Do What you Gotta Do

AN: Hi! So I've decided to do this collection of random oneshots about the VKs when they're living on the Isle of the Lost, here is the first one which is about Jay and Carlos. Yes, I am aware that I am now writing 3 stories at once but since in the UK it's still lockdown I have a lot of free time on my hands, so I will update each week. This story will be updated each Tuesday. :)

Enjoy!

I walked down the sharp pebbles. It was raining hard and the wind was blowing my hair in my face. I checked again to make sure Carlos was there, and then turned back once I saw him behind me. My plan was to make him touch the magical barrier that stopped us from escaping, and to get to the barrier, we had to climb on the old wooden fences that made sure goblin ships coming and going wouldn't mix. Not to mention that the barrier burns when you touch it, and Carlos didn't know this. Ha! I would finally be able to prove to my dad that I was evil enough, and then he might not make me steal for a couple of days. (Also it was really fun to bully Carlos, even more fun than stuffing kids in their lockers at school)

I stopped in front of the gate. Carlos came up beside me, looking scared. "Why are we here?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

"I want you to climb that"- I pointed - "And touch the barrier."

"W-what? I can't climb that, it's so slippery, and the water's really deep-"

"Well, you're going to have to. Unless you want me to drown that stupid cat of yours." I threatened. Carlos gulped. He took that cat everywhere, he even gave it a name, something ridiculously long beginning with B.

He took a deep breath and struggled up the gate. I decided to go after him, to make sure he actually touched the barrier, and of course to scare him even more. I took a running jump, caught the top, and pulled myself up easily. I crouched on top of the gate and told Carlos to get on with it. Because he was shuffling along it so slowly, I sat on one of the rusty metal cylinder things and chilled for a couple of minutes. When he had got a bit further, I got a move on and was right behind him in less than a minute. I had moved up quietly, so he wouldn't hear me, and then went right up to his ear and whispered, "Boo." Carlos squealed fearfully and almost fell off. I laughed cruelly, this was so funny! Carlos looked shaken. I shoved him forwards to make sure he would carry on scaling the gate.

By now it was raining even harder (yes it was possible) and the waves were crashing against the worn out wood, occasionally sending up freezing sprays that combined with the rain to make us soaking wet. Carlos was shivering from the cold, and I was trying to stop myself from doing the same-I wasn't showing weakness like SOME PEOPLE. It was getting really slippery now and the wood was covered in slimy grass plant stuff (the only thing we got growing here) "Hey Carlos! Watch out for the grass!" I teased, causing him to jump and almost fall off again.

"It's seaweed actually." he corrected.

"Shut it nerd." I growled, internally embarrassed that I was outsmarted by an 11 year old.

We had been silent for a few minutes when Carlos asked "How much further is the barrier?" I tore off a clump of grass (Oh, sorry, SEAWEED) and threw it at thin air. It hit an invisible wall and dropped back down into the sea, having caused a gold shimmer not too far ahead of us. "There. And hurry up, I haven't got all evening." That was true, I still had to steal some more stuff before Dad would let me get food. "I'm scared, "Carlos looked nervously at the crashing waves, which at their highest point were flooding our shoes with cold, salty water. I was about to tell him to go die in a hole when a huge wave crashed over me, drenching me with freezing water. "AGGGHHHH!" It was so cold! I shivered and spat the water out furiously. Flicking the hair off my face impatiently, I saw Carlos looking at me confused. I decided he was getting too comfortable, so I would torment him some more. I glared at him, and then suddenly barked loudly. He screamed and clung on to the wood, which was permanently wet by now. I cackled mirthlessly. "Come on Carlos, you don't want the DOGS to get you," I mimicked his mother. Carlos squeaked and sped up. I leaned back, satisfied, until I remembered I was about to lean into nothing, and hurriedly grabbed the wood again. I threw some more seaweed at the space in front of us, and it turned out the barrier was only about a metre from Carlos. Time for the real fun to begin.

He had seen me throw the seaweed, and looked back at me nervously. "Go on," I drawled, enjoying myself massively. He looked terrified, and reached out slowly. His hand met solid air and the barrier flashed gold. Carlos withdrew his hand quickly. "Ow! It burned me!" He exclaimed indistinctly while sucking his fingers. I smirked. "Put it in the water, it makes it better." Carlos gingerly put his hand in the water, and then took it out immediately and whined "That makes it worse!"

"Oops, SORRY, I thought a nerd like you would know that salt water makes burns sting." I said sarcastically.

"Ohhhhh" Carlos said quietly while looking like he wanted to kick himself for not remembering that. I saw a giant wave coming up behind him, and I smiled evilly. "W-what?" Carlos asked nervously. "What is-AARRRGGGHH!" the wave drenched him from head to toe and then, uh oh, I had forgotten- The wave surged into me, almost knocking me off balance and drenching me for a second time. I felt the need to scream angrily and I shook my fist at the frothing sea, cursing under my breath. "Jay! Help" I looked round and saw Carlos clinging on the wood, fully in the water apart from his head and shoulders. Yeah, like I was going to help him. It would be great to just leave him there, and I was about to turn back to make the long journey back to the shore when his voice made me turn around again. "P-p-please, it's so c-cold." I felt a weird feeling in my chest and suddenly felt the need to help him. No, why would I help him, I was EVIL, I was a VILLAIN. But when I looked at him, I felt emotion creeping up my throat and I sighed, reached over, and hauled him up. He held onto the wood tightly, shivering. I was furious at myself for helping him and kicked the water angrily (which didn't help as it didn't cry out in pain like the Gaston twins when I let my anger out on them.) "I touched the barrier. Can we go now?" Carlos pleaded.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied, barely listening. I should have just stuck to the usual punches and wedgies on SOLID GROUND, instead of coming all the way out here and then HELPING him. So much for trying to please my dad. And now I had lost precious stealing time! Way to mess things up Jay, I told myself angrily. Immersed in my thoughts, I wasn't concentrating when Carlos yelled "JAY! WATCH OUT!" I turned in surprise and a huge wave was headed straight for me, coming from a late-evening goblin ship. My eyes widened in terror, and I shifted my grip on the slippery wood, then braced myself for the impact.

It hit me with the force of a ten tonne ship (weirdly appropriate here) and I felt myself slipping off the wood. I held on desperately, but the water dragged me off and I fell in. My first thought was wow, this is cold and then the force of the water flipped me upside down and I lost all sense of direction, all I could see was murky dark water, and then I managed to surface out of the waves, and take a precious deep breath before another wave pushed me down again.

I felt the sharp pebbles graze my fingers and I knew I had hit the bottom. I tried to push away from the pebbles to propel myself upwards and to the surface, but they slipped out of my fingers and dark dust billowed up, clouding my vision. I didn't know how long I'd been underwater for, all I knew was that my lungs were bursting and I needed air, then I stretched my hand up and it met cold air, so I kicked frantically and reached the surface. I looked around wildly and was surprised to see how far I'd travelled from Carlos and the wooden gate, who were quite a distance away by now. I had been pushed away from them and towards the shore. Another smaller wave ducked my head and I panicked:I couldn't swim. Then I started crazily wiggling around, trying to keep my head above water. This seemed to work, so I continued doing this but in Carlos' direction and slowly but surely I was getting closer.

It was getting harder and harder to keep myself afloat, I was tired and the ice cold water was chilling me to the bone. I had swam (if you can call it that) closer to the barrier, then horizontally towards the gate and I was almost there. Luckily the ship had already docked at shore and was unloading. I heard a low rushing noise behind me, I turned around in dread and saw a HUGE wave heading towards me, I made a futile attempt by using the last of my energy to desperately kick towards the gate but it came up behind me quicker than I could swim.

The wave crashed into me, knocking all the breath out of my body. My scream was muffled underwater and murky, salty water flooded my mouth. I tried to cough it out, which was a mistake as I ended up swallowing some. I looked up, the salt stinging my eyes, and saw a huge froth coming at me under the surface. Some bubbles escaped my mouth, I was running out of air fast. The wall of water sprinted towards me, I had guessed it was another massive wave. It slammed into me, making me spin around underwater and everything was dusty and dark. Then suddenly I felt my body smash into something solid, and I saw a gold flash through my eyelids. Then my eyes flew open and I screamed in agony, letting out a stream of bubbles. It was burning excruciatingly, and the burning was everywhere. I groaned inwardly (so I wouldn't lose precious oxygen) - I must have hit the barrier.

I broke the surface, gasping for air. The horrible burning sensation was making me shake and wince at every movement. I turned my head and found the gate. Carlos was shouting something, but I couldn't hear it over the sound of the wind and waves. I had lost some progress, but I was still kind of close, so I got on with it and swam towards him, trying to ignore the stabs of pain making me hiss constantly. It was slow and painful, but finally I reached the gate and Carlos pulled me up.

I was about to tell him to get the hell off of me, but I seriously doubted I would be able to keep my balance on the slippery wood if his hand left my arm. The wind howled deafeningly.

"I know you hit the barrier." Carlos' voice broke the 'silence'.

"H-how?" I stammered, confused.

"I saw the flash. Anyone would have seen it, it was huge."

"Oh."

I adjusted myself and then shook off his hand impatiently. I didn't need help, oh no hang on I was falling…then Carlos grabbed me. Again I shook him off and concentrated hard. Ok, one step at a time, Jay. Get to the cylinder first, it's only a couple of meters…. I reached the cylinder and looked at the next one. Ok, now get to that one. Slowly we made our way to shore. I jumped down from the gate, not caring when I smacked my arm on a rock. Carlos hung off the gate, then dropped down and almost fell over.

Finally! Solid ground! The one thought that entered my mind was: I am NEVER getting into the sea again. And I collapsed onto the ground with relief.

So I've finished the first short story, hope you liked it! In case you were confused, Jay is 13 and Carlos is 11. This is because I thought it would be interesting to do a story before they became friends. Feel free to recommend ideas and/or characters, and the next oneshot should be up soon.

Until then, unicornyay xx