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Six year old, Chad ran throughout Ben's back garden laughing.
Sword raised.
Dodging the walls of Ben's club house as he did so.
His helmet almost falling off with each swerve.
He swung his sword at the door, knocking it open.
"Chad! No!"
Chad did it again, his laughter rising.
"Chad, come on !"
Little Doug, who was almost six, followed his lead as he strummed his tiny guitar. Voice raising as he sung their battle song—one he had made up long ago.
One that would never leave any of them.
He casted a vocal enchantment on one of the monsters (which were mainly Doug's cousins in costumes), causing them to fall over dead.
Doug repeated this action on the next one, causing the exact same thing to happen.
He giggled at the sound the 'monster' made.
"You're on fire, Doug!"
Little Ben was ahead of them, adjusting his crown. Trying to come up with a plan before the others caught up to him.
Furrowing his brow in frustration.
"I got it! Come on guys!"
They followed him without hesitation.
They took the monsters down one by one. Feeling more and more triumph as each fell.
"We did it!"
"Yay!"
"We won!"
"We saved the city!"
"We're heroes!"
"We saved our people!"
"Yay!"
At Sixteen, Chad stood unmatched in Sword and Shields. And he was damn proud of it.
People loved him and he got more attention than he had in his entire life. It felt great.
The power went to his head and the pain of being nothing more than an heir to his parents started to fade.
And then the vks showed up and Jay swept away his title.
At Eighteen, he watched in horror as Audrey cackled and cursed everyone. Wondering just what he had gotten himself into.
And then he was alone.
In the closet.
And couldn't breath.
Audrey had locked him in and left him.
She promised she would never leave and forget him like the others had.
She had promised.
At Nineteen, Chad was forgotten, even at Ben's wedding.
No one liked him anymore.
Not even his so-called friend who invited him to the wedding.
It hurt.
It was really no wonder that he left after that.
His friends really couldn't blame him after it took them almost two months to notice.
Not even Audrey had noticed he was gone.
At Sixteen, Doug was nothing more than an awkward band kid who's only ever date ended with a trip to the emergency room and a fire.
He rarely met anyone's eye and resented Chad.
He started to distance himself from Ben and the others more.
And then the vks showed up.
Evie showed up.
Doug defended her from Mr Deley and felt like he was on top of the word as she finally noticed him.
At Eighteen, Doug was still head over heels with Evie and helping her run her business. More proud than he had ever been in anything.
But occasionally, he'd find himself humming him and his friends' song.
And missed the good old days.
Then he got cursed and woken with a kiss from Evie, and forgot all about that as he got swept up in the quest to undo the damage Chad and Audrey had done.
At Nineteen, Doug Dj-ed at Ben and Mal's wedding and danced with Evie, feeling on top of the world.
He didn't realize until much later that he didn't remember the last time he had seen Chad.
But there wasn't much time to dwell on it.
Evie still had a lot of stuff to work on and they still needed to get all the vks and reformed villains adjusted to not living on the isle.
And he ignored the part of him that still ached for his old friend.
At Sixteen, Ben realized the adults in his life were wrong and did his best to right the wrongs they committed.
And the first step to that was bringing the children of the villains to Auardon.
Consequences be damned.
At Eighteen, he had learned to manage his stress but was still busy as hell and trying to make time for his friends.
He proposed to Mal and got ready for Jane's birthday party, having gotten her the perfect gift.
Only to get the shock of a lifetime when Audrey turned him into a beast.
Something she promised she'd never do.
They stopped her.
Hades brought her back.
They woke the people she cursed and turned them back from stone.
And brought the barrier down.
At Nineteen, he and Mal got married in the forest and then returned to their actual wedding destination. Where Doug Dj-ed for him and everyone danced.
And then life got hectic again.
Chad went missing.
He was back to work.
Years passed.
And suddenly he was a father.
He held his baby and began to humm. Unaware that Chad and Doug were doing the same at the exact same moment.
One cutting wood in a cabin in the woods.
And one packing up orders for Evie's Four Hearts.
And slowly, their humming turned to singing.
And their voices rose as one— connecting them once again, though they didn't notice it.
"There will come a soldier..."