Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews and follows/favorites from last chapter!
I'm a little bummed out while I'm writing this.
Story Note: The only real romance here is between Ben and Mal, but if you want, you can consider Jay and Carlos romantic, I'm not sure if I'm taking it any farther -shrugs- we'll see.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters from the film Descendants are not mine, any other ideas and characters are mine.
End of Author's Note
…
"He's all stitched up, three visitors are allowed at a time."
Jay glanced up from where he had been sitting in his chair along with Mal who had arrived a few minutes before Evie had. Amir and Daniel had lingered to hear if he was okay as well, but they took this as their cue to leave.
"Thank you," Jay said genuinely to Daniel, "I'll make sure that he seeks you out later and says that himself."
The boy nodded shyly and smiled, "I guess princes and ex-villains can't have all the fun."
Amir threw an arm around Daniel's shoulder, "That's my boy, you're making your big brother so proud. You should be applying to be a knight yourself or something, maybe you can make a name for yourself."
"You think so?" Daniel asked hopefully.
"Nope, not at all, but you sure have surpassed my expectations before," Amir said as the two disappeared out the door.
Jay watched them go and chuckled a little, he would miss those guys if he left. He followed Mal and Evie past the curtain to see Carlos and was greeted by the sullen face of the boy.
"I hate everything," Carlos muttered, glaring at the stitches on his arm.
Jokingly, Jay smirked, "Someone's gone off the deep end haven't they. You know, people who say that usually end up dead by their own hands."
Carlos gave him a withering look and propped himself up on his non-injured arm and looked at Evie and Mal. They stared back, Evie with a "we'll talk about exactly what happened later,' look and Mal with an "I'm sorry this happened."
He nodded at both and then leaned back against his pillow.
"I hate dogs more," Carlos said, trying to break the silence.
"I can see why," Mal admitted and then with a quick glance around she cast the spell to keep out eavesdroppers.
"Someone's unhappy about us being here, we need to keep on our best alert so this doesn't happen again," She whispered.
Evie scoffed and crossed her arms, "Mal, honey, everyone's unhappy about us being here pretty much." She hadn't wanted to have this talk now, she planned on having it without Mal for her own good, but it appears she'd have to give some of the information away. "Were either of you two off alone where someone could eavesdrop on you without crossing the school's magic boundaries?"
The two boys considered it and then Jay nodded, "I may have had some business to discuss with Carlos concerning suspecting him of messing with..." He glanced at Mal, "One of my things. I quickly realized it wasn't him."
Mal cast a look of confusion at Evie, what did that have to do with anything?
"Did you two say anything at all about the parade? Perhaps mentioned something about Carlos working with dogs?" Evie questioned.
"Yeah, Sasquatch over there was teasing me about having to work the stupid dog parade," Carlos said.
"I see," Evie nodded to herself, "Someone was listening to you. Where were you when you discussed this?"
"Well Detective Evie, we were in the Auradon Woods," Jay mocked.
He was thoroughly disappointed when she didn't even give him a second look.
"Then that's where we'll be looking. Mal, you have another task."
"What?" She stared suspiciously at Evie.
"You will ask Ben if anything weird is in Auradon Woods that's of concern to the kingdom. If he doesn't know, ask if anything strange has happened in the woods before."
Mal didn't like being left out of the search, but she knew she was the best candidate for getting that kind of information.
"Jay and I will search Auradon Woods."
"What about me?" Carlos asked, "I'll be fine, just give me an hour or two."
"No," The three of them in unison.
"I don't think leaving him alone is a good thought, though, what if someone tries to finish the job," Mal pointed out.
Evie thought for a moment and then turned to Jay for ideas. The boy was about to shrug when he came up with an idea, "My new friends could watch him."
"You made friends?" Carlos asked.
"I did indeed, one of them saved you so don't be a butthole," Jay said and Carlos grumbled.
"Can we trust them?" Evie asked quizzically.
Weighing what had happened and the reactions of the boys, Jay nodded. Evie stared at him a moment longer before deciding it was the best course of action they could have. Mal hesitated before silently agreeing to it and she let the eavesdropping spell fall just as the medic returned.
"I know you're all probably worried about your friend, but he'll be in good hands. He'll have to stay the night though, I'll need to monitor his blood to make sure that none of that poison is in his system."
The three evils nodded in understanding and slipped out of the room. Once out of the medical ward they were confronted by Ben who smiled sympathetically.
"I'm sorry this happened to you guys and you don't have to continue helping out with the festival after that, I'll understand completely."
"In that case, I'm out, I need to go for a walk," Jay said, with a smile and added, "I don't blame you."
Ben looked relieved at that and Evie shrugged, "I was already finished."
His eyes turned to Mal who was still angry at being told that they could discuss the matter of her friend's safety later. However, his puppy dog eyes easily won her over (or that's at least what he thinks). Mal still did need to get information from him.
"I'll still be helping you Ben, you can't get rid of me that easy," She said with a small smile that made Jay gag.
Happily, Ben offered his arm to Mal and she took it, still smiling up at him. She was still a little upset, but Ben was a nice comfort. Sometimes around him, she didn't feel like she was wavering between good and evil and she was just herself. Around other princesses it was all about trying to be good while around her friends it was about that wavering flicker of evil left inside her. Around Ben, it was just a guy that loved her for her.
God, she sounded so hopelessly in love. Even if she was, she knew it wasn't a bad thing. Not if it made her feel this way.
"I'll see you two later, I do hope we haven't scared you away enough that you'll watch the fireworks later tonight."
Jay and Evie nodded and watched the couple disappearing before Jay gestured to the woods, "Are we going now?"
"Wait one second," Evie said, "I need to get changed out of this dress, I'm not going to try and walk through the woods with this on."
Incredulous, Jay stared at her as she walked off towards the girls dorm. Oh well, girls will be girls. He leaned against the wall, figuring she'd meet him back here. Wait, didn't he need to find Daniel or Amir to watch after Carlos? He headed towards where the props were, but to his surprise, they were just in the hallway over.
When he approached they both turned to him.
"Oh, hey, you done visiting Carlos? Me and Amir were hanging around since we didn't want to intrude you and your friends, but I wanted to check on him," Daniel said.
"Yeah, the nurse chased us out. I'm going on a walk to clear my mind," Jay said nonchalantly, "Would one of you mind keeping an eye on Carlos for me?"
Daniel nodded eagerly, "Sure, I'll keep a watch on him."
That poor boy was always quick to please someone, Jay might have tucked that information away in his mind for future use.
"Mind if I join you on that walk?" Amir asked ad Daniel disappeared down the hall.
"Nah, I sort of want to be alone," Jay said with an apologetic smile, "Maybe another time."
Amir looked up and down the hallway and then crossed his arms, "Look, I heard you're going with that Evie chick, and if you're gonna go kiss or something, just be honest about it. If you're not, then I'm sort of suspicious and I could easily tip off one of the teachers."
Oh, this sly man. He was sneakier than Jay originally thought. However, he wasn't intimidated.
"It's nothing you need to worry about," Jay said and stepped past him.
Reaching out an arm, Amir stopped him, his tawny eyes glimmering with steely determination.
"Then let me go with you, I think I know what you're going to do, you're looking for something to do with Carlos' attack," Amir inquired.
Jay kept a neutral expression, but his eyes betrayed him.
"You are," Amir confirmed and smiled, "I can help. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty cunning."
While they were bringing up truths, "Yeah, I know, you stole from me."
The other man laughed and pointed a hand at himself with an exaggerated motion, "Did I? I didn't know I did?"
"Keep your hands off my stuff," Jay said curtly and walked back to the area he was pretty sure Evie would be at, but Amir followed him.
"Where are we going anyway?" Amir said, resting his hands on the back of his head.
"You aren't going anywhere," Jay replied.
"Or I could just tell the guards about your stash and say I found it on accident," Amir said innocently.
After that, Jay didn't try to get rid of him. The other thief relaxed, glad his bluff had worked. He had no idea where Jay's stash was. Truth is, he stole those things while they were still on Jay. Amir waved at Evie as they approached.
"Hiya toots," He said with a smile.
"Why?" Evie asked Jay.
"Blackmail," Jay said.
"You were right," Evie said her lips quirking in a smile, "He is trustworthy."
Pouting, Amir followed after the two, glancing between them, "What was that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing," Jay intoned.
"Just hinting that you may be..." Evie continued.
"What?" Amir questioned.
"Evil," They said together, finishing with dark cackling.
Rolling his eyes, Amir fell in step with them, "Ha, ha. Very funny, you know you should be jesters."
The trio made there way to Auradon Woods, having shamelessly abandoned their activities.
…
"Ben, I want to ask you something, will you answer honestly?"
"Is it about earlier?" Ben asked, "Mal, I know you and your friends are in danger and I'll try my hardest to have guards keep an eye on you guys and look for suspicious activity. I don't know how long it will take to get better. I-"
"It's not about that, well not completely," Mal cut him off and Ben's cheeks reddened.
"Oh," He said softly and they were silent for a moment.
"It's about Carlos' attacker, Evie put together some information and she said that the attacker must have spied on Carlos and Jay to know he was working in the Dalmatian Parade, and he did so when they were in the Auradon Woods," Mal watched Ben's face as his lips pursed and his brow furrowed, "Do you know about anything suspicious in the woods?"
Ben held her hand a little tighter and sighed, "I do."
She waited and he was about to share information to her when the blonde-haired messenger ran up to them.
"Ben, Ben, I have some awful news!" He cried.
Drat, Mal was about to get (hopefully) some answers.
"What is it, Alister?" Ben asked the blonde-haired boy.
He twitched when Ben used his name, but the younger boy cleared his throat, "The actor for Maleficent has broken her leg all of a sudden and there's no volunteers to learn her lines and take over for her. That skit starts in thirty minutes," Alister said quickly.
Mal smelled something fishy and her hand pulled away from Ben's as she crossed her arms.
"That's..." Ben glanced at Mal, he wasn't dumb, he knew that wasn't a coincidence, "Awful, are you sure there's no other volunteers available?"
"None, sir, unless, you would like to substitute in Mal?" Alister asked innocently, those blue eyes turning to Mal, "It would be a great help and I'm sure it'll come naturally to you."
She glared down at Alister who just kept smiling at her. Ben quickly thought of the only viable solution.
"I'll do it."
"Uh..." Alister just stared blankly.
"What?" Mal glanced at him surprised.
"You heard me," Ben said without missing a beat.
Alister shifted uncomfortably, "I don't mean to be rude, but it's a female part and...well...yeah."
Ben gave him a look of superiority, "We've had girls play male parts, why can I not play a female part?"
The blonde was lost for words and he wrote something down on his clipboard.
"I'll go tell the costume designers that they'll need to make some...alterations," Alister said and stuffed the script into Ben's hands before running off.
"Are you seriously doing this for me?" Mal asked Ben and he smiled.
"I'm not going to make you do something like that and I'm a little disappointed someone is this desperate to get rid of the four of you. Although, I don't think this was going to be an attack, but rather an attempt to humiliate you," Ben stated with a sigh, "I better go learn these lines, you'll have to take my place and announce each of the skits."
"Me? I don't really know how to introduce them," Mal started but Ben cut her off with a quick peck to on her lips.
"You'll be fine," He handed her a sheet of paper he had folded up in his coat pocket, "This has a list of whose the main stars of each skit, just announce what the skit's going to be about, say the main-stars, say something nice about them and then finish off with a nice 'Let the show begin' kind of line. You'll do fine."
Mal scanned the sheet of paper and noticed the main-stars listed were only heroes and princesses. No one that played a villain was considered main.
"One small addition," Ben fished out a pen and wrote his name on the Sleeping Beauty skit, "I want everyone to know whose starring as the malevolent Maleficent," Ben flashed his best evil grin.
She giggled and her lips quirked in a big grin, "I love you," she found herself saying.
"I love you too," Ben said and gave her one last kiss before disappearing off to the drama department, "Good luck, don't break a leg."
"Same goes to you," Mal said with a genuine smile.
When he was gone, the smile didn't fade and she felt a warm feeling in her heart. That was really sweet of him to do. She looked over the sheet of paper and made her way back up to the balcony.
…
In the Auradon Woods, there were trees, beautiful enchanted rivers and very friendly animals of nature. The trio scoped out the area and Jay growled darkly at a squirrel trying to climb onto him.
"You know, back on the Island," He said to the squirrel, "You would have been eaten, for lunch."
The squirrel let out a terrified squeak and disappeared back up it's tree.
"Knock it off, Jay, we're looking for something suspicious," Evie said as she scanned the trees.
Amir was fairly bored and looked around at the trees with disinterest, "I don't see anything here."
Evie spared him a glance of distaste before running her hand over a tree's surface in thought. She closed her eyes in thought before pulling out her mirror.
"Mirror, mirror in my hand, show me something in these woods of evil malice, I demand."
The mirror's surface shimmered before showing herself. Watching nearby, Amir started cracking up and Jay couldn't help, but chuckle.
"Stop that," Evie snapped, "I meant, something other than the three of us."
This time the mirror shimmered and Evie waited annoyed for it to show something, but it didn't. Instead, the mirror started to glow and a crack formed down the surface of the mirror. Alarmed, Evie quickly released it, "Show me a tree."
Gladly, the mirror canceled it's former request and showed a tree.
"What was that all about?" Jay asked.
"Warding magic, someone is covering their tracks," Evie murmured with a sigh.
Amir looked around, "There's something here then, should we look for it?"
Shaking his head, Jay gruffly said, "It's no use wondering around. The original plan was using Evie's mirror as a guide. Without it, we're in the dark."
"Not completely," Evie gave Jay a meaningful look, "There are people we know that aren't on the Island that can get around magic."
"Wait, there are villains living among us?" Amir asked.
Ignoring him, Jay considered the possibility, "Who do you have in mind?"
The girl grimaced and took a deep breath, "You're not going to like who I have in mind."
"Either of you going to explain this to me?" Amir asked desperately, looking between the two of them.
Disbelief etched into Jay's face and he took a step towards Evie threateningly, "No, hell no. He's off the Island for a reason, you know there's evil and then there's demented. You know perfectly well he'll back-stab us if he thinks it's funny."
Huffing, Amir sat down on a stump to watch them argue.
Evie didn't back away and crossed her arms, "Do you have any brighter ideas?"
"No."
"Then suck it up, it's not like when we were kids," Evie growled.
Fuming, Jay turned around and slammed his fist into a tree, "I'm going to regret agreeing and if one of us gets-"
"It's not like last time, we were all just dumb, stupid, kids," Evie cut him off.
"Seriously, who the hell are you both talking about? Who is this guy, he sounds dangerous," Amir questioned.
"You wouldn't know him, he was never an official villain, not till later," Evie said, scoffing.
"And he's not technically a guy, he's something special," Jay grumbled leaning his head against the tree.
"Who though?" Amir asked.
"The Trickster," Evie said, "The Cheshire Cat."
END of CHAPTER.
Send Off:
The original Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire isn't your friendly, helpful cat like in 2010 version. I hit a small writer's block where after the Ben and Mal scene I couldn't find a good way to end the chapter. I tried continuing the Ben and Mal scene, adding a scene with Carlos and a few other things, but I eventually reached the ending you see there.
Thanks for the poll votes and I wouldn't mind some suggestions, thanks for reading.
