Chapter 5:
Tuesday Morning-7:00am-Ben's POV
I woke the next morning, after feeling Carlos trying to pull himself loose from my arms. It seems like throughout the night, we had rolled over to each other, before I pulled him into my chest. He started to shake me, which woke me up quite quickly, causing me to snap at him.
"What" I said in a rather deep and groggy voice, shielding my eyes from the sunlight beaming into the room. He continued to squirm, trying to remove himself from my arms, before I let go completely, and rolled over, facing away from him.
"Ben, we need to get up" he began, in which I responded with a large annoyed sigh. "It's 7:00am, and schools starts soon. Plus Mal wanted to meet us beforehand, she has a plan for us" he said, before hurrying towards Cruella's personal bathroom. I decided to sit up in the bed, still shielding my eyes from the light, and responded to his comment "Ugh, fine". Short and simple.
After being in Auradon for 17 years, I had developed my own routine, but I would have to make some slight modifications here. I started my morning exercise, beginning with 5 reps of 50 sit ups, and then repeating that with push-ups. As I began, I saw Carlos look over at me, blushing as my muscles were flexing. I decided to wink at him, which was enough to blush a deep red, and quickly scuttle into the bathroom.
After about 10 minutes of waiting, Carlos finally came out of the shower. His hair was completely messy, and his towel was up to his waist, showing off this body. I tried not to stare, but was caught off guard when he winked back at me. I blushed as deep as he did, before slowly making my ways towards the bathroom.
I had forgotten about the lack of hot water on the Isle, and quickly yelled "ahh fuck" as I turned the shower on. After enduring 5 mins of cold water, I decided it was enough. I quickly dried myself off, and headed out of the shower, only to find that I would have to wear the same clothes as yesterday.
"God, I really need to get Evie to make me more clothes." I said as general statement, not really addressing Carlos, but I heard him chuckle.
"God, she is gonna love you." He said, chuckling to himself before adding, "I've been wearing this outfit all week." That statement made me gasp.
In Auradon that would have been unthinkable. Every day, you needed a new outfit, otherwise you risked ridicule from your friends. I quickly remarked back to him
"Yeah, maybe you should get her to make you some new clothes too, they kinda smell." Carlos looked at me all confused, and proceeded to sniff his clothes.
"I can't smell anything" he said, continuing to smell his clothes. "N-Never Mind", I replied, putting my old clothes back on, before making our way to the kitchen. Breakfast was as successful as every other meal, "How do you guys survive eating rotten fruit" I asked, looking at my 'apple', if you could call it one.
His response was not helpful "Sorry, Sir, unfortunately the fresh delivery doesn't come until Thursday, so you'll have to survive till then." I could hear the sarcasm in his voice, so I rolled my eyes at him, before biting into the apple. I tried to control my gag reflex, and just swallow the apple, but didn't manage to do so. Instead I started to choke on it, before spitting it back onto the kitchen counter. Carlos just straight up laughed at me, and proceeded to eat his own. After about 10 minutes of trying to eat breakfast, and being able to swallow at least some of the apple, we made our way outside, and met up with Evie, and started to make our way to Bargain Castle, where Mal wanted to meet us.
I brought up the subject of new clothes to Evie, making Carlos roll his eyes. "Sure Ben, I have a few designed in mind anyway" she said, pulling out her sketchbook, and showing me. I just nodded along to what she had to say, as most of it I didn't understand. 'I may be bi, but I'm not into fashion' I thought, as I continued to nod my head, and roll my eyes. When she finally finished, I asked her one more question.
"Do you think you could make some for Carlos as well?" causing her eyes to light up.
"Yes, yes, I would love that. I have designed so much for Carlos, but he's always been against the idea." I looked at him, to see him blushing and looking down at the floor. I just smirked at him
"Thank…" I began, before remembering what they said yesterday. "Okay, whatever" was what I decided to say instead, but smiled at her to show my appreciation.
We finally reached Bargain Castle, to see Mal stood on the balcony overlooking the Isle as usual.
"Lost something" I shouted up to her, and received nothing but a death stare. I could tell she was still pissed after what I had done to her yesterday. We climbed to stairs, to find Jay waiting for us. We continued into the main room, to find Mal sat on her Mum's throne.
I just rolled my eyes at the sight. I was obvious she was trying to be her mother, but it clearly wasn't working. As we approached her, she started tell us her plan.
"In order to cease full control over the Isle, we need to scare all of our competitors into submission. At the moment, we've got Uma controlling the docks, Anthony Tremaine controlling the majority of the Market, and the Gaston's control some of the outer territories. But with Benny here, we'll be able to easily gain control. Isn't that right" she said, before walking towards me and grabbing my cheek, like I was some sort of baby.
I let out a low growl, which was enough to force her to let go. "Now, when we get the school, we need to gain the 'support' of the teacher. With them in submission, it will be easier to go after their kids, as they wouldn't risk aggravating us. Dr Facilier is the head, so he will be our first target. After that, the rest should fall into line rather quickly." She finished, cackling at her own plan.
'Talk about power crazy' I thought to myself and then instantly regretting it. 'Was I like that?' Drifting further into my thoughts. I was snapped out of it, when Carlos nudged me, and nodded toward Mal, who was staring at me. Her final sentence before we left was "Remember, we're rotten", in which the other three responded "to the core" in unison, before placing their hands into the middle of the circle.
I just followed their lead, and we quickly made our way towards Dragon Hall. 'Is everything named something ominous on this Isle?' I thought to myself on the walk. There was Dragon Hall, The Dragon Eye Spectre. You had Bargain Castle, and the Forbidden Fortress, as well as Hell Hall. 'They need to be more inventive with their name's I thought to myself, before realised Auradon was no different.
The cities in Auradon were just named after Kings and Queens 'Auroria, Cinderellasburg, Charmington' I started to recite them all in my head, and chuckled to myself once again. This time, everyone notices, and exchanged a shooting glance to each other. 'Oh great, now I can't even laugh on the Isle. What's the point of being here' I thought, and quickly realised. 'Oh yeah.'
After about a 10 minute walk we finally reached Dragon Hall. 'It's the same as every other building on this Isle, old and decrepit' I thought, walking up the steps. I could already feel everyone staring at me, and whispering, probably plotting there chance for revenge now. 'I was kinda excited for it, I wasn't gonna lie. All these VK's waiting for their chance to strike, only to get what they deserved. Wait, what am I thinking, they don't deserve anything. For all I know, they could whispering about anything. Man, this place is getting to me,' the thought made me slightly worried.
From what I could tell, school started at 9:00, but no one moved to class until at least ten past, all wanting to be late to their lessons. I continued to follow Mal, and the gang to Dr F's office, walking through the cold, dark school. Kids were getting shoved into lockers, or pushed against wall by the older kids, and here, that seemed perfectly acceptable.
When we reached the office, Mal grabbed the door handle, and slammed the door open, frightening the life out of us, and Dr F, by the looks of it. He quickly recovered before speaking. "Ahh Mal, the new 'leader' of the Isle, if I'm correct" he said, using quotation marks around the word 'leader.'
She quickly responded, "We've come for you 'support'" coping what Dr F had done. "Pledge yourself to me, and I'll ensure no harm comes your way." She continued.
That last statement made him laugh outright. "And why would I need your protection" he said, struggling to maintain a straight face.
Mal glared at me, and I knew this was my cue. "Because I have something you don't" she said, smirking at him. I quickly jumped up onto Dr F's desk, and stared him directly in the eyes, which quickly filled with fear. I continued to growl, and bit towards him, without actually biting him. He quickly stumbled back, and I continued to push towards him, backing him up against the wall like everyone else.
Mal spoke up, once again, "So, what do you say 'Headmaster', do you pledge to follow me?" Sweat started dripping from his forehead, and he quickly responded. "Yes, yes, just get this infernal beast away from me." I started to retract from him, allowing him some room. "Good boy" I heard Mal say, as I returned back to the rest of the group, and reverted into my human form.
"Ah, so you're the new kid huh" Dr F quickly recovered. "The King's son"
"Not anymore" I responded, staring at him. "Um, um" he started to stutter.
"Here is your class schedule, and I'm sure these guys will show you around the school, as you are in the majority of their classes" I could still see that he feared me, trying to make as good as an impression as possible. I grabbed the documents from him, and we proceeded to make our way out of his office. The timetable consisted of lessons such as Weird Science by Yen Sid, Evil Schemes and Nasty Things lead by Lady Tremaine, and Selfishness 101 from Mother Gothel. 'God, this looks 'fun'' I thought to myself. Everyone started to chime in.
"My favourites Selfishness 101, cause you get to take photos of yourself" Evie said,
"Nah, Weird Science is the best cause you get to mix different chemicals and make stuff" Carlos argued.
Mal's was quite simple, "You're both wrong, its Lady Tremaine's class that's best." Everyone went quite after she spoke.
"You would have thought there would have been a goodness class" I scoffed under my breath, causing everyone to look at me. Mal quickly dragged me into a secluded corner, and snapped "Why the hell would you want that" she asked, staring into my eyes once again.
"You know, to try and give the new generation a chance to change?" I snapped back, pushing her away from me.
"Long live Evil. That's all this generation needs to remember" she snapped back, obviously offended by my remark. "The only chance we want, is to follow in our parents footsteps, and reign terror over Auradon. Now snap out of it" she said, raising her hand, ready to strike me, before quickly lowering it again.
School was as dull as anything, with each lesson teaching the kids how to be evil. First lesson started with Weird Science. I quite enjoyed this lesson as it was a mixture of chemistry, biology and physics, in which I excelled at back in Auradon Prep. As the class begun, Yen Sid made an announcement "We have a new boy in our class today" causing everyone to turn to me, with the dirtiest looks on their faces. "Carlos, as you don't have a lab partner, Ben will join you. Make sure you catch him up on what we have done so far". I was happy to find that I was paired with Carlos, as I could any other villain kid would try to pull something, and poison me.
I could see Carlos' face light up as well at the thought. I settled next to him, and class began. For the two hours, we messed with different chemicals, seeing what would occur if we mixed them. I could see Carlos was in the zone, taking notes over everything that had happened, and mixing different amounts of the same chemical over and over again. I just sat idly by. We had done this before in Auradon, so it wasn't new to me, so it was nice of me to let him continue.
The Gaston's were just spilling the chemicals all over the floor, and over each other. Luckily there weren't anything dangerous, otherwise we could have been in serious trouble. The bell rang, and the lesson was over.
My second lesson was Selfishness 101 led by Mother Gothel, and this was difficult for me to grasp. The whole class was Mother Gothel taking photos on her Polaroid camera, and showing everyone. Evie was a natural class, finding the best lighting and angles. I, however, as not fussed about what I looked like, and Mother Gothel did not approve. I spent most of the lesson watching everyone else give it a go, whilst I just faffed around. Luckily it only lasted an hour
My third of the day lesson of the day was led by Lady Tremaine, Evil Schemes and Nasty Things, or something like that. The point is, it was exactly what it said on the tin. She spent the two hours talking about all the villains on the isle, and what their evil schemes were. She especially targeted me for most of her questions, knowing exactly who I was. Every time, I answered honestly remaining headstrong and follow my ideals, but when I did, I received a wicked glare from Mal, and the rest of the class snickered at my response. Lady Tremaine would they proceed to cackle in my face, before asking someone else in the class to answer the question 'correctly.' 'God, these are nothing like the stories I heard in Auradon' I thought to myself. 'Cinderella didn't threaten to through the Tremaine's out, she offered them refuge.' I was pulled out of my thought process when Lady Tremaine asked one final question.
"Ben" she began, walking over to me "What do all these evil schemes have in common" she asked, hovering over me. I knew the response she didn't want to hear, but I was going to say it anyway.
"They all failed, and the heroes won" I said with the smuggest look on my face. This caused the whole class to gasp, and Lady Tremaine slapped her hands on my desk, mere inches from my face. "Why you little shi…" she began, before the bell rang. I took that as my sign to leave, and quickly left the class.
After the third lesson of the day, Mal pulled me aside, and started to give me some pep talk about being evil. That's when she really hit home. "Do you not learn anything Ben" she started, causing me to roll my eyes. "You're probably the worst villain in this school. You actually KILLED someone" which caused the majority of the teachers and students to stop and stare. I could feel the anger building inside of me, but I tried to keep in under control. "No other person had the skill to complete their evil task, but YOU did. You completed the evilest scheme of them all. So snap out of whatever they taught you in Auradon, and get with it." By this point, everyone was gathered around watching, as she held me against the locker arm against the throat, my anger still rising. Then she struck me in front of everyone. Kneeing me in the guts, causing me to drop to the floor.
"Pathetic, no wonder your parents exiled you here" she said, before spitting on me, and walking away. That was enough. I was sick and tired of this girl pushing me around, and treating me like her pet. I quickly recovered from my injuries, and transformed once again into a wolf. Everyone around me gasped, and took a step back, shocked by my ability, and waiting to see what would happen next.
I lunged onto Mal's back, and pinned her to the floor. I retreated off of her, allowing her to roll onto her back, so she could face me. I jumped onto her stomach, before biting into her right wrist, like I did that boy. I was too angry to think about what I was doing. I scratched her face, whilst continuing to bite into her wrist. Whilst I had a firm grip it on it, I twisted it slightly, hearing a snapping sound. 'Her wrist is broken' I thought to myself.
I then release it, and bit into her leather jacket, tearing it into pieces. She tried to fight back, by using all her energy to push me off her, before quickly scrambling up off the floor. She started at me, as I continued to approach her slowly. She turned her eyes green, and I could feel them burning into me, similar to the other day. I returned the stare, burning back into her and I claimed the upper hand, causing her to give up quickly.
I continued to lunge for her, scratching and biting wherever I could, especially going for her ankle. I took one final lunge, but she retaliated, kicking me before I could reach her. The kick was powerful enough to cause me to slide around the floor, a few meters before getting back up. I looked at her once again, inspecting the damage I had done so far. She was holding her wrist against her chest, shielding it from further attack, but I could see I had bit deep enough to draw blood. She had a slight limp, from where I had bit into her ankle, and her face had a few small scratches on it, some also bleeding. Her leather jacket was in pieces, ripped and damaged beyond repair. I slowly started to approach her for round two, but I was less filled with rage, and more pure adrenaline at this point. I was enjoying this, and didn't want to stop. Everyone around wouldn't dare intervene out of fear for their own lives, and I knew I had ultimate power, and the advantage in this situation.
I lunged for her once more, but before I could reach her, Carlos Evie and Jay stood in front of her, shielding her from further attacks. I started to growl at this, biting, trying to stare them away, but they stood their ground.
I could see how frightened Carlos was, but he did well to remain strong. "Ben" he began "This isn't you. What has gotten into you?" I didn't listen, and continued to approach them, but in turn Carlos started to approach me, taking a defensive stance as he did so, trying to be as least threatening as possible. "Ben, this isn't who you are. They didn't teach you this in Auradon, what happened to forgiveness and compassion" he continued.
The people watching gasped at what Carlos said, and started to doubt his loyalty to evil. I stared at them, quickly silencing any muttering they had. He had finally reached me, and kneeled in front of me. His final sentence was "This isn't the boy I fell in love with." He whispered it quietly, making sure no one else heard him.
That was enough for me to calm down, and finally regain a clear head. I looked at Mal once more, and finally realised what I had done. I started to back away, before running out of the school entirely. "Ben, Ben" I heard Carlos shout, as he tried to follow me, but he couldn't keep up. I fled down a few alley ways, and passages, entering territory I was unsure about, similarly to the first night. I'd found a dark cover, and quickly reverted back into my human form, before sliding down against the wall, holding my head in my hands. I looked over to see my reflection in a puddle. "What have I become" that same thought echoing throughout my head. 'Maybe Carlos was wrong. Maybe this is who I am. Maybe I just need to accept this, and move on.' I pulled myself off the ground, and spent the next couple of hours scouting the area, looking for anything that seemed familiar, as well as stealing food and essential supplies.
Carlos POV
I chased Ben as he left the school, but couldn't keep up allowing him to run away. I return to Evie and Jay, who were helping Mal attend to her wounds. "What the hell happened" I turned to Mal, waiting for her response.
"I don't know, he just flipped and attacked me" she said, trying to act as innocent as possible. Cleary she had done something to provoke Ben, but she didn't want to let on. We helped her to the schools infirmary, which was as well-equipped as you'd think for an Isle full of villains. We laid Mal down on one of the beds, and started to scavenge for any supplies. I found an old bottle of alcohol, which I could use to disinfect her wounds, as well as some bandages, which had clearly never been used, by the layer of dust on them. Helping others wasn't really the villain's way, but without this Mal would have died, and we as a group had become pretty close. I dabbed the alcohol on her wrist and ankle, causing her to wince in pain. For the first time, Mal actually looked vulnerable, and you could tell she didn't like it. We removed her jacket, allowing better access to her wounds and finally saw the damage Ben had actually done.
"Mal, can you move your wrist" I asked, full well knowing the answer. She tried, but only fell further into pain. "I thinks its broken." I began. "Plus, you're ankle doesn't look any better. You need real medical help" I said, trying to clear her wounds. Likely, there was a way to receive emergency care on the Isle. We knew the heroes wouldn't dare let anyone die whilst on the Isle, we were technically still part of the kingdom.
I sent Jay to activate the medical signal, whilst Evie and I remained, trying to best treat her as we could. You knew Jay had activated the signal, as everyone froze in positon, unable to move. This was the safety measure to prevent escape during this time, but you were still able to speak. Within minutes, doctors from Auradon had rushed in, and started to treat Mal. They placed a cast on her wrist, to help set the break in place, and stitched up the bite marks on her ankle.
"Who did this?" one of the doctors asked, but none of us responded. Although Ben had attacked Mal, he was still our friend, and she needed him if her plan wanted to succeed. Instead she told them that she had fallen into the water by the docks, and was attacked by a crocodile. The doctors believed her without much question, and quickly left the Isle returning everything to normal.
The rest of the school day continued after the fight, but no one seemed to care much for Mal. People were pushing past her, and insulting her throughout the day. They had realised that Mal was not to be feared anymore, but rather Ben was, however he was nowhere to be seen. After our final lesson, we all met up, and began our walk home. Mal was still limping slightly, causing Jay to support her for most of the way. We helped her up to her room, and let her to the bed, helping her to relax.
Before we left, she said "New plan, we kill that beast", which caused the whole room to become silent.
I finally mustered enough courage to say something "No. No, I want no part in this", causing everyone to look at me. "You must have done something real bad to provoke Ben at school, else he wouldn't have attacked you like that. You have gone power crazy Mal, and I will no longer follow you, or your stupid scheme." I finished, walking towards the door.
I felt Evie grab my wrist before I left, and she spoke up as well. "I'm with Carlos. For years, we've been following you, and I'm sick it. We are supposed to be friends, but instead you treat us like dirt. And like Carlos said, whatever you did must have been bad to get Ben so angry." Jay said nothing, but shook his head, and followed me and Evie out of Mal's room. We could hear her shouting "You'll regret this, I'll get my revenge" but no one paid attention. Ben was right the other day, she had no real power over any of us.
After exiting Bargain Castle, we made our way back to Hell Hall, hoping Ben would have returned there after school. He hadn't. We spent a good hour or two searching the Isle for him, but we couldn't find him anywhere. 'Maybe he is just avoiding us' I thought to myself, before gesturing over Evie and Jay.
"Maybe we should just stop searching tonight" I said, slightly sighing at our failure. We each made our way back to our respective homes, saying goodnight before we left. I got back to Hell Hall, and noticed that the door was slightly open. This freaked me out considerably. I walked in, closing the door completely behind me, before shouting "Hello?" No response.
I searched around the house, but couldn't see anyone. 'Maybe I left the door open when we left this morning' I thought to myself. I made my way up to Cruella's bedroom, and began to undress. Next minute, I heard the door slam and lock behind me. I span around, ready to fight only to see Ben. "Ben, my god, we were so worried about you" I said, but got no response from him.