He knew they were good, that they survived the unsurvivable.
He hadn't been expecting them to be this good at hiding.
But-
Three days?
Three painful, scary days.
Three long days full of worry and concern.
Three days of barely eating and hardly sleeping.
He had, unfortunately, hoped that in their condition they'd be more sloppy.
He should've known better.
VKs were nothing if not resourceful.
All of Deez's letters should've taught him that by now.
Still, with their condition, he had hoped.
Three days of having to coax his friends to come back to rest, when all he wanted to do was exactly what they were desperately doing.
Find their missing friends.
Their terrified, wounded, and missing friends.
Instead, he was assisting Nani and David with Council hearings, speaking as both witness and Heir Apparent, and in general trying to get ahead of the anonymous members of the council calling for a full search of Auradon for any and all villains, adults, and children alike.
The villains he understood. But seriously?
His friends that had saved hundreds of lives?
He swallows a growl.
Sometimes it was all he could do to stay ahead of the mob of people clamoring to tell him and his father how to do their jobs.
"Prince Benjamin, we understand that the group of children brought over to Auradon from the Isle were not at fault for the summoning of the evilest villain in the history of our Kingdoms."
Did she understand? "But?"
"The conversation between Maleficent and her daughter Mal does raise questions that members of the court are demanding be answered."
"Does it now? And what questions would those be?" He knew Hiro was doing his best to find them, and he could kiss the man for it- But still, he wished he could be here for this. He couldn't shut down these inane questions with the same vigor and vulgarity.
Though he really, like really, wished he could.
"Maleficent made it sound as if the retrieval of the wand, the very magical artifact that is anchoring the magical barrier that separates the good citizens of Auradon from the evil that was banished to the isle, was a plan they came up with together. And we are having a difficult time proving the fault of the crack in the barrier to be a mere accident of a half-fairy taking the wand from her mother. Many are asking why Maleficent only showed up once her daughter was in possession of the wand."
It takes every ounce of self-control he possessed not to roll his eyes. Or slam his hands down against the desk. "As someone who has fallen to Maleficent's darkness yourself, do you really not believe she could have, perhaps, come up with that story on the spot upon Mal's defiance?"
"Evil, Maleficent is, but Ben, you know-"
"Prince Benjamin." He corrects her with a tight smile.
"Prince Benjamin, my apologies. You know as well as I that the race of fairies can omit, can work with double meanings, and are excellent with loopholes, but she could not lie."
"Even if that is the case, and for now, let's say for the sake of argument that was Maleficent's plan, Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos showed nothing short of courage and bravery for going against the fae that grown men and women have spent decades running in fear from."
Queen Leah's eyes narrow, "Watch your intention, Prince Benjamin."
"There is no intention, Queen Leah, just observations and facts."
"Indeed, well, these facts are actually the very thing we have asked you here to speak of, in regards to your, program of forgiveness."
"Well, please proceed to speak to your concerns and keep in mind there is a difference between facts and accusations."
"Then please, allow me to lay the facts out as I see them, and believe that you see them."
"If they're facts as you see them, they're not quite facts, are they?" He quips.
Queen Leah chuckles dismissively, "The facts are, a plan against the United Kingdoms of Auradon was thought out, and the agent was allowed to come to Auradon. The agent was even allowed to communicate with the organizer of the plot against the Crown and all those united under it. Yes, the rest of the facts are that the agent had a change of heart and instead of following through with the plot instead decided to, and we are truly most fortunate for this, fight against the plotter. Can we agree that those are the facts, Prince Benjamin?"
He plasters a pleasant smile on his face as he breathes through his outrage at her audacity. "Though I concede you make a point," A poor one, "I believe we can all agree that, under the circumstances, the agents of this unfortunate incident were under dire distress due to the fact that they were four teenagers against the threat of the vilest of villains who, by your own volition, is one of the evilest our kingdoms have ever seen. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't your daughter the one who was cursed to death by this villain? And if it hadn't been for Flora, Fawna, and Merryweather, the curse would have been enacted?"
"We are not speaking of the past; we are speaking of current facts."
"I'm sorry, but I believe I asked you a question which you are choosing to circumvent." He smiles politely. "Was it not your daughter that was cursed to death by this woman?"
"Yes, Prince Benjamin," Queen Leah crosses her arms in front of her as she takes a deep breath, "My daughter was cursed to die on her sixteenth birthday. And yes, the curse was marginalized by Merryweather with her christening gift to my daughter."
"So, I would hope that under your personal experience with such a villain, you would understand the fear and distress these agents were under with them being mere teenagers while you were well into your twenties when you slighted her. Mind you slighted, not outright disobeyed."
"Yes. Yes, Prince. I can acknowledge the sheer bravery."
"So perhaps then, in your acknowledgment, you can understand my stance that not only are these four teenagers brave, they are also willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of our kingdom."
"Yes. The four children you selected for your inaugural decree are good, or at the very least are good at protecting what they value. But the fact that this was able to happen at all is alarming."
"I agree it was alarming. When these 'agents' came over, they were promised safety and protection from their parents. Safety and protection Auradon failed to provide for them. Our nation has condoned these children, the children of villains that live under their tyranny. We've tried to tell ourselves that even villains love their children. But we've been lying to ourselves. As we have seen, that is not the case. But instead of saving them, we are still condemning them to live under tyranny out of fear that they might free the villains that brought them into the world, but as we all witnessed, that is not the case. We clearly need to figure out a way of preventing any more villains from escaping, but we also must start considering what type of life we have left innocent children to survive through."
Queen Leah stares at him for a moment before she smiles, "Of course. You are correct, Prince Benjamin. We clearly need to solve the problem of preventing further escapes of villains from the barrier, prevent further attacks against the people of the United Kingdoms, and investigate the lives of those living on the Isle underage. Does that sound like an understanding we can agree on?"
"As far as I'm concerned, anyone under the age of twenty-five should be considered. Anyone under the age of seventeen when the barrier was erected should be allowed to have their case heard, should they wish to leave the Isle. We should not condemn children for the actions of their parents. Many innocent children are suffering due to this oversight."
"Very well. I move to table the discussion of Prince Benjamin's new amendments to his inaugural decree until we have established the breath of this current disaster. We can reconvene on this subject once we've determined how many villains were able to escape, and the barrier itself is repaired."
"Seconded."
"All in favor?"
Every member of the gathered council raises their hands. Some while staring at him, many unable to even look in his direction.
"Motion passed." Queen Leah turns back to him, "I will be sure to keep your father updated on the situation, and we will request your presence once we are able to move forward with your Forgiveness Program."
"That would be most appreciated." He forces another smile on his lips, "I'm glad we could come to an agreement." He stands from the table. "Always the pleasure Queen Leah. Esteemed council members. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some pressing matters to attend to." He nods.
He frowns as he exits the chamber.
That could have gone better. But he could at least acknowledge that concessions were being made on both sides.
For now.
For this meeting.
He wasn't happy with it. At all.
He knew that this meant that the council would continue to stall bringing more children over. That they may have even lost the opportunity for more children to come over during the summer-
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as he does his best to swallow his disgust with the council.
But it would do him no favors to push any harder, lest he lose his temper.
He would speak to his father and mother later to come up with the best plan of action before any more hearings proceeded.
That didn't stop him from wanting to put his fist through a wall.
"Hiro?" He pokes his head into the man's mobile office, grimacing when he sees how destroyed the room was.
Kai.
Had he even slept?
He appreciated the dedication. Like really appreciated it. But he was getting worried that he hadn't seen hide or hair of the little genius since shit had gone south.
He still couldn't believe what had happened.
He was beside himself with worry.
Worry over the way Jay and his pack were so scared of what happened, they bolted.
Not that he could blame them.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared. They'd been told time and time again that their parents couldn't touch them here.
That they were safe.
That they wouldn't have to face the consequences of choosing their own paths.
It killed him, hurt him on a level he wasn't even aware he could be hurt, that he'd believed that the barrier was infallible.
All the work he'd put into Carlos, into Jay, to assuage them of their fears, the trust he'd been trying to build with them.
Gone.
Dissipated in a cloud of green smoke.
He would be lying if he didn't admit he almost pissed himself just seeing that woman turn into a dragon.
Seeing what these children had to face daily back on the isle.
The cruelty.
The manipulation.
The sadism.
And to have to stand by and watch helplessly as his son was consumed in green fire.
Helpless to catch Evie as she collapsed.
Unable to protect Carlos as he dragged Evie out of harm's way.
To root for Mal, encourage her, for facing her mother in such a catalytic fight.
A fight that had millions of citizens riding on her ability to defeat her own mother in a battle of life and death.
It did nothing short of enrage him that Ben was currently being forced to defend their 'goodness'. If it hadn't been for those four there wouldn't be any 'goodness' to fucking defend.
The fact that Belle, Janice, Snow, and several other people were forced to speak with journalists on their behalf.
No wonder why these kids fucking ran.
Their damn survival instincts kicked in.
Lilo gives him a tired smile as he rounds the corner and finds Hiro in front of a bank of screens. "Hey David." She greets him as she pops a piece of sushi into Hiro's open mouth.
"Fanx," Hiro responds absently as he continues to furiously tap against his keyboard.
"Just wanted to see how the program was coming." He asks tentatively.
"Do you even know how many updates and rewrites I've had to fucking do to keep Baymax top of the line? And how many lines of code each one of those fucking updates have? Cause fuck me, I didn't think about that when I said it was going to take at least a few hours. Red, that's all I saw, red that I couldn't do anything to help Chibi-Chan or his pack. Drink, please."
Lilo already had a can and bendy straw in hand and was holding it to Hiro's lips.
"He has a few more updates to send the program through before he can start testing it." She explains as Hiro continues to tap at the keyboard while gulping through the straw, "It shouldn't be too long now before we can see how Baymax takes the update to his scanner."
He sighs with relief, "Thank Kai."
"Kai?" Hiro snorts, "Kai should be raining tsunamis over these ungrateful pricks."
"I… Feel like I- No. I don't have the energy-"
"Will-" Hiro corrects him.
"To argue." He snorts.
"Will you focus, this is the line that almost tripped you up last time." Lilo lightly knocks her fist against Hiro's head.
"Right you are, my beautiful Sakura*." Hiro returns his eyes to the screen.
Lilo rolls her eyes as she tosses the empty energy drink can into a garbage can and pulls a new one out of the small fridge.
"You can read code now you iki lolo?"
"Tch. No." Lilo snorts as she pulls the tab and pushes the straw into it, "I just say things like that to help keep him focused."
"Addy me." Hiro holds out his hand.
"I'm going to ignore that." He shakes his head as he watches Lilo drops the pill into his mouth before putting the energy drink to his lips.
"It's prescribed." Hiro rolls his eyes, "Nerd."
"Yeah," He snorts, "How many a day though, you lil' tweaker."
"An amount," Hiro says snippily after he swallows, "more than one, since that's all you've witnessed."
"Right. You're going to crash so hard." He shakes his head as he leans against the door frame.
"When I crash, it will be with Chibi-Chan and his pack safe-"
"Never said when. Just said hard." He shakes his head.
"Worth it." Hiro's eyes narrow as he returns his full attention to the screens again.
"I feel like I should argue, but…" He trails off.
"But you get it." Lilo finishes sadly.
"I do." He sighs. "I want them back bad enough to ignore Hiro's attempt at a heart attack."
"I'm monitoring him." Lilo tilts her head to a clipboard beside her.
"Unfortunately." Hiro grumbles. "Like Baymax wouldn't resuscitate me."
"And," Lilo continues loudly over Hiro, "I'm not letting him get too crazy. Carlos wouldn't be devastated if he ever believed he in any way was responsible for Hiro getting hurt."
"You're not kidding." He shakes his head. "Kid's got enough anxiety for one of these Kingdoms."
"Hence nurse Sakura and Baymax on stand by." Hiro points out as his lips absently search for the straw.
Lilo smiles as she adjusts the straw, "That's my genius. Poking himself in the eye with a straw."
"Aunt Cass always said I was special." Hiro snorts.
"No one needs to add the, needs, I see." He teases.
"Oh shut it, brah." Hiro chuckles, "Let me work."
"Fair enough- I just wanted to make sure you didn't run off without Nani and me."
"I can't promise that."
"I know." He sighs.
"Should I make up the sleep area for you guys?"
"I can do it." He shrugs, "Just wanted to let you know we're crashing."
"Bye."
"Later lolos." He nods before he walks out of the room and heads to the kitchenette, where he knew Nani was already cooking. "You were right."
"When am I not?" Nani asks with a small smile.
"You could at least be humble about it." He grins weakly.
"I'm too tired and scared to be humble." Nani admits as she turns to face him.
"Yeah, that's the reason." He snorts, "But he kicked me out, so I think he's close."
"Good." She nods in approval. "Lilo certainly knows how to pick them, ey?"
"We definitely lucked out. I was pretty damn sure she was going to marry that drug dealing tattoo artist with the tattoos covering his face."
"Which one?"
"Exactly."
Nani steps into him, wrapping her arms around him as she tucks her head into his shoulder, "I'd like to eventually say that about Jay too. That we lucked out."
"Me too." He sighs as he hugs her to him tightly, "Me too."
It hurt.
And no amount of teasing and joking was going to make this okay.
But it helped. At least a little. He wasn't sure what they would do without the small distractions.
A smile here.
A chuckle there.
It was the best they could muster.
He bites his lip. "I'm going to call Lonnie." He sighs, "I'm worried about them. They're not faring any better than we are. The fact that they're crawling through the sewer systems looking for our son and his ohana scares me. I mean, I know two of them can defend themselves and Doug, but it just doesn't sit right with me."
"I'll keep scanning for radio signals," She adds as she steps back, "in case-"
"Good call." He runs a hand through her hair. "I still-"
Why? Why the fuck were there seriously people targeting these fucking kids. Weren't they traumatized enough?
How were they possibly a threat to anyone?
It wasn't lolo. It was just straight bull shit.
"I know." Nani presses her lips to his cheek, "Me too."
Ooh. Ben's got a temper.
Also, fuck. Queen. Leah.
That being said, can we just take a minute to applaud Dark's ability to write her? I can't. I just- Writing Ben in that scene? We got into several arguments cause I was personally fucking pissed by her words, and Dark was all like, chill, brah. I'm just playing a character. And I was all like, but fuck her. And she was like kinda the point. And then I was like grrrr. And she was all like SMH and *sighs* it just was a tense writing scene.
Ugh.
Gross.
What do you guys think?
Were you offronted?
Pissed?
Disgusted?
Because, seriously, Dark is a beast at getting into a head space and rolling with it.
Like obnoxiously so.
Seriously I know this repetitive but like all the fucking props.
And writing Ben in that scene? Ugh she had to keep correcting me. Like every sentence.
"Not Hiro."
"Not T."
Like ad nauseum.
Anyways, (though seriously can't stroke Dark's ego enough on this one)
Would you have been able to keep your head in that sitch?
*snorts* Cause clearly I couldn't.
At least I got to keep some clap backs in.
Hiro.
Is a legit fucking psycho.
And a tweaker.
Can you blame him though?
And Lilo is such a little enabler, though in this case so is David.
Damn i hope he gets that code done soon…
Ugh.
I hate not remembering our own writing.
Fave line:
Lilo smiles as she adjusts the straw, "That's my genius. Poking himself in the eye with a straw."-L
What was yours?
Much love and appreciation
-Twisted