Chapter Three - Inanimate Objects: A Villains Greatest Foe

Travel by bag was not an ideal way to get to places. Sure it's cheap but the aching joints and bones was not worth it. Theo half wondered if Auradon had any 'Drink Me' potions. One of those would have been quite lovely at the start of this whole affair. If only, if only, right?

Despite being a rather cheap bag, Theo could not get the damn zipper open. It was slightly embarrassing. Raised by one of the cruelest villains of all time and gets defeated by a ratty sack. Oh how the coroners will laugh! Theodore giggled at the mere thought. How would Auradon react to a bag related death? Would they investigate? Put the faulty zipper on trial? Would the zipper plead guilty? And if found guilty, would Auradon throw the zipper in the isle?

Probably.

Jafar would probably jump at the chance to sell such a fine, malicious zipper.

Zipper.

Such a fun word.

Zip. Zippy. Zippity. Zipper.

Theo giggled as he began to mumble madly. His voice muffled as his speech began to grow in speed in volume. The boy giggled between words and he began wiggle in his place. His vision began to blur though it was barely noticeable since inside the bag was already dark but the seems did allow some sunlight to shine through. Oh how excited Theodore was to see sunlight. There was no sunlight on the isle. It was always dim and foggy and he absolutely could not wait to feel the warm rays.

"Zip zippy zippity za. Zig zag zebra zoo!" Theo giggled. He was close to losing it. He could feel it. The silence was grating at his nerves and it was becoming difficult to focus. His thoughts were becoming more and more nonsensical. He was panicking now. Sweat began to trickle down his forehead as his his began to water in fright. His body began to feel numb. He couldn't even hear himself mumble.

Distantly he was aware of a sudden rush of cool air hit his face and rough arms pulling him up. His unfocused, green eyes stared at the blurry figure holding him up impassively. His giggling turned into loud bouts of mad laughter.

"-Theo!

"-He's not listening.

"-What's wrong with him?

"THEODORE!" The orange haired boy flinched at the sudden shout. It frightened him enough to pull him out of his 'tantrum.'

"Oh. I'm ok," Theodore said with a grin as he moved away from Jay's and Carlos' questioning glances. "My apologies."

"What the hell was that, Theo?" Jay asked, his brown eyes boring into the slighter boys own green. The boy in question just shrugged and giggled.

"The zipper was guilty on all counts," he said with a laugh. Carlos sighed and kicked the bag to the corner of the room. He figured the thing would become yet another trigger to his insane accomplice.

"Welcome to Auradon Prep, Theo," Carlos said with a tired sigh.

"Yes, yes. Quite a nice welcome it is. Does this place by chance have a bathroom?" He asked. His grin not once leaving his face. Jay nodded and pointed at the door a little to his left.

"I think that's it." The older teen said no longer looking at him. Theo nodded and skipped over to the door in question and yanked it open. The smaller room was indeed a restroom. Complete with a shower bath combo, two sinks, and a toilet. Theo's eyebrows raised in wonder at seeing such a room so clean. The putrid smell he was expecting was strangely absent.

"I call sleeping in the tub!" He called to the others with no hidden glee.

"Knock yourself out." He got in reply.

"Now why would I do that?"

"...never mind."

Theo laughed as he walked in and shut the door behind him. The acoustics in the room made his laugh echo which made him giggle even more. It was such a fantastic room! The silver handles on the sink practically shined and the tiles on the floor were so white he could nearly see his reflection. There was even a few fluffy towels on a rack near the shower! They looked brand new too!

Auradon really knew how to spoil their kids it seemed.

Theo smiled hugely as he noticed a large looking glass above the sink. With a delicate touch, the young boy poked the mirror with his right index finger but let a disappointed sigh escape him when he found it solid.

Theo smiled ruefully at his reflection. His wild and slightly curly orange hair. Green eyes. His clothes were rumpled, no doubt caused by the trip from hell. He straightened out long, brown over coat and smothered down the creases of his billowy, white shirt. His forrest green vest with little orange buttons seemed fine which he was most glad of. Finding matching button like those was not easy. Along with his outfit were dark green cargo pants and on his feet he bore stripped socks and dark brown combat boots. Theo the adjusted the multicolored scarf around his neck securely and grinned at his reflection.

All he needed was a hat.

The red queen always told him he looking just like his parents. His hair. His eyes. His laugh. Just like that stupid hatter. His face and height he supposedly got from the savior of Underland, his real mother. How anyone would think he was at all related to the red queen was lost on him. How he hated that vile woman which made him hate his biological parents even more. How could they leave him with her? Their child? Was he not good enough?

Theodore knew his thoughts were reaching a dangerous territory. The mere thought of his parents made him livid and now was not the time to be thinking about them. He had a mission and that mission wasn't getting that stupid wand to Maleficant.

-

Walking back into the room Theo found Carlos and Jay loitering about. Carlos playing some sort of... Game on the tv? And Jay rooting threw his loot.

"Got any food?" He asked as he threw himself on Jay's bed. The junk under him digging painfully into his back but his grin remained unchanged.

"No, now get off," Jay said as he pushed the other teen off his new stuff.

"Dang. How about you, Carlos?" He asked, making no move to stand from his new position on the ground.

"Huh? Nope. No food." Theo sighed in disappointment but shrugged nonetheless.

The boys had mostly stayed in the dorm for a few hours. The sun had already set; much to Theodore's disappointment. Carlos continued to play his video game which actually was pretty fun. Jay had come and gone from the room a few times to both scope out the school and steal a few items. Sadly he did not come back baring food for Theo. The elder had looked but didn't find much baring a few pieces of candy which he did give to their stowaway friend.

It was a little after eleven p.m when the two girls arrived in their room. Mal and Evie looked curiously around the room, no doubt seeing the vast differences from their room to this one.

"Jay," Mal called is she walked in and saw the pile of stuff on his bed. "What are you doing?"

"It's called stealing," he said proudly.

"Ok... What's the point?"

"Well, Mal. It's like buying whatever I want except it's free." He explained causing Mal to smirk and Theo to chuckle.

"Ok, so you could do that or you could just leave all this here and pick it up when we take over the world."

"You sound just like your mom," Evie said looking up from her mirror.

"Thank you," Mal said with a smile and a hand over her heart.

"Oh, Theo!" Evie gushed as she saw him on the floor. "I almost forgot you came with us," Theo looked up at the blue haired girl and grinned.

"Seems like a lot of people are forgetting about me these days," he said with a laugh.

"And why are you on the ground?" Mal asked as she leaned over the bed to see him.

"The right question at the moment should be why isn't everyone else on the ground. This carpet is probably the softest thing I ever touched," he said as he moved his arms and legs as though he were making a snow angel on the ground.

"He's been down for three hours," Carlos said not once looking away from the television screen. "I would say it was the longest I ever seen him in one place but he keeps wiggling and moving around the room like a worm."

"I told you my arms and legs were still numb."

"Then what's your excuse now?" Theo looked over at Carlos and shrugged. He just liked rolling on the ground. It was fun.

"Die suckers!" Carlos cried. "Jay, come check this thing out its awesome," the white haired boy said handed the blue and orange stick things to the taller male.

"Guys!" Mal called getting irritated with everyone's loitering. "Do I have to remind you what we are all here for?"

"Fairy god mother, blah blah blah," Jay said turning his head to the irate girl with a grin. "Magic wand, blah blah blah."

"Hey, Mal," Theo called as he suddenly jumped up and ran to the girl with a positively mad grin. "I've been investigating things that begin with the letter 'M'," he said suddenly pointing to her. "M-m-Mal!"

"How about things with a 'W', like I don't know maybe w-w-Wand? This is our one chance," she started, gaining everyone's attention. "To prove ourselves to our parents. To prove that we are ruthless, and vicious, and cruel. Yeah?"

The others including Theo nodded their heads in understanding. They were getting a bit blindsided from the original mission.

"Evie," Mal called. "Mirror me." Theo sighed and sat beside Mal. They had just arrived at Auradon and the fairy girl already wants to go through with the scheme. Theo had no desire to let Maleficant rule over Auradon but these were his only friends. His stomach turned in nervousness over the thought of any of them getting hurt. So he would accompany them. Hopefully this first time would be a bust and maybe this place will open their eyes a little to see that there's more to life than pleasing their parents.

Theo giggled madly in his seat. He began to rock back and fourth before a hand settle on his shoulder bringing him out of his musings.

"Theo?" Carlos said, his mouth pulled in a frown. "You-"

"I'm fine," he interrupted with a smile.

"...lets go then."

"Go where?" Carlos just sighed irritably then grabbed the other boy by the arm and began to drag him out the door.

-

The five teens panted as they finally made it to the museum building. Running two miles nonstop was easy; It was the thrill that made them breathless.

"Check your mirror," Mal told Evie as they walked down a free steps leading to an entrance.

"Is my mascara smudged?"

"Yeah, hey, and while your at it, why don't you see if you could find us the wand?"

"Sure."

Theo glanced around the building with a smile. He seemed totally uncaring and misplaced compared to the others. He nearly began to whistle but thought better of it. He couldn't help it though. The moon and stars were just so bright and the air felt so clean. It was amazing.

"Theo!" Jay shouted at him lowly as he grabbed the other boy by his sleeve. "Keep up." Theo nodded and shrugged apologetically.

Running over to a set of huge double doors, the gang of teens stopped and peeked inside where a body guard sat and well... Guarded. Theo heard Mal mutter a few words and watched the man prick his finger on the spinning wheel. The boy hoped for his sake that the curse wasn't permanent. He giggled when Mal tried to open the door but found them locked.

"Bested by a set of locks. How the might have fallen," Theo said with a giggle. Mal glared over at him as the others chuckled. Jay smirked as he walked back, no doubt intending to force the doors open but the purple haired girl had other plans. Quickly flipping through her spell book, she muttered a few words and the doors swing open just as Jay was about to kick them open, causing him to fall into a heap on the ground.

Theo laughed along with the others as they walked into the building but he quickly shut his mouth when something caught his eyes. On the first monitor showed an old looking hat on display. Though the screen was a bit dark, he could make out the intricate designs swirling around the top hat. The label on the side, ten over six.

It was his father's hat.

Tearing his eyes away, Theo made to follow his friends. Though he didn't plan to follow them long. If that hat was here then maybe there was more. He long ago accepted the fact his parents abandoned him but he just wanted to know why.

This exhibit may just answer a few of his questions.