late and wake up late, barely making it to class on time, so he never noticed Carlos's habits as they developed. He was barely around. I was. When the jacket no longer fit, he'd curl up in bed with it, holding it close as he slept, often crying out in his sleep, begging to be left alone, begging to just finish the chores, begging to be allowed food for the first time in a week. He always changed in the bathroom, and the muscle he'd gotten, was leaving. The scars Cruella had left on his body were still as vibrantly colored as the moments after she made them.
He took me everywhere, but his trips to the cafeteria became erratic and very few. No one else noticed, they were too busy with their own events. Evie was a full time designer, she was constantly sewing while Doug helped her run her business. He provided the expertise of management because she didn't know much about it. Her business soared, she was making a lot of money, and talked about from many designers and socialites in Auradon. Ben was doing Kingly things, which meant Mal was right there along side him most of the time. Evie was also an advisor to the King when she wasn't sewing. Jay was captain of the tourney team and the fencing team, and spent a lot of time with the other guys as they trained.
Carlos seemed to be the only one who didn't fit in and have stuff to do. Sure he was brilliant at math and science, but the other kids in the clubs weren't very welcoming and basically made him feel unwelcome there until he stopped trying to join the club. He got more and more secluded from the others and more anti social. Soon it was just me and him, and then just me.
I, as a dog, would like to think I have emotions, much like a human. Given that I ate the truth gummy that Carlos was going to eat, as he wanted to ask out Jane, I was given the ability to talk. We went to the isle, we saved Ben, but not without a cost. See, Chad found out about the kids replicating the wand, and Ben being kidnapped, and it was entirely my fault that he found out. Chad told everyone after we had Ben back. Carlos went to fairy god mother and pleaded, that if anyone was to go back, it was him- it was his printer, his idea, and his creation. She didn't want to send him back, as it wasn't necessary.
Unlike Mal who left a note that she was leaving, Carlos didn't. He got up one day, and walked out, leaving me with Doug, saying he'd be back later. When he didn't return, I got worried. The truth gummy wore off and I could no longer talk. Doug saw my concern as me needing to pee, and let me out of the room. I tracked him down as best as I could but eventually the trail ran cold.
Not once did Jay notice that Carlos wasn't there. Only when it came to practice, and Carlos was no where to be found, did he notice. As the new team captain, Lonnie sent Jay looking for Carlos. All he found were the clothes Evie made in Auradon, and all of his isle clothing was gone. It didn't make any sense to him. Out of anyone, Mal was the one who wanted to go home most, or so he thought.
On the isle, Carlos was facing the effects of the turf war they just went through. No one wanted anything to do with him, and they all saw him as weak. Soon he was jumped and left for dead. Harry saw it as an opportunity to one up Mal. So when he found Carlos passed out in an alley, he took the kid home, patched him up and waited for him to wake up. Carlos knew that he was indebted to Harry for literally life, unless he saved Harry and made them even.
Harry made Carlos his slave, but with the exception that he only served him, not his crew. Carlos began to gather whatever Hook demanded of him, and did whatever it took to please him. Harry had boundaries, he never forced Carlos into anything sexual, he was not that kind of slave. To be fair, it was less of a slave, and more of a servant that wasn't allowed to quit. You could compare it to the dishes and silverware and servant's that once belonged to Beast.
In time, Harry did begin to like Carlos, he liked the company, and thought he was better of a first mate than Gil sometimes. Gil was much too thick like his father, but unlike his brother's he was kinder. Still, he didn't understand personal boundaries and the concept of not saying some things. In time Carlos joined the wharf rats and moved up the ranks. He missed Auradon, but mostly in the sense of life there was easy. Cruella found out he was back and for a period of time, he returned to serve his mother, but when she beat and burned him, Harry rescued him from her.
He was with her for nearly three months (out of the nearly 9 he'd been on the isle), and it was devastating to him. His back and arms were covered in cigarette burns, his ribs were a dark blue and black, broken and painful. And the worst part was that Carlos no longer cared. He gave up, took the beatings, and pretty much was a walking skeleton. Hook saw that Carlos was a mess, took him away and tried to help. Carlos's ribs stuck out, as did his collar bones, you could count his ribs. Harry tried to get him to eat more, but Carlos would give it to the children that were left, and hadn't had their chance to go to Auradon yet.
What didn't help was that Ben and the court came looking for Carlos at one point, as they removed children from the isle conditions. Soon most of the wharf rats were offered a chance in auradon and most of them took it. Gil went for it, as did many others. Harry wanted it, but hadn't received his invitation yet. Soon there were less and less children around, which did mean more food, but there was still a shortage.
Harry would hide Carlos below deck and refuse to let them down there, saying that if the pirate wanted to go, they went above deck and they didn't care anymore. Harry let the ranks diminish, he was destroying Uma's turf from the inside. He may be a pirate, and Uma was his captain, but she was no leader. If anyone was to lead, it was him. He was the son of a pirate, she was the daughter of a sea witch. She wasn't pirate material. Hard working, yes, but just because she was ocean driven, it meant she was one for the pirate life. Sure she controlled everyone and ran a tight ship, but she also didn't understand what it was like to be the child of a pirate. Gil was more of a VK than a pirate, but they took him in anyways.
In time Carlos and Harry began to date. Carlos seemed happier, but no one was really certain it was real. When Ben's men finally found Carlos, he was skinnier than ever before, and with his pants down on the ship with Harry. It was a very compromising position to be seen in, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. When they tried to make him go to Auradon, he fought back. Mal found out he was hanging with pirates and summed it up as, "If he wants to lie with rats, he'll get the fleas from them.
Ultimately, Carlos and Harry were brought from the isle and sent back to school. Harry tried, but he'd never really gone to school. Carlos didn't care. He barely went to classes, he didn't do any of the work, and he gave up. Harry tried to get Carlos to care, but Carlos couldn't. The only thing he did was get skinnier.
Soon he was hospitalized. He still didn't care. Harry tried to get Carlos to get better, but he'd given up on life. Between Cruella's abuse, his friends turning their backs, and Chad Charming making him want to die all the time, he was not the same person, he was broken. He did care for Harry, and that was about it. So when Chad went to bully Harry, Carlos stepped in. The hit that was intended for Harry, hit Carlos with much more intensity.
I watched as he lay in a hospital bed, hanging on by a thread, the will to die stronger than the will to live. Perhaps if they gave me a chance, I'd be telling them this story, rather than you, back when Carlos first started to change. Maybe then he'd still be here. Maybe then It'd be me and him, not me and Harry.
If only Mal did the absurd again, and turned my bark into a word.
A/n: This was a roller coaster. I knew from the start how I wanted it to end, with that last sentence being used somehow.
if it's not clear, Dude is telling the story. He either witnessed first hand what happened, or heard it from others in passing. The dog is reflecting upon his friend who is no longer with him, and how he wished he could have done something, but he was just a dog.