ACT ONE
CHAPTER FOUR
the arrival of the villain kids

ALI WAS FAR FROM HAPPY.

Ben had sprung this all on him so suddenly, the young prince not quite knowing how to feel as he stared at his best friend with a mixture of emotions playing in his eyes and Ali didn't quite know where to start. Truth be told, Ali didn't even know how to look at Ben after he was told this because he didn't know whether he felt betrayed or intrigued.

On the one hand he felt betrayed because Ben knew of the rivalry that the son of Aladdin and the son of Jafar had for each other and yet still put the arrangement forward without consulting Ali first. Ali knew plenty of other students who wouldn't have minded sharing a room with the villain kids, a key example being Madison Hatter who would not only invite the kids to stay with him but would indulge them in stories of Wonderland to keep them sane. 

Ali being placed with Jay was just an accident waiting to happen. 

On the other hand Ali felt a sense of empowerment upon learning the news. Having been trapped in the royal life for so long the idea of a small change and a challenge almost forced a smirk onto his face. Perhaps with the Villain Kids hanging so close to the Prince of Agrabah Ali would be able to get away with more and the endless eyes on him would soon dissipate and he could move on with his life.

Regardless of this, Ali still didn't want to risk them ruining his plans. 

"And you didn't think to tell me before?" Ali asked Ben directly, his jaw hardening as he looked to the approaching Limo driving down the magical bridge and having to wipe his hands down his vest to get rid of the sweat succumbing them.

"I forgot! I'm sorry!" The Prince of Auradon quickly replied to his friend, a sheepish smile on his face with only widened when Ali glared at him. "Besides, it's only temporary."

"But it's still my room." Ali complained loudly, Ben giving him a look as many people in the crowd turned to look at the two Princes in confusion. Ali responded by forcing a smile on his face and pulling Ben into him for a hug, whispering into his ear. "There's a reason that I didn't want roommates Ben, I like my privacy."

"Ali please it's only temporary." Ben laughed, causing the crowd to turn away from the two disinterested again as he patted his friend on the back. "Besides, you're never in your room anyway."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ali muttered as he turned away from Ben, Amal patting his shoulder as she gave the Prince of Agrabah a panicked look, Ali returning one telling her to calm down.

"I think Fairy Godmothers letters to your parents would say overwise." Ben replied as Audrey leant into his arm again, listening intently into the conversation between the two Princes.

"Fairy Godmother has no idea what she's on about."

"It'll be good for you and you did say that it'd be more fun around here with the Villain Kids." Ben tried to get his best friend to warm up to the idea, Ali immediately snapping and turning to him with a glare.

"That wasn't an invitation to share a room with them." He grunted, folding his arms over his chest as he tried to keep a level head - but the Prince of Auradon wasn't making that easy for him. Ali could see the small smirk on Bens face as a snigger fell lowly form his lips, Ali sending him a glare before Audrey giggled and released herself from Bens arm.

"Oh you're thinking about this the wrong way Ally-" The daughter of Sleeping Beauty giggled, grabbing onto Alis hands and giving him a smile.

"Ali as in Ah-lee." Ali abbreviated slowly, pulling his hands out of Audreys as he crossed them over his chest.

"Whatever." Audrey rolled her eyes briefly before linking her arm with Bens again. "What I mean Ally is that this is a great opportunity for you to be part of Auradons history as being the one to show these Villains the ropes and teaching them to be good. I'd take this opportunity if I was given it, especially if it'd make my Bennyboo happy."

"Thank you Audrey, that's a beautiful way to think about it." Ben thanked his girlfriend, Ali rolling his eyes as a small huff left his lips.

"Suck up." 

There was silence for a brief moment, a ball of sweat rolling down Alis face which Amal quickly wiped away for him. The Prince wanted to say that he was fine but as he watched the limo carrying his nemesis closer and closer to their destination Alis mind was running wild. He hadn't seen him in years and though Ali thought of Jay from time to time he couldn't help but wonder if Jay ever thought of him. What if the Son of Jafar hadn't given him a thought since he last saw him? What if he had forgotten him and they couldn't ignite their feud? Not that he obsessed over their feud, which he didn't of course, but Ali needed some excitement in his life in order to distract him from his royal duties and give him an excuse to act up.

If Jay didn't remember him, how would anything change?   

"You ready to see Jafars son again?" Ben questioned his best friend, noting Alis locked jaw and the pressure Ali was putting on his crossed arms as he dug his fingernails into them. 

"Couldn't care less really." Ali dismissed his friends question bitterly, a frown settling on Bens face at his response.

"Come on Ali, don't be like that."

"Like what?" Ali snapped, giving Ben a frustrated look. the Auradon Princes frown deepened at his friends response, Ali sighing as he realised what he did and took a deep breath. "I'm fine."

Ben wasn't so convinced and placed his hand on his friends shoulder, Ali sighing deeply again as he let his arms drop to his sides. The Prince hissed at himself as he realised the damage he had done, fingernail cuts imprinted into his arms and lighty bleeding from the pressure he put upon them. Ali knew he had no one to blame but himself from this, the anger and anxiety eating at him as the crowd began to liven around him. Ali didn't dare look ahead at the ivened crowd, the Prince busying his thoughts as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and quickly dabbing at the cuts on his arms; he hoped that the bleeding would stop and stay unnoticeable.

"Here they come," Audrey enthused, squeezing Bens arm before she turned to the two Princes and gave them a smile. "how do I look?"

"Do you want the truth or the honest truth?" Ali deadpanned, Audreys smile falling slightly before she nudged Ali who gave her a smile. "I'm kidding."

"You look great, ignore him." Ben whispered, Audrey looking towards Ben and nodding before she linked arms with both Princes, which Ali chose to ignore for now and waited.

The crowds cheers ran wild as the limo stretched around the corner, anyone and everyone pushing forward in the crowds to be the first to catch a glimpse at the five Villian children from the Isle. In the midst of the excitement Fairy Godmother appeared beside the trio, the King and Queen following shortly after with smiles plastered onto their pristine faces. Nobody knew what to expect as the limo pulled up in front the six of them, the tinted black windows giving no indication of the occupants or any visuals at all. Upon seeing the tinted windows, Ali wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow him whole.

He wasn't ready for what was to come, though what he wasn't expecting was for two bodies to tumble out of the car in sync.

Ali stifled a laugh as the two figures wrestled on the ground for something, the playful aggression between them already giving Ali the hint that these two would be trouble. He then looked to the left and saw three girls climb over the two swiftly, his eyes fixating on each of them. 

The first girl to step out of the car was a vision in blue, a fairly normal and small vanity mirror placed in her hand as she reapplied the small amount of makeup she appeared to be wearing. Looking down at the two wrestling on the floor she giggled, her eyes then scanning the area until her eyes met Alis where another giggle left her lips.  She the nudged the girl next to her, who stood intimidatingly as she glared at the crowd of people and adorned the crowd in her purple attire. Even though Ali already knew who they were he assumed that anyone would be able to guess form which Villains they descended from, as their outfits gave it away directly. There was a certain edge to them that drew Ali in, exciting him and intriguing him.

He then turned his attention to the last girl, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as unlike the other two she gave no indication as to who she was. Though Ali already knew that she was the Daughter of Gaston, her appearance told another story. Though its true she wore her fathers colours of crimson red, the young girl also adorned a pirates hat and rags that separated her from the group. He then noted the distance between her and the other four, the way she made sure she was at least five steps away from them as if she was not apart of their group at all. Like she didn't want to be associated with them.

And Ali wondered why.

"Oh! Ah! Ow! Stop! You got everything else!" Alis eyes snapped to the two wrestling on the floor, noting that the voice had come from a boy with a pale complexion and freckles, wearing white with black spots across his clothing. Ali honestly thought the boy looked rather adorable, like a lost puppy as ironic as it was. "Why do you want whatever this is?"

"'Cause you want it!"

The Prince of Agrabahs breath suddenly hitched. 

It was him.

Ali eyes settled on a pair of tanned but brawny arms, his eyes widening as his gaze began to ift to take in the rest of him. Despite his new muscular exterior that was encased in his yellow and maroon vest, Ali knew that this was the same boy he had known all those years ago. He tried to stop himself from staring but he couldn't, his eyes taking in the boys new appearance and enjoying watching him wrestle with the Son of Cruella on the floor. All that he could think was how Jay hadn't changed and yet at the same time he had.

Ali didn't even know how that made sense, but it just did.

"No! Give it to me! Ow! Let go!" 

Ali came back to his senses upon hearing the Son of Cruella, Carlos, speak, his eyes darting up to see the girl in blue, Evie, smirking at him. In response the Prince turned his head slightly, clearing his throat and feeling his cheeks light up in embarrassment.

He'd been caught staring for too long. 

"Are they always like this?" The Daughter of Gaston, Gael, asked the two girls decide her, Evie immediately smiling at her before pulling her closer to them.

"Always."

"Guys, guys, guys!" The girl in purple, Mal, quickly pulled the two boys up, plastering a fake smile on her face as she forced her words. "We have an audience."

"Just cleaning up." Jay forced a laugh as he pushed the son of Cruella off of him and got to his feet, looking down to Carlos with a forced smile. "Get up."

The Son of Cruella quickly used Jay to hoist himself onto his feet, a sheepish smile forming on his face as he stood among the other four and waited for some sort of interaction from the Auradon residents. Carlos clutched a handful of sweets against his chest still, watching as a lady in a pale blue petticoat stepped forward with a tight smile. Her eyes scanned across the five Villain Kids, her smile beginning to harden, if that were even possible, and took a deep breath though her nose.

"Leave it like you found it!" The woman laughed, her eyes quickly darting to the sweets in Carlos' arms and then back up to the boys face. "And by that, I mean just leave it."

Carlos quickly chucked the sweets into the limo and stood tall, well as tall as the poor boy could, and smiled sheepishly again at the woman in the blue petticoat. At the same time Jay was eyeing up the crowd, his eyes falling upon the Daughter of Sleeping Beauty as a smirk settled on his face.

Nobody could resist the Son of Jafar.

"Hello, foxy." Jays voice became slightly husky, the teen boy subtly flexing his muscles as he began to walk closer to Audrey, Ali watching his every move as he raised an eyebrow at him. Was this really Jays best attempt at flirting? All in all he found it quite corny and Ali had to stifle a laugh at the thought of it actually enchanting someone. "The name's Jay."

Audrey awkwardly laughed, her arms gripping around Ben tighter as she also grabbed Ali's mistakenly outdrawn hand for support. 

"Trust me Jay, she knows." Ali finally mustered up the words, Jays eyes immediately darting to him and looking between Audrey, Ben and himself before his eyes landed on Audrey and Ali's hands.

And he smirked.

"My, my aren't you a sight for saw eyes? Forgive me for impeaching on your girlfriend, your highness..." Jay sarcastically bowed at the Prince before stepping back into line with the other VK's, before his eyes settled on the animal on Ali's shoulder. "monkey."

"Her name's Amal!" Ali grunted as he drew his hand away from Audreys and crossed his arms over his chest again, Amal mimicking his actions as she too crossed her arms and sent a glare towards Jay.

"Whatever."

The Son of Jafar met the Son of Aladdin's glare, the thief raising his eyebrows at the Prince as he still kept a smirk on his face. This hadn't been the way he had envisioned his reunion with Ali, to be honest he had imagined an all out brawl, a battle to the death if you must, but he could settle for this. 

For he knew it wouldn't be the last time he got underneath the Prince of Agrabah's skin.

"Welcome to Auradon prep. I'm fairy godmother, headmistress." Fairy Godmother, adorned in a bright blue blazer welcomed the group of Villain Kids to Auradon Prep.

"The fairy godmother? As in, "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"?" Mal questioned the woman, the lady in blues smile widening.

"Bibbidi-bobbidi. You know it."

"Wow, this really is the day my dreams come true." Gael muttered towards the Sons of Jafar and Cruella, the two chuckling before they turned their attention back to Mal.

"Yeah, I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared, out of nowhere, with that sparkly wand and warm smile."

"Oh."

"And that sparkling wand." Gael glared slightly at the Daughter of Maleficent due to how unsubtle the girl was being, a couple more mentions of that wand and the pirate was sure that the Fairy Godmother would catch on.

"That was a long time ago. And as I always say, "don't focus on the past or You'll miss the future."

"It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben." Ben finally stepped forward, offering his hand to each of the kids from the Isle, his eyes lingering slightly longer on Mal than he'd like to admit. 

"Prince Benjamin." Audrey corrected as she kept her hands clasped around Bens arm. "Soon to be king."

"You had me at prince. My mom's a queen, which makes me a princess." Evie stepped forward, offering her hand forward again as if she expected the Prince to kiss it.

"The evil queen has no royal status here and neither do you." Audrey stated bluntly, Gael snorting at the remark but attempting to cover it off with a cough.

"This is Audrey."

"Princess Audrey." She corrected him again. "His girlfriend. Right, Bennyboo?"

"Trust me, she'll never let you forget it." Ali said just loud enough for the small group to hear, Audrey nudging him in the chets at his remark. "Ow!"

"And this is-"

"Prince Ali," Carlos smirked as he nudged Jay and outstretched his hand to Ali. "yes we've heard stories."

"You talk about me Jay?" Ali took Carlos' outstretched hand a shook it, feigning flattery as he gave Jay a big smile. "Did I really make that good of an impression?"

"Don't flatter yourself street rat."

Ali's heart sank when he heard the words leave the Son of Jafar's mouth as he willed himself to step forward, the Prince of Agrabah being held back by Audrey gripping his arm tightly. Truthfully Ali hated the idea of Audrey touching him, for Ali wasn't much of a touchy individual but he was glad she took the initiative to hold him back. Above all else he didn't want Jay to know how much he got underneath Ali's skin and the effect his words really had.

Besides, he couldn't lose his cool in front of the whole school; not if he wanted to keep his reputation up.

"Ben, Ali and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut. But the library hours are from 8:00 to 11:00. And as Ali would tell you," The Fairy Godmother sideeyed the Prince of Agrabah. "I have a little thing about curfews."

Ben: It is so, so, so good to finally me... meet you all. This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history... Is that chocolate? As the day our two peoples began to heal.

Truth be told Ali zoned out for a couple of minutes after that, watching as the crowd dispersed as he eagerly looked for a familiar face in the crowd. It wasn't long until he spotted a group of students together watching Ali with anticipation, eyeing him and wondering if he would in fact attack the Son of Jafar or whether he would keep his composure in the end.

After all, they knew Ali better than anyone and if you upset Ali, he would let you know about it.

Auradon prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became king. 

Ali snapped out of it when he heard the son of Cruella squeal, the boy immediately jumping into Jays arms as he watched the statue in front of the dormitories morph between man and beast.

It was quite amusing for Ali to see.

"Carlos, It's okay. My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible." Ben smiled at the boy, watching as he moved out of Jays arms and kept watching the statue as if he were scared it would jump out at him.

"Does he shed much?" Mal joked as she admired the statue, Ben turning around to gaze at her as his smile widened.

"Yeah, mom won't let him on the couch."

"You know he's not as ugly as I pictured." Gael commented as she gazed at the statue changing form beast to the King again, remembering the tales her father told her and how it didn't quite depict the man in this caricature.

"Oh so you have a thing for beasts now?"

"Shut it Jafar!"

"It's understandable," Ben commented as he watched Gael glare at Jay, simply shrugging at the girl. "it's no surprise that your father may be a little biased."

"So you guys have a lot of magic here in Auradon? Like wands and things like that?" Mal changed the subject as she sideeyed the VK's, attempting to turn the situation to the magic wand and their true purpose in Auradon in the first place.

"Yeah, it exists of course, but It's pretty much retired. Most of us here are just ordinary mortals."

"Who happened to be kings and queens."

"That's true." Audret chimed in as she gripped Bens arm tighter and gave Mal a tight lipped smile, moving Bens arm after a moment to wrap around her shoulder. "Our royal blood goes back hundreds of years."

"So these dorms," Gael started as she looked around the building they entered, noting a guy walking down the stairs towards them before her eyes snapped back towards the royals. "do we get our own rooms? "

"Well not exactly." The Prince of Auradon started, Gael turning to face him as she rose an eyebrow. "You, Mal and Evie will have one dorm to share whereas Carlos and Jay will be sharing with Ali."

What!

"Absolutely not happening!" Mal exclaimed as she shook her head, glaring at the Daughter of Gaston as a scoff left her lips.

"Is there a problem?" Ben questioned as if the exclamation wasn't enough.

"Yes there's a problem." Gael exasperated as she pointed towards Mal and Evie. "You can't seriously expect me to share a room with them?"

"I wouldn't be caught dead sharing a room with a dirty little pirate." Mals voice was like venom, her eyes piercing into the pirate who only glared back at her.

" Watch it Mal." Gale started through gritted teeth. "Your mother may be the evillest villain but we all know who between the two of us is the best with a sword."

"Now you've asked for it!"

Mal attempted to pounce towards Gael, the Son of Jafar having to hold her back while Carlos and Evie attempted to hold back Gael. All in all Ali was thoroughly amused, knowing full well that trouble was on the rise and he couldn't wait to finally have some fun.

"Fiesty you two are."

"Bennyboo, clearly this arrangement isn't going to work." Audrey tried to reason with her boyfriend, clinging onto his arm for support. "They're savages."

Then it hit him.

Ali had the greatest idea of all. It was cheeky for sure and almost certainly would lead to him being hated for a long while but ultimately it was brilliant.

Ali could only smirk.

"I have an idea. You two get on?" Ali asked Mal and Evie, the two girls nodding in response to his question. "But you don't get on with them?"

"That's right." Gael responded as she took yet another step away from the two girls, arms crossed. " What of it?"

"The solutions simple really." Ali smirked before turning to look at his best friend. "Gael can dorm with Audrey."

"Excuse me?" Audrey asked in confusion, trying to act as if she didn't just hear the words leave Ali's mouth.

"It's like you said Audrey. This is a great opportunity for you to be part of Auradons history as being the one to show these Villains the ropes and teaching them to be good. Besides," Ali manoeuvred himself to place his hand on his best friends shoulder, a pout falling on his lips. "don't you want your Bennyboo to be happy?"

"Bennyb-"

"That's actually a really good idea." Ben agreed, Audreys frown instantly disappearing as a fake smile graced her features.

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Audrey agreed, walking up to smile and grabbing her hands. "Look at us, we're going to be best friends. Yay!"

"Not sure about the best friends part but I'd rather room with you than those swines." Gael agreed, quickly wiping her hands on her shirt as Audrey let go of them.

The moment was almost too perfect for Ali.

"Any other issues with the arrangements? Jay?" Ali swiftly turned to face the Son of Jafar. "Got something to say?"

"Do you want me to have something to say, your highness?" Jay questioned back, the two staring at each other for a moment before Ali chuckled.

"Not at all, as long as you don't steal from me I'll be fine."

"Not that I'm here to steal but if I did, you'd be the first person I steal from."

Ali didn't quite believe him but ignored the comment nonetheless. He knew that very little good would come in the next couple days but he just hoped that they would serve as a distraction for a while so that he could continue with his master plan.If all went well, the Villain Kids would find they stay in Auradon more satisfactory than they first anticipated. 

But for that to happen he needed to keep one jump ahead of them and Ali feared that with Jay around, it would be more difficult than he first imagined.