Chapter Text
When Ben decided to bring four villain kids to Auradon from the Isle of the Lost, he expected there to be some bumps. He understood that they were victims of their parents’ actions, and in his mind, they were good people in a bad situation. It didn’t hit him until they arrived that they may not be as innocent as he thought.
They had decided that upon arrival, the VKs would be brought into a center where they would be evaluated. In order to truly get an idea of where they were mentally and physically, Ben’s parents had chosen to isolate them.
Originally, it seemed like a good idea. But once the limo actually drove across the bridge and they stumbled out, he realized it probably wasn’t going to be easy.
As soon as Ben’s eyes landed on the four teens, he realized that he may be in over his head. The girl with the purple hair, Mal, was glaring at him as if he had just kidnapped her from her home (and honestly, he kind of did). Next to her was the girl with blue hair and a crown, Evie. Her smile was big and she batted her eyelashes at him, but even he could see how dull her brown eyes were. The smaller boy, Carlos, was jumpy and seemed to be struggling to take everything in. The taller boy, Jay, was studying his surroundings, looking as if he was ready to jump out and fight anyone who dared to mess with him or his friends.
“Welcome to Auradon! I’m Prince Ben, son of Adam and Belle.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Ben.” Evie said, reaching out and running her hand down his arm. “I like your suit. You know, I’m a princess since my mother is the Evil Queen and…”
“No you’re not.” Audrey chimed in. “Her royal status was revoked here, so you’re nothing.” She smiled in an overly sweet way.
He didn’t miss the way the other three moved, as if they were ready to attack. Ben just smiled at her. “Thank you, Evie. If you follow me, I can show you to where you will be staying.”
“But Benny-boo…”
“Audrey, I’ll catch up with you later.” She turned back to the VKs. “Come on.”
The teens looked hesitant, standing close together. Their postures were defensive, and they were all turned slightly so they could see all the angles around them. He just smiled reassuringly and led them towards the health center.
When they arrived, Adam and Belle were waiting. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you all.” Adam greeted. “I’m King Adam, and this is my wife, Queen Belle.”
Mal scoffed. “Yeah, as if we could forget your names.”
Ben was momentarily thrown off, but then he remembered that, technically, his parents did imprison them onto the Isle of the Lost. He was sure that there were some hard feelings.
“You will each have your own rooms for now.” Belle picked up, smiling gently. “I’m going to show you to them.”
“That’s okay.” Jay interrupted. “We’ll stay together.”
Adam stepped forward. “It’s not really a choice, son.”
Jay walked closer. “You are not my father.”
“Okay, I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here.” Ben intercepted. “We are putting you into separate rooms so that you can be evaluated. We want to make sure you’re healthy and…”
“You’re going to poke and prod us like animals?” Mal said with a glare. It didn’t go unnoticed that she stepped defensively in front of the others. “That’s not happening.”
“What if we’re not healthy?” Evie questioned. “Are you just going to throw us back onto the Isle?”
“No.” Ben wasn’t sure what to say. He probably wouldn’t like being separated from his friends either if he was in an unfamiliar place.
“Listen, Benny-boo.” Mal came closer to him. “We’re not going to be locked into cages or…”
“Definitely not cages.” He interrupted. “You’ll be completely safe, I swear. A doctor will come into the room and examine you, and there will be someone to ask you some questions. You will have to spend the night here, but as soon as everything checks out okay, you’ll be at the dorms.” He tried to give them a sympathetic smile. “At least you can wait a little longer before you start school.”
He could see the four of them trading glances, trying to decide what they should do. He opened the door leading to the hallway that would contain their rooms. “Do you want to at least check them out?”
Ben studied them. Carlos looked absolutely terrified, Jay was frowning, Evie’s face was completely blank, and Mal looked angry. It was Evie who finally stepped forward. “Let’s go.” She encouraged her friends. Ben saw the way Carlos reached out and grabbed her hand, following closely behind her. Mal and Jay were more hesitant, but they went too.
“Each room has a bed and desk and books. You’ll get hot meals and you’ll be able to meet up in the common room, where you can play games and watch TV. Remember, this is only until the doctors think it’s safe. There are a lot of germs and illnesses here that you might not have built up immunity to, so you’ll need to get shots.”
“Shots?” Carlos questioned. “You’re going to shoot us?”
“No, it sounds worse than it is. There’s a little needle that they’ll put into your arm that will expose you to the virus so that your body can fight it off.”
“So you’re going to make us sick?”
“It doesn’t make you sick.” Ben explained. “I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it will help you. Otherwise, you’re going to be exposed to all these new germs and you’ll get really sick.”
“Please, as if this place has any germs that the Isle didn’t have. We ate rotten food.” Jay said with a roll of his eyes.
Ben led them to where their rooms would be. There were glass windows on each door and they were all on the same side of the wall so that they couldn’t see each other. “I know that you guys are in a new place and this is scary, but I promise that we’re trying to help you.”
Mal made a noise. “As if this is anything to be scared of.” She brushed past them all and went into one of the rooms.
Jay looked to Carlos and Evie. “If anyone touches you or…”
“We’ll be fine, Jay.” Carlos sighed before going into a room.
Evie smiled. “See you soon.”
“You too, Princess.” They went into their rooms.
Each of the doors were shut, locking automatically. Ben sighed in relief and turned, meeting his parents’ gaze.
Adam looked at him proudly. “You’re going to make a great king, Ben.”
But Ben wasn’t so sure. He felt terrible for locking them up after they finally got some freedom from the island they had been trapped on since their birth. He just hoped that everything would check out okay so they could start school and have their first experience with a normal life.
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Three days later, Ben was given permission to skip school so he could go to the health center. He was ready to hear what the team of doctors had discovered about the VKs. Honestly, the four of them fascinated him and he was curious to hear about how they had reacted to spending the last couple nights alone.
“Good morning, Dr. Williams.” He greeted as he entered. “Do you have a moment to discuss our new guests?”
“Of course, Prince Ben. Come right this way.” He led him down the hall and into his office. “You certainly chose some interesting kids.”
“How are they doing? Are they cooperating?”
Dr. Williams shrugged. “Well, as much as you would expect a villain kid to cooperate. There are definitely signs of trauma starting to show already.”
“Okay. What did you find out?”
“Let’s start with Jay. Physically, he’s in great shape, but a little underweight. He wasn’t happy with the idea of changing into a gown for the full exam, so that took a while to talk him into. There is some scarring on his back and arms, almost like he was beaten with a whip. He is very protective of the others and he just kept asking to see them. When asked about the Isle, he told us that it was a dangerous place and they did what they had to do, and he refused to talk about his father.”
“Was he able to get vaccinated?”
“Yes.” Ben nodded in understanding. “Mal was a little harder to convince. She is also underweight, and she downright refused to get into a gown. We did what we could, and she is healthy and did the vaccines. She’s very rude and sarcastic, and quick to get defensive. I can tell she is manipulative. Like Jay, she kept demanding to see her friends. She told us that her mother is in power on the Isle, and that ‘if you want to stay alive, you have to have power’.”
Ben was interested in that statement. He filed that away for later. “What about Carlos?”
“Underweight and has a lot of scarring. When he was given food, he scarfed it down as if it would be taken away at any second. He huddled in the corner whenever we came near him, so it took a while before he allowed us to do the vaccines. He is very jumpy and doesn’t like loud noises. I see some signs of physical abuse based on the bruising on his body and his reactions. He struggles with making eye contact and his answers were short and to the point.”
“Yeah, I could see that yesterday. He seems a little awkward.”
“Out of the four, I think Evie is the hardest to figure out. She’s very polite and talkative, but only when it’s on her terms and a subject she wants to talk about. For example, she had been talking and cooperating, but when I asked her to put on a gown, she started to get upset and her hands were shaking and she refused. She did allow us to give her vaccines, and like the others, she is underweight. At meal times, she only really picked at her food, not even finishing half of it. She was saying how excited she is to be here, and when I asked about the Isle, she shut down.”
“Okay, so overall, would you say that they are healthy?”
“Physically, yes. I think that there is work to do with all four of them mentally, and I would recommend weekly visits to a therapist.”
“Do you think they’re ready to come to Auradon Prep?”
Dr. Williams looked at him. “I want to try something first. I want to let them all see each other and watch how their relationship with each other works. If they have healthy relationships with one another, I think we can release them today.”
“Okay, good. Let’s go.”
Dr. Williams led the way to the rooms. Ben curiously glanced into the windows. Mal was laying upside down on her bed with her head hanging off. When she saw him, she stood. He kept walking and saw that Carlos was on the bed huddled under the blankets, Evie was drawing at the desk but turned towards the side so she could still see the door, and Jay was just laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
The first thing Ben noticed was that Mal, Jay, and Carlos were in new clothes. They all had on identical black sweatpants and gray long sleeved shirts. Evie, however, was still in her Isle clothes.
“Why aren’t they in their clothes?”
“Because many of the pieces sewn into the fabric could be used as a weapon. We tried to get Evie to change too, but she refused. I’m going to leave her in her room until she changes; hopefully once she sees her friends, she’ll do it.”
Ben didn’t exactly agree with that, but he figured that this man was a doctor and understood this better than he did.
Mal’s door was unlocked first and she walked out, looking around curiously. “Where are we going now?”
“To the common room.” Ben explained as Dr. Williams unlocked Carlos’s door. The young boy jumped when he heard the door open and sat up, staring at them in a mix of confusion and fear. As soon as he saw Mal, he got up and came out. Dr. Williams skipped Evie’s door, then let Jay out, who joined the others.
“Why didn’t you let Evie out?” Mal demanded.
“She refused to change into the clothes I gave her. As I explained to you, you can’t wear anything that could be used as a weapon.”
“So you threw clothes at a teenaged girl and expected her to change in front of you?” Mal narrowed her eyes. “You really thought that would go over well?”
“It doesn’t have to be in front of me. If she wants to come out, she has to change.”
Mal went over to Evie’s door. “Did you hear that, E? Put the clothes on and you can come out with us.” Ben watched as Mal glanced towards Jay and Carlos, then nodded towards the door. All three of the VKs went over, standing in front of the window on Evie’s door as if they were guarding her from Ben and Dr. Williams’ sight.
A moment later, Ben heard a mumbled voice from behind the door. Mal turned and looked inside, then all three of them moved so that Dr. Williams would unlock the door. Evie walked out slowly, smoothing down her hair and clothes as she walked.
“We’re going to go to the common room.” Dr. Williams announced. He turned and started to walk in that direction. Ben watched as Jay slung an arm over Carlos’s shoulder, and Mal whispered into Evie’s ear. They all four seemed to be checking in with each other, scanning their eyes across bodies to make sure there were no injuries.
Once they got into the room, Dr. Williams took a seat. Mal let out a loud groan. “You’re going to sit here and babysit us?”
“I want the four of you to be able to spend some time together.” Ben jumped in. “For that to happen, he has to be present.”
Mal rolled her eyes, but went over and sat on the couch. Evie instantly sat next to her, while Carlos took the chair next to the couch, and Jay sat on the table across from the girls. They spoke in hushed tones.
Ben leaned over to Dr. Williams. “We can’t even hear what’s going on. How is this going to help?”
“I can already see a difference. They’re more relaxed now that they’re with each other. You wouldn’t have believed how different Carlos looked when he was on his own. Mal was much snappier, Jay was a lot more tense, and I tried everything possible to get Evie to put on those clothes and for them, she was dressed in minutes. I think having people to relate to will help them to adjust. It seems like they’re opposites; Mal and Jay are defensive and argumentative and strong-willed, while Evie and Carlos seem calmer and like they can balance them out. You have them as roommates, right?”
“Yes, Evie and Mal, and Jay and Carlos.” Ben turned to the doctor. “Now that you think they’re okay, is it alright to give them their clothes back? I don’t want them to be forced into a new place and think that they have to completely change who they are.”
“If that’s what you would like to do, then I think that’s alright.”
Ben stood up and approached the group. As soon as they saw him, they all tensed up, locking their gazes on the young prince.
“Your bags are here. You are going to be able to take a shower and get dressed, and then I’m going to show you around Auradon Prep.”
“We’re getting out of here?” Jay questioned.
“You’re getting out.” Ben confirmed.
If only he knew what an interesting ride they had ahead of them.