𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓑𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓻 (𝓢𝓱𝓪𝓭𝓸𝔀 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷: 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮)

A Fairys Betrayal

The next few hours were stressful to say the least. Brooke hated having to drop off Harriet and CJ before explaining what was going to be instore for them moving forward or even just showing them their rooms in Carlos' house. She hated having to pry Squeaky's arms from her waist and talk him down from a panic attack before she left. And she knew she would hate where this meeting was going to go.

Carlos wasn't in a much better state, Hades had instated a mass panic. He had done it on purpose, but Adam was going to blow up and make things a hundred times harder moving forward. The two of the had spent months breaking down barriers and showing people that they didn't have to be afraid, only for it to all fall apart in less than ten minutes.

"I think we all know why we're here," Adam started. He, Belle and fairy godmother, the ones who started it all, stood across from Mal, Ben, Carlos and Brooke the ones who were supposed to end it all. Key words being, supposed to. "The people are in a panic about Hades he almost got out."

Ben held a sarcastic smile for a second like this whole meeting was ridiculous, "Who knows what he would have done if he had escaped?" Belle added.

"We can't risk having another villain on the lose."

"I really feel like this is my fault," Mal sighed. "I'm supposed to protect Auradon."

Brooke shook her head, "Mal that's all of our jobs and we all do it well. We're doing better than the reign before us." She looked her parents dead in the eye, "they only had 20 years of peace because the locked everyone up and pretended it made things better, but it didn't."

"Brooklyn," her father warned.

Carlos stepped in front of her and shook his head, "no she's right. Mal, Evie, Uma, Gil, Celia none of them should exist. You brough villains back from the dead, created more and let them sit in 20 years of seething anger. Your 20 years of silence birthed a lifetime of problems for your successors. Now I love Mal and Evie and i wouldn't trade them for anything but every problem that has befallen this reign is because of the barrier."

Adam looked at Carlos like he was his mother for a second, like he killed a puppy. Kings weren't used to being questioned. "Every time we open the barrier we're exposed to danger," he spoke like Carlos' point held no merited. "Maleficent, Uma, Harry, Hades." Carlos threw his arms up and huffed, he hated being ignored it reminded him of his mother. 

Ben's phone rang and he moved to take the call, "Well of courses Hades is angry," Brooke brought up. "He's a god and you trapped him which has me questioning the so-called light work of your magic Fairy godmother." She looked insulted at the insinuation, "he caused one Heinous act over 3,000 years ago and has been quiet ever since. We only know about it because of stories and legends, Hercules and Meg never came down from Olympus to tell us, Zues never told us, the fates never told us. We're mortals meddling in a god's affairs. You took that legends at face value and definitely used some kind of dark magic to trap him there and bar him from the underworld. The gods are angry and rightfully so."

Ben turned back to the meeting, "Maleficent's specter and the queens crown have been stolen."

The two women across from them gasped, "Uma," Adam immediately accuses. Brooke sucked her teeth and leaned into Carlos. Their arguments fell on deaf ears.

"We don't know that dad."

"When the people hear this, they will never want to leave their houses. What do we tell them? How do we keep evil out of Auradon?" Belle voiced. 

Carlos opened his mouth, ready to give a speech about how eliminating evil was impossible, how we all had good and evil inside us, but Mal spoke before he could. "I think that there's only one way to guarantee their safety, and I think that there can't be anymore going in and out," she said it like it hurt her, but if it truly had she wouldn't have even suggested it. "I think that we have to close the barrier forever."

Carlos felt the world stop, his glare, his cruel devil glare, born to him by his mother fell on Mal. Brooke looked like Mal had told her Neverland had vanished. Ben, well, he was just told to give up on his dream, "no."

"Son."

"No, no, no, no, no."

"Ben? Hey. I do not want to take away your dream, because it was so beautiful. And it is why I fell in love with you, but as king and his queen, what's our duty?"

Ben looked close to tears and Mal had only made it worse, "to protect Auradon, but you know what this would mean? All those kids? Are you prepared for that?"

"I know what it means. And no, I'm not prepared for it. I just think that we have no other choice."

"Son... Mal's right."

Brooke looked at her parents and at Mal, "Non!" She snapped in French, "no she's not. Closing the barrier makes things worse. No going in and out means no more food and clothes shipments, no more medical care, no books, no help if something terrible happens. Locking down the barrier will mean leaving them to fend for themselves. Me and Carlos have spent months pouring time and effort and love into that place and you're just going to take it all away from them just like that," she snapped her fingers for effect. "What about Harriet and CJ, I promised they could see Harry what about Celia she has a sister and a father, what about the twins and their father, Dizzy and her grandmother and cousins. Carlos' cousin." He winced; he hadn't talked to Diego in a while.

"Brooke, I just don't think that we would forgive ourselves if something terrible happened," Mal placed and hand on her shoulder.

Carlos took it away placing his arm around his girlfriend and laid into her next, "Every kid on the island, all the kids like CJ and Harriet, all the kids like Jay, all the kids like me." His voice broke, "You want to leave them there, subject them to that torture. Do you not remember what it was like Mal? Are you that far removed? Do you not remember Jay sleeping on a rug in the shop being afraid that TV would fall on him? Do you not remember me sleeping on a mattress in a closet? Do you not remember what my own mother did to me!" he lifted the hem of his shirt and right there on his hip were there were dozens of scars in a very particular pattern. A bear trap. "Your gonna leave those kids to go through something similar." Mal tried to reach out for him, but Brooke batted her hand away, "I broke the barrier at 14 Mal." Fairy godmother Belle and Adam gasped; they didn't know that. "All it takes is one person a little smarter, one person a little angrier, and it's all over."

Brooke had tears streaming down her cheeks, "Go ahead foster the next generation of hate, we won't be part of it."

Her and Carlos took their leave, Ben went to follow, that was his sister, he had made her upset. he didn't want this. He needed her, she was how other half, his impulse control, his best friend, he didn't know what he would do if she pulled herself away again. He had just gotten her back. Mal grabbed his hand and pulled him back, "give them a few hours to cool off, they'll come around."

As soon as they were out of ear shot Brooke clenched her fist, "I have a really bad Idea."

"Bad as in horrible or bad as in were going to get in trouble."

"The second one."

Carlos' bit his lip then looked at her, "Jail bad or reprimanded."

"Jail for the rest of our lives bad. No Isle of the lost bad."

Carlos smirked, everything he once was coming back full force, "tell me."

"They wanna play 'Hero.' It's not fair that they get all the fun, let's play 'Villain,'" She smirked and let lose her whole plan to Carlos. 

Updated: August 13th, 2023