Author's Note-I was just thinking, if Ben knew he'd been spelled, maybe one day he'd actually want to see the spell itself and if he did, he'd see what went into it and this happened.

Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants or the Isle of the Lost.

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A Tear of Human Sadness

Ben smiled at Evie as she rushed out of the room she and Mal shared at Auradon Prep in a flurry of books and blue and hair. He honestly had no idea what she had said after he'd knocked on the door, trying to explain that Mal had mentioned meeting him there so they could walk to dinner in the dining hall together, because she was flying out of the room and speaking so quickly he wasn't even sure if it was English.

He could have sworn he'd caught something about Doug and Studying though, maybe even a shout of stay before the blue-haired girl was disappearing around a corner.

He hoped that meant she was giving him her permission to stay there and wait for Mal, that she was telling him the girl wouldn't be too much longer and so it wouldn't be improper for him to wait inside the room for her. He'd been standing practically all day, inspecting the guard as was his duty as king, but not just his guard, no. Each kingdom supplied a small platoon of soldiers from their lands and each group had to be inspected individually. It was a nearly all day process and he wasn't even sure why they still did it. There hadn't been any wars in Auradon in decades, and with the treaties and connections between all the kingdoms, there didn't seem to be a time coming in the near future (or far future) where an entire army would be needed. His father had made a good point though, Jane's actions during the coronation had broken a small hole in the barrier around the Isle. It hadn't been there for long, but it had taken some doing to get it sealed and they couldn't be sure who might have escaped or not.

If Maleficent could, then the others might as well and they should be on their, well, guard.

He let himself into Mal's room, instantly able to tell which bed was hers and which was Evie's, one was blue and the other purple, one with fabric and sketches for dresses and text books on the bed and nightstand while the other was more sparse. Though...there was one book resting on the nightstand just in front of the small glass container that held Maleficent. Mal had refused to let her mother be taken and locked away somewhere, claiming both that she was HER responsibility and also that it was her mother, she wanted to be able to keep an eye on her and felt the obligation to take care of her despite the rather poor childhood she'd had at Maleficent's hand.

He walked over, resting his bag on the edge of Mal's bed and peered at the book lying in front of the case, it was the only book there so naturally he was curious what she was reading. He sat on the side of the bed and reached out for it, only to pull his hand away a moment later when a little purple spark struck his hand from the book. He frowned, guessing it was some sort of protective spell or ward or something and hesitantly tried again. It could have just been an odd static electricity.

He wasn't sure which it was when, the second time cautiously tapping the book he was able to touch it without a spark.

He reached out and picked it up. It was old, brown leather, with a metal dragon emblem on the front, but no other identification as to what it was. He glanced over at Maleficent as she hissed at him, almost seeming to be glaring.

"If it's her diary, I'll put it right back," he promised the lizard, feeling a little foolish to be speaking to it, but he knew it was actually a person in there so it wasn't too bad. He looked back at the book and opened it slowly, if it was her diary he really would put it back, he would never ever pry into her inner most thoughts like that. Anything Mal felt comfortable saying she would tell him out loud.

It certainly wasn't a diary though, his eyes widened as he saw spell after spell, potions and charms and hexes and numerous other enchantments. He flipped through it quickly, more just to see if every page had something on it, but paused when an earmark caught his eye. He opened the page, knowing it had to be something of interest to Mal for her to earmark it.

How to Break a Love Spell

Well, he blinked as he saw that particular potion, that was probably the antidote to the one she used on him then. He skimmed it quickly, not feeling very interested in what it was, he'd already lived it, already had it broken, he didn't really need to know how to make it. But then something caught his eye that had him frowning.

One Tear of Human Sadness

But Mal never cried. It was something she'd admitted to him after the coronation when he'd offered her his handkerchief after seeing her trying to wipe her eyes with her hand and the bottom of her dress. He'd asked her why she didn't have one, all the girls he knew had something like that to dab at their eyes with, even Evie had one, but Mal had just shrugged and said, till that point, she had never cried, so why carry something that would wipe tears she had never thought would fall.

"Ben?"

He stiffened when he looked up at the sound of Mal's voice, not even having heard her come in, not that he would, she wouldn't knock to enter her own room.

"Mal," he smiled guiltily, not bothering to try and hide the fact he was reading her spellbook, not when she was looking right at it with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?" she stepped over and quickly took the book from him, holding it close to her chest almost like she was using it as a shield from whatever his reaction would be.

"Just some enchanting reading," he teased lightly, not about to get mad at her for having a spellbook. She had magic, a lot of people in the kingdom that DID have magic, the few they were, had spellbooks to learn from too and while Mal's might not be the best one to get started in, it was her mother's and he knew how important that was to her.

"Funny," she remarked dryly, before smirking, "See any interesting spells you want me to use? Evie pointed out one that could make Chad's hair fall out."

He laughed at that, "I did find something interesting," he nodded, surprising her, "To break a love spell you need a tear of human sadness."

"And?" she shook her head, though he could see her tensing, as though she knew where he was going with this and was trying to play it off.

"You don't cry."

"What makes you think it was my tear?" she defended a little too quickly for him to NOT think that it HAD been her tear.

He just stood up and moved to stand before her, "I don't think the others would have been encouraging you or helping you break the spell you thought was still on me until after the coronation was over," he reminded her, thinking on how she'd admitted to the initial reason to giving him the potion, to get close to the wand, given that she'd ultimately used it to stop her mother, he wasn't mad at her for that. She may not have started off with a crush on him, but she'd ended up with one in the long run, and that was what mattered to him, he really HAD taught her how to love just by being with her, "And no one else knew about it, so it had to be you."

"I chopped up an onion," she supplied.

"You wouldn't risk it," he shook his head, making her purse her lips in irritation that he knew her so well, though her expression was more cute to him than she would want to know, "You're really serious about your magic Mal, you wouldn't do anything that wasn't exact to the spell."

"So I cried," she shrugged, "What's your point?"

"You cried a tear of sadness," he reached out and took one of her hands, the other one not letting go of the book, "I'm sorry."

She blinked, startled at the sudden change in direction of where she thought it was going, she thought he was going to try and pry into what made her sad or get her to admit she'd sobbed over the chocolate mix, "For what?"

"I just want you to be happy Mal," he said simply, "Thinking that you cried at all, especially in sadness, it makes ME sad. I'm sorry you had to feel that way to get that tear."

Mal stared at him, "You're upset that I had to cry sad tears to break the spell on you?"

"I'm upset you cried at all," he corrected lightly, "You cried like that because of me," Mal opened her mouth to say something but he pushed on, "Because you wanted to break the spell on me. And for that, I'm sorry I was the cause of you needing to do that. I should have told you earlier that the spell wore off in the lake, it would have saved you from having to cry or be sad."

Mal's mouth closed slightly as she shifted back and forth on her legs a moment, glancing at her mother's container, seeming to hesitate saying something, before she took a breath, shook her head, and looked back at him, "You..." she let out a breath, struggling to say what she seemed determined to get out, "You were the...the thought of..." she huffed in irritation, making him smile encouragingly at her and squeeze her hand, telling her without words, with just how his thumb was stroking over the back of her knuckles, that it was ok, "You were the tear of sadness."

That made him hesitate in his actions, "I don't..."

"I didn't want to lose you, ok," Mal said quickly, looking away, "I cried because I loved you and I thought you'd hate me once I broke the spell. I thought you wouldn't want to be with me without it and...it made me sad. Happy?"

"No," he shook his head, reaching out with his other hand to gently turn her head to face him again, he could see the beginnings of tears along the bottom of her eyes but knew she'd never let them grow more than that, "Well, a little," he chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "I'm sad you cried, I'm sorry that it was because of me, twice as much now, that you cried. But, I'm also a little happy that you cared about me, even then, enough that it made you sad to think I wouldn't love you."

"Well I'm glad my misery makes you happy," she deadpanned.

"No, it's a good thing, Mal," he insisted, smiling at her, "Because the thought of losing YOU?" he shook his head, "Let's just say, the thought of losing you makes me feel much worse than sadness."

She stared up at him for that, for how easily he could talk about his feelings. It still surprised her at times how open he was, how free he was with telling her what was in his heart when she struggled just to be able to telling him she appreciated something or liked something or was scared or anything at all.

"What's worse than being sad?"

"Devastated," he supplied, "Heart-broken. Miserable. Agonized," he gently stroked her chin, "Empty."

Mal let out a light breath at his words, seeing in his eyes that he really WOULD feel that way if he lost her, "That does sound pretty awful..."

"Awful too," he teased, lightening the mood ever so slightly.

Mal rolled her eyes at that, "Go buy a thesaurus instead of stealing my words."

Ben laughed at that, "I'd rather not have to think of words that would equate what I'd feel if I lost you, Mal," he told her earnestly, "I love you Mal."

Mal smiled at that, "I love you too."

The beaming smile Ben gave her was enough to make her wonder if she should look through the book for any spells or potions that would require a tear of happiness, because she was sure that, with Ben in her life, there would never be another sad tear again.

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Author's Note-I was just curious how that conversation would go. I feel like Ben would be more heartbroken that Mal had to cry a sad tear at all than to want her to relive what made her sad in asking about that. But Mal would also really try to make an effort to be more open with Ben, and since the tear was about him, she'd tell him.

I know there's a book version recreating Mal's Spellbook out there somewhere that might have the version of the spell used in the movie in it, I don't have a copy so I'm not sure if the "Break a Love Spell" spell is the same as the Love Spell in terms of needing a tear of sadness or if it's a tear of regret, or if it's specific to the tear needing to be from the one that cast the spell or something like that. But I'm just going to go off of Mal being sad in the movie at the thought of losing Ben and say that it's the same type of tear for both spells. If I'm wrong though, if someone has a copy of it and it's a different tear, just let me know and I'll fix it.