If You Knew, a descendants, 2015 fanfic

For a longer story featuring Ben/Mal, dragons, Mal breaking the Isle of the Lost's barrier from the inside, fights against Guardians and Goddesses, Maleficent's death, and a four-country war, please see 'Her Royal Highness' on my page.

The building was of an interesting design. It had once been used as a courtroom because it gave speaker's voices a good echo, was very large in size, and was in the shape of a very large oval with higher walls and a mix of dark tiling near the front of the room, where the accused would have been, and thick carpet near the back, where viewers would have sat or stood. It wasn't a bad place, Maci decided. In the inner rooms, it was warm with the two fires going on far ends of the room and the furniture with wood polished at least a century beforehand. It almost gave off a very homely feel, if not for the people inside of it.

The room was currently filled with argument and debate over a very large map that was being projected up onto the wall using some sort of light technology she was not familiar with. The map, however, and the people, she was very familiar with. A battle commander with a red suit bellowed as he pointed to several spots on the map, with his thin-eyed wife nodding behind him. A queen with bright green eyes and long, long blonde hair was frowning with her brown-haired, brown-eyed husband whispering furiously in her ear. And, of course, the Belle of them all, Beauty and her Beast were sitting up where the judge would have sat long ago, half-watching, half-listening as everyone pointed to different areas and continued their debates.

They were so different from their counterparts. Maci had just walked through the rest of the building and seen them. Given that the place had once been a court area, the rooms surrounding this curious oval were of a holding-type area. About twenty to thirty different types of people had been crowded in to await their sentence.

"We don't want them anywhere near the forestry!" King Phillip declared. "It'll be too hard to track them if they escape there."

"They won't escape, Phillip!" Naveen groaned. "There's a magical barrier, remember?"

"Anything is possible." Ariel reminded them with a pursed lip. "I still think it'd be best to put them under the sea, in a bubble."

"How would we get food and supplies to them?" Merida frowned. "Nothing can get down there except the mermaids, and we already agreed that Maleficent's goblins were going to do that work."

"Wait, are we actually sending food down there?" Tiana asked, leaning forward and squinting at the map. "Why should we have to support them? They can make their own!"

The room again spiraled into debate. King Adam groaned and laid his head in his hands. Belle patted his shoulder with a soft smile. Maci took a few seconds to admire them. They looked, she decided, exactly like the history books. Right down to the beauty mark to the left of Belle's eye. Incredible.

"Is there any way we can put them on a ship out of Auradon?" Moana groaned, sitting down against the wall and wiggling her cramping, cold toes. "I'll keep an eye on them and make sure they don't starve to death."

"They'd just follow you back to Auradon or sit there arguing the entire time and floating adrift." King Charming disagreed. "We need some place we can just put them where it wouldn't be too hard to get back and forth to them if we needed to."

Maci picked a red marker out of her sleeve and followed the light to a projector. Underneath the mirror that reflected the image onscreen was an actual paper map of Auradon. She uncapped the lid and drew a smooth, fluid circle around the tiny island off the coast of Belle's Harbor. "The Isle of the Lost." She announced to the room as they all began to examine the change she'd made. "That's where you'll end up sending them. It includes the Forbidden mountains and several different types of terrain. The barrier only extends to the ocean in places are the marsh and the pebble beach, which will eventually become the Isle Wharf. Meanwhile, small buildings will appear around here, with the three most important structures being Dragon Hall, Maleficent's Tower, and the Villain Kid's hideaway." She made red dots on the map as she spoke, marking each location despite the relative smallness of the map.

"We have Auradon citizens living there." Aurora pointed out. "Where would they go?"

"They'll settle in Auradon city and live next to Beast's Castle." Maci shrugged. She took off her hat – it was bright blue and knit, but very wet from being outside. Her curly black hair fell into her hazel eyes, and she had to put the hat back on to pull it back.

Queen Belle stood on the stand. Her yellow dress billowed out around her. "Pardon, but I don't recognize you. I don't think you were here when we started this meeting. Where have you come from?" She rested her hands on the stand and peered down at the young person.

"I'm sure, your highness, that if you try all the locks, you'll still find them secure and in-place." Maci informed her. She looked around the room. "You all miss so much." She sighed. "And none of you know anything yet. Has it occurred to you that one day, this meeting will be in the history books. Your children's children's children's children will read about this." She looked back up at the high King and Queen. "Especially for you. An entire line of kings come from the two of you. Why, I come from a time where the sixth king of Auradon is just about to take his place on the throne."

Belle let out a breath. The room had gone absolutely still. Maci smiled. "Bring in your villains." She told the King and Queen. "I want to tell you about something none of you have even bothered to consider yet. Something beautiful that I love."

Someone on the outskirts of the room – maybe John Smith or one of the seven dwarves – opened the dividing doors to where the villains awaited. "We're ready for you now." He told them.

One by one, defeated people in purple, black, red, and blue trudged in. Dr. Facilier walked like he expected someone to jump out at him. The Evil Queen hid her face as she trudged behind Jafar. And most noticeable of all was Maleficent, towering above the others and scowling at the King and Queen on the stand.

Maci pulled a little screen out from under her jacket, where it had been protected from the rain. She blew lightly on one end, and it unfolded into a large sheet of durable plastic. She managed to find the off-switch on the projector and hung the plastic up on the wall without any sort of attaching device at all.

"We've had five kings." She said with pinched lips as she tried to remember. "King Marshal will take the throne later this year, and his dad King Tyler James will step down then. Before him, there was King Abraham Mark, and King Zach Marshall. King Zach was the son of King Ben and King Ben was the son of Belle and Adam, the founders of the United Kingdoms of Auradon."

"King Ben?" Adam asked. He and Belle had descended their little platform to come back and better see the screen.

"Benjamin Florian." Maci informed him. "He's my favorite of the five. He focused his entire life on trying to heal relationships with the villains, and his example actually caused villainy to die out by the time his son Zach took the throne." She smiled at Belle and Adam. "But that's not even the best part. I wanted to show you this absolutely incredible thing that happened because the Isle of the Lost was formed, and the villains were sent away. I'm afraid, you all miss out on a lot."

The screen took on life. It showed a portrait of a newborn child, sound asleep with the inscription "Prince Benjamin" beneath it. Around the room, people sighed. Maci smiled. "Please, sit down." She told everyone. "This is Prince Ben. And this is him a few years later." She tapped the screen and ripples appeared her her fingers made contact, spreading across the film and revealing a new picture of an adorable little boy in a tiny blue suit with bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. He was looking into the camera with his chin ducked down a little and a goofy smile frozen on his mouth.

"He is the cutest thing." Aurora whispered. Tears were filling Belle's eyes.

"This is him all grown up." Maci declared. She moved the screen again, and everyone took in a little breath at the young man they saw, with the same eyes and sandy hair, but now with a blue shirt rolled up to the elbows and tan pants, standing in his office and smiling at the camera as he pulled a binder down. "He saw the good in everyone, passing laws against discrimination and advocated for civil rights." Maci informed the room. "But that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about him and his wife."

"His wife?" Adam repeated, looking a little starstruck.

"Yes." Maci smiled. "They were just… amazing. It was true love." She brushed her curly hair back again as she collected her thoughts. "I put together this thing just on the two of them, so you could get a little glimpse of what life under their rule was like. He was kind and diplomatic and she was powerful and devoted. And they made each other so, so happy." Maci began to pull at an empty necklace around her neck as her smile grew brighter and brighter. "I have lots of clips from movies they were in about themselves, and news reels, and a lot of songs they wrote about each other. They liked to write songs in their spare time, so there's this arsenal of the most beautiful love songs in the world under their names." She looked up suddenly and glanced around the room. "Do you want to meet her? The future queen of Auradon?"

"Yes." Belle breathed, staring intently at the screen, where Ben was continuing to reach up to that binder. What would she be like? Would she have blonde hair? Brown? Black? Maybe red? How tall would she be? What would her smile look like? A million thoughts filled her head and began to spin her in dizzying circles.

Maci looked a little amused at her starstruck expression. She ran her hand down her screen, and the room became unexplainably darker. Electronic chords echoed off the walls as everyone took in, with more than a little confusion, a ruined street underneath a cloudy sky, with dirty people passing and one bright purple haired girl spray-painting what looked to be an image of Maleficent onto a wall. She spun around, budged through two people, and disappeared offscreen, leaving a feeling like spiders crawling over everyone's skin as she vanished. "They say I'm trouble, they say I'm bad. They say I'm evil, and that makes me glad." She crooned as she vanished.

The second young lady who appeared onscreen wasn't much better, in Belle's opinion. Blue streaks in black hair and silver apple accents. She stomped across a table of food and moved seductively in front of a passerby she caught staring at her. "So I've got some mischief in my blood. Can you blame me? I never got no love." She declared.

There were other people – two boys, numerous background people. Belle and the rest of the audience couldn't believe what they were hearing. "The truth is: you ain't seen nothing yet", "I'm rotten to the core" and combined with the villainous laughter and the vile expressions of the four children sent chills down the hero's spines, though Maleficent and her villains looked on in interest.

The scene ended with the purple-haired young lady leaned down with a sugary smile as she snatched a lollipop from a child passing by. Maci looked around at her audience's stunned expressions. "Did you see her?" She inquired. "She's a bit hard to miss."

"The blue one, or the purple one?" Moana asked, still sitting against the wall she'd dropped by.

"Mal." Maci presented, swiping the screen to reveal an attractive teenager with short, dark purple hair wearing a net vest over a tank top and fingerless gloves. "She was raised on the Isle of the Lost. Can you guess whose daughter she is?"

A moment of silence passed over the group as they considered what they'd seen. Then, slowly, all heads turned to Maleficent, whose eyes were growing narrower and narrower. "No!" The villainess snapped. "There is no way I would raise anyone to become a princess!" She hissed at the surrounding heroes to make her point.

"Well, obviously you didn't." Maci shrugged, gesturing to the screen. "She's not exactly what anyone would call a princess."

"That girl becomes Queen of Auradon?" Adam asked in a horrified tone. "How? There must be some mistake!"

"A girl like that – she would destroy all of Auradon!" Belle agreed with wide eyes.

"She tried." Maci acknowledged. "Prince Ben, for his first official decree, brings some of the children from the Isle of the Lost over to Auradon. Mal and her friends were sent by her mother to find the wand and use it to release them. They arranged to steal it at Ben's coronation and even used a love potion to get Ben to ask Mal to be his girlfriend, to get her as close to the front as possible. But she didn't account for one thing." Maci smiled as she watched everyone's expression spiral even further into doubts at the descriptions. She swiped down on her screen, and a voice that must have been Ben's filled the room.

"Mal, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?", "For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful.", "Right now, I can look into your eyes, and I can tell you're not evil."

Maleficent looked like she'd swallowed a plum. Belle's eyes were as big as golf balls as the words reverberated into her skull. And that was before Maci swiped down on the screen and Mal appeared, curling her hair around her fingers and leaning against a grey pillar in an area Belle recognized as the enchanted lake. "A million thoughts, in my head. Should I let my heart keep listening?" She sang. And now that she wasn't yelling about how evil she was, Belle suddenly realized what an amazing voice this small child had. Her heart melted as Mal sang: "I can't decide what's wrong, what's right. Which way should I go?" And before she'd even finished the chorus, Belle had already decided that this idea didn't seem as immediately horrible as it had when it had first been presented.

"Am I crazy? Maybe we could happen?" Mal asked the empty world around her on screen. "Will you still be with me when the magic's all run out?" Belle felt Adam shift beside her as Mal brought her hands down in horror, as if she had just realized how horribly her plan had backfired on her. Adam slipped an arm around Belle's shoulders as Maleficent fumed a few feet away.

The video kept playing as Mal went to sit on the edge of the ruins, but Maci spoke up from the side of the room: "The same girl she sang 'Rotten to the Core' also sings this next one." She reminded the room.

Without pausing, the video flipped scenes. Deep piano music was playing. Three scenes appeared. One was of a boy with long hair looking conflicted as he stared at a sports trophy standing in his window. The second was of another boy, rolling over to pet a dog who was lying on his bed with him. The last was of a blue-haired girl examining a test booklet with the name 'Evie' on the front of it. They were the same three kids who had been with Mal in the beginning. Finally, the picture changed to Mal, who was in a kitchen with her face blotchy as she stirred something dark brown with a whisk in a metal bowl. Maleficent growled indignantly. "The anti-potion to the love spell?" She demanded. "Doesn't she know what she's throwing away?"

"A million thoughts in my head." Mal sang softly. "Should I let my heart keep listening?" She stopped stirring and braced her hands on the counter as tears filled her eyes. "I know it's time to say goodbye. So hard to let go…" A single tear fell from her eyes and into the mix. Mal sniffled and buried her face in her hands as she crouched close to the countertop with her shoulders shaking. Then the video ended, and the room brightened again.

Maci looked to Belle to see if she'd say anything, but she didn't. She turned back to the screen and began swiping. "They didn't end up ruining coronation. Jane, the Fairy Godmother's daughter, briefly stole the wand and accidentally broke the barrier. Maleficent appeared in Auradon, but Mal quickly turned her into a lizard." At this statement, Maci turned around to see Maleficent turning a furious shade of fuchsia. "So she remained. She missed a lot. Eventually, Mal was instated as a Lady of the Court. She briefly fixed a barrier breach that involved her dad and her two arch-nemesis's, and that was when everything I wanted to show you happened." She swiped on her screen, and pictures began to appear, fast paced and in beautiful color. Every single one was of Ben and Mal. Belle covered her mouth as she watched. Most were casual photos that were obviously being taken by friends. Mal pulled funny faces at the camera as Ben laughed at her. They were both looking over their shoulders, seconds before realized they were being photographed. Ben and Mal's fingers were tangled together, hanging over her shoulder, in between their frames, everywhere. Some scenes seemed to be from movies or poses, as they were clearly not as relaxed, but they were intense. Their faces were close to each other, sometimes their hands were knit up in each other's hair. In one, Mal was toasting a glass of something clear as Ben watched her with a soft smile on his face.

They aged right before Belle and Adam's eyes. There was only one photo of Mal in a wedding dress, with her long hair curled up and held in place with jeweled pins, looking over her shoulder on the palace balcony. Then, they were moving forward. There were a couple of shots of Ben and Mal with Evie and a little blue-haired boy before suddenly they were walking their own little sandy-haired toddler around

It was a song. That much was immediately clear. It appeared to be mostly electronica, and it was taking place in the palace ballroom. Mal was standing behind a DJ setup, sliding keys and mixing music while occasionally leaning over to press additional keys on a piano to add to the song. She was singing along to the song as everyone in the crowded room listened to her. "Here's to my real friends!" She sang, giving a smile as the camera panned up to see Evie, Jay, and Carlos standing in the front row, looking on with a proud smile. "They don't care about the He-Said, She-Said!"

"And here's to my baby," Mal crooned, pausing momentarily to toast a glass of fizzing champagne in Ben's direction with a fond smile. He returned the gesture, half-hiding a smile, and lifting what looked like a brandy to her. "He ain't reading what they call me lately. And here's to my Mama…" Mal again let her fingers leave the controls to slide her fingers along the length of a glass terrarium which had been set in a sparse place in view of the crowd. "Had to listen to all this dra-ma!"

Mal toned the music down, wiped the sweat off her forehead, lifted her champagne, and toasted it in an inviting manner to the camera. "And here's to you…" She purred. "Because forgiveness is a nice thing to do…"

All went silent as the camera shifted back and forth between the hypnotized crowd, Ben still hiding a half-smirk, Evie, Jay, and Carlos whispering in each other's ears, and Mal, looking absolutely captivating as she burst into sudden laughter. "Ha-ha! I can't even say it with a straight face!" She laughed.

Without pausing, the video cut straight to some amateur footage of what appeared to be Ben and Mal holding hands, walking along the palace grounds. There was the sound of heavy breathing as the person filming hurried forward. "King Ben! Queen Mal!" They called. The two's heads whipped around, looking surprised. "What are you doing here?" Ben asked. He had a nice voice – strong and level. "The South Gardens aren't open to public visitors."

"I just had to see you guys!" The Filmer proclaimed. "Your new songs are amazing! When are you guys going to be releasing everything on the complete album? Are you going to be having any more songs like 'Hearts Don't Break Around Here' or 'Dress'? The public really seems to like that sensual side of you guys."

Mal's confused look melted into a wicked smile as she glanced sideways at Ben. Her eyes were sparking as Ben pursed his lips and looked increasingly cross. "It'll be out soon. But really, you shouldn't be here. This is considered private property and you are trespassing. Thank you for your support, but please, head back to the public grounds."

"King Ben, do you have anything to say on the rumors that you'll be releasing Maleficent back into human form to celebrate you and Mal's fifth anniversary? Or that you may or may not be announcing a new prince or princess this year?" The smile on Mal's face vanished and was replaced by a dumbstruck look. She swung her head around to look at Ben incredulously as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's going around again?" She asked.

"You'd think they'd learn after predicting that twelve different times, huh?" Ben groaned. He turned back to the interrogator. "Listen, both of those rumors are incorrect, and I'm serious, you need to leave now. Immediately, please, or I'll be forced to call the guards."

"Or the dragon." Mal grumbled under her breath, pinching her lips together and crossing her arms.

"Speaking of dragons, when was the last time you transformed?" The person continued, still ignoring Ben's demands.

Mal's eyes flashed. "If you're going to continue this, the next time will be rather soon."

"Stop." Ben put a hand on her shoulder. "Sir, please begin walking in the direction of the public gardens or I'll contact the guards."

"Queen Mal, what is your opinion on your good friend Evie's decision to market a specific clothing line to the Isle of the Lost? People are saying it's very probable that she won't be able to maintain it." The person, who was sounding like an independent reporter of some sort, asked while quickly advancing on the two. The camera was forced into Mal's face, and she pulled a ferocious scowl. Suddenly, a boom of some sort shook the camera and the person blew backwards several feet. Green flames appeared in Mal's hands and her eyes took on a threatening green light as some sort of bubble flickered into visibility around her. "We're done here." She announced, extinguishing her flames and taking Ben's hand again. The two turned and walked away quickly as shouts were heard in the distance. Someone was briefly heard yelling: "What are you doing over here?" before the footage ended.

Maleficent's hands shook in rage. "But… how?" She growled. "How could she give it all up? How could she betray me like this?"

"I don't understand how the daughter of a villainess became the queen." King Henry Charming declared. "And one like her – do the people not get angry over the fact she performs magic?"

"No." Maci shook her head. "She's actually the most popular queen we've had so far. People love how open and happy she was with the people. It also helped that she publicly denounced evil several times."

"Why?" Maleficent demanded, leaping to her feet. "She could infiltrated the government and ruled all of Auradon! Why would she give it all up?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Belle breathed, ignoring the increasingly irate fairy witch. "They found something greater."

"Something real." Maci affirmed. "And they ushered in a beautiful new era of Auradon as well. The average standard of living was at it's highest point yet during their reign, especially in the later years when Prince Zach and Princess Dyran had been born and were growing up in the palace. Princess Dyran would actually go on the marry into the common folk on the Isle of the Lost and was essential in reintegrating them to the country and fixing the problems in that place. By the time Prince Zach took the throne, Ben and Mal's grandson Abraham was born along with Princesses Mae and Taelynn, and the two passed away, the Isle had already been declared a mistake and the country had worked to heal bonds with those victims of the Isle. In my time, the Isle is just a bad memory. Essential for the reparations it brought around, but an embarrassing reminder of how clumsy the country was in its first days."

"Then why do you want us to even instate it?" Tiana asked, brushing her brown work dress off. "It's all gonna be undone anyways."

"No!" Belle gasped suddenly. "If we don't make the Isle of the lost, then Ben and Mal will never grow up to meet each other like they did!" She clasped her hands to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears.

"But Belle." Adam interrupted with a deep frown. "You saw what those kids looked like. The Isle of the Lost was a horrible mistake. Can we really doom an entire generation of children to grow up in squalor just for our son's love story?"

"There's a chance he'd fall in love with someone else." Prince Phillip pointed out. "Maybe one of the Auradonian kids."

Ariel shook her head. "I don't feel right about either option." She admitted. "How can we make either decision? On the one hand, an entire generation suffers and Auradon remembers our mistakes for generations, but we know that the wrongdoings will eventually be undone. On the other, we have a chance to rectify everything and make it so no one has to suffer period, but we won't know if we fail or not."

"I won't allow my daughter to marry an Auradon prince!" Maleficent howled. "After all the things you've put us through – after all our struggles! All for nothing, because she'll erase all the hardship like we never suffered at all!"

Maci blinked sadly at the remorseful group. She turned and dragged a finger down the screen. The frozen shot of Ben and Mal walking away on the palace grounds was replaced by one of Mal in a car with Jay in the seat beside her, and Evie and Carlos visible in the backseat. Without a prompting from Maci, the picture began to move and speak.

"What's the next question, Evie?" Mal asked as a seashore flew by in the background.

"I'm looking, I'm looking." Evie grumbled. Carlos leaned forward. "You know, you'd think you'd be sick of cameras since you've been in front of them since we first arrived, but no, you have to do the anonymous question interview with us. On vacation. When Ben is in the other car and can't stop you from saying anything stupid."

"Ouch, Carlos." Jay said, raising his eyebrows. "Throwing shade much?"

"It's the Isle in me." Carlos rolled his eyes. "Blame my mother."

"Most-voted questions." Evie announced. Her face fell. "Oh, here's an interesting one. 'Assuming the Isle had never been created, where would you see yourselves?'"

Jay took an anxious inhale. "Ooh, that's a risky topic." He thought aloud. "Because if the Isle didn't exist then… we never would have gotten away from our parents." He glanced over his shoulder at his friends, who were all nodding along.

"Yeah I probably wouldn't have ever set foot in Auradon Prep and I never would have met Doug, much less married him since he's not a prince." Evie frowned, looking a bit sick. "I'd still be completely brainwashed by my mother."

"Ugh." Carlos groaned. "Life without Dude, without Jane, without my work." He shook his head. "To be honest, I might not even be alive. I think Mom only kept me around so I could be her servant. She might have left me somewhere if she didn't live on the Isle and wanted to have someone run her errands for her."

Evie put a hand on Carlos's shoulder as the boy took a short breath. Jay leaned over and punched Mal in the arm. "Queenie here wouldn't have gotten married either. Fat chance Maleficent would have let her."

"Don't call me that." Mal whined as she let go of the steering wheel with one hand to punch Jay back. "But you're right. And without Ben and Auradon Prep, I probably would have stuck with Mom and…" She trailed off, biting her lip. "Auradon wouldn't have been able to progress as much either, since they'd still be dealing with the villains. So we'd be militarized and Auradon would fear the villains kids, and yeah, long story short, Ben and I would never have been a thing, and my mother may or may not have eventually taken over everything, enslaved everyone, and yeah."

"What if the villains had just been killed?" Evie whispered. A horrible silence fell over the car. No one said anything until Mal whispered: "Ben would have married Audrey."

Everyone laughed. "Ben and Audrey? No. They never would have worked." Carlos shook his head. "But you and I and all of us wouldn't exist, so nothing would have happened. Auradon would have stayed the way it was before we came."

Jay tilted his head to the side. "Do you think that would have been better?" He asked. "If we'd never come along and changed everything? No Isle of the Lost, no barrier incidents, no almost blowing up Ben's coronation…?"

"No." Mal shook her head immediately. "Doubtful. The most obvious examples of good I can think of off the top of my head are Jay's tourney achievements, all the good Evie and Jay do with their businesses, and of course how we helped Jane and Lonnie back at Prep, but there's so much more to us. I actually talked about this with Ben. It's not discussed much in the palace, but we're actually a really unstable nation with too many differences, and Ben's prediction is that if something hadn't happened to unite everyone, then people would have started splitting off and Auradon would have fallen. Dunbroch was actually making plans to leave Auradon when Ben was put on the throne, along with Arendelle, Fantasia, and Metroville. Auradon really had to gear up and set aside their differences when we blew up coronation, and then during the Cotillion, and finally when we had to head over to stop Hades and Uma. Without us, the country would literally have collapsed and gone back to being dozens of separate nations who don't mix very well at all. Since we came, we've been working together better than ever, and Ben's predicted we'll continue to make improvements over the next few years until we'll end up being united."

"So, we fixed everything by being Auradon's worst problem to date?" Jay asked with a little smile.

Mal burst into laughter. "Yeah, I guess so." She agreed. Tears suddenly filled her eyes. "Oh gosh, Ben and I totally wouldn't be a thing." She gasped, wiping her eyes hastily. "He'd be married to some stifling Auradon woman and I'd be stuck with my mom and completely miserable." Immediately, all three friends reached forward to comfort her in a chorus of 'oh, Mal's' and 'It's okay's'. Carlos looked a bit embarrassed as he reminded her: "You're on camera."

"I'm always on camera." Mal grumbled bitterly. Her friends laughed, and she cracked a smile. "I'm okay, I'm okay. What's next-"

The video cut off and the room was silent. Maci turned around. "An entire generation is resting on your shoulders. Will your nation crumble and fall, or unite?"

Belle got to her feet. "I think it's clear what needs to happen." She said. "And I, for one, am willing to let my name be smothered in coming years if it means that everyone will eventually find happiness.

"Aye." Aurora declared, getting to her feet. "We have such a wonderful future ahead of us; why waste any time?"

All of the heroes murmured in agreement as they got to their feet. Maleficent and some of the villains shook in rage. "My daughter will not marry an Auradonian prince!" She declared. "And I know everything that happens now, so I can make sure it never happens! I won't even have a daughter, how about that?"

"We'll forget." Belle suggested. "We'll forget, so we can watch it unfold, but not before we make a few changes." She began to list off on her fingers as she thought. "There'll be a magical barrier to keep people on the Isle, and we won't remove anyone's magic permanently. There'll be free marriage laws in Auradon, and we'll line everything up according to what we've been shown, making way for generations of peace and longstanding happiness."

Everyone in the room rose up, figuratively and literally, in agreement. Most of the villains were nodding along to Belle's ideas and considering her words. Maleficent's fists shook in absolute rage. "You can't take my memory!" She howled. "I won't forget! I won't!"

"You will." Maci frowned. "After all, everything has already come to pass." She made a gesture to Doctor Facilier. "I believe you have a way to remove memories, right?"

Doctor Facilier's hand went instinctively to his side. "I do." He confirmed. "And conveniently, enough for everyone. But tell me, why should I use it to help you lock me up?"

"Your daughter goes to Auradon." Maci blinked. "Her name is Freddy. She opens an apothecary and procures a claim to bring you back from the Isle. You live out the rest of your days in happiness with her and her husband, and even live to see your great-grandchildren."

Facilier's face fell away into surprise. He pulled out a long, tall vial of neon blue liquid. "This is gaseous." He proclaimed. "It'll take out our memories of the last day. Make your changes and let's do this."

For the first time in living memory, the two sides were mostly united.

"On her ninetieth birthday," Maci interrupted, looking directly at a red-faced Maleficent, "And in the wake of her husband's passing, Queen Mal briefly brought her mother back. And they spoke for a short time, and Mal told her everything that had happened over the last eighty years. And Maleficent, after spending so many years left to her own thoughts and watching the world go by, listened. The two decided it was best to let go of the past and look only to the future, and Maleficent told Mal that she was proud of her. Maleficent returned to lizard form, and later passed on in peace, and Mal died the very next day, leaving the fate of the kingdom in the hands of her descendants."

"It won't be." Maleficent snarled. "It won't be!" She lunged at Maci, but Jafar and Clayton snagged the edge of her robes and pulled her back.

"We won't remember our decisions unless we finalize them now!" Clayton declared. "So form the Isle and write it all down before we change our minds." Maleficent howled and twisted in his arms as everyone – heroes and villains – jumped to action.

It was raining. The world was absolutely dark. Nothing could be heard over the pattering of the rain on the stone roof of the meeting house with the locked door and the shut windows. Rags and handkerchiefs had been stuffed around the holes to completely stop up the sound, but the cold creeped in still. By light of candles and a roaring hearth, over fifty people hammered out the beginnings of a country as the weather drowned out the warbling protests of the one fairy who would live to see the end of their plans. The one, who, because she would be imprisoned in lizard form, would live to see everyone die, to watch the new generations pass away, and to finally be released in the reign of Tyler James, Ben and Mal's great-grandson.

As the document was written out and everyone gathered around Dr. Facilier, Belle made her way to Maci, who had taken her screen down and was preparing to leave. "Will the memories ever return?" She asked.

Maci shrugged. "Oh, there's a hundred-year block. All you will have passed on by then, except for Maleficent." She pulled her hat back on and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"So, Maleficent will remember?" Belle asked.

Maci smirked. "Yeah. During my lifetime, Mom remembered every bit of this meeting. She recognized me pretty early on. And don't worry – she does come around to good. It just takes a lot of years of lizard imprisonment."

"We're ready!" Facilier announced. "Is Maleficent still secure?" A scream told everyone that she was.

Belle held out a hand to Maci. "Pleasure to know you." She whispered with a smile.

"The pleasure is all mine." Maci returned. The two shook hands, and with a deep breath, Maci disappeared into thin air. Dr. Facilier uncapped his vial. The noxious gas spread throughout the room, with those closest to it succumbing to sleep the quickest. It smelled almost like burning sugar.

People collapsed, one by one. Maleficent stopped screaming as the air became foggy with the stuff. Belle felt her eyelids become heavy as she leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the tall, strong man she'd seen with his future wife, smiling, happy, and completely free as her mind blanked out and she slumbered on.

This is just a little odd snippet I've had in my head a while. I figure I'm not the only person who loves to read Time Travel fics, so I thought I'd share it. I do not own Descendants, Ed Sheeran's Hearts Don't Break Around Here, or Taylor Swift's This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and Taylor Swift's Dress. If you wanted this, you're welcome.