The green-clad girl and the black and white-clad boy held their breath as Curella emerged from the Cadillac, hoping against hope that the pirates hadn’t stolen anything.
“A decent job.” the old villainess muttered, casting another nervous look at Uma; she seemed almost disappointed, “Better than Jace and Harry do.”
“It’s nice to see you again too, mom.” her son’s giggly smile contrasted her dark glower.
“Uph!” She quickly turned toward the house.
“See, that wasn’t so bad.” Carlos turned his grin on Uma after his mom was back in the house, “Now, I can go to the slumber party too!”
She snorted as they started walking, but as they neared town, she questioned him, “What do you guys want anyways?”
“Say what?””
“Give me a break, Carlos,” she glared at him, “People around here are only nice when they want something…or did you forget that?”
His face flamed for a moment. “Maybe we did forget.” He shrugged, “Seems like a good thing to forget.” He shrugged again, “I know I don’t want anything from you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Uma cocked an eyebrow.
“Nothing.” he frowned at her, “What do you think?”
“You guys have sure changed a lot…” she mused.
“Hey, guys!” the black and white-clad boy spoke again, waving as they pushed through the batwing doors, “We’re back! Everything’s cool.” He nodded at the pirates, “Thanks again for your help.”
“I’m impressed.” Uma added a note of sarcasm, handing the hook back to her first mate, “You guys didn’t steal anything.”
“Oh, course, my captain,” Harry bowed, the relief evident in his eyes.
“Glad to hear your mom’s cool,” Mal looked relieved too.
“She said we did better than Jace and Harry…” he added, smirking, “High praise.”
“Indeed!”
“Alright, guys!” Uma clapped her hands, “Chow time!”
“No!” The Gastons jumped up, rushing to stop the stampede of the buffet table with fists, if need be, “Let’s see that kiss first!”
“Why don’t you guys just chill?” Mal snapped, driving them back with her intense glowing glare.
“You can’t tell us what to do.” they argued, “You’re just a traitor.”
“Well, how about me then?” Uma growled, taking her place beside Mal, “This is my mom’s place so I can tell you what to do. And I say chill!”
*o*o*0*o*o*
His feeling that everything would go smoothly evaporated as the council members filed into his office and Ben momentarily struggled to retain his courage until he thought of all the people he needed to thank and help.
“Sit down.” he gestured, taking a deep breath to relax his racing heart, “I’m sorry I ran out of clean up but I want to share what it’s all about now.” He took a slow sip of water, “See, after seeing how far the antiheroes were willing to go to help us get home safely, I feel like I need to do something tangible to thank them. And, by that, I mean, something bigger, more meaningful, than just bringing them over here.”
“What do you have in mind, son?” Beast asked.
“I know, I know,” Ben swallowed hard, “I haven’t done things in the proper order by planning things with Yen Sid before I ran it by you guys, but I think, I hope, that will show you how earnest I am about this.”
“What is it, son?” Beast prompted again.
“Yes!” Fairy Godmother agreed, “Don’t keep us in such suspense, dear!”
“Well, I-I-I-I’d like to go back to the Isle next week,” the king’s face reddened, “to, ah, attend the next antiheroes meeting.”
“You what?” his father startled, “Now, just a minute, son. It’s one thing to want to encourage them to be good, but quite another too—”
“But, dad!” Ben protested, his face turning turned deeper red, “If you’d only been there–”
“But, didn’t you just tell us what happened?” Beast argued, “I didn’t hear anything that would warrant such—”
“We did a quick overview.” the king answered without thinking, “I-I’m sorry, we didn’t want to upset you further. We know how much trouble we caused.” He shook his head, “Perhaps, if I gave you all the gory details, you’ll have a better understanding of just why I think this is necessary.”
“Go on…” Beast frowned.
“Yes, tell us…” Belle’s encouragement was cautious.
Fairy Godmother wordlessly nodded, her face white.
Taking a deep breath, the young king swallowed another slow sip of water.
“Let me start with a little background to set the stage,” he dipped his head with a small apologetic smile, “See, Mal and Uma have had this feud going on since they were kids. They used to be friends then something happened and they couldn’t forgive each other.” He took another sip of water, “She’s never told me that much about it..” He shrugged.
“But what’s important for this story is that after Mal and the others moved over here, Uma and her gang moved into their old territory.” He giggled nervously, adding, “Isle-speak, I guess.”
“So, anyways,” he moved on quickly, carefully avoiding his father’s eyes, “When Mal stayed after–well, you know, Uma, Harry Hook, and Gil—they’re Captain Hook and Gaston’s youngest son, and the rest of her pirates put Maleficent’s old place under siege.”
“Evie got through okay because they didn’t know how to deal with her coming back, I guess.” he continued, “Then when we got there, Jay, Carlos, Freddie, and the antiheroes had us dress up in disguises so the seigers wouldn’t recognize us. In fact, we made it into the castle just fine but they thought it best to hide out until morning because Pleasure Island was opening up.”
“That worked fine,” he reddened again, until Doug, Audrey, and Chad left. Mal was afraid they’d be taken hostage so she left Jay, Carlos, Lonnie and me with the swords and we barricaded ourselves inside while she went to get Yen Sid.”
“Evie had already left to kiss Gil. That’s another Isle thing. Don’t ask. But we were hoping she’d be back any time.” he continued, “Then Jace and Harry Badum–they’re Jasper and Horace’s sons–saw her and Sophie trying to get in alongside Uma’s pirates searching around the house!”
“Bibbity-bobbity!” Fairy Godmother gasped.
Ben held up his hand, “Please, just wait. See, the Baden’s saw them get taken by Harry Hook so they hurried down to tell and, naturally, we couldn’t just stand around and let them be held hostage.”
He dipped his head again, “Now, I know this was reckless and it could have gone south so easily—Jay warned us—but we weren’t about to not go out and at least try, so we put together a little army of our combined force for a rescue operation.” He blushed deeply at their mortified faces, “We had our swords and knives from Mal’s kitchen and the ones who couldn’t fight hid on the third floor…most of the antiheroes stayed with them just-just in case.”
“No, no, please.” he held up his hand again as Beast opened his mouth, “I want you to hear the whole thing first. That’s all I ask.” He went on, “Anyways, while we were still fighting, Yen Sid and Celia came back with Doug, Audrey, and Chad but Mal, as you know, had to stay behind.” He blushed again, “Yen Sid saved us, I’ll admit, b-but we-we worked together. I mean, really worked together.”
“Don’t you see?” he pleaded with his eyes, “We worked together to save each other.”
“That’s wonderful, dear…” Belle murmured.
“It is…” Fairy Godmother had tears in her eyes.
Beast’s grudgingly nodded, remaining silent.
“But there’s more to the story,” Ben took another sip of water, “Once we realized that Mal wasn’t there—and why—Yen Sid gave Freddie, Jay, Carlos, and Evie a half hour to see if they could to get her to come back,”
He looked down at his hands, remembering the helplessness he’d felt, “He wouldn’t let me go, given what just happened, so as you can imagine, waiting felt like an eternity. The half hour got right down to the end and they still weren’t back. We all just knew they wouldn’t make it. It was terrible for everyone. Me, Doug, Lonnie, Jane especially, I think.” He shot Beast a look, “I knew we had a responsibility to get back here as fast as we could.”
Beast and Fairy Godmother looked down at their hands.
“But then,” Ben unexpectedly laughed, “Claudine—she’s Frollo’s daughter–had an awesome idea to stall them.” He snickered again, “They stole the limo keys! The idea was that Mal and the others would hear about it and come back. Then we were gonna tie ‘em up and take them home with us.” He hooted again, oblivious to their horrified looks, “I know, I know, but, hahaha—”
For a long minute, the adults were too stunned to do anything but let their mouths gape; it was so unlike any of the good Auradonian children to think along those lines, but they were proud of them for it.
Belle was the first to give in, holding her hand over her mouth as the giggles started.
“That is pretty ingenious,” she glanced sideways at her husband and Fairy Godmother, “you have to admit.”
“We were desperate,” Ben was relieved that at least his mother found it funny, “We were there to bring them home and we’d gotten so close.” He tried not to look at his father, “Too close to come back without them. I mean, Doug going after Evie like that— And Chad and Audrey with him. That’s what friendship, right?”
Suddenly, Fairy Godmother let herself go; first her lips twitched, then she chuckled, then she outright laughed.
“Come now, dear,” the retiring queen gripped her husband’s arm as he alone remained stone faced, “You and I—everyone of us—would have done the same thing for each other. And they’re all back safe and sound.”
“I would have rather heard all this before.” he grumbled, as his defenses started crumbling, “All the parents should know what you’ve been up too…”
“And they will,” his wife assured him, “But, for now, let’s hear what our son has cooked up with Yen Sid.”
*o*o*0*o*o*
Jay grew increasingly anxious throughout the meal, wondering if Mal would go along with his gig and tell her story.
“Don’t sweat it,” Carlos muttered, reading his friend’s thoughts from across the table, “E will get her onboard. I’m sure of that. Evie can convince anyone to do anything.”
“Shut up before someone hears us.” Jay gave him a look.
“Attention, please!,” the blue-clad girl suddenly stood up, “I have to do something and I need everyone’s undivided attention.” Then, without further ado, she hauled Gil to his feet and kissed him square on the lips. The brown-clad boy’s face was priceless.
“Now that,” Jay snorted, as he and Carlos tried to muffle their laughter, “is something I thought I’d never see.”