Chapter Text
Mal was in a bad mood. When Mal was upset, everyone knew, partially because of the literal dark cloud that followed her around. But they all knew mostly because of the fact that all of the four were upset at the same time. Mal was the catalyst. After her mood dipped, Carlos handed in his homework late, Jay missed an easy shot, and even Evie had thrown her hair into a lazy ponytail two days in a row. That was all after Mal’s cloud had appeared. Whether this was something with Mal that caused the others to feel upset on her behalf, or something shared by the four, it was best to nip it in the bud before they got upset enough to start causing mayhem in an attempt to cheer themselves up. So Ben went to the girl’s room first. It was best to start at the problem itself. When he realized the girl’s weren’t there he went to the boy’s room. It only took two knocks before Jay answered the door. The taller boy muscled his way out with minimal exposure to the inside room, but Mal’s cloud was pretty visible, and there was the sound of someone, possibly Carlos, crying. Jay slammed the door shut behind him and gave Ben a smile that didn’t quite reach his tired eyes.
“Hi Ben” The air was stiff and his forced nonchalance wouldn’t fool Ace, who had gained his mother Alice’s odd and almost dangerous naivety. Ben rose an eyebrow at the thief and Jay dropped the act and the smile. “If something went missing” He started seriously, “It wasn’t us. I haven’t been on my supply run yet and it was my turn this week.” Ben noted that in the back of his mind, but also noticed that it was most likely an evasion of what he wanted to talk about. So, concerning as it might be, he firmly ignored it for the moment.
“Are you guys alright?” Jay was silent, so Ben pressed more. “You’ve all been acting weird, I mean, Mal’s cloud shot lightning at me the other day and Dude was relocated. Something big has to be going on for Carlos to send him away.” Jay flinched slightly, his eyes were dark.
“It’s fine” Ben rose his other eyebrow. “We…we just…it…we’re just kinda…” He bit his lip. “Mal is really sorry about the cloud by the way, she has no idea how to get rid of it. It never happened on the island.” He grit his teeth after a moment. Ben was patient, he’d learned it from his mother-when to see that people really did want to talk to you. He carefully stayed arm’s length away from the other boy. The island kids were skittish at best, worst? He didn’t know what this was. “It’s just” Jay started, sounding defeated enough Ben had to bite back a smile, “The island wasn’t the best. It was pretty bad, but…we knew who we were. We knew what to do. We had a purose. Our parent’s told us what to do and we had every way under the sun to get it done and…here it’s the opposite. There are a million rules on what you can or can’t do and you just…you follow them but why? And what are you doing and…the island sucked…but it was home.” Jay had been getting quieter and quieter as he spoke, enough that Ben was forced to break his self-imposed rule and get closer just to hear him. Even sharing the same breathing space, the word ‘home’ was almost inaudible. As soon as he heard it, the behavior and even Mal’s cloud caused a connection to click in Ben’s mind.
“You’re homesick…all of you…you” He let out a breathless chuckle that had Jay glaring at him. “I…I thought you guys were turning evil again. You’re homesick, that can be fixed. Parent’s day is coming up. I’ll talk to my dad, we should at least be able to put internet in the isle long enough for a call. Maybe even something better, I mean, you guys have been making great strides! It’s next week which is plenty of time to do whatever and—” He was cut off by a massive pile of Jay in his arms. He was also dimly aware of the fact that there was moisture on his shoulder. After a while, Jay was satisfied, with a final sniff he pulled away from the other boy.
“Thanks” He croaked. His eyes were very slightly red rimmed and shone with still unshed tears. He nodded to himself. “That…it means a lot. You don’t even know.” He inclined his head to his room door. “I’ll…I’ll tell them the news.”
“Wait” Ben stopped him right before he ducked back in. “Do your parent’s know? About the whole, renouncing evil thing?” Technically, only Mal had made the vow, but the others had promised to not engage in evil acts while at the school. Jay chuckled mirthlessly.
“Well, I don’t know about Cruella or the Evil Queen, but I told Jafar I was thinking about making the vow-it’s anyone’s guess on if he was listening or not. Maleficent knows, she managed to put a time release spell on her letter so that Mal could hear her yelling.” Ben’s face fell. There should have been no magic on the isle and so no way to do that. Jay continued, not noticing Ben’s face. “So, we might have to hear that one in real life, but that should be it.” He smiled down at Ben again. “Thank you…so much, again. I just.” With another overjoyed smile, he ducked back inside the room. The door had opened wide enough to see that the crier was in fact Carlos, wearing a huge fur coat for some odd reason. Evie was comforting him. Jay closed the door again.
The next day, Ben went to his parents and begged them for a favor. He managed to get the Villain parents passes off the island to spend time with their kids, not just for parent’s day, but for the week afterward. It was a decision reached (by Belle) based on how well they were doing, though King Adam was a bit worried about backsliding. But two of the children had already taken the vow, so there was very little chance of anything going wrong. A few nights later, as Ben had been busy with something for a while, while Mal’s cloud was in a mood all its own, Ben told them. There were gasps around the dinner table, then silence.
“Guys?” Ben asked. “Did you hear me? Your parent’s are coming for the week.” Still silence. “They’ll be housed in the west tower of the palace?” He tried. “They’re going to have to wear special cuffs to keep them from preforming magic while they’re still dangerous, but if this works then we can reform the adults to! The entire island will be obsolete.” He was met by four stunned gazes. “Guys?” Mal snapped out of it first, her cloud clearing instantly as she shook her head and pinched herself.
“Sorry, I just…a week? Your parent’s agreed to a week?” Ben nodded.
“I was surprised too! But mom suggested it. She wanted to try and see if adults were able to be redeemed. She wanted to show them how happy you all were being good, right before the second batch comes in.” He nodded to himself. “I gave them the transfer requests once I found the next batch. They should be arriving a few days after your folks go. And you guys can be the welcoming committee for the next group. I made sure you were all friends.” Now the table was staring at him.
“Ben?” Carlos started worriedly. “What friends?” Ben blinked at that.
“We got the friend list from our first pick, Mal-you have a cousin, Veronica?” Mal's face did something odd there. Her lips curled in a cruel sneer.
"You mean that pathetic litt" She was cut off by Jay elbowing her and Carlos cutting his hand under his throat.
"Do you...not like her?" Ben asked.
"She's fine" Evie interupted. She's just...her sister is a problem is all." Ben nodded. Sibling drama, he could understand that.
“Well," Mal started when she was back under control. "We were created using the same spell. I guess...yeah, cousin...works?" She still looked...upset. "How’d she tell you anything? She can’t speak, and I'm pretty sure she's too stupid to write.” Ben nodded
“We have to fix that. She used gestures, like, she flexed a lot and then made a huge shape over half her face. We found the girl that fit the description. Geneviève?” Jay shuddered, the other three snickered.
“Viv is…yeah” Evie mused. “You can use her, she’s annoying but not really dangerous on her own. Who else?”
“Umm, next she picked up a stick and started swinging it around. We looked and found Hook’s son so…” He t railed off as the table erupted into laughter.
“That’s not who she meant” Carlos said through the tears. “That is so not who she meant, but he’s cool. Cooler than his sister anyway, she’s…” he gave another breathless laugh. “If you meet her you’ll understand our reaction” The table calmed a bit, Veronica had not taken the opportunity to royally piss them off.
“Well, when, not if. I’ll be sure to note the sister and put her on the next transfer request form. The last person she mentioned…or, not mentioned she made shadow puppets, I think that meant the son of the shadow man.” They looked uncomfortable at that. “You…do you guys not like him?” Jay snickered once, then purposefully looked away. Mal’s cloud reappeared and Evie grabbed her hand before it could engulf the whole room.
“I’m going to wring her neck” Mal muttered darkly.
“Does she even know you two broke up?” Carlos asked. Jay lost his battle and began to quietly laugh. Mal turned bright red.
“We…we never…officially”
“This is gonna be interesting” Jay smirked, turning back to the group. Mal forced herself to take deep breaths. Her cloud vanished again.
“It’s fine.” Ben growled despite himself, and when the four looked at him he forcibly coughed to clear his throat. “It’s fine” He repeated. “Mal do you still…” He coughed again and shook his head. “If Mal would rather be with him then, sure. I’m…it’s your choice Mal” He forced himself to look up at her gently smirking face.
“Ben, you’re worrying over nothing. We fought constantly over the theoretical use of magic. When we can both use it it’ll be nothing but fighting for real. We are so not getting back together.” He took a deep breath, calming at that.
“Oh well, your folks are coming for Parent’s day”
“When is that again?” Carlos asked, feeding another scrap to thee dog in his hand.
“Next week” The villain kids all stopped at that, horrified. “Guys?” The four got up and ran out of the lunch room, most of their food untouched.