Ways to be Wicked - Descendants 2 AU

Chapter 10

 Alya snickered at the way Adrien scratched and dusted at the invisible pieces of hair that still clung to him from his impromptu haircut in the boys' suite bathroom. It hadn't taken long for Nathaniel and Kim to interrupt her apparent 'butchering' of Adrien's haircut with her knife, whisking him away to their bathroom to do a proper job with Kim's clippers. There was the sound of buzzing and Adrien's murmurs of how his mother would kill him, not to mention a change of wardrobe, and suddenly the King of Auradon was an Isle Kid.

Adrien fidgeted with the buzzed section of his haircut at the nape of his neck. Alya could have bet that he had never had his hair that short in his life. She also could guess by how awkwardly he walked that he wasn't used to combat boots either.

As the king stood under the stone portico that shielded the dorm's back door, Kim and Nathaniel quickly loaded the supplies that Alya had hurriedly thrown together into the limo's trunk. Staying out after curfew, skipping class, stealing an Auradon Prep limo and breaking into the Isle of the Lost. If the Isle didn't kill them, Fairy Godmother certainly would when she discovered what they had done.

"Kim, you have the remote?" Alya asked as she circled the limo, mentally going over her checklist for the tenth time in the past hour.

Kim held the remote to the Isle barrier between his thumb and forefinger, leaning against the open driver door. "Your chariot awaits, my lady."

Alya scoffed, rolling her eyes. She was glad he was at least attempting at a joke, as stupid as it was. Marinette leaving had hit him hard, hard enough to where Alya was sure he would have stormed the Isle himself if she hadn't convinced him against him. None of them were safe there on their own, not with the way they had left and never came back.

Truth be told, the young pirate wasn't sure how she was handling the situation either. When she came back and found Marinette's note scribbled on her desk, flecked with dried tear stains, Alya's world had taken a sudden tailspin. She knew her best friend had been struggling but didn't know it had gone this far. The escalating spells. The way she had started to laugh less and less. The sound of Marinette crying late at night when she thought Alya was asleep. Alya hadn't done much sleeping since then either.

Alya, Kim and Nathaniel knew the risks of going back more than Adrien did. She knew his panic came from a good place, out of love for their friend, but he could never know the dangers. They were exiles now, less than trash to everyone back home. Kim was right to be fearful for Marinette, and Alya couldn't help but feel the fear claw at her insides as well. Alya tried to push her suspicions and worries aside where it concerned Marinette at the moment.

She'll be fine, she thought to herself desperately. She'll be fine. She'll be fine-

Alya had started going through her checklist for the eleventh time when a new voice nearly scared her out of her boots.

"Oooo," a smooth voice crooned from under the portico, far too deep to be Adrien's. The king jumped, looking at a sleek black shadow that was curled at his feet. Plagg's green eyes glowed hypnotically in the moonlight, mischief etched into his Cheshire smile. "Are we going on a little adventure?"

"No, Plagg," Nathaniel said, sounding tired as he slammed the trunk shut. While Alya, Kim and Adrien were shell-shocked at the cat's sudden utterance, Nathaniel just looked tired. "The Isle is way too dangerous. Stay here."

Alya wasn't sure if it was the trick of the moonlight or her mind still reeling from Plagg talking, but she could have sworn she saw the black cat pout.

"Did he just - ?" Alya started, only to be cut off by Nathaniel's hand raised in her face.

"Talk?" The redhead gave her a warning look. "Yeah. I know. I'll tell you later."