Alex barely made it back to Maleficent's 'tower' in time.
The limo was already there and a crowd started to form around it.
'Evil Lord it looks so new!' Alex thought once he saw it. Was it shining? He couldn't be sure since the stuff on the Isle was usually just dirty, but Dizzy always said his golden bracelet was shinning in the little light they had, so he figured he was right.
Alex moved his bag better on his shoulder. He had to climb up his Mother's tower to get to his room and pack. Sure, he probably could have survived with the things he left at Dizzy, but there were some things in the tower he couldn't imagine not having.
His only pillow for example. Dizzy made it and he couldn't risk having Mother Gothel find it and burn it like she liked to do with his books.
He still has burn marks from all the times he had to shove his hands in a fire just to try and save a book. Gaston and his sons may think that books are useless, but Alex knew better. Books were weapons. They were ideas.
He took a deep breath.
This was it. He was leaving Dizzy and the only 'home' he ever knew to go to some place he wasn't even sure he'd like.
Would they make him wear uniforms like Jay said? Cause if yes, someone was going to get hurt and he doubted it would be him.
Would he meet Rapunzel and that husband of hers? Mother always complained about her so she could be cool to hang around…
He saw Jay stealing the top ornament of the car and hand it to his father. If the driver saw it – which Alex doubted – he didn't say anything.
Then Carlos ran and dumped his stuff in the car, jumping inside. Cruella came not even five seconds later and sneered an 'Ingrate', adjusting her clothes.
Alex prepared to go, but before he could step forward, Mother Gothel suddenly materialized in front of him and he stopped. To say she was furious would be an understatement. She was livid.
"And where do you think you're going?" she said glaring at him.
It wasn't the first time it happened. She would catch him out of the Tower, would ask him the same thing and because she always scared him, he would respond with something like 'Back at the Tower?' hoping like an idiot that she wouldn't make him sleep in chains again. Then she'd drag him home where he would stay for about three days, without any meals, because that's how long it usually takes him to get out.
He knew he should be a little grateful. A lot of parents from the Isle seriously beat their children. Sure, he got hurt because of her, but nothing compared to Jay or Mal or even Carlos when their parents were mad.
"I'm going to school?" he said, cringing a little when it came out like a question.
At least he didn't shutter…
"You are not going to Auradon, you hear me?!" she said loudly. "They would do nothing but tell you lies to try and turn you against your lovely mother."
Alex started looking for an escape route. He couldn't go right because his mother would catch him, and he couldn't go left because his mother would catch him, but if he somehow used that ladder, maybe he could jump over her…
She continued blabbing.
"You get so distracted all the time, what would you do without me there to help you. And you are so clumsy! Plus I believe you're getting kind of chubby." She said. "I really should not feed you so much."
Alex frowned, the statement catching him off guard a little.
'But she doesn't feed me.' He thought.
He shook his head, took a deep breath and jumped into action. He went right and used the ladder there to somersault over Mother Gothel and took off running, dumping his stuff into the car then shoving Jay out of the way to climb inside and over Carlos, so that he was as far as possible from the open door.
His mother continued yelling for him outside. When he gets back here he's going to be so screwed. But now he didn't care. He was free.
Jay and Evie climbed next, each of them giving him a smirk in approval.
Then Mal came and shut the door and the car started moving.
Alex sighed, felling deep into the softness of the limo, hearing the shouts of everyone outside. This was so new, so nice, too nice for the Isle or everyone in it.
Looking around the car with everyone else, their eyes fell on the bright colored items in the jars.
His stomach growled.
Was this food?!
Exchanging looks with both Carlos and Jay, the three of them dove into the sweets. His friends started slapping each other's hands, but his hands were smaller and quicker so he shoved as much as he could in his mouth then started putting more and more in his pockets, cursing himself for leaving his bag in the back of the car where he couldn't reach it.
He could probably live a whole year just with the food that was in here. Heck – He and Dizzy could live a whole year just with what was in here!
Once he was satisfied, he turned to the others.
"Guys… I don't wanna steal the wand."
Everyone else stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him.
"If we steal the wand I'll get locked up in the tower again. If I don't steal it I also get locked up."
"Our parents are counting at us!" Mal exclaimed but her eyes didn't flash green so he figured he still got a chance.
"Your parents." Alex corrected. "My mother doesn't because she thinks I'm a disgrace and nothing I'll ever do will change that, okay? If you need me with something I'll help you and you know it, but I don't wanna help someone who'll just lock me up again. I won't."
He stared at her hoping she would understand. Mal glared at him, but her eyes still didn't flash green. Her face suddenly formed a mask of indifference.
"Whatever."
He smiled. A rare, true smile, and Evie and Carlos smiled, too. Jay nodded in understanding and then they took more candies.
Auradon was… bright.
Sure, he always joked about it being the Land of Light and everything, but he never expected it to be this bright!
And colorful. It was kindda reminding him of the Tremaine shop.
His chest started to hurt when he thought of that. Dizzy would have loved this…
He looked out the window, trying to think of something else.
He couldn't believe that the sky was so blue! And the trees so green! Were those flowers? He never saw a flower before!
He saw a sign ahead.
"Welcome to Auradon Prep." He read out loud. "Where goodness doesn't get any better."
He turned to Mal disgusted.
'Really?' he mouthed.
'Auradon' she responded.
He turned to look out again, but this time he found his face getting crushed against the glass, Jay and Carlos having decided to look out, too.
"Get your face out of my way!"
"I wanna see!"
"That's my place!"
"I was here first!"
"Liar!"
Alex moved Carlos's face with one hand and elbowed Jay in the stomach with the other trying to reclaim his place.
The girls ignored them.
He looked up and realized they were driving towards some kind of castle. There was nothing like it on the Isle. So new and so not in ruins.
Curious enough, Alex's first thought was if they had a library…
He shook his head. Concentrate!
He saw a big group of kids around, waving flags and holding banners with stupid sentences about goodness and heroes. He could even her some of them playing some instruments completely in tune, like a team. Completely the opposite of how people play on the Isle.
All of them were smiling and grinning for no apparent reason. Were they excited to meet them? Alex wasn't sure that was the case.
"Final stop kids." The driver announced and got out of the car.
Alex huffed. He wanted to be here with Dizzy! He knew he should have locked her in the car and tell her to present herself as the daughter of Mother Gothel or something… She deserved to be here. Not him!
Only now Jay and Carlos came to the idea that maybe they should start packing what the hell was in here, so they started raiding the entire lime of everything that looked interesting.
"I want this!"
"Get out of my face!"
"Get off me!"
"Give it back!"
Mal signed him to open the door and he complied, but before he could get fully out of the car, Carlos fell on top of him making him become one with the driveway.
He couldn't see what was happening, but he felt Jay pinned both of them with his foot. Alex hissed in pain as Carlos started struggling.
"Get off me, you idiots!"
"You got everything else! Why do you want whatever this is?!"
"Because you want it!"
"I'm gonna kill ya both-"
"Guys, guys!" Mal hissed, kicking Carlos. "We've got an audience."
Alex looked up and saw the whole group of people staring at them with different expressions. An older woman made her way forward with two teenagers.
Ooooooh, she did not seem pleased with them.
Alex felt Jay take his foot off and he pushed Carlos away so he could get up, then helped him up.
He saw more and more confused glances being sent his way, but he ignored them. He didn't care what some stuck up royal brats thought of him.
Adjusting his beanie on top of his wild chocolate hair, he narrowed his eyes, not glaring, but challenging everyone to say something he wouldn't like. All the confused stares started looking at the ground.
Cowards…
He saw Jay go forward and try to flirt with the pink princess that came.
"Welcome to Auradon Prep." The grown up lady said. "I'm Fairy Godmother, the headmistress."
Alex saw with the corner of his eye Mal looking at her, suddenly more interested. He started looking at the other two persons that remained. A girl, prissy pink princess – BORING. Then he looked at the boy and found him already studying him interested, like he expected him to do a back flip or something.
Alex wanted to growl at him, that's what he usually did on the Isle. Growl or sneer, make the little prince run away back in his stupid shiny castle.
But he found out that he couldn't.
That teen was… distracting. He was looking at him with a look Alex couldn't interpret, but it was… reassuring? He wasn't sure. The teen was sending him a pleasant vibe, it was comfortable, familiar even, but he couldn't place it.
Ugh… Maybe the brightness of this place was affecting him or something.
He glared at the teen, but still didn't growl. The boy frowned a little then composed himself and placed another smile on his face.
Alex turned back to his narrowed eyes.
He realized that he missed a part of the conversation. He wanted to kick himself and the prince for it. 'Stay focused! New place. New dangers.' He reminded himself. 'You don't know how this place works.'
He felt the teen's eyes on him again, but ignored it. He wanted to get mad at the prince for looking at him like an animal, a thing that boy was wondering if he could poke or something. But he couldn't, which frustrated him to no end.
Fairy Godmother suddenly left and the teen he had that staring contest with stepped forward.
"It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben-"
"Prince-"the pink girl he was with intervened making Alex roll his eyes. "Benjamin. Soon to be king."
"You had me at prince." Evie said, excited. "My mom's a queen, so that makes me a princess."
"The Evil Queen has no royal status here." The pink brat said with a fake smile. "And neither do you."
"Huh." Alex said, making everyone look at him. "On the Isle, you only have a Wanted poster. Thought it had a mustache…" he wandered out loud, making the vks smirk and the girl gape at him. He leaned forward a little. "Oh, no, wait. There it is!"
This time the girl gasped while his friends smiled. Evie send him a grateful smiled and he nodded when the royals weren't looking.
Ben tried to keep a professional look.
"This is Audrey-"
"Princess Audrey. His girlfriend." She smiled, trying to look important and grabbed Ben's hand. "Right Benny Boo?" she said and Alex accidentally snorted.
He tried to look innocent, but his friends didn't even try to hide their smirks.
'King Benny Boo.' Alex thought amused.
Ben smiled, while Audrey looked offended.
"It is so so good to me-meet you all." He continued as he got to shake Jay's hand, but got punched in the chest, making Alex smirk.
Ben went to shake Mal's hand and got lost in the moment.
He continued speaking, shaking Evie's hand next.
"This is a momentous occasion, one that I hope will go down in-" Ben said taking Alex's hand, getting lost again.
Alex started tightening his grip, frustrated. Why was he so familiar?! Why was he looking at him like he expected him to do something?! Why couldn't Alex seem to hate him on the spot?!
The soon-to-be-king snapped out of it first, winching as the nine-year-old's handshake seemed to be crushing his hand painfully.
"Alex, release!" Mal hissed, loud enough for only the vks and Ben to hear.
He complied pouting, looking anywhere but the prince, missing Ben mouthing his name.
The soon-to-be-king started speaking again. "-that I hope will go down in history." He said, shaking Carlos's hand. "Is that chocolate? As the day our two people began to heal-"
"Or the day that you showed five people where the bathrooms are." Mal continued.
Ben smiled, a little embarrassed. "A little bit over the top?"
"A little more than a little bit."Alex and Mal assured him at the same time.
Ben grinned wider. "Well, so much for my first impression."
Well aren't they hitting off… Alex didn't want to have false hopes, but if Mal decided she actually likes it here, maybe they won't steal the wand and not return to the Isle, to Mother.
"Hey! You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you?" Audrey asked.
Careful, Princess... Alex thought.
"Yeah, you know what, I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. Oh, my mom's Aurora. Sleeping-"
"Beauty." Mal exclaimed, her eyes flashing green. "Yeah, I heard the name. And I totally do not blame you for grandparents for inviting everyone in the world besides my mother to their stupid christening."
"Water under the bridge?"
"Totes!" Mal exclaimed and they both laughed fakely.
Alex knew Audrey would soon regret messing with Mal. No one EVER talks to Mal like that and gets away with it.
"Okay." Ben said, clapping his hands together. "How about a tour? Yeah."
Alex tried to suppress his excitement while his friends shrugged, following Ben as he liked arms with Audrey and walked over the statue of the actual King of Auradon.
"Auradon Prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted to a High School when my father became king." He exclaimed and stopped in front of the king's statue and clapped twice, making it turn from man to beast.
Carlos screamed and jumped in Alex's arms, trying to crawl at him for protection.
The child was so used to this kind of thing he just looked ahead blankly, while holding the De Vill boy bridal style.
"Carlos, it's okay. My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that everything it's possible." Ben explained.
Alex inspected the statue. The figure felt familiar in a way. Not as familiar as Ben felt, but really close. Maybe he saw it on some poster back on the Isle. Most of them had the king's face on it and Ben resembled his father well enough.
"Does he shed much?" Mal asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, mom won't let him on the couch." Ben said, and this time Alex couldn't suppress a smile.
Everyone started walking again. Alex dropped Carlos unceremoniously on the floor.
"A little freaky, huh?" asked Alex.
Carlos nodded before clapping his hands, looking at the statue, making Alex frown.
"That prince did it and it changed so maybe…"
Alex snorted. "I think it takes a lot more than doing this-" he said and clapped twice. "-to chan-"
"Look!"
Alex turned and watch in disbelief as the statue morphed back from beast to human. Now he was standing in front of the figure that thought it was a good idea to trap every villain on an Isle.
And yet, looking at the statue, he couldn't bring himself to hate him.
What was wrong with him? He had no problem hating Audrey or the children that gave him weird looks, so what makes the King and the Prince so special?
"Bah! Must be a timer or something." Alex said, frustrated. "Come on!"
Hey, Snowflakes.
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to your reviews.
Tell me what you think.
The next update will be in 2 weeks. More or less – depends on how many reviews I get.
Frostbite out