If I Never Knew You

Chapter 4

They were standing along the dock, waiting for the ship in the distance. On it were the last three children from the Isle, well they were no longer children, but adults. Mal did her best to ignore the photographers who were busy snapping pictures of her and Ben. She clung to his and rested her head on his shoulder. To her right were Evie and Doug, to her left Jay and Carlos, each couple held onto the other as the ship come closer and closer. The Welcome Committee the majority of which was made of others who had been brought from the Isle and had been successfully reformed, along with Jane and Lonnie. Since this was the last batch the Committee had prepared a grand feast, and party.

Mal, along with Evie, Jay and Carlos were slightly worried about the three on the ship that was vastly approaching. Yes, the four had the reputation for being the nastiest and wicked on the Isle, titles they were once proud of, but in reality they were nothing compared to the three on the boat. Mal suddenly remembered the terrible incident that had taken place little more than a year and a half ago. Most of the children, in fact about ninety-nine percent had little to no trouble adjusting to life in Auradon, many welcomed it, thrilled to be away from the Isle and their parents. Only a few were unable to let go of their wicked ways. Mal thought back to that night she and Ben were escorted from the restaurant they had been eating at and taken to the hospital to be told the horrific news. The grandson of Claude Frollo was put into the psych-ward of the hospital. The police offers informed them that Jean-Louis had burned the son of Gaston at the stake deep in the woods, apparently Gus had made a pass at Jean-Louis and to release the demon from Gus the body had to be burned. The doctors were unable to save Gus, the burns were too severe. Jean-Louis was declared insane and sent to a hidden asylum. Jay and Carlos had taken Gus' death the hardest, as they had spoken to Gus days before his death. At that time Jay and Carlos had just started openly dating, and Gus had gone to the two to discuss his feelings for Jean-Louis. They were the ones who had told him to go for it, in their defense everyone assumed that Jean-Louis was gay, and neither have fully forgiven themselves for being what they claim is apart of Gus' death.

Mal shook the memory away as the ship pulled into the dock. Many of those around her started to jump in anticipation, even Carlos was jumping, causing Jay to smile down at him. The ramp of the ship fell to the dock with a loud thud. Ben pulled Mal closer to him as the two walked towards the wooden the dock. Mal saw the three Islanders begin the descent down the ramp. Her attention was first drawn to the tallest, a boy with black hair and pale green skin. His mother was Elphaba, more commonly known as the Wicked Witch of the West. He had inherited her brown eyes as well, along with her strong sense of justice. He had always ranted how unfair it was that his family, any family really, had been forced to live in isolation. His mother, he swore, hadn't really been wicked, but had tried to liberate the citizens of Oz from the Wizard's tyranny. Though he held his head high, Mal could see the anxiety in his eyes. He had never liked being far from his mother, being miles away probably was giving him an anxiety attack. Mal made a note to make sure he was taken care of first.

The next person Mal and the others had only ever seen from a distance, they had never had direct contact with him. His skin was as white as fresh snow, hair the color of ash, his eyes the color of ice. The son of Jadis, the White Witch. Though magic was inexistent on the Isle the boy had always had the strange ability to make the area around him absolutely freezing, she now noticed the ground beneath his feet was covered in a thick layer of frost.

The last one, the one who made Mal the most anxious was the daughter of Ursula, the Sea Witch. Aqua was her name, and she had been Mal's rival back on the Isle. Her skin was a light chocolate, her lips ruby red. Her eyes were a light lavender, and her hair as white as a corpse. She smiled as she saw Mal and extended her arms.

"My dear friend," she said in her booming voice. She wrapped her clammy arms around Mal and Ben and hugged them. "It is so good to see you after all these years, along with you, King Benjamin."