Courage || Carlos De Vil (Disney's Descendants)

Chapter 35

Hades's attempt to escape the Isle of the Lost shook everyone to their core. Because the event was being televised live, everyone back at Auradon could see what exactly had gone down: when he had stuck his hand through the barrier and attacked Ben and the VKs, and when Mal transformed into a dragon to fight him off. Even when he had been pushed back inside and returned to being powerless within the barrier, the citizens of Auradon still felt unsafe.

The silver lining to this was that Ben, Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and the new batch of VKs still managed to make it back safely. They were a bit on edge, but unharmed nevertheless. Because of the commotion that went down, majority of the crowd that had originally been waiting at Auradon Prep dispersed, leaving only a handful of people left, including Meredith and Jane, Fairy Godmother, King Beast and Queen Belle, Doug, and a lone cameraman.

Although they were the only ones remaining, they still tried to make the new VKs' arrival as memorable as possible. They waved their little flags and banners and plastered on bright smiles as the purple limousine rolled back into the driveway of the dorm building. Meredith bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to see if Carlos was alright after that whole fiasco.

At long last, the limo finally pulled to a stop and the doors opened, revealing a mixture of old and new faces: the original VKs and the new ones. When Meredith spotted the flash of white, black, and red, she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

Carlos had just stepped out of the car when somebody rammed into him at full speed, flinging their arms around him.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. He was quick to react, stabilizing himself in his place before the two of them could teeter backwards. The glimpse of fiery red hair that he caught and the warm, familiar feeling of her body against his was enough for Carlos to recognize that it was Meredith. "Hey."

"Are you okay?" Meredith asked as Carlos wrapped his arms around her frame in return.

"I am."

"Did Hades hurt you badly? And Jay and Ben? How about Mal?" she rambled.

"I'm fine — we all are," Carlos reassured, nuzzling closer to her. Eventually, he felt Meredith relax and let out a sigh of relief, and then the two pulled away to get a better look at one another.

"Are you sure?" Meredith asked unsurely, glancing at him up and down.

"Yes, I promise," Carlos insisted. "He just... threw us off, that's all."

Because Meredith had been so worried about Carlos, she barely paid mind to what was happening around her. However, everyone else felt more or less the same as she did — concerned and frantic. She scanned her surroundings, seeing King Beast and Queen Belle checking over Ben and Mal for any injuries; Doug and Evie were sharing a word as well, with both Dizzy and Celia next to them; and Jane and Fairy Godmother were speaking to Jay, who had the Smee twins in tow.

"You gave us all a fright," Belle said, glancing at the VKs before her.

"We seriously need to do something about this," said Beast with a frown. "Up the security, change some policies, work on —"

"Dad," Ben interrupted gently. "Not now, please. We'll talk about it later."

Beast paused and shared a look with Belle. With a sigh, he nodded and gave in, realizing that it would be inappropriate to talk about such matters in front of everyone else.

"You're right, son."

"Why don't we let the kids get settled in, yes?" Fairy Godmother chirped, trying to lighten up the mood. "I'm sure they must be excited to explore Auradon."

"Wonderful idea," Belle agreed. "I'm sorry to cut this celebration short, kids. We'll have a proper lunch and tour for you all very soon."

Dizzy, Celia, and the Smee twins merely nodded. They were stoked to finally be in Auradon, but after what happened with Hades, they weren't quite sure how to react just yet.