The Gladers from the Isle (ABANDONED)

Moral Conflict

"That was not what we agreed!" The king exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air.

"Your Majesty, if you'll allow me to explain." There she was again with that calm, nonchalant attitude. It irked Fairy Blue profusely. "Teresa began asking questions as the Swipe was not completely successful. She and some of the other subjects will get flashbacks of their lives before the Isle. If we had used magic, it wouldn't have been an issue." She threw a glare to the fairy.

"You know that magic cannot be used in that way!" The fairy exclaimed, pointing a perfectly manicured finger toward the chancellor.

"We are trying to save lives, here, Fairy Blue. How is that not a reason to use magic?"

Miss Lumiere paused: She couldn't write this. The King noticed. "Please keep your personal feelings out of this. What's passed has passed. We must move forward. What happened with Teresa?"

"She has helped with giving us information on how her fellow subjects are settling into their new lives - as well as some unique insight on the Villains' offspring, might I add. But that was spoken casually between us, so I shall not express anything of that matter here." The fairy huffed through her nose but didn't say a word.

"I did have a listening device engineered to listen to the subjects' conversations," she continued, "in the hopes that we would get some more private intel on what they went through on the Isle-"

"Cruella de Vil's son showed it to me," the fairy said. The king - and Miss Lumiere - turned to her. "Forgive my interruption, but it is against the law to spy on people: especially children. Who are under my care, by the way. And please, Chancellor, explain to me how spying on children brings us toward a cure for the Flare? The virus has been spreading south, with one or two cases reaching Auradon. I hope you can find out a more humane way to solve this without anyone in the school being affected?"

The Chancellor was silent for a moment. Of course; she had nothing. They were not much closer to a cure than they were to begin with. "We at WCKD have a new trial to propose."

"And what's that?" The king asked.

"Your Majesty, we have called it The Scorch Trial: Phase Two. This will involve bringing four subjects from the southern Maze in the Isle of the Lost to Auradon, and then taking them to where we keep the infected-"

"Absolutely not!" The king roared.

"Your Majesty, please. We need only run some more tests on brain activity. How better to do that than observing their behaviour with actual Cranks?"

"You'll get them killed!" The fairy exclaimed.

"I cannot authorise this," King Adam stated. "My son's coronation is in ?two weeks' time. And when he takes over, he will not stand for such maltreatment."

Chancellor Ava Paige leaned back into her cushioned, over-gilded chair. "Understood, your Majesty. I suppose we'll have to continue with what is already in place. And who knows how long it will take to find a cure: perhaps not for another few months. Perhaps not for another few years."

King Adam and the Fairy Godmother exchanged concerned looks. Miss Lumiere placed her pen on the desk, her brown eyes filled with horror.

~

"What the bloody hell was all that about?" Newt asked Mal as they walked back to their dormitories.

"What do you mean?" She asked, throwing a smile in Evie's direction.

"He means what magic were you guys doing last night?" Teresa asked, her gaze stony.

"You're one to talk, you disappear all the time," Evie responded, flicking her dark hair behind her ear.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Thomas asked. "You said you were with the girls."

Evie and Mal's brows furrowed. "Nope."

"I was... out for a walk." Teresa invented as she moved to sit on her bed.

"Sure you were," Mal responded with a roll of her eyes. Evie unlocked the door to their dormitory, and the group filed inside.

"Well, at least I wasn't creating a magic spell to make the Prince fall in love with me." The Gladers grumbled in approval.

"You have no parents back on the Isle. You have no idea what it's like to be forced to do something without any say-so," Jay said. "Once we have the wand, it'll be all over with."

"Jay!" Mal hissed.

"The wand?" Thomas echoed. He had been sitting on Evie's bed, but decided to stand up for dramatic effect. He regretted it instantly, and quietly ssat back down.

"Well, we can tell them, can't we?" Jay asked.

"No, we can't," Evie responded.

"Tell us what?" Minho asked. "That you're about to commit a grand evil scheme?"

"Minho," Newt warned. He was standing beside him at the side of the room, his arms folded.

"Well, what does it look like?" He gestured frantically. "Their shucking parents have put them up to something."

"And now we know about it, so we'll get into trouble if we don't say anything about it," Thomas continued.

"Then, we'll come up with an alibi," Teresa said, determination on her face.

"You what?" Newt asked.

"They would do the same for us," Teresa said.

"You don't know that," Minho responded.

"Well, would you?" Thomas asked the VKs.

There was half a second of hesitation, before the group nodded and murmed an agreement. Though it wasn't convicing, it satisfied Teresa, who suggested they use the wand to cure the Flare virus thereafter.

"Will that even work?" Evie asked, furrowing her brow as she opened one of her school books at her desk.

"Even if it did, I doubt my mum will let you have the wand to cure anything. She's pure evil," Mal argued.

"But you're not." Newt argued, shifting on his bad leg. "We've known you guys for a year now. You're much happier when you're with your friends."

There was a pause, and all that could be heard was Evie's pen scratching on paper.

A knock rattled the door, startling everyone for a moment. Jay sighed and, as he was closest, opened it.

It was Prince Ben.