Petra's POV

"The King and Queen?" I said in disbelief. "Nibs-" "Petra!" Two voices called from the ship. I looked up at the deck and saw the twins, Screw and Nails, looking down at me. "You're back!" Well, no turning back now. "Yeah, I'll be right up." I yelled back at them. I shot Nibs a quick glare before flying up and onto the deck of the ship.
On the deck of the yacht, I was immediately greeted by the lost boys. They all asked me multiple questions about the Isle and whether or not I was okay and all that, but soon cleared out once Nibs made his way on board. Tay flew over to me next. "You look awful." She retorted, landing on my shoulder. But last and certainly not least, from the far side of the deck, I was greeted by King Adam and Queen Belle in the flesh.
I had never formally met royalty before, but my mother often told me stories all about them and how everyone would bow at their presence. "Your majesties." I said, bowing down just like I had seen in the pictures. I heard the two laugh and I looked back up, confused. Did I do it wrong? "You don't have to bow to us, dear." The Queen said. "You're friends with Ben, and therefore friends of ours." I stood back up straight and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. I could hear Tay snickering in my ear. "Um, sorry Madam." I said, holding out my hand to them. "I'm Petra Pan, it's a pleasure to meet you." My mother seemed to always push me to have good manners if nothing else.
I shook hands with the Queen, then the King. "Ah, yes. How are the Darlings these days?" The King asked. I shrugged and put my hands behind my back. "My Mother is fine, she's still living in London working on her writing. Uncle John is still traveling, I think he's in Agrabah right now? Oh, and Uncle Michael recently got married!" The royalty smiled. "Tell Michael congratulations from us." The King replied. I nodded. "I will." I assured them. My mother and uncles were often closer to the King and Queen then my dad, so it'd make sense that they asked about them. Though I'd never met Belle and Adam before today, I'd often gotten gifts from them on my birthdays and things like that. It was kind of like meeting some long lost relative.
But I wasn't able to talk long, we did have work to do after all. The king and queen wanted to watch us perform to see what exactly would be played at their Cotillion. I flipped through the pages of lyrics and rapped my fingers on my music stand. "This is a little soft for us, don't ya think?" Slightly asked, strumming a few chords on his bass. I sighed and nodded. Usually our songs were a bit edgier, but this one was a little out of our ball park. "This isn't some musical festival, it's a royal event." I replied, grabbing my mic. "So we'll just have to adapt."
I'll admit, rehearsal was a bit more stressful when the royal family is judging your every move. But by the end, we seemed to have nailed it. "It sounds perfect." The Queen said as we began to pack up. "Thank you so much for your cooperation." I shrugged and blew a stray piece of hair from my face. "Don't worry about it, it's an honor. Like you said earlier, Ben and Mal are our friends. We're glad to help them on their big day."
As much as I wanted to continue talking with the King and Queen, I knew I had to find Carlos. But as I was about to leave, Tay stopped me. "Hey, where are you going?" She asked. "You have your dress fitting with Evie, remember?" I gasped, she was right. I was running out of time to get my dress. I was never going to get around to talking to Carlos before Cotillion at this rate. "Fine, come on let's hurry!"
And with that I had gone to meet Evie at her dorm.

Carlos' POV

"Ok Carlos, you're the one who wanted us to open up more." Evie said, shifting her sitting position on the grass. "So let's talk about you and Petra."
After we got back from the Isle Jay, Mal, Evie and I had a 'heart to heart'. Things between the four of us had been so distant lately, and with everything that's happened we needed to talk. But now apparently it was my turn to pour my heart out to the group.
"I, uh, well, what about us?" I asked hesitantly, holding Dude in my lap. I never really talked about Petra that often to anyone since we got together. "You two haven't even looked at each other since we left the Isle." Jay piped up. "Now I don't know about you, but if my girlfriend was kidnapped by pirates and held hostage for a whole day, I would be a little concerned afterwards. So spill; what happened."
There were 2 reasons why I didn't want to tell my friends what had happened. Number 1: the second I mentioned I let my rage 'slip' again I would be greeted by a giant 'I told you so' from Evie and Jay. Number 2: I told Petra that I loved her. I didn't know what kind of reaction I would get from that one yet. None of us knew much about the whole concept of love, but when I said it to Petra it felt so right.
"Well." I began. How do I put it into words? "Remember when Harry jumped into the water earlier to get his hook?" Jay nodded. "Yeah, Petra threw it in the water. I saw it. I couldn't believe he went in after it, he can't swim can he?" "Nope. And obviously Petra didn't know that." Mal said. "That's why she jumped in after him, right?" They were all looking back at me now. I shrugged. "I mean, yeah. But that's not the whole story." I explained. I sighed. I knew I was in for a lecture. "Petra didn't throw Harry's hook into the water. I did. I knew Harry would go in after it and I hoped he would-" I began to choke on my words. I actually tried to murder someone. I almost killed someone. "I was just so mad, Harry had always pushed us around back when we lived on the Isle and Petra was just going to let him walk with no consequences! But I've been thinking about it, and Petra wasn't taking pity on him. She was forgiving him. And I was too caught up in my own anger to realize that."
I didn't even have to explicitly say what had came over me for Jay and Evie to know what happened. I felt Evie's hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her. "I'm not saying that your 'slips' are a good thing." She said. "It'll take time to control them, and we'll be there for you to help you through it. But it does mean that you're getting more confident, which is great!" "And it means that you really care for Petra." Jay chimed in. I decided to cut in. "Speaking of Petra, there's something else I need to tell you guys."
Once everyone's eyes were on me, I finally spoke.
"ItoldPetrathatIlovedher!"
Everyone looked at me with blank stares. "You want to run that by us again?" Mal asked. Why was I so nervous? They were my friends, right? They'd understand. And they deserved to know. "I-I possibly may or may not have told Petra that I might love her?" It came out as more of a question then a statement. Still, they all understood me perfectly. Evie reacted first. "Oh. My. Godmother." Evie squealed and gave me a huge smile. "Carlos, that's amazing! What did she say?!" I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, she didn't really respond. She was kind of under the water by that time." While Evie was obviously thrilled, Mal and Jay looked a little uneasy.
"You told the daughter of 'the boy who never grows up' that you loved her?" Mal shook her head with a deadpanned look. "Are you forgetting that Peter still doesn't kiss Wendy because he thinks it's 'grown up stuff'? It doesn't sound to me like she was raised in a household where romance played a factor in literally anything. And let's not forget that the Lost Boys were kicked out of Neverland because one of them-" "I think what Mal is getting at" Jay cut her off and put a hand on my shoulder. "is that we're happy for you. Just be careful, okay?" This was about the reaction I expected from all of them, and I wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing. I nodded and put my hand on Jay's opposite shoulder. "Thanks, man."
Suddenly, Evie gasped. "Petra's gown!" She said, jumping to her feet. "We still have to do her fitting! Come on, Mal. I'll do yours real quick too. I made a couple of improvements to your dress." She smiled and helped Mal to her feet. Before they left, I stopped them. "Hey! Don't say anything to Petra about this!" That was a conversation I dreaded to have, but I'd rather talk to Petra about it then have Evie and Mal do it for me. "Of course not! You worry too much!" Evie replied. And as the girls ran off, I looked down at Dude in my arms.
"They're going to say something aren't they?"
"I can almost guarantee it."

Petra's POV

It seemed that Tay and I had beat Evie back to her dorm, the door was locked when we arrived. "Should we try the window?" I asked. Tay crossed her arms and huffed. "Fairy Godmother said not to fly on campus with the paparazzi around." She reminded me in that flat sing-songy tone she always used when I proposed an obviously bad idea. "I'll just go through the keyhole and unlock it from the inside!" Before I could protest, Tay had already flown towards the doorknob and dove head first into the keyhole. Then she froze.
"Hey Petra?"
"Yeah, Tay?"
"I think I'm stuck."
I silently cursed under my breath. "Ok, I'll try to push you free-" "No!" She cut me off quickly. "You are not going to push on my butt! Just wait for Evie to get back and she'll unlock the door so you can pull me through from the inside." For a split second, that sounded like a good plan. "Hold on." I said. "Evie won't be able to unlock the door if you're in the keyhole!" This time Tay was the one to curse, except she was much louder then I was. "What are we going to do then?"
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, thinking. Then it hit me. "I'll fly to the window like I said earlier! Then we can get you free and we'll get inside the dorm!" I heard Tay mutter something that I couldn't quite hear. "Alright! Just make sure no one sees you, reporters will be swarming this place." I scoffed and began walking down the hall. "You worry too much! I'll be fine." I assured her. "Just don't go anywhere... oh wait." I laughed at my own joke as I heard Tay groan. But if she had said something after, I was too far away to hear.
I made haste to get outside to Evie's window. Apparently Mal got hot during the night, so they always left it open. The campus was swarming with people, students or otherwise, with Cotillion starting starting soon. So remaining unnoticed was definitely a challenge, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job until I ran right smack into someone. "Geez, I'm so sorry-" I looked up to see who I was talking to.
"Cubby?"
There, standing in front of me was my former friend and ex-lost boy, Cubby. Six months ago he was a part of the Terrible Trio that attempted to ruin me and tear Carlos and I apart in the process. A while back him and Foxglove (another former friend and one of his partners in crime) disappeared from Auradon. I hadn't heard from either of them since until now.
I hardly knew how to react as Cubby stood there staring at me with that smug look on his face. "Surprised to see me, Pan?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking down his nose at me. He looked and acted so differently then the last time I saw him. It almost sent a chill up my spine. "What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to sound intimidating but I could tell it wasn't coming off that way due to how confused I still was. "Better yet, where have you been? Where's Foxglove? What have you-" "Shhh." Cubby put a finger to his lips and began to walk backwards. "All questions will be answered in due time." He said, turning around and heading towards the woods behind him. "For now, smile for the camera!"
Before I could question what he meant, I heard a crowd of people yelling my name. Turning around, I saw a crowd of paparazzi heading my way. "Petra Pan! Miss Pan over here!" I was immediately overwhelmed by all the cameras and microphones in my face. They were asking all sorts of questions, everything from 'How are you adjusting to Auradon?' To 'Is it true that John Darling and Melody Triton are an item?'. I tried to tell them that I wouldn't be answering any questions, but they were relentless.
I was just about ready to fly up into Evie's dorm with all the cameras watching just to make a statement, I had reached my wit's end. But just as I was about to take off, I heard the voice of our headmaster cutting through the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me!" Fairy Godmother shouted as she pushed her way to my side. "What have I told you about harassing my students on school grounds? I should be calling the authorities on all of you! Now go on, go!" The crowd of reporters slowly dissolved and went in different directions as Fairy Godmother shooed them away. Once they were gone, she turned back to me. "I'm so sorry about them. Once Cotillion is done, they won't be hanging around here anymore I guarantee it." I waved my hand carelessly and shrugged. "Don't worry about it FG, but thanks for taking care of that." The headmaster put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "It's no problem, it's my job after all." She said. "Now run along to where you need to be, I can't guarantee they'll be gone for long."
Once Fairy Godmother was out of sight, I was able to fly to Evie's window and climb inside with no problem. Tay called out to me immediately when she saw me arrive. "Took you long enough." She said as I approached the doorknob where the top half of my friend was still dangling. "I'm sorry, I ran into-" my mind immediately flashed to the image of Cubby, but I would deal with him later. "-some trouble." I finished my thought. "Now give me your hands, and I'm going to pull on the count of three. Okay?"
Tay huffed, but still held out her arms to me. "Just don't pull too hard, you'll rip me in half!" She exclaimed. I took her tiny hands between my forefinger and thumb and squatted down to her height. "Count of three. One.... two.... three!" I gently tugged on Tay's arms as she furiously beat her wings to fly towards me. In a matter of seconds Tay broke free and before I could move out of her way, she flew straight towards my face and hit my forehead. "Ow! Son of a-" "Finally I'm free!" Tay yelled as she flitted around the room happily. "I feel like I was there for a million years!" I sat cross legged on the ground as I rubbed my forehead where Tay had hit me. "I spent the night in a dungeon, and you're complaining about being stuck in a keyhole for ten minutes?" I said with a slight laugh. I'd forgotten how over dramatic she could be, it really felt good to be back home.
Tay immediately froze in her place and turned to look at me. Her eyebrows furrowed together into a worried expression and she flew down to sit on my knee. "I never asked if you were okay since we got back." She said quietly. "You are okay, aren't you? They didn't hurt you or anything?" I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, I wouldn't say I walked out of there without a scratch. But I am fine, really." I did my best to reassure her, it was pretty rare for Tay and I to have moments like these especially since all the madness involved with coming to Auradon has ensued. "And hey, I never thanked you for helping me out back on the Lost Revenge. If it wasn't for you I'd be sleeping with the fishes!" Tay smiled and shrugged. "That's what friends do! What's a lost girl without her fairy anyways?"
As Tay laughed at her own joke, her remark once again reminded me of the encounter with Cubby I had just moments ago. "Tay, there's something I have to tell you..." But before I could even begin to explain, the doorknob began to turn behind us. "...later." I added on my thought just as the door opened revealing Evie and Mal. I jumped to my feet as Tay flew up to land on my shoulder. The two villain kids looked at us strangely. "How did you two get in here? The door was locked." Mal asked. Tay and I exchanged looks and gave our most innocent smiles. "I'm the daughter of Peter Pan! Sneaking into bedrooms is kind of my thing." Tay added onto this by whispering in my ear; "You could have worded that in a million different ways, and they all would have sounded less creepy then what you just said."
Whatever Mal and Evie seemed to think of this explanation, they didn't say it out loud. "It doesn't matter." Evie said, shaking her head as she walked over to her closet. "I have the perfect dress made for you, Petra. I'll just need you to put it on so I can make a few adjustments. Alright?" Evie opened her closet full of colorful dresses and began digging through it as she spoke. There were so many different colors and styles that I never thought possible, it was pretty impressive. Until finally, Evie stopped and pulled out a forest green dress from the wardrobe. "What do you think?"

I stepped forward and took a closer look at the dress. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, Evie really did have talent. "It's... wow!" I said as I took the fabric between my hands to get a closer look. Evie frowned. "Is that a good 'wow', or a bad 'wow'?" She said. I looked up at her and shook my head quickly. "No! It's a great 'wow'!" I exclaimed as I took the hanger from her hands. "I'll go put it on, give me a second."
Over the next half an hour or so, Evie had me standing in front of the mirror in her dorm as she made adjustments to my dress so it fit me perfectly. It took a little more work then usual since she knew I had to preform tonight and I'd need to move around quite a bit. As long as this was taking, I still had my friends to keep me company. "So, how are things with you and Carlos?" Evie asked as she made a quick measurement around my waist.
In the mirror I could see Mal give Evie a strange look, but I didn't think much of it. I immediately became flustered. "I-I mean things have been great! I mean I guess with the whole kidnapping thing it's been a little rough, but I guess all relationships have their ups and downs." I wasn't sure quite what to say. It was strange describing Carlos and I's relationship to other people mostly because we aren't really the typical couple. It's hard to explain the unexplainable. "But things are going okay between you two, right?" Evie pressed further. "You're getting along okay and everything?" I glanced down at Evie, and then at Tay who gave me a shrug. Did Evie know something I didn't? "Yeah, we've been getting along fine." I said carefully. "Every couple has it's fights, but nothing groundbreaking has been going on." My mind immediately went to the way Carlos acted earlier on the Isle, the darkness in his eyes still haunting me. But until I discussed it with Carlos I didn't want to go telling the world about it. "Why? Do things not seem okay between us?"
Evie shook her head. "Oh of course they do!" She said quickly. "Its just that- well you see, we were just-" Evie seemed to be struggling with her words, so Mal cut in. "I think what Evie is trying to say is, Carlos cares about you a lot." Mal stood up and stood next to me, looking at our reflections in the mirror. "And part of our duties as his best friends is that we have to be a little protective and make sure you're not playing with him or anything." I felt my heart lurch at this. "What? Oh my gosh, no!" I definitely wasn't playing with Carlos, I couldn't even bare the thought of that. I turned to put a hand on Mal's shoulder, much to Evie's dismay as she was trying to make another adjustment to my skirt. "Mal, I swear to you I do care about Carlos. I care about him more then I could possibly say, I would never do anything to hurt him on purpose."
Mal smiled and gave me a firm nod. "That's what we were hoping you'd say." She said. She looked down at Evie. "You almost done, Eves?" Evie stood to her feet and nodded, tugging on my skirt one last time. "Just about." She said. "The dress seems to already fit fairly well, so I'll have those adjustments done in no time." I nodded and thanked her before heading towards the bathroom to take the dress off.
Once I returned to the dorm and handed Evie the dress, Mal pointed towards the door. "Carlos is in his dorm getting ready for Cotillion tonight, just for the record." She said as I grabbed my bag and Tay settled on my shoulder. I looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. Her and Evie knew something, I was sure of it now. "Thanks." I said as I opened the door. "I'll see you two tonight?" The two girls nodded. "Of course! Now run along, you've got a busy night ahead of you." Evie gave me a wink as she headed back to her closet. I just shook my head and laughed as I shut the door behind me and headed down the hallway.
Tay held onto a stray strand of my hair to keep her balance on my shoulder as I walked back towards my dorm. "That was weird." She said. I scoffed. "That's an understatement." I replied. "But we've got bigger problems." I paused when I got to the door of our dorm so I could unlock it. Once I stepped inside I headed to our restroom and examined myself in the mirror. I really did look awful, my clothes were filthy and my hair was terribly disheveled. I had to at least freshen up before going to find Carlos.
"So are you going to tell me what you were going to say earlier?" Tay asked as she sat on the counter and watched me brush my hair. I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you've just got to promise me you're not going to freak out." I said. Tay rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, that's comforting." She said. I set my hair brush down and searched for the counter for a pair of scissors. The green hair was cool for a while, but it would raise a lot of questions. I was surprised Fairy Godmother hadn't commented on it earlier, I didn't want any evidence that I had been on the Isle whatsoever. "I'm serious, Tay." I said as I left the bathroom to pick up the scissors I used for a project in Heroes 101 a while back. "I really don't want this to ruin Ben and Mal's big event tonight, you can't say a word."
"I'm not going to say anything, you know that." Tay assured me. "I can't guarantee I won't be a little internally panicked, though." I gave her a quick glance as I snipped the first lock of green hair away and threw it in the trash. "I saw Cubby on campus earlier today." I said. Tay gasped and flew at least three feet in the air. "What!?" She exclaimed. "Cubby is here?" "You said you wouldn't freak out!" I said. Tay put her hands on her hips. "Well it's a little shocking." She retaliated. "Are you absolutely sure it was him?" I nodded and cut away another strand. "Yes, I'm sure. He talked to me and everything." I said, though I was trying to focus more on my hair then on Tay.
Tay's eyes widened. "You spoke to him?" She said. "Petra, he's dangerous!" "No, he's not which is why I'm going to deal with it later." I said. "Cubby's harmless alone. Without someone to lead him, he's just a lost puppy. And I've yet to see any sign of Foxglove, so as of now I'm not too worried about it and you shouldn't be either." I snipped off the last of the green and ran a hand through my hair to make it look reasonable. "How does this look?"
Tay sighed and sat back down on the counter. "Like you cut it yourself in the bathroom within five minutes?" She said. I looked down at her and ran a hand through my hair again. "So... good?" I asked. Tay just shook her head and flew up near my face so we were eye to eye. "Just be careful, alright?" She said. I smiled and turned back to the dorm to change clothes. "I always am, aren't I?" Tay laughed at my remark and followed after me. "Is that supposed to be a joke?" She shouted.
It was two hours until Cotillion by the time I was changed and on my way to Carlos' dorm. I knew I'd have to arrive early to get the band ready and get into my dress, so that really only left an hour left of my time to catch Carlos. Though I had the feeling it was going to take a lot longer then that to work all of this out.
And then all too soon I found myself standing in front of Carlos' door. As I reached my arm out to knock on the door the anxiety about what I was here to discuss had finally set in. I was in love with Carlos de Vil, and he was in love with me. It was so surreal that it felt like some crazy dream, that I'd soon wake up back in Neverland where none of this had ever happened. But I knew it was real, and as I knocked on the door and waited for an answer I realized how real this moment truly was.
And I wasn't quite sure I was ready for it.