Second in Line - Descendants (?Mal) ~Slow Updates~

●°●BEN●°●

The sun never stopped shining on the Tourney fields around the school. The soft breeze of the wind swaying the tree branches at the edge of the forest that surrounded the property, somewhere in the distance I could hear the birds chirping their seemingly endless songs. The only sound disturbing the peaceful sounds of nature was Aggie's voice as she made herself audible to Carlos on the other side of the field. 
      After she had offered to help him train, she had not been joking and initiated the first round directly after both of them were done with their classes of the day. Which for Aggie had been immediately after training, giving her enough time to make a rough schedule on how to get the most out of this strange boy from the Isle. 
     Emma, who had not been as fortunate as Aggie with her schedule the rest of the day did get the opportunity to oversee the two train as she sat on the top of the bleachers surrounded by the many books and notebooks. 
      Ray and I were on the other side of the field. I was not really paying attention to what was happening around me, just focused on the swaying tree branches above me as I lay on the ground. At the same time, Ray was trying to mess with Dude, the Campus dog. The animal did not seem to notice the firefly zooming around his head, Dude just lay there enjoying the warm sunlight on his light brown fur. 
     "Okay!" Aggie's voice pierced the distance between us and her easily, her eyes only glancing up form the clipboard in her hands a few seconds. "We're gonna start off with some sprints, yu ready?" Carlos nodded his head, at the same time Ray got Dude to bark. I turned my attention to them to see Ray sitting on the dog's back, holding on while Dude, able to feel something was wrong, jumped around himself. 
     "Ray, get off of him." I told the firefly, who was too distracted to even hear me. 
      With one big jump, Dude managed to launch Ray into the air, screaming in either fear or surprise until he flew through a tree behind us, some of Dude's hairs he accidentally had pulled loose hit the bark and fell to the ground. 
     Ray may have been startled by the turn of events, Dude seemed to be scared out of his mind, running and barking onto the Tourney field right at the moment as Aggie blew her whistle. Carlos noticed the barking and glanced back. Horror filled the boy's eyes as he saw the dog running at him and didn't know how fast he could get away from him. And just like that, Carlos was sprinting towards Aggie, Dude running after him barking almost louder that the screams that came from the terrified, white haired boy. 
     I turned myself to Ray, who had managed to regain his balance in the air and hovered beside me. "Wowie! That certainly was something." Ray glanced over to me when I did not respond, recognizing the look of slight disappointment in my face his bright smile faltered a little. 
    "You really had to do that?" 
    Ray was about to answer, but as he talked my attention got drawn by something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head, I could have sworn I saw something move, but now I looked at the spot there was nothing but a few bushes and trees. 
     "Everything good, my man?" I did not immediately turn away, I could see Ray turning his attention to the spot I was staring at. 
     "Yeah." I answered eventually, shaking the uneasy feeling out of my body as I smiled at my friend. "Everything's perfectly fine." 

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●°●Aggie●°●

Aggie blew the whistle after seeing Carlos nod that he understood. The lad shot forward with so much speed she couldn't help but laugh. "Aye, that's the spirit!" She cheered, right before the moment she noticed there was something wrong. He was screaming in... Fear? 
     Carlos ran past her, arms waving in the air, a high pitched, shrill "noooo" trailing after him. Together with Dude the dog, barking like crazy in persuade. Aggie watched as Dude chased Carlos over the entire field, confused but also a little amazed by the lad's speed. Not a lot of people can outrun a dog.
     "Is he okay?" Emma called at Aggie from her spot on top of the bleachers. 
     "I don't think so." The red-head answered, not really sure if she should chase after them or not. 
     "He is..." Em started, but Aggie knew what she was going to say, she could see him not stopping or turning around as well. 
      "Running into the forest? Yeah, I noticed." With that Aggie launched herself after the two. She could see Emma getting up and start her way down the bleachers, but Aggie did not really have the time to wait for her. "Carlos!" Aggie called after the boy, knowing he would not respond as she was still able to hear his screams. 
     Aggie evened her breathing as she ran, making sure not to overdo it immediately. A few branches scraped her arm while she ran through the wee path Carlos had decided to flee through. Dude's barks were dying down, this time though when Aggie called out Carlos's name she could hear him answer. 
     "Aggie?" There was a short pause before she heard his voice again, a little louder this time, fueled by even more panic. "Aggie!"
     Aggie ran around the corner, ignoring the slight sting in her ankle when she slowed down the moment she reached the two. Carlos had somehow managed to climb a few feet into a tree, Dude standing under him. The dog's attention got drawn to the new girl the moment she entered the space, his tail wagging, clearly seeing all of this as a game. 
     "Aggie! Help me!" Even at the distance between him and Dude, Carlos looked like he was in life threatening danger. Shaking, he pointed down at Dude, "this thing is a killer! He's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat." Aggie couldn't help but snort at the lad's accusations, not that he noticed, still rambling on. "This is a vicious, rabid pack animal!" 
     "Wow, well, that's a bit too much credit for this wee thing." She half joked, bending down to pick up Dude, who just stared at her with his tongue half out of his mouth. 
     "What are you doing!?" Carlos's distress seemed to get worse, "don't! It'll kill you!" 
     "Carlos, it's fine." The young woman tried to stay calm, her amusement of the situation now making place for worry. "Who told you that?" 
     "My mother." 
     "Cruella?" Of course, that made sense. That scaffy woman would not be very fond of dogs...
     "She's a dog expert. A dog yellerer." He was clutching the tree as if his life depended on it, which he probably actually believed. "Why are you holding it? It's gonna attack you!" As he said it Dude moved his head, trying to lick Aggie's face, which earned another horrified scream from Carlos.  
     "Stop that," Aggie mumbled to the dog using one hand to push his head gently out of her face before turning back to Carlos, keeping her voice steady without letting a laugh escape. "Yu haven't actually met a dog, have yu, Laddy?" 
      Carlos scoffed as if she just had said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "Of course not." 
     "Than it's way overdue that you meet Dude." She rubbed the dog's head, "Dude, meet Carlos. Carlos," she started looking up at the lad in the tree with what Aggie tried to make a reassuring smile, "this is Dude. He's the campus mutt." 
     The lad's eyes did not leave the dog as he slowly crawled back down from the tree. "He doesn't look like a vicious, rabid pack animal." 
     "That's cuz he ain't. He's just a wee dog." 
     Carlos barely recognized Aggie's words as he inched towards them, eyes still glued to the dog. "Jeez..." She could hear him mumble to himself. "You're a good boy, aren't you?" Careful, Carlos reached his hand out to Dude's head mimicking what the girl had done before and stroking his fur. A smile grew on Carlos's face, making Aggie smile as well, realizing that was the first time she'd seen the lad smile. 
     "Wanne hold him?" 
     Carlos's head shot up at her question, "ow, umm..." there was some fear in his eyes but Aggie knew he just needed a little push, so she carefully handed him the dog before he could refuse. Carlos's smile became endearing as he looked down at the dog that now lay content in his arms. "You're a good boy." He told Dude in a soft voice. Both Carlos and Aggie let out a small chuckle, for different reasons.
     "I guess, yu guys have it pretty rough on the Island." Aggie didn't know why she said it, but it had already left her mouth before she could decide if it would be a smart move. 
     This did get him to look up from Dude, his smile faltering as he thought back at his home. His eyes met Aggie's for a split second. "Yeah... let's just say we don't get a lot of belly rubs." 
     Giving the guy a friendly squeeze on the shoulder Aggie said the most doaty thing she could have said. "Good boy."
     Instant regret filled her body, she could feel the blood rush to her face. "I mean, you're a good runner." She continued hastily, letting her arm fall beside her body after brushing some hair out of her face. "You're... You're fast, yu know." 
     All Aggie got from Carlos was a quiet "ow" clearly not knowing how to respond, which she definitely did not blame him for. 
     "Yeah..."
     "Thank you." 
     "Yeah." Apparently Aggie had lost the capability to say you're welcome as a normal human being as well. "Listen, Imma give you laddies some space, yeah?" She did not care if it was obvious that she wanted to leave the situation or not. "You lads get to know each other and just, you know, come find me when you're done, okay?" Aggie had already turned around when Carlos spoke up. 
     "Wait, Aggie." 
     "Yeah?" She turned back around, her hands in her back pockets.
     The lad's eyes held hers for a second, only to look back down at the dog, "never mind." 
     Knowing that look from her dearest but insecure friend Aggie shot him a half smile, "what is it? Need somethin'?" 
     It stayed quiet for a second, before Carlos looked back up at her, or, past her was more like it. "Could you... stay? Only if you want to-" He hurried the words after the question as fast as he could. 
     "Of course." Earning a small smile from Carlos after masking his slight shock and confusion, Aggie sat down on the tree trunk in front of him acting like she had not noticed. He quickly followed by sitting down on the ground, his attention with Dude, whispering to the animal. 
      Not really knowing what else to do, Aggie looked around, her hand rubbing her left ankle absentmindedly. When she offered to train him, she had not exactly meant training him in getting over his fear of dogs, but it would do. All of this made Aggie wonder how life on the other side was like if it could make somebody this afraid of dogs; and people; and probably so many other things. Not that he was the only one she'd seen becoming this peely-wally over a harmless animal, but the running away in blind panic was something else. 
    "Is your foot okay?" 
     It took Aggie a while to register his words, or the fact that she had been staring at him while she was thinking. "Ow... Nah, don't worry. Old habit." 
     "Ow..." Carlos mumbled, clearly not knowing what to say next.
     "I got thrown off of a horse one to many times as a wee lass. Ma ankle never fully recovered. No biggie." 
     "Sounds painful." 
     "It was. But I'm willing to bet yu've got some injuries growing up, right?"
     "You could say that..." Again, Carlos turned his attention to Dude, not seeming to want to continue the topic. 
      Aggie watched as Carlos continued petting Dude, seeing his body relax more and more the longer he did so. Eventually Aggie just lay down on the log, watching the clouds drift by, sitting in a comfortable silence for the rest of training session. 

🐉●°●👑●°●🐉