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⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧•• close the barrier

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── .✦ "DO NOT PANIC, OKAY?" Fairy Godmother's voice could be heard from Freddie's dorm through her microphone and he scrunched his brows, spinning in his desk chair, "Nobody needs to panic! Okay. We're panicking. Bippity-boppity run!"

And then screaming from multiple people was heard, so Frederic ran out of his room as he pulled his blazer on, rushing down the stairs. Many students were running in the opposite direction of Freddie, almost bumping into him at times from how scared they were until he reached the entrance where the massive television was hung on the building.

It displayed live footage of Mal as a dragon being struck by a blue lightning beam. The quality wasn't the best, so it was hard to tell who it was attacking Mal, but he could see Ben, Carlos and Jay on the ground in front of the limo where the bridge started.

Suddenly, Mal opened her mouth and blasted hot breath in the man's direction until he fell backwards and out of the barrier onto his back, "Yes!" Frederic exclaimed under his breath, ignoring all of the people frantically running around him. Mal screeched as she lowered herself back onto the bridge, clearly in pain and she transformed back into her human form on top of the limo, Evie and Ben helping her back down onto the ground.

She held onto her stomach in pain as they all stared over at the blue-haired man that Freddie had never seen before. He'd done his research on villains but not all of them, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly who that was. They all jumped back into the limo with worried looks and Frederic turned around, bumping right into Jane.

     "Sorry, Jane." He held onto her arms firmly to make sure she didn't fall and she shook her head with a nervous smile, reassuring him that it was completely okay.

     "Do you think that was Hades?" She asked, tilting her head to the left slightly as she stared up at him. Jane was at least five inches shorter than him, and he almost broke his neck to look down at her, a worried expression on his face.

     "Uh, I'm not sure." He let go of her arms and stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets, his eyes glancing around the courtyard at all of the frantic students and family members. He didn't understand exactly why they were all running around like a bunch of headless chickens but he could understand, they were never in the face of danger before so of course they'd act out like that.

     "I think it was, he had the blue hair and the ember, just like I've read about." Jane rushed out, bouncing up and down on her heels out of anxiousness, biting down on her bottom lip. Her dark hair blew in the slight breeze, blowing into her face and she scrunched her brows, pulling the hair from out of her mouth.

"I'll talk to Ben about it when they come back. Get somewhere safe, Jane." Freddie sent her a tight-lipped smile and she grinned up at him, watching as he moved past her, running through the courtyard. She didn't know where he was going, but she wasn't going to pester, there was no point, so she spun around and made her way into the building.

Freddie rushed through the bushes and knelt down behind one specific bush, moving away the leaves to find the small blue button. There was always a safety Magic Barrier button nearby every exit in Auradon and without hesitation, he pushed it, allowing Jay quick access back to the Kingdom, knowing he was driving the limousine.

After pushing the leaves back into place, he stood up abruptly and walked away from the bush as if nothing ever happened, wiping down his trousers on his way back to the building. It was quieter now as everyone had found safety in their dorms or classrooms, and he was slightly worried about the impact this situation would make.

It has everyone on edge, so he wondered what would be done about the fears of Auradon. They would all be scared to open the barrier back up now but he knew that Ben and Mal together would make a good decision, he trusted them.

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THE NEXT DAY, a knock sounded at Freddie's dorm and the Fitzherbert prince looked over at Chad, lifting up his dirtied hands. As of recently, Frederic had been getting into more jewel-smithing and he'd brought his work up into his dorm so he could get more done with easy access.

Letting out a loud groan, Chad slammed his magazine down on his bed in annoyance and stomped over to the door, faking a smile when he realised Ben was stood on the other side, "Oh, hello, Ben. What brings you here?"

"Can I talk to Freddie?" Ben asked, noticing the boy looking over from his desk and Chad lifted his eyebrows before opening the door wider, allowing Ben to walk in before he closed the door behind him. Freddie smiled as he watched Ben sit down on his bed, and he turned back in his seat, sorting out some of the metals on the tabletop.

"What's up, buttercup?" Freddie joked, and a chuckle erupted from Ben before he cleared his throat, putting on a serious demeanour. Chad watched from the corner of his eye, being the nosy boy he was as he read the rest of his magazine, unable to mind his own business.

"Well, my dad called a meeting with Fairy Godmother and I was wondering if you'd come with, we need your opinion." Ben claimed and Frederic turned, one of his brows furrowed in confusion. He wasn't entirely sure why they needed his opinion, but he'd accompany him either way.

"Uh, sure. Why?" His elbow was resting on the back of his wooden chair as he watched Ben fiddle with his blazer nervously, making Freddie all the more concerned.

"We have no time to discuss the topics, we have to go." Ben jumped up, wiping down his trousers and fixing his shirt whilst Freddie's eyes widened. His hands were covered in rust and muck, but luckily he had hand wipes in his desk drawer thanks to Evie. He wiped his hands until they were clean enough, and he pulled off his apron, following Ben out of the room.

Ben was quiet the whole way there, and he was also walking at a fast pace, meaning that Freddie had to practically run to keep up. When they arrived in Fairy Godmother's rather large office, Mal, Adam, Belle and Fairy Godmother were already stood in the room, waiting for Ben to arrive.

"Hello, Freddie." Adam smiled at him, as well as Belle and Fairy Godmother and Frederic stuffed his hands in his pockets from beside Ben, a tight-lipped smile on his face, "So, I think we all know why we're here."

"Actually... I don't." Freddie raised his hand as if he was in a classroom, and Ben scrunched his brows, also seemingly unaware of why they were here, alerting Frederic about why he didn't tell him about the topic of the meeting, he didn't even know himself.

"Well, the people are in a panic about Hades. He almost got out." Adam explained, his glasses in his hand and Frederic's mouth turned into an 'O' shape, showing he's realised what's going on. It indeed was Hades, and he did almost get out, he knew that this was going to be a problem.

"Who knows what he would've done if he had escaped?" Fairy Godmother asked, a sympathetic expression on her face as Ben stuffed his own hands in his pockets, looking away from his father in disbelief whilst Mal just stood silently on the other side of him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"We can't risk having another villain on the loose." Adam added, and Freddie nodded, seemingly agreeing with him, causing Ben to scrunch his face up in his best-friend's direction, pissed off with him and Frederic lifted his hands up in surrender, taking a step away from the angry King.

"I really feel like this is my fault." Mal spoke up, staring at the ground but when Ben's eyes snapped over to her, she turned to him with a sad look, "I'm supposed to protect Auradon."

Ben turned his body fully away from Frederic and placed his hands on her forearms reassuringly, "You did, you do protect Auradon."

"Every time we open the barrier, we're exposed to danger." Adam stated and Freddie's eyes drifted from Ben to Adam repeatedly, "Maleficent, Uma, Hades."

     A cellphone ringing interrupted their meeting, and Ben reached into his pocket, walking away from the group to check his phone. Mal looked over at Frederic, who just shrugged, unsure of why he was there in the first place and she sent him a tight-lipped smile, also feeling a little awkward, "Maleficent's sceptre and Evil Queen's crown have been stolen."

     When Ben announced the news, Fairy Godmother gasped loudly in shock, "Uma?" Adam pointed to Ben, who shook his head, walking back over.

     "We don't know that, Dad." Ben's voice was raised as he snapped at his father, and Freddie squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head in disbelief.

     "Wait, why would Uma risk getting caught just for those?" Freddie questioned, confused about that. It wouldn't make sense, it'd make more sense for Uma to find something to open the barrier, not a crown and a sceptre that hardly did anything.

     "When people hear this, they will never wanna leave their houses." Belle looked up at Adam, who placed his hand on her arm comfortingly as she glanced over at Ben, stuttering on her words out of nervousness, "What do we tell them?"

     "It was probably Chad, don't you think?" Freddie pointed to Ben, who shook his head in disagreement, not finding his jokes funny in that moment but the thing was that Frederic wasn't joking.

     "It wouldn't have been Chad... wait—" Fairy Godmother stared to the floor, trying to think about if Chad would do something like that, the boy she'd known his whole life.

     "Mal? What do we do?" Belle interrupted, looking over at the miserable purple-haired girl, her eyes glossed over with tears, "How do we keep evil out of Auradon?" Everyone stared over at Mal, awaiting her answer.

     "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. I think that we have to close the barrier... forever." Mal announced, staring at the carpet sadly. She didn't want to do to as much as everyone else, but the three older royals all nodded, quickly agreeing.

     Freddie looked over at Ben, watching as his friend shook his head in disbelief, taking a step back, "No." Ben mumbled, and Frederic placed his hand on Ben's shoulder, trying to soothe his anger but it didn't help.

     "Son."

     "No."

     "Ben." Mal pushed her hand off of one of the chairs at the table in the office and followed after Ben.

     "No, no, no, no."

     "Ben." Mal walked over to him in the other room that was widely opened by the large door frame, but they could only hear mumbling from where they were stood.

     "So, did you guys like the carrot cake from yesterday?" Frederic questioned, cutting through the tension with a knife but Adam rolled his eyes, walking over to Mal and Ben. Freddie pointed at Fairy Godmother with a questioning smile, watching as the woman nodded eagerly and enthusiastically with a thumbs up, notifying him that she enjoyed the cake.

     "Son. Mal's right." Adam told Ben, and Mal turned away from her fiancée towards Adam.

     "I just don't think we'd forgive ourselves if something terrible happened." Mal told them, taking a few steps forward and Fairy Godmother walked out of the room whilst Belle approached her husband, hooking her arm through his.

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