Another Start

A Simple Saturday

It was their first Saturday in Auradon
Carlos and Mal were awake, FG had told Mal to not sleep in case the concussion was more serious than she thought. Evie and Jay were fast asleep
Ben had checked on Mal before going to his dorm, Carlos and Jay had rolled their eyes and Evie had winked at her, she simply smiled at him
It was past 3 a.m. when they heard a weird noise. Living on an Isle full of dangers taught them some things, they got out of the dorm and followed the noise, it came from Ben's room
Carlos: "What should we do?"
Mal: "I don't know, he could just be having a nightmare"
Carlos: "Well.. maybe we should wake him up"
Mal: "Carlos, it's none of our business, let's go back to our dorm"
She started going back when she heard Ben say "Don't hurt her, let her go. Maleficent stop!"
Mal turned around, Carlos was shocked. They looked at each other for a second before Mal opened the door magically just in time to see the young Prince scream in agony
Ben: "MAL NO!" he was sitting on the bed now
Mal: "Ben I'm here, I'm okay"
Carlos: "Yeah, you are safe buddy"
Mal was sitting on the bed with Ben, a hand on his shoulder and Carlos was standing near the bed
Ben turned to look at Mal, he was trying to catch his breath: "Mal?"
Mal: "Yeah it's me"
He hugged her, Mal turned to stone as she wasn't used to physical touch
Carlos looked at her, shrugged, and went to close the door, Mal was moving her hands on Ben's back in a comforting pattern trying to reassure him
Ben was now confused: "Wait guys, what are you doing here?"
Carlos: "Well we were awake in our room when we heard a noise and we decided to follow it, we were outside your room when we heard you screaming so we got in"
Mal: "You were screaming Maleficent's name, you dream about her a lot?"
Ben's mood seemed to darken a bit: "Sometimes.."
Mal: "No need to worry, she won't hurt you, she's on the Isle, she can't reach you here"
Ben: "Oh she wasn't hurting me, she was hurting you"
Mal seemed surprised that he would admit it, she had heard her name escape his lips but...
Carlos seeing that Mal was in distress: "She won't hurt Mal either, we are here and we are far more powerful than she ever will be, plus as Mal said, she is stuck on the Isle"
Mal: "Why don't you try to sleep now?"
Ben: "I can't, not after these nightmares"
Mal: "Okay.. what would you like to do? We could stay here with you for a while" she had turned to look briefly at Carlos
Carlos: "Yeah totally"
Ben was surprised
How anyone could be afraid of them?mHere they were offering some comfort to him, the son of the man who caused their worst memories...
Ben: "We could play Monopoly"
The two vks seemed confused, Ben explained the rules of the game and the three of them spend the rest of the night playing until Ben fell asleep. Mal and Carlos put him in bed and walked out of the room

The next morning
Ben reached the cafeteria and saw Evie and Jay
Ben: "Hey guys, how are you?"
Evie: "Hey Ben, we are fine, how are you?"
Ben had expected them to ask him about his nightmares but they didn't bring it up: "I'm a little tired" then noticing Mal and Carlos were nowhere to be seen "Where are Mal and Carlos?"
Jay: "Sleeping. FG told Mal to stay awake till this morning and Carlos kept her company"
It seemed like Jay and Evie didn't know about his nightmare, Ben smiled
Evie: "This morning FG came to visit her and told her she could sleep"
Jay: "We expect them to wake up at 2 p.m."
Evie nodded. Then Doug came with Lonnie and Jane. Like Jay said at 2 p.m Mal and Carlos were in the tourney field.. playing.. with knives
Ben: "What are you doing?" he seemed worried
Jay: "Yeah, are you crazy?" then took a knife out of his pocket, and "why didn't you call me?"
The aks were speechless and turned to Evie
Evie: "We don't have toys and it's always useful to know how to defend yourself on the Isle, so knives and swords were our toys growing up, especially for Carlos and Mal"
Carlos accidentally scratch Mal's cheek, she threw her knife away and charged him and they were on the ground fighting
Jay rolled his eyes and to sit back with the aks and his sister
Doug: "Should we do something?" he was slightly amused by Carlos and Mal's behavior
Jay: "Nah in a few minutes it will be over"
Carlos and Mal stopped fighting and came for him, he didn't expect it, Carlos escaped but Mal was pinned on the ground, laughing
Jay: "Oh you think it's funny, devil's spawn?"
Ben seemed offended but Evie stopped him and explained to him it was something normal, still, he felt a little jealous, Jay was really close to Mal
Carlos came back to help his sister
The fight stopped when Evie yelled "LUNCH"
They all came to sit, Mal sat next to Ben at his right and Carlos at his left, they asked him how he was and then started eating
Ben seemed happy with Mal's decision to sit next to him until Lonnie asked: "So Jay.. you and Mal are dating?"

Mal almost suffocated, Jay was laughing harder than ever, Carlos and Evie were looking at Lonnie like she was the weirdest thing they had ever seen
When Jay stopped laughing: "No of course not, she is like my sister, besides have you not met Mal? She's not 'girlfriend material', with all the stupid things her mother told her about love"
Mal was sending him death glares, like Evie
Jay: "What? You know I'm right and after Harry.."
Mal threw a knife, it landed near Jay's leg, who seemed to get the message to stop talking
Carlos seemed upset
Ben looked at Mal, she was looking at the sun but it was clear she wasn't present, trapped in some memory, he nudged her and she looked at him
Ben: "Are you okay?"
Mal nodded and smiled a little