Has it been a month already? Okay, I was a bit busy to write some Halloween chapters and for some reason, this one just wouldn't work until this moment. Either way, here's a delayed Halloween chapter (even if it may not have anything to do with Halloween). Anyway, after this chapter, there still are five more to go. But first, here are my responses to your reviews:

FreeSpirit140: Thanks for reviewing! Of course I haven't killed Carlos. Though there's still a possibility he dies. Everyone can always die at any given moment.

nerdycook24: No, Carlos isn't dead (yet). He's staying there until he's made his choice between going back home or leaving home. Thanks for reviewing!

PurpleNicole531: Thanks for reviewing! Well, it was actually Dude who did all the work, but Mal sure played a part. We'll see if the two show up together again.

Kingson24601: I knew I needed to keep that scene in this story, otherwise Carlos would've probably stayed evil. It is a fun scene. Thanks for reviewing!

CaptainMansBabyGirl: Thanks for reviewing! Here's the next chapter.

Enjoy!

-Writer207

"C'mon." Mal led Carlos out of the cabin. Ben had left earlier – he didn't have a lot of free time as a leader. Mal had talked a bit with Carlos, until Carlos asked her whether they could go outside. She agreed to it.

They blinked their eyes when they stepped into the sun onto the grass. When their eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, Carlos started looking around, at the idyllic location. He too recognized the place almost immediately.

"Neverland…" he said, nodding approvingly, "So that's why we couldn't find you."

Mal shook her head. "This is actually where we go when there's danger," she said. Carlos turned his head to her. "Mother destroyed our first base." Carlos nodded. He could only imagine what had happened, and whatever he thought had happened was nothing compared to what had happened on the mainland.

"Wait, does Hook know about this?" he asked her and Mal shook her head.

"No, he doesn't. Fortunately." Carlos looked around, this time at the people present in this camp. He tried to memorize the faces from the very beginning, so he could identify them when the time was right and when he had made his choice. There was only one face he recognized.

"How many villains are there around here?" Carlos asked her. "You, me, Hadrian…" he looked at the son of Hades. "Are there any others? Mal shook her head and didn't respond verbally. She now spotted Hadrian as well, sitting under one of the many trees. She couldn't shake the image of Hadrian standing in front of the infirmary, and going away just when Mal spotted him there. That and Hadrian's special gift prompted her to walk straight towards him.

Carlos looked at her confused, walking behind her. "Mal? What are you… Mal!" He couldn't do anything but go after her while she went ahead to Hadrian. The demigod didn't run away this time – it seemed he was waiting for them this time. Not much later, they had reached him.

"Hadrian, did you know Henry was going to die?" she asked him. Hadrian nodded.

"I know when everyone here dies," he said. Mal was not happy with that answer, but she stayed calm.

"Did you know he would die yesterday?" she said, rephrasing her first question in a calmer, but more dangerous tone.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you…" Mal began, but she stopped herself. Hadrian just kept looking at her with indifference. "You could've told us," she eventually continued, "You could've saved him!"

Hadrian leaned closer to them, no longer leaning against the trunk of the tree. He looked them directly in the eyes and other than the indifference, they could now see that the look in his eyes has changed.

"That's where you're wrong," he said. "I can't save people."

"Henry could've stayed behind," Mal said. Carlos thought she sounded a bit eviler than she had in the cabin while talking to Cruella's son. This was a hint to shut up, to choose the next words carefully.

"And he would've died anyway," Hadrian told her. He stood up so he would be at the same eye-height of Mal. "Look, I've told people before. I warned families of tragedies, told them they'd die. They were always so grateful when I warned them. They all perished on the day they were supposed to die. They always die. There is nothing I could've done to help your friend." After he said that, he took a step back. For a while, nobody dared to say anything.

"What about us?" Mal asked him. "What about the people here?" Hadrian looked around at the crowd on the improvised camp square before looking back at Mal.

"Most are fine," he said, "But there is a considerable amount of people who will be dead by the end of the month." He paused, deciding whether or not he would continue to talk. Eventually, he decided to say it anyway. "If you need anyone on a mission, I volunteer. I don't have much long anyway."

Mal first frowned when he said that – there was no reason for him to say it. Then she began to realize what he was talking about. Her eyes widened and Carlos raised an eyebrow.

"I'm so sorry," she said. Hadrian shook his head.

"Don't be." He said it as if he was going to add 'you'll only embarrass yourself'.

"Can you prevent it?" Carlos then asked him. Maybe the rules were different for Hades' children. But Hadrian just shrugged.

"Like I said before, we don't escape death," he said, "By the way, what's the point? I'd have to reunite with father at some point in my life. His children generally don't live too long, anyway."

"That sucks," Carlos said. That was the most positive he could say about the matter. Nobody ever taught him what to say to people who knew they were going to die. All he was taught, was to stay away from them to prevent the forming of emotional attachments.

"Are you sure—" Mal began, but she couldn't even finish her sentence. Hadrian wouldn't let her.

"Yes, Mal, there is nothing I can do," he said, "It's impossible to cheat death, and my father continues to reap souls for the Styx. Mine will soon be added to it." He waited for any reaction, but there came none. After ten seconds of silence, he decided he didn't want to stay here any longer and walked away. Carlos and Mal stayed under the tree, thinking about what the son of Hades had told them.

They didn't get a lot of time to think about it, though. Not much after the demigod walked away, they were distracted by a problem that had to be resolved quickly.

"Mal!" a young voice shouted. Carlos and Mal turned their heads and watched a rather familiar boy ran to them.

"Hiroki!" Mal said when she recognized the young man, mostly for Carlos's benefit. He did not know anyone except Hadrian, and now he knew how this boy was called.

"Ben asks for you," Hiroki said, pointing at the group of cabins to the west of the field. Mal nodded at him.

"Let's go then," she said. Hiroki had walked off and Carlos and Mal left the tree, walking to the cabins. On their way there, they passed some members going in the opposite direction. The stares came back, maybe there were now even more than before. They were mostly staring at Carlos – they had gotten used to Mal after this month. But Carlos was new and him walking besides Mal did raise some questions and inevitably made people stare. But they didn't care about the stares and soon walked into Ben's cabin.

It was a simple wooden construction with two rooms. The room they had just walked into was his office – a door in the left wall would lead to his bedroom. Ben was sitting behind his desk, doing some paperwork. He looked up when Carlos and Mal walked into the cabin.

"Hey," Mal greeted the alliance leader. For the first time since they met, he did not greet her back. Mal frowned. "Is there something wrong?" she then asked him. He stood up from the chair, nodding, a serious expression on his face.

"I've been thinking about those creatures," he said.

"Me too," Mal admitted. It was hard not to think about them. They had only attacked a few days ago, which meant the memory was still fresh in their minds. Mal walked closer to him while Carlos preferred to stay at the door.

"They can show up again," Ben said, "Not just here, but also in all of Auradon. Maleficent can use them against everyone. There's no telling where she will strike next, and who she will hurt. Someone has to stop her before she can hurt anyone else." Mal was now only a couple of feet away from Ben.

"Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" she asked him. He just shrugged.

"The council has gathered and talked about the problem. Even with my vote, their decision doesn't change. We'll have to stop Maleficent."

Mal gulped inaudibly while Ben looked at her, almost as if he's asking her to forgive him for what they might have to do. Carlos snorted.

"If you want to die, be my guest," he said. Ben turned his head to Cruella's son.

"I'm not going to die," Ben said, determined to live past a possible attack "Not unless we plan this right."

"You really want to die, don't you?" Carlos said. He walked closer to Mal and Ben. "You just don't attack Maleficent. That's the best chance you and everyone here has for survival." He pointed at the door when he mentioned 'everyone'. Then, he started to realize something. He didn't leave room for Mal or Ben to say anything. "Or maybe… yes, please do attack Maleficent. There'll be less of you at last."

"Carlos!" Mal said, shocked by that last comment, even if she could've seen it coming.

"What?" Carlos said, folding his arms, "Give me a month and I'm gone. I dislike mother, but don't think I'm a goody two-shoes now. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still evil."

"It might change," Mal said. She too had been convincingly evil when she came here and only pretended to want to be good. After that month, she was a good person. Since she's always considered Carlos less evil than her (she didn't think about the killing machine his mother made him me) he might switch sides sooner than he realized.

"Says who?" he said.

"Says me," Mal replied.

"Guys," Ben said, effectively interrupting the small fight between the two friends. "This really isn't the time for bickering." Carlos took a step away and glared at Mal. Mal didn't notice it or pretended not to see it. She focused back on Ben.

"Okay," she said, "What is the plan?"

"We call everyone to arms," he explained, "We broadcast a message to the world, tell them about our plans. They can join in if they want."

"Let me get this straight," Carlos then said, sounding a bit skeptical. "Your plan is to ask civilians to die for you?" Ben nodded, to which Carlos nodded approvingly. 'Why didn't I think of that?"

Ben sighed – he started to doubt about the decision he had made earlier today. "You don't understand what I'm—"

"Then explain," Carlos said, interrupting him. "What do you want to do? How will you do it?"

Ben looked at him and then turned his face to Mal. She encouraged him to tell them, however skeptical Carlos may be. Ben turned back to Carlos and started to explain the plan he made with the council.

"Not everyone in the alliance lives with us," he began, "Most people prefer to live where they've lived all of their lives, in anonymity. Some rather live in peace, some try to help wherever they can. There are few who lost their lives because they helped and supported us. I'll contact those people and ask them to help us." This plan was met with a bit of silence, which was eventually broken.

"Do you think it'll work?" Mal asked him. Ben turned to her.

"I don't know," he honestly admitted, "But I can always try."

"How are you going to do that?" Carlos asked.

"Follow me," Ben said. Mal and Carlos followed him out of the cabin, straight to one of the neighboring cabins. In the meantime, Ben told the two what he was planning to do now. "We have established a radio channel. It will broadcast a message to those people."

"What if someone else is listening?" Mal asked him, "Like, a villain?" Ben shrugged in response before walking into the third cabin on the right. He opened the door and walked inside. He has been in there once before, on the tour, but for Mal and Carlos it was their first time.

All they saw was one big room filled with equipment Mal was unfamiliar with. The only things she could recognize were the microphone, headphones and the radio near the door. Carlos, on the other hand, knew what every single thing was meant to do and so, he immediately knew what this cabin was for: broadcasting. But the equipment wasn't that good. The parts that weren't outdated, were already rusting with a small layer of dust on top of it.

"Wow," Carlos said, sarcastically, "This is…" he couldn't even find the right word to describe this cabin.

"It's not much, but it's all we need," Ben said, "It's never been used." He let his finger go over a piece of equipment, picking up a lot of dust with that one finger.

"There's a first for everything," Mal said while Ben walked to the microphone and sat down in the chair at the table. Before he put the headphones on, he looked at the two newcomers again.

"When I'm recording the message, you'll have to be quiet. I don't know just how much the microphone will record." Mal nodded. She would be quiet and hoped Carlos would be quiet as well. Ben put on the headphones and then flicked a switch of the machine on his left. The microphone recorded every word he spoke. He sounded a bit nervous, but could hide it from the third sentence onward. And in the meantime, Carlos and Mal listened quietly to the words he chose to convince the people to pick up their weapons and fight.

"People of Auradon, members of the alliance. This is the leader speaking. Since the foundation of this organization, we have never asked for anything. Today, the day has come that we will ask you to do something.

Maleficent has created monsters with dark magic. These beasts have destroyed one of our camps and they have killed those who stood in the way of their destruction. Maleficent could at any given time decide to use these to try and conquer all of Auradon. She will bring destruction and death throughout the realm until nothing stands but her monsters and those who are loyal to her.

What I want to ask you today is to come to the field opposite of Maleficent's castle. We will meet each other there three days after this message was first broadcast, where I will be waiting for you. We will confront Maleficent and her monsters and will try to stop her before she can decide to use her creations to conquer Maleficent. Do not feel obligated to come – the choice is yours. I hope you make the choice which you deem as the right one."

Then, Ben flicked the switch again and he sighed in relief, glad it was over. He walked back to them, looking particularly at Carlos.

"Are you good with tech?" he asked Cruella's son, who scoffed.

"Do you even have to ask?" Carlos said arrogantly. Ben took that as a yes. He pointed at the machinery.

"Can you put the message on loop?" he asked. There was no shame in asking for help. Carlos folded his arms.

"I sure can," he said. But that's all he did. He spoke and stood still.

"Will you do that, please?" Ben then asked him. Carlos nodded.

"Fine," he said, sounding a bit irritated. Maybe he'd rather not help them, but he would not let a chance to brag or look better than someone else slide. After pressing a few buttons and flicking some switches, he walked back to the two. "There," he said, "Now your target audience can listen to your message."

Then, he took his phone out of his pocket and quickly started texting someone. It had to be: with how fast he tapped the screen, he had to be texting. Ben looked at the device with great interest. The only types they could use were older models, those who couldn't be tracked down by the villains. Those older models were usually stolen by members when the alliance was in dire need of communication devices.

"What are you…" Mal began until she realized what Carlos was doing. "Are you texting?"

"No," he said sarcastically, "I'm writing a love letter."

"Carlos…" Mal then said, not asking him who he was texting. He would tell them eventually. Carlos sighed.

"If you'd like to know, I'm texting Jay." Mal then went to stand behind him and looked at the screen. Everyone still had the right to have privacy, but she was too curious. She needed to know whether Carlos was telling Jay where they were or not. So far, he was not.

"Why?" Ben asked him. While Carlos responded, he did not look up.

"Because you want to fight Maleficent," he said, continuously typing the message, "I'm saying it will be better to keep our friends by our side. You know, in case you'll have to bargain your way out of an upcoming war. If so, I'd rather have more hostages than just me. Mother doesn't care as much as you'd think. But the Evil Queen would do everything to get her little princess back, even if it means going against Maleficent. Same goes for Jafar." Mal and Ben exchanged glances. Ben was surprised, as was Mal. Though Mal had not seen this coming.

"That's quite clever," Ben then said. "Are you on our side now?"

Carlos shook his head. "I'm complicated," he said, "My faith in what I've always believed in has been shaken not an hour ago. I'm trying to find my way." Not much after he had said that, he was done typing his message.

"What did you write?" Ben then asked him. Before Mal could answer the question, Carlos answered it for her with a bit of pride.

"I told him I've got the wand and that wanted to give them a chance to submit to me and swear loyalty before I start a conquest. Jay will definitely want to come to try and take it away from me. And wherever he goes, Evie follows." Ben nodded. That was quite a smart way to attract Jay's attention. Still, they still doubted.

"What if they won't come?" Mal then asked him. Even if there was a big chance Jay would show up, there always was a small chance they wouldn't do anything but stay away.

"C'mon, Mal," Carlos said, "You know they will. There's one common trait we all share: we all want power." Right when he was talking, the phone buzzed. Carlos had received a text, one from Jay. Before either Mal or Ben could ask him what Jay had written him, Carlos already answered that question.

"He asks where and when I'll be meeting them," he said. then, he looked at Mal. "Told you he'd want to come."

Mal nodded. Ben gave Carlos instructions as to where they could best meet up with the two villain kids. "Tomorrow, in our first base," he said, "We know the way around, which will be to our advantage."

"In other words," Carlos said, "they can't get away that easily if they wanted to." Ben nodded. He wasn't proud of taking hostages, but it was a necessity. Carlos started typing the message and soon sent it.

"There," Carlos then said, "You're welcome."