Hi guys! I can't believe the response I got for the last chapter, I'm so glad you guys liked it and I hope you enjoy this one.

The way I've planned this fic is more of a series of connected oneshots set in roughly chronological order. Though I may jump around a bit depending on the story.

This one is set somewhere after our villain kids try to get the wand from the museum but before they find out about the coronation. No pairings, just a lot of cuddly friends.

And Then I'll Have Questions

Frantic pounding woke Mal in the middle of the night. Moonlight peaked through the shut curtains of her and Evie's room and the illuminated clock face on her side table told her it was almost three in the morning. Far too early for someone to be knocking on her door.

She snatched the spell book from her side table; she probably wouldn't be able to do any actual magic while half asleep, or have it be anywhere near effective if she tried, but she was certainly intent on threatening whoever was on the other side of the door with magic. The pounding continued as she got to her feet and the dim light was just enough for her to see Evie start to stir. Damn, if they woke Evie they would have hell to pay.

"What the hell do you- Jay?" Jafar's son stood braced in the doorframe, chest heaving, and one hand still raised to continue knocking. He looked paler than she had ever seen him and there were what appeared to be several long scratches down the side of his face. "What happened to you?"

"I- I don't know. Something's really wrong with…" He was gasping, flustered, and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do."

Mal found herself at a loss for words; Jay was the steady one, slick and composed even in the worst of the scrapes they'd gotten themselves into back on the Isle. He wasn't even afraid of her mother. If something was scaring him then- Wait.

"Something's wrong with what? And where's Carlos?" Something twisted in her stomach, something about the expression in Jay's eyes or the way he kept shifting from one foot to the other. "Jay?"

"He was… He was having a nightmare and I tried to wake him up, I mean it's not the first time this has happened but…" He looked down, hand tightening on the doorframe. "Can you please just come before something happens?"

"Did he…" She raised her hand to almost touch his cheek and he flinched away. "Did Carlos-"

"Guys," a drowsy, half asleep, voice asked from the other side of the room. Evie sat up halfway, leaning back onto the heels of her hands, her hair falling in tangled waves she'd normally never let them see. "I thought the point of a school wide lights out was so it could be quiet for us to get some sleep. Go back to bed before we all end up in remedial goodness detention for breaking curfew."

"Evie you need to get up." Mal crossed over to the other girl's bed and shook her shoulder to try and wake her up fully. "Something's happened with Carlos and we need to go help."

"What?" That certainly got her moving, Mal was nearly bowled over by a flurry of sheets and a fluffy blue housecoat. "What happened to Carlos?" Mal backed away as the other girl whirled towards Jay. "What did you do?"

"What did I do? He's the one who drew blood." Some of the colour had returned to Jay's face and he wasn't breathing as heavily as he had been. He gestured sharply for them to follow before he ducked back out into the hallway. Mal took Evie's arm and tugged her along to follow before she could ask any more questions.

The door to Jay and Carlos' room was shut when they arrived and instead of opening it Jay pressed his ear to the wood to listen. Even without being that close, Mal could hear the sound of someone moving around the room; a thump of a book falling over, the muffled sound of footfalls on the dorm carpet, and something that sounded and awful lot like-

"Is that growling?" Evie's voice sounded more scandalized than anything and Jay lunged for her when she went to grab for the doorknob.

"Evie, wait-"

"No, don't 'Evie wait' me. You left my best friend locked in your room with a wild animal that did that to your face! So don't tell me that I'm not going in there." She pushed past him and Mal could only shrug when Jay shot her a helpless look. There was no point in stepping between Evie and a decision, especially when it came to Carlos.

As it turned out, she only got the door open a few inches.

On the other side of the door was a snarling grey wolf and before Evie could react as it lunged at them, Mal reached around and snapped the door shut. She jumped when the beast hit the other side of the door, the impact vibrated through the thick wood and was followed by another snarl, louder and deeper than the first.

"How did a wolf get in your bedroom?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you; he's not a wolf, he's-"

"Children!" The three of them whirled around and froze the moment they caught sight of Fairy Godmother striding down the hallway towards them. "I thought I heard a commotion. What on earth are you three doing out of bed at this time of night? I thought I was very clear on my rules for curfew."

"You did, we were just…" Evie started, wringing her hands, and even her smile faltered against the stern crease to Fairy Godmother's lips.

"You should be just heading back to bed. In your own rooms. Come along ladies, let's let Jay and- What happened to you? Were you fighting?" She'd caught sight of Jay's cheek and he quickly set a hand against it to hide the scratches.

"No, I just- Um…" Mal shot him her most withering glare; Evie had never been good at outright lying but Jay, the one they could always count on for a quick alibi or a crazy story to get out of trouble when they got caught, had nothing to say? Unbelievable. The last thing they needed was to get kicked out their first week, they still needed to plan a way to get that wand.

"What's going on? Why is everyone up in the middle of the night?" Oh, great, just what they needed, Mal thought. Coming down the hallway from the same direction Fairy Godmother had come from was soon-to-be-King Prince Benjamin, wearing royal blue pajamas she was pretty sure had a little gold crown stitched onto the breast pocket.

Fairy Godmother didn't get her chance to ask Ben why he was out of bed this late or pressure Jay about the scratches down his face; all their attention was caught by another round of snarling from inside the dorm room. Fairy Godmother paled and Ben took a few, short steps towards them. Then she did something Mal would have never expected; instead of looking at one of them for the answer, she looked at Ben. And that sleepy half smile he'd had when he found them all out after curfew had turned distinctly sheepish and maybe a little… guilty?

What the hell?

"Fine but if you five are not back in your own beds in twenty minutes, I'm getting your father and he will be dealing with this. Understood?" It was the sternest Mal had ever seen their headmistress, from the firm set to her lips and the tight way she strode away from them; leaving the four teenagers standing together in the hallway. Ben's smile fell, the moment she left, and he started towards the door.

"I need to see him." Mal's shoulder brushed Jay's as the both moved closer to the door, shielding it, almost in synch, just as Evie took a step back towards it as well.

"We're fine, really Ben. You heard Fairy Godmother, we all need to be back in our own rooms or she'll tell the king on us. So, run along," Mal said quickly as she whirled around to face the door again.

"Mal, no, you don't understand." Okay, so maybe she shouldn't have shooed the prince but this budding argument was starting to get on her nerves. She was just about to turn back around, tell him exactly who didn't understand when it came to Carlos, when a sound from inside caused her to freeze.

A strained, crunching sound of old wood giving way, then, a crash of broken glass.

Ben pushed past them with little effort and pulled the door open the door. The room was a mess; the sheets and pillows torn to shreds, claw marks all up the walls and deep into the back of the wooden door. Then there was the window, frame bent and twisted from an impact, the glass hopelessly shattered and stained with…

"He's bleeding." Evie made a beeline for the window, Ben at her heels, and he caught her wrist when she reached out to touch one of red stained shards. Blood wasn't something new to them, not growing up on the Isle of the Lost, and not to Carlos most of all. But Mal knew, in these recent few years, Carlos would always, always, go to Evie to get patched up. Evie, with her steady hands and clean bandages.

Ben leaned around Evie, closer to the glass but not touching it, before abruptly shoving the rest of the window from the wall, it landed on the grass with a soft hump.

"I can handle this," Ben said, though he wasn't looking at any of them as he said it and Mal got the impression that the prince was trying to convince himself more than anything. He finally threw a look over his shoulder at them. "You guys stay here, in case he comes back.

And before they could say or do anything else, he was gone, hopped from the window and was running off into the night.

Mal and Jay both ran to Evie's side at the window, Mal giving the other girl's hand what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Evie took in a deep breath and turned to Jay.

"What happened?" She asked, more calmly this time, and Jay didn't flinch away from her when she reached for him. "You said it wasn't a wolf."

Jay grimaced and turned away from them, staring out the window.

"He was having a nightmare, so I tried to wake him up. You know how it is. And…" He braced both hands against the window frame and Mal resisted the urge to smack him to get the rest of the story out. "It's not a wolf… It's Carlos."

Evie's jaw dropped and Mal actually hit him.

"Pardon me?" Not possible, shapeshifting was magic and Carlos certainly wasn't magic. He had no spell book, no history of magic, no… "What?"

"I don't know what you want to hear Mal. How much more specific can I be? One minute I'm trying to wake him up, the next I'm trying to stop a wild animal from clawing off my face." His hands were nearly white where he was clutching the window frame and the light from the room illuminated the cuts on the side of his face. "It was like he didn't know me."

Mal bit her lip and in a moment made her decision; she hopped up onto the window sill and swung her legs over the side.

"I'm going out there, one of us has to. You two stay here," she said quickly and Evie caught her elbow just as she was about to drop to the grass below. "Don't try to stop me, I don't care what Ben says, Carlos is our friend and suddenly a wolf or not I'm not going to let anything happen to him."

"It's cold out," Evie said and she shrugged out of her housecoat before draping it over Mal's shoulders. "And… Be safe."

"Of course I'll be safe; it's Carlos, he's never hurt anyone." She rolled her eyes when Jay pointed to the side of his face. "You don't count, you rough house him all the time, it's about time he got a shot in edgewise. You know we've all had worse. I need to go now or I won't be able to catch up to Ben. And we need answers."

"You think Ben can tell you what's going on?"

"It doesn't bother either of you that he didn't seem surprised to hear aggressive growling coming from your dorm room? Of course I think he knows what's going on. And he's going to tell me one way or another."

She dropped to the ground and started off in the direction she'd been Ben run to; right into the forest bordering the school. Of course, it had to be a forest. Navigating a city, that's what she was good at, over and through rundown buildings was the only experience she'd been able to get on the Isle and dense trees were far out of her usual realm.

But it was quiet and how hard could it really be to find a prince wandering around in the forest?

(She pointedly ignored the voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Carlos that pointed out that Ben had probably grown up in this forest and knew it far better than she did.)

In the end she didn't find either of them; Carlos found her.

She was walking down a dirt path, turned silver and green in the moonlight filtering through the trees, when a low, warning growl made her freeze in her tracks. She turned, slowly, and finally got a look at this wolf.

His fur was gray, silver and shining in the dim light. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, body held low to the ground, a stance she didn't need to be an expert in wolf behaviour to know was meant to be defensive. There was a dark streak across his flank, fur matted and brown.

Blood. Drying blood from where he'd cut himself.

"Hey… Carlos…" Her brow furrowed and she let out a slow breath. "It's still kind of weird to think that you're now a wolf but… You can turn back into a person right? Cause we have way too much to worry about right now with the wand and taking over the world to be one man down and taking care of a dog."

She jumped back when a snarl tore through his throat, ears flat against his head, teeth snapping at her.

"Right, no d-word, that's your thing, I forgot." She took a couple steps backwards. "Okay, Carlos, you need to listen to me, cause-"

"Mal." She didn't look, didn't look away from the wolf in front of her, even as she felt Ben step up beside her. She didn't realise she was shaking until he set his hand on her arm, his touch warm and steady.

"What do we do?" Her voice didn't shake but she didn't protest when he stepped in front of her. "Ben?"

"Just… Stay behind me," Ben said, his voice steady and a calm smile on his face and he turned away from her.

And Ben stayed calm, a lot calmer than she could have expected, even when the Carlos wolf started to snarl and bark again when he deemed Ben to be much too close. But he didn't back down, creeping slowly forward, keeping one hand out stretched and his head tilted to the side. His steps were careful, stepping toe to heel, never in a straight line. His bare feet made no sound on the dirt path and he'd hiked up his pajama pants so they didn't drag.

The way Ben was approaching Carlos, it was familiar somehow, like she'd seen it before.

Wait.

It was the way Harriett had approached Sabor, that night the leopard had prowled a little too close to the centre of town. Slow, low enough to not be a threat, and circling to be less of a target.

Except Ben didn't have his father's hook behind his back ready to strike.

Mal's heart hammered in her throat, she was sure they could hear it. The sound filled her ears, all but drowning out the soft noises Ben was making in an attempt to be soothing. They looked like they were working, Ben had made it to striking distance without being bit or lunged at.

She bit back a gasp when Ben reached out and made contact, a soft touch of fingertips against the uninjured flank. Carlos shied away with a warning growl but he didn't go far. Ben took another step forward and sank to his knees so they were eye level.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Carlos," Mal said, his ears flicked and he turned up to look at her. His eyes were blue instead of their normal deep brown; luminous and brilliant in the dim light. A high whine pulled from his throat.

"Easy there, it's okay, it's just Mal." She took a few steps forward, mimicking Ben's movement to get a little closer. That whine again, a whine that sounded more pained than angry. Ben had one arm draped around Carlos' back, hand rubbing circles into his fur. "It's alright, we're here to help. You know Mal, she's your friend. You remember her, right? And Evie and Jay. Just take a deep breath and think about them. Come back to them."

She took a few more steps towards them when Ben's other hand came up to beckon her closer, her eyes never left Carlos'. She saw them shift from bright blue back to brown, watched him sag sideways into Ben, and-

And then Ben was holding Carlos in his arms; human, disoriented, and hiccupping with the strength of the sobs that shook through him.

"Carlos."

"Shh, it's okay, you're alright now." Mal ran forward, pulling off Evie's housecoat to throw around his shoulders when she reached them. Carlos was shaking but whether it was from the cold, exhaustion, or something else Mal couldn't know. Ben didn't let go of him, holding him close, using his other hand to wipe away the tears. "You're okay, just take deep breaths."

"I- Jay, he-"

"Jay's fine, it was just a scratch. I'm worried about you right now." Carlos' eyes flicked up to meet Mal's, gaze questioning. She set one of her hands on his back, just to stop it from shaking, and felt him lean back into the touch.

"He'll be fine." The words come awkward and stilted; there wasn't a lot of room for sympathy or comfort on the Isle, not a lot of chances to practice being comforting.

Ben on the other hand…

He tugged the coat closer around Carlos, his free hand looping the ties around Carlos' waist to keep it secure. His other arm never left Carlos' hips, keeping him close. And from the way Carlos was curling up against him he didn't seem to mind the concern.

But it was the look on Ben's face that really caught her.

No one, ever, looked that way on the Isle, not even around Carlos who brought out the protective instinct in most of his peers. Everything about Ben's expression was soft, gentle, and entirely focused on Carlos.

Though, from what she had seen so far, maybe it wasn't possible for Ben not to look kind.

"But what-"

"It's okay. We can talk about it in the morning," Ben said, his voice so low that Mal, even kneeling right next to them, had to strain to hear him. "Don't worry about it for tonight."

"Let's get you back to bed," Mal agreed, reached forward to squeeze Carlos' arm and he nodded slowly at her from where his head had fallen against Ben's shoulder. His eyelids drooped and, when he made no attempt to stand on his own. Ben let out a small puff of laughter before scooping Carlos fully into his arms and standing himself.

Mal had to smile, Carlos was too used to Jay picking him up to even protest.

"What about…" Mal started, after they were halfway up the path. She took a quick glance at Carlos, just to make sure he was as sleep as his silence let on. "The boys' room is kind of…"

"We'll get it cleaned up in the morning. Carlos can have my bed for tonight, I'll take the couch."

"You have a couch in your dorm room?"

"One of the perks of being the prince." So maybe it was possible for Ben to look smug. No, not smug, his expression was more teasing than anything. Still kind, open. And he laughed again when she scrunched her nose at it.

"I thought we were all supposed to be back in our own rooms? Or is breaking the rules another perk of being the prince?" She tried for a stern expression but ended up laughing along with him. "And they call us villains." She held the door open for him when they reached the school and followed him up to a hallway they hadn't gotten around to exploring yet.

"I know it's too much," Ben said quickly, the moment she opened the doors to the room he said was his. "It's way too big for one person."

It was big. If she had to guess, she'd say that it was about the same size as many of the houses back on the Isle. It even had a balcony with grand double doors; just like the castle she'd grow up in, well, up until her mother had broken them in a fit of rage. She turned to face him again just in time to watch Ben lay Carlos on the side of the bed before disappearing into the bathroom. He returned with an armful of bandages and a bottle of something she assumed as antiseptic.

Mal pulled herself up onto the bed on the opposite side of Carlos. He was still sleeping soundly, even when Ben jostled the housecoat off his shoulder to tend to the long slices across his skin. They didn't look deep, not nearly deep enough for the amount of blood she'd seen on his fur and that had soaked through Evie's housecoat.

"He's healing," Ben's voice was quiet and when she looked up she met his eyes. "He'll be alright."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Ask away."

"How did you…" Her nose wrinkled and she puffed up her cheeks to give her a moment longer to think of what she really wanted to ask. "You didn't even seem surprised. You- It was like you knew he was…"

"You didn't?" And that open expression was back, all wide hazel eyes and parted lips.

"Know that Carlos turns into a wolf? No!" Her voice raised and she took a deep breath in through her nose to keep from screaming. Of course she didn't. "This has never happened before, people don't just turn into…" Animals, she was going to say animals. But that wasn't exactly true. Her mother could but that was… "Magic. You think Carlos is magic?"

"Not exactly," Ben said, fingers dragging slowly across the tape he laid on the end of the last bandage. "Sometimes it's magic, like it was for my father, sometimes it's something else. No one really knows how to explain it. At least, no one has when I ask."

There was something about what he had said or how he had said it, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then-

"Your father. Does that mean…" She paused, heart thumping, not sure what she actually wanted to ask. Better to be upfront about it, right? "You weren't surprised about Carlos because you're…"

Their eyes met and when he blinked those hazel eyes went gold. Just for a moment and he looked away quickly, back down at Carlos, a small smile on his face.

"I may have been a little selfish, when I chose who I wanted to invite from the Isle of the Lost." He was blushing, his explanation a little hesitant as if he was embarrassed by the admission. But he didn't sound sorry in the least. "Your mother, she's the most famous faerie in the kingdom, the Evil Queen and Jafar, they're magic, and I just…" He looked up at her, eyes serious and lips twisted. "There aren't a lot of people left in Auradon who are… More than human. And no one at school. I guess I just… I wanted to be around people who were more like me."

"And Carlos?" He ducked his head again and didn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He still hadn't moved his hand from where it rested on Carlos' arm.

"I never thought that…" He coughed, not looking back up at her. "I didn't know about Carlos before the four of you stepped out of that limo. Meeting another wolf has been…" He looked up and away from her, staring out the window instead. When he spoke he was quieter than she had ever heard him. "More than I ever thought I'd have."

"He's lucky to have you," she said, without really thinking about it. He jerked around to stare at her so quickly it made her jump. "I mean, to have someone who can explain things to him. When he wakes up. Since he'll have questions that we really can't answer."

It made him smile again, why did that please her so much?

"I'll do my best. But for now, we should get some sleep. I won't be much help to anyone if I'm too tired to stand tomorrow."

He was just about to get up off the bed when there was a rattling sound of someone at the door. Ben moved like lightning and before Mal could blink on of his hands was on the bed between her and Carlos, a protective stance over the younger boy.

She was caught up staring at him, the harsh crease in his brow, so unusual in his normally soft features, that she didn't notice who was coming in through the door. Then, faster even than the expression had appeared, it was gone, replaced by a soft smile.

When she turned Mal had to bite back a gasp, the Queen was standing in the doorway.

"Just this once," Belle said quietly even though there was something sly and delighted in her eyes. "Rules are rules, even for you."

Then she pushed open the door a little farther and ushered Evie and Jay inside.

Evie rushed to the bed the moment she entered and hopped up onto it so she was laying on Carlos' other side, Mal was sure she had no idea she'd dislodged Ben's position as she did it. Even more surprising was that he let her, sliding off the edge of the bed to stand beside it. Jay lingered around the door as Belle shut it behind her until Mal gestured him closer.

"Is he alright?" Jay asked as he kicked off his boots at the door and sat behind Mal.

"Yes," she said, meeting Ben's eyes and matching his quiet smile. "And Ben's going to tell us everything we need to know. In the morning."

"Of course. But for now we need to get some sleep, it's been a long night," Ben said from the corner of the room where he was pulling an extra blanket and pillow from a small cupboard. Mal frowned at his back before looking down to meet Evie's eyes where she'd hooked her chin over Carlos' shoulder. A small smile, a nod, before Evie snuggled closer to Carlos and shut her eyes to sleep.

"It's stupid," she said quickly, before she changed her mind. "You giving up your bed for complete strangers." Ben whirled, eyebrows creasing in the centre of his brow, and she smirked at him before laying down flat on the other side of Carlos. "You've got a pretentiously large bed, your highness. There's plenty of room for all of us."

She heard Evie pat the bed on her other side and a few moments deliberation later the bed dipped with his weight.

"But you keep your hands to yourself, I'm a princess," Evie said, without even looking back at Ben as he stretched out beside her. "No funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Mal bit her lip to keep from laughing; as Evie settled back, her arm curling around Carlos' chest, a pleased smile on her lips.

Jay settled down behind Mal, folding one arm under his head to act as a pillow (they both knew Evie would steal all the actual pillows in the middle of the night, she always did) and lay so she could lean back into his chest if she wanted. He huffed out a breath and she reached back to smack him when it tickled her ear.

"Your hair's in my face, here." He shifted and used his free hand move her hair. His fingers brushed her neck and she felt it, the barest spark of magic. Like when she touched her mother's spell book for the first time off the Isle.

She took a deep breath and tried to relax. She needed to sleep, everything was changing and she had a lot of questions.

Morning came too early, in the form of Audrey's shrieking when she walked in to find her precious Bennyboo curled up in bed with four other people.