The Next Afternoon

Wes woke up to the feeling of a mattress like clouds, an empty stomach, and a piercing headache. Ben's voice was in his thoughts-an unfortunate side-effect of the possession spell and the result of testing out spells of his own creation without taking the time to test and fine-tune them. The king's self-righteous chattering was insufferable. He pulled himself upwards, the fatigue from using so much magic the night before affecting him physically. His appetite was strong and he could feel his own body-or Ben's own body-crying out for both nourishment as the fiery pit of magic within his body rekindled.

He saw Vivianne standing by the door and she scowled. "Have a nice night's sleep?"

"Sure," Wes said.

"Well, I didn't," Vivianne said.

"You sleep half the day, you'll catch up," Wes said testily.

"Do you know how many people have been looking for you? I have to listen to them stand outside the door debating whether knocking a second time is rude, it's kind of insuff-"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" Wes screamed, covering his ears.

Vivianne's claws flew from her nails. She grabbed a vase off a table and threw it at him. Wes pushed out a spell to freeze it in midair, his body protesting the use of magic.

"I'm talking to Ben," Wes clarified. His magic wavered and the vase continued flying towards him.

Vivianne was at his side in an instant, catching the vase out of the air. The cat-shifter shrugged. "You should've clarified. At least now I know you don't actually have a death wish. Wait, how are you even talking to him?"

"I can hear his thoughts in my head. Give me a second."

I have hundreds of duties to attend to on a daily basis. Ben said in his mind. Including school. It's impossible for you to keep up this charade for long, just turn yourself in.

"I don't have to keep things up for long," Wes said. "Just long enough to make everyone pay."

What did we ever do to you?

"Let's see." Wes counted off on his fingers. "Lock me up on an island for crimes I didn't commit. Leave hundreds of babies with the villains you thought were so evil, they should never be free. Feed us all trash and make us live off your scraps. Need I go on? Your life is literally too perfect to understand what you royals have done."

You're right. I don't understand what you've been through on the Isle. But I want to be here to support everyone from it. We've been making progress bringing VKs over to Auradon. Please. Just turn yourself in. It would show you're willing to make a change and join us in Auradon. And it would set a good example for the rest of the VKs we plan to bring over. Don't undo the steps we're taking.

"Do you really think I care about your narcissistic brainwashing mission? It's almost twenty years too late. We lived on the Isle for years. We had to learn to be strong, to survive. And that's not a bad thing. But, now that you feel guilty, you wanna pick and choose the people you think you can turn into carbon copies of yourself? It's ridiculous!" Wes stood from the bed, fuming. Without a spell, the fireplace and every candle in the room erupted in weak green flames before flickering away. Wes turned to a mirror, using it to speak to Ben's face. "And it's just a way for you to ease your conscience so you don't have to recognize that your perfect little Auradon paradise is built on the suffering of the children of your enemies. Because, like it or not, your parents are just as bad as my mother. And they'll suffer just as much as I did."

Your feelings are valid. But you don't have to channel them into getting revenge. Following in the footsteps of your parents-

"I am nothing like my mother! And she'll suffer more than anyone else."

If a voice in one's head could stutter or hesitate, Ben's did. What? You-you couldn't possibly want to take revenge against your own mother?

"I could and will. You're so clueless, it's ridiculous. Didn't the Mal Pals ever tell you about the Isle's history?" When Ben was silent, Wes went on. "Maleficent knew the villains would start aging without access to magic-even the fairies and gods. So, she realized there needed to be a new generation of young and healthy villains. Did you think the most heartless and cruel people in the world just decided to start having kids because they were excited about family life? You think they wanted to open up schools and teach their secrets to a room full of children they barely knew? Maleficent's goblins started rationing out supplies from the trash barges and you could only get extra food, clothing, or...anything if you could prove you had kids that were in school learning to be decent villains or henchmen.
You think Mal, Evie, and Jay had it bad? I was locked in a dungeon from when I was three to when I was thirteen and surrounded by flying monkeys. It's only been three years since I got a room-in a giant, empty castle with hundreds of them-and the freedom to go anywhere other than school and back. Do you know how some of us were punished for misbehaving?" Wes looked at a U-shaped burn on his hand. "Do you know what it's like to be raised by someone who's cursed to never love anything or anyone?"

Ben knew some things about his friends' upbringing. They didn't say much, but he'd heard about Carlos's nightmares. He'd seen the way the De Vil flinched from everyone and everything when he first came to Auradon. Even Jay had mentioned some...unsavory details about Isle society. And he knew Evie had sworn from using the magic her mother had taught her after learning how horrific the ingredients in the queen's potions were. I'm so sorry-

"You are. People who grow up like you are weak. They don't have the strength or the drive to take what they want. It's why evil magic is stronger. And it's why I'm going to get my hands on the Black Cauldron."

Wes could feel Ben's gasp even if he couldn't hear it. No one knows where it was hidden. It's impossible.

"The only good piece of advice my mom ever gave me is that nothing's impossible for a witch. But do you wanna know what all this has to do with you?" When Ben didn't respond, Wes said. "I'll never let my mom and her flying monkeys take a step outside the Isle of the Lost. So, when I get the Black Cauldron, I'll summon an undead army of spirits and zombies to destroy Auradon. The barrier around the Isle too. And they'll drag my mother right down to the Underworld. Hades says it isn't a very pleasant place. I considered sending your parents there..." He felt a cool feeling in his head as if Ben felt a cold shiver at the idea. "But it would be so much worse for them to see the precious Auradon they built fall. And to see you end up like Doug."

What happened to Doug?

Wes reveled in the silence that followed, but it didn't last long. Vivianne's nose twitched. "Ew, dog fur. De Vil incoming," she said, rushing to the closet and shifting to cat form. There was a quick knock before the door opened without the person on the other side waiting for permission to enter.

Carlos's Perspective

Carlos entered Ben's room hastily, carrying a stack of papers full of scrawled notes. "Ben, everyone's looking for you, did you hear what happened?"

Ben was standing by the mirror with a troubled expression. When he turned to Carlos, he raised an eyebrow. "No, I haven't been feeling well this morning. Please tell me every detail."

"Um...you might wanna sit down," Carlos said. Ben sat on the couch and Carlos followed him, facing him as he began. "So, Doug...he fell down the stairs last night and he hasn't woken up since. He's at Auradon General Hospital."

"This is horrible," Ben said with a stunned expression. "Have you spoken to Evie?"

Carlos's voice broke the first time he tried to speak. "She used a sleeping curse on herself. She's in the hospital, too, so she can be looked at. But there's no one to wake her up without true love's kiss."

Ben dropped his head into his hands. He clenched his fists and stood. "I've been researching something," he said resolutely. "It's too early to say whether or not it'll produce anything tangible, so I won't get into the specifics. But I have to go. I'll shut down the museum to go investigate."

"Wait, what?" Carlos was extremely confused. He stood and held up the papers in his hands. "I had some ideas, too, maybe I can go to the museum with you and we can go over-"

"Carlos." Ben looked hesitant to speak, but he put a hand on Carlos's shoulder and said, "I know that it's unwarranted, but there's a lot of anti-VK sentiment at the moment. If we go together, I think they'll be more alert with security in the museum. And it would be hard to search for the answers we need if they're watching too closely."

Carlos's face fell. It was true, but...it wasn't long ago that he and his friends felt like Auradon was home. They were accepted, for the most part. But now they'd gone back to being treated with suspicion and fear. Even on the way to Ben's room, he'd felt a change in the way people stared at him. They'd stop their conversations and get out of his way like he'd suddenly turned toxic. "Yeah," Carlos said. "Yeah, you're right."

Ben looked conflicted, but he took his hand off Carlos's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Carlos. Please know that I'm only saying this because it's important that we set everything right. Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Carlos said, "I should go so you can get to the museum."

"I hope I find some good news," Ben said, hugging Carlos quickly. When Ben released him, he looked at the papers still in Carlos's hands. "Can I take a look at those for a bit?" Carlos nodded and left the papers on the table before he turned around and left the room, wondering why he felt like something had been off about Ben's eyes. Shaking his head, he focused on the task at hand and considered how to go about saving his friends.