Tag: carlosxben

Untitled Descendants prompt response drabble (2015-11-20)

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The first time, he doesn’t notice. Ben is a tactile person, he grew up with a father who would casually ruffle his hair when happy, a mother who would gently rest a hand against his cheek to show she cared. Touching is communication, is affection.

And so when he reaches out to place a hand on Carlos’ shoulder he doesn’t notice it. Doesn’t think much of the way Carlos tenses under his hand, how he curls away; attributes it to Dude and lingering traces of Carlos’ fear.

Ben doesn’t notice that first time.

—

Tourney means physical contact–tackles aren’t allowed, but checking happens frequently enough. It’s not so bad, everyone’s padded, but the first few times, Carlos makes like a turtle and huddles under his shield.

“No, you can’t just hide,” Ben says, pulling the shield away and offering Carlos a hand up; he hesitates before taking it.

“Well what’s the shield for, then?” Carlos shoots back, more than a little frustrated at their lack of progress. Scoring was easy to pick up–accuracy and speed something which came easy to him–but checking practice sucks.

Ben considers it, tries to articulate the thoughts that a culture of knighthood has instilled into him, “A shield protects you, yes, but it’s so that you can push forward and act,” he smiles, because that seems about right.

Uncertainly, Carlos smiles back.

“Why don’t we call it quits for now? You did well today,” Ben says. This time, when he reaches a hand out to Carlos, he notices the flinch and pulls back immediately. But he accredits it to checking practice and nothing more.

—

It’s not that Ben is watching Carlos–except for how he kind of is. He’s looking out for all of the Lost kids, really, wants to make sure they’re settling in okay. And if he focuses his attention on Carlos more than the others, well, that’s only because the other three seem to be handling the other students well enough on their own.

But as he watches, he begins to see a pattern.

Carlos has no problem picking up Dude and, for want of a better word, cuddling whenever he pleases. He also has no issues sharing personal space with his fellow Lost kids, drawing comfort from the closeness of his friends, or leaning in to share whispers with Evie–short white hair mixing with long blue. But it’s when touch is made that Carlos freezes.

The other Lost kids know it, too, and seem to accommodate in their own way. Evie flows around him, looping their arms together without any contact, until Carlos eases into it himself. Jay’s roughhousing is playful at heart, the way wolf cubs tussle and tumble with one another; even then, Jay will pause after initiating contact, to let Carlos adjust, before continuing. Mal and Carlos hardly ever touch, but in the rare occasions that happens, she looks him in the eye as a form of nonverbal warning before touching him.

It’s courteous, which isn’t a word Ben would think to use for the Lost kids, so it must be important.

~

A/N: So… this is a very very late response to anon’s prompt here and it… uh.. doesn’t really fill the prompt. So double sorry, anon (… or @jalencolbert?)

I had been hoping to put it into Ain’t No Rest, but since that’s on hiatus, I felt bad about letting it languish unfilled… hence this drabble.

I know you probably wanted some cute flirty touching but all I could think about was how Carlos is unused to positive contact and would be very touch shy. So I guess this could be considered “pre-slash” Benlos…

edit: now posted on ao3 here

Only just gotten on board the descendants fandom but AHHHHH!!! I REALLY REALLY ENJOYED YOUR ONLY FOOLS RUSH IN DRABBLE SERIES!!! So, so, so, good. SOOOOOO GOOD. And well-written. And soo cute omg omg you are amaaazing.

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Thanks! I really appreciate it. And, welcome to the fandom! 🙂

I have a few other Descendants fic (and, in particular, other Benlos Descendants fic) you might be interested in. If you want to check those out, there’s “A Tale of Two Kingdoms,” a Pacific RimxDescendants crossover/fusion series and… well… actually, a lot of stuff. I didn’t realize until now how much I’ve written for this fandom. You can take a look at my Descendants tag or my Benlos tag for everything else. I’m currently working on a series called “Ain’t No Rest” (but it’s slow going, so I recommend checking out my other stuff first, because I have no idea when that’s going to be finished…)

Anyway, thanks again for reading! I’m glad you enjoy them. And I hope you have a lovely time in the fandom.

edit: I realized how generic and voice-mailbox-esque the above sounded. sorry about that anon, let me try again:

THIS FREAKING FANDOM HAS EATEN MY BRAIN, I SWEAR TO GOD I WAS WATCHING THE MOVIE BECAUSE MY YOUNGER COUSINS WANTED TO WATCH IT AND THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS LIKE… This could be better. There were so many points in the movie where I was just, oh, so close Disney, you have the potential for a movie that honestly could be groundbreaking, but shied away.

Well, you know what? FANFICTION.

Which probably explains why a lot of Only Fools Rush In was written within the week after the movie came out. No other fandom has so quickly and thoroughly held my brain hostage and demanded fic as Descendants. None. Seriously. It’s the recipient of not only my first completed multi-part fic, but my second completed multi-part fic, my first three forays into fanmixes, and I’m pretty sure it’s responsible for at least 75% of my followers. (SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY FELLOW DESCENDANTS TRASH)

So, yes, I hope you do have a lovely time in the fandom. By which I really mean–I know you watched the movie and saw it’s potential and wanted something more TO THE POINT OF DESPERATION that you joined a fandom full of other people similarly desperate.

because that’s really what all of my fic and fanmixes are about. Me, seeing the potential that movie had, and wishing it had reached it. (and also, cute dumb boys being in love. With or without giant robots being involved.)

Ain’t No Rest, part 7/? (2015-09-22)

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Ben has no idea what the hell he is doing. Stopping a prisoner from getting harassed, sure, okay. Offering his own home as a place to stay? What.

“What am I doing?” Ben exhales, hands tightening their grip around the steering wheel. It’s six in the morning, the sun peaking over the horizon, and the roads are beginning to fill with other cars–early commuters, or morning deliveries and the like.

Carlos, who got a few hours of sleep in the holding cell, is nonetheless dozing in the passenger seat, head lolled back against the window. With his hair drying out into fluffy tufts, he doesn’t look like a threat to Ben who, even running on fumes, is a highly trained Knight.

Then again, it wasn’t Cruella de Vil’s physical prowess which made her so fearsome.

It’s very possible that Ben might die today.

“Fuck it, I’m too tired.”

Ben pulls in to his assigned parking spot, thankfully not stolen by anyone–though, really, who would that early in the morning. He hesitates for a few moments, unsure exactly how to wake up his passenger, before reminding himself that he is in fact a fully trained Knight and probably has several inches and several pounds worth of muscle on Carlos. There’s nothing to be worried about.

As it is, when Ben gently nudges his shoulder, Carlos’ reflexive flailing does manage to smack Ben in the eye. He ends up banging his own head into the window, though, so the two of them spend the next couple of minutes moaning in pain.

“Ow, okay, well. We’re here,” Ben says, inanely, rubbing gently at his eye. Oh god, he’s so tired.

Carlos says nothing in response, but follows Ben to his apartment easily enough, yawning all the way.

Ben’s apartment is on the third floor which, normally, means an invigorating walk up the stairs but at the moment is a gruesome climb that has both he and Carlos dragging their feet, nearly misstepping, and tripping on multiple occasions.

“Welcome to my apartment,” Ben says around a yawn, scrounging for the dregs of manners buried deep beneath the heavy weariness. Carlos, too, looks just as ready to go back to sleep.

Until Ben opens the door, that is; at which point Carlos screams and throws himself backwards until he hits the wall of the hallway with a loud bang.

Alert now, Ben scans his apartments for threats, sees nothing, looks again for anything even remotely scary, and only sees his apartment. Kind of messy, but not too bad.

Oh, and Dude who, being so small kind of just… walked below Ben’s line of sight to leave the apartment and sniff in interest at Carlos. Carlos who appears to be scrabbling at the walls in an attempt to climb out of reach.

Confused, but strangely, a little charmed, Ben reaches out to lift Dude up and away. “It’s just Dude. He won’t hurt you. He’s my dog,” It might be more accurate to say, he was a stray dog that wandered the campus of Ben’s high school until Ben decided to just take him home after graduation.

Carlos does not look at all reassured.

“Have you… not seen a dog before?”

“There aren’t any on the Isle. Mom says–” Carlos starts, only to cut himself off with a shuttered expression. Probably deciding it’s for the best not to bring up his mother, cop killer, around someone who works in law enforcement.

“Well, I don’t know what you’ve been told. But this particular dog is friendly. He’s just curious. Here, do you want to pet him? He likes it when you scratch behind his ears.” Ben says, carefully stepping closer so Carlos can reach easily.

It seems to work, Dude licks playfully at Carlos arm and the boy smiles back. Ben can feel the brief rush of alertness fade away, back to the persistent sleepiness.

“Okay, let’s get you settled inside, so all three of us can hopefully get some rest,” he says, about to lower Dude to the ground but deciding instead to hold him out to Carlos. Tentatively, Carlos reaches out, and Dude transfers easily between them.

Dude stays in Carlos arms the entirety of the quick tour–guest bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room–and when Ben retreats to his room, no more self-appointed obligations in sight, he sees Carlos set Dude gently into his doggy bed in the living room, only for the dog to hop back out and follow Carlos to the guest bedroom.

Well, they do say dogs are a good judge of character.

~

A/N: ARGH, okay, okay. I don’t know why this series is so frustrating to me. BUT I’M GOING TO DO THIS… BELIEVE IT.

I have maybe been reading too many Naruto fanfic. But is there really such a thing as too many?

Underneath the Red Lights (the melancholic remix) [2015-09-15]

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jacksgreysays:

A/N1: Uh, so, this probably won’t make any sense if you haven’t read the brainstorm of Underneath the Red Lights. I highly suggest you read that first.

~

It doesn’t mean anything, Carlos thinks, as he sits at the same table he sat at last year and the year before that. Normally this restaurant would be out of his price range–too expensive for a factory worker, never mind that he has steadily been moved more and more towards the R&D division and with it a higher salary–but not today. Because he’s not the one paying for it today.

The waiter is different, he can’t really expect to be served by the same person, but the maitre d’ is the same. She recognized him–perhaps from that brief splash of time when his face was everywhere in the media, but his fifteen minutes of fame is years past. Perhaps from his previous outings to this restaurant, but she must have seen hundreds if not thousands of other customers, more frequent patrons–likely, she was shown a photo of him. To let him in, to seat him at a specific table and let him order whatever he wanted, despite his casual and shabby outfit.

And Carlos knows he could’ve worn that particular outfit–even two years out of style it is still the fanciest thing in his wardrobe–but it just doesn’t seem right. Not that sitting here, eating a dinner worth probably a month’s worth of his wages, in his oil-stained, rumpled work uniform feels right either but. He thinks he is owed this, at the very least.

It could be argued that him not being in prison is above what he deserves, but who are they to judge? He just wanted his friends, wanted to take back what the government had stolen from him, wanted to carve out a little happiness for himself. 

When he is finished with his entree–a different one every year–dessert is brought out and this is one of the things that does not change. It’s their molten chocolate cake, and maybe these dinners are not apologies but punishments, because for all that he loves chocolate, for all that the cake is perfectly baked and so divinely delicious, he can’t help but feel that this whole situation is bittersweet.

Because it is the taste of their first and only kiss, before the truth came out and Carlos was left with all that he had before–no family, no friends, no boyfriend–with the glimpse of another life that slipped through his fingers.

A life that he would have never had, anyway, like this dinner at this restaurant–because factory workers can’t afford thousand dollar meals, and they don’t date princes either.

~

A/N2: I just read the most strangely heart-rending DCU fic and for some reason it gave me Underneath the Red Lights feels. But… angsty feels? Basically, the “bad ending” in which Ben not only finds out about the whole magical possession thing BEFORE Carlos gets to the castle, but also doesn’t forgive Carlos (and further does not think that magicians should be free). But at least he doesn’t put Carlos in prison? Because technically, Mal was the one who did the possessing and it could be argued that Carlos had no role in Mal’s crime.

I DUNNO, I’M SORRY. I JUST HAD TO SPREAD THE MELANCHOLY. Still pretty sure I’m not going to do UtRL but if I am, please rest assured, that this is not how it will end.

Okay, this isn’t my post for today, but I need to type this out now before I fall asleep and forget it but basically two things related to the above drabble:

  1. WHAT IF THE REASON THE MAITRE D’ RECOGNIZES CARLOS IS BECAUSE THE ONLY DAY THE CROWN PRINCE EATS AT THE RESTAURANT IS THE SAME DAY.  Like, after closing hours, Ben just rents the entire restaurant (and of course they’re going to keep it open just for the crown prince) and he sits at the same table as Carlos and basically acts like he is on a date with Carlos just several hours displaced. AND THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT PEOPLE REMEMBER, SO OF COURSE THE MAITRE D’IS GOING TO RECOGNIZE THE PERSON WHO CAN INSPIRE THAT KIND OF HEARTBREAKING DEVOTION FROM THE FREAKING CROWN PRINCE.
  2. WHAT IF I DO ACTUALLY WRITE UNDERNEATH THE RED LIGHTS STARTING WITH THE ABOVE DRABBLE. As a sort of… reconciliation love story, in which the boys are both a little bit older and a little more broken but all the wiser for it and Ben isn’t so reactionary and hurt by the lies and Carlos realizes that he did actually like Ben for himself and not just a means to an end and they “fall back in love” (and then eventually Ben does realize that magicians are treated unjustly).

Just, ugh, stab myself in the heart. (Literally kept shrieking NOOOOOOO MIMI NOOOOOOO to myself as I was typing this, though).

Underneath the Red Lights (the melancholic remix) [2015-09-15]

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A/N1: Uh, so, this probably won’t make any sense if you haven’t read the brainstorm of Underneath the Red Lights. I highly suggest you read that first.

~

It doesn’t mean anything, Carlos thinks, as he sits at the same table he sat at last year and the year before that. Normally this restaurant would be out of his price range–too expensive for a factory worker, never mind that he has steadily been moved more and more towards the R&D division and with it a higher salary–but not today. Because he’s not the one paying for it today.

The waiter is different, he can’t really expect to be served by the same person, but the maitre d’ is the same. She recognized him–perhaps from that brief splash of time when his face was everywhere in the media, but his fifteen minutes of fame is years past. Perhaps from his previous outings to this restaurant, but she must have seen hundreds if not thousands of other customers, more frequent patrons–likely, she was shown a photo of him. To let him in, to seat him at a specific table and let him order whatever he wanted, despite his casual and shabby outfit.

And Carlos knows he could’ve worn that particular outfit–even two years out of style it is still the fanciest thing in his wardrobe–but it just doesn’t seem right. Not that sitting here, eating a dinner worth probably a month’s worth of his wages, in his oil-stained, rumpled work uniform feels right either but. He thinks he is owed this, at the very least.

It could be argued that him not being in prison is above what he deserves, but who are they to judge? He just wanted his friends, wanted to take back what the government had stolen from him, wanted to carve out a little happiness for himself. 

When he is finished with his entree–a different one every year–dessert is brought out and this is one of the things that does not change. It’s their molten chocolate cake, and maybe these dinners are not apologies but punishments, because for all that he loves chocolate, for all that the cake is perfectly baked and so divinely delicious, he can’t help but feel that this whole situation is bittersweet.

Because it is the taste of their first and only kiss, before the truth came out and Carlos was left with all that he had before–no family, no friends, no boyfriend–with the glimpse of another life that slipped through his fingers.

A life that he would have never had, anyway, like this dinner at this restaurant–because factory workers can’t afford thousand dollar meals, and they don’t date princes either.

~

A/N2: I just read the most strangely heart-rending DCU fic and for some reason it gave me Underneath the Red Lights feels. But… angsty feels? Basically, the “bad ending” in which Ben not only finds out about the whole magical possession thing BEFORE Carlos gets to the castle, but also doesn’t forgive Carlos (and further does not think that magicians should be free). But at least he doesn’t put Carlos in prison? Because technically, Mal was the one who did the possessing and it could be argued that Carlos had no role in Mal’s crime.

I DUNNO, I’M SORRY. I JUST HAD TO SPREAD THE MELANCHOLY. Still pretty sure I’m not going to do UtRL but if I am, please rest assured, that this is not how it will end.

Fake Fic Summaries 5/?, the Descendants AU edition (2015-09-12)

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A/N: Day 3 of arriving at home ridiculously late, this sucks, wtf. Couldn’t scrounge together a drabble but here’s a plot bunny that’s been on my mind that I might as well articulate it now.

~

Underneath The Red Lights

“There is no Isle of the Lost, no convenient rock in the middle of the ocean to banish villains. Instead, there is a walled and warded prison, where all magic users are held. When Carlos is fifteen, his best friends are taken from the orphanage in the middle of the night and imprisoned there.

Three years later, either Carlos is going mad or he’s about to pull off the greatest jailbreak in history. He just has to get the crown prince to cooperate.”

Okay, wildly AU, really don’t think I’m going to do it, because there’s a lot of overlaps with Ain’t No Rest, WHICH I STILL REALLY REALLY WANT TO DO, and this one also seems like a lot of world building which may just warp things too much.

Anyway. Based off a weird dream I had, essentially, as the fake summary above suggests, there is no Isle of the Lost. Instead, the villains and minions are imprisoned in various facilities and any children are raised in government run orphanages. Actually, all magicians are in a maximum security prison. I’m toying with the idea that that includes the Fairy Godmother, too. And so Jane would also be in the orphanage.

Anyway, at age sixteen (I just figure the other three Lost kids are older than Carlos) the government does checks for magical potential, and thus Evie, Mal, and Jay are all locked up. Even if they weren’t on the Isle of the Lost, they are still Carlos’ best friends so he’s just like… wtf, damn it Auradon, but he can’t really do much since… he’s a minor and living in a government run orphanage.

Now for the part I actually dreamed. Carlos begins hearing/seeing his friends–the image of Evie is next to his reflection in mirrors, shiny pieces of metal, even puddles; whenever he’s in danger, he can hear Jay’s voice telling him what to do; and every so often strangers will come up to him, all of them different, but all of them with the same glowing green eyes. Either he is going crazy or his friends have somehow managed to project themselves out of the prison and to him. Never fear, it’s the latter.

Now, because they are in maximum security, the only way to get them out is *mumbledy mumbledy plot device* which means somehow Carlos needs to get access to the castle. Not only that, but the inner sanctum of the castle–where important government stuff and such is held. That’s not open the public. In fact, the only people who can get in are extremely high ranked government officials or the royal family. And Mal can’t just possess someone because the castle is also warded against magic.

So Mal temporarily possesses Ben while he’s out being a real boy (a bit Jasmine-esque) and basically has Carlos pretend to be his boyfriend in really public places so the paparazzi will catch them and eventually the royal family will have to make the rumors true.

Except Mal can’t hold on to the possession for very long and there was one vivid scene I dreamed in which Mal!Ben brought Carlos to a really fancy clothes store, and while Carlos is in the changing room that’s when the possession fails and so when Carlos goes to show off the outfit to who he thinks is Mal, it’s actually Ben who’s just like–I have no idea what is going on, I’m pretty sure I blacked out for a couple of hours. Did I go out drinking? Did I hire a hooker while I was blackout drunk? This is a very good looking hooker, good choice drunk me. 

Ben’s as affable as canon and he kind of just… rolls with it because hey, there’s this cute boy who isn’t some snobby noble or boring politician who, sure, might or might not be a hooker, but is very fun and smart and well, drunk!Ben seemed to know what he was doing so, sure, let’s buy this cute boy some very flattering clothes and take him out to dinner.

Carlos does realize that it’s not Mal but he’s pretty sure he should keep going with the fake!dating thing–or at least, that’s what Evie’s image (there’s no sound in reflections) seems to be gesturing when he asks the changing room mirrors.

And eventually I guess they do fall in love and there’s a whole thing where maybe betrayal is brought up (but seriously, if Ben can forgive Mal for basically roofie-ing him, then he’ll probably forgive Carlos for not telling the whole truth about how they started dating) and then Ben is just like… why are we imprisoning people with magic even if they haven’t done anything wrong? Shouldn’t it be innocent until proven guilty, even with magic? So hooray, all the magicians who are not villains are set free, including the Fairy Godmother and the three other Lost kids, Carlos and Ben officially get together, happily ever after, etc. etc. 

The end.

I dunno, if anyone wants to adopt this, feel free? I would totally be up to beta/brainstorm some more.

edit: I lied, apparently, here’s a drabble for UtRL, though it’s a “bad ending” remix

I always wonder what would descendants be like if Carlos was a girl and rest of the gang were guys and were like her overprotective brothers! Or Mal could accidentally turn Carlos into a girl, and suddenly the guys at Audran Prep notice he is cute!

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Hm… I’m always kind of hesitant about gender/sex bend fic. When done right they are amazing to read, but it’s pretty difficult to do right–there’s a lot of tricky parts that need to be maneuvered around with sensitivity and there are points where you have to consider how much of a personality is due to sex (in that, unfortunately in society, people of different sexes are held to different standards and so develop differently). Like, how much change is too much? At what point do the characters we know and love become unrecognizable.

In the always!female!Carlos and always!male!Mal, Evie, and Jay… hm… there would be changes in how the parents treat their children in that case. For example, Maleficent and Grimhilde treat canon Mal and Evie as extensions of themselves/their second chances–essentially, their daughters are them. Whereas with Cruella, she treats canon Carlos as a (heh) dogsbody/minion.

If all three of them were to have sex bends I think that would also change–Cruella would probably raise Carlos (Carla?) to be a leader of minions instead of to be her own minion. A lot of Grimhilde’s advice to Evie is how to get a prince to marry–but if Evie is male then that means he would be the prince so Grimhilde would raise him to be as stereotypically prince-like as possible. Basically, training him to go on quests so he can win the hand of whichever princess he rescues. Maleficent and Mal’s relationship wouldn’t be too different except for how Mal is further from the duplicate image of Maleficent, so he would be even more desperate to prove himself to his mother.

All that being said, I do think that, yes, if the gang were female!Carlos, male!Mal, Evie, and Jay then the latter three would be very protective of the former. Carlos would be Evie’s “practice princess” in a way–like how children play make believe–while her lack of magic would make Mal think she were ridiculously fragile (especially in comparison to Maleficent’s overt magical presence). With Jay, since I figure female!Carlos would be less hostile than canon Mal and less beguiling than canon Evie, Jay would be more protective of female!Carlos. I mean, Jay is already pretty protective of the others in canon so it could only increase for a female!Carlos. Female!Carlos would be more hardened and cunning than her canon male counterpart, but ultimately I don’t think she would treat the others like her minions (that’s what Horace and Jasper’s kids are for); like her protectors, maybe, but not her minions.

As for shipping… hm… well, I’ve got to be faithful to Benlos–and if anything, female!Carlos would be an irresistible blend of canon!Mal and canon!Carlos for Ben. I would be absolutely fascinated by a male!Mal x Audrey ship–I’m always a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope. I also have a soft spot for Devie (aka, DougxEvie) but I’m not entirely sure how well that would translate to male!Evie x Doug… it’d be a mix of bad-boy/jock + nerd… As for Chad, well. I hate Chad. HATE. So I am pretty sure the Lost kids would be even less tolerant of his douchebaggery if it’s Carlos he tries to exploit–and anyway, female!Carlos would be less vulnerable to a handsome prince than canon!Evie. 

As for the second part of your ask… there’s a difference between gender/sex bend fic and… well, I don’t know if there’s a better term for it… gender/sex fucks. That is, instead of always!female!Carlos, it would be a temporarily!female!Carlos. The latter can be funny and silly, but I’m concerned with the phrasing? Like, why do the guys at Auradon Prep suddenly realize he’s cute when he’s female? Why did they not realize it sooner (like Ben)? That goes into exploring the sexualities of random Auradon guys who I don’t particularly care about?

I don’t think Carlos would do anything if he were suddenly turned female–I think it would be mostly the other Lost kids doing stuff. Like Evie having another model who actually enjoys clothes, Jay glaring daggers at all the Auradon guys who keep trying to ask out Carlos just because he’s suddenly female, and Mal trying to figure out how to reverse it. 

Maaaybe the only one I’d accept Carlos actually dating when suddenly female would be Ben (because, yes, I’m a Benlos shipper, but also he’s the only Auradon guy who showed any interest in Carlos before his sudden magical sex swap), but I’m not really sure where the plot would go from there. Unless it’s a story about gender dysphoria, in which having accidentally been turned female Carlos realizes that he actually wants to be a she. Thus all of her friends (+Ben) are her support system as she transitions (mentally, since Mal’s magic already took care of the physical part).

Uh.. but yes, sorry for all that heavy text. Here are some pictures for what I think I female Carlos may look like:

image
image

(This is Quin as photographed by James McCloud)

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 11/11 (2015-08-27)

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It’s as if all the thoughts have flown out of Carlos’ head leaving only an overwhelming sense of relief, vague confusion, that mild contrariness from before. And fear. Denial. But the part of him that is the head of the jaeger program is already moving, planning, changing up orders.

“Get more pilot suits,” he says to the technician, who startles but does as told. To Dreda he says, “Tell your crew to prep the fourth jaeger,” and though she hesitates at first to look him in the eyes, she nods and leaves as well.

He doesn’t fully understand it, but it’s as if he just suddenly knows. Knows that what Auradon says it the best course of action. He doesn’t need the drift analyst to know that the four of them would be better jaeger pilots than he and Dreda.

“Queen Cobra?” He asks Evie, she tilts her head toward Mal and Auradon and smiles, small and reserved.

“And the Dragon Knight,” she says, and something in Carlos deflates, resigned.

Carlos sighs, a long quiet exhale that drains everything but the jaeger program from him. “Let’s get to work, pilots,” he says, then turns and walks away, headed towards the control room where he belongs. The docks are his domain, here he is king.

They follow.

—

Queen Cobra is the first to set out, towards the class five kaiju.

Mal knows that Evie and Jay will be fine, in part because of her own experience of them. Evie’s omniscience combined with Jay’s battle prowess could only be enhanced by the literal giant fighting machine Carlos has built. They’ll be fine, she knows, because she has faith in them; they are her friends, and she believes in them.

Those aren’t words she’s all that familiar with, but in the drift with Ben it’s easy to admit these things.

In the drift, she also tells Ben the complete truth of the kaiju. Thoughts bounce between Mal and Ben, pooling together their knowledge and building off of each other.

The kaiju are to that world what the jaeger are to theirs–tools for battle. But where the masters of that strange world use the kaiju for conquest, Carlos has built his for defense.

Carlos has built the jaegers out of scraps, not bioengineering like the masters. There are only four jaegers; four jaegers to defeat over a year’s worth of kaiju.

If the masters had gotten a hold on the mind behind the jaegers… It’s why Mal couldn’t let Carlos go.

The past several kaiju had not been designed to demolish everything in their path. All of the past kaiju had headed straight for the Isle, not the shores of Auradon. They had been designed to capture Carlos.

How dare they?

A wave of protective aggression crashes through their drift. It is the ferocity of Mal defending her gang and the devotion of Ben fighting for the boy he loves.

How dare they even try?

The Dragon Knight won’t let that happen.

—

All of the jaegers are equipped with cameras, streaming directly to the control room; all the better to keep track of the situation. The footage caught on that day tells a story. A story of survival, yes, but there’s more to it than that.

It is a story, not about heroes defeating villains, but of humanity. Of people, regardless of their past and their legacy, working together to protect each other. The Hell Jalopy and the Rebel Watcher, two jaegers built by Isle and Auradon hands, used by Isle and Auradon pilots. Both defending each other to defeat their shared enemy.

It is a story, not about villains’ kids realizing their potential for heroism, but of redemption. The Queen Cobra, Evie and Jay, defending the Isle which their parents’ greed had put at risk. Proving that magic is power, but power can be used for great acts instead of terrible.

It is a story, not about good versus evil and the unlikely places both can grow, but of sacrifice. The Dragon Knight’s camera works up until it crosses through the tear into the world of the kaiju. Maybe it was the signal, or maybe the strange star and it’s twisted light could not be recorded. The events that occurred there will forever be a secret, known only to Ben and Mal.

It is a story, not about a boy defying both nature and nurture to save the world, but of a boy just trying to do his best. A boy who built a ship for a heartbroken girl, a boy who let his friends fight despite the risk, a boy who asked for aid and was always surprised to receive it. A boy in love.

It has been said that every story is a love story.

—

The steady beeping of the heart monitor has been the soundtrack of Carlos’ life for past two weeks. It’s as easy to manage the gradual shutdown of the jaeger program from a hospital room as it is from the docks. Though he does admit, he has been delegating a lot of his duties to Harry, Jace, and Dreda.

It’s not like he’s the only visitor: Evie and Jay stop by frequently, as much to reconnect with him as it is to check on Mal–without the rush of danger, the gang can take their time. They realize that Carlos has gotten a growth spurt in the past year and is finally taller than Evie, so long as she doesn’t wear heels. He’s still no match for Jay, of course.

Chip has acted the part of a guilt ridden statue in the room everyday. When he’s not arguing on behalf of the Isle for better equipment and better supplies and a better way of life, really– “Just continuing what he would have wanted,” Chip shrugs, though with how tense he is, it’s more like a hunching of his shoulders.

But Carlos has a lot of time to himself, the metronomic beeping and his thoughts. No more kaiju, so no more jaeger program. No more head of the jaeger program, so he’s just Carlos now. Just himself–a runty, nerdy boy from the Isle.

With a prince from Auradon?

That’s ridiculous.

The steady beeping of the heart monitors suddenly… isn’t. Carlos startles out of his sulk to stare–the pulses on the monitors are getting faster. Away from comatose state into consciousness.

They’re waking up.

Carlos pushes the call button for a nurse who enters, startles at the long-awaited revival of her patients, and proceeds to summon practically an entire army of nurses and doctors. Most of them are from Auradon, and they crowd around their prince, but there are some who circle around Mal’s bed. At least until her hoarse, but still scathing voice forces them to make room for Carlos.

“Carlos,” she calls, voice rough from disuse, and she gestures weakly at him to come closer.

The first thing Mal does to him, after he’s within grabbing reach, is to take Carlos’ head in both of her hands and just…. stare. Even without knowing she now has magic, Carlos freezes in fear–Mal had always been more intimidating than Jay despite muscle mass, despite the fact that she’s been unconscious for two weeks.

“I don’t want to kiss you,” she says evenly to him. Which… okay?

“I don’t want to kiss you either?” He agrees uncertainly, this is a very strange conversation.

“But if you do not kiss that guy soon,” Mal says, physically turning Carlos’ head so he can see Auradon in the other bed, “I may just kiss you to put all three of us out of our misery.”

Carlos is fairly sure that doesn’t make any logical sense, but he’s not going to argue. So he nods, or nods as much as he can with his head in her grip.

She releases him, and though he straightens his back he stays by her bed. “Mal,” Carlos reaches for her hand, and she magnanimously lets him hold it, “You did good,” he says.

She shoots back, “We all did good,” and they both laugh at the irony–the baddest gang of the Isle, saving the world. Then she bats his hand away, and Carlos probably would feel hurt except she pointedly waves towards Auradon’s bed, significantly less crowded than before.

And Carlos’ empty chair next to it.

“Hey Carlos,” Auradon rasps, and smiles. “I’m back from my quest,” his fingers barely have to twitch before Carlos grabs for his hand.

“You brought my friends back to me,” Carlos responds, voice little more than a whisper.

“You asked for them,” Auradon says simply, easily, as if he would give Carlos anything he asked for without hesitation. Because… that is what he’s been doing, Carlos realizes. “I have been trying to court you for several months, Carlos,” he explains.

“Auradon–” Carlos starts, then stops, cheeks flushed red. Because even now, he doesn’t know Auradon’s actual name.

Fond amusement spreads across his face, stretching his grin wide, “Please, call me Ben.”

~

A/N: IT’S FINALLY DONE! WOOHOO!!!! Descendants fandom you are now also the recipient of my second ever completed multi-part story!

Just want to say thanks a lot to theotpauthor for all the encouragement during this fic! I’m so thankful to you, really, and your messages were greatly appreciated. You know how frustrated I was with this story, but you really helped me through it. So thanks again 🙂

And, yeah, it’s technically three in the morning on the 28th, buuuuuut whatever. I’m counting it as my August 27th post.

Okay, if I’m gonna be completely honest, there was more content that I was considering putting in but decided not to. Because, seriously, this was getting too long. Just little things, like–what happened to the villain parents, especially the magical ones involved with the ritual. And random stuff like–I was actually considering keeping Anthony Tremaine alive and having him be drift compatible with Doug? But then it was like… that’s totally unnecessary.

So if anyone wants to shoot me questions about various head canons I have about this story that I couldn’t include in the story itself, go for it. That sounds like fun.

Also, if anyone would be willing to beta this so I can put it up on ao3, please let me know. Because that would be really cool, and I would be extremely grateful.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 7/11 (2015-08-21)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

The islanders are reluctant to share their knowledge of what exactly happened, not because they’re distrustful of Ben, but because it involves magic. The only ones who really understood magic were the ones involved, and they’re the ones missing.

“Good riddance,” one woman mutters, face hidden by dirty blonde hair and a grungy scarf.

The woman next to her jostles her sharply, hissing a warning, “If the captain heard you, you’d walk the plank.”

“Well the captain’s dead, she’s not here to protect her damned pet squid. It’s because of him that the kaiju are around.” The woman spits back, before shuffling away when the expression on her conversation partner’s face clearly doesn’t agree.

The remaining woman glares at her retreating back, before turning expectantly to Ben and Chip. Her back is hunched and her clothes are dirty, but the set of crossbones stitched onto her beanie are a bright clean white. “You’ve got questions, then?”

“Yes,” Ben says politely, “I’m trying to figure out–”

“What happened to the other magic kids, eh?” She interrupts, eyebrow raised slyly, “You think the entire Isle don’t know about your mission? And I’m not talking about finding those three.”

Ben tries desperately not to blush.

He obviously fails from the way the woman laughs raucously.

“If you could please–” Chip starts, only to be interrupted as well.

“You’re a bit too clean for my own tastes,” the woman says to Chip appraisingly, “but that can be fixed easily.” She winks, and now Chip is also flustered. Great.

“Ma’am, we need to know what happened.” Ben says, bringing them back on topic, “How is it that Uri’s death is confirmed, but no one knows what happened to the others?”

“That’s easy,” she scoffs, “How else?”

Ben waits for her to explain, but Chip is the one to answer.

“There was a body.”

—

It’s not like Carlos is just waiting for Auradon to come back. He has a lot to do around the docks; it comes with the territory of being the head of the jaeger program. That being said, he has no idea why Jane and Lonnie keep following him around.

He’s still a bit suspicious of them, ever since they tricked him into talking to Auradon. So it’s not his fault his face automatically turns into a squinty eyed stare in their presence, especially Jane’s.

“It worked out for the best,” Lonnie says, absolutely steady from her perch on the catwalk railings.

Carlos only grumbles back at her, combing through some basic wire work on the fourth jaeger. Jane, at least, has the decency to sit on the actual walkway, safe from tipping over. Not that her being in Carlos’ peripheral vision is making him any less nervous.

“I think it’s absolutely romantic,” Jane sighs, head propped in her hand, and Carlos is not fooled at all.

But he still asks, “What is?” and ignores the feverish sensation on the tips of his ears.

“A knight on a quest to prove his love,” Jane responds wistfully. Carlos wonders if this is what she was like before coming to the Isle, if she would have been just a daydreaming teenage girl, instead of a jaeger pilot capable of destroying giant monsters. Well, now he gets to deal with both.

Lonnie hums in agreement–correction, now Carlos gets to deal with both twice over–before adding, “Usually the prince ends up with the rescued princess, but traditional stories are so two decades ago.”

Jane barks out a laugh, “It’s not like your parents were very traditional,” she reminds teasingly.

“I like to think they were trendsetters,” Lonnie shoots back.

Their easy banter washes over him, familiar at least, if not soothing, after weeks of it; but Carlos is still stuck on something in particular.

“Auradon is a prince?”

—

Finding where Jemma Hook is buried is easy. Finding where Jemma Hook buried Uri? Not so much.

“Captain was real torn up about his death,” a man nearly two feet taller than Chip says morosely, casually shrugging a crate of potatoes onto one shoulder, “She would’ve buried him wherever she hid her treasure.”

“Good luck finding that,” someone else snorts, unashamedly interjecting himself into their conversation, “She kept that a secret to her own grave.”

“It’s true,” the first man says, “Any decent pirate would have a hidden stash, Captain Hook’s would be particularly hard to find.”

“You know, if anyone could find it,” The second man suggests, “It would be that damn thief; or maybe the princess, if there were enough gems.”

“You think this boy would be bothering with the Captain’s treasure if he already had Carlos’ gang?” The first man scoffs, reaching out to cuff the other on the back of the head.

It nearly bowls him over, but he keeps to his feet, “Just saying,” he scowls.

“No wait,” a third person says, bodily inserting herself into their discussion by ducking under the first man’s arm, “He’s onto something. The ones who would best be able to find the captain’s treasure would be Jay and Evie.”

“Neither of whom we have,” Chip reminds.

“So the closest thing you have to that is their parrot.” The girl says, a mischievous grin on her face.

“A parrot,” Ben finally says, leaning forward in interest, “Tell me more.”

—

“Don’t you dare hurt Othello,” Evie warns, even as she brings up his image onto her mirror and passes it over to Jay.

“You think I’m going to risk our one chance by purposefully messing with that bird?” he asks, hands on the mirror, eyes beginning to glow.

“There’s a reason he likes me better,” Evie says, before turning silent, focusing on her precognitive abilities. She needs to keep an eye out for any of their hunters, especially now that Jay is occupied with possessing Othello and Mal has brought down their shield. They’re not actually sure if it will work, which is why Mal is using her magic to amplify Jay’s.

“This is ridiculous,” Mal murmurs. It sounds like one of those fairy tales, she thinks, a prince following a bird to one secret area. Then following another set of animals to a different secret area. All as part of a quest to rescue a princess. So what if that bird is a parrot being magically possessed, and the next set of guides are eels, and there’s an evil fairy’s daughter and an evil sorcerer’s son being rescued alongside the princess? “So ridiculous,” she repeats.

—

“This is great!” Ben enthuses as he and Chip pick their way along the trash-strewn shore, following after the blue and yellow parrot. “It’s really like a proper quest.”

Chip, done with absolutely everything–especially the parrot who not only scratched and bit him, but also pooped on his shoulder–is distinctly less impressed.

“Mystery, a hidden treasure, an animal guide,” Ben lists off, before the parrot screeches– “Hurry up!” – and they both pour on the speed.

They wouldn’t want to lose the bird for a second time. At least it seems to be intelligent enough to not only get the gist of what they need, but also to circle back and find them. Suspiciously intelligent, Chip thinks to himself, but that may just be his newly found bias against birds speaking.

The parrot brings them to a rocky outcropping, a small five foot cliff of sorts. Looking around, neither of them can see a place where something can be buried.

“Did this thing take us on a wild goose chase?” Chip asks belligerently, before flinching when the parrot lands on his shoulder.

Ben laughs, out of breath, but his hands clench into fists with irritation as well.

“Lagan! Derelict!” The parrot screeches, disastrously loud right next to Chip’s ear.

It takes a few moments, but soon enough, in the water below them, the long sinuous bodies of two eels appear.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Chip says in disbelief.

“Multiple animal guides,” Ben amends, before steeling himself and jumping into the water. “Come on!” he calls up to Chip.

Chip stares balefully down at him instead, looks at the parrot on his shoulder in commiseration, realizes he’s doing so, and decides to flee from the feathered pest by jumping down after Ben.

The water is cold and kind of slimy feeling and Chip hates everything about this. He says as much.

Ben just grins obnoxiously back, “It’s not over yet.”

~

A/N: Yes, that’s how I’m ending it because I can’t believe it’s not over yet. AAAAAGH. We will get there soon. Hopefully.

Thanks to theotpauthor for letting me know that the eels are not just a strange fluke. Hence, Othello the parrot, who is technically Evie’s but is descended from Iago so… yet another timeshare pet?

And jalencolbert, in case you didn’t see my edit on the last post. Lagan and Derelict are the book canon names for the eels, I didn’t come up with it. But I think Uri as Ursula’s son’s name is my creation? Not sure, there are only so many U names. Feel free to use that as well, though.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms, part 6/11 (2015-08-20)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

There is really only one thing that Carlos–Carlos the boy, not Carlos the head of the jaeger program–wants.

He wants his friends.

It’s not something that’s easy to admit. The Isle has been critical of such soft, positive emotions–you have minions or a gang or, if you’re particularly lucky, partners in crime–but friends are for the weak. Friendship just means admitting a person is your weak spot.

But that was before. There’s a new world order on the Isle; in the face of kaiju, posturing as a tough, heartless loner is not only useless, but detrimental. Survival means cooperation now. The strongest of them, the jaeger pilots, are only such because they are drift compatible. To protect one’s family, for the love of lost friends, to contribute to the community–that’s what the Isle now holds above all else.

But it’s a lifetime of conditioning to work against, so it’s still difficult to admit. And, truth be told, Carlos is scared.

It’s a selfish request, to risk their source of, well, everything, just to try and figure out what happened to three people who may or may not be…

Carlos doesn’t know what happened to them; the mystery is as much a source of hope as it is despair. If he doesn’t know, then their deaths can’t be confirmed, they could still be alive. But surely, if they were still alive, they would have come back by now?

And what use would it be to know now, after over a year? What if its dangerous, what if it’s pointless, what if…

But Auradon asks, and that’s the only thing Carlos wants.

—

“You don’t have to,” Carlos says, fingers tugging nervously with the ends of his gloves. He’s said the same thing dozens of times already, voice conflicted, eyes filled with both hope and fear, “You don’t have to, really.”

“Auradon,” Ben says, just to get Carlos to look at him. At Ben. Not a resource, not a king, just Ben.

“What?”

“That’s what you call me. And, you know, there’s a bit of a tradition in my kingdom,” Curiosity makes Carlos quiet, waiting for more. It’s better than him being worried, so Ben continues, “A boy goes on a quest to prove that he’s worthy.”

“Worthy of what?” Carlos asks, confused.

“I don’t know yet,” Ben says with a laugh. Carlos wrinkles his nose, to which Ben shrugs helplessly, “I’ll bring them back to you,” he says seriously, grasping both of Carlos’ hands to stop his fidgeting. And because he wants to, “One way or another, I’ll find them and I’ll bring them back to you,” Ben vows.

This vow is more crucial than bringing back cars and boats and planes and engineers and pilots. Because this isn’t a promise between a king and the head of the jaeger program. This is a promise from one boy to another, from a boy in love to the one he loves.

“And when I succeed,” Ben says, squeezing Carlos hands between his own, “I’d like it if you used my real name.” And he brings them up to his lips, brushing a kiss against bare knuckles.

Carlos tugs his hands away, a flush high on his cheeks, and Ben thinks he’s screwed up. But Carlos says, “You’ll have to come back and tell me what it is, then,” before he stomps away, no doubt back to the jaeger docks.

Ben smiles goofily after him, until Chip cuts in with a not so subtle cough. “Very smooth,” he says, completely straight faced.

Ben squints at him suspiciously, unsure if Chip is being sarcastic or not.

“It’s better than your dad at least,” Chip says reassuringly which, considering the story behind his parents’ get together, is not really all that of a consolation.

“Are you sure you want to come with me?” Ben asks, echoing a conversation they had months before.

And like before, Chip says, “I’m not letting you go alone.”

—

There is something strange about magic on this side of the tear. Or maybe, on this side of the ritual, on this side of Uri’s death.

The barrier being taken down was just a side affect, the tear between worlds an unintended consequence. The ritual was meant only to use son of a witch as fuel to revive the power of four magicians. Except there weren’t just four magicians–there were seven; even if three of them were young and unknowing.

Rituals are delicate things, everything must be done precisely or else it’ll end up a mess. The magical backlash, along with tearing down the barrier and tearing open a path between worlds, caused enough chaos for the three of them–back up sacrifices and accidental vessels–to escape.

But they didn’t know then which way they were escaping. Instead of going back, to warn the rest of the Isle, they went forward; into the world of the kaiju.

In this world, magic comes easily to them, thankfully. Otherwise how would they have survived without Mal’s constant shield. Without Evie’s precognitive warnings. And how would they have figured out the truth behind the kaiju without Jay’s mind magics pulling the truth out of one.

If only magic could bring them back.

But they’ve learned in the past couple of days–weeks–months–that magic doesn’t always need to be the solution. Not with Carlos.

“He’s sending us a prince,” Evie says, voice elated in a way Mal and Jay haven’t heard since they’ve been trapped on the wrong side of the tear.

“How will that help us?” Jay asks, disbelief blatant in his voice, even as he stares eagerly at Evie’s mirror.

“If he can find the ritual site, he can act as an anchor for us on that side,” Evie explains, excited grip causing the mirror’s frame to dig into her palm.

“We’d be able to find an opening that isn’t where the kaiju are being sent through,” Jay says in understanding.

“However we came through in the first place,” Mal agrees, “If there were some way we could lead him there…” she trails off, unsure. The ritual site had been Ursula’s choice, a cove that she had kept secret from the rest of the island.

“The eels,” Evie suggests, at the same time Jay says, “Lagan and Derelict.”

Mal looks at both of them skeptically before shrugging, “I suppose if anything can get him to Ursula’s secret lair, it’d be Uri’s pets.” And how poetic it would be, if creatures that Uri cared for were to help expose his murder.

~

A/N: Okay, so according to Jay’s wiki page, he’s the one with pet eels which I find kind of odd since it’s clearly a reference to Ursula’s Flotsam and Jetsam… unless that means Jay’s mother is Ursula?!?! Uh… well, let’s just say not since I have Uri in this story. Maybe in this universe Jay and Uri have a timeshare on the eels or something, I dunno.

Uh, yeah, strange ending. Sorry about that. :/

EDIT: (Because I don’t know how to reply to replies). jalencolbert, I just pulled the names for the eels off Jay’s wiki page so I don’t own them. As far as I know, Uri isn’t a canon name for Ursula’s kid (if she even has one) so that is sort of mine, but feel free to use that as well.