As Ben and Mal were enjoying each other's company, on the other side of the yacht a certain Angel leader was not having a very good night. You see, Harry, Uma, and Jay had decided to pay him a little visit.
Along with Hadie. And Estelle.
"Okay Estelle, no ripping Freddy boy limb from limb," Hadie stated.
"Should you even be coming with us?" Uma asked. "Your mom and dad would kill me if they found out."
"Which is why they won't find out," Hadie shrugged. "Besides, Mal's my sister and my captain. Freddy tried to hurt Ben and Mal loves Ben. Ergo, Freddy tried to hurt Mal. Therefore I get to hurt him."
"Spoken like a true Rat," Harry chuckled and twisted his hook as they walked into the room that was acting like a makeshift brig.
"Did something happen?" William asked, looking up at Jay. "Is Ben alright?"
"Ben's fine," Jay told him. "Mal's with him."
"So...why are you four here?"
Jay chuckled and the team couldn't help but stare at how...dark the chuckle was. It was clear that something was in store. The question really was what?
"We're here to make sure Freddy understands the importance of leaving Mal alone," Harry told them.
"I thought we weren't supposed to kill him?" Li asked.
"You'd be surprised of what you can live through," Jay said, his voice low as he glared at Freddy's unconscious form. None of the kids noticed Emir and Akiho slip in to the room.
"Are we just glaring at Freddy tonight?" Emir asked.
"They won't let us interrogate him," Uma grumbled. "They keep asking questions."
Akiho shook his head. "Something tells me that 'interrogation' is code for something else."
"You've spent too much time around us."
"Mal wants us to make sure you don't kill him," Emir said. "Other than that...have fun."
Uma smirked as the other boys stared at Emir in shock. Well the other Auradon boys that is. Okay just William, Brenden, Li, and Miguel since Akiho was nodding in agreement. Harry, Jay and Hadie just smirked in amusement.
She knelt down by Freddy, her shell glowing in her fingers. "Wakey wakey Freddy," she said, her voice a low growl. "This is your personal wake up call from your personal demons."
"Wha...Uma," Freddy growled as he regained consciousness. "Well at least you sinners are admitting you belong in Hell."
"I didn't say we thought we were demons. We said we were your demons," Uma snarled, barring her teeth in a smile that was not friendly in the slightest.
"I'm not scared of you Uma."
"And that is exactly your problem. You should be," Uma said as she stood back up. "Boys, why don't you start us off?"
"Gladly cap'n," Harry nodded, a twisted smile on his face. "I've got just one question for you Freddy. How would you like to be tortured?"
"You wouldn't dare Hook! You don't have the guts!"
"Oh?" Harry asked and knelt down so that he was eye level to Freddy. "Maybe if it was me you went after Freddy, I might have left you alone. But you went after Mal. You went after Ben. You don't touch my captain or what's hers."
And you went after Uma. Don't think I didn't notice you talk about riding the world of witches Freddy, he thought as he stood back up and glared at the leader of the Angels. I know she can take care of herself but that doesn't mean I want you anywhere near her.
"Harry, torture him quietly," Jay said as he examined his nails, looking almost bored with the conversation. "There are guards outside."
"No there's not," Harry snorted. "Besides, after what he did, do you really think anyone would come to his aid?"
"Eh good point," Jay nodded as Estelle started growling at Freddy.
"Don't worry boy, you'll get your turn," Uma muttered, smirking as she heard the growls.
"Keep that hell beast away from me!" Freddy snapped.
"That 'hell beast' might just be your end if you keep talking like that," Uma shot back.
"Did I say anything that was inaccurate?" Freddy asked. "It's an unholy demon—then again, so is Mal so it makes sense it's here."
Uma glared at Freddy, her hands clenching into fists as she glanced over at Hadie.
"Keep my sister out of this Freddy!" Hadie shouted. "The only unholy demon that's here is you!"
"I'd listen to my cousin," Uma growled as Freddy scoffed. "He tends to be right about stuff like this."
"Of course, all the members of your little cult would stick together."
"Says the boy who's gang members are called 'Angels'," Jay scoffed. "Double standard much?"
"You all are so blindly devoted to Mal, you don't see how the dragon's daughter's luring you all to sin!" Freddy snapped.
"And you're so devoted to your father that you don't realize you're going to end up just like him."
"Enough talking!" Harry growled. "I thought we were torturing him?!"
"Hadie, turn around," Uma ordered.
"I'm a VK! I'm not a baby, I grew up on the Isle too!"
"You're also under fifteen and I'm the captain. I'm not explaining to your mother why you saw this."
Hadie grumbled but turned around so that he was facing the Tourney team. Harry smirked as he looked over at Freddy.
"Like I said, you don't have the guts Hook!"
"Watch me," Harry snarled. He lashed out and hit Freddy's ribs with his foot. "A lesson I learned from my father," he growled.
Jay winced but smirked as he heard the slew of curses spew from Freddy's mouth. Curses Hadie hopefully didn't hear because Li had quickly put his hands over the Godling's ears.
"You'll pay for that Hook!"
"You think so?" Harry asked. "Sounds like you need another reminder of my father's lesson."
Harry brought his foot back and kicked Freddy in the ribs once more, earning another chorus of familiar curses.
"I probably should have had Hadie plug his ears," Uma noted. "I doubt Li's hands are doing much to block out Freddy's filth."
"I've heard worse on the Lost Revenge!"
"Why do you think you're not allowed on the ship until the crew cleans up their language?"
"When I get out of here Hook, I'll make sure you pay for this! After I make Mal pay for that little stunt she pulled with the dragon!"
Jay growled and stormed over, grabbing Freddy by the shirt. "You. Don't. Touch. Mal."
Each word was punctuated by a punch to the face.
"Oh Jay, I was wondering when you'd join in," Freddy taunted as blood dripped down his face. "Mal's little lap dog."
"I know the concept of friends is a foreign one to you because you don't have them," Jay growled. "But don't even think of touching Mal."
"Guys, we did say no killing," Emir said, trying to reign in the VKs as he could see that things were getting a little too heated.
"I know Emir," Jay growled as he continued to glare at Freddy. "But like we said, you'd be surprised of what you can live through. We'd know that better than most."
"Guys, come on," Akiho said though everyone could tell that he didn't have his heart in it. Ben was one of his best friends after all. "He's already injured from Mal's dragon form. Don't...don't you think you've 'tortured' him enough? Do we have to go and get Mal?"
"He's the reason I almost only had two cousins on the Isle instead of three!" Uma growled. "If the boys get to have their fun, so do I!"
"Uma, we get that—."
"It's not my fault the little witch couldn't swim!" Freddy taunted. "Come on Uma. You talk a big game but you just hide behind your lap dogs. At least your mother could back up her talk, even if she was a witch."
"I don't hide behind anyone Freddy," Uma snarled before lashing out and kicking Freddy right in the groin and causing all the boys to wince, Jay having scrambled to get out of the way before Uma kicked him by accident. Even if it was Freddy boy, they all knew the pain of getting hit in that particular area.
"That was for knocking Ben out tonight and ruining Mal's night and this is for what you did to Mal when we were nine!" Uma growled, lashing out again and kicking the same spot.
"Gods, this girl is harsh," William muttered.
"Do you care though?" Li asked. "I mean, sure those kicks hurt but let's be fair. After what this guy did to Ben..."
"Oh I'm not going to go and sob into my pillow or anything for this guy. I'm just saying that Uma's harsh."
"Uma, I think that's enough," Emir said as Uma picked up her foot to kick again. "I think Freddy's got the picture."
"Can I turn back around now?" Hadie asked as Uma scoffed.
"I suppose," Uma sighed and Hadie turned back to face his cousin and Freddy.
"Wow, you guys didn't go half as hard as I thought you would!"
"Would you like us to rectify that?
"And face the Tourney team again? No thank you! I want to help!"
"Guys!" Akiho exclaimed.
"Yes?" The four VKs asked, looking at the Arendelle prince.
"Seriously that's enough! Look at him, he doesn't even look human anymore."
"To be honest, he was never truly human," Harry muttered.
"Yeah Akiho, this is an improvement," Jay nodded. "Honestly I'm a little surprised. Ben's your best friend. I'd have thought you'd be jumping at the chance to punish Freddy for what he did."
"Jay, as a best friend, I want to pummel this cretin into the ground," Akiho stated. "But Mal gave the order that we're to make sure you guys don't kill him. You did some damage and got it out of your system but enough."
"Um, Estelle and I didn't get to do anything," Hadie spoke up.
"Mal doesn't want Estelle biting anyone, it might confuse him," Uma said. "But come on and get your licks in Hadie. He's wounded enough, he can't do anything."
And if he tries, it'll be the last thing he ever does, she thought.
Hadie let go of Estelle and walked over to Freddy, smirking slightly at the amused look on the leader of the Angel's face. "Oh cute, you think it's not going to hurt because I'm younger huh? Too bad I'm a quick study, even if I was forced to turn around, and I'm going to take a page out of Harry's book."
He lashed out and kicked at Freddy's already slightly damaged ribs, causing Freddy to groan slightly.
"Okay, now have you gotten all of this out of your system?" Emir asked.
"No, but it'll have to do," Uma sighed.
"Good, so let's go before anyone realizes that we're missing," Akiho stated. No one noticed Estelle go up to Freddy, never noticed Freddy swipe at Estelle.
"Oh God! Let go of me you devil!"
"Stop. Don't. Bad dog," Hadie said as he turned around to see Estelle's jaws biting down on Freddy's arm.
Uma chuckled at her cousin's deadpanned tone as Akiho sighed.
"Come here Estelle," he said. "You want to go see Mal?"
Estelle paused and looked at Akiho, keeping his death grip on Freddy's arm.
"That's right," Akiho nodded. "Let go of that nasty arm and you'll get to go see Mal. I'm sure she'd love to see you after the night she's had."
The Cerberus snorted and looked over at Hadie, as if looking for permission.
"Release," Hadie sighed, clearly not wanting to give the command but knew it was the only way Estelle would let go of Freddy's arm. Estelle snorted and let go of the arm, trotting off to go and find Mal.
"Mal's going to wonder what happened if there's any blood on Estelle's muzzle," Uma noted.
"It's not like we're going to keep this from her," Harry pointed out. "If anything she'll be disappointed she wasn't here."
"True but she did get to turn into a dragon and teach Freddy the importance of leaving Ben alone," Jay added. "Now come on. I'm honestly surprised we haven't gotten caught."
"You want me to knock him out again?" Harry smirked.
"Nah," Uma shook her head. "If he's knocked out, he's not in pain. That's too kind for him."
Everyone couldn't help but chuckle as they made their way out of Freddy's room and back to the deck.
"Tell me you didn't teach Freddy a lesson without me," Lonnie raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jay.
"What lesson? We didn't teach Freddy a lesson."
"There's blood on your knuckles Jay," Carlos said, shaking his head as he walked up. "You all alright?"
"Just fine. What about you Carlos?" Jay asked.
"Other than a few bruises where Jane had to hold me back after Ben got knocked out, I'm fine," Carlos told the older boy.
Jane rolled her eyes. "Freddy was taller than you and he had a sword. Just what were you going to do?"
"I'm a VK! I'd improvise!"
"Your lass has got a point, DeVil," Harry stated and then looked over as Gil walked up. Everyone stilled as they stared at the two boys. Harry had not exactly been a wallflower in terms of his dislike of the LeGume boy so it was a shock to everyone when the First Mate patted Gil on the shoulder.
"You did good Gil," Harry stated.
"Thanks Harry," Gil smiled. "But what do we do now?"
"Yeah, it doesn't exactly feel right to keep celebrating when Mal and Ben are off somewhere recovering," Jane nodded.
Akiho sighed. "Well...what if we had our own party? Our 'we didn't die at the hands of a French Fanatic' party...and my phone is ringing."
"Mine too," Emir frowned as all the AK's phones started ringing. The VKs couldn't help but give sad smiles as they realized what had caused the influx of calls—Cotillion had been televised after all.
"Hadie!" Alexandria exclaimed as she came running up. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. What about you? Did Freddy—?"
"He never got the chance," Alexandria shook her head. "Gods though, I hope he doesn't have Chad. The fact that he had his invitation..."
"Call him," Hadie offered. "He might be somewhere sleeping or something. Didn't you say he didn't have a date?"
Alexandria nodded and pulled out her own phone, just as it started ringing.
"...Chad?" The youngest Charming said in shock. "Yeah, I'm fine, I was just about to call you...you're with Audrey? She had a flat tire? In Sherwood Forest? Well why didn't you call Bobby or Roland? Yes Kitty and Lucy's boyfriends. Yes they have boyfriends. Yes you've been living under a rock Chad. Yes, Ben really got engaged. How is it you know all of this? Sherwood Forest doesn't exactly have TVs hanging from the trees. The radio? Huh."
"Of course he's with Audrey," Brenden shook his head as Alexandria continued chatting with her brother. "Even in their 'off' phases in their on again, off again relationship, he'd still be at her beck and call."
"Hey, all it means is that Audrey's not here," Li pointed out. "Could you imagine her screeching as Mal turned into a dragon?"
"It'd be a repeat of Ben's coronation, only worse because Ben wasn't unconscious then," Miguel nodded.
"Yeah, let's not talk about that," Will sighed. "The important thing is that Ben's alive and engaged. And on that note, I think I'm going to go find my girlfriend. Li, Conner, you coming?"
"One of these days I'm going to figure out how you three ended up dating the sisters of your respective girlfriends," Emir shook his head.
"Isn't Aziz dating Rachel Fitzherbert?" Miguel pointed out with a chuckle. "If you're not careful Emir, you'll wind up with like half the Tourney team as brothers since those three are dating Rachel's sisters."
"I don't think that's how it works...but there's nothing wrong with that," Emir stated.
Jay shook his head. "So we were saying something about our own party?"
"Right! Pizza, pjs, and chocolate!" Akiho grinned. "Plus, maybe we can rid a certain pirate of his denial!"
"You do that and Mal's not there, she'd kill you."
"Eh, she'd get over it."
"She's dealt with those two and their denial for about ten years Akiho. Trust me. She'd kill you."
"Ah that's a good point and I don't want to miss Ben's wedding."
"You lot know we can hear you right?" Harry asked as he looked at them.
"Good, so you'll get over your denial that much quicker," Hadie grinned as Alexandria snorted in amusement, having ended her call.
Uma rolled her eyes. "Ignore them Harry. They're just insane from the excitement tonight."
"They're always insane then cap'n," Harry added. "Anyone see Blueberry?"
"Right here," Evie said softly as she walked up, her hair spilling out of her braid.
"You alright?" Uma asked, taking her turn to shock everyone.
Evie gave the other blue haired girl a small smile. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? It must have taken a lot of magic to wake up Freddy from what I heard. Everyone's still talking about it."
"Eh, not that much and I'm used to Freddy," Uma shrugged. "You on the other hand aren't used to our particular brand of crazy."
"I've heard rumors about Freddy though," Evie said softly. "Even being isolated for, well you know, Mal not getting an invite to my sixth birthday."
"Wow, harsh," Emir muttered.
"It was Maleficent's doing," Jay muttered to him.
"That makes sense."
Evie sighed and looked at Uma. "From everything I heard from the rumors, Freddy doesn't stop with just one defeat."
"No he does not," Uma grumbled. "He's like a very annoying house fly that just won't die."
"If you guys ever need a safe place, Emma offered her castle," Evie stated, looking at all the VKs. "Just in case."
"Macaria offered her place too," Gil added.
"Her place here with her parents or Olympus?" Uma asked.
"Uh..."
Harry chuckled. "Okay, all's right with the world again," he said as he patted Gil on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go enjoy the night and try to forget about Freddy boy for a while. No sense in him living rent free in our heads."
"I think my mom's coming to get me," Hadie said as Persephone walked up. "Hey mom."
"Hadie!" Persephone smiled. "You'd gone off and I didn't know—."
"I was with Uma," Hadie said with an innocent smile that Persephone didn't buy in an instant. "Mom, can I join the others in a slumber party?"
"Hmm...I don't know," Persephone said.
"Please mom?!"
"We'll be with him the whole time Aunt Steph," Uma stated. "After tonight, I promise, it'll be just a relaxing evening with friends."
"...there's blood on Hadie's shoes."
"That was there this whole time?"
"Why is there blood on my son's shoes Uma?"
"He was practicing his kicking and Freddy got in the way?"
Persephone looked at the two of them and shook her head. "Come with me Hadie. Uma, I can't ground you but I'm certainly very disappointed in you young lady."
"Does it lessen your disappointment if I said it was Freddy's blood?"
"...you've been around your Uncle too much," Persephone told her but a small smile pulled at her lips. Uma smiled slightly. While it stung to know she'd disappointed her aunt, she knew Aunt Steph couldn't be mad for long. After all, this was the woman who turned a nymph into a mint plant because she got jealous that Uncle Hades might have liked her more.
Ooh, now that's an idea!
No turning Freddy Frollo into a plant!
Oh come on Aunt Steph! Actually, how did you even know that's what I was thinking?
I've known you since you were six Uma, I know what goes through your head by now.
Uma shook her head in slight amusement as she watched her Aunt and cousin walk off, Hadie trying to argue that Freddy deserved the kick to the rib cage. Her cousin was perfect for Auradon, he still had his innocence that Mal had worked hard to protect.
"So...pizza?" Lonnie asked.
"Sounds good to me," Akiho grinned. "Come on you guys, slumber party in my dorm. We can check on Ben in the morning."
"I thought you'd be camped out at his door," Jay chuckled.
"I'm pretty sure Mal would kill me if that was the case."
"This is true, this is very true," Jay nodded as the group of them made their way off the yacht, Harry bending down to scoop up the sword and dagger from the deck beforehand. No sense those things falling into the wrong hands after all.
Besides, he thought as he made his way down the ramp, you don't know when you'll need a weapon. Tonight certainly proved that.
"So...are you not going to rant to Ben about the lack of guards?" Emir asked Akiho.
"Not while he's recovering from being knocked unconscious," Akiho stated. "Besides, gives me a chance to actually prepare my rant instead of just flying off the handle."
"Never hurts to be prepared," Uma nodded and the group climbed into a limo, content to make their way back to Auradon Prep. Of course no one commented on how Lonnie was holding onto Jay's hand. Or how Carlos had his arm wrapped around Jane's shoulders. Or how Uma had rested her head on Harry's shoulder.
"How are we the single ones here?" Emir muttered to Akiho. Okay, no one commented within earshot of the three couples.
"Because our girlfriends got whisked off to safety after a French fanatic threatened Cotillion with a sword, as mine is the heir to her throne and yours is both heir to her throne and the unofficial heir to Ben," Akiho muttered back.
"Ah. Right."
"You know they're going to ask us why we haven't proposed."
"Emma doesn't care about that. Plus I'd rather not be staring down a bow and arrow when I do ask."
"You think you've got it bad? My girlfriend's the great-granddaughter of the God of the Ocean!"
"You know what Ben would say to that? That he managed just fine and his girlfriend's the daughter of the God of the Dead."
"...you realize we'll have to ask permission first. And both our girls have parents who are scary in their own way."
"You love Elle?"
"Of course."
"And I love Emma."
"So it's worth it," both boys nodded as the limo made its way back to Auradon Prep.