Welcome back to my fanfic! I'm not sure but I think I teared up a little when I wrote both this and the last chapter, please don't hurt me.

I hope you will enjoy this chapter as much as you did with the last ones! (If you did enjoy the last ones, thanks, and please leave a review) This chapter contains time skipping btw.

Sorry for not updating after some time, I had someone to beta read this chapter, as I wanted it to be a little bit special. ;P

The name of the beta reader will be revealed in an *hint* upcoming *hint* oneshot. ;;PP

Chapter 5 [Carlos Missing]

Mal's POV

I saw Ben running back with his clothes slightly tattered, crying. I was going to ask him what happened, but I decided not to, seeing how bad the condition he is in at the moment. I gave him some time to rest.

What I didn't see is Carlos. 'Maybe Carlos will show up later' I thought to myself and continued drawing. I sighed as I heard Evie exclaimed, "Yes! Our clothes for Family Day is finished! Finally!" I said to her, "Good for you, now get some sleep". I sighed then said to myself, "Great, Family Day's two days away".

~Two days later~

"I am so glad Fairy Godmother gave us all a two days break before Family Day, now I get to show all of you the dresses you will wear! Except for Carlos" Evie exclaimed looking worried as she looked around for Carlos. Evie decided to make dresses for everyone, except Ben. Ben probably had a lot of clothes to wear for the day anyway.

Audrey asked, "Where's Carlos? I haven't seen him for three days" also looking worried. I stated, "Last time we saw him, he was with Ben. Then Ben came back alone". I perked up my head when I thought of the worst possible scenario ever. I commanded, "EVIE!", which surprised her, "Use your mirror to find him!". She chanted, now looking extremely worried, "Mirror mirror on my hand, show me where Carlos currently stands". The mirror took a few seconds to show the picture, but eventually it did.

I cried. For the first time, after a long time, I cried.

We ran outside and interrupted the Family Day festival while they were singing Be my Guest. Chad exclaimed "Finally Lonnie and Audrey, where have you been?". I quickly cut him off, "Shut up Chad. Evie, show them". Evie held up her magic mirror still with the picture of Carlos and yelled, "Ben, what the heck is this?!". Everyone gasped, even the queen and king, because of how Evie had talked to Ben.

Ben was faking a smile while singing Be our Guest, now, that smile was gone. It was instead, replaced by a face that says guilt, and fear. A lot of fear.

The mirror shows a pale, really pale Carlos with a giant log on his foot. The basket was open, assuming he ate from it. Carlos was unconscious. The poor white haired boy lied there, as pale as a skeleton, with a giant log on his leg and dried blood. Ben broke out into tears, while Audrey was already behind us, on her knees, hands on her face, crying it out. Lonnie and Jane was trying to comfort her, with tears running down their faces as well.

Fairy Grand, King Beast and Queen Belle had ran over asking what happened. Evie showed them the mirror. Afterwards, Lonnie, Audrey, Jane, Jay and Evie were tasked to take care of Family Day, while Ben, Mal, FGM and the queen and king went to search for him. Ben was crying all the way to the bridge. That's when they realize, the bridge, was no longer there. King Beast had noticed the rope, and stated, "Someone had cut the rope off of this".

I had Evie's mirror, I chanted "Mirror, mirror filled with hope, show me what happened, to this rope". It showed a shadowy figure cut the rope and the bridge fell down, no one could recognize the figure. I chanted again, "Mirror, mirror light of lost, show me what happened to Carlos (ok i know this was bad but I tried :/)" the image made me and Queen Belle cry.

Fairy Godmother was using her fixing spell to fix the bridge while the rest looked at Evie's mirror.

-Mirror-

It showed Carlos taking shelter under a tree. The rain stopped for a short while, Carlos lied down nearby, and lulled himself to an altered, slightly more sad version of If Only and fell asleep, on the most comfortable spot he could find. Then lightning strike the tree Carlos was under, it wasn't set on fire, but one of the largest branches broke and fell upon Carlos' leg.

Afterwards, Carlos woke up screaming in pain, one of the sharp branches had stabbed his leg. Fortunately for him, it didn't stab too deep. Carlos stopped screaming after a few seconds, then started crying. He stop trying to free himself, and said, "Ben, I know eventually you will come looking for me, and I hope this mirror will show what I am saying now. I'm sorry for putting you under a love spell. I had no choice." We heard Ben sob, but we continued watching. "I'm really sorry Ben, I love you. Ever since the first time I saw you on TV back on the isle. Then I realize, why would a king fall in love with a villain? What's worse is, why would he fall for a guy, like me? The only way someone would fall in love with me, is if they were under a love spell. If I survive this, please don't send my friends back to the isle, send me instead" That last one had King Beast crying as well. FGM had to stop the spell and came over to see what we were mourning over.

Carlos continued, tears down his cheek, "This was my perfect punishment. This is it for me Ben, I love you, please forgive me for what I have done" then he collapsed.

The mirror then blurred out, before showing the reflection of me and Ben with tears down our faces. Ben was obviously suffering more than I did, I don't really know why.

FGM let the tears down her face before continuing her spell. The queen and king were trying to comfort the two teens in front of them crying.

When the bridge was finally done, they ran over and inspected Carlos. FGM exclaimed out in fear, "Carlos' head is really hot!". It was true, his head was hot, as hot as fire. Carlos had high fever, assuming it was from the rain. The gang used all their strength to push the log away, and slowly take out the sharp branch that stabbed his leg. Mal cursed at the branch and broke it, but the royalties didn't care, knowing how bad she feels at the moment.

Ben looked at the almost-lifeless body in front of him. They ran back to Auradon Prep with Ben and King Beast taking turns to carry the white hair boy, while Fairy Godmother casted a stabilizing spell on every stop. When they got to the infirmary, Nurse Potts was waiting outside. Ben ran in with the boy, I watched helplessly as they laid Carlos down on the infirmary's bed.

Beast got us all out, but that didn't stop us from seeing what was happening. The entire gang arrived to see us wait outside. Evie asked me, "Mal, is Carlos ok?", I shook my head. I used a temporary projector spell, to project the image the mirror showed us so everyone could see. Evie chanted a rhyme that showed Carlos' image in the infirmary.

Everyone saw what was happening, even the royalties. Nurse Potts had cut through Carlos' clothes, which revealed lots of scars on his body. The nurse and Fairy Godmother were both horrified, me, Jay and Evie cried at the view.

There were whip marks and scars all over Carlos' body. Seeing the scars and whip marks all over Carlos' body made the villain kids remember the terrifying day they visited him. They remember every detail, from the start till, the end. Every whip they watched Carlos receive, with no screaming or flinching. When they were leaving, all he could do was smile at them as they left.

The marks and scars all over the white haired boy's body just made Ben clench his fists in fury. 'Cruella will get karma for everything she did to Carlos' he thought to himself.

Nurse Potts said to FGM, "He's got no other wounds". Fairy Godmother let out a sigh of relief. Then Nurse Potts hooked Carlos up to a machine and punched some numbers and letters. Ben was confused at all those things she did, then he thought to himself trying to calm himself, 'I would be a horrible nurse'.

Then the mirror blurred out, as if not wanting to show what was gonna happen. Evie then said, "Something bad happened, the mirror will refuse to show it if it's really bad". Evie buried herself in Doug's shoulder, basically crying. Ben cursed himself for doing this, he let his feelings get a hold of him. Now his crush was there, near death, it was all his fault.

I walked over to Ben and said, "Don't blame yourself, it was our fault in the first place", before sitting down on the floor in a fetus position, and cried. Fairy Godmother walked out afterwards, her face was filled with despair. I asked her, "How's Carlos?"

She shook her head. That action was enough to make everyone else cry even more. She then continued, "I don't know if he will survive. Carlos is suffering from dehydration, malnutrition, assuming from collapsing for 2 days, not eating or drinking anything. Then there's the fever. I'll try my best to cure him with Nurse Potts, we've already patched up the wound and I cleared his body from the scars." Then she re-entered the room, continuing.

After a few hours, I asked Doug to escort the girls back to their dorms. Audrey initially refused, but after seeing Ben's face, she agreed. Now there's only us, the three villain kids, and the three royalties. Queen Belle had fallen asleep on King Beast's shoulder. She woke up to the sound of the door opening. Nurse Potts allowed us to visit him.'

Ben's POV

I ran into the room, to take a look at my almost-lifeless white haired crush. He laid there, unconscious. I took his hand but couldn't keep it for long, as it felt like it just got dipped in magma. I'm surprised he hasn't burned.

Evie ran in, crying, flinched when she touched Carlos' cheek. Jay said quietly, "This is way worse than before..."

Queen Belle asked, "What? He had a fever similar to this before?" with fresh tears on her face.

Mal answered, "Not exactly like this, but a little bit similar. Back when we were 10, Carlos had high fever. Her mother didn't really care, she kept telling him to do work, and he just obeyed. Carlos had collapsed when he finished, thankfully me, Mal and Evie were there. Thankfully, the fever didn't last long". Then Mal smiled, "We were basically babying him the whole time". Beast then exclaimed, "Cruella made her son do work even when he had fever?! Why that little-" he was cut off when he saw Carlos' hand move.

Carlos had a moment of consciousness, he said very weakly, "Ben... I'm sorry" before losing his conscious again. I basically couldn't fight my tears anymore. I wanted to beat up Cruella at the moment, heck I also wanted to beat myself up, I'm the reason Carlos is in this state. I looked over his body realizing the scars were gone, happy to see he looked a little bit more normal now. Nurse Potts told us, "you all need to leave, me and Fairy Godmother need to continue curing Carlos".

We exited the room and saw Doug and Jay carrying a mountain of blankets. Even some royal-colored ones. Doug said smiling a reassuring smile, "I figured we would all be sleeping out here tonight". The rest of the girls then came over, some carrying food and some carrying more blankets. Thankfully, the infirmary was a private one and the outside was pretty big. Everyone was basically camping outside.

Ben and King Beast smiled at the view, then Beast said "At least the mood has lightened up a little bit in this place". Queen Belle joined the girl's girl talk, and Beast heard her say, "I haven't done this in a long time!" I watch as my mom, the queen, enjoying her time with the princesses and villain kids. While the Doug was playing games on his phone, Jay sas pacing back and forth in front of the door the whole time.

King Beast had calmed him and told him to lie down, and hope for the best. We prayed to the gods and goddesses to make sure Carlos would live to see another day. When everyone had fallen asleep, yes, that includes the king and queen, except for me, Mal and Evie, I cursed at myself "This is all my fault! If I hadn't left Carlos there this would have never happen. A month before I become a king, I manage to do this to a poor innocent friend". Then I looked at Mal sadly and asked, "Mal, please tell me, am I a villain?".

That question made her look at me as if I just asked a deep question, then she softened her eyes and came over. She told me, "No Ben, it doesn't. We're the villains here, we did this to Carlos. We made you dump him and obviously it was our fault. If you want to send us back to the Isle, then you can do so. But just so you know, Carlos has actual feelings for you, real feelings of love".

I said jokingly, nobody realizing my hint of joke, "I will need to think about sending all of you back to the island now...". Horror was clearly written on Evie and Jay's face, but then replaced by extreme sadness like Mal's face seconds later. Then I added, "I'm just kidding. I would never send all of you back to the island, not after what I found out about your pasts".

Jay then asked, "Who told you about our pasts?", and I answered, "A special someone". Everyone finally managed to fall asleep later, even me. I just fell asleep on the waiting bench.

*The next day, at 4 AM*

I was awakened by Nurse Pott's soft voice. "Ben, Carlos is stable, you can go visit him". I yawned and went into the room, instantly gained my full consciousness when I saw Carlos lying on the hospital bed wrapped with a fancy Auradonian hospital robe.

"He's no longer dehydrated or malnourished, but his fever is still there and he will need to wear that cast for about a week" She said happily. I was very relieved. I held Carlos' warm hand and said "I'm sorry Carlos, please forgive me..." and once again, tears rolled down I face. I closed my eyes as my hand melted into Carlos' warm hands.

Then a miracle happened, I felt another hand wipe away my tears. I opened my eyes to see Carlos' eyes slightly opened. He stated weakly, "No Ben, this was my fault...".

Then as if Evie had heard his whispers, she bolted into the room, and yelled "CARLOS, YOU'RE AWAKE!" her voice being raspy due to her crying all night long. Her yell effectively awakened everyone, who one by one walked into the room. Carlos was surrounded by all of his friends, (a total of 10) all crying and giving him weak hugs and kisses on the foreheads. Except for well, you know, Jay and Doug.

Ben asked them to give them a private moment, then Audrey stated jokingly, now that she is relieved Carlos will survive, "Well we have to clean up outside anyway, by we I mean all of you, I need to get my nails done". Everyone laughed, even Carlos, for the first time after 4 days.

Everyone gave the pair some lone time they desperately needed.

Carlos decided to break the awkward silence, "Ben, I'm sorry, I did this to you. This was karma. I've always had feelings for you...". Ben replied, "Carlos, you don't need to put me in a love spell. I've fallen in love with you since the first time I saw you". Carlos then says, "Then are we officially dating?" with a smile. Ben copied the smile and said "Yeah, after your leg heals" pointing at the cast. Carlos asked, "This thing is annoying! How long do I need to wear this?". Ben replied laughing "About one week". Carlos let out a sigh of annoyance.

While the lovebirds talked, laughed, bonded inside, a shadowy figure had been listening to him.

The shadow whispered, "Fucking villain... why won't you just die already? I will have Ben back!" before disappearing.

AAAAAND that's it for this chapter! I know it's a tad bit long, and heartbreaking, but I promise the sadness doesn't end here. (Woops! :P)

So who do you think the shadow is? And what will it do next?

Could it be Audrey? Or could it be one of Ben's jealous ex? IDK, find out in the next chapter I guess. :)

Oh and if you guys didn't notice, the previous chapters have been rewritten a little bit. :D Might be worth reading for the new small details.

Once again, thanks for reading this fanfic!