Ways to be Wicked - Descendants 2 AU

Chapter 17

 The ride from the Isle back to Auradon was trying to say the least. Between the stress of knowing that Adrien was captured by their number one enemy and the adrenaline of trying to go cobble together a plan, Nathaniel would be put over the edge by Kim's incessant tapping away on the steering wheel. His friend opened the portal between the island and mainland long enough to just get their speeding car over the threshold before it firmly shut closed again behind them, hopefully not letting anyone else through to follow.

"I don't like this," Kim said for the fifteenth time since they had left the hideaway on the Isle. At this point, Nathaniel had lost track of what exactly 'this' was. It could have been the fact that Marinette left. It could have been the fact that Adrien was kidnapped. It could have been the fact that the sun was too bright and in his eyes because the visor didn't work. At that point Nathaniel couldn't care less. He just wish Kim would stop saying it.

While they drove and Kim tapped away, Nathaniel stared out the window of the limo, focused on the horizon as Auradon drew closer and the Isle of the Lost fell farther behind in the rearview. It had been jarring to say the least, stepping foot in the alleyways and byways of the island he had left behind. He wanted to get Marinette and run but at the same time was filled with the longing to go back to Mad Hatter's and have tea with his old friend Marc. Maybe stop by the fortress to see how his old garden was doing. To go and find his father and tell him he loved him, that he was sorry he couldn't come with him to a better place. That he left him alone to fend off Nathaniel's mother and all the evils this place embodied.

Nathaniel would give anything to not go back there once they came back to Auradon, but right then that wasn't an option. They needed to get things done quickly here before heading back to Alya and Marinette, fake wand in hand and hopefully a convincing enough lie to get Adrien back before Juleka's gang tore him to pieces.

Kim barely stopped the car before leaping from the driver's seat, Nathaniel scrambling to keep up with his friend's long legged strides. Kim was fumbling with the keys in his pocket to get the one to their dorm room ready.

"I'll grab the keys to the wood shop," Kim recited quickly, sounding professional and focused for once. "You get all your paints ready. Shouldn't take me too long, an hour at most if the sketches are as good as Mari says they are - "

"You know they will be," Nathaniel interrupted. Marinette was nothing if not fastidious and extremely detail oriented, a side effect of her strategic mind. They had managed to find her sketchbook with the wand drawings exactly where Marinette had said it had been, now carefully tucked under Kim's arm.

"Yeah, whatever," Kim said with the slightest of smirks before it fell away entirely. He paused in the silent dormitory hallway, one arm outstretched to keep Nathaniel from barreling forward.

"What is it?" Nathaniel said skeptically, eyes focused on Kim and his tense expression.

"Why is our door open," Kim asked, his entire body on edge. When a terrified yowl came from their open dorm room, both boys jumped, but it was Nathaniel who moved first.

"Plagg!!" Nathaniel howled as he came skidding into his room. He had left Plagg in their room, locked and with all the amenities the black tom cat could need in hopes of keeping his newfound chatterbox a secret. He was terrified of what was happening to his feline friend, but that terror was overshadowed by the overall shock of what he found in his and Kim's room.

Wayhem was sprawled out on their suite floor with a feather cat toy, trying to tempt what looked to be an actual tiger cub with it. The small beast wasn't having it though, preferring to leave long and jagged claw marks on Nathaniel's armoire, on top of which sat a clearly in-distress Plagg.