Sorry that this chapter took a few days. Work was tiring this week. A co-worker had to call off for a family emergency so we were understaffed. But I had today off so I relaxed and finished this chapter. Enjoy!
Mal and Evie snuck their way to Carlos and Jay's dorm room late at night. They opened the door to find Carlos playing a video game and Jay going through several items he stole from around campus. "Jay," Mal said. "What are you doing?" "It's called stealing," Jay answered. "OK," Mal said. "What's the point?" "Well, Mal," Jay answered. "It's like buying whatever I want, except it's free." "OK," Mal said. "So, you can do that, or you can leave all of this here and pick it up when we take over the world." "You sound just like your mom!" Mal felt conflicted inside about that statement, as yes she wanted to impress her mom, but another part of her didn't want to be her mom, but she decided to cover that thought up and looked proud in front of her gang at that statement. "You do it your way and I'll do it mine," Jay said. "Die, suckers!" Carlos shouted at the video game. He turned around and said, "Jay, come check this thing out! Man, it's awesome!" Jay took the controls from Carlos and played the game, getting really into it. "Guys!" Mal shouted. "Do I have to remind you what we're all here for?" "Fairy Godmother…" Jay said focusing on the game. "Blah, blah, blah. Magic wand, blah, blah, blah."
Mal sighed and said, "This is our one chance to prove ourselves to our parents. To prove that we are evil and vicious and ruthless and cruel." The other three turned and stared at her after she was done talking. The light in Mal was trying to fight back and say that she wasn't evil and she shouldn't turn to the dark, but Mal pushed it back down and said, "Yeah?" Everyone nodded their heads as Mal said, "Evie, mirror me." Evie pulled out her mirror as everyone gathered around the table as Evie said, "Mirror, mirror on the…in my hand. Where is Fairy's Godmother's wand stand?" The mirror then showed the wand as Mal shouted, "There it is!" "Zoom out," Carlos said. "Magic mirror, not so close," Evie said. The mirror zoomed out to show the Earth. Evie then was telling the mirror to get closer and closer to showing the location of the wand. As the four were watching the mirror, Mal felt a shiver go through her and she turned her head around, looking around the room, feeling like someone was watching her again. Like something just touched her. Shaking her head, she looked back at the mirror as Carlos was trying to get back to his game when the mirror stopped and Mal said, "It's in a museum? Do we know where that is?" Carlos pulled over a laptop and typed away then said, "2.3 miles from here." Mal raced to the door, opened it to look around to see if anyone else was around, then whispered, "Come on." Evie and Jay followed her out of the room while Carlos was back playing his game when Evie whispered, "Carlos!" Carlos dropped the controls, grabbed his jacket, and whispered "Coming!" as he ran out the door.
What the four teens didn't know was that there were two Force spirits standing in the room looking out where the teens left. "So," Anakin said. "That's what they're planning. They want to get the wand to bring down the barrier for their parents to take over Auradon." "Ben was right about that," Luke said. "But, Dad, you have to be careful when you're around Mal. She could sense something when you touched her shoulder." "Hey," Anakin scoffed. "I wanted a closer look at that mirror. That Jay kid is tall." Luke sighed and said, "You're tall as well, you know. Come on. We need to talk to Ben. He needs to know what we saw." The two Force spirits then disappeared.
Ben was asleep in his dorm room, which because he was the Crown Prince, he didn't have to share with anyone. Luke and Anakin's Force spirits appeared and Luke said, "Ben, wake up." Ben was up in an instant and looked over at Luke and Anakin and asked, "What did you two learn?" "They're going to the museum to try to steal Fairy Godmother's wand," Anakin said. "Right now." "They want to impress their parents," Luke added. "Mal included." "Maybe," Ben said. "But I sensed the conflict in Mal earlier. The light in her is trying to make sure she doesn't go completely to the dark side. Maleficent had too much influence on her on the Isle. I need to go stop them myself." "But doesn't the museum have a force field around the wand?" Anakin asked. "Yes," Ben said. "But I want to get them out of there without any alarms going off and alerting my parents. They still aren't fully on board with having these kids here anyway. Plus, it's time they meet the true me in the flesh, so to speak. Wish me luck." Luke and Anakin nodded as they disappeared back into Ben's body as the prince laid back down and closed his eyes, concentrating on astral projection. Suddenly his spirit emerged next to the bed, helmet less. He shook out his black hair and dusted his cape off. "Old habits," Ben muttered in his original deep voice. He then put his mask on and said in the modulated deep voice, "Time to make an appearance." He then phased through the wall of his bedroom and flew off to the museum.
The Core 4 ran all the way to the museum. They stopped when they reached the boundaries and Mal said to Evie, "Check your mirror." "Is my mascara smudged?" Evie asked. "Yeah," Mal said sarcastically. "And hey, while you're at it, why don't you see if you can find us the wand." "Sure," Evie said looking into her magic mirror. "This way." She led the others right to the front doors where they peaked in. There was an old security guard sitting at a table surrounded by monitors hooked up to different cameras showing off different exhibits: King Triton's trident, King Adam's rose, Genie's lamp, etc. Standing right in front of the guard was the spinning wheel that Maleficent enchanted to curse Queen Aurora. Jay saw it and asked, "That's your mother's spinning wheel?" He and Carlos laughed while Carlos said, "Yeah, it's kind of dorky." Mal huffed and said, "It's magic. It doesn't have to look scary." Mal then got an idea and pulled out the spell book. She needed a way to get past the guard so she chanted, "Magic spindle do not linger. Make my victim prick a finger." The guard didn't move as Jay said sarcastically, "Impressive." "I got chills," Carlos added. Mal scoffed and said, "OK, you know what." Mal closed her eyes and concentrated on summoning her magic and said, "Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep." The guard stood up, as if in a trance, walked over to the spinning wheel, and pricked his finger on the spindle. He then knelt down to the floor and fell asleep." Mal smirked and said, "Not so dorky now, huh?" She then tried to open the door, but it was locked. Jay smirked and said, "Stand back." He backed up as the others moved to the side and Mal chanted, "Make it easy, make it quick, open up without a kick." The doors blew open as Jay jumped into the air with a kick then landed down on the ground hard. The others laughed as Mal walked past him and asked, "Coming?" Evie walked past while Carlos helped Jay up, "Come on, Jay." "I'm good," Jay said, pushing Carlos off of him. He walked away while Carlos said, "Just trying to help."
As Carlos ran to catch up with the others, no one noticed a dark figure land on the ground in front of the open doors. "They're here," Ben said walking through the door. His eyes fell onto the sleeping security guard. He ran up and examined him. "Sleeping spell," Ben deduced looking at the spinning wheel next to the guard. "Looks like Mal is already doing some magic. Interesting." He looked down at the guard and said, "Luckily he'll only stay asleep until sunrise." He then closed his eyes to sense where the Core 4 were in the museum. "Time to make my entrance," Ben said in his deep modulated voice as he opened his eyes and walking in the direction he sensed the VKs go in.
The Core 4 were running through multiple hallways as Evie was guiding them with her mirror, "So close." They ran up flights of stairs to the top floor when suddenly they halted. There in front of them was a display of the villains, mainly their parents. Evie stared at the figure of her mom and said, "Mommy?" Jay looked at the statue of his dad and said, "Killer." Carlos stared at the statue of his mother and said, "I'll never forget Mother's Day again." Mal was staring at the statue of her mother when Jay said, "Well, the wand's not here. Let's bounce." Evie, Carlos, and Jay ran out of the exhibit, but Mal stayed behind and walked toward the statue of her mother, Maleficent.
She could hear her mother's words in her head, "The future of the free world rests on your shoulders. Don't blow it." Mal sighed and said to herself, "Look at you. And look at me. I don't know who to be, Mother. It is wrong or right to be a thief in the night, Mother. What should I do?" She knew that her mother would just tell her to be "Evil like me," but Mal wasn't completely satisfied with that answer. Part of her wanted to give into that darkness and be evil, but then there was that light in her that she could never fully snuff out. She then thought of Ben, who she realized that she had dreamt about before coming to Auradon. She felt the connection they had from when they first stared into each other's eyes to when they touched hands. When she was with Ben, there wasn't any darkness and the light wasn't trying to be bright because she was in Auradon. She felt at peace when she was with him. And she didn't understand why. Was her true path suppose to be with Ben? She looked past her mother's statue and saw one of her father, Hades. The man who abandoned her when she was a baby. She didn't understand why he did it, but she was still angry at him. She holds very few memories of him and only remembers one thing that he would always say to her, "You'll always be my little sunshine. My Rey." Mal started to tear up when she heard Evie shout, "Hey! I found the wand! Let's go." Mal quickly dried her eyes so that she didn't appear weak to her gang and ran after Evie.
She caught up with her friends as they saw the prize, "There it is!" They ran into the room and marveled at the sight of the wand. Jay was getting ready to jump for it when Mal shouted, "Jay, don't!" Mal noticed that the wand had a force field around it. Jay ignored Mal and he ran up to the wand with Mal shouting, "Wait, no. No! Don't!" Jay then jumped over the railing to get the wand, but then suddenly stopped in midair. Mal, Evie, and Carlos looked confused as Carlos asked, "How are you doing that?" "How should I know?" Jay said. "I'm the one who's stuck." "You know," a deep modulated voice rang out from the room. "For the son of a grand vizier, I thought you would be smarter about your actions." The VKs looked over and saw a dark figure, Ben in spirit form, dressed in his new dark grey clothes similar to his Kylo Ren outfit with his helmet on making his voice sound more modulated, step out from behind a curtain with his hand raised in Jay's direction, meaning he was the one to stop Jay from touching the wand. "If you used your head, you would realize that the wand is surrounded by a force field and is connected to an alarm so that if you touched it, the alarm would go off and alert security, and the King of Auradon." He then used the Force to throw Jay across the room where he landed at the others' feet. Carlos looked up frightened and said, "You're the guardian of the Isle, aren't you?" "I am," Ben said in his deep modulated spirit voice. "Then what are you doing here?" Evie asked. "If you are the guardian of the Isle, don't you want us to bring down the barrier and release everyone?" Ben chuckled and said, "I may protect those on the Isle who need it, but I also protect people here as well. However, I do want to bring down the barrier. But not the way that you four want to. I am here to bring balance back to this world. That Isle should never have been created. And magic should have never been banned. Auradon has suffered like the Isle has. If you use that wand and release just your parents, then the balance will tip in darkness' favor instead."
Mal growled and said, "What about children like us? We have suffered over there. We deserve revenge!" Ben sighed as he noticed the others try to back away towards the wand when Ben waved his hand in the air and froze the other three, shocking Mal. "I want to free those children," Ben said walking up to Mal. "But Auradon needs to be ready for it. Things like this just can't happen overnight, no matter how much you want to. You were brought here to prove to the doubters that children like you need help and need to be taken off that Isle. The prince believes in you." Mal stared hard at the masked figure in front of her. "What is your connection to the prince?" Mal asked. Ben stopped, sensing the reason why Mal asked him that. "She must have see me in this form when we touched hands," Ben thought to himself. But he decided to trend carefully and said to Mal, "I am a guardian. I protect all of you on the Isle. I also protect others here in Auradon. The prince included. So, shouldn't you all give what he is offering you a chance?" Mal sensed that the guardian wasn't telling her the whole truth about his connection to Ben as she felt that there was a certain reason that he was in Ben's head. But Mal knew that the guardian did have a point about giving Ben's offer a chance, but the darkness in her was not happy. She scowled and chanted, "Let this man, quick as a sneeze, stop this instant, and quickly freeze!" Ben chuckled darkly and said, "Sorry. But let's just say magic such as yours has no effect on me." Mal's eyes widened as Ben's hand raised and he froze Mal in place too.
Ben walked slowly around the four and said, "I am doing all of you a favor before you trip the alarm and alert everyone that you were here. Then they would have you all shipped back to the Isle and your parents will disown you. You all think that you are evil like they are. But are you really? I can see into all of your minds that this isn't the case. No matter how hard you all try to hide it." He walked up to Jay and said, "The thief who would rather put his skills to good use." He went up to Carlos and said, "The boy who wants to be away from his mother forever and be his own man." He walked up to Evie and said, "The princess who may want a prince but who is smarter than everything thinks she is." He then stopped in front of Mal and said, "But you. You intrigue me most of all. The girl who is conflicted with the light and darkness inside of her. The girl who puts on a brave face so that she never shows weakness. The one who has been thinking about a certain someone even before coming here. I know all of you more than you think." They all gasped as Mal scowled and said, "Who are you to say that to us?" Ben leaned in so his masked face was right in front of her face and whispered, "Someone who protects everyone on this planet. Someone who knows more than you will ever know. Someone who has seen things that you couldn't possibly imagine. Someone you shouldn't ever mess with." Mal gulped as he pulled back and said, "But seeing as being called guardian of Auradon and the Isle is a mouthful, you can call me…Solo. Now let's finish this conversation outside, shall we?"
He lifted the four up using the Force and walked them all the way outside, right in front of the museum. He then dropped them to the ground as they grunted in pain standing up. Mal looked mad as she said, "Hey! You may think you're all powerful and can stop us from getting the wand, but why should we listen to you?" Ben chuckled and said, "Trust me. This is me being nice. I am the guardian of this kingdom. That includes you four from yourselves. Now, I am letting you all go back to the school with your indignities intact and without alerting anyone that you were here tonight. But I am leaving you all with a warning. Try to come here again to try to steal the wand, and I won't be so nice. Understand?" Carlos nodded meekly along with Evie, Mal just huffed while Jay growled, "I think I can get past you no problem. I'm a fighter and don't need magical powers to beat you." Ben chuckled darkly as he pulled out his lightsaber as Jay tilted his head in confusion. "I am far more than just my "magic". I am going to give you all to the count of 5 to start running back to school before I make you. 1." Carlos and Evie started to step back towards the direction of the school while Jay stood his ground and Mal stared at the lightsaber with curiosity, feeling like she's seen something like it before. "2," Ben counted as he hit the button igniting his lightsaber showing off its purple light to the four, shocking them, Mal in particular as she remembered seeing Solo in her dreams with one but with a red saber slashing through multiple things. Ben then swung his saber through the trunk of the tree next to him causing it to fall onto the ground behind him as he said, "3." Jay and Mal then turned and ran back towards the school, Carlos and Evie following suit. Ben chuckled as he deactivated his lightsaber and put it on his belt saying, "I didn't even have to count to 5."
"Impressive," Agathe appeared next to Ben watching the four VKs as specs in the distance. "So, you've given a name for yourself in this form. Solo?" Ben shrugged and said, "It's a name I detested for so long, but it's who I am and I am embracing it. Plus, I don't want to be called Kylo Ren ever again. Do you think they will go after the wand again?" Agathe smiled and said, "They may not come back here, but they may plan something else. In the meantime, you and others here need to help them see what you saw in their minds. That they are not evil. Especially Mal." Ben nodded as he said, "I sensed the conflict in her. Part of her wants to be evil like Maleficent, but another part of her doesn't. She's been thinking about me for a while. Both prince me and spirit me. I want to help her choose the correct path." "Don't force the choice on her," Agathe warned. "Just help her build that connection with you and she will make the decision on her own. Just be patient, young Skywalker." Ben nodded as he stretched and said, "I need to get back. Tomorrow is the first day of school for me as well." He then disappeared as Agathe looked at the tree that Ben sliced down and waved her hand, restoring the tree back to normal. "Good luck," she said as she disappeared.
Mal laid on her dorm room bed annoyed. She and the others ran all the way back to their dorms and went straight to their rooms. The others tried to talk to her about the guardian, who they found out calls himself Solo, but Mal just ordered them back their rooms for the night as they needed to regroup later. Evie was already fast asleep but Mal was having trouble falling asleep. She was thinking back to Solo. She was intrigued and terrified by him. He could move or stop anything by just the wave of his hand, he had that purple sword that could cut through anything, he was immune to her magic, and he could read their minds without breaking a sweat. She should have realized this after having those dreams about him. But he also knew about her developing feelings for Ben. This Solo guy seemed to be everywhere. "Whose side is he on?" Mal thought. "He says that he's the protector of this world, but what does that mean? He's done both good and evil, based on the dreams I had. He protects people on both sides. Why would he be in Ben's head? Who are you Solo?"