I do not own Disney Descendants. Requested my marvelatmymajesty on AO3.

The Test of Your Trial

Mal's first official act as queen was to deliver Carlos's court summons to him.

Carlos blinked at the envelope, studied the addresses written on the front, and then looked back up at her. "What's this?" he asked.

Mal chewed on her lip. "It's about your mother," she said. "She's been arrested and charged."

Carlos blinked and his mouth fell open. Ben and Mal, in removing the barrier to the Isle, had acknowledged that many wrongdoings had occurred on the Isle that would need to be sorted out, but a majority of the villains were going without charges. Gaston had been charged for assault and rape, of course, and Jafar had had to pay a fine for making his son an accomplice to robbery and crime. Evie's mother would served community service for a few events that had happened while she was growing up and Mal's mom… well, they'd just kinda let Maleficent stay a lizard. Hades had been completely pardoned for aiding Auradon. In most cases, the time they had served on the Isle negated the need for any jail time and Auradon was taking into account the fact that they hadn't exactly served the villains and their children well and had inadvertently created a dystopic society. It hadn't honestly occurred to Carlos that his mother would be called to a court as Auradon went through the hundreds of cases.

"What for?" Carlos asked. "Did she do something wrong?"

Mal's eyes flicked down to the table. She'd asked Carlos to meet her in the Auradon Accelerated café where he was attending school. She'd hoped that would make the delivery easier. "Child abuse," she breathed.

Carlos's eyes grew even wider. "She's not being acquitted?" he asked.

Mal shook her head. "Ben wants her to see a trial. He didn't even finish reading the list of charges. He set it down after the first two and said she was going to stand."

"What were they?" Carlos demanded.

"Mal drummed her fingers on the tabletop. Her lip was starting to go numb underneath her teeth. "They conducted an investigation of the house," she began. "Found your old room and a few of her… toys. Also lists of chores and stuff like that. They tested a lot of the things in your room and found old blood and stuff like that. And, uh, I don't know if you knew this, but the backyard area where she had you put the fire ashes…" Mal trailed off, still biting her lip as she examined Carlos.

"Yes?" Carlos asked.

"Bodies. Of children. They don't know if they're hers or not." Mal ran a hand through her hair with an exhale. "I'm sorry, Carlos."

"Bodies?" Carlos repeated with a choke. "No, no, they can't be hers. Someone else must have put them there. I would have known."

"The heat from the ashes preserved some of them pretty well," Mal whispered. "I think Ben said that they have four bodies undergoing autopsies now. We'll know by the time the court date rolls around." She swallowed hard. "Sorry I don't have much more information about it. Ben has taken on the case personally. He just asked if I would deliver this to you because… he thought it would come off easier."

Carlos exhaled and set the envelope down. "When is it?" he asked.

"Fourth of December," Mal replied. "In three weeks."

"Why so long?" Carlos asked.

"Because the investigation is still ongoing and because they wanted to give you some time to decide and to, well, prepare to speak. If that's what you want." Mal folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. "Ben's hand-picked the judge and the jury and set aside seats for everyone. It's going to be public. He wants to know if you'll speak against - or for her, if you want - by the first."

"Sounds like he's going to town," Carlos sighed, sinking back into his chair.

Mal nodded. "He hasn't taken up a personal case since Gaston's came up, and that one only lasted a week."

"He letting you help?" Carlos asked.

Mal shook her head. "Not this time," she whispered. "Bias. But I'm still handling all the other cases from the Isle."

Carlos nodded. "Is there… anything else?" he asked.

"Umm," Mal closed her eyes to think. "One more small thing, I guess. Ben asked if, even if you don't want to speak, if you'd be willing to go in for a physical. The palace would cover any expenses."

Carlos hesitated, then nodded again. "I'll think about it," he whispered.

Mal got to her feet and slid a few bills onto the table to cover for the comfort food they'd ordered while sitting. "From Ben," she whispered.

Carlos rolled his eyes. "Duh," he snorted.

Mal gave him a little smile and then walked past him and out of the café, pulling a hood up over her hair as she left. Carlos heard the clicks of phone cameras as she left. It was still a little strange to think that Mal was grown up now, a wife and a queen, and no longer the vicious and delusional teen they'd all known.

He wasn't the teen he once was either.

Carlos split the envelope open and began reading it. The official seal of Auradon was in the top right corner. The letter began "Mr. Carlos De Vil, you are hereby requested to join the prosecution of…"

He set the letter back down.

A slip of square paper was left in the envelope. He pulled it out and immediately recognized the over-the-top, fancy handwriting. "Carlos," Ben had written. "I know this is hard for you, but I want to lay what happened on the Isle to rest. You deserve justice, as do the other children with cases like yours who will follow. Please consider it."

Other children… Carlos set the leaflet down and exhaled. Of course Ben would take that route. Thinking of the big picture… advocating for all. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to the bridge of his nose.

What was he going to do?

After twenty-two years on the Isle of the Lost, Cruella could barely fit into society anymore. Carlos had figured that at some point, she'd run into trouble with the law again. But he hadn't realized it'd be for anything involving him. He'd moved forward with his life – he'd left the Isle behind him. Everything that had once happened… that had been a different him. A different time.

And here it all was again.

"I'm here to see Cruella De Vil," he mumbled as he produced his official ID and swallowed.

The guards examined the card and then gestured him forward through the metal detectors. It took a while to take off all his gloves and unload his phone and keys and watch and everything else, but then he was through and able to proceed. They summoned a guard to lead him through the holding cells.

The people behind the bars were all Auradonian. There weren't many of them – Auradon had never been a very crime-ridden place. Most had sunken eyes and scraggly hair and yellowing skin. Even indigenous people with colored skin like Uma had yellow tones to their cheeks. Clear signs of drug use and health problems and general lack of sleep. Things Ben and Mal dealt with normally and would deal with once the Isle Cases were gone.

He was shown straight to his mother's cell. Beside the door and behind enchanted glass was a small table with a desk and a place to speak through the glass. A chair was pulled up for him to sit down and he did as his mother glanced forlornly past the door and towards him. She got up and came to sit in front of him. His hands felt clammy and chilled.

"You're pretty thin," he said in lieu of a greeting as the guards walked away.

Cruella looked at her hands. They were bone-thin, with sagging skin and with dark marks stretching across her skin. The bags under her eyes could probably carry a marble or something. "Yes," she sighed. "Age. Happens to everyone."

"Are they taking care of you?" Carlos asked.

Cruella snorted. "Does Auradon ever take care of prisoners?" she asked.

"Not under Adam's rule," Carlos murmured. "But I'm told Ben changed tons of things. I wouldn't know what it's like to be a prisoner, but…"

"No, you wouldn't," Cruella agreed.

It was odd to be conversing with her like this. They'd never been able to carry a conversation before the barrier had come down. He'd introduced her to Jane in a series of bumbling descriptions and murmured names. Then they hadn't seen each other and he'd heard through the grapevine that she was being placed in Auradon as Ben tried to evacuate the Isle in the build-up to the royal wedding and his and Mal's honeymoon. But he'd been busy with school and then with applying for college courses, so he'd never looked into the rumors.

"What's been happening?" he asked.

Cruella shrugged. "They went through the house," she said. "And then came and said I was under arrest. What else is there?"

"Mal said that there were bodies in the backyard?" Carlos asked. Cruella blinked slowly. "You know about them, then?"

Cruella leaned back and drummed her nails against the desk on her side. Carlos closed his eyes. "Were they… did you know them? Or were they someone else's?"

"Will you be testifying?" Cruella asked, avoiding the question with carelessness as she discovered a chip in her nails and began scratching and frowning at it. "Give me a file," she demanded and Carlos pulled one out with mechanical compliance.

"Do you want me to?" Carlos asked.

Cruella snorted. "The king has it out for me," she said. "I'm locked up either way. I'm sure he'd like to have you testify, though. Make you out to be an example. One of the 'Core Four' fighting against the abominable childhood he had." She blew a bit of her hair out of her face. "I'll need you to bring me things on court day. Hairspray, hair dye, a few other things. I'll make a list."

Carlos stared at her blankly. He didn't know what he'd expected. An apology? A plea? She seemed almost indifferent – both to him and to her situation. As if she had won through loosing in the worst way possible.

He scooted forward. "Doesn't it bother you?" he whispered. "You'll never… you'll never have your things again. The lampshades and the furs and everything. Aren't you even a little sad."

Cruella rolled her eyes. She did. Behind the glass where he could see them as if he couldn't have said anything more ridiculous. "Oh pup, don't be ridiculous," she chided and a chill ran down his spine. "You're not asking whether I'll miss my babies. You're asking whether I miss you, and the answer is still no."

Carlos got up. He pushed his chair back where it had come from and left without a goodbye. Cruella was not fazed by his departure. She wasn't fazed by anything anymore, it seemed.

Ben called on the morning of the trial. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"I am," Carlos responded, standing in his bathroom alone with his shirt off, looking at the old scars on his arms.

"Are you still okay to testify?"

"I think so."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Carlos traced a long, old, ugly wound the stretched across his shoulder in the shape of a jaw. "I don't think so," he whispered.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. It was Ben waiting for him to continue. It was an emotional ploy he did without even realizing it – stay quiet long enough for the other person to get uncomfortable and start talking. Carlos didn't feel like falling for it today. He stayed quiet until he heard Ben take a long and ragged breath on the other end of the phone.

"Hush," he heard his friend murmur from a distance. It sounded like Ben had removed the microphone from under his mouth, but Carlos could still hear what he was saying. "Don't do that," he gasped. "I'm on the phone."

"Is that Carlos?" Mal asked, sounding out of breath.

"Is that Mal?" Carlos asked. "You guys aren't starting anything while you're on the phone with me, right?"

"No!" Ben squeaked and a smile spread across Carlos's mouth in spite of the day. "No, no, we're not starting anything. Don't worry."

"Speak for yourself," Mal mumbled as she got further and further from the mic.

"But you are good?" Ben asked. Carlos heard him kiss someone – probably Mal. "You'll be okay?"

"Yes," Carlos repeated. "I'll be okay."

"Okay," Ben said. "Keep me posted."

"I will."

"I'll see you soon."

"Bye Ben."

The phone line died, but not before he was treated to another one of Ben's groans as Mal presumably began doing something wicked with him. Hopefully they managed to make it to court in time.

He stared up at himself in the mirror. A thousand disjointed images flashed before his eyes. What was he going to say? She would be right there – how could he prosecute against her?

But then again, how couldn't he?

She was led in without chains. Nothing holding her except for two guards who led her to the defendant's table and helped her sit down. Carlos sat beside Ben and the lawyer the crown had hired to prosecute Cruella and couldn't keep his eyes off his mother as she took her seat.

The room was circular with Ben's hand-picked judge sitting on a raised dias. Cruella's defendants were sat on the left side of the room in front of a half wall behind which the public had been invited to fill the area. On the right side was the prosecution, with Ben's lawyer on the end, then Ben, Carlos, and the physician who had examined Carlos. Ben was currently leaning back into his chair. Mal, Evie, Jay, Jane and Belle were all sitting in the first row behind the prosecution and Mal was leaning forward to run her fingers through Ben's hair and lean her cheek against his from time to time. They were still newlyweds by two months, so no one really expected less, but it meant Ben was distracted and not talking to him about what was about to transpire.

The room filled slowly. It took forever. Carlos felt like he might be sick as his classmates and teachers walked in to see what would happen. The jury, which was even farther to the left in its own little alcove, filled with dozens of different people from all sorts of jobs and statuses.

The judge calls for attention. Ben himself gets up to announce the prosecution and read through the summary of what they're about to debate. Then he sits down and the lawyer stands up to read the evidence to the jury. There are long, long lists of things and stories that they've collected from people. One story is about 'an unnamed witness who built a place for Carlos De Vil to stay when his mother threw him out' that he knows is Jay. Those stories are all substantial, though. Almost every child on the Isle has been thrown out at some point. Being beaten is somewhat common. No one can afford to feed their children, so neglect – voluntary or involuntary – is hard to pin.

It's the examination of the house that Carlos is curious about.

The Lawyer finally begins explaining what the police and detectives found when they went through Cruella's Isle hideaway. They talk about elaborate places and expensive furs before they begin talking about his bedroom. Carlos pictures it as they speak. The spare coat closet with the furs he couldn't touch and the pile of rags lying underneath the busted window where he slept. They probably found all his old, twisted wires and batteries from when he'd try to make things work. The lawyer talks about blood on the traps that were stored there and how it tested positive for human blood. He talks about the pieces of flesh and the bandage supplies hidden under his cot of rags. Then, he moves on to the most critical piece of evidence.

"The search also uncovered the bodies of six children in the backyard," The lawyer announces and people stir. Some of them have fallen asleep – Carlos doesn't blame them – but they all perk up at the words "bodies in the backyard". "All under the age of four," the prosecutor continues. "The youngest being not even a few days old. All died of different causes. The oldest body, that of a two-year-old girl, was placed about thirty-months after the Isle was instated. She was killed to a bludgeon to the brain. A second four-month-old girl was strangled and buried under hot ash about a year later and a six-year-old boy with shattered limbs was discovered not far from her grave. We believe the boy must have died from the traumatic injury months before Carlos De Vil was born. One young toddler with damaged lungs was also recovered, her body having been placed sometime after the four-month old's, and a stillborn baby was recovered from the corner of the yard. The last was that of a three-week-old baby girl whose neck was snapped back."

"What are the identities of the children?" the judge asked.

"All were children of Cruella De Vil," the prosecutor said. "We believe she killed her own children, either through accident or malicious intent, over the years."

There was a stir throughout the room. Carlos turned to stare at Ben. "You didn't tell me that," he gasped.

Ben shook his head. "Didn't want to," he said with guilt in his tone. Mal was leaning forward with one hand on the wall and Ben was leaning against her hand for comfort. He was holding her other hand over his shoulder. Carlos didn't understand – they acted like they were in pain all the time.

There was more evidence – more descriptions regarding the gruesome way the six children – Carlos's older brother and sisters – died, but Carlos tuned it out in favor of shock and focusing on what was about to happen.

He was finally called to the stand.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" a man asks, holding a book of law for Carlos to swear on.

"I do," Carlos nodded.

Ben's lawyer and Ben have a quick discussion/escalating argument/fight and then the lawyer sits down and Ben gives Mal one last squeeze before getting up. Ben has a degree in law that he received alongside his graduation diploma and is, as such, able to question a witness without a major problem. Also, he's the king who brought down the barrier to the Isle of the Lost and married the daughter of Maleficent, who had dragon-shapeshifting powers. At this point, he can do whatever he wants. All at nineteen. What a winner.

"Carlos," Ben began, clapping his hands together in the same way he does whenever he wants everyone's attentions. "Will you tell us about your mother?"

It was a very general question for a very specific reason. Ben wanted to know the scope of what Carlos was willing to share and then target the most important parts.

"She and I were never quite close," Carlos started. "Growing up, I was there to do most of the chores. Like most other Isle kids, I was beat and hit and sometimes left outside."

"Did you feel that Cruella cared for you?" Ben asked softly. Carlos felt his throat swelling up. Trust Ben to ask these hard-hitting questions.

"No," he said. "She didn't. She told me so."

Ben exhales and steps forward to be closer to Carlos. "Carlos, was there every any other people living in the house with you and your mother?"

"No."

"And you were unaware of the bodies in the backyard?"

"I first learned about them when Mal invited me to be part of this prosecution."

"Taking those children into consideration, did your mother ever threaten you?"

Carlos's hands shook even though he was doing nothing with them. "A few times," he agreed and his voice cracked. "Almost every day, actually. Most of the time with small things, though. She told me I'd get locked out if I didn't finish chores or that she'd b-hit me. Or that I would go hungry. Stuff like that. Normal stuff." He flinched away from his own words as people in the audience exchanged looks. It is not always that he remembers it is not normal to abuse children in Auradon.

Ben tilted his head. "Did she ever threaten to kill you?" he asked.

Carlos swallowed hard. The memories are flashing in front of his eyes and cold sweat is dripping down his forehead. "Yes," he agreed.

"Tell me a time," Ben requested. Carlos closes his eyes.

"I…" he stammered off and then cleared his throat. "I came back late with Mal, Evie, and Jay. Someone had broken into the house while I was gone and had stolen a bunch of things. She was furious. She called me a thief and demanded I make restitution for not protecting the house. She said I had a week to make it all up or she would… well, she would kill me."

Ben knew Carlos. They were good friends. Still, he glanced back at Mal and Jay and Evie to make sure it's okay to keep asking before he said: "Is there anything else you want to tell me about that time? Specifics… how old you were?"

"I was thirteen," Carlos nodded. "I turned thirteen the next week. And… she specifically said she would use my stomach to hang me up in the streets."

The defense attorney pinched the bridge of his nose.

Ben nodded and stopped wringing his hands. "Carlos, were you ever hurt by your mother?"

The question made him freeze up. How could he possibly tell one? So many different instances came to mind. "Yes," was all he could think to say. "But we all were."

"Strike that from the record," Ben requested, addressing the judge. "It's irrelevant to the case and generalization."

"So stricken," the judge agreed.

"Carlos," Ben called, walking a little closer. "You know I want the best for you. And for all of the Isle kids, correct?"

"Objection!" The defense attorney raised his hand. "You are leading the witness."

The judge nodded and gave Ben a firm look. Ben nodded, took a deep breath, and then focused on Carlos. "Bearing in mind the others who will come after you and how you may feel when this is all over, is there anything in particular you wish to tell the jury?"

Carlos glanced at the jury. He glanced at his mother. He focused on Ben. Honest, hard-working Ben who was going to be elbow-deep in child abuse cases from the Isle of the Lost for the next five years, if he was lucky. He swallowed and ran a thumb over his index finger.

"There are a lot of things," he mumbled. "Things I pushed out and grew up through. Most of the time, they just come back in pieces." He reached up and squeezed his own shoulder before sliding the neckline of the red and black t-shirt he was wearing down. The scar in the shape of a bite was revealed and he watched several jury members take deep breaths.

"There was a cat," he recalled. "One that accidentally came over with the ships. A cat that was black with poufy fur and one dead eye. She locked it in a room and left it there for two days until it was feral with hunger. Then she threw me in. It got my eye… I couldn't see but I somehow managed to smash it into the wall. It bit me here and I obviously still have the marks."

He reached down and lifted his leg up onto his thigh to trace his calf. "They've already talked about my room… it was a spare closet where she hung her old furs and left all these old bear traps… things you step on and they take off your leg. When I was seven, I triggered one, but it didn't go off all the way. It mangled up my leg and I couldn't walk. Jay happened to walk past my window, heard me calling for help, and snuck in to sneak me out. I couldn't walk for almost four months and I had a limp until I turned twelve. She used to follow me around the house, screaming because I couldn't walk straight and I couldn't move as fast."

Carlos combed his fingers through his head and found a bald spot. "She burned a 'C' into my head," he announced and pulled his hair aside to show them. "She found a curved piece of metal and held it into the fire for a few hours." He let his locks fall back into place. "I just… never understood it. I felt like it was normal punishments, even if my friends never went through the same stuff. And I understood that I was in danger, but she always made it feel as if it was my fault."

"How would you describe your situation?" Ben asked.

"I was trapped," Carlos replied. "Trapped until you took me away. I was living a life where she would never be proud of me and I would always be trying to make her proud of me."

"Can you expand on that, please?" Ben asked. "Specifically, why do you believe she couldn't be proud of you?"

"Because she hated me," Carlos said and a weight lifted off his chest. The words began to come faster, as if he'd finally unlocked them. "She told me every day that she hated my guts and I knew it. It was just a truth… we grow up knowing that the grass is green and that food fills you… I knew that my mother hated me and I was only around to keep the house. I knew that one day, I would die, and it would probably be by her hand, and I was never sure if I wanted it or not because I thought it might be easier to be dead."

Tears burned his eyes, but he pressed onwards as they came rolling down his cheeks. "She tried to murder me once, when she was drunk. In one hand she had a busted bottle of champagne… in the other a fire poker. She threw a heavy fur on me and tried to beat me through it. I think she was drunk. I passed out in my own blood. And when I woke up, I cried because I was awake and alive and I knew I had to clean up my own mess of vomit and blood before she saw it or she would do it all over again. I cried because I didn't want to do the cycle again. I wanted to stay asleep so she couldn't hurt me."

Carlos had never known silence to be as quiet as if was in the courtroom as Ben pulled a box of tissues off the stand and handed them to Carlos. "No further questions," he murmured, only loud enough for the judge and Carlos to hear, before he went to go sit down in his seat. Mal's hand immediately tangled into his hair and she slid up to kiss the skin at the nape of his neck. Carlos looked down the line at his friends. Poor Jane was crying just as bad as he was.

The judge directed her attention to Ben's attorney. "Any further questions?" she asked. He shook his head. "The defense may begin their cross-examination."

Surprisingly, the defense team didn't try too hard with him. They fired off a few things about where and when things had happened, but when they couldn't trip him on the first few items they simply gave up. He was allowed to sit down and they began to fire statistical arguments at the jury. "This woman has served twenty-two years in prison and in an area that was not secured by Auradon government. How can we hold her to standards in a place where the law did not exist?" But it was clear that even Cruella's defense thought she should be locked away. Hardly anyone listened to their lawful reasoning.

The jury left to make their decision and Cruella turned around to ask one of the people behind her for a comb. Carlos watched her fluff up her hair from a distance. He put his head down on the table until the jury walked back in. The entire decision had taken less than ten minutes.

Carlos listened to her be pronounced guilty and sentenced to life. Cruella seemed unfazed. She didn't even glance his way. He didn't understand. He had just helped put her away. Could she at least spare him that?

The court adjourned and people began walking away. Guards came to cuff her and put her behind bars. Without even realizing what was happening, Carlos was jumping over the table and running to break their path. "Mom," he snapped, the word foreign on his tongue. "Look at me."

Cruella rolled her eyes. "Why?" she asked.

"Don't you understand?" Carlos demanded. "You're going to prison. For life. And I put you there. Don't you want to glare? Or be upset?"

Cruella's cold, uncaring eyes skimmed over him. "What's the point?" she asked. "I don't owe you another thought and don't think I give things away for free."

And they walked by him.

She'd looked at him. He could feel those cold eyes like hands dragging him down.

"What should I have done?" He asked Ben as they all crowded into the dark end of a restaurant. "I mean… she was right there."

"I think you did wonderfully," Ben said, dropping an arm around his bride. Her hair was covered so as not to draw paparazzi attention. "You don't owe her anything."

"I feel like I do," Carlos snorted with a disbelieving laugh. "You know… she asked me for a nail file when I went to visit her and I just… did it. Because that's my job. It's what I'm supposed to do."

"I do that," Evie mumbled down the table. "My mom called and said she was out of mascara and I was down to the car before I realized that I have a life now and I don't need to go help her all the time." She sighed and sipped the smoothie she'd ordered. "I mean, I still went to help her, but it was just an automatic response. I need to work on it."

"I think it's just something you do for people," Jane whispered. "You and Evie."

"What about us?" Mal raised an eyebrow.

"Nah," Ben began to laugh. "If someone asks you to do something, you're all like: 'why', 'what are you gonna give me?'"

"Whatever, Ben." Mal scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Hey Mal," Jay smirked. "Can I see your phone? Need to look something up."

Mal sneered. "Use your own," she snapped, then blinked and began to laugh when she realized Evie and Carlos had both reached for their phones to offer up sacrifice to Jay. The two teens blushed and put their phones back.

"I guess that's right," Carlos agreed, laughing a little. "It just felt different in the moment because I just… reacted. And it was such a small thing, but I've been so worried about testifying. Like… if she said not to talk about something, would I have?"

"Did she say not to talk about anything?" Mal asked.

"No," Carlos shook his head. "She said she'd get me a list of things she wanted me to bring to court, but it never arrived. She didn't even talk to me at all during court… barely even looked at me on the way out."

Mal shook her head, "What a-"

"Don't swear," Ben cut her off. "You need to get into the habit, remember? Our publicist will go insane if you keep cussing during interviews."

"Whatever," Mal scoffed. "Just think of it this way, Carlos. Now she's in a place where they'll take care of her and you're not required to go see her or do anything. If you do go, she can't touch you and you can't bring things into her anyways. This is just your way of gaining more control of your relationship with her."

Carlos stayed silent for several seconds, swirling his straw in his soda pop. Everyone waited patiently for his response. "I like that," he said at last. "I guess… I just have a little bit more control over how much control she has of me."

"And that," Ben picked up his drink and bumped it against Mal's head with a sly grin on his face, "is something worthy of a toast. To Carlos!"

Everyone else picked up their glasses as well. "To Carlos!" Was echoed a bit too loudly around the restaurant. Patrons glanced over, and Carlos found himself blushing. Ben swung back the entirety of his drink in one go and dropped the glass with a thud before he and Jay joined up to squish Mal between them as hard as they both could. She squealed and, with one arm each (the remnants of her strength from the Isle) pushed them aside. Ben grabbed her arm and Jay began to help wrestle her down to tickle her.

"By the way," Ben announced. "I'm paying tonight."

"Way to flash your money at everyone, Ben," Evie rolled her eyes.

Carlos laughed along with everyone as Mal squealed and tried to wrestle away from Ben and Jay's joint attacks. Everything that had happened suddenly seemed very far away.