ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 23ʀᴅ
ᴏғ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ 1219ᴀᴄ
6 ᴀᴍ

THE ROTTEN were entering The Demon's Den, their shared residence. It was a not-too shabby manor they made their headquarters. Big enough for individual rooms, a kitchen still intact, and even a living room. They had been discussing going off-island to the mainland for over an hour.

"Well, I love the idea of going." Evie expressed with a great big smile on her face as she threw her jacket on one of the table's chairs.

"You just want to go because it's filled with dozens of pretty faces that you want to get rid of," Jay said, grabbing a scratched-up bottle of wine from the rack in the kitchen. It was a miracle if you could find any that weren't broken around here. The other three still didn't know where he managed to get them.

"You're not wrong." She grinned with a laugh.

Jay popped the bottle open, serving a wine tumbler glass for each of them before taking a sip of his own. "I thought you never followed your mom's ideals." His question was pointed at Mal.

"I don't, but I know how to make the best of an opportunity." She pointed as she grabbed her drink off the table, "If we go to this place we can finally make something of ourselves."

"We have an entire island that's frightened of us." Carlos reminded her as he leaned against one of the many concrete pillars in the main room, drink in hand.

"Not an entire island." Evie clarified, silently reminding them that Uma still had a loyal following on the South-East Side of the Isle. Mal sent her the stink eye when the blue-haired girl mentioned that. They all knew just how much Mal despised not having full control of the Isle.

"I'm all for it," Jay spoke up. He was the quiet type. The others, they liked to talk a little too much with their prey, making them more afraid, making them more psychologically scarred if they lived. Jay preferred it quick and easy, if he wanted something, he would take it. If he couldn't, no one could. "The second we take over, I can finally have Agrabah."

"Yes, we've all heard your tale, blood ruler," Carlos muttered, intentionally loud to mock Jay. The older boy simply winked at him, not bothered by Carlos' many quips. The de Vil boy wasn't all that impressed by royalty or castles and he certainly didn't want to leave the Isle. He pushed himself off the pillar, everyone's attention on him as he walked towards the couches. "I'm not going." Carlos declared before falling backward on the lumpy couch with a loud thud.

         He was instantly met with raised eyes, Mal in particular didn't like splitting up the group. She marched his way and stood in front of him. "What? Carlos, you have to, we're a team. We do this together." She almost growled. Mal had put them together for a reason, she knew they were more powerful united than apart. And this was no different, if they wanted to pull this off they were going to need each other.

"Why the hell would I want to go there?" He questioned, his face lifting from examining his nails to face the purple-haired girl. He understood why she wanted to go, why they all wanted to go, but he didn't care about that. If he wanted to stay, he would.

"Think about all the fuzzy creatures!" Evie said happily, trying to convince him. The two were the closest out of all four of them. He had had a small crush on her once when they first met and often brought her different animal bones for her elixirs. He got over it in two weeks but they had formed a nice friendship. He still helped her with her potions occasionally, having a large assortment of bones and pelts came in handy. She figured if anyone could convince him to go, it'd be her.

Carlos shook his head, "I've been getting into people nowadays actually."

"Fine then, you'll get to gut the Fairy Godmother, how's that sound? You could keep her ribs or her eyes." Mal offered a larger target, knowing this little game would go on for a while until they got to what Carlos really wanted.

Evie frowned, "Whoah, whoah, if anyone's getting faerie eyes, it's me."

Mal turned to her friend with a roll of her eyes, "Could we possibly discuss this later?"

"Can we get back to me?" Carlos raised his hand.

"Right, you can keep anything from the corpse. Like the ribs, give them to your mom, just like you did with the Tremaine's cat."

"I think you're missing my point. Here, everyone knows what I do and what I'm capable of. What we're capable of." He emphasized. "They run from us, and I like it."

"I'm sure Auradoners will be just as scared," Jay mentioned. They all knew the mainland would have plenty of paranoid and scared kids that'll eventually run away the second they see them.

"No no, that's empty fear." Carlos shook his head like he was watching it play out in his mind. "That's fear passed down from parent to child, a warning, it's a 'don't talk to strangers' fear. What we have here, it's real. They've witnessed our destruction and we've barely scratched the surface. We're used to a certain way around here, but there? It's not like the minute we get frustrated we'll just torture someone for information and they won't go running to their mommy to rat us out. They will, we'll get tossed back in here and we'll lose." He looked to Mal directly when saying that last word, knowing how to push her buttons. She replied with a hard glare that was difficult to decipher. "The second someone out there finds a body we left behind, they'll be assuming the bad kids are behind it." His voice then turned into a fake snob tone. "Why would I go to Auradon only to fake who I am on the inside?" He solemnly whispered the end.

"You realize we're talking about you disemboweling people, right?" Mal gave him a blank look, knowing this wasn't that big of a deal. Carlos just liked the dramatics of it all.

"I like who I am." He shrugged with an insincere smile. "I don't wanna have to hide it," Carlos spoke lightly, he was barely serious with something. The only times he was, they knew to stay quiet.

"You only have to keep it on the down low for a while, maybe a few months." She promised, knowing it'd be easier to just go along with him than try to keep him on a leash. "In the meantime, you can entertain yourself with dogs, cats, rabbits, all the small fuzzies you love."

"Is that a guarantee?" He was talking about the time she offered. If it really would be for more than a month.

"If it isn't, I'll personally deliver some asshole to you. Agreed?" Mal wanted this to be over, she'd rather be on the receiving end of that knife in his hand than keep debating this with him over and over again.

He stayed silent for a beat, "I'll think about it." Carlos lifted himself off the couch, walking past Jay, waving goodbye to Evie, and coming to a full stop when he reached Mal. She stayed in place, not giving him the satisfaction of moving out of the way for him to leave.

"You walk out that door, and you're not coming back."

Carlos raised his eyebrows amusedly, a smile forming on his face. Like he was almost happy with her words. "That a threat, Mal?"

"It's a promise." She said, her eyes flashing green. "You get in line, you get with the job, or you get to meet the end of that blade."

"That's good." He nodded, proud of her warning. "Keep that fire going, boss. It might get snuffed out in the land of do-gooders and happy endings." He walked past her, his loud boots echoing in the room until they were finally out the door.

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ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 23ʀᴅ
ᴏғ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ 1219ᴀᴄ
7 ᴀᴍ

Carlos whistled on his way home, his eyes trailed along how the others around him turned away, went back inside, or simply just ran the other way when they saw him approaching. He wasn't bothered on the way to his mother's and though her mansion was all the way on the other side of the Isle, he was there quickly. He stopped for a second when he reached the market, quickly spotting a few bruised red apples.

He kept whistling as he approached the dreary food stand, not caring to look when the previous customers made a run for it and the owner looked uneasy as he couldn't exactly leave. Carlos saw the sweat build up on the man's face before taking out his switchblade and stabbing one of the apples, he didn't miss the squeak the merchant let out. Carlos left with the apple in hand and went back to his usual route home.

He was nonchalantly slicing apple pieces and popping them in his mouth. When he finally reached Hell Hall, he dumped the remains on their neighbors' lawn and quickly ran up to his front door. His mom never locked the door as no one dared to sneak into the de Vil's mansion.

"Moooooooom! I'm hooooome!" He drawled out his words, making sure they echoed throughout the mostly empty house.

He heard the loud clacks of her heels approaching the foyer. What he didn't hear was her breath catching and heaving at the thought of having him back in the house. "Dear, you're back so soon." Her red lips were turned into a bright smile, one that was obviously uncomfortable and uneasy but Carlos couldn't make out the differences between a real smile and a fake one. Or he simply didn't care to let her know.

"Yeah, looks like I'll be spending more time around here." He walked towards the large kitchen, despite it being on the Isle for two decades, it was still in good condition. His mother would often yell at Jason and Horace to make sure everything was spotless. "Oh! Before I forget, I brought you a gift." He dug on the inside of his jacket pocket until he found the small frayed box with red dots.

Cruella's expression fell for a mere second before keeping up her big smile once more. She'll never forget the way he started gifting her such interesting presents. "Another one?" Her voice quivered under her grin.

Carlos often smiled when toying with prey and victims, he would undoubtedly enjoy himself. It was a sadistic happiness that controlled him, but when he gave his mother presents and gifts that he made himself, you could tell it was a real smile. Underneath all that cruel, expressionless, loose-bolt boy, was someone who genuinely got happy at giving his mom a present.

She opened it carefully and lifted the lid with a deep breath. The first thing she noticed was the smell. Carlos's presents always had the same smell. Then she saw the blood. Splattered against the box and almost dry. She knew she was going to have to pick it up, a gesture to show that she liked it, and so she held the dried bloodied rabbit by its foot. Its insides removed, likely stored away by her son, but he never quite cleaned what was left, so it always smelled. He knew she liked furs, she liked wearing the outsides. It didn't take long until he was five and was slicing up one of Lucifer's kittens where she discovered that he liked playing with their insides. He liked ripping them apart, hearing the creatures yelp, and getting blood everywhere. Her first thought when seeing the outcome of it all had been "Oh good, he knows how to handle himself and he has good taste in picking out fur." She should've shut him down the minute he got older and went back for the neighbor's head instead of his cats. Now it seemed it was all too late for everything. "Thank you, dear." Her teeth hurt from straining them, and some of the blood hadn't dried completely as some dripped onto the dirty white of her trousers.

He was shorter than his mom and her heels only made her taller, but that didn't stop him from pressing a kiss on her right cheek. "I'll get started on breakfast, I think we still have some boar left."

Cruella smiled sadly when he turned around to head to the freezer, "Where are your friends? You always like to invite them to eat." She would never admit it, not to anyone or even herself, but she's always been frightened of being alone in the same room as her son.

"Auradon gave them a ticket out, they decided to leave, I decided to stay. So, it looks like I'm on my own for a while." He spoke absentmindedly, much more focused on cutting a chunk of the frosted boar pinned to the kitchen island.

She winced a bit when the butcher knife sliced through the meat and ended up stuck on the wooden platform. "Well that's- wait," Her fear left her as her mind raced to understand his words, "Your friends are leaving for Auradon? And you decided to stay behind?" She stood up, making sure the kitchen island kept them at a good distance, and questioned him.

"I have my reasons."

"Your reasons for crushing your mother's dreams?!" Cruella knew well enough that if she made this about him, it wouldn't go her way. No one quite understood what went on inside Carlos de Vil's brain. But, if she made it about her and made it that she was upset he would find some way to make it up to her. Underneath all that sadistic, cruel, evil, was a mama's boy.

"What are you talking about, mother?" He asked, gathering spices from the cabinets behind him.

"You're going to let your friends go off and most likely fail at lowering the barrier between us and them, thus making sure that my hands never touch a brand new fur coat ever again. Much less get my revenge on those damn puppies in this lifetime!" She exaggerated to make sure it looked like she was hurting. While Cruella loved her fur more than anything, she could happily live with the ones she had rather than spend time with her son without those that kept him on a leash.

Carlos observed his mother and how disappointed she looked at him. He never considered that his mom could be affected by this. He still continued cutting the boar meat in different sizes, using this time to think before his mom left the kitchen, her heels echoing all throughout the mansion.

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ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 23ʀᴅ
ᴏғ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ 219ᴀᴄ
7:30 ᴀᴍ

It didn't take long until Mal threw one of their vases against the wall. "Damn that psychotic, sadistic, devil boy!" She screamed. Then she screamed some more. She kicked and kicked against one of the older couches until it was overturned and she started ripping it apart. She wasn't the first of her group to throw a tantrum, hell, she wasn't the first of the Isle to throw a tantrum. Especially when she didn't get what they want. She kept screaming a bit more.

Evie and Jay knew better than to try to calm her down, so they waited until it was over. Eventually, she ran out of energy to keep going. "Feel better?" Jay asked sarcastically.

"I'll feel better once his neck is under my boot." She grimaced and walked over to the kitchen, turning on the sink and splashing cold water on her face.

"What are we going to do?" Evie asked from her seat at the table.

Mal didn't answer her, so Jay supplied an idea, "We could just go ourselves. Better for them, three evil kiddies to deal with instead of four."

"No," Mal said, catching their attention with her head shaking. "No, they picked four. If they find out one wants to stay, it won't make any sense, anyone would be dying to get the hell out of here. If someone actually chooses to stay, they're going to dig."

"Fine, then we get one more. How 'bout Maddy?" Evie suggested.

"Mad Maddy, sure yeah 'cause you're so easy going, why not bring another nutty witch too?" Jay turned down the idea to which Evie replied with an angry head tilt. "And didn't she steal like ten grams of pixie dust from us?"

         "No, I gave it to her." Evie gave a sly grin and bit her bottom lip suggestively, "And she certainly held up her end of the bargain."

Jay simply rolled his eyes, "Then who do you suggest?" He shot the question at Mal, "One of those bumbling incoherent kiss-asses who would betray us for the heroes the second we step out of the barrier? We need someone that's like us."

Mal groaned loudly, gaining their attention. "We already have one." She walked towards the door, grabbed her jacket off the table, and waited for them to follow. "They wanted the son of Cruella de Vil, that's exactly who they'll get. I don't care if he's unconscious to make the decision. Come on, we're getting that son of a bitch."

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ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 23ʀᴅ
ᴏғ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ 1219ᴀᴄ
8 ᴀᴍ

It didn't take long for his friends to come by. Though to be honest, he couldn't decide whether they would sneak in and catch him by surprise or make a big spectacle of it. Carlos was still tired and didn't have the energy to think it through.

Then he heard the big wooden front doors open with a hard push, and Mal yelled his name, "Carlos! Come on out you bastard!"

He was having breakfast (or really late dinner) in the kitchen when he heard the commotion, making him walk to the main entrance. He tilted his head as he faced the three of them from opening, he had to tilt his head down as they hadn't climbed the small steps to enter the foyer. "I was wondering whether you'd sneak in or announce yourselves. But, now that I think about it, sneaking in and being quiet it such a hassle and we've been awake a while now. Hey, are your eyes burning, mine are just a bit—"

Mal cut him off by running towards him and tackling him down. Both of them falling back as she stood over him, "You think you can just walk out on us?"

"I think I like to do whatever crosses my mind." His voice was muffled with her elbow digging into his chest. "Hey, I wonder, if I kill you while your eyes glow, do they keep glowing or does the light really just leave everything when you—" He was cut off again by Mal landing a hard blow to his face. He was silent for a second before he laughed, teeth red with blood. And that just made her punch him again. This time he coughed rather than laughed and moved sideways to spit the blood in his mouth on the floor. He kept coughing out chuckles after that.

"You're coming with us, whether you like it or not." Mal had that determined look on her face. The kind of face she had when she wanted something, whether it was another kid's pen, or their lunch, or someone's head on a pike, she never stopped until she got it.

He had blood running down his mouth and onto his neck as he sneered at her. "And what happens when I get there? When I get to Auradon and I slit people's throats while they sleep. And they see someone covered in blood, they scream and scream but they just can't make me out because there's too much of it. Sure they'll blame us later on but they won't know who exactly did it, no, not until later that day when I do it again and again and again-"

"If you go that far, then maybe I just go with it."

Carlos' eyes widened with intrigue, liking this little story they were building.

"All it takes is a couple of tears and blood, right? What's so difficult of selling that Cruella's son takes after his mom so well that he even tried to kill his best friends? I'll take a stab wound if it means they send you back here and keep us without question. I'll do it myself if I have to." She took a moment to scoff a laugh, "Hell, they'll call us victims of the whole thing, you'd be doing me a favor." She smiled. She smiled the way Carlos did with his victims and at that moment Carlos was proud of his friend. "The only question now is whether you'll walk out of here or get carried out."

Carlos grinned as he tilted his head back, his teeth and mouth all bloody making him look as disturbing as he was on the inside. He laughed out loud once again. "Sure, let's do this." He kept smiling, even when Mal finally stood up and walked away to watch him from a distance. As he stood up, he spat more blood onto the white marble floor. "I was wondering when you'd all get here."

Mal raised her eyebrows at his statement as she watched him drag a packed bag from where he came from. "Are you kidding me? You changed your mind?"

"Seriously?"

"Really, Carlos?"

"Only half, that little surprise made me sure. I knew you'd be coming."

"What the hell was that?" Mal asked, her voice booming angry that she was almost yelling. "Were you seriously testing me?"

"I had to be sure just how much you wanted this. You were willing to give up one of us? That's intense, Mal. That shows dedication to the cause. You're always talking about being united, about working together because it's the best way to win. And you were willing to get one of us out of the way to get to that goal? I'm proud, really, even if I had some doubts because well, you're only as strong as your weakest link."

"And you think it's me?"

Carlos debated answering that. He didn't want to reveal what he was thinking. But eventually, he spoke about his thoughts on the matter, "Well, we all know it's not me." he said, "and now, we know it isn't you." His eyes moved from hers to Evie's and then to Jay's.

Neither entertained his notion with words of their own, feeling simply insulted at the accusation.

"As always, Crazy Carlos graces us with his thoughts." She sneered at him." Why don't you keep them to yourself next time weirdo?" Mal finished, turning to leave the house and heading to her own so she could begin packing her bag. "We leave soon, grab what you want, meet at the island's entrance a half hour earlier." She yelled at them to move.

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ᴡᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ 23ʀᴅ
ᴏғ ᴍᴀᴅʀᴇ 1219ᴀᴄ
9 ᴀᴍ

They were all waiting patiently for whatever way was off the island at the entrance they loathed. It was almost time and her eyes stung. She figured so did everyone's, they never did have a chance to sleep or nap. Almost everyone on the Isle was accustomed to sleeping all day and doing their business at night. The youngest went to school in the afternoon, if they even made it there or skipped for the day. And for the graduated villains, they were often either partying or relishing the nightlife with others like themselves. Only a handful of people preferred the morning to nightlife around these parts.

And last night was filled with parties, hunting down Anthony Tremaine, and finding Maleficent waiting for them with information. They knew if they fell asleep, they would miss the deadline. So, it was better to push through it, and stay awake until there was a bed underneath them.

"You know what I just realized?" Evie began to speak, "They probably get up super early over there. I bet they're in bed by nine."

"I'm thinking ten," Jay muttered.

"You wanna make it interesting?" The chemist raised her eyebrows.

Jay nodded as he started digging in his pocket, "Two rubies and one sea diamond that they're in bed by ten." He showed her the finger-sized red rubies and the tarantula-sized diamond he fished out of the ocean.

Evie pulled out a necklace from her purse, a blue stone shined from the little bits of sunlight. "My mother's peacock sapphire necklace for nine o'clock. Most of the smaller diamonds were taken out, but the center is pure."

Jay extended his hand. "Deal."

She took it to shake with a smile.

It didn't take long before Carlos yawned obnoxiously loud. "Dude!" Jay smacked his arm. "Stay awake."

Carlos simply looked dryly at his group. His left eye and cheek were shiny and red from his encounter with Mal earlier. It was bruising and purple at the ends. "Are we sure this wasn't some sort of prank? Give the kids a little hope then stand them up like some loser prom date?

"They aren't that cruel," Mal said, her voice raspy and her gaze to the horizon in front of her. This is why many residents of the island hate coming to the border, it gives them the illusion of freedom. As though they could step right out. It was right there. And now that she knew she could leave, the impatience was growing by the second. "They aren't like us."

With those words, the barrier started to shimmer. The broken train tracks that were an iconic piece of their island, a piece used to tell them all that even if they were under their rule, they weren't part of the Twelve Kingdoms of Auradon. Not really. The train tracks started mending, the bridge magically formed itself once more as though it were reversing the original destruction in the separation. They saw the front of the train, steam coming from the top, and the rest of the train cars behind it thanks to the expanding magic bridge that stretched all the way from the mainland to the now unbroken bridge pieces at the front of their island. But you couldn't really see the mainland, the bridge ran so far and so vast that you could never really see the end of it.

When the train arrived, people took notice of it. It didn't take long for them to figure out that four of their residents were leaving in it. They stood out in the streets and gossiped loudly, their curiosity overpowering their usual fear. The guard didn't speak much, simply made sure they were the right young adults and gave them their tickets, showing them the passenger carts for them to stay in for the trip. He explained very clearly that once the train doors were shut, the only way to open them again would be at another train stop. Not only to keep its passengers safe but now to ensure the young new villains wouldn't try escaping mid-journey.

The actual ride was surprisingly hectic. She assumed the train wasn't exactly meant for picking up villain kids, and the train carriages it brought weren't the cleanest, probably their least favorite ones that drifted with age. If Mal didn't know any better she'd say it was almost like the abandoned train carts back home. Only, less dirty and less smelly. The passenger carriage they were brought to was filled with sweets and goodies as a way to show them that good things were headed this way. And so Jay popped open a bottle of sparking cider believing it to be champagne only to be thoroughly disappointed and threw it out the window. He found it curious that items could be launched out but an attempt to put his hand through the window's opening only made him snap back on account of it feeling like a zap, almost like how lightning strikes a tree. Evie giggled at the sound of the bottle breaking and Jay's yelp of pain.

Meanwhile, Carlos and Evie wasted no time in stuffing Evie's bag with the candies and wrapped foods that were displayed all over the place. Evie even pulled out her knife and started taking apart the phonograph bolted to the side of the carriage to use for spare parts in a project later on.

Mal wanted to start discussing how they'd appear to the Auradoners, but she couldn't tell if the carriage was soundproof or even if that had any real privacy. Still, she had to make sure everyone kept their cool and moved out of her seat to the floor of the cart, next to Evie as the blue-haired girl dismantled the machine.

"Hey!" She snapped her fingers in front of her, "When we get there, keep things to a minimum. That means no creepy staring," She looked towards Jay, "no breach of personal space to poke at pretty girls' faces." she pointed at Evie. "And definitely no throwing sharp objects at people." She glared at Carlos.

"And you wondered why I wanted to stay," Carlos mumbled.

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this has over 4.5K words, not bad if i say so myself

Mad Maddy is an actual character from the books, and no, she isn't the daughter of the Mad Hatter, but the granddaughter of Madam Mim, the villain from The Sword in the Stone

what did you guys think?

what was your favorite part?

what would you like to see happen either next time or over the course of this book?

no mundanes allowed