I don't own any of the recognizable places or characters. This story is part of a series that is called Descendants A-Z and is cross posted (always under "IvyNyx").
Auradon had been full of new experiences, the Isle kids like to think they'd adjusted well. Jay looked over at the little purple container on his bedside table and smirked as the memory came back to him.
The first weekend in Auradon Ben, Audrey, Lonnie, Chad, Doug and Jane had met with the Isle kids on the tourney field. Their goal was to just hang out and help the Isle kids adjust, maybe even have fun. The Auradon kids explained things like holidays to them. The Isle kids were excited for Halloween, it sounded like their idea of a good time.
Ben took out a Frisbee and showed the Isle kids how to throw it, they spent the next hour throwing the disk around the field. Most of the guys had taken their shirts off, Jay and Carlos were hesitant. The Auradon kids had a wide range of physiques, but none of them had the scars the Isle kids did.
They switched from Frisbee to soccer, this made Jay toss his shirt aside, running the length of the field in the sun had them all sweaty. Mal pulled off her shirt to reveal a tank top. The Auradon kids stared, before catching themselves and looking away. They knew Isle life was bad, it was hard to see the evidence left on the other teens skin.
"Dude, ditch the shirt, you look like you're dying." Jay yelled to Carlos, who was wearing long sleeves despite the heat.
"No thanks!" the white haired boy yelled back.
"Come on, no one cares." Jay pushed. Carlos was always weird about keeping his skin covered, even on the Isle. Jay didn't really blame him, he had more scars then the rest of them combined. It was just too hot out here to stay covered.
"Yeah, don't need everyone freaking out and worrying about me thanks." Carlos told Jay when he got close.
"Didn't say shit about me and Mal." Jay pointed out, "they know we've had it hard. Leave the Isle behind, as long as you keep hiding you're letting your mom win."
Jay must have said the right thing because with a sigh Carlos pulled his shirt off and threw it to the side lines. Carlos felt everyone look at him, but they quickly looked away, so Jay was right no one cared, at least not enough to bring up the subject.
They played for a few more hours, switching between tag, soccer and Frisbee.
"Guys, come eat!" Lonnie called out, she'd spread a huge blanket out under the tree line, multiple baskets sat on it, waiting for the ravenous kids to descend on it. The all jogged over and sat, passing the baskets around.
"I gotta ask, how'd you guys get some of the scars?" Chad said. Ben groaned, Chad had a thing for scars, he loved hearing the stories that went with them. Jay looked at Mal and winked, "you first Dragon Girl".
"You don't have to tell us" Ben said.
"Well I'm not doing all of them, that would take the rest of your lives." Mal smirked, "But I kinda like this one" She pointed to a thin line that wrapped from the back of her neck across her shoulder. "Me and Jay were running from some goons, I was about twelve and just getting good at parkour, you know flips and things. So I decided to be fancy, Jay jumped from a roof along side this fence with barbed wire, it wasn't high, maybe eight feet. So I decided to flip off the roof, I miscalculated and rather than clearing the wire, just managed to scrap it. Scared the fuck out of Jay." She laughed.
"You would like that story, I thought your dumb ass would bleed to death" Jay said. "Nah looked way worse than it was." Mal reminded him and told the others.
"I guess I'm next" Jay said, he thought for a minute, what was impressive on the Isle wasn't so impressive in the light of Auradon. He finally settled on one and twisted to show the wide flat scar on his back. If nothing else it would help Carlos know which of his scars to tell about. "Dear old dad gave me that one"
"Your father!" Lonnie gasped, she still was coming to terms with the whole 'villains do not love their kids' thing.
"Mhmm, I'd spent the day out playing rather than stealing. I came home with nothing but some scrapped knees and a couple coins I'd swiped. He held a knife into the flames on our stove before pressing it into my back, the flat side, obviously. Told me it was a reminder to do better." Jay didn't particularly like that story, but it was one of the few scars he didn't get fighting.
"How old were you?" Jane asked quietly, Mal had told them she was a pre-teen, Jay had left that information out.
"Seven" Jay said, he heard the gasps and ignored them. They were a few years too late for pity it was long in the past now.
"I guess I'm up" Carlos said drawing attention to himself, he knew how much Jay hated that scar. He also knew from their reactions he shouldn't tell about his. He knew sooner or later someone would ask though, his friends had scars, but his was the only one you could read. He stuck his right arm out and turned it so the light hit the scars better. Carved into the underside was the word "worthless" it was covered in crisscrossed slashes. The eyes on his arm practically burned, but he forced himself to leave it out while he spoke.
"Mine is actually two stories. The first is the letters, my mother did that after I told her I was gay, I was eleven." He paused to look at their faces, they mirrored the same pity they'd had for Jay. "That shouldn't matter at all" Chad said, sexuality on Auradon meant less than nothing.
"Did to her fucked up little head. Anyway, the rest of the scars I did, trying to get rid of her art work. Didn't really work, but it made me feel better."
Carlos watched Doug absently rub his arm, before putting it out so Carlos could see what he was rubbing. He had a series of lines on his skin that nearly matched Carlos's. "Child abuse is rare here, self harm, not so much. Mine feels a million times more stupid though hearing yours." Doug said with a small smile. "Dad was mad at me because I don't wanna work in the mines, I'm too much like my mother according to him, too human."
Evie went next showing a small patch of skin that looked like it had been carved off of her leg. "I had a birthmark, now I have a scar" she didn't elaborate past that. Each of the kids told a story for one of their scars. Ben had a line near his hair where he cracked his head on a coffee table as a child. Lonnie had a slice on her leg from playing with her parents swords. Chad showed his ribs that he'd sliced on a piece of glass falling off a horse. Audrey had a small scar on her arm from a fight she'd gotten into as a kid. Jane was last, hers was on her finger, she'd sliced to the bone while cooking dinner one night.
"Well, that's one way to learn about each other" Ben said with a laugh. "I think the lesson is keep us all away from sharp objects"
"Put us all in a damn bubble is more like it" Chad added.
"Oh, I know it's childish, but I have bubbles in my bag, why don't we play with them?"
"What the hell is a bubble?" Mal asked, the Isle kids looked just as confused as her. The Auradon kids were confused by their confusion.
"The little ball that you get from soap?" Chad said his voice questioning.
"How would we play with that?" Jay asked.
Lonnie pulled out her bottle of bubbles and blew one, Carlos skittered away, he knew the soap in the bathroom burned his eyes, he wasn't risking getting this in his eyes. The bubble floated harmlessly away before popping a short way away from them.
"We like to chase them, these ones are special, they won't hurt your eyes and if they get in your mouth they taste like candy rather than soap. They also don't pop on skin, only stuff like clothes, grass or teeth" Lonnie explained, Carlos's eyes lit up at the mention of candy.
She stood up and blew a series of bubbles that the others caught, the Auradon kids laughing at the childish game. Most of them hadn't played with bubbles in years. The Isle kids caught them and stared in wonder at the iridescent surface. Mal was the first to put one in her mouth, Lonnie said they were candy flavor after all.
"Those are actually really good."
"Let me run back to my dorm, I have a machine that will make them so we can all play together." Lonnie said while running off. She was back a few minutes later with a circle on a stick. She poured the bubbles in and pushed the stick into the ground, a minute later it made a whirring noise and bubbles flew out.
"Here you guys can have this, it's an extra bottle" Lonnie said, handing the purple bottle to Jay.
The motley crew laughed and ran around trying to catch the bubbles with both their hands and mouths. Unbeknownst to them, the king, queen and fairy godmother sat inside the school watching them. Queen Belle laughing as her son acted like a child with the others, she pressed her camera to the glass for a few pictures, deciding to send them to the kids later. They all looked so care free and happy, it was the life the Isle kids should have known all along.